Yukio Mishima’s 1966 short film Patriotism (憂國 Yūkoku).

The Lieutenant’s Harakiri and Reiko’s Suicide scene were more terrifying and horrifying than words can express. If not for anything else but those scenes are an attraction to watch Yukio Mishima’s 1966 short film Patriotism (憂國 Yūkoku).

Yukio Mishima not only directed but also acted in the film. He was an author, poet, playwright, actor, model, film director and a nationalist. Like the film, he too committed Harakiri after a failed coup attempt!

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Patriotism (憂國 Yūkoku)


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Kwaidan_1964 by Masaki Kobayashi

If not for the terror or horror, Masaki Kobayashi’s Kwaidan (怪談 Kaidan, literally "ghost stories") which consist of four ghost stories can be seen for its bewitching images.....

This 1964 Japanese film is elegant  and stunning if not scary and is worth its view.

Tess_1979 by Roman Polanski

Tess (1979) by Roman Polanski is an adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Ubervilles which was published in 1891.

The lead player Nastassja Kinski is the daughter of the famed Klaus Kinski

The movie tends to be as accurate as possible to the novel.

Was Tess simply a woman at the mercy of men, society, and nature? Was she at the mercy of her own passions, her pride, and her sense of shame? Of the two men in her life, who wronged her? Was Tess naïve and a victim of one man taking advantage of her while the other could not forgive her for having been taken advantage of?

These and more questions may arrive when one reads the novel and sees the movie.

An epic  narrative of sex, class, betrayal and revenge.

Hard Times_1975

Charles Bronson’s 1975 movie Hard Times does not remind you of Charles Dickens 1854 novel Hard Times!

What it reminds you is that of a drifter in a Western genre movie. Instead of a horse, the train is used as the main form of transportation. Instead of a gun, bare hands are used. The concept of a saddle tramp is replaced by the term hobo. 

One can go on and on in an attempt to seek out similarities but it is best to see and cherish the movie.

The Face of Another by Hiroshi Teshigahara

The Face of Another (他人の顔 Tanin no kao) is a 1966 Japanese New Wave film directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara and based on the novel of the same name written by Kōbō Abe. (Source : Wikipedia)

It’s an existentialist film and deals with the main as well as a side character’s search for an identity in the absence of a face or an acceptable face.


A more detailed review can by found by visiting The Face of Another