Directed by Kon Ichikawa • 1956 • Japan
Starring Rentaro Mikuni, Shoji Yasui, Taniye Kitabayashi
An Imperial Japanese Army regiment surrenders to British forces in Burma at the close of World War II and finds harmony through song. A private, thought to be dead, disguises himself as a Buddhist monk and stumbles upon spiritual enlightenment. THE BURMESE HARP is an eloquent meditation on beauty coexisting with death and remains one of Japanese cinema’s most overwhelming antiwar statements, both tender and brutal in its grappling with Japan’s wartime legacy.
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Conflagration
Directed by Kon Ichikawa • 1958 • Japan
Starring Raizo Ichikawa, Tatsuya NakadaiAdapted from a novel by Yukio Mishima and told in an intricate flashback structure, CONFLAGRATION dramatizes the psychological collapse of Goichi (Raizo Ichikawa), a young Buddhist acolyte from a dysfunctional f...
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Fires on the Plain
Directed by Kon Ichikawa • 1959 • Japan
Starring Eiji Funakoshi, Osamu Takizawa, Mickey CurtisAn agonizing portrait of desperate Japanese soldiers stranded in a strange land during World War II, Kon Ichikawa’s FIRES ON THE PLAIN is a compelling descent into psychological and physical oblivion. ...
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Odd Obsession
Directed by Kon Ichikawa • 1959 • Japan
Starring Ganjiro Nakamura, Machiko KyoKon Ichikawa’s ODD OBSESSION is a strange dark comedy on a then-forbidden subject—impotence, and jealousy as a cure for it. The movie explores the links between love, jealousy, and rage, all from the standpoint of...
