Directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara • 1960 • Japan
Koreyoshi Kurahara's ingeniously plotted, pocket-size noir concerns the intertwined fates of a desperate bank manager, blackmailed for book-cooking, and his resentful but timid underling, passed over for a promotion. The marvelously moody Intimidation (Aru kyouhaku) is an elegantly stripped-down and carefully paced crime drama.
Up Next in Japanese Noir
-
Zero Focus
Directed by Yoshitaro Nomura • 1961 • Japan
Starring Yoshiko Kuga, Hizuru Takachiho, Ineko ArimaAfter her husband disappears on a business trip, newlywed Teiko (Yoshiko Kuga) realizes she knows very little about the man she has been married to for only a week. With a pair of mysterious photogra...
-
Pigs and Battleships
Directed by Shohei Imamura • 1962 • Japan
Starring Jitsuko Yoshimura, Yoko Minamida, Hiroyuki NagatoA dazzling, unruly portrait of postwar Japan, PIGS AND BATTLESHIPS details, with escalating absurdity, the desperate power struggles between small-time gangsters in the port town of Yokosuka. Sho...
-
Youth of the Beast
Directed by Seijun Suzuki • 1963 • Japan
Starring Joe Shishido, Misako Watanabe, Tamio KawajiWhen a mysterious stranger muscles into two rival yakuza gangs, Tokyo’s underworld explodes with violence. YOUTH OF THE BEAST (YAJU NO SEISHUN) was a breakthrough for director Seijun Suzuki, introducing...
