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Japanese Noir

Introducing Japanese Noir

16m

The following interview with critic Imogen Sara Smith was recorded in 2020.

Up Next in Japanese Noir

  • Stray Dog
    2:02:38
    Stray Dog

    Stray Dog

    Directed by Akira Kurosawa • 1949 • Japan
    Starring Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura

    A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo’s sweltering streets for the stray dog w...

  • Black River
    1:50:19
    Black River

    Black River

    Directed by Masaki Kobayashi • 1956 • Japan

    Perhaps Masaki Kobayashi's most sordid film, BLACK RIVER examines the rampant corruption on and around U.S. military bases in Japan following World War II. Kobayashi spirals out from the story of a love triangle that develops between a good-natured stu...

  • I Am Waiting
    1:30:46
    I Am Waiting

    I Am Waiting

    Directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara • 1957 • Japan

    In Koreyoshi Kurahara's directorial debut, rebel matinee idol Yujiro Ishihara (fresh off the sensational Crazed Fruit) stars as a restaurant manager and former boxer who saves a beautiful, suicidal club hostess (Mie Kitahara) trying to escape the clu...

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