Pitfall (1962 film)

Based on a novel by Kobo Abe, Otoshiana (Pitfall) is the story of a miner who leaves his employer and treks out with his young son to become a migrant worker where they are followed by a mysterious man in a white suit. Directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara and written by Abe, the film is an experimental feature that explore elements of surrealism and drama as it play into a simple premise that becomes troubling. Starring Hisashi Igawa, Kazuo Miyahara, and Kanichi Omiya. Otoshiana is an evocative yet haunting film from Hiroshi Teshigahara.

The film follows a miner who leaves his job to find a new job as a migrant worker as he brings along his young son where they’re tailed by a mysterious man in a white suit while finding themselves in a desolate small village. It’s a film with a simple premise as it plays more into some of the social politics of post-war Japan as it relates to rural areas where not much progress is happening where a miner is with his young son as they trek through the area to find work as a migrant worker hoping for something better than mining. Kobo Abe’s screenplay does have a traditional structure as much of its premise takes place in the first act where a miner (Hisashi Igawa) has deserted his place in one mine to go to another place to find work yet he is followed by this mysterious man (Kunie Tanaka).

Upon meeting a shopkeeper (Sumie Sasaki), the miner encounters the mysterious man where it would become deadly as it would lead to an unusual second act where the miner becomes a ghost seeing what this town had become and later learn of a political struggle involving two mining factions as one of them looks exactly like the miner. Even as the second act has a reporter (Kei Sato) trying to figure out why the miner was murdered believing it has something to do with this conflict between two union leaders.

Hiroshi Teshigahara’s direction has elements of style in its approach to surrealism but it is also low-key in its simplicity. Shot on location in Kyushu, Teshigahara does use stock footage of mining in Japan as well as this growing political and social struggle that was emerging in the 1960s that is removed from the post-war boom in Japan’s major cities. The usage of stock footage adds to the film’s offbeat tone where it does play like a documentary mixed in with a traditional fictional narrative yet it would come into play during its second act following the miner’s death as he’s trying to understand what happened to him. Teshigahara’s usage of close-ups and medium shots get him to showcase some of the action including the murder as it is witnessed by the shopkeeper and the miner’s son (Kazuo Miyahara) who would remain silent throughout the film not exactly sure what he saw.

Teshigahara’s direction also captures a lot of coverage into the locations with some unique wide shots of the local village that is desolate and what the miner would later see as a ghost when the village was thriving. It would be a sharp contrast to what is happening as it play into this conflict between union leaders with the miner’s double Otsuka running a new mine that is thriving as he is baffled by what happened at the old mine pit as he would figure out what is going on while the opposing union leader Toyama (Sen Yano) would also go to the old mine pit to find out what has been happening. Yet, it all plays into the fates carried out by this mysterious man in white as well as the miner who deals with some of the futilities of death. Overall, Teshigahara crafts a rapturous yet chilling film about a miner’s desire for a better life is stopped by a mysterious figure who plays with the fates of many.

Cinematographer Hiroshi Segawa does brilliant work with the film’s black-and-white cinematography as it play into the desolate landscape of the location with its natural approach to lighting and usage of available light for a few scenes set at night. Editor Fusako Morimichi does excellent work with the editing as it help play into the suspense and drama with some rhythmic cuts while maintaining some long shots and knowing when not to cut. Production designer Kiyoshi Awazu and art director Masao Yamazaki do terrific work with the look of the shopkeeper’s shop in its ruined state as well as the village itself when it was a thriving place at the time. The sound work of Kenji Mori, Junosuke Okuyama, and Toru Takemitsu does superb work with the sound in capture the atmosphere of the locations as well as help play into the usage of sound to play up the drama and suspense. The film’s music by Toshi Ichiyanagi, Yuji Takahashi, and Toru Takemitsu is incredible for its array of music ranging from dissonant string-based pieces, traditional Japanese folk and woodwinds, and low-key orchestral cuts that help play into the drama and suspense.

The film’s wonderful cast feature some notable small roles from Hideo Kazne as a corrupt policeman who uses the shopkeeper for sexual favors and Kazuo Miyahara as the miner’s son who would see what really happened but is unable to understand what is going on as he prefers to get candy from the shopkeeper’s shop. Kei Sato is terrific as the reporter trying to understand what is going on as well as see if there is anything off about the murder while Kunie Tanaka is superb in his mysterious role as the man in the white suit who seems to be a man in control of the fates of everyone. Sen Yano is fantastic as a rival union leader in Toyama who believes something about the miner’s murder isn’t right as he is convinced it’s a conspiracy against him. Sumie Sasaki is excellent as the shopkeeper as a woman who would witness the miner’s murder but would give police officials false reports as it would play into her own morality and fate. Finally, there’s Hisashi Igawa in a brilliant dual performance as the poor miner and the mining leader Otsuka where he displays that air of confusion and frustration in the former while being more reserved and suspicious as the latter as is disturbed that the murder victim looks a lot like himself.

Otoshiana is an incredible film from Hiroshi Teshigahara. Featuring a great cast, gorgeous visuals, an eerie music score, and chilling themes of death and fate amidst a social and political struggle in rural areas of Japan. The film is an exploration of a man trying to find work in an unknown world only to deal with the fact that he has no control of his fates and its aftermath. In the end, Otoshiana is a sensational film from Hiroshi Teshigahara.

Hiroshi Teshigahara Films: Woman in the Dunes - The Face of Another – (The Man Without a Map) – (Summer Soldiers) – Antonio Gaudi - (Rikyu) – (Princess Goh)

© thevoid99 2019

Dodesukaden

Based on the book The Town Without Seasons by Shugoro Yamamoto, Dodesukaden is the story about the daily lives of a group of people living in the Tokyo slums struggling to survive. Directed by Akira Kurosawa and screenplay by Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, and Shinobu Hashimoto, the film marks Kurosawa’s first feature shot in color to capture the lives of different people living in a world that is away from the more vibrant world of Tokyo. Starring Yoshitaka Zushi, Kin Sugai, and Toshiyuki Tonomura. Dodesukaden is an extraordinary film from the legendary Akira Kurosawa.

The film is essentially a loose collection of stories about a group of people who live near the Tokyo slums as the film explores the lives of these people in the span of a few days. Among them is a young mentally-challenged man (Yoshitaka Zushi) who pretends to be a train operator since he lives next door to a train rail with his mother. Other characters include a reliable old man who tries to help as many people as he can, a reclusive man who is estranged from his wife, two drunken men whose wives decide to swap husbands for a while, a man with a twitch and an unappreciated wife, a young woman who works for an abusive alcoholic uncle, and a father and son dealing with starvation as they dream for a better world.

The film’s lack of conventional plot does allow Akira Kurosawa and his co-writers in Hideo Oguni and Shinobu Hashimoto to create numerous stories about these people as it includes a small group of women who are the center of the slum village washing clothes or whatever as they comment on everything that is around them. Some of these stories about these people do have character developments that would help advance the stories such as the old man trying to help out various people including a suicidal man, a violent man swinging a sword, and eventually the people in his village through whatever situations. Then there’s the girl Hatsutaro (Kunie Tanaka) who is dealing with her uncle’s abuse where she doesn’t say a word until the last ten minutes where she speaks about why she did what she did to a delivery boy in relation to her uncle’s abuse.

The film’s loose screenplay with its lack of structure and storytelling conventions is at times hard to follow because there isn’t anything that is synonymous with traditional screen schematics. Through Akira Kurosawa’s direction, it allows the film to be told visually to establish a world that is unique and also imaginative. Shot in a 1:33:1 full-frame aspect ratio, Kurosawa allows the frame to say a lot with its close-up and medium shots while maintaining a sense of theatricality in some of the performances. Even in scenes that play to certain fantasies such as the father and son discussing their idea of their dream home or the backgrounds around the slums where it has an air of surrealism though the film is shot largely in an actual slum village.

With the use of mostly unknowns, with the exception of a few Kurosawa regulars, Kurosawa is able to create performance that is natural such as the character Ruku-chan who opens the film with praying to Buddha for his mother as he leaves to work in his imaginary train station and the film ends with him in an appropriate manner as if he just finished his work day. Throughout the entirety of the film, Kurosawa is always taking his time to explore each character and their own issues where some its comical while others are quite dramatic. Notably in scenes where there’s something bad could be happening but Kurosawa always finds a way to not play to the schematics of suspense in order to let it play in an unexpected way. Overall, the result is a truly rich and hypnotic film from Akira Kurosawa.

Cinematographers Yasumichi Fukuzawa and Takao Saito do amazing work with the colorful cinematography from the colorful sunny exteriors and nighttime scenes to the way some of the interiors are lit including the array of color windows in Ruku-chan‘s home. Editor Reiko Kaneko does nice work with the editing by essentially keeping it straightforward to the cutting without a lot of style while creating some seamless transitions to move one story to another. Art directors Shinobu and Yoshiro Muraki do brilliant work with the look of the homes many of the characters live in while Ruku-chan’s home is filled with children’s drawing of trains as it plays to the character’s innocence.

Costume designer Miyuki Suzuki does excellent work with the costumes to play up the characters‘ environment where some look shabby while other try to look respectable. Sound effects editor Ichiro Minawa does superb work with the sound effects to create Ruku-chan‘s sense of fantasy to play out his idea that he‘s working on a train. The film’s score by Toru Takemitsu is wonderful for its mixture of folk-driven music with guitars, harmonicas, and flutes to more orchestral flourishes where the latter plays out a lot of the film’s drama.

The film’s cast is phenomenal as it features a lot of non-actors in the role while Kurosawa veterans like Kunie Tanaka as the troubled Hatsutaro and Kin Sugai as her ailing aunt are very good in their small roles. The real standout is Yoshitaka Zushi as the mentally-challenged Ruku-chan whose charismatic and innocent performance brings a lot of joy to the film.

While it may be considered to be minor Akira Kurosawa in terms of the work he did in his later years, Dodesukaden is still an enriching and delightful film from the Japanese master. Fans of loosely-told stories will enjoy this for its unconventional storytelling while fans of Akira Kurosawa will see this as a worthwhile experiment though it falls short with many of his samurai and othe dramatic features. In the end, Dodesukaden is a beautiful and enchanting film from Akira Kurosawa.

Akira Kurosawa Films: (Sanshiro Sugata) - (The Most Beautiful) - (Sanshiro Sugata Pt. II) - (The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail) - No Regrets on Our Youth - (One Wonderful Sunday) - Drunken Angel - (The Quiet Duel) - Stray Dog - Scandal (1950 film) - Rashomon - The Idiot (1951 film) - Ikiru - The Seven Samurai - (I Live in Fear) - Throne of Blood - (The Lower Depths (1957 film)) - The Hidden Fortress - The Bad Sleep Well - Yojimbo - Sanjuro - High and Low - Red Beard - Dersu Uzala - Kagemusha - Ran - Dreams (1990 film) - (Rhapsody in August) - (Madadayo)

© thevoid99 2012