Tribute to Yasuzô Masumura 2023 / Heitai yakuza / Japan 1965
Vehement anti-militarism was a recurrent theme in Masumura’s work, and Hoodlum Soldier is his most disparaging take on the subject – a sardonic attack on Japan’s imperialism and the classist, hierarchical military system. This buddy comedy centers on the unlikely friendship that develops between Kisaburo, a hell-raising ex-yakuza gangster unwillingly turned into a military soldier (Shintarô Katsu, star of the Zatoichi series) and Arita (Takahiro Tamura), a meek pacifist intellectual, as they venture to find a way out of the army. Shot with a vivid realism uncommon in Masumura’s films, Hoodlum Soldier is a precursor to Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H: an uproariously funny, immensely entertaining war picture that champions survival and individualism over hollow patriotism.
Joseph Fahim
103 min / Black & white, DCP
Director Yasuzô Masumura
/ Screenplay Ryuzo Kikushima
/ Dir. of Photography Setsuo Kobayashi
/ Music Naozumi Yamamoto
/ Sound Kisao Tobita
/ Editor Tatsuji Nakasizu
/ Art Director Tomoo Shimogawara
/ Producer Masaichi Nagata
/ Production DAIEI studio, Kadokawa Corporation
/ Cast Shintarô Katsu, Takahiro Tamura, Keiko Awaji
/ Sales Kadokawa Corporation
Kadokawa Corporation
2-13-12 Fujimi, Chiyoda-ku, 102-8552, Tokyo
Japan
Phone: +81 807 233 6972
E-mail: [email protected]
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