Imamura’s sophomore effort and first archiveable film (after Stolen Desire- also from 1958 which is a miss)This has a fully engaging narrative (largely from Lloyd Bacon’s Larceny, Inc with Edward G. Robinson from 1942) and

A film that will be rediscovered by cinephiles in 20 yearsBeautiful opening shot of 1940’s Coney Island with extras in a wide shot opening wide shot of Coney Vittorio Storaro as cinematographer here and it’s

A remake of DeMille’s own 1923 film- this would be DeMille’s last too few of these beautiful shots- keeps it a notch below the works of Lean and Ben Hur from Wyler It’s soapy in

Fletch rolls- the fantastic score helps, the quick-paced editing (entire thing 100 minutes) Chevy’s Fletch gets a proposition to murder someone for $1000 under the name Ted Nugent in 7 minutes- hahaGreat sardonic noir-like voice

Opens, much like perhaps his best (along with Burning) work- Peppermint Candy with a suicide on a bridge. Here Chang-dong Lee distorts the water to his trademark green to open and then it slowly turns

2 of the 14 reviews on RT say “impossible to describe” and I am anything but a good writer—hahaIt is a unique visual experience and exercise—like Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors from Parajanov in 1964 it’s

Mise-en-scene master Imamura gives us a solid B, or B- effort here—constantly messing with the frame in creative ways, he split’s it in half once with an umbrella standMany shots through windows and glassHas the

A film to pair with Varda’s Mur Murs (1981 as well) if you do docs--  64 minutes, non-professional actors (and it hurts in a couple scenes Sabine Mamou who plays the lead here is actually

Thematically it’s in line with the rest Chang-don Lee’s oeuvre- it’s dark- life being sucked out of its protagonistBest actress win at Cannes for Do-yeon Jeon and she is good- a very emotional performances- multiple

Opens en medias res with an action set piece (train scene in mock Monument Valley) a la Spielberg or the James Bond formula- this actually resembles The Last Crusade’s River Phoenix opening a bitRandy Newman’s

Shot in washed out black and white Imamura’s film is a blend of Rossellini’s war trilogy neo-realism and Ozu’s family drama Imamura, as one of the great masters of framing and mise-en-scene, for the scenes

It’s a step back after 1999’s Peppermint Candy from Chang-dong Lee but that’s no insult- it’s just a film that’s in  the archives because of the uniquely (and powerfully) told love story and strong performancesHe’s