House (1977)

Described by one reviewer as "an episode of Scooby Doo as directed by Dario Argento", House (ハウス, Hausu) is the first feature film from prolific director and screenwriter Nobuhiko Ōbayashi (大林宣彦). During the 60s, Ōbayashi spent his years following university producing short experimental films, while the next decade saw him directing commercials for television. He was able to use his expertise in these two seemingly divergent fields to produce a wholly engrossing, terrifyingly comic debut in this phantasmagorical coming-of-age nightmare.

According to Ōbayashi, production giant Toho Films was "tired of losing money on completely comprehensible films" and encouraged the director to "produce his own completely incomprehensible script". The result: a plethora of poltergeist phenomena and murderous mayhem; a film "too absurd to be genuinely terrifying, yet too nightmarish to be merely comic".



Fortunately, we here in San Francisco have the opportunity to experience the gut-busting, mind-blowing macabre of House on the big screen during an upcoming showing at the Castro Theater. North American distributor Janus Films is presenting the film in theaters across the country in preparation for its eventual DVD release, possibly slated for later this year. Additional show times and dates can be found by visiting the film's site.

House plays at the Castro Theater on Saturday, April 17th at 7:30 and 9:45p. For more information, click here.

United Red Army (2007)

Jitsuroku: Rengo Sekigun - Asama Sansō E No Michi (a.k.a. United Red Army) - Directed by Kōji Wakamatsu
実録・連合赤軍 あさま山荘への道程 (監督：若松孝二)

As part of a three-week retrospective, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco has been showing a collection of films by director Kōji Wakamatsu, a number of which are being screened in the U.S. for the first time.

Wakamatsu is best known for his racy, provocative films in the "pink eiga" genre, most of which feature a liberal dose of sex, drugs and violence, amplifying the attitude of Japanese counterculture during the 1960s and 70s.

In the final piece of the series, United Red Army, Wakamatsu chooses to focus on the tragic demise of the Red Army Faction, a group of young Japanese radicals whose members proliferated a series of terrorist attacks throughout the 1970s. With the help of archival footage, the 2007 film recreates the events surrounding the Asama-Sansō incident. Largely unknown outside of Japan, this nationally televised event saw police involved in a standoff with the U.R.A. for over a week amidst a heated hostage situation.

"Wakamatsu brilliantly reconstructs the most troubling episode in the bloody history of Japanese student-radical extremism through the true story of the United Red Army faction, which had its roots in the '60s when Japanese students protested America using Japan as a staging base for its war in Vietnam. In 1972, 14 members of the United Red Army faction lynched each other during group “self-criticism” sessions, which quickly degenerated into a ten-day stand-off with the police that is one of the pivotal moments in Japanese history, as famous in Japan as Martin Luther King’s assassination is in America. This gut-wrenching docudrama is underlaid with electrifying psychedelic rock music by Jim O’Rourke." (Michael Prazan)

United Red Army runs for one day only, Thursday, October 29th at 7p, concluding Pink Cinema Revolution: The Radical Films of Kōji Wakamatsu at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

Samurai Rebellion (1967)

Jōiuchi: Hairyō Tsuma Shimatsu (a.k.a. Samurai Rebellion) - Directed by Masayuki Kobayashi
上意討ち：拝領妻始末 (監督：小林正樹)

After a near two-year hiatus (I can't believe it's been that long!), we here at Showa OK! plan on skipping the lengthy apology and picking up right where we left off with another local screening of a powerful Shōwa-era film, director Masayuki Kobayashi's Samurai Rebellion.

Kobayashi's tale of duty, honor and revenge is being presented jointly by the San Francisco Public Library and the Consulate General of Japan in conjunction with the currently ongoing Lords of the Samurai exhibit at the Asian Art Museum. This special screening is free and open to the public.

"Toshiro Mifune stars as Isaburo Sasahara, an aging swordsman living a quiet life until his clan lord orders that his son marry the lord’s mistress, who has recently displeased the ruler. Reluctantly, father and son take in the woman, and, to the family’s surprise, the young couple fall in love. But the lord soon reverses his decision and demands the mistress’s return. Against all expectations, Isaburo and his son refuse, risking the destruction of their entire family. Director Masaki Kobayashi’s Samurai Rebellion is the gripping story of a peaceful man who finally decides to take a stand against injustice." (The Criterion Collection)

As an added bonus, the screening will be followed by a discussion led by iaido ("the way of sword drawing") master Andrej Hendryk Diamantstein concerning the film and its depiction of the samurai way of life.

Lords and Loyalty: Kobayashi's Samurai Rebellion and the Samurai Ethos will be held at Koret Auditorium in the San Francisco Public Library on August 22nd from 2-4.45p.

Lords of the Samurai runs until September 20th.