Based on a novel written by Kamo Shoko.", "image": "https://i.hndrama.com/image/drama/RbEwR_4c.jpg", "genre": [ "drama", "Romance" ], "contentRating": "PG-13", "datePublished": "Nov 22, 1964", "dateModified": "2015-02-23", "startDate": "Nov 22, 1964", "endDate": "", "actor": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Asaoka Ruriko", "alternateName": "浅丘ルリ子, あさおかるりこ, Ruriko Asaoka", "birthDate": "July 02, 1940", "nationality": "Changchun, China", "description": "", "image": "https://i.hndrama.com/image/people/asaoka-ruriko.png" }, { "@type": "Person", "name": "Itami Juzo", "alternateName": "伊丹十三", "birthDate": "May 15, 1933", "nationality": "Japanese", "description": "Juzo Itami, born Yoshihiro Ikeuchi, was a Japanese actor, screenwriter and film director. He directed eleven films, all of which he wrote himself.
The son of Mansaku Itami, prewar director of satiric jidai-geki, Jūzō worked initially as an actor, appearing regularly in Japan and occasionally in English-language productions such as Lord Jim (1965, Richard Brooks). After a major success playing the father in Yoshimitsu Morita’s Family Game (Kazoku gēmu, 1983), he privately financed his first and best film as director, The Funeral (Osōshiki, 1984), a pointed black comedy following a family preparing for their father’s cremation. Though there were occasional sight gags, the main source of the comedy was incongruity: the awkwardness of people unfamiliar with established rituals, or the tactlessness of the crematorium assistant explaining the grisly details of the process to the bereaved relatives. Itami followed this film with an international hit, Tampopo (Tanpopo, 1985), in which the proprietor of a small restaurant learns to make the perfect bowl of ramen noodles, this saga unfolding alongside various sketches on the theme of food. Blending pastiche of the American Western with seasonings of pseudo-Oriental mysticism, this was actually more farce than satire, and one of Itami’s less typical films; his most lightweight work, it was, nevertheless, his funniest.
Itami’s most characteristic vein, however, was one of hectic social satire, typified by the two Taxing Woman films (Marusa no onna, 1987, and Marusa no onna 2, 1988), about a government agent pursuing tax evaders, by A Woman against Extortion (Minbō no onna, 1992), about a lawyer fighting yakuza intimidation in a luxury hotel, and by Ageman (1990), about a former geisha who brings luck to every man who beds her. All were distinguished by feisty performances from Itami’s wife and regular star, Nobuko Miyamoto. The least successful, Ageman, was an uncomfortably broad critique of political corruption and plutocratic greed. The Taxing Woman films, however, were pointed attacks on the unscrupulous rich: not only tax evaders, but also, in the sequel, construction companies breaking up neighborhoods and resorting to intimidation in the pursuit of profit. A Woman against Extortion offered a deglamorized presentation of the yakuza as brutal thugs, a portrayal which had consequences for Itami himself when he was stabbed outside his home shortly after the film’s release. This event was to inspire the director’s final work, Woman of the Witness Protection Program (Marutai no onna, 1997), an unusually grim, if still comedic, drama about a woman threatened by the cultist perpetrators of a murder she has witnessed.
Itami’s most typical films belonged to the era of the bubble economy, whose extravagances were fertile ground for satire. After its collapse, he attempted to expand his range with two relatively serious films. TheLastDance (Daibyōnin, 1993) was the story of a filmmaker diagnosed with cancer while directing a melodrama about a married couple both dying from the same disease. The contrast between the messy reality of death and the sentimentality of the film-within-a-film was effective, though the ending succumbed to the same kind of schmaltz that Itami had previously sent up. AQuietLife (Shizukanaseikatsu, 1995) was a flawed but fascinating story, based on events surrounding the family of Itami’s brother-in-law, author Kenzaburō Ōe, and particularly his mentally handicapped son; the mixture of pathos and violence was effectively handled. Less well judged, in both these films, were the intrusive fantasy sequences and elements of farce. SupermarketWoman (Sūpānoonna, 1996) returned to more characteristic territory: a failing store restores its reputation. Though engaging, it was toothless as satire; indeed, Itami seemed by now to be celebrating the commercial values he had once mocked.
Although he often used eccentric camera angles to humorous effect, Itami’s comedy derived less from style than from situation, and from the resourcefulness of his heroines in the face of adversity. His gags, especially in the Taxing Woman films, were suavely timed and slickly executed, but none of his later films equalled the gravity of The Funeral or the hilarity of Tampopo, and latterly his work became less barbed and somewhat formulaic. Mark Schilling has spoken ironically of his “ability to package his social comedies as adroitly and consistently as McDonald’s packages Big Macs.” Although Itami’s suicide was a personal tragedy, it seems likely that his best work was behind him.
(Source: A Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors)", "image": "https://i.hndrama.com/image/people/kEKnmc.jpg" }, { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matsuo Kayo", "alternateName": "松尾嘉代", "birthDate": "March 17, 1943", "nationality": "Japanese", "description": "Kayo Matsuo is a Japanese actress. She retired from acting following the Kobe earthquake", "image": "https://i.hndrama.com/image/people/kEmOkc.jpg" }, { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ashikawa Izumi", "alternateName": "芦川いづみ", "birthDate": "October 6, 1935", "nationality": "Japanese", "description": "Izumi Ashikawa was a Japanese actress. In 1953, Ashikawa was scouted by director Yuzo Kawashima and joined the Shochiku studio. She made her film debut with Tokyomadamu to Osakafujin directed by Yuzo Kawashima. In 1955, she moved to the Nikkatsu studio and gained popularity.", "image": "https://i.hndrama.com/image/people/vDxbW_5c.jpg" }, { "@type": "Person", "name": "Uenoyama Koichi", "alternateName": "上野山功一", "birthDate": "March 7, 1933", "nationality": "Japanese", "description": "Uenoyama Koichi is a Japanese actor.", "image": "https://i.hndrama.com/image/people/kJYXwc.jpg" }, { "@type": "Person", "name": "Hirata Daisaburo", "alternateName": "平田大三郎", "birthDate": "January 1, 1939", "nationality": "Japanese", "description": "Hirata Daisaburo is a Japanese actor.", "image": "https://i.hndrama.com/image/people/erQ18_5c.jpg" } ], "director": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kurahara Koreyoshi", "alternateName": "蔵原惟繕", "birthDate": "May 31, 1927", "nationality": "Japanese", "description": "He was born in the city of Kuching, then part of the kingdom of Sarawak (now a state of Malaysia) on Borneo. He was the nephew of literary critic Korehito Kurahara, and older brother of film director Koretsugu Kurahara. His son Jun Iwasaki, a former producer for Ishihara International Productions Inc., is currently secretary to politician Nobuteru Ishihara.
While a film student at Nihon University College of Art, he became a live-in student of Kajiro Yamamoto at the introduction of Ishirō Honda. Upon graduation in 1952 he joined Shochiku's Kyoto studio and worked as an assistant director. He switched to Nikkatsu in 1954, working mainly as chief assistant director to Eisuke Takizawa.
He made his directorial debut in 1957 with I Am Waiting, starring Yujiro Ishihara, and gained recognition for his bold camera work and angles. He subsequently directed numerous films starring Ishihara and Ruriko Asaoka.
In 1960 he made the first Japanese film noir Intimidation and in 1964 he made the film Black Sun the story of a Black GI on the run who meets a Japanese jazz fan with a soundtrack from Max Roach's band featuring Clifford Jordan and Abbey Lincoln. The soundtrack was issued on CD in Japan only in 2007.
Eight Below is dedicated to him.
After going freelance in 1967, he helmed a succession of blockbusters and popular works including Eiko e no 5,000 Kiro, Kitakitsune Monogatari, The Gate of Youth and Umi e, See You. His 1983 film Nankyoku Monogatari was a 5.9 billion yen hit and held the Japanese box office record for a domestic film until it was surpassed by Miyazaki Hayao's Princess Mononoke in 1997. (Source: Wikipedia)", "image": "https://i.hndrama.com/image/people/10DOzc.jpg" } ], "trailer": { "@type": "VideoObject", "name": "Trailer for The Flame of Devotion", "embedUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/embed/", "thumbnailUrl": "https://img.youtube.com/vi//0.jpg" }, "productionCompany": [ { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Unknown", "description": "", "logo": "/app/manga/themes/kissasian/assets/images/noposter.jpg" } ], "countryOfOrigin": { "@type": "Country", "name": "Japan" }, "numberOfEpisodes": "1", "episode": [ { "@type": "TVEpisode", "name": "Episode 1", "url": "https://ww5.kissasian.video/watch/the-flame-of-devotion/episode-1.html", "episodeNumber": 1, "datePublished": "2015-02-23" } ]
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