Japan

 

PITFALL-1962-After running away from a mining camp a guy (Hisashi Igawa) and his young son and his friend hideout digging coal for an old man. A man dressed in white with a pith helmet seems to be following and photographing them. After deserting that job they take another hauling dirt. He's told about a job in another village but when he and his son go there they find it deserted save for one woman shopkeeper. When he finally encounters the man in white he's attacked and stabbed. He dies but his spirit wanders the village where other spirits reside. Later he follows the police investigation and finds the mysterious things happening have an explanation. After the shopkeeper is raped the man in white kills her. The backdrop is two mines, the old pit and the new one. 

Director Hiroshi Teshigahara presents monster what appears to be an allegory on the protests of conditions for miners. A big issue at the time in Japan. It's both sad and thought provoking. 

Based on a novel by Kobo Abe who also wrote the screenplay, he and Teshigahara would team for four more films including FACE OF ANOTHER.

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Face Of Another

THE FACE OF ANOTHER-1966-This is an interesting sometimes disturbing psychological drama, often advertised as a horror film.



A man is horribly burned in an accident. Although his head is wrapped entirely in bandages he tries to continue to lead his life without much success until a plastic surgeon creates a special mask for him to wear. Though it seems a neat trick the man develops serious identity problems cumulating in his plan to seduce his own wife while in disguise. There’s a lot of talk but direction and acting holds it together. It’s based on a novel by Kobo Abe (who also wrote the screenplay and has a cameo in a bar scene).



Director Hiroshi Teshigahara had previously made the classic WOMAN IN THE DUNES (also based on a Abe novel) but worked only sporadically in film after this, devoting most of his time to painting.



Lead actor Tatsuya Nakadai was in Kurosawa’s YOJIMBO and SANJURO and later in KAGEMUSHA and RAN as well as KWAIDAN and many other famous Japanese films. FACE also features actor Eiji Okada who was in the international films HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR and THE UGLY DUCKING (with Marlon Brando) as well as WOMAN IN THE DUNES.


Thanks for reading!