Blu-ray Review: Sansho the Bailiff (Criterion Collection)
Based on a Japanese short story of the same name, Sansho the Bailiff depicts a world of inexorable cruelty. 11th century Japan is an era when, as the opening credits describe it: “mankind had not yet awakened as human beings.” Aside from a few wealthy landowners, people are treated like chattel, to be worked and […]
Blu-ray Review: High and Low
Best known for his samurai films, director Akira Kurusawa also made some fine crime films. One of his best is 1963’s Tengoku to jigoku, in Japanese, or High and Low, in America. Kurosawa loved western cinema, often taking his cues from the Hollywood western and film noir. Elements of the American western are readily apparent […]