, also titled ''Violence at High Noon'', is a 1966 Japanese
crime
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
film directed by
Nagisa Ōshima
was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. One of the foremost directors within the Japanese New Wave, his films include ''In the Realm of the Senses'' (1976), a sexually explicit film set in 1930s Japan, and ''Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence' ...
.
Plot
After housemaid Shino is attacked and tied up and her employer raped and murdered, it turns out that Shino and the intruder, serial killer Eisuke, are from the same rural village. Shino pretends not to be sure about Eisuke's identity and, with the police on her track, travels to
Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...
to meet Mrs. Kura, Eisuke's wife. In a series of
flashbacks it is revealed that Shino, the sole survivor of a
shinjū
''Shinjū'' (心中, the characters for "mind" and "centre") means "double suicide" in Japanese, as in '' Shinjū Ten no Amijima'' (''The Love Suicides at Amijima''), written by the seventeenth-century tragedian Chikamatsu Monzaemon for the ''bun ...
with her lover Genji, was raped afterwards by Eisuke while being unconscious. Village teacher Kura, Genji's former lover, married Eisuke despite her knowledge of his deed, and kept his identity a secret although she knew of his crimes. Back in the present, Shino convinces Kura to turn Eisuke over to the police. After his death sentence, Kura talks Shino into committing suicide with her, which she regards as the last logical act. Kura dies, and Shino is again the sole survivor of a double suicide attempt.
Cast
*
Kei Satō
was a Japanese character actor and narrator. He is known for his work with Japanese New Wave director Nagisa Oshima, and for several films with Kaneto Shindo, such as '' Onibaba'' and '' Kuroneko''. He won the best actor award from ''Kinema Ju ...
as Eisuke Oyamada
* Saeda Kawaguchi as Shino Shinozaki
*
Akiko Koyama
is a Japanese actress. She made her screen debut in 1955 and appeared in nearly 90 films. In 1960 Akiko Koyama married film director Nagisa Oshima, and appeared in some of his films.
Selected filmography
* ''Night and Fog in Japan'' (1960)
* ' ...
as Matsuko Kura
*
Rokkō Toura
was a Japanese stage and film actor active from 1960 to 1993.「個性光る、名脇役」 Asahi Shimbun読売新聞1993 March 26 朝刊31面 He is mostly associated with the films of director Nagisa Ōshima.
Biography
Toura was born Mutsuhi ...
as Genji Hyuga
*
Fumio Watanabe
(October 31, 1929 – August 4, 2004) was a Japanese actor most known for his work with Japanese New Wave director Nagisa Oshima. He was born in Tokyo and graduated from the University of Tokyo before joining the Shōchiku studio in 1956.
S ...
as Detective Haraguchi
*
Taiji Tonoyama
was a Japanese character actor who made many appearances in films and on television from 1939 to 1989. He was a close friend of Kaneto Shindo and one of his regular cast members. He was also an essayist. In 1950 he helped form the film company Ki ...
as Principal
Production
Consisting of over 2,000 single shots, ''Violence at Noon'' was once considered the most highly edited work in Japanese film history.
Legacy
''Violence at Noon'' was presented at retrospectives on Ōshima at the
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
,
the
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA, formerly abbreviated as BAM/PFA) are a combined art museum, repertory movie theater, and archive associated with the University of California, Berkeley. Lawrence Rinder was Director from ...
,
the
Harvard Film Archive
The Harvard Film Archive (HFA) is a film archive and cinema located in the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dedicated to the collection, preservation and exhibition of film, the HFA houses a c ...
and the
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...
.
References
External links
*
*
{{Nagisa Oshima
1966 films
1966 drama films
Japanese drama films
Japanese black-and-white films
Films based on works by Japanese writers
Films directed by Nagisa Ōshima
1960s Japanese films