, also titled ''Martial Law'', is a 1973 Japanese drama film directed by

Yoshishige Yoshida , also known as Kijū Yoshida, was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Life and career Graduating from the University of Tokyo, where he studied French literature, Yoshida entered the Shōchiku studio in 1955 and worked as an assistant t ...

. It is based on the life of nationalist intellectual

Ikki Kita was a Japanese author, intellectual and political philosopher who was active in early Shōwa period Japan. Drawing from an eclectic range of influences, Kita was a self-described socialist who has also been described by detractors as the "i ...

and an account of the attempted overthrow of the Japanese government by a group of army officers on 26 February 1936. It is the third film in a loose trilogy, preceded by ''

Eros + Massacre is a 1969 Japanese experimental drama film directed by Yoshishige Yoshida, who wrote it in cooperation with Masahiro Yamada. The film is a biography of anarchist Sakae Ōsugi, who was murdered by the Japanese military police in 1923 (see Ama ...

'' (1969) and '' Heroic Purgatory'' (1970).

Cast

Rentarō Mikuni was a Japanese actor, writer and director, who starred in films of Keisuke Kinoshita, Mikio Naruse, Tadashi Imai, Shōhei Imamura, Tomu Uchida and many others. He received numerous prizes for his performances and was awarded the Jury Prize at t ...

as Kazuki Kitamura * Yasuyo Matsumura as Suzu, Kazuki's wife * Yasuo Miyake as Young soldier * Akiko Kurano as Soldier's wife * Tadahiko Sugano as Nishida *

Taketoshi Naitō was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 70 films between 1953 and 2003. He died of lymphoma on 21 August 2012. Selected filmography Film * ''Mahiru no ankoku'' (1956) * ''An Actress'' (1956) - Akio Satomi * ''The Burmese Harp (1956 film) ...

as Army officer * Kei Iinuma as Iwasa * Kazunaga Tsuji as Heigo Asahi * Masako Yagi as Heigo's sister

Background

''Coup d'État'' was Japan's submission to the

46th Academy Awards The 46th Academy Awards were presented on Tuesday, April 2, 1974, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. The ceremonies were presided over by Burt Reynolds, Diana Ross, John Huston, and David Niven. ''The Sting'' won 7 a ...

for the

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

, but was not accepted as a nominee.

Legacy

''Coup d'État'' was screened at 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 ...

in 2009 as part of a retrospective on Yoshida's work.

References

External links

* * 1973 drama films 1970s Japanese-language films Films directed by Yoshishige Yoshida Japanese black-and-white films Japanese drama films Films set in the Shōwa era Films about coups d'état 1970s Japanese films Japanese-language drama films {{1970s-crime-film-stub

Cast

Background

Legacy

See also

References

External links