Koreyoshi Kurahara

 Koreyoshi Kurahara




I Am Waiting (1957)

Intimidation (1960)



RANKED:

2. Intimidation (1960)


Although it is only one hour in length, Koreyoshi Kurahara's 1960 noir "Intimidation" certainly packs quite a punch. The film centers on a local bank manager who is blackmailed into robbing his own bank. Kurahara excels at demonstrating how low we're all willing to go to get ahead in the new economic landscape and "Intimidation" really cuts to the point of it in a short-and-sweet way.




1. I Am Waiting (1957)


One of Koreyoshi Kurahara's earliest success as a filmmaker was his 1957 film "I Am Waiting." In order to compete with American and French films at the Japanese box office, "I Am Waiting" was stylized after the popular American noir. American noir had started to die down at this point in favor of epic color films, but the style was still hanging around and attracting audiences, so Japanese filmmakers felt they needed to compete. The film is a reunion of its two main stars, Yujiro Ishiara and Mie Kitahara. Both starred previously in 1956's "Crazed Fruit," a seminal work in the Sun Tribe genre. "I Am Waiting" is an engaging noir that Kurahara stylzed with the genre's typical flavors of expressionism. The dark and hazy environment the characters find themselves in mirrors their murky and unfortunate circumstances. It is a subversive entry into an insanely popular genre and is considered one of the greatest entries to come out of the Japanese noir period.


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