Masaki Kobayashi
Masaki Kobayashi
The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959)
The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity (1959)
The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961)
RANKED:
8. Black River (1957)
Masaki Kobayashi's 1957 film "Black River" finds a group of tenants in a shack around a U.S. military base in Japan. As the landlady attempts to sell, drama stirs between the inhabitants. The central story focuses on a love triangle between a good-natured student, his innocent girlfriend, and a coldhearted petty criminal. "Black River" demonstrates the sordid lawlessness and rampant corruption that occurred during the U.S. occupation of Japan. While the good-natured characters attempt to fight against this corruption, everyone else just seems to fall in line.
7. The Inheritance (1962)
After his megalithic film series, "The Human Condition," Masaki Kobayashi returned to a smaller, more restrained story with 1962's "The Inheritance." Obviously framed in noir stylings and jazz scores, the film's plot concerns a dying businessman orchestrating his will. The surrounding cast of characters plot and scheme to acquire his inheritance. Kobayashi does an impeccable job of situating these money-chasing characters into the cold, industrial modern world. Their environment is an extension of them and them an extension of their environment. "The Inheritance" certainly displays Kobayashi's bleak outlook on modern greed and corruption.
6. I Will Buy You (1956)
Released the same year as his prison drama, "The Thick-Walled Room," Masaki Kobayashi's 1956 film "I Will Buy You" centers on a major league baseball recruiter attempting to win over the contract of an up-and-coming homerun hitter. The film differentiated itself from most Japanese works of this period by centering on a topic not typically discussed. As its characters bride, manipulate, and do everything in their power to yield a contract, their humanity begins to crumble. Every person turns into a commodity, every communication turns into negotiation, and every decision becomes a contract. In the post-war landscape surrounded by American imperialism, Japan was swept up in a capitalism and consumerism. "I Will Buy You" is a staunch attempt to critique this burgeoning attitude of wealth accumulation.
5. The Thick-Walled Room (1956)
Despite having made five films before 1956, Masaki Kobayashi's career only truly started as an auteur when he released "The Thick-Walled Room." Although it was filmed in 1953, the Japanese government prohibited its released due to possible conflict with the Americans due to anti-American sentiments within the film. "The Thick-Walled Room" centers on a group of B and C class war criminals imprisoned for their crimes. Their traumatic reflections, along with the their resentments over the Americans and their own government, paint a very complex picture of these prisoners. The film caused a lot of controversy. But, it also raised a lot of questions about the mistreatment of labelled 'war criminals' and posits notions of innocence on these men. Along with this, the film criticizes the Japanese government's militarization and misuse of public support. "The Thick Wall-Room" started a series of films by Kobayashi that centers on the complexities of the human soul and took Japanese cinema into new terrains.
4. The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961)
If you watched the first two installments of Masaki Kobayashi's "The Human Condition" trilogy, was there ever a consideration that the final film would result in a neat, happy, bow-tying ending? 1961's "A Soldier's Prayer" finds our pacifist protagonist, Kaji, at his lowest points. After the disbanding of the Japanese army, Kaji and a group of weary soldiers and refuges are trying to get back home. However, they face nothing but hardship from both environment and humanity. It's a difficult watch, especially seeing our once-pacifist being beaten down time and time again and watching his morals and values erode from underneath him. War is hell. But what "A Soldier's Prayer" demonstrates is that it breaks even the most benevolent of us all.
3. The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity (1959)
The second installment of Masaki Kobayashi's "Human Condition" trilogy, called "Road to Eternity" was released in the same year as its predecessor, 1959. Following the continued story of Kaji, a pacifist during World War II, "Road to Eternity" demonstrates the difficulties in maintaining one's humanity during the most inhumane conditions. After losing his military exemption for protecting Chinese prisoners, Kaji is now a conscript in Japan's army. Labelled as a "red,' Kaji faces mistreatment and is given the most difficult duties. However, after given command over older conscripts, he attempts to restructure military training to reflect his pacifist ideals. What "Road to Eternity" demonstrates, along with the other installments, is how institutional demoralization and systematic corrupt malpractice can completely wither away the ethics and morals of the human soul. Violence and war only beget violence and war, even amongst the ranks of those fighting on the same side.
2. The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959)
In making "The Human Condition" trilogy, Masaki Kobayashi crafted perhaps one of the greatest Japanese epics of its Golden Age. Many of the film coming out of this cinematic renaissance either directly or indirectly reconciled with Japan's dark relationship with World War II. These films were deeply reflective of the war's far reaching effects - not just on the post-war period that followed - but on an entire people reflecting on their own complex complicity in the moral corruption that ensued. "The Human Condition" not only directly touched on these themes, but epitomized the entire cinematic landscape of a nation. Part I of this trilogy, subtitled "No Greater Love" adeptly explores the difficulty in remaining pacifistic against a nationalistic machine that demands adherence to its depravity. This unflinching view of a nation's own recent past would be fumbled in the hands of anyone other than Kobayashi, whose sprawling epic is as courageous as its central character.
1. Harakiri (1962)
Masaki Kobayashi's 1962 jidaigeki film "Harakiri" is one of the most striking and subversive samurai films of its era. Starring the incomparable Tatsuya Nakadai, the film centers on a ronin in 1930 who presents himself before the estate of the Iyi clan wanting to commit seppuku within their courtyard palace. What really drives the film is the mystery surrounding the reason of this request. The plot creeps along knowing its audience is anticipating its next step. As we continue down the path of revelation, the protagonists intentions grow increasingly clear. With that clarity, comes anticipatory excitement of a climatic explosion. Our protagonist ronin's final accomplishment is illustrating the hollowness of the clan's power and the hypocrisy of their own members in following tradition. The film boldly questions the traditions of the samurai way and how it was used by the powerful to shield them from accountability and righteousness. Suspenseful, action-packed, and philosophically thrilling, "Harakiri" packs a thematic punch while maintaining a sense of entertainment value.
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