Pale Flower
8.6 /10 1 Votes
4/4 Roger Ebert 8/10 Letterboxd Genre Crime, Thriller Story by Shintaro Ishihara Country Japan | 7.8/10 IMDb 86% Rotten Tomatoes Director Masahiro Shinoda Music director Toru Takemitsu Duration Language Japanese | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Release date 1964 (1964) Writer Shintaro Ishihara (based on the novel by), Masaru Baba (screenplay), Masahiro Shinoda (screenplay) Cast Ryô Ikebe (Muraki), Mariko Kaga (Saeko), Takashi Fujiki (Yoh), Chisako Hara (Yakuza's lover), Eijirô Tôno (Gang leader), Seiji Miyaguchi (Gang leader) Similar movies John Wick, The Equalizer, Black Rain, The Yakuza, Stray Cat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pale flower 1964 trailer the criterion collection
Pale Flower (乾いた花, Kawaita hana) is a 1964 Japanese film noir directed by Masahiro Shinoda. The film is about Muraki (Ryo Ikebe) a Yakuza hitman just released from prison. At an illegal gambling parlor, he finds himself drawn to a mysterious young woman named Saeko (Mariko Kaga). Though Saeko loses large sums of money, she asks Muraki to find games with larger and larger stakes. The two become involved in an intense mutually destructive relationship. Film critic Roger Ebert gave Pale Flower four stars and put it on his list of Great Movies.
Contents
- Pale flower 1964 trailer the criterion collection
- Pale flower crime scene
- Production
- Release
- Home video
- References
Pale flower crime scene
Production
Director Shinoda was influenced by Charles Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal while making the film. Shinoda chose the subject of yakuza as he felt the yakuza world is the only place where a Japanese ceremonial structure is sustained.
Release
When screenwriter Masaru Baba saw Shinoda's film focus on visual and sound, he complained to the managers at the company Shochiku. This led to a nine-month delay of the film's release.
Home video
Homevision released a Region 1 DVD of Pale Flower on November 18, 2003. The Criterion Collection have released a new DVD and Blu-ray edition of the film that features a new video interview with Masahiro Shinoda and selected-scene audio commentary by film scholar Peter Grilli .
References
Pale Flower WikipediaPale Flower IMDbPale Flower Roger EbertPale Flower Rotten TomatoesPale Flower LetterboxdPale Flower themoviedb.org