Yoko Takahashi. Photo by Brett Homenick.
On Monday. January 14, I was able to attend another interesting film screening.
The movie was Hangyaku no Tabi (1976), produced by Shochiku Studios. The movie is a hard-boiled actioner -- at least by Shochiku standards, which is the studio that bought us the films of Yasujiro Ozu and the Tora-san series. The flick opens with a brutal killing, and things only get more violent from there. It's certainly not wall-to-wall action, and the violence was depicted in a realistic way. Of particular interest to me was the giant poster for King Kong (1976) that could be seen briefly in the background of an outdoor location.
Two notable actresses who appear in the film were guests at the event.
The main guest was Yoko Takahashi. Takahashi-san's best-known work in the West is the Oscar-nominated Sandakan 8 (1974). She also can be seen in Kon Ichikawa's The Devil's Ballad (1977).
Also in attendance was Rie Yokoyama. Yokoyama-san appears in Nagisa Oshima's Diary of a Shinjuku Burglar (1969), Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion (1972), episode 10 of Horror Theater Unbalance (1973), Zatoichi's Conspiracy (1973), and Kinji Fukasaku's New Battles without Honor and Humanity: Last Days of the Boss (1976).
I've met Takahashi-san several times over the years, but this was my first time to meet Yokoyama-san. Due to my work schedule, I had to leave shortly after the movie ended, but I was happy to see it in 35mm.
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