• Doom Love

    In a nostalgic piece for the New York Times, editor and journalist Wendell Jamieson has revealed his true love: samurai films. He describes a time when he and his childhood pals would frequent the late Bleecker Street Cinema on Japanese movie day. They would absorb as many samurai films as they could, then act out the duels they’d just seen on the streets of Manhattan. His enduring favorite, which he recalls watching in “stunned silence,” was Kihachi Okamoto’s stunningly violent The Sword of Doom, starring Tatsuya Nakadai. Jamieson includes a video essay with the piece, which dissects one of the film’s action scenes, an elaborately choreographed single tracking shot down a fog-enshrouded forest road during which Nakadai levels a line of enemies with single-minded drive and catlike elegance. And the piece informs New York readers that The Sword of Doom will be screening on Friday, February 18, at Japan Society.

    Clippings

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5 comments

  • By MA
    February 15, 2011
    04:28 PM

    You should be wary of posting anything and everything that pops up about films in the collection, brilliant as the films may be. Jamieson's commentary over the clip is not "nostalgic", it actually manages, in a short period, to be by turns uninteresting, obvious and tasteless, and may put one off the movie altogether.
    Reply

  • By Michael Koresky
    February 15, 2011
    05:16 PM

    It's the written article they linked to that's "nostalgic," not the clip. And the article is all about his childhood fascination with samurai. Read better, MA.
    Reply

  • By MA
    February 15, 2011
    07:05 PM

    I stand corrected, I immediately jumped to the link for the clip, and was angry that it failed to "dissect" as stated above. But I also note that you didn't exactly disagree with my statement, Richard.
    Reply

  • By dfree
    February 16, 2011
    05:22 PM

    Oh man, don’t let the commentary distract you. This is a really entertaining movie. Was suppose to be a trilogy however they didn’t have enough money. Also Tishro Mifune is in it. Need I say more?
    Reply

  • By dfree
    February 19, 2011
    12:25 PM

    ....and Tatsuya Nakadai. One of the most underratted actors in the history of cinema. The man is a cameleon, blends in to his roles.
    Reply

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