AFL: Year of Release 1979 ~ 1970

2020/3/11

Year of Release: 1979

Taro, The Dragon Boy (龍の子太郎)

Taro, the dragon boy is living with his grandmother in a tiny village in the mountains. A long-nosed genie appears when he is playing with the animals and challenges him to a fight. It is a close contest. The genie begins to like Taro and grants him the strength of a hundred men. His mother turned into a dragon as she ate the forbidden fish out of hunger when she was pregnant with him has been missing ever since she gave birth to him. Taro sets out to locate his mother when he learns the truth from his grandmother.
Duration: 75mins Genre: Animation, Fantasy
Director: Kiriro Urayama (浦山桐郎)
Cast: Mîna Tominaga, Kazuo Kitamura, Kazuo Kumakura and Junya Kato

Year of Release: 1978

The Incident (事件)

The body of a young woman slain with a knife is found in a forest located in the town of Tsuchida along the Sagami River in Kanagawa Prefecture. The victim is Hatsuko Sakai, 23, proprietress of the snack bar Cattleya in front of Atsugi Station. Several days later, Hiroshi Ueda, a 19 year old shipyard worker is arrested.
Duration: 139mins Genre: Drama, Crime, Mystery
Director: Yoshitaro Nomura (野村芳太郎)
Cast: Toshiyuki Nagashima, Keiko Matsuzaka, Shinobu Otake, Shinsuke Ashida and Tetsuro Tamba

Year of Release: 1975

The Slope in the Sun (陽の当たる坂道)

Tashiro Shinji is the second son of a successful publisher. His mother is extremely beautiful. He has an older brother who is a promising physician, still unmarried. His younger sister, Kumiko, is active and well-liked. She has been crippled since childhood from an accident which Shinji was believed to have caused. Somehow, his presence in the family is odd. Shinji is free as a bird and has his own way. In contrast to his ‘perfect’ brother, he acts the role of a juvenile delinquent in the house. But the warmness of his heart, which he unsuccessfully tries to conceal, has won the trust and love of his sister.
Duration: 116mins Genre: Drama
Director: Yasuhiro Yoshimatsu (吉松安弘)
Cast: Ishihara Yujiro, Kitahara Mie, Senda Koreya and Todoroki Yukiko

Year of Release: 1972

My Voiceless Friend (ああ声なき友よ)

Toward the end of the Pacific War, Tamiji Nishiyama falls ill before the departure of his squadron to the front. He is hospitalized and going to be sent back to the homeland. His buddies trust him with their last messages to their wives, lovers and parents. Then the soldiers are dispatched to the south only to be annihilated. Tamiji on the other hand is repatriated with the letters after the armistice. He now dedicates his life to delivering the letters.
Duration: 106mins Genre: Drama, War
Director: Tadashi Imai (今井正)
Cast: Kiyoshi Atsumi, Koji Matsumoto, Kazuo Kitamura, Mayumi Ogawa and Chieko Baisho

Year of Release: 1971

Swords of Death (真剣勝負)

While going from province to province, Miyamoto Musashi visits Shishido Baiken who is well known as the adept of the Yaegaki-ryu, the school of chain-saw technique. When they are drinking and talking about the old times, Baiken excuses himself to take his wife Omaki outside the house. There, he tells her to fetch a 8-men group of his subordinates as he has found that Musashi is the man who killed her brother.
Late at night, each of Baiken’s subordinates gathers at his house, carrying arms suited to each of their skills. At the signal from Baiken, they raid into the room Musashi is sleeping, but, only to find an empty bed. Musashi, having felt an uneasy air has leaped outside. At dawn, in the wilderness, Musashi faces individually each of Baiken’s subordinates. He beats all of them one by one. However, Musashi has a difficult duel with Baiken as his chain-saw with heavy weight is formidable. As he sees it is a tough fight, Musashi takes Baiken’s son Taroji as hostage and continues a long duel.
Duration: 76mins Genre: Feature, Samurai Film, Drama
Director: Tomu Uchida (内田吐夢)
Cast: Nakamura Kinnosuke, Mikuni Rentaro, Okiyama Hideo and Matsuyama Hideaki

Year of Release: 1970
Where Spring Comes Late (家族) © Shochiku	It is April. On a small island near Kyushu lives a coal mining family. When the company of Seiichi, the husband, goes bankrupt, he makes up his mind to move to reclaimed land in Hokkaido where he intends to start life anew with his family. Duration: 106mins Genre: Drama Director: Yoji Yamada (山田洋次) Cast: Baisho Chieko, Igawa Hisashi, Ryu Chishu and Kinoshita Takeshi

AFL: Year of Release 1979 ~ 1970

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