[ RaroVideo.com ] visioni:underground(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-09)
HideoGosha was born in Tokyo and studied economics and commerce at Meiji University.
Gosha remained a specialist of the “chambara” genre until the end of his career in parable films on honour and decadence, loyalty and betrayal.
HideoGosha then shocked his public with an extremely violent yakuza film, set in the twenties, Shussho Iwai (1971) as well as with the historical fresco Ni-ni-roku (1989), on the 1936 revolt of officers of the imperial armada.
HideoGosha'sHitokiri is set against the background of such profiteers, in particular the Tosa Loyalist Party headed by Hanpeita Takechi (portrayed by Gosha regular Nakadai).
This condemnation of arrogance is central to the way Gosha approaches the actions of Takechi and his ilk, for whom loyalty to the emperor is merely a front.
In Gosha and Katsu's portrayal of the character, there is always a sense of compassion for a simple soul swept away by powers beyond his control and comprehension.
That is why, in samurai terms, you'd be better off to choose HideoGosha, a couple of whose largely unseen films swing into general view this month as part of two film series, one at Landmark's E Street Cinema, the other at the AFI Silver Theatre.
Gosha was a true auteur with a vision, a style, a set of concerns, a preference for certain actors and certain kinds of stories, but at the same time he worked in the real world of Japanese samurai filmmaking and played by its conventions; he had no dreams of global transcendence.
Gosha could play all those games; he could work large or small and he was a genius at staging action.
Gosha’s use of the B&W Cinemascope frame is astonishing, with a down-to-earth, hardboiled ambience rarely seen in early 1960s samurai pictures.
Director HideoGosha’s samurai masterpiece is an unrelenting vision of snow and fire, ravens screeching and swords flashing in the darkness.
Gosha was forced to reshoot half the film when original co-star Toshiro Mifune walked out (apparently because of the fierce cold!) — and the cold in GOYOKIN is, in truth, all-consuming, freezing hands to swords.
However, people like Tai Kato and HideoGosha were men who certainly managed to inject their personal touches, and it's something of a shame that their name and work, and thus the importance of the ninkyo eiga themselves, are not better known abroad.
Making his debut in 1964, HideoGosha divided his time between gangster and samurai films for much of the 1960s and 70s, working mainly at Toho and Toei studios, before the fall of the studio system forced him into the role of a journeyman working in a variety of genres in the 80s.
To cement the deal, the Kanno boss is about to marry Aya, the daughter of the late Enokiya leader and formerly girlfriend of Iwahashi's friend Tsutomu, who mysteriously vanished after benefiting from the same general pardon that got Iwahashi out of jail.
Amazon.com: Hunter in the Dark (1979) : Video(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-09)
I like many of GoshaHideo's work in the 1960's, such as Three Samurai(Sanbiki no Samurai), Goyokin, and the one-eyed swordsman Tange Sazen.
Gosha did an excellent job in casting the movie, and all were excellent in their roles.
HideoGosha is one of the world's great directors and it is unfortunate his films Tenchu and Goyokin are not more readily available, as well as his early classics such as Three Outlaw Samurai and Sword of the Beast.
HideoGosha is one of Japan's finest jidaigeki directors and with his second feature, Sword of the Beast, he firmly set a course for what are considered two of the genre's best, Tenchu and Goyokin.
In the case of Gosha, it was Tatsuya Nakadai who became his John Wayne, but before that there was Mikijiro Hiro (Adventures of Zatoichi), a genre regular who starred in Gosha's first two movies.
Gosha's main hook or angle is the defining of man as beast and while he does a solid job of handling it, it's not as fleshed out or as boldly stated as it could have been.
Hideo Gosha DVDs - Asian DVD Guide Forum(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-09)
The Gosha films specifically mentioned in the article are Tange Sazen: The Secret Of The Urn, Samurai Wolf, and Samurai Wolf 2.
Panorama released quite a few Gosha films in HK, but the quality was close to unwatchable (in fact I never got through a whole one, because for some reason they always put me to sleep within 30 minutes!).
The director of the same company has said in an interview that Gosha is one of the directors they will release more films of.
Amazon.com: Sword of the Beast - Criterion Collection: DVD: Hideo Gosha,Mikijiro Hira,Go Kato,Shima Iwashita,Toshie ...(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-09)
Legendary swordplay filmmaker HideoGosha Sword of the Beast chronicles the flight of Gennosuke, who kills one of his clan's ministers as part of a reform plot.
Gosha also favors the ballet of swordplay without resorting to blood sprays and such excesses.
The DVD Journal | Quick Reviews: Sword of the Beast: The Criterion Collection(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-09)
One of the earlier films by acclaimed chambara director HideoGosha, Sword of the Beast (1965) is full of the elements that define that genre of Japanese filmmaking well-shot swordplay and a sharply defined line between good and evil, with the evil getting their just desserts.
Gosha's samurai tale tells the story of a low-level swordsman named Gennosuke (Mikijiro Hira), on the run after killing one of the counselors in his clan.
This is shared at the top of the film through poorly presented voiceover exposition, one of the few weak points of a solid example of the form by one of the masters.
SaruDama: Goyokin (Gosha Hideo 1969) - Japanese Movies(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-09)
This film was recently released (February 14, 2006) by Tokyo Shock in Region 1 DVD format and is now available in all mainstream US venues.
This is directed by GoshaHideo (五社英雄) whose directorial resume includes 25 films between the years 1964 and 1992.
The only other Gosha film I remember seeing is his 1989 226 (Ni-ni-roku) depicting the infamous Japanese poilitical coup attempt by revolutionaries on February 26, 1936.
Later, when Magobei learns that Tatewaki is planning on repeating his little trick, the clanless samurai plans to return - to kill or be killed, but at all costs to keep the slaughter from happening again.
Although the bulk of the film rests upon the powerful characters and the results of the choices they make, the whisper of violence is always hissing in the background.
As it is, his absence is certainly not noticed: Nakadai is absolutely perfect in the role of the master samurai with the guilty conscience; likewise Nakamura as the devil-may-car swordsman who becomes his sidekick, and good old reliable Tanba as the clan leader willing to do anything to keep things intact.
Starts off with the sound of ocean waves and then a short vocal spoken in Japanese.
I couldn't find any information at IMDb about a HideoGosha film called "Northern Firefly" (this was the title as reported by Ark Square where I bought the CD).
The closest guess I have is that this is the Masaru Sato score to the 1979 movie "Yami no karyudo" (aka "Hunter in Darkness ").
He has an affair with his friend's wife and then murders his own wife and son, and then goes on to commit other dastardly deeds.
HideoGosha spent five years to work out the plot of this film, which profoundly describes one's uncontrollable desires, brutish nature, restlessness with anxiety, and the eagerness to break through.
Fujiyoshi Sakane, a mineworker, receives a huge sum of compensation after an accident.
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Washington Post - A Director's Cuts: The Samurai Savvy of HideoGosha
...That's why, in samurai terms, you'd be better off to chose HideoGosha, a couple of whose largely useen films swing into general view this month as part of two film series, one at Landmark's E Street Cinema, the other at the AFI Silver Theatre...
Japanese filmmaker HideoGosha is best known for his samurai films of the 1980s including The Gates of Flesh (1988) and Four Days of Snow and Blood (1989).
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