THE STORMY MAN at Japan Society this Saturday and Sunday

Japan Society NY

Presents

© 1957 Nikkatsu Corporation

 The Stormy Man / Arashi o Yobu Otoko

Directed by Umetsugu Inoue
With Yujiro Ishihara, Kyoji Aoyama, Fukuko Sayo, and Mie Kitahara
 Japan, 1957, 101 minutes, DCP, color
In Japanese with English subtitles

When: Saturday, December 15th at 7:00 PM
and Sunday, December 16th at 4:30 PM

Where: Japan Society NY

333 East 47th Street, NYC

Map

Tickets - $14/$11 seniors & students / $10 members

In the movie that made him a star, Ishihara plays a rough-hewn drummer out to make it in the seedy Ginza jazz world. An enormous success, The Stormy Man was Japan's third-biggest box-office hit of 1957, made the Nikkatsu studio solvent and solidified Inoue's reputation as a maker of hit musicals. For its young audience, who clapped and cheered as Ishihara sang "I'm a drummer, a no-good drummer," the movie was an event and a generational marker. Today it still packs musical excitement — and presents Japan's premier screen idol at his most charismatic.

Part of Umetsugu Inoue: Japan's Music Man

Special Offer: Purchase all 3 Umetsugu Inoue films in the same transaction and receive $2 off each ticket! 

THE EAGLE AND THE HAWK at Japan Society this Saturday and Sunday

Japan Society NY

Presents

© 1957 Nikkatsu Corporation

 The Eagle and the Hawk / Washi to Taka

Directed by Umetsugu Inoue
With Yujiro Ishihara, Rentaro Mikuni, Ruriko Asaoka, Yumeji Tsukioka 
Japan, 1957, 115 minutes, DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles

When: Saturday, December 15th at 4:30 PM
and Sunday, December 16th at 2 PM

Where: Japan Society NY

333 East 47th Street, NYC

Map

Tickets - $14/$11 seniors & students / $10 members

A high seas adventure, murder mystery and revenge-driven melodrama all rolled into one, Inoue's follow-up to The Winner casts Ishihara as a cocky, musical seaman who joins the crew of a rusty cargo ship headed to Hong Kong. Amidst fist fights and scuffles along the way, two women on board vie for the ukulele-playing sailor's attention: a sultry stowaway and the captain's high-spirited daughter, who is also pursued by the ship's first mate. Morally ambiguous, Ishihara's character offered something new to Japanese cinema: a dirty hero with his own sense of justice and a way with song.

Part of Umetsugu Inoue: Japan's Music Man

Special Offer: Purchase all 3 Umetsugu Inoue films in the same transaction and receive $2 off each ticket!

THE WINNER at Japan Society this Saturday and Sunday

Japan Society NY

Presents

© 1957 Nikkatsu Corporation

The Winner / Shori-sha

Directed by Umetsugu Inoue
With Yujiro Ishihara, Mie Kitahara, Yoko Minamida, and Tatsuya Mihashi
Japan, 1957, 98 minutes, DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles

When: Saturday, December 15th at 2:15 PM
and Sunday, December 16th at 6:45 PM

Where: Japan Society NY

333 East 47th Street, NYC

Map

Tickets - $14/$11 seniors & students / $10 members

Eikichi, a nightclub owner and former boxer with unrealized dreams of being a prizefighter, picks up a talented but wildly undisciplined amateur fighter (Yujiro Ishihara) and decides to mold him into a champion. When a beautiful, destitute ballerina also comes under Eikichi's tutelage, however, romantic entanglements and jealousies threaten to undo his vicarious triumph in the ring. A box office success upon release, The Winner proved to Inoue's satisfaction that Ishihara could carry a film (though his studio bosses needed more convincing). It also established the action-with-musical-interludes template for dozens of Nikkatsu films to come.

Part of Umetsugu Inoue: Japan's Music Man

Special Offer: Purchase all 3 Umetsugu Inoue films in the same transaction and receive $2 off each ticket!

Umetsugu Inoue: Japan's Music Man, a three film series, coming to Japan Soceity December 15th and 16th

Japan Society NY

Presents

 Umetsugu Inoue: Japan's Music Man

When: December 15-16, 2018

Where: Japan Society NY

333 East 47th Street, NYC

Map

Tickets- $14/$11 seniors & students / $10 members

"A director who had a big impact on Japanese and Hong Kong pop cinema... Inoue's mix of music, action, and hot young talent became a template for a new genre, called Nikkatsu Action."

— Variety

A prolific and versatile filmmaker who worked across a wide range of genres throughout his long career, Umetsugu Inoue (1923-2010) made his mark at Nikkatsu Studios in the 1950s with a series of highly entertaining, genre-blending musical films that captured the explosive energy of Japan's jazz fueled youth culture.

For this weekend film series, Japan Society is proud to present three of Nikkatsu's newly-subtitled, full-color Inoue classics starring heartthrob (and so-called "Japanese Elvis Presley") Yujiro Ishihara, the biggest male singing film star in postwar Japan.

Each film will be screened twice, once each day of the weekend film series:

- The Winner
- The Stormy Man
- The Eagle and the Hawk

Special Offer: Purchase all 3 Umetsugu Inoue films in the same transaction and receive $2 off each ticket!