爱妾

昭和残侠传 唐狮子牡丹

　　タイトル : 昭和残侠伝: 唐獅子牡丹（期間限定生産）（生産完了）　　出演 : 高倉健／三田佳子／津川雅彦／池部良／芦田伸介／菅原謙二　　監督 : 佐伯清　　不始末をしでかした弟分を助けるために、花田秀次郎は左右田組の組頭の要求を飲み、榊組の組頭を手にかけた。法の裁きを受け服役した秀次郎は、3年後に出所を果たす。だがそこで秀次郎が目にしたのは、秀次郎の手によって組頭を失い、瀕死の状態に追いやられてしまった榊組の姿だった。左右田組の執拗な攻撃に耐えて組を守る未亡人の姿に心を打たれた秀次郎は、みずからの負い目もあって、榊組を助けることにするのだが…。　　高倉健の代表作の一つである「昭和残侠伝」シリーズの2作目。渡世の義理ゆえに、心ならずも斬り倒した相手の未亡人に捧げる愛情と、敵対しつつも育まれていく男の友情を描いている。監督はシリーズの大半を手がけてきた佐伯清。若き日の高倉健が、渡世に生きるやくざを凄みたっぷりに演じている。榊組の美しき未亡人に扮するのは三田佳子。

等待方舟

　　Set in an underground dungeon inhabited by bundled, ragged human beings, after the nuclear holocaust. The story follows the wanderings of a hero through the situations of survival. People wait for the Ark to arrive and rescue them while their habitat falls apart.　　Delving deep into the dusty and long abandonded vaults of b-cinema in search of lost gems always leaves me with a bittersweet taste. On one hand the discovery of unexpected gems where no one would think them possible is a rewarding experience. On the other hand though it makes one wonder how many of these remarkable low-budget oddities, personal love affairs of directors never quite famous and now all but forgotten, have almost forever slipped from memory?　　n any case what we have here is a little post-apocalyptic gem from Poland that is really better than it has any right to. The dystopian near future of O-BI, O-BA finds a group of survivors of the nuclear war that ravaged the Earth inhabiting an underworld concrete bunker and biding their time as they wait for the mysterious Ark, an air ship of some kind that will come and save them. The Ark proves to be an elaborate hoax, carefully designed to give hope to the malnourished and desperate denizens of the bunker, while in the meantime the dome that separates their miserable existence from the nuclear winter outside is slowly caving in.　　What first striked me about the movie is the design of the bunker and the depiction of the survivors. The survivors are gaunt, filthy and terrible-looking penitents, dressed in rags and aimlessly wandering the neon-lit halls of the bunker like automatons. The bunker is a rundown, seedy place, with bright neon lights peering from all sides like the eyes of malignant beasts.　　On one hand it is a slightly 80's depiction of the dystopian future but the movie never stoops down to MAD MAX cheese. Instead it combines biting political satire with the bleak outlook of a world with no future, black comedy with barbs on apathy, religion and power. The survivors, for example, are fed some kind of flour dropping from a tube that hovers in the air - later on we discover the food supervisor uses books and the Bible itself as filler for this meagre meal. There are many such short symbolic touches, perhaps not life-changing or faith-restoring, yet playful, clever and inspired.　　One thing is for sure; O-BI, O-BA is not your run-of-the-mill sci-fi schlock. It overcomes its modest budget with creativity and has genuine artistic aspirations both from a writing and directing perspective. My opinion is that it should have been filmed in black and white instead of colour though. The director uses atmospheric light and shadow to great effect and it would have registered even better in stark black and white. The blue-green neon on the other hand outstays its welcome after a while. Just a minor gripe in an otherwise solid b-movie with its heart set in all the right places.　　Imagine a less bleak THE ROAD (Cormac McCarthy) being injected with the satire and humour of DR.STRANGELOVE and you're getting there. See it if you can find it.

莎拉的石油

　　一个出生在印第安区的黑人女孩意外继承了一片充满石油的土地，汹涌的黑金下，她将面对攫取、迫害、偏见、中伤，并用她的意外横财去帮助他人。

赤脚大仙