Lo stretto della fame

Living in thirty world we're already inured received too late those hidden worldwide gems that were recovered by latest advanced cleaning process of those old negative prints, in Kiga Kaikyô that means literally STRAITS OF HUNGER, in a polling by Japanese critics in 1999 reached in honorable third place, what an achievement got by Tomu Uchida, nonetheless this prize winner came on late period of his extensive career, this crime-cop-drama-mystery has a stained Noirish style and also has a slight hookup with French Novelle Vague.

This overlong production basically lays out in two main happenings carried out in September 20th 1947 in post war environment, firstly a heist of a large money held by three convicts followed by arson taking to death the pawnshop's wealthy owner, meanwhile a storm is near of the bay area ends up with a shipwreck of a ferryboat entailing in many hundred of deaths, those criminals harness the chaos installed on rescue to sneak away by boat, later just one of them Kakichi Inukay (Rentarô Mikuni) survives, aftermaths randomly meeting with a lovely-naïve pros.titute Yae Sugito (Sachiko Hidari), both having a heart sex night where the thief takes her a large amount of money.

Meanwhile the local policeman Yumisaka (Junzaburô Ban) sniffing around to find out a clue of those criminals, track down their footsteps, soon he reaches in Yae inquiring her over the running thief, in gratitude Yae alleges stayed the night with a dissimilar person, avoiding Yumisaka of the right track, at once the silly girl starts a kind of platonic love affair with the unknown Inukay, she ends up in Tokyo slum area, wondering one day should be meeting her do-gooder to be grateful for, it come in ten years after with tragic events unveiling hidden secrets from the past.

Awesome black & white Toei production, the slow paced narrative allowed to the viewers relish every single sequence on an everlasting journey of those power leading trio, an extensive and exhausting searching led by the tenacious cop, the platonic love of Yea keeping her alive even in hard old profession, and finally the early Inukay eroded by hunger nowadays try appease his guilty by generous donations addressed by inmates rehab program, also displays the hard hungry environment post WWII, a real portrait of this harder time.

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First watch: 2024 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 10.

Sachiko Hidari ("Yae") is great in this film as the young geisha who shelters "Inukai" (Rentarô Mikuni) from a storm one night. Next morning he leaves her quite a sum of money - one that enables her to change her life, pay her debts - all whilst he disappears. That storm was actually a tornado that sank a local ferry boat. During that investigation, two unknown bodies are identified - and they are soon tied in with a fire that largely destroyed a local village where a robbery had taken place. Where had the money gone? Who killed the men? Many years later, "Yae" spots a photograph in a newspaper that she thinks might be her long lost benefactor and sets out to say thanks - with tragic consequences. It is a long film this, over 3 hours, but the clever - almost internecine - fashion in which the old and new stories are married together; the police investigations and the characterisations are carefully and fully crafted leaves us with quite a complex crime thriller. Now, sadly, what makes the thriller work so well is also what ruined the ending for me. It is flawed in so many ways as to make me want to shout at the screen. It's not that the ending itself is wrong, it is that the police procedures (remembering that there was little science involved in the process) are all just to convenient - far fetched, even. Still, this is a strongly paced, beautifully photographed piece of story-telling cinema that runs parallel narratives well and cohesively.

This film is long, predictable, and boring. There is no suspense, the plot is stale, and the police procedure is completely uninteresting. The acting and cinematography are good, but there are some primitive effects whose strangeness is sort of unsettling as intended, but have mostly a comic effect for modern Western viewers (the sex scene with a fingernail is perhaps the highlight of the film). As in most Japanese movies, the characters are ridiculously awkward at times, but apparently this is how Japanese behave in reality.

While the depiction of post-war Japan was interesting, it wasn't enlightening, and as with German accounts of WWII you get the feeling that what little suffering is depicted is exaggerated.

Fans of Japanese cinema might like this film, but I recommend you watch Pitfall (again) if you are short on time, because Kiga kaikyo won't be adding much to your life.

Although very different from Tomo Ushida's other late films, with its hand-held cameras, fluid 'noir' cinematography and realistic style, this is one of his unquestioned masterpieces, on a level with any of his post-war work. The acting is superlative - especially from Sachiko Hidari as the cheap and touchingly simple prostitute unexpectedly caught up in somebody else's drama - the narrative is beautifully paced, and the film fully justifies its three hours' length.

Without being one of those Hollywood-style "message" cop-jobs, or anything like Kurosawa's flimsy imitations of same (he is beloved in the States because his films are consciously in their - comparatively limited - transatlantic style) Ushida's film is a compelling thriller, with the inexorable movement of a Greek tragedy such as 'Oedipus'. It is also a deeply absorbing meditation on guilt, retribution, poverty - and most surprisingly, what we might call "the wages of kindness".

This is not some silly procedural for infants, anymore than Sophocles's drama; but it is a great film, for anyone who cares to respect a master of the medium, and gives some thought to what they are watching. (The DVD available from DVDLady is very watchable, taken from an excellent French print, with good English subtitles.)

Perhaps "Kiga kaikyo" (Tomu Uchida, 1963), also known as "Fugitive from the Past" or "Strait of Hunger" (the original japanese title), is the most underrated japanese film in western audience. It's incredible to find that it has only 5 votes on IMDb (including mine).

"Strait of Hunger" is a dark, twisted crime drama, yet remains subtle emotion and social criticism themes inside. The characters are complex and intriguing, and the view angle of 1950s Japanese society is wide and enlightened with an epical story telling. The black and white cinematography is astoundingly fabulous, especially the billowy ocean under the hurricane, which gives the audience indelible impression. Tomu Uchida is one of the greatest film makers (if not the greatest) living in Japan and this film is a timeless masterpiece. It is my all time #1 japanese film and I strongly recommend this to everyone.