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Discussions of Mikio Naruse‘s “Daughters, Wives and a Mother” often highlight the numerous actors who appear in the movie, which likely contributed to its success upon release. It isn’t hard to see why. The large ensemble cast stands out, its size rivaling that of some of Toho’s war features, such as Kihachi Okamoto‘s “Japan’s Longest Day,” and samurai epics, like Hiroshi Inagaki‘s “Chushingura.” Yet beyond that novelty, the real question is how it holds up altogether. The answer is that it’s a film that succeeds in certain areas, but it also suffers from some significant flaws.

Daughters, Wives and a Mother is screening at Metrograph as part of the Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us program

Set in Tokyo, the story follows an extended family who live in a spacious home. Aging widow Aki Sakanishi worries about her five adult children, who are facing personal and financial struggles.

The story of the forty-seven ronin of Ako avenging their fallen master is a significant historical event in Japanese history that has practically gone down as a legend. The events that transpired have frequently been retold in media, most notably in literature through the fictionalized accounts known as “Chushingura.” In addition, many retellings of the vengeful retainers' plot for revenge have been depicted in traditional theater and in cinema. Filmmakers that have directed their depictions include Kenji Mizoguchi, Kunio Watanabe, and Hiroshi Inagaki. Of the countless cinematic renditions, one of the more underrated and unique is Kon Ichikawa's “47 Ronin.”

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Director Kon Ichikawa, who had directed a fair share of period pieces beforehand like “An Actor's Revenge” and “The Wanderers,” had expressed interest in adapting “Chushingura” for quite some time. He was finally given the opportunity towards the approaching end of his career.

Machiko Kyo, an actress who starred in some of the most internationally acclaimed Japanese films of the postwar era, died in Tokyo on Sunday at age 95, her former studio Toho announced Tuesday. The cause of death was heart failure.

Born in Osaka in 1924 as Motoko Yano, she joined the Osaka Shochiku Girls Opera in 1936 and, using the stage name Machiko Kyo, the Daiei studio in 1949. Though viewed by studio boss Masaichi Nagata as a Japanese answer to the voluptuous Hollywood sirens of the era, she first came to attention of the world as the sexually assaulted wife of a murdered samurai in Akira Kurosawa’s “Rashomon” (1950). The winner of the Golden Lion at Venice, the film brought not only Kyo and Kurosawa but also Japanese cinema to the attention of the West.

Kyo followed up with starring roles in Kenji Mizoguchi’s “Ugetsu” (1953) and Teinosuke Kinugasa’s “Gate of Hell...

Episode Links Past Wish List Episodes Episode 63.9 – Disc 3 – Top Criterion Blu-ray Upgrades for 2011 Episode 110 – Criterion Collection Blu-ray Upgrade Wish List for 2012 Episode 136 – Criterion Collection Blu-ray Upgrade Wish List for 2013 Episode 146 – Criterion Collection Blu-ray Upgrade Wish List for 2014 Episode 154 – Criterion Collection Blu-ray Upgrade Wish List for 2015 Episode 169 – Criterion Collection Blu-ray Upgrade Wish List for 2016 DVD to BluRay Wish Lists Aaron: The Shop on Main Street Pickup on South Street Arik: Cleo from 5 to 7 Berlin Alexanderplatz Mark: Taste of Cherry Sisters David: Do the Right Thing Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters Ld to Blu-Ray Wish Lists Aaron: Blue Velvet (Announced as Ld Spine #219 but never released) Early Hitchcock Box (Sabotage, The Secret Agent, Young and Innocent, The Lodger, The Man Who Knew Too Much) Arik: A Night at the Opera Singin’ in the Rain Mark: 2001: A Space Odyssey The Producers David: I Am Cuba Letter From an Unknown Woman...

The following is a list of all comic books, graphic novels and specialty items that will be available this week and shipped to comic book stores who have placed orders for them.

12-gauge Comics

Sherwood TX #1 (Of 5)(Cover A Andrew Robinson), $1.00

Sherwood TX #1 (Of 5)(Cover B Even Matthews), Ar

Sherwood TX #1 (Of 5)(Cover C Andrew Robinson, Ar

AC Comics

Golden Age Greats Spotlight Volume 15 Gn, $29.95

Alternative Comics

Magic Whistle #14, $4.99

Amigo Comics

Ghost Wolf #3 (Of 4), $3.99

Amp! Comics For Kids

Charlie Brown Pow Tp, $9.99

Pearls Before Swine The Croc Ate My Homework Tp, $9.99

Archie Comic Publications

Archie #657 (Art Baltazar & Franco Little Archie And His Pals Variant Cover), $2.99

Archie #657 (Dan Parent Regular Cover), $2.99

Betty And Veronica Comics Annual #224, $5.99

Aspen Comics

Lola Xoxo #3 (Cover A Siya Oum), $3.99

Lola Xoxo #3 (Cover B Jordan Gunderson), $3.99

Lola Xoxo #3 (Cover C Siya Oum), Ar

Atheneum Books

Mercury Gn (New Printing), $12.99

Avatar Press

Caliban #4 (Facundo Percio Dark Matter Cover...

This week I actually ended up watching quite a bit, on the plane home from Puerto Rico I noticed Ender's Game, Delivery Man and Last Vegas were the in-flight options, but I opted to watched No Country for Old Men and Rise of the Planet of the Apes on my iPad. I don't know the last time I watched No Country, but it was a lot of fun to return to and I decided on Rise of the Apes just to make sure I was prepared for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes come this July. Then, when I got home I went and saw Noah (read my review here) and the next night saw Captain America: The Winter Soldier (read my review here) and then after that, at home, I watched 47 Ronin (read that review here). On top of that, I'm currently about an hour into the original...

Let’s not pretend it doesn’t take some sand to make an amped-up CGI spectacle about the 47 ronin. This is one of the key national legends of Japan, already immortalized in film numerous times, notably in Kenji Mizoguchi’s spare, grim 1941 masterpiece The 47 Ronin and Hiroshi Inagaki’s splendorous Chushingura (1962). Attempting to demean such a glorious cinematic lineage with a fanboy-ized fantasy-action flick would be like someone making an Abraham Lincoln movie in which he fights vampires. Crazy talk! Or you could look at this way: The legend, about a group of leaderless samurai who reclaimed their dead lord’s honor and then committed ritual suicide, comes pre-debased. Every writer, filmmaker, playwright, or whatever who has tackled the subject over the centuries has added his or her own spin on the narrative. So why can’t Hollywood insert a little Pirates of the Caribbean–esque oomph to this...

Merry Christmas! This week at the multiplex, we’ve got a financial fraudster ("The Wolf of Wall Street," starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill); a timid daydreamer ("The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," starring Ben Stiller and Kristen Wiig); a pair of geriatric prizefighters ("Grudge Match," starring Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro); a legendary warrior ("The 47 Ronin," starring Keanu Reeves and Hiroyuki Sanada); a pop music sensation (the documentary "Justin Bieber's Believe"); and a human rights hero ("Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,...

Keanu Reeves makes an explosive return to action-adventure in 47 Ronin.

After a treacherous warlord kills their master and banishes their kind, 47 leaderless samurai vow to seek vengeance and restore honor to their people. Driven from their homes and dispersed across the land, this band of Ronin must seek the help of Kai (Reeves) – a half-breed they once rejected – as they fight their way across a savage world of mythic beasts, shape-shifting witchcraft and wondrous terrors.

As this exiled, enslaved outcast becomes their most deadly weapon, he will transform into the hero who inspires this band of outnumbered rebels to seize eternity.

In theaters this Christmas, check out the new trailer.

There have been other films also about the forty-seven Ronin including The 47 Ronin (1941),The Loyal 47 Ronin (1958), 47 Samurai (1962), Fall of Ako Castle (1978), 47 Ronin (1994) and The Last Chusingura (2010).

Helmed by director Carl Rinsch (The Gift), 47 Ronin is produced by Pamela Abdy (Identity Thief,...

Keanu Reeves has confirmed that Bill & Ted 3 is still in the works.

The 47 Ronin actor is expected to reprise his role as Ted 'Theodore' Logan' in a third instalment of the comedy sci-fi series.

He recently hinted that the project had stalled, claiming that "there's darkness out there that's keeping it from happening".

However, Reeves has now reassured his fans that the film is still going ahead, during an Ama session on Reddit.

"We are working on trying to get Bill & Ted 3," the actor wrote. "There's a script and we are trying to put it together."

Reeves's former co-star Alex Winter previously said of the film back in March: "There's no drama. There's no legal skirmish. We built a story. They wrote a script. We're tinkering with the script to get it perfect. Then we will go get the money. Then we will shoot it. And that's really all there is to it.

We haven’t heard a whole lot about Keanu Reeves‘ upcoming 47 Ronin (other than a series of delays knocking it back from last November to this Christmas). Now, thanks to IGN, we’ve finally got our first real look at the film, via four character posters. The 47 Ronin were real people – a group of samurai who set off down a path of vengeance after their leader was forced into committing suicide. Reeves’ take (or, more accurately, director Carl Rinsch‘s take) seems to have taken a detour towards the sensationalism of the RZA’s The Man with the Iron Fists. This 47 Ronin is clear fantasy, “set in a world of witches and giants” and featuring Reeves as a new character created for the film – one who leads the Ronin on their quest for justice. These posters do go a little overboard on the fantastic elements, and in the end they look a little more like banners...

In a career that spanned more than 60 years, Japanese auteur Shindo Kaneto directed more than 40 feature films and is credited with writing over 100 more. While he is probably best remembered for his visually arresting horror films Onibaba and Kuroneko, he was already an acknowledged cinematic voice on the world stage. After cutting his teeth as an apprentice to master filmmaker Mizoguchi Kenji, most notably on The 47 Ronin, Shindo directed his first film, the autobiographical Story of a Beloved Wife in 1951. It was here that he met and fell in love with actress Otowa Nobuko, whom Shindo proclaimed his muse. They would go on to work together many times, and Otowa played the lead in both Onibaba and Kuroneko. Before both...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

The writer and director died last month aged 100. As a BFI retrospective celebrates his career, Emilie Bickerton salutes a life's work made in the shadow of Hiroshima

Kaneto Shindo, who died last month aged 100, just before the start of a two month British Film Institute season dedicated to his career and that of long-term collaborator Yoshimura Kozaburo, spent a lot of time among the reeds, wading through mud, puddles and into woods of bamboo. He was most comfortable there, where life was reduced to its bare essentials. Shindo was born in 1912 in Hiroshima. Japan modernised dramatically over his lifetime, but he observed it at a distance, with the knowledge that all this could disappear drummed into him from childhood after what had happened to his hometown. His subjects in the 49 films he made, ranging from melodramas to horror stories to erotic fictions, were those society had rejected or brutalised, who were now struggling to survive,...

Honor. Revenge. And Impossible Love. That’s how actor Keanu Reeves describes the upcoming samurai film “47 Ronin” based on 18th century historic events in Japan. The story is about a group of samurai warriors who were left leaderless (becoming ronin) after their feudal lord Asano Naganori forced to commit suicide for assaulting a government court official Kira Yoshinaka. The ronin avenged their master’s honor by planning to kill Yoshinaka. The true story was popularized in Japanese culture for its loyalty, sacrifice, persistence an honor for all good people. “Japanese kids grow up this story told to them. They hear it from family and they learn it in school, it’s part of the culture,” said Reeves to Los Angeles Times’ Hero Complex. “It’s been made into movies many times and on television. It’s like our westerns, the story keeps being told. It’s been reworked in some...

Variety is reporting today that Universal Pictures are close to naming Carl Erik Rinsch as director for the forthcoming 47 Ronin movie. It will be Rinsch’s first feature, he is best known for being a director of commercials. The movie is set to be a big budget action movie along the lines of 300, so it is somewhat surprising they have chosen a first time director to helm the project. Rinsch was however in talks with the Scotts earlier this year about the possibility of directing the proposed Alien prequel, until Ridley relented and took up the reigns himself. You can read Variety’s story here.

The 47 Ronin is a true story of masterless samurai that hatched a plot to avenge their master’s death in feudal Japan. Having read the story myself, i would be excited about the movie if it was’nt for the presence of Keanu Reeves in a lead role.

Noteworthy in the sense that we've only just been talking about a new chambara film being prepared in Japan.

Perhaps we didn't care or thought the idea was just too silly that it couldn't be true but almost a year ago it was announced that Keanu Reeves would be starring in an American take on the story of the 47 Ronin. [Insert picking ourselves up from the floor]

No sooner had we caught our breath then it was announced that the screenplay would be written by Chris Morgan. He wrote such sprawling epics as Cellular, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Wanted and Fast & Furious. But he silenced any doubters in an interview with cultural hot pot MTV, "It's this great, 'Gladiator'-esque, '300'-like big action movie with samurai and ninja," Morgan said. Although some "47 Ronin" enthusiasts have their doubts about the "Fast and Furious" scribe tackling the beloved Japanese tale, Morgan points to his long history...