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The Castle of Sand

The Castle of Sand (1974)

October. 10,1975
|
7.3
| Drama Crime Mystery

Two detectives are tasked to investigate the murder of an old man, found bludgeoned to death in a Tokyo rail yard.

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GazerRise
1975/10/10

Fantastic!

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Nessieldwi
1975/10/11

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

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TrueHello
1975/10/12

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

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Rosie Searle
1975/10/13

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

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lasttimeisaw
1975/10/14

Prolific Japanese filmmaker Yoshitarô Nomura's THE CASTLE OF SAND is the first screen adaptation of Seichô Matsumoto's popular novel INSPECTOR IMANISHI INVESTIGATES, it starts out as a diligent police procedural investigating a mysterious murder of an elderly man Miki in Tokyo by two detectives, Imanish (a phlegmatic and conscientious Tanba) and his younger, hot-blooded colleague Yoshimura (Morita). Nomura pulls no punch in detailing the circumstantial process of tracking down probable leads out of niggardly clues: the dead man's provincial accent and a word which can be either construed as a name or a place. It requires much legwork and fast-train commute, but often leads to a cul-de-sac, only when the victim's stepson comes to Tokyo to identify the body and with the help from a phonetic expert, the investigation finally veers onto the right track, but another conundrum ensues, Miki was a retired police officer in a remote rural town, and his reputation is impeccably saintly, no one can figure out any reason why someone wants to rub him out. As usual, the devil is in the details, the linchpin of the is boiled down to an abrupt decision which make Miki alter his original shrine-gallivanting route to visit Tokyo, a city he has no connections with. By the time the film reaches this stage, Nomura has officially shunted this whodunit to a whydunit, by introducing a young pianist Eiryo Waga (Gô Katô), whose star is on the rise but indubitably is the culprit as it turns out that Reiko (Shimada), his paramour, is the one who helps him discard his blood-stained shirt. Further compounding the situation is that Reiko is pregnant with his child and decides to raise the baby on her own against Eiryo's insistence on abortion, which clearly will hinder Eiryo's propitious union with Sachiko (Yamaguchi), the daughter of the Ex-Finance Minister (Saburi). But this subplot stops short with an offhand miscarriage. So the remaining task is to piece together the linkage between Eiryo and Miki, and the film's strength is hinged on whether the motive is cogent enough to fall in with the story. A lyrical flashback, frequentely accentuated by DP Kawamata's tourist-luring propensity for zooming-out, of Eiryo's childhood nearly 30 years ago, whose really name is Hideo Motoura (Karuta), how his peripatetic scrounging days with his leprosy-afflicted father (Yoshi Katô) has a short confluence with a young Miki (Ogata), which predestines the future tragedy, pans out concurrently with the diegetic symphonic accompaniment which Eiryo virtuously performs on the stage with a full orchestra in front of a full-house audience, the piece is befittingly christened Destiny, which is sonorously composed by Mitsuaki Kanno. Gô Katô dexterously contrives the crescendo with flying colors, but digressing back to the "motive" sticking point, it is hard to condone that Eiryo would cold-bloodedly resort to murder, especially to someone with only good intentions, just because he doesn't want to acknowledge his buried past, plus the reason why he is desperate to hide it is less expounded as well, apart from the prejudice of leprosy. Whilst Nomura flags up the indivisible blood tie and makes heavy weather of the lachrymose father-son separation, it only recoils on itself when all Eiryo refuses to commit is a belated reunion, and if we contextualize the story in its time, one may uncomfortably apprehend that the plot could be Nomura's disguised plea to urge Japan's post-WWII youth to forgive the militaristic past of their father's generation, which materializes as a dangerous signal undercuts the film's otherwise commendable artistry, history should not be forgotten, lest we are so inclined to make the same mistake ad nauseam.

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WILLIAM FLANIGAN
1975/10/15

The Castle of Sand / Container of Sand (Lit.) (Suna No Utsuwa). Viewed on Streaming. Music = ten (10) stars; cinematography/lighting = eight (8) stars; subtitles/translations = six (6) stars. Director Yoshitarô Nomura again displays his fascination with crime mysteries, trains, and rural Japan (in a way, this film looks like a mini Honshu travelogue of many places tourists may never see). The Director's tale primarily comprises a mash up of: unrelenting, investigative work by homicide police detectives; the creation and performance (by a 60-member symphony orchestra) of a piano concerto; and the lingering prejudice against noninfectious leprosy suffers. Nomura uses a common plot device where seeming remote and unrelated events turn out to be tightly coupled. The film is too long. It loses it's dynamic punch when 20-30 minutes of symphonic music is inserted at the end of the film (it's just too much of a good thing and plot-point overkill). This brings a suspenseful final police evidence review meeting (prior to an arrest warrant being authorized and issued for the concerto's creator/ conductor) often to a stand still (there is much cross-cutting between the concert and the stalled review meeting). A poorly executed contrivance that almost sinks a heretofore well crafted suspense movie! (And far removed from, say, Hitchcock's symphonic suspense scenes in THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1934, 1956).) Acting is fine except for the histrionics of the fake conductor. Distinguished character actor Chishû Ryû makes a welcomed cameo (albeit crucial) appearance. Narrative in the form of on-screen text is surprisingly effective: it adds value as opposed to being a "quick and dirty" way to link disparate scenes during the editing process. Cinematography/lighting (wide screen, color) are excellent and include striking forward/reverse zoom shots. Original/adapted music is outstanding. Subtitles are occasionally a bit too long given their screen duration. Writings (of which many are shown on screen) are usually not translated. Same for many newspaper article subheadings. A cinematic treat. Highly recommended. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

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Drucilla_Black
1975/10/16

I saw "The Castle of Sand" at a Japanese Film Festival this year in Sydney, and I must say that I'm surprised that this movie isn't better known as it's so beautifully made and incredibly moving...It's one of those near-perfect gems that are few and far between. It's a fairly long movie at nearly 2.5 hours, but the movie is one that draws you in very quickly and keeps you wondering up until the very end.The plot centres around the mysterious murder of Miki, a retired policeman in his 60's who was well-liked by pretty much everyone who knew him for his kindness and integrity. Two detectives, one a rookie and one fairly older, are assigned to the case and what at first seems like three unrelated stories slowly weave together to reveal the reasons and the person behind Miki's death. Even if you're not a fan of foreign movies, "The Castle of Sand" is still definitely worth a watch.

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caddie1976
1975/10/17

This movie has three stories which are skillfully merged together at the end. One story is about a determined detective who is searching for a murderer. The second story is about a composer with social aspirations who is preparing to perform the debut of his piano concerto. I won't spoil it by describing the third story which is a flashback 30 years into the past. The third story has very little dialog and shows what silent movie fans have always known: you don't need much dialog to tell a good story.The English subtitling on the dvd version I saw is not great, but passable. As a minor quibble, the subtitles are not present to translate written documents when a newspaper article or arrest warrant is shown on the screen.There are some nice visual scenes which are quite effective. I last saw this movie in the 1970's and although I forgot the movie title, I never forgot the scene where the two detectives ride silently on their way to arrest the murderer. When I viewed this movie again recently, I was surprised to see how brief this scene actually is.

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