Woman In The Dunes (Teshigahara, 1964)

Woman In The Dunes stands as one of the most enigmatic films of all time. This film was made in 1964, in between the classic Japanese cinema (Ozu, Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, Ichikawa) and post-modern Japanese New Wave (Oshima, Immamura). As such, many critics have found it hard to analyse this film without making comparisons to other Japanese films at that time. Indeed, Teshigahara's films are interesting and must be judged based on its sole merits. Released at a time where sex and porn was hitting Japanese screens, Woman in the Dunes was dismissed as a cheap, erotica film by many Japanese critics. However, its success in the international cinema is tremendous- on one hand it is made with a shoe-string budget, on the other it created such an impact on art-house cinema that left critics analysing this film for months. This is, by far, the cinematic equivalent of an existentialist piece of art. For this review, i will refer the woman working in the dunes as 'Woman' and the bug hunter, or the man who found himself trapped in the dunes, as the 'Man'.

Sand as a Third Character
Throughout the film, the ever-shifting sand seems to take a life on its own. Whenever Man tries to 'go against' the grains (of sand), the sea of white sand would cascade around him, as if rebelling against Man's action. It is completely futile to escape.

Body as a form of communication
'Nakedness' as a metaphor for helplessness. “Its best not to wear clothes. Clothes make you itch” says the woman. Indeed, most of this film revolves around the theme of being exposed to danger (from both the sand and the villagers).

Villagers as 'God'
The Man looks up to them (literally) , pleads them, begs them... The villagers provide the inhabitants with food and water (means of subsistence). He and the woman works for them by shovelling sand. Stuck in the dunes for eternity, man & woman toiling is an allegory for Mankind's eternal duty by the Gods to work for life. When the man succeeds to escape from the dune, only to find himself stuck in a quicksand, the villagers come to his aid, 'forgiving' him for his 'wrongdoings' in exchange for more shovelling.

'Shovelling to live', or 'Living to Shovel'
Both. Initially, the man (like the woman) is obliged to shovel because failing to do so would result in them 1. getting buried alive by the sand and 2. not receiving their weekly rations. As time progresses, the man and the woman live to shovel. They must find joy in their work. Not only are they disillusioned by the thought of escape, they must accept their fate. “Why leave?” asks the woman, “ the house is all i have left... my husband and child had been buried by the sand”. In essence, this film is saying that no matter how unfair, meaningless life can be, we still have to find pleasure in our existing circumstances.

Contact with outside world – struggle for identity
The Man seeks recognition by searching for an obscure beetle so that he could get his name in the books. When the man tries to persuade the woman to leave the dunes by telling her that she could go 'walking about' in the city, the woman replies 'What for? Isn't walking around more tiring than shovelling?'
In the end, the Man himself refuses to leave because 1. it is physically impossible 2. he does not feel that it would be necessary to do so , and 3. he takes pity of the woman.


These are some of the many themes which this amazing film present. What is the meaning of existence? What's the point in a life condemned to eternal work? Is it possible to find joy in something perceived as so useless?

Sonatine (Kitano, 1993)

Sonatine is an anti-gangster movie. One thing I like about these 'anti-' movies is that they break free from the pre-existing boundaries, so called rules, which dictate how and what the movie should be like. These limitations stifle the 'genre' films, inhibiting these films from exploring new realms of uncharted territory. Before this movie was made, the director Takeshi “Beat” Kitano was already well known in Japan, not for violent gangster films but as a comedian. As a result, this movie took Japanese audiences by surprise... and it performed poorly in Japan. However, Kitano's gangster persona was well-received in the West. Why? It was something Western audiences were unprepared for. Like I mention before, the 'gangster' movie genre was thought to be about violent, cruel men. Who wants to see childish gangsters? Who wants to see the more jovial, fun-loving side of the life of Yakuza members? But dont worry, this movie does deliver on the violence... and you would be caught unaware as well.


For most part of the film we follow Kitano's character, Murakawa as he and 4 other gang members retreat to a sea-side house after being ambushed by the rival Anan clan. As they wait for things to blow over, Murakawa and the others engage in light-hearted games. They cant escape from their past though, and in the end, as well already know, tragedy would befall them.
What I like about this film is that Kitano does not force us to like his character. (In an earlier scene we see Murakawa beating up another member without flinching at all.) Instead, through those innocent games (okay some arent really innocent. The Russian Roulette scene for example) we get to sympathise with our characters. We get to know them, we laugh with them. Throughout the scenes at the beach there is this pervading sense of dread which we know, would inevitably come. Therefore we the audience, like Murakawa and his gang, try to cherish these fun times as much as we can. We do not know what is going on on the 'outside world' – what about the negotiation between the 2 rival gangs we know nothing about that. Murakawa himself, despite having a tough Yakuza persona, is clearly shown to be afraid of death (as seen from his dream). In this tranquility, we see that our anti-heroes behave just like ordinary men, not like some blood thirsty Scarface superhero who does not fear death.


The violence does not disappoint. Scenes of violence are very abrupt and sudden (a devise which Kitano would employ in his later more successful film Hana-Bi). Such heightens the brutality of those violent scenes. There is one scene in particular which is extremely well done; Kitano's character realises that two of the guys in the elevator are the ones he plan to kill. And then following a shoot-out, the camera cuts to the dead bodies. I love this scene a lot.