Friday, February 22, 2019

Gateway of Hell

Gateway of Hell is an award-winning 1953 Japanese drama film, the first color Japanese film to be released outside Japan. It's a story of obsessive love, honor, trust and sacrifice.

You can watch it with English subtitles, divided into two parts, via Daily Motion below.

part 1:



part 2:


The Telegraph says, "The film's archetypes, encoded in its exquisite costumes, work beautifully. ... –it's an explosion of vivid feeling, expressed in the ripest colours anyone had caught on camera."

Slant Magazine says, "Gate of Hell, sadly, hasn’t enjoyed the long-lasting recognition and acclaim of other post-war Japanese films released around the same time", "but the clamped-down anxiety it brilliantly conjures, the kind of anxiety that haunts newspapers every day, transcends the specificity of time and culture", and calls it "One of the most beautiful color films ever made, Gate of Hell is a despairing post-war masterpiece ripe for rediscovery."

DVD Talk recommends it in two reviews. DVD Beaver has screen shots and notes it was "named by Martin Scorsese as one of the ten greatest colour achievements in world cinema." Ferdy on Film has screen shots with a detailed plot description. Rotten Tomatoes has a critics score of 100%.

8 comments:

  1. If only there was time today...

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    1. This one has been up a while, so chances are it'll be around in the future. I watch so many movies....

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  2. My husband would have loved this film. He was a great fan of all things Japanese. Sorry you weather is so wet! Valerie

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    1. I love these old Japanese movies :) Rain, rain, go away!

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  3. It's good to see you offer to share so many free movies. I like that a LOT, although I'm not sure this is my cup of oolong.

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    1. I really like these :) I started with Kurosawa and moved out from him. There's so much good stuff out there!

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  4. It sounds like a tragic storyline and the colours and costumes look amazing, so beautiful! I hope you had a lovely week and wishing you a wonderful weekend! J 😊 x

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    1. Yes, tales of obsessive love never end well, whether on film or in real life. It's a beautiful film!

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