Under the Blossoming Cherry Trees (1975)
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
"When cherry trees blossom, people have parties. They sit under the trees with food and beverages. 'Oh, how beautiful.' That's all nonsense...before that the trees were feared". In 'Under the Blossoming Cherry Trees', we are treated to one of Masahiro Shinoda's most terrifyingly beautiful works. Based on a shorty story by Ango Sakaguchi, the film tells the tale of a poor Mountain Man (Tomisaburô Wakayama) who kills his seven wives (six to be precise; he leaves one alive to be a servant) to please an alluring woman he has captured. As the film progresses, the Mountain Man goes to unimaginable lengths to please his New Wife, who is never satisfied. Directed by Masahiro Shinoda, based onthe novel by Ango Sakaguchi. - Actors:
- Tomisaburô Wakayama, Shima Iwashita, Hiroko Isayama, Kô Nishimura, Hideo Kanze, Yoshi Katô, Toshimi Oka, Nikaku Shofukutei, Yûsuke Takita, Jun Hamamura, Toshiaki Nishizawa, Dai Kanai, Teruo Matsuyama, Kakuya Saeki, Toshio Tokita, Keiko Koyanagi, Teruko Ômi, Kiriko Tomonaga, Tsuyako Okajima, Kôji Sekiyama
- Directors:
- Masahiro Shinoda
- Producers:
- Kiichi Ichikawa, Ichirô Satô
- Writers:
- Ango Sakaguchi, Masahiro Shinoda, Taeko Tomioka
- Aka:
- Sakura no mori no mankai no shita
- Genres:
- Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
- Countries:
- Japan
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Reviews (1) of Under the Blossoming Cherry Trees
Losing My Head, Briefly - Under the Blossoming Cherry Trees review by griggs
Here’s a film about a woman who collects severed heads, and somehow I still finished it wanting more decapitations.
Masahiro Shinoda’s 1975 dark fairy tale follows a mountain bandit who kidnaps a noblewoman from the capital. Within minutes, she has him murdering his other wives. Later, she takes him to Kyoto, where he brings her heads and she plays with them like dolls. As red flags go, this one’s waving from the rooftops.
Shima Iwashita is wonderfully chilly as the woman, all porcelain calm and bottomless appetite. The forest is gorgeous too, with petals drifting down like the world’s most passive-aggressive snow.
The trouble is, my attention kept wandering off into the trees, especially once the city stretch settled into a routine. I could admire the craft and that eerie ending, but the film never quite had me by the neck.