Last night's #criterion viewing: Kihachi Okamoto's THE SWORD OF DOOM (1966). I knew virtually nothing about this movie before watching it, other than it was a samurai movie from the 1960s, a genre and period of Japanese cinema that I generally love. What a way to experience this bizarre, bleak and beautiful movie, which uses the superficial appearance of the genre to get at experiments, philosophies and obsessions that run way deeper. It's sort of doing with the samurai/jidaigeki movie what Hitchcock did with thrillers, but Okamoto's style, preoccupations and aesthetic are a world away from Hitchcock. What a pleasant surprise, also, to see so many of my favourite actors from this #criterioncollection marathon pop up in this. #theswordofdoom #swordofdoom #kihachiokamoto #tatsuyanakadai #hiroshimurai #yuzokayama #michiyoaratama #toshiromifune #jidaigeki #japanesecinema https://www.instagram.com/p/CCTxxp8gz9K/?igshid=1jzif3xce7pvy
