Thursday, July 28, 2011


do you have 9 hours to kill and in need of a quality, cinematic experience?

then i definitely recommend watching the japanese movie, The Human Condition. this trilogy was released from 1959-61 and is based off a book by gomikawa junpei. the movie is directed by masaki kobayashi and stars actor tatsuya nakadai as kaji, a man with a conscience who must endure the ugliness and inhumanities of war.

so many lessons can be learned from this film, and experiencing The Human Condition is a truly humbling odyssey. i randomly discovered this movie after making a routine visit to my regular dvd-spot in silom, and after watching all nine hours of it in one sitting, all i have to say is that this film is FUCKING EPIC in every aspect. the acting, cinematography, dialogue, story and settings all come together in beautiful harmony and there wasn't one scene that i found to be unnecessary or gratuitous---every single moment was spectacular. the film was shot over a 3-year period, so it's also interesting to see tatsuya nakadai grow not only as his character, but as a man and an an actor as well. his performance is nothing short of amazing and his haunting transformation from wide-eyed naiveness to a solider on the brink of death is a really interesting journey to witness.

since i have no television or internet at home, watching this film was a great distraction.

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