Back from a Tokyo tour again. Part 3/3
Day 3
Sunday. Back to Laputa (I stopped at Asagaya Kitchen for lunch on the way). The day’s first film was
Red Diamond (赤いダイヤ), a pretty entertaining 1964 comedy about an army vet who intends to kill himself, but is saved and finds a new calling in the cut-throat red bean market! Ok, this may not sound so interesting on paper, but it plays out almost like a lightweight gangster saga. Kunie Tanaka has a good role is a rival beans dealer.
Next up was pure dynamite in form of
Bullets of Slacker Street (遊民街の銃弾) (1962). I had seen this pulpy thrill ride before on streaming, and it was even better this time around. Tetsuro Tamba plays a hard core criminal of unknown nationality who learns about diamonds hidden inside a US army base from a cellmate / army deserter Issac Saxson, and starts planning a prison escape with an international pack of crooks. Those who saw Kinji Fukasaku's High Noon for Gangsters (1961) will instantly notice this movie is, at times, almost a carbon copy of it with a similar premise, the same highly energized jazzy tone and some near identical scenes. And it is almost as good, a thrilling gangster actioner packed with style, suspense, badass tough guys, and a fantastic gunplay death-match at the end. Laputa’s print was suitably pretty, too (as were all their other prints).
There was one more film I wanted to catch later that night, but first, ramen! I headed towards Ogikubo on foot for some Michelin Guide recommended noodles in a restaurant called "There is Ramen". Unfortunately, there was no ramen. After going around the block twice, I finally located the small restaurant, or more precisely the note on the door saying they’re closed. I then thought of a plan-b, which damn nearly ended in tears. It was 17:35, and there was another famed ramen restaurant called Hook very near by opening at 18:00. My movie would start at 19:10. Surely enough time for a bowl of ramen?
Hook
I arrived 20 minutes before the restaurant opened, only to find myself as the person no. 18 in the long line on the street (before the doors opened, the line had grown to more than 50 people by my estimate). And the restaurant has eight seats. They took us in to purchase the meal ticket first, and then sent us back to the line where I stood till 18:35. I got my ramen 18:47, ate it in a world record six minutes (yes, I slightly burned my tongue) and then did another world record by making it back to Laputa in 15 bloody minutes. That’s less than half of the 31 minute walk time estimate Google gave me for the 2.2 km route. I seated my ass 30 seconds before the film started and spent the opening credits trying to catch my breath. Well done me!
The run was totally worth it, as it was for another super rare Toei picture
Return to Women’s Native Ground (続 おんな番外地) (1966). Midori only spends the first 15 min behind bars, after which the film turns into a touching tale of a woman trying start again in a cruel world that won’t forgive women with a past. Things get even worse when she meets a former cellmate’s boyfriend (Kenji Imai), and the man turns out to be the sleaziest blackmailer scum ever seen in a Toei film. Her only consolation is a bunch other former prisoners from the first film, now released and all trying to start over. It’s a gripping film, at times maddeningly manipulative in her downfall, but effective all the same. Midori is fantastic in her role, even if a little too cute to convince as a killer, and the sequences with the discriminated women finding consolation in each other have a very interesting feminist vibe – at times the film barely acknowledges that men even exist. At the same time there’s a bit of added entertainment in form of some comic relief and a prison bath scene with plenty of blink or you’ll miss it nudity.
There’s a loosely connected third entry to the series, called The Pretty Jade (可愛いくて凄い女) (1966) but Midori reportedly plays a different character in it, and there are no prison sequences. Hope to see it someday. A 35mm print has screened in Laputa before, but was not part of the program this time.
I had planned to continue the night with
Mariko Kawana: Female Cat Stepmother (川奈まり子 牝猫義母 ) (2002) in the
Excess Film late show, but I was fairly confident it would suck and didn’t feel like ruining the good vibes left by Return to Women’s Native Ground. Director Sachi Hamano was actually meant attend the film’s screening on Friday night but had to cancel on the last minute due to poor health. I’ve seen one of her earlier films, No Pants Nurses, and other than being able to say
“I’ve seen a film called No Pants Nurses in 35mm” there’s wasn’t much to write home about it. She’s a admittedly a very successful film maker, but one who caters more to the actual horny pink fans than film aficionados searching for hidden cinematic gems (of course, this film could've been an exception... I'll never know).
Day 4
Monday. Had Laputa screened Return to Women’s Native Ground any earlier than 7 P.M. on Sunday night, I would probably have returned home already the previous night. As it was, film screenings dictated my travel dates. Since I had to stay another night, I booked my return flight for Monday 8:30 P.M. just in case there would be something unmissable on screen on Monday. Alas, there was not.
I started my day by travelling to Nishiarai to catch Guy Ritchie’s
The Covenant (2023) at the local Toho Cinema. It was merely a way to kill some time, and an excuse to visit a Tokyo district I had never been to. Seemed like a nice area, and the movie was pretty good too. And popcorn made for a good breakfast.
Asakusa time! Hello Nanami Matsumoto! And then we run again. It was 15:50. I had 31 minutes to make it from central Asakusa to Ueno Station platform 7 (that's a 1.6 km distance) where I needed to catch a train, but I needed to pick up my bag from Keisei Ueno Station on the way. Yes, there is a subway, but I figured I run faster and more reliably on familiar streets than take a sub from a station I’ve never visited (another challenge would be finding the correct exist at the destination station... you can lose quite a bit of time by picking the wrong exit and ending up several blocks away from where you were hoping to surface). In the end, it only took 26 minutes. But Dear God my legs! All this running (not to mention walking) was starting to take its toll. Had a zombie apocalypse stated later that night or the next day, I don’t think I could've escaped even Romero zombies.
So why all the rush? To say hi to this big guy at Tokyo's Odaiba island. The 20 metre Gundam model is leaving later this month. It also does a slight transformation show every two hours, but it's just a couple of moving parts. Anyway, that transformation was at 17:00, hence the rush.
The man made island itself is definitely worth a visit. It's a product of 80s futuristic design straight out of a sci-fi film, and also offers a nice view of Tokyo and Tokyo Bay. If it's your first time, I recommend taking the Yurikamome train from Shimbashi which crosses the Rainbow Bridge (make sure to board the frontmost car for some great views... if it's too crowded, it's even worth waiting some 10 minutes for the next train to secure a good seat or standing place), and coming back by a ferry over the Tokyo Bay.
After Gundam, it was time to bid farewell to Tokyo. Till next time.
Now all that's missing, as far as my pinky violence needs are concerned, is 下苅り半次郎 (秘)観音を探せ. They'll have to get around to that eventually, right?
