Description:

Kuroi kawa - A fascinating slice of post war Japanese squalor, with engaging vivid seedy characters, a rare look into the postwar lower middle class and lower end criminal element in Japan.

The story is set around the gates of the Atsugi US Naval Air Base which has attracted bars and brothels along with the Japanese who need this sordid world to scrape by and make money to just barely survive. The streets are run by the black market, and goon-ish, coiffured gang members practice their boxing and dagger-board darts, while eager G.I.s take Japanese girls in hot pants and blooming dresses on dates.

A university student moves into a falling down apartment building populated by a menagerie of extreme characters, and becomes friendly with a local waitress. Into this fertile territory step the white-suited Yakuza, Kuroki and “Killer” Jo. Together with the landlady they hatch a devious plan to evict the tenants to make way for a bathhouse development. But a love triangle develops between two of the apartment dwellers and Killer Jo, soon the two will pay the price for their defiance....

Director: Masaki Kobayashi (Kwaidan, Samurai Rebellion)

Stars: Fumio Watanabe, Ineko Arima and Tatsuya Nakadai

1957 - JAPANESE with OPTIONAL ENGLISH SUBTITLES - B&W – FULL SCREEN - 114 MINUTES