Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageThe History of a Man's Face (1966)
Director: Tai Kato
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Startlingly unlike Kato's genre movies, this is a sprawling account of the rise of a ruthless Korean-Japanese gang in Osaka during the post-war depression of 1948. Much of it is presented through the eyes of Amamiya (Ando), a war hero now running the only medical clinic in the area targeted by the gang; the complicated flashback structure ushers in ancillary issues like the ambiguous identity of Koreans in Japan, attitudes to violence and sex shaped by experiences in the war, and so on. At heart it's all standard melodrama, but the fiction reflects social history rather accurately. The open ending forms a question mark as gutsy as anything in Sam Fuller's movies.Author: TR
Cast & crew
Director: Tai Kato
Producer: Kinen Masumoto
Cast: Noboru Ando, Ichizo Itami, Sanae Nakahara, Kanjuro Arashi, Bunta Sugawara full cast
Duration: 89 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Stephen Poliakoff discusses 'Glorious 39'
Stephen Poliakoff’s ‘Glorious 39’ is his first film for cinema since ‘Food of Love’ in 1997. Dave Calhoun met him
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
Steven Soderbergh on 'The Informant!' and 'The Girlfriend Experience'
We talk to Steven Soderbergh about his two forthcoming films: one featuring a porn star, the other a chubby Matt Damon
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
London Children's Film Festival
Read our exclusive reviews of films playing at the 2009 London Children’s Film Festival
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
The Coen brothers discuss 'A Serious Man'
Masters of contrary comedy, Joel and Ethan Coen have struck gold again with their latest, ‘A Serious Man’
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now