A blind man, a stolen farm, and a half-brother you don't know exists — family drama gets violent.
Kensaku Muro and his father manage a farm in Sakudaira at the foot of the Yatsugatake Mountains. One day Kensuke saves a suicidal woman, Fukiko Uzu, who jumps into a waterfall. Having injured his eyes in the process, he is brought to Tokyo for medical treatment. In Tokyo, Kensaku visits his mother Kaneko who left her son years ago. She now owns an exclusive club and has a son, Isao, with the president of Kobe Concern. Isao plots to steal Kensuke's farm as part of a land development scheme with Fukiko's husband. Without knowing they are blood related, their conflict over the farm intensifies.
Cinematography
Mountains vs. neon: the landscape is the real villain.
Direction
Masuda builds tension through silence before the explosions.
Acting
Ishihara's wounded intensity — he simmers, then detonates.
Director
Toshio Masuda
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Post-war Japan's land reform created violent friction between traditional farmers and developers — this is that wound on screen.
Masuda made this the same year as his yakuza breakthrough; the 'explosion' is his transition from studio contract to Nikkatsu rebel cinema.
JP
