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still Temple of the Wild Geese (Yuzo Kawashima, JP 1962) © Kadokawa Corporation

Temple of the Wild Geese

Yuzo Kawashima / JP, 1962 / 98 min.

Yuzo Kawashima’s acutely observed, ironic drama follows a contracted lover and a Buddhist monk who become close due to their hardscrabble childhoods. New 4K restoration.

poster Temple of the Wild Geese (Yuzo Kawashima, JP 1962)

The young monk Jinen lives at a Buddhist temple known for its paintings of wild geese which is governed by a cruel high priest who subjects his hired lover Satoko to his sexual desires. She pitties and is fascinated by the quiet, tortured Jinen. When she seeks him out they prove to have had the same kind of impoverished youth and this brings them together.

"The making of this film was incredibly helpful in figuring out what my goals are to be for my direction. Concurrently, I want to thank Hiroshi Murai behind the camera. That is because Murai made me sorry that I was not a director who saw films from a painterly perspective. He let me realize this.” – Yuzo Kawashima

New 4K restoration (Kadokawa)

images: © Kadokawa Corporation

Details

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Director

Yuzo Kawashima

Production year

1962

Country

JP

Original title

Gan no tera

Length

98 min.

Language

Japanese

Subtitles

ENG

Format

DCP

Part of

The Elegant Beasts of Yuzo Kawashima

Japanese director Yuzo Kawashima is seen as the ‘missing link’ between the classic Japanese cinema of the ’50s and the New Wave of the ’60s. He had a highly developed sense of the absurd, and in his films fought against hypocrisy and false facades.

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campaign The Elegant Beasts of Yuzo Kawashima
still Temple of the Wild Geese (Yuzo Kawashima, JP 1962) © Kadokawa Corporation
still Temple of the Wild Geese (Yuzo Kawashima, JP 1962) © Kadokawa Corporation

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