Kabe atsuki heya

The postwar condition is a common theme among Japanese films of this period, but few filmmakers were so directly self-reckoning as Kobayashi. This film actually reminds me a lot of early Rossellini, and in particular Paisan, with its ensemble of war stories, its roughly hewn but inspired elements, and its sympathy for the small folks caught in tragic circumstances.

Certainly worth watching, but had this been made just a decade later, with Kobayshi in peak form, this would have been another one of his masterpieces. Oh well, just plug your ears whenever an 'American' starts to speak, or when the overbearing music comes in. There are truly excellent moments to be found.

After living in so many shitty apartments with paper-thin walls, a thick-walled room sounds kinda nice, ngl

In a departure from the broad universality that brought him the most acclaim, Kobayashi dives into all the messy politics of the postwar era, filtering his depiction of proletariat war criminal scapegoats through American imperialism, postwar nationalism, prisons, and communist sympathies in 1950s Japan. Stylistically still a bit melodramatic but the arthouse techniques are starting to show. "Prison isn't a place to drive the sins out of humanity. It drives the humanity out of the sins."

Not Kobayashi's best, but still worthwhile. Plus Kobo Abe wrote the screenplay, and Kobo Abe is the best.

Made before Kobayashi had fully developed his directorial skills. Still a very powerful film that offers some intriguing insights into Japan's postwar history.