For Those We Love | In 1943, as Japan’s WWII effort falters, a vice-admiral proposes training squadrons of “volunteer” flyers to crash their armed planes into Allied warships. Yarn follows the lives of kamikaze pilots, as remembered by an aging Kyushu restaurateur who cherishes their memory. Honoring the dead and multiple military anthems may stir the soul of some Japanese, but elsewhere auds will make a one-way trip for exits. Battle scenes are well-executed and script delivers some memorable scenes, but overall competent helming and thesping are powerless over writer-cum-Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishiara’s repetitive storytelling. A post-war postscript adds considerable length to an already over-extended narrative. Tech credits are good quality.
Akira Kurosawa
Angel of Darkness Collection
Criterion Collection
Eclipse Series 7: Postwar Kurosawa
Eclipse Series 17: Nikkatsu Noir
Eclipse Series 21: Oshima's Outlaw Sixties
Eclipse Series 26: Silent Naruse
Eclipse Series 28: The Warped World of Koreyoshi Kurahara
Godzilla Collection
Nakano School Collection
Ninja Vixens Series
The Hoodlum Soldier Collection
Top IMDb
Tora-san
Zatoichi