Sharaku (1995) Masahiro Shinoda, Hiroyuki Sanada, Furankî Sakai, Shima Iwashita

At the center of "Pale Flower" stands a very quiet man, closed within himself, a professional killer. He works for a gang in the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia, and as the film begins he has returned to Tokyo after serving a prison sentence for murder. He did the prison time as the price to be paid for committing a murder, but although we see his gang boss several times, even in a dentist's chair, there is no effort to make him seem worthy of such loyalty. He is an ordinary older man. Muraki (Ryo Ikebe), the yakuza, seems loyal more to the ideal of loyalty, a version of the samurai code. It is his fate to be a soldier and follow orders, and he is the instrument of that destiny. He thinks his crime was "stupid," but he is observing, not complaining.

At the center of "Pale Flower" stands a very quiet man, closed within himself, a professional killer. He works for a gang in the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia, and as the film begins he has returned to Tokyo after serving a prison sentence for murder. He did the prison time as the price to be paid for committing a murder, but although we see his gang boss several times, even in a dentist's chair, there is no effort to make him seem worthy of such loyalty. He is an ordinary older man. Muraki (Ryo Ikebe), the yakuza, seems loyal more to the ideal of loyalty, a version of the samurai code. It is his fate to be a soldier and follow orders, and he is the instrument of that destiny. He thinks his crime was "stupid," but he is observing, not complaining.

Toru Takemitsu - Film Music by Toru Takemitsu (2006) {7CD Box Set Victor Entertainment Japan VICG-60593~9}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (image)+CUE+LOG -> 2.25 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.07 Gb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 92 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2006 Victor Entertainment Japan | VICG-60593~9
Classical / Film Score / Contemporary Classical / Avant-Garde / Modern Composition

These are probably the rarest Takemitsu recordings around. Toru Takemitsu composed music for at least 70 films (I have read that it's actually around 90 but I haven't researched this) and the music can be exceptionally wide-ranging: traditional Japanese soloists and ensembles, Western classical tradition, avant-garde and everything in between (jazzy lounge and space age music, anyone?) I feel that some of his best film scores are those which have his delicate Debussian touches combined with traditional Asian music and soloists.

From "Ame Agaru" the same novel that gave birth to AFTER THE RAIN, comes one of the greatest samurai films of all time. Co-starring Nagato Isamu and Tanba Tetsuro as two wandering ronin who make their living by "Dojo Yaburi" (literally Martial Arts School Breaking) where they challenge and defeat the master of a dojo so they can extort money for not telling anyone what they did.