Oshima, Missed Encounter, Violence at Noon

I did not see Violence at Noon (Hakuchu No Torima - 1966). It was presented at the AFI Silver Theatre within the Oshima retrospective. It happened that I arrive at the theatre at two o'clock, to find that the screening had been the same day at noon. I didn't know anything about the retrospective by that time. I went then to see the movies that followed.


I found on youTube a video with the movie trailer. I cannot post it here as it does not fit with the allowable width of the blog. I captured some images from the video, and they are of a exquisite
artistry.


Here is what AsianVirusNet says about Violence at Noon:


It is based on the notorious nationwide killing spree of the Daylight Demon, a brutal murderer who took the lives of over thirty victims during the late 1950s, all women and all killed in the middle of the day. In Oshima's version, the killer is also part of a failed cooperative farm in rural Japan whose members include two idealistic women who become involved with the future killer.



Violence at Noon introduced a new formal complexity into Oshima's cinema, abandoning the extended long takes that were the staple of his early films to embrace a radically fragmented montage style that mirrors the women's attempts to understand their traumatic memories. A disturbing study of the criminal mind and a moving elegy to failed dreams, Violence at Noon is Oshima's first great masterpiece.






(Japanese New Wave)