Pitfall (1962 film)

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Pitfall
Directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara
Produced by Tadashi Oono
Written by Kobo Abe
Starring Hisashi Igawa
Kunie Tanaka
Music by Toru Takemitsu
Cinematography Hiroshi Segawa
Editing by Fusako Shuzui
Distributed by Teshigahara Productions
Toho
Release date(s) Flag of Japan July 1, 1962
Running time 97 min
Country Japan
Language Japanese
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Pitfall (おとし穴 Otoshiana?), aka The Pitfall and Kashi to kodomo, is a 1962 Japanese film directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara, written by Kobo Abe, with music by Toru Takemitsu. It was the first of their four film collaborations, the others being Woman of the Dunes, The Face of Another and The Ruined Map.

[edit] Plot

Pitfall is set against the background of labour relations in the Japanese mining industry, but the film owes as much to surrealism as it does to "socially aware" drama. The mine in the film is divided into two pits, the old one and the new one, each represented by a different trade union faction. A mysterious man in white, whose identity we never learn, murders an unemployed miner who bears an uncanny resemblance to the union leader at the old pit and bribes the only witness to frame the union leader of the new pit. The two union leaders go to the murder scene to investigate only to come across the body of the witness, who has subsequently been killed by the man in white. They blame one another and begin a fight which ends in both their deaths. The film ends with the man in white observing them before riding off on his motorcycle, satisfied his mission is complete. Beyond this realistic plot, Pitfall shows us the realm of the dead as well as the living, as the ghosts of the victims look on, powerless to intervene in events and bring the truth to light.

[edit] Source

  • Booklet and commentary by Tony Rayns to the Eureka Masters of Cinema DVD edition.

[edit] External links

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