Directed by:
Satsuo YamamotoScreenplay:
Shinobu HashimotoComposer:
Sei IkenoCast:
Jirō Tamiya, Eiji Funakoshi, Mayumi Ogawa, 藤村志保, Eijirō Tōno, Takahiro Tamura, Eitarô Ozawa, 加藤嘉, Michiko Ai, Fujio Suga, Masami Shimojō, Akira Natsuki, Koichi Ito (more)Plots(1)
Yamamoto Satsuo is one of Japanese cinema's grandmasters for whom the rest of the world so far hasn't caught up. One wonders why, after seeing The Great White Tower, a dive headlong into university politics and the battle for who will succeed as the head of the medical department. Two futures open up by way of the film's antagonists: the decent researcher and community-conscious humanist against the careerist who uses his undeniable brilliance for nothing other than his own advancement. The two-and-a-half-hour feature unfolds the intricacies of how a university department in Japan works. Lectures and operations, with a side of confrontation, sometimes person to person and sometimes in group settings, in which questions of ethics and politics are fervently debated. Entering a whole world, The Great White Tower unveils a staggering black and white, a choice justified by Yamamoto to soften the shock from the operation scenes, with a starkness that perfectly reflects the film's uncompromising moral stance. A singular and multi-dimensional masterpiece! (International Film Festival Rotterdam)
(more)Cast
Jirō Tamiya
Japan
Best movies:
A Cheerful Girl (1957)
The Black Test Car (1962)
Cobra (1976)
Eiji Funakoshi
Japan
Best movies:
Fires on the Plain (1959)
Blind Beast (1969)
The Black Test Car (1962)
Mayumi Ogawa
Japan
Best movies:
Zatoichi's Vengeance (1966)
Farewell to the Ark (1984)
The Demon (1978)
藤村志保
Japan
Best movies:
続・忍びの者 (1963)
Zatoichi's Cane-sword (1967)
Zatoichi on the Road (1963)
Eijirō Tōno
Japan
Best movies:
続・忍びの者 (1963)
Seven Samurai (1954)
Zatoichi's Cane-sword (1967)
Takahiro Tamura
Japan
Best movies:
Revenge (1964)
Twenty-Four Eyes (1954)
Last Samurai (1974)
Eitarô Ozawa
Japan
Best movies:
The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959)
Zatoichi Challenged (1967)
Steel Edge of Revenge (1969) - narrator
加藤嘉
Japan
Best movies:
Bushido, Samurai Saga (1963)
Intentions of Murder (1964)
Immortal Love (1961)
Michiko Ai
Best movies:
Princess Yang Kwei-fei (1955)
Orgies of Edo (1969)
Fujio Suga
Japan
Best movies:
続・忍びの者 (1963)
Tokyo Twilight (1957)
Zatoichi's Cane-sword (1967)
Masami Shimojō
South Korea
Best movies:
Kids Return (1996)
Moskva, lyubov moya (1974)
Akira Natsuki
Japan
Best movies:
Fires on the Plain (1959)
The Wife's Confession (1961)
The Black Test Car (1962)
Koichi Ito
Japan
Best movies:
Fires on the Plain (1959)
The Black Test Car (1962)
Japan Sinks (1973)
Kanji Kawara
Japan
Best movies:
Kisses (1957)