VeteranLight
I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.
Spidersecu
Don't Believe the Hype
Kidskycom
It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.
treywillwest
Absolutely unique and bizarre movie in the best sense. It starts as an almost Kafakaesque eerie horror, then becomes a comic ghost story and then an almost Ken Loachian tale of labor struggle. Ultimately it's a cosmic black comedy. That's a lot of narrative tones for one film to cover, but this manages it all with grace and eloquence.
crossbow0106
If you're familiar with Hiroshi Teshigahara's work, especially the notorious "Woman In The Dunes", you will understand the starkness, the harsh reality, the irony of this film. Ostensibly about a miner who is stalked by a man in a white suit and who then is killed for reasons that do not become apparent until nearly the end of the film, the film is, like "Dunes", an uncompromising look at life. The film is technically superb on the DVD box available, and it is highly recommended. This film is not for everyone, it is for people who are interested in serious Japanese cinema. There are nuances in this film that show the mark of a great director, though. Again, be prepared: This is not happy go lucky. It triumphs mostly because of its persistence of vision. That is an endorsement for any filmmaker.
zetes
Teshigahara's debut, at least as a feature length director of fictional films. Like his most famous work, his sophomore feature A Woman in the Dunes, Pitfall is based on the work of Japanese author Kobo Abe. While Pitfall is far less famous than A Woman in the Dunes, it is at least as good. It's been a while since I've seen Dunes, but at the moment I'd rate Pitfall higher. The story is about a man and his son who arrive in a mining camp to start a new job. The child notices a lanky man in white following them about. The father (Hisashi Igawa) notices nothing. Following orders, Igawa goes down to the beach. The man in white follows and attacks with a knife. The child hides, watching his father's murder from afar. The film is a murder mystery. It is also a ghost story, as Igawa rises from the dead and wanders the camp looking for answers to his murder. The child hides and avoids contact with the human beings around him. The film plays out as an existentialist nightmare, people wandering through empty landscapes, surrounded by distant hills of dirt and rocks, abandoned settlements and seemingly unmanned mining equipment. The film-making style is very cold, very distant, very geometrical in its compositions and editing. It's quiet and frightening. It's incredible sad. And it's one of the best films I've seen in a long time.
fertilecelluloid
A miner (Isashi Igawa) and his son travel the countryside searching for work. While on his way to an interview, the miner is visited by death in the form of a man in a white suit (Kunie Tanaka). This fascinating, surreal drama, is a blend of many genres, and was Hiroshi Teshigahara's first feature film. The setting is a ghost town where the dead amble about, carrying the pain that plagued their lives. Like the director's excellent "The Face of Another", this is concerned with the nature of identity and anonymity. It is exceptionally well photographed by Hiroshi Segawa with a striking, percussive sound mix. The film was clearly an inspiration for the Danish film that inspired the recent "The Invisible", for it traverses the same territory and focuses on a man observing an investigation into his own murder. Novelist Kobo Abe, who wrote "Pitfall", and was responsible for "The Face of Another" and "The Woman in the Dunes", was a writer of uncommon originality and intelligence, and his work here is excellent. Thought-provoking and never less than totally compelling.
