Description
012-
Title: The Petrified Forest (1973)
Alternate Title: Kaseki no Mori
Genre: Crime, Drama
Plot Synopsis:
Haruo, a young medical student, becomes entangled in a complex web of relationships and moral dilemmas. Reconnecting with his childhood friend Eiko, who is trapped in an abusive relationship with her employer, Haruo embarks on a dangerous affair. Together, they conspire to eliminate Eiko’s oppressive lover using a lethal poison from Haruo’s university lab. Simultaneously, Haruo’s estranged mother seeks to mend their fractured relationship, adding emotional turmoil to his life. As Haruo grapples with guilt, familial obligations, and the consequences of his actions, the film delves into themes of alienation, moral decay, and the search for redemption in 1970s Japan.
Cast and Crew:
- Director: Masahiro Shinoda
- Writers: Nobuo Yamada (screenplay), Shintarō Ishihara (novel)
- Cast:
- Ken’ichi Hagiwara as Haruo
- Sayoko Ninomiya as Eiko
- Shima Iwashita
- Haruko Sugimura
- Takeshi Kusaka
IMDb Link:
The Petrified Forest (1973)
Reviews from Letterboxd:
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Gavin – ★★★★☆
“One of the bleakest and most pitiful character studies I have ever seen. The titular forest seems to be expansive and impenetrable. The characters are filled with such hatred and hopelessness.” -
Cauls_Apartment – ★★★★☆
“An engrossing… I dunno, crime thriller? It’s hard to pin the genre, I guess, it’s mostly an arthouse take on noir, probably influenced by the European new waves flowing out worldwide at the time.” -
Grant McLanaghan – ★★★★☆
“A surgeon and a cosmetician; poisonous personalities and a deadly toxin; lust and love; science and religion; self-interest and guilt – these are just some of the ingredients contributing to a compelling drama told with the twitchy paranoia of a conspiracy thriller.”
Meta Description:
“The Petrified Forest” (1973), directed by Masahiro Shinoda, is a Japanese crime drama that explores the turbulent life of Haruo, a medical student entangled in a perilous affair and familial strife. The film delves into themes of alienation, moral decay, and the quest for redemption in 1970s Japan.
*Pipilotti Rist – Video Works
Pipilotti Rist is a Swiss contemporary video artist. Best known for her vividly colorful work exploring the female body—namely her own—Rist’s work engages in lighthearted play, frequently combining a camera-specific aesthetic and technique with a message of social critique or commentary. “When I close my eyes, my imagination roams free,” she has explained. “In the same way I want to create spaces for video art that rethink the very nature of the medium itself. I want to discover new ways of configuring the world, both the world outside and the world within.” Born Elisabeth Charlotte on June 21, 1962 in Grabs, Switzerland, the artist studied at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, before studying video at the Schule für Gestaltung in Switzerland. Gaining acclaim for her work in the 1997 Venice Biennial, during which she received the Premio 2000 Prize, Rist continued her upward trajectory of international recognition, teaching at the University of California Los Angeles with Paul McCarthy in 2002–2003, and being awarded the Joan Miró Prize in 2009. She currently lives and works between Zurich and the mountains of Switzerland.
*not on Archive Bluray
