The Castle of Sand (1974) User Reviews

This film expands on genre conventions and is cinematic in the best sense

[simonize-1 · 8/10 · 11 July 2005]

This film CASTLE OF SAND expands on genre conventions and is cinematic in the best sense. YOSHITARO NOMURA takes what was presumably a best selling novel in Japan, and creates a fascinating mystery with all the requisites: the pairing of a veteran and a rookie detective; a murder with a minimum of clues; an unidentified victim; a journey of discovery for both detectives when the investigation seems to have come to a dead end; the seemingly arbitrary introduction of a key figure on which much hinges, and so forth.

The director tells a story with voice overs and the requisite dialogue but as often as not his camera tells the story.

I have seen any number of Japanese films in my 50 plus years, but I still felt I was undergoing the journey and the search that the two detectives take, through the rural regions of Japan that are in stark contrast to their operating base, Tokyo.

The story has elements that take it beyond the realms of the mystery and police procedure genres, and the conclusion is worthy of the time the director has spent in weaving his tragic tale.

The film is now available on DVD via Panorama; it is in the original Japanese with Chinese and English subtitles. It is a SINGLE LAYER DISK, LETTERBOXED and in STEREO, which is paramount because music is central to the whole affair.

Unfortunately my copy had a sequence when the senior detective is addressing his colleagues and no subtitling is provided (you simply see the same line for an awkward length of time). However the viewer should be able to extrapolate what has been said. All in all, a film and DVD worth seeking out!

Melodramatic but enlightened

[gbill-74877 · 7/10 · 29 July 2023]

One thing to beware of with this police procedural is that it's 143 minutes and very drawn out. Director Yoshitaro Nomura has a tendency to explain everything, such as the logistics of the cops as they travel around rural parts of Japan, which he does frequently via words on the screen, to the cops re-stating things that we've already seen or figured out. Also, while there is value to understanding just how much leg work goes into solving a crime, there were times I thought it was overdone, or at least, that the "slow burn" payoff better be high.

Mercifully, the beautiful cinematography offsets some of the issues with pace. Nomura often zooms out back from his characters to show not just wonderful scenery, but I think also to give us a sense for how small these lives are in the grand scheme of things. The past has a tendency to be quickly forgotten by the world, as if it were swallowed up in forests humming with loud insects, but not by individuals. No matter how successful someone may become, no matter the number of years that have gone by, the past is always with us, and trauma can come bubbling to the surface in a heartbeat. This is the main payoff to the film, not a surprise twist in the murder mystery itself, which never really has more than one suspect. There is real emotional power in seeing how the past fits together and affects people in the present. Nomura unveils this quite well via flashbacks set not to dialogue, but soaring music, and the result is a feeling of empathy for a callous man who has killed the kindest of persons. It's melodramatic for sure, but enlightened at the same time.

A tragedy it ends so badly

[poikkeus · 6/10 · 7 October 2009]

CASTLE OF SAND is an engrossing, laid-back police procedural that captures your attention even when the plot seems fairly ordinary. A Tokyo cop (Tetsuro Tamba) is troubled when a retired cop is found brutally murdered, with no evidence save the vague recollections of a few townsfolk. At times, the story is reminiscent of a regional travelogue, but in learning more about Japan, Tamba hones in on a small set of likely suspects, but everyone is so agreeable that uncovering the truth becomes like rooting out the one hidden evidence of violence in a sea of potential data.

Regrettably, the film unravels in the final forty or so minutes, when the remainder of the story is told with musical accompaniment of a famous pianist. The plot becomes frankly loses credibility and even becomes rather nonsensical. The movie changes mood and style, and dripping with melodrama.

Based on a bestselling novel

[noirfilm · 6 June 2003]

At first, I thought this was going to be a standard murder-mystery story. A police detective doggedly pursues slim clues all over the map to find a murderer. However, when the events which led up to the crime are revealed through flashbacks, the story takes an emotional turn which even brings tears to the detective's eyes. Like most Japanese movies, it starts slowly but comes alive at the end. I recommend it.

A classic movie - invitation to the Japanese world. Ganbare Nihon!

[Kicino · 9/10 · 28 June 2012]

I just finished The Castle of Sand and could not wait to write down how I feel. It is such a classic and so rich in the Japanese culture that I need to share soonest.

A suspense murder story on the surface, The Castle of Sand explores the theme of destiny and invites audience into this Eastern concept. It is full of irony which I will elaborate later.

The film opened in a small town Northeast Japan, which quickly drew me to imagine how this little town would have looked like before the tsunami last March and how it is recovered now. But it quickly shifted focus to other clues of a murder case which took detectives Imanixi and Yoshimura (Tetsurou Tanba and Kensaku Morita) all over Honshu to search for further details. We were taken on a journey to travel with them to the beautiful Japanese countryside and experience their hospitality in the summer heat. By the way, Tetsurou Tanba was very sexy when he rolled up his sleeves and worked hard!

The victim of the murder, Miki Kenji (Ken Ogata), a retired policeman who was loved by everyone in the village, had only done decent deeds all his life. No one believed he had any enemy but he was murdered and his body dumped in Tokyo. When detective Imanishi interviewed Miki's colleagues and friends, we almost see the famous Japanese poet/humanist/teacher Kenji Miyazawa alive: he saved a kid from the fire, carried a sick person to the hospital and sent a sick beggar to the hospital while taking care of his son. I believe the scriptwriters Shinobu Hashimoto and Yoji Yamada were paying tribute to Miyazawa for his humanism when he named this beloved policeman as Kenji who shared the same caring characters of the great writer.

Without divulging too much of the plot, destiny was defined in the film as "being born and being alive" by one of the characters. This can be interpreted in both a positive and negative way – that we enjoy the moment we have and be thankful that we are alive, i.e. accept fate; or that as long as we were born, we have to try hard to stay alive and ahead at all costs. No matter which option we choose, our lives, or whatever we have accumulated, are like the castle of sand which might look magnificent for a while but it will eventually be crumpled and washed away. Therefore, all of our efforts are futile because our fate is already determined. Power, fame, wealth, even love, whatever we desire, will be gone – which is quite a Buddhist philosophy.

What was ironic was the contrast between the friendly hospitality the detectives enjoyed and the sneers by the country people the leper father and his son faced as they roamed and begged all over the country. Another irony was in the second half of the film when the beautiful Japanese countryside in snow, under cherry blossoms, by the sea, and in the mountains was depicted with the roaming father and son struggling in the foreground. No dialogues were necessary (they are male and Japanese!). Yet the passionate piano concerto vividly portrayed their sadness, loneliness, abandonment and strong bonding. It was beautifully overlaid by the performance of the up and coming composer Eriyo Waga (Gou Katou) while he reflected painfully on his past.

I have not read the original novel by Seichou Matsumoto and I intend to do so.

Duration is 143 minutes but did not feel long at all because you will be full absorbed into the search, the enjoyment of the scenes and the sadness felt by each character. This film is a classic as the morals from the story remains valid today: the coldness and avoidance of the villagers to lepers/beggars remind me of the bullying of residents from the Fukushima area. Years pass, seasons change; scenery, prejudice, hospitality and solidarity stay. Ganbare, Nihon!

Thoroughly Enjoyable

[Samanessence · 9/10 · 25 October 2006]

I just saw this movie for the first time last night at the Japanese Film Festival held in Melbourne. It was a re-mastered print and on the huge screen it was magnificent. The flashback scenes with the father and son set to the stunning musical score seemed like a completely different movie to what had preceded. But to me, final scenes are important - a skillful movie ending turns a good film into a great film. A bad ending turns an average to good film into a piece of rubbish. As far as Castle of Sand is concerned, what started out as an interesting detective story ended as a sweeping piece which left me walking out of the cinema thinking "That was incredible!!".

Japanese cinema rarely fails to impress me. I keep discovering more and more gems, usually from years gone by when I was too young to experience them at the time.

Too long

[deschreiber · 7/10 · 11 July 2023]

There's a lot to like about this film, mostly because of the beautiful cinematography and the picturesque Japanese countryside. The unraveling of the police investigation of the central murder has interesting moments, but by the end it becomes too strung-out and torturous. The last 45 minutes or so had me tapping my toes waiting for it to end, as every plot point and every shot was prolonged far past the limits of my patience.

Lovers of classical music will be amused by what passes for the output of the "genius" composer. While composing in the early stages in his home at the piano, he plays quite awful nightclub music. It would never get him an invitation to perform with the New York Philharmonic, as the plot requires. In the last section, with him performing on stage, intercut with scenes of the police concluding their investigation, he plays a pretty forgettable late-Romantic piano concerto, apparently written by a real Japanese composer, Yasushi Akutagawa.

Doesn't get the attention it deserves

[Drucilla_Black · 9/10 · 8 December 2006]

I saw "The Castle of Sand" at a Japanese Film Festival this year in Sydney, and I must say that I'm surprised that this movie isn't better known as it's so beautifully made and incredibly moving...It's one of those near-perfect gems that are few and far between. It's a fairly long movie at nearly 2.5 hours, but the movie is one that draws you in very quickly and keeps you wondering up until the very end.

The plot centres around the mysterious murder of Miki, a retired policeman in his 60's who was well-liked by pretty much everyone who knew him for his kindness and integrity. Two detectives, one a rookie and one fairly older, are assigned to the case and what at first seems like three unrelated stories slowly weave together to reveal the reasons and the person behind Miki's death. Even if you're not a fan of foreign movies, "The Castle of Sand" is still definitely worth a watch.

For a movie that is more than two hours, for a mystery it is still quite long.

[jordondave-28085 · 6/10 · 11 July 2023]

(1974) The Castle of Sand (In Japanese with English subtitles) MYSTERY

Adapted from the novel by Yoshitaro Nomura, co-written and directed by Yoshitarô Nomura that has Inspector Imanshi (Tetsurô Tanba) and his associate Detective Yoshimura (Kensaku Morita) at first trying to find the identity of the murdered man discovered near the train tracks. And by the time they found out it was, a retired officer by the name of Officer Kenjehi Miki, a popular one at that at a nearby village or villages who had a son.

Well made, but for a movie that is more than two hours, for a mystery it is still quite long.

Methodical but plodding police-procedural highlighted by memorable characters and beautiful cinematography

[jamesrupert2014 · 8/10 · 21 July 2023]

Two Tokyo detectives (Imanishi and Yoshimura, played by Kensaku Morita and Tetsuro Tamba respectively) investigate the case of an elderly 'John Doe' found inexplicably beaten to death in a rail yard. The film is long (143 minutes) and plot (and sub-plot) complex, so patience and attention are needed (especially if, like me, you are watching a subtitled version) but it's well worth the effort. At times (notably towards the end) the imagery is mesmerising and the characters of Chiyokichi Motoura (Yoshi Kato) and his young son (Kazuhide Haruta) are beautifully rendered. The musical coda is excellent. Recommended.

A Concerto For Detectives and Piano.

[net_orders · 7/10 · 19 December 2016]

The Castle of Sand / Container of Sand (Lit.) (Suna No Utsuwa). Viewed on Streaming. Music = ten (10) stars; cinematography/lighting = eight (8) stars; subtitles/translations = six (6) stars. Director Yoshitarô Nomura again displays his fascination with crime mysteries, trains, and rural Japan (in a way, this film looks like a mini Honshu travelogue of many places tourists may never see). The Director's tale primarily comprises a mash up of: unrelenting, investigative work by homicide police detectives; the creation and performance (by a 60-member symphony orchestra) of a piano concerto; and the lingering prejudice against noninfectious leprosy suffers. Nomura uses a common plot device where seeming remote and unrelated events turn out to be tightly coupled. The film is too long. It loses it's dynamic punch when 20-30 minutes of symphonic music is inserted at the end of the film (it's just too much of a good thing and plot-point overkill). This brings a suspenseful final police evidence review meeting (prior to an arrest warrant being authorized and issued for the concerto's creator/ conductor) often to a stand still (there is much cross-cutting between the concert and the stalled review meeting). A poorly executed contrivance that almost sinks a heretofore well crafted suspense movie! (And far removed from, say, Hitchcock's symphonic suspense scenes in THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1934, 1956).) Acting is fine except for the histrionics of the fake conductor. Distinguished character actor Chishû Ryû makes a welcomed cameo (albeit crucial) appearance. Narrative in the form of on-screen text is surprisingly effective: it adds value as opposed to being a "quick and dirty" way to link disparate scenes during the editing process. Cinematography/lighting (wide screen, color) are excellent and include striking forward/reverse zoom shots. Original/adapted music is outstanding. Subtitles are occasionally a bit too long given their screen duration. Writings (of which many are shown on screen) are usually not translated. Same for many newspaper article subheadings. A cinematic treat. Highly recommended. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

The musical score is the real star

[mollytinkers · 8/10 · 27 July 2023]

I agree with the reviewer who wrote the movie is too long, but its running time is a small flaw I'm willing to overlook. In fact, it's truly a slow-burn police procedural/thriller. It requires patience.

The direction is on spot. The cinematography is not innovative, but the lush widescreen shots are sumptuous. The supporting cast deserves accolades, to say the least.

However, the reality is that the musical score is purely stunning. Its romanticism is immersive, to the point I was questioning during the first act why a crime mystery/thriller would employ a score reminiscent of Franz Waxman or Max Steiner. But after enduring the overlong running time, it made sense.

An absolute must-see for fans of Japanese cinema and a recommended watch for fans of procedurals/mysteries. But if you are a die-hard fan of film music, shame on you for skipping this one.

Nomura's hidden agenda undercuts the film's otherwise commendable artistry

[lasttimeisaw · 7/10 · 30 December 2017]

Prolific Japanese filmmaker Yoshitarô Nomura's THE CASTLE OF SAND is the first screen adaptation of Seichô Matsumoto's popular novel INSPECTOR IMANISHI INVESTIGATES, it starts out as a diligent police procedural investigating a mysterious murder of an elderly man Miki in Tokyo by two detectives, Imanish (a phlegmatic and conscientious Tanba) and his younger, hot-blooded colleague Yoshimura (Morita).

Nomura pulls no punch in detailing the circumstantial process of tracking down probable leads out of niggardly clues: the dead man's provincial accent and a word which can be either construed as a name or a place. It requires much legwork and fast-train commute, but often leads to a cul-de-sac, only when the victim's stepson comes to Tokyo to identify the body and with the help from a phonetic expert, the investigation finally veers onto the right track, but another conundrum ensues, Miki was a retired police officer in a remote rural town, and his reputation is impeccably saintly, no one can figure out any reason why someone wants to rub him out. As usual, the devil is in the details, the linchpin of the is boiled down to an abrupt decision which make Miki alter his original shrine-gallivanting route to visit Tokyo, a city he has no connections with.

By the time the film reaches this stage, Nomura has officially shunted this whodunit to a whydunit, by introducing a young pianist Eiryo Waga (Gô Katô), whose star is on the rise but indubitably is the culprit as it turns out that Reiko (Shimada), his paramour, is the one who helps him discard his blood-stained shirt. Further compounding the situation is that Reiko is pregnant with his child and decides to raise the baby on her own against Eiryo's insistence on abortion, which clearly will hinder Eiryo's propitious union with Sachiko (Yamaguchi), the daughter of the Ex-Finance Minister (Saburi). But this subplot stops short with an offhand miscarriage.

So the remaining task is to piece together the linkage between Eiryo and Miki, and the film's strength is hinged on whether the motive is cogent enough to fall in with the story. A lyrical flashback, frequentely accentuated by DP Kawamata's tourist-luring propensity for zooming-out, of Eiryo's childhood nearly 30 years ago, whose really name is Hideo Motoura (Karuta), how his peripatetic scrounging days with his leprosy-afflicted father (Yoshi Katô) has a short confluence with a young Miki (Ogata), which predestines the future tragedy, pans out concurrently with the diegetic symphonic accompaniment which Eiryo virtuously performs on the stage with a full orchestra in front of a full-house audience, the piece is befittingly christened Destiny, which is sonorously composed by Mitsuaki Kanno.

Gô Katô dexterously contrives the crescendo with flying colors, but digressing back to the "motive" sticking point, it is hard to condone that Eiryo would cold-bloodedly resort to murder, especially to someone with only good intentions, just because he doesn't want to acknowledge his buried past, plus the reason why he is desperate to hide it is less expounded as well, apart from the prejudice of leprosy.

Whilst Nomura flags up the indivisible blood tie and makes heavy weather of the lachrymose father-son separation, it only recoils on itself when all Eiryo refuses to commit is a belated reunion, and if we contextualize the story in its time, one may uncomfortably apprehend that the plot could be Nomura's disguised plea to urge Japan's post-WWII youth to forgive the militaristic past of their father's generation, which materializes as a dangerous signal undercuts the film's otherwise commendable artistry, history should not be forgotten, lest we are so inclined to make the same mistake ad nauseam.

Story "coincidence"

[Aristides-2 · 5/10 · 19 February 2012]

A huge story absurdity takes place mid-film that I couldn't shake for the rest of it. A detective investigating a very complicated murder case with minimal clues, is on a Japanese train and by chance, spots a woman he's never seen before, throwing hundreds of small white pieces of cloth out of the window. The cloth turns out to be the cut-up missing bloodied shirt of the killer he's looking for and the woman is involved in the cover-up neck high! Question: How many multi-millions of people were living in the Tokyo region in 1973? How many of them were riding trains? What are the odds of these two people meeting on the train? But a larger problem for me has to do with the Why of it all. After the movie's very thorough 2.5 hour examination and analysis of why the bad guy killed the good guy, is that I never believed the reason given for the killing. So the bad guy fudged his birth certificate and continued the fiction of his antecedents. So what? (Unless something like that in the Japanese character makes the reveal so hideous that a person could kill to conceal it.)

Nice to see an (almost) forgotten movie again

[caddie1976 · 14 June 2003]

This movie has three stories which are skillfully merged together at the end. One story is about a determined detective who is searching for a murderer. The second story is about a composer with social aspirations who is preparing to perform the debut of his piano concerto. I won't spoil it by describing the third story which is a flashback 30 years into the past. The third story has very little dialog and shows what silent movie fans have always known: you don't need much dialog to tell a good story.

The English subtitling on the dvd version I saw is not great, but passable. As a minor quibble, the subtitles are not present to translate written documents when a newspaper article or arrest warrant is shown on the screen.

There are some nice visual scenes which are quite effective. I last saw this movie in the 1970's and although I forgot the movie title, I never forgot the scene where the two detectives ride silently on their way to arrest the murderer. When I viewed this movie again recently, I was surprised to see how brief this scene actually is.

An Good Detective Story Undone by an Indulgent Director

[stranmansmc · 6/10 · 30 July 2023]

This film is beautifully shot with many evocative images as the viewer is taken on a journey with two detectives trying to uncover the truth behind a murder. The first three-quarters of the film is an above-average procedural police drama that reveals long held secrets of both victim and suspect. The final section of the film strays far from the pacing and perspective of the earlier parts of the story, and devolves into an extended melodramatic tableaux of the lives of the killer and victim. This section is so lengthy and overwrought that the entire mood of the film, set in the movie earlier, is lost. The director would have benefited from a more steady hand in the editing room.

castle of sand

[mossgrymk · 5/10 · 27 July 2023]

The previous reviewer describes this police procedural as a "slow burn". I disagree. To me, it's a no burn. Assuming, of course, that the word "burn" implies dramatic tension, conflict or, dare I even say it? Action, while the word "slow" means that EVENTUALLY such essential ingredients to a successful cop movie will occur. Well, I gave this somnolent stray dog an hour and ten minutes and, in lieu of action, I got lots of...linguistics. And trains. And train stations. And endless talk of a place called Kameda. The only thing approaching an actual physical altercation was a butthole on...where else?...a train, who is slow to move his feet out of the aisle in front of the homicide detective hero. Oh, and a fairly realistic, bludgeoned dead body found in a rail yard (where else?). And it's not as if the two detectives or the folks they interview provide us with interesting quirks of character to relieve the general flatness of tone and boredom of mood. Aside from the older detective's penchant for writing mediocre poetry the people in this film are pretty much talking heads. Maybe the best selling novel by Seicho Matsumoto, from which this film is adapted, is fresh and compelling but Yoshitaro Nomura's film is as stale as store bought sushi. Solid C.

2005 NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL SIDEBAR - Special Retrospective

[SONNYK_USA · 1 September 2005]

The Film Society of Lincoln Center Presents

A Special Retrospective of The 43rd New York Film Festival

The Beauty of the Everyday: Japan's Shochiku Company at 110 September 24 – October 20, 2005

This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.

This year's New York Film Festival Retrospective— The Beauty of the Everyday: Japan's Shochiku Company at 110— is virtually a pocket history of Japanese cinema. While some fifteen of the forty-five films in the retrospective are devoted to Japanese filmmaker masters, such as Ozu, Naruse, and Mizoguchi, more than two dozen of the films are by directors far less well-known in the West.

The Castle of Sand / Suna no Utsuwa Yoshitaro Nomura, 1974; 140m Two detectives, Imanishi and Yoshimura, are assigned to the murder of a 60-year-old man whose body was found dumped in a railroad yard. It turns to be that of a former policeman, Miki; the murder now seems even more mysterious, as Miki was well liked by all and had been on holiday when he was killed. The detectives visit all the places to which Miki has traveled, with little luck, but then they read an account buried in a lengthy report of how Miki years before had befriended a destitute, leprous man and his young son. Amazingly, that boy had grown up to become Eiryo Waga, a rising star in the music world. Could such an eminent figure have anything to do with the murder? Sadly, Yoshitaro Nomura passed away this past April; for years one of Shochiku's most popular and reliable directors, he worked successfully in a variety of genres but especially made his mark with The Castle of Sand, based on a best-selling novel. A real delight, the film contains many of the classic features of the detective film — the pairing of a veteran and a rookie, the investigation as a voyage of discovery, wonderfully eccentric supporting characters — but under Nomura's sure direction they take on a whole new life.

ONLY ONE Screening: Sun Sept 25: 9:00pm