Gate of Hell

This movie starts a bit frustrating and ends in one of the most marvelous final half hours I’ve seen in film. Considered lost for a time, not because the negative disappeared but because the magnificent colors captured on early Eastman Kodak stock had faded, Gate of Hell by Teinosuke Kinugasa is a visually sumptuous story that starts too big and ends up with laser-like focus on its core drama.

It’s Japan during the Heiji Rebellion, and the emperor of Japan is under attack. In order to provide a distra...