The Sun's Burial (Taiyo no hakaba) (Tomb of the Sun)

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80%

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User Ratings: 56

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The Sun's Burial (Taiyo no hakaba) (Tomb of the Sun) Photos

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Movie Info

The epidemic of juvenile delinquency in the mean streets of a Tokyo slum is depicted in this sordid story of sex and violence. The group is dwindled by suicide, murder, gang warfare and accidents as they engage in arson and gunplay. Plagued by drug and alcohol problems, the members of the gang head down the dead-end street to oblivion, despair and certain death. The film attempts at the beginning to give some semblance of a stance on morality before the depraved characters begin the inevitable downward spiral. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Rating:

NR
Genre:

Art House & International, Drama
Directed By:

Nagisa Oshima
In Theaters:

Aug 9, 1960 wide
On Disc/Streaming:

Jul 13, 1994
Runtime:

87 minutes
Studio:

Criterion Collection

Cast

Masahiko Tsugawa
as Shin leader of gang

Yasuke Kawazu
as Gang member

Junzaburo Ban
as Yotsematsu Hanako's father

Fumio Watanabe
as Yosehei

Kamatari Fujiwara
as Batasuke peddlar

Tanie Kitabayashi
as Chika Batasuke's wife

Eitarô Ozawa
as Agitator

Jun Hamamura
as Goro Murata

Bokuzen Hidari
as Peddlar

Asao Koike
as "Black Glasses"

Hosei Komatsu
as "Clochard"

Kei Sato
as Sakaguchi doctor

Gen Shimizu
as Ohama leader of Ohamagumi gang

Kunie Tanaka
as Thief

Ichiroo Nagai
as The "lance"

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Critic Reviews for The Sun's Burial (Taiyo no hakaba) (Tomb of the Sun)

All Critics (4) | Fresh (3) | Rotten (1)

It seemed to me a monotonous series of beatings up slung together without either motivation or cinematic form.

Jul 10, 2019 | Full Review…

Dwight MacDonald
Esquire Magazine
The Sun's Burial isn't merely bleak: it's a work of full-blown nihilism, so wilfully dark that the film's climax literally burns buildings to the ground.

Jun 18, 2019 | Rating: 8/10 | Full Review…

Grant Watson
Fiction Machine
Oshima offers an unsettling portrait of an amoral and ruined postwar Japan.

Aug 5, 2014 | Rating: B | Full Review…

Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
The sun is the crimson one in the imperial flag, given a scalding funeral in Nagisa Oshima's implacable view of postwar scavenging

Apr 2, 2010 | Full Review…

Fernando F. Croce
CinePassion

View All Critic Reviews (4)

Audience Reviews for The Sun's Burial (Taiyo no hakaba) (Tomb of the Sun)

Mar 12, 2010

"The Sun's Burial" is a difficult film to like. Its locations are squalid. The actors need a shower, and are sweaty almost to the point of self-parody. Every character (except one, arguably) is corrupt or violent, and only out for personal gain. And that one exception commits some heinous acts when not questioning himself. The setting is an Osaka slum, where crime is a routine certainty. The action includes murder, suicide, rape, beatings, prostitution, robbery, arson, adultery, animal cruelty, identity fraud and more. A father isn't even above peeking up his daughter's skirt for a thrill. No one is redeemable. The biggest problem with this early Nagisa Oshima film is that there's no one with whom to identify. No real protagonist. Most characters are weakly distinguished from each other, and there's no central person to follow through the story. A young, beautiful woman who sells her body at night and operates a shady blood bank during the day eventually becomes the focus, but since the plot opens with two lads who join a gang together, it's awkward to switch our empathy from them to the girl. "The Sun's Burial" seems ahead of its time, considering that the French New Wave was barely underway in 1960, and that America's own take on moral depravity was offered in glossy flicks such as "Ocean's 11," "Butterfield 8" and "Elmer Gantry." Oshima's direction is typically fearless, and an attractive cast and vivid color palette help balance the ugly scenario. But the film is still a dour, tiring journey.

Eric B Super Reviewer