Synopsis
A legendary Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro OZU once said "I can recreate all the movies directed by others except for MIZOGUCHI's Ugetsu Monogatari and Sadao YAMANAKA's Humanity and Paper Balloons."
Among the writers in Japanese film history prior to the World War II, YAMANAKA is not widely known even in Japan let alone abroad. In his short engagement with film development, he focus was made solely on historical epics. Dominating characters in his movies were yakuja or gangsters who were always portrayed as sympathetic and tender in YAMANAKA's gaze. With a unique approach to life within the framework of popular historical epics, his movies are surprisingly modernistic, and he was thus highly reevaluated in the course of time. However, he died at the age of 28 from a disease after being drafted to China. His filmography amounted to over 20 features but only 3 of them survived, one of which is Priest of Darkness. (KWON Yong Min)