Enjo (Conflagration) The Wanderers

"Beyond comparison."--Donald Richie, former curator at MOMA, on Enjo

"Frightening schizoid beauty."--Donald Richie

Based on Mishima's The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, Enjo is a visually miraculous rendering of a true tale. Ichikawa's personal favorite of his own works, the film is about a young student whose ideals of purity quickly turn into obsession after being sparked by the breathtaking Golden Pavilion in Kyoto. (1958; 99 mins.)

"A funny, beautiful, and anti-heoric period film, one (the only one in recent years) well within the great tradition of Japanese period films."--Donald Richie

Inspired by the youth culture of the 1960s, The Wanderers is the bleakly funny story of three 19th-century farmboys determined to become big-time gamblers and masterless samurai. (1973; 6 mins.)