Pu-San (Mr. Pu) A Billionaire

With such darkly humorous films as Pu-San and The Billionare,, Ichickawa found both a forum for his savage indictments of postwar Japan and a showcase for his directorial genius.

"Ichikawa's formal briliance and gift for black satire emerged with Pu-san, which critics have come to rank among his best films."--James Quandt, Cinemathque Ontario

A shockingly funny satire of postwar Japanese society, Pu-San follows the misfortunes of beleaguered math teacher Mr. Pu, who is treated with contempt by everyone he meets. Decades before Woody Allen's Zelig, Ichikawa drops Mr. Pu into documentary footage of leftist demonstrations, a bold instance of the director's formal brilliance coupled with his penchant for deeply black comedy. (1953; 98 mins.)

The first in an informal trilogy of black comedies, A Billionaire is about an ethical young tax collector confronting rampant corruption, prostitution, and tax evasion, as well as the atomic-bomb anxieties running through postwar Japan. Called "a pitch dark fresco of venality, madness and suicide," it includes a young woman orphaned by Hiroshima who is now building her own atomic bomb in a shack. (1954; 83 mins.)