By A Man’s Face Shall You Know Him comes to VOD, Digital, and Film Movement Plus on January 31.
Late filmmaker Tai Kato is the latest centerpiece of Film Movement Classics’ VOD and digital releases for the first month of 2024. First up among a pair of titles forthcoming is By A Man’s Face Shall You Know Him, Kato’s 1966 crime drama starring Noboru Ando as a post-WWII medic-turned-doctor who reflects on his life of turmoil, heartache, and violence when an old friend is admitted as his patient.
Fans of Showa-era productions like these might be more than familiar with Kato’s work, or even that of Ando or the actor’s own history as a former gangster in his heyday. The same can likely be stated with respect to the distinguishable scar Ando bares on his left cheek, which certainly makes Ando’s performance here an inspired one, it not enhanced.
Optically, the film is a little tricky to keep up with unless you’re fully engaged. The story format is delivered with a multitude of extensive flashbacks intended as the core of the film, and there isn’t much presented to indicate when those changes take place; A good mnemonic device to adhere to is when Ando’s character shows up in full uniform, glasses, and a mustache, as his character is first seen moments before being ushered into an emergency medical procedure.
That shot then pivots to 1948 when we first meet Shuichi Amamiya (Ando), a prominent doctor who owns the land that serves as the territory of the New Life Market, a bustling marketplace for struggling Japanese residents. As of then, the only looming threat to the market’s existence and any semblance of peace and prosperity is the diaspora of Koreans, a number of whom have come together to form the Nine Heavens League, a vicious gang whose leader, Boss Yoo (Ryohei Uchida), intends on seizing the New Life Market to expand his entertainment prospects.
It isn’t long before the minor actions of the gang begin to affect the community as a whole, namely thanks to the gang’s most ruthless and unruly soldier, Seo (Bunta Sugawara). Adding insult to injury is Seo’s arrest which only incites more unrest between the Nine Heavens League, and the members of the New Life Market community who have little to turn to for help, except for Dr. Amamiya, who is more concerned with avoiding conflict, a discerning factor when compared to the ambitions of his younger brother, Shunji (Juzo Itami), newly returned from school. As it stands though, tragedy recurs as one of the film’s biggest catalysts between post-war tensions and gross inaction by local law enforcement, and it’s only a matter of time before the good doctor’s hand is forced.
Kato’s By A Man’s Face Shall You Know Him plays as an exploration of stoic resolve in a violent world, crafted with smartly-written, complex characters, and notable drama woven into the action and spectacle. Where the film often stumbles in its delivery at times with many of its aforementioned editing setbacks, it makes up for with solid characterization and cohesive messaging that resonates throughout the film’s runtime.
Ando’s Dr. Amamiya is as badass as they come, as far as post-war Yakuza protagonists go – his fortitude, matched only by his more subtle, loving and sensitive side which he shares with fellow nurse and love interest, the ever-affectionate Maki (Sanae Nakahara). Actress Akemi Mari shines in the role of Hye-chun, a Korean-Japanese hostess working for Boss Yoo at his club, oftentimes forced to confront her own role amid the upheaval stirred by her employer.
Hye-chun’s interactions with Shunji, and Yoo’s underling and Dr. Amamiya’s former comrade in the battlefield, Choi (Ichiro Nakatani) are evocative of the social discontent Kato iterates between the Koreans and the Japanese. It’s an aspect of the film that definitely proffers something transformative to the film’s agenda given the film’s opening statement in which the director himself makes the case for telling this story in an effort to bring humanity closer.
Actor Kanjuro Arashi gets some screentime of his own in this film, in a supporting crucial to the film’s development, and the progression surrounding Amamiya during his introspection. To say the least, Arashi is a nice little cherry on top bringing full-circle a formidable cast carried by a strong lead in Ando, to embody the kind of palatable tale seen in By A Man’s Face Shall You Know Him. To this, Kato presents to audiences a fascinating look into why he is one of the most celebrated auteurs of his time.
