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      The Castle of Sand

      1974 2h 23m Mystery & Thriller Crime Drama List
      Reviews 60% Fewer than 50 Ratings Audience Score Two detectives investigate the murder of an old man found bludgeoned to death in a Tokyo rail yard. Read More Read Less

      Audience Reviews

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      william d Stylish but ultimately disappointing detective story. The detective certainly exposed a motive in his "big reveal," but not any actual evidence to arrest the culprit. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Touching thriller with a fantastic soundtrack "Destiny" Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member For the 1974 version: Expert police procedural from Yoshitaro Nomura which follows two detectives trying to solve the murder of an elderly man at a railway station in Tokyo. The first hour of the film appears to be nothing but dead ends. There are only two clues, the victim's heavy regional accent and the word "Kameda" overheard by a bar hostess. Finally, a linguist offers a breakthrough and the investigation gains some traction. Around the halfway mark, the film starts to transition with a look into the life of the killer (who has already been observed in passing a few times). As the detectives piece together some amazing clues, we are provided with the killer's complete backstory revealing his motive, if not justifying it at all. In some ways, the shape of the film is not too different from Kurosawa's great High and Low (1963), which is the best police procedural I have seen. Yet, despite a drawn out sequence during a piano concerto that seeks to reveal the mind of the killer, I still felt he remained opaque (and the film drags at this point, past the two-hour mark). But the title remains apt - some castles made of sand melt into the sea, eventually (and even though the direct Japanese translation is "sand bowl", the logic remains the same). The film looks great in color and widescreen nevertheless. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Audience Member Very slow in the beginning but by the last 1/3 it really picks up with beautiful imagery and a luscious score. Ok, maybe a melodramatic ending, but it got me. Sniff. My second Yoshitaro Nomura film. He's not Kurasawa, but still worth a peak. I think Zero Focus, an earlier work is better; a tighter narrative. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Audience Member TOHO CINEMAS Nagoya Baycity, 2014/7/12 Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/15/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

      Cast & Crew

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      The Castle of Sand

      The Castle of Sand (1974) The Castle of Sand (1974) The Castle of Sand (1974) The Castle of Sand (1974) View more photos

      Critics Reviews

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      Nathanael Hood Unseen Films ...Nomura spends most of the runtime convincing us the film is one thing before pulling the rug out from beneath us in the third act, revealing that it's something richer, more nuanced, and infinitely more tragic. Rated: 9/10 Apr 19, 2020 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews The acclaimed procedural police story was the director's biggest box office hit. Rated: A- Jun 20, 2015 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis Two detectives investigate the murder of an old man found bludgeoned to death in a Tokyo rail yard.
      Director
      Yoshitaro Nomura
      Screenwriter
      Shinobu Hashimoto, Yoshitaro Nomura, Yôji Yamada
      Production Co
      Shochiku
      Genre
      Mystery & Thriller, Crime, Drama
      Original Language
      Japanese
      Runtime
      2h 23m