The Castle of Sand
1974 · Movie · 143 min · ★ 7.4
After an elderly man is found murdered in a Tokyo rail yard, two detectives launch a painstaking investigation with only scattered clues to guide them. Their search becomes a journey across Japan, gradually connecting the crime to buried memories and long-lasting trauma that still shapes the present.
Based on Inspector Imanishi Investigates
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Details
- Original title
- 砂の器
- Years
- 1974
- Release date
- 1974-10-19
- Language
- Japanese
- Runtime
- 143 min
- TMDB rating
- 7.4/10 (54 votes)
About
You’ll likely enjoy this if you’re patient with a long, methodical mystery that shifts into heavier emotion and reflection, with striking scenery and memorable music; Not for you if you want brisk action or a tight pace like The Bad Sleep Well.
Pros: absorbing procedural detail; evocative travelogue feel; powerful musical payoff | Cons: very long runtime; slow, talky pacing; melodrama feels overwrought
Themes
- japan
- countryside
- based on novel or book
- composer
- leprosy
- tokyo, japan
- class differences
- bludgeoning
- police investigation
- murder investigation
- train travel
- concert pianist
- +4 more
Cast & crew
Tetsuro Tamba
as Detective Eitaro Imanishi
Gō Katō
as Eiro Waga
Kensaku Morita
as Detective Hiroshi Yoshimura
Yoko Shimada
as Reiko Takagi
Karin Yamaguchi
as Sachiko Tadakoro
Shin Saburi
as Ex-Finance Minister, Shigeki Tadokoro
Yoshi Katō
as Chiyokichi Motoura
Kazuhide Haruta
as Hideo Motoura
Ken Ogata
as Kenichi Miki
Seiji Matsuyama
as Shokichi Miki
Directed by Yoshitarō Nomura