© Toei

(Mori to mizuumi no matsuri). Magnificently shot in 'Scope in the mountaintops of rugged Hokkaido, this rich and surprising drama about Ainu aboriginal people will remind you from moment to moment of a Western (Shane, say, or The Searchers) or of the ethnographically inclined films of Imamura or Ichikawa. The great Ken Takakura radiates unbridled pride as a hero of the Ainu people, intent on maintaining their health and culture. A conflict soon arises between the natives and their shamo (non-Ainu) neighbors when money disappears from Ainu charity funds, and the shamo responsible for the organization that oversees the charity imports a young woman landscape painter from Tokyo to accompany him on his field trips. Teeming with incident, The Outsiders delves, with startling insight still relevant today, into matters of aboriginal culture, discrimination, and the sad matter of ethnic "passing." The film's final battle in autumnal Hokkaido landscapes deserves comparison with the finest Westerns.

—James Quandt

• Written by Keinosuke Uegusa, from a novel by Taijun Takeda. Photographed by Shoei Nishikawa. With Ken Takakura, Kyoko Kagawa, Rentaro Mikuni, Hitomi Nakahara. (113 mins, In Japanese with English subtitles, Color, 'Scope, 35mm, From National Film Center, Tokyo, permission Toei)