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The Castle of Sand

The Castle of Sand

Crime · Mystery · Drama · 1974

Two detectives are tasked to investigate the murder of an old man, found bludgeoned to death in a Tokyo rail yard.

Movie details

The Castle of Sand

1974 Crime · Mystery · Drama 2h 23m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.4 / 10

Community rating

Two detectives are tasked to investigate the murder of an old man, found bludgeoned to death in a Tokyo rail yard.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Castle of Sand?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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The Mask of Dimitrios

The Mask of Dimitrios

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A mystery writer is intrigued by the tale of notorious criminal Dimitrios Makropolous, whose dead body was found washed up on the shore in Istanbul. He decides to follow the career of Dimitrios around Europe, in order to learn more about the man. Along the way he is joined by the mysterious Mr. Peters, who has his own motivation.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Yoshitarō Nomura

Written by

Shinobu Hashimoto · Yoji Yamada

Tetsuro Tamba

Tetsuro Tamba

Detective Eitaro Imanishi

Gō Katō

Gō Katō

Eiro Waga

Kensaku Morita

Kensaku Morita

Detective Hiroshi Yoshimura

Yoko Shimada

Yoko Shimada

Reiko Takagi

Karin Yamaguchi

Karin Yamaguchi

Sachiko Tadakoro

Shin Saburi

Shin Saburi

Ex-Finance Minister, Shigeki Tadokoro

Yoshi Katō

Yoshi Katō

Chiyokichi Motoura

Court is in session

Put The Castle of Sand on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Auteur Devotee

“Ambition earns the room.”

The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Importance has entered the chat.”

The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.