At the tavern “Anrakutei,” perched on a narrow wasteland surrounded on all sides by waterways, gather a group of outcasts with no place left in the world. Their livelihood is the smuggling of goods imported from the Netherlands and China. Though they share the same roof and fate, the members of the gang trust no one but themselves.

As the authorities’ net tightens, a new assignment brings an impending crisis upon them. This period drama portrays, with grave and restrained direction, men rejected by society who stake their lives on a single chance at redemption. The film is adapted from Shugoro Yamamoto’s novel Fukagawa Anrakutei by Tomoe Ryo, the wife of Tatsuya Nakadai.

Still Image ©1971 Toho Co., Ltd.