Punishment Island (1966)

A man returns to the island where he spent his childhood in a reform school. He has come to exact his revenge upon the man who almost killed him. This is perhaps the most stripped-down of Shinoda's work. It is bare bones to the core, cooler than cool, and by cool I mean ice cold, frosty, not glamorous. His use of Scope and color is ravishing as always. He evokes the fridgid atmosphere of the northern outlying islands, and his use of theatrical tropes and long takes is very seamlessly embedded into the structure of the film. The final confrontation between the man and his lifelong enemy all plays out in this several minute take in which the camera sits statically in front of a dimly lit set, like a sort of primal existence eking its way out through the darkness. For a time the characters disappear behind a large beam and just their voices are heard. It is a very strange and chilling effect. At just 86 minutes, Punishment Island is a short tale, and it almost just happens, the tension usually associated with this kind of story is subdued, almost non-existent. It is less about what actually happens, and more how it happens, but even that is not right, it just happens. Like a candle flame.