Film Snail

8.2

Devils on the Doorstep

NR·2001·139m

Drama

War

Drama

War

Summary

During the Japanese occupation of China, two prisoners are dumped in a peasant's home in a small town. The owner is bullied into keeping the prisoners until the next New Year, at which time they will be collected. The village leaders convene to interrogate the prisoners. The townspeople then struggle to accommodate the prisoners. One is a bellicose Japanese nationalist, the other a nervous translator. Will the townspeople manage to keep the prisoners until the New Year?

Cast

Jiang Wen

Ma Dasan

Jiang Hongbo

Yu'er

Teruyuki Kagawa

Kosaburo Hanaya

David Wu

Major Gao

Yuan Ding

Dong Hanchen

Cong Zhijun

Grandfather

Li Congxi

Liu Wang

Li Haibin

Kenya Sawada

Inokichi Sakatsuka

Cai Weidong

Er Bozi

Chen Lianmei

Aunt

Yoshimoto Miyaji

Koji Nonomura

Chen Qiang

Lone-Stroke Liu

Shu Chen

Qiye

Jianquan Shi

Brother-in-law

Katsuhiro Nagano

Telephone Line Layers

Ryosuke Uomi

Telephone Line Layers

Yunshen Bai

Liu Wang's Father

Haizhao Zhou

Little Thresher Yu'er's son

Haidong Xu

De'rtou

Shiru Du

De'rtou's Father

Youren He

Drum Singer

Yihe Wang

Drum Singer

Junji Kajioka

Japanese Officer

Masayuki Yamada

Japanese Officer

Yuta Ishiyama

Japanese Officer

Yayoi Inoue

Japanese prostitute

Eri Kitahara

Japanese prostitute

Mirei Nakahara

Japanese prostitute

Tomoko Itaya

Japanese prostitute

Etsuko Morita

Japanese prostitute

Mineko Kokaji

Japanese prostitute

Shu Ping

KMT Army Officer

Hu Jiang

KMT Army Soldier

James W. Mayfield

US Marine

Abram Sauer

US Marine

Jincai Jiang

Japanese dancer

Mamoru Yamada

Japanese soldier

Yoshimoto Inoue

Japanese soldier

Daisaku Uchino

Japanese soldier

Makoto Shibazaki

Japanese soldier

Junichi Kajioka

Japanese sergeant (uncredited)

Crew

Director, Screenplay, Story

Jiang Wen

Novel, Screenplay

You Fengwei

Screenplay, Story

Shu Ping

Writer

Shi Jianquan

Writer

Xing Liu

Writer

Haiying Li

Reviews

badelf

March 6, 2023

A fantastic anti-war narrative by Jiang Wen that clocks in at 140 minutes and is so well-paced that it feels like half that time. The comedic overtone that permeates the movie serves to provide comic relief and underscore the strong anti-war, anti-nationalist message.