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Poster for The Human Bullet

The Human Bullet

1968 · 116 min

A bitter, absurd anti-war satire that swings between slapstick military farce and quiet, doomed tenderness, leaving a lingering ache.

Tagline
Kamikaze funeral pyre
Overview
A soldier has been in the Japanese military for the entirety of WWII, and in that time, his dedication to the army has never faltered. However, as the war draws to a close, his commanding officers become increasingly desperate and push their men to ever more absurd extremes. The ridiculousness of the orders from above peak when the hero of the story is assigned to drive a one-man submarine straight into the hull of an enemy battleship.

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In the UKNo streaming, rental or purchase options known.
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How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • satiricalstrength 3 of 3
  • darkstrength 2 of 3
  • absurdstrength 2 of 3
  • melancholicstrength 2 of 3
Pacing
measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • war
  • violence
  • death
  • obsession
  • love
Places
  • countryside
  • sea
Era
period
Audience
adult
Form
  • nonlinear
Content intensity
  • Gore mild
  • Language mild
  • Violence mild
  • Sex mild
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action3
Horror3
Humour6
Realism6
Romance3
Tension5
Darkness7
Complexity6
Emotional weight7

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Where to watch in the UK

No UK streaming, rental or purchase options are known.

Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres
comedy, drama, war
Directed by
Kihachi Okamoto
Written by
Kihachi Okamoto
Starring
Minori Terada, Naoko Ohtani, Hideyo Amamoto, Masao Imafuku, Chishū Ryū, Tanie Kitabayashi, Masumi Harukawa, Hirohisa Sonoda
Music
Masaru Satō
Cinematography
Hiroshi Murai
Runtime
116 min
Country
Japan
Languages
Japanese

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