"Juicy (to use a favorite Imamura word), barbaric, and bizarre, The Men of Tohoku is one of the buried treasures in Ichikawa's filmography. His first film in 'Scope, it is a ribald tale of sex and stink set in a remote mountain village. By tribal tradition, only the eldest son of a family can inherit land and have a family. The rest must foreswear sex, wear rags, and remain unshaven and filthy. Risuke is one of these unfortunate 'younger sons', who has the added problem of a halitosis so powerful that it drives everyone away. When a woman is bound by her husband's will to have sex with all the younger brothers in the village, it seems that Risuke will finally achieve satisfaction." (James Quandt) "Add to this the fact that the villagers believe in magic mushrooms, and a kind of far-off 'Oz' land inhabited solely by females, and you will begin to appreciate the unique and delightful flavor of this film...superbly shot and acted...authentically strange." (Peter John Dyer, NFT, London)