Christian-Jaque – La tulipe noire aka The Black Tulip (1964)

blacktulip0po Christian Jaque   La tulipe noire aka The Black Tulip (1964)

logoimdbb Christian Jaque   La tulipe noire aka The Black Tulip (1964)

In 1789, when the Revolution went on, a bandit named “Black Tulip” held the
surroundings of village Roussillon in fear. The poor people respected him as Robin Hood,
who declare himself a revolutioner but Count Guillaume de Saint Preux “plays” this
benefactor. When he fought with Mouche, the policeman he was wounded … Continue reading

Seijun Suzuki – Yaju no seishun aka Youth of the Beast (1963)

youth2 Seijun Suzuki   Yaju no seishun aka Youth of the Beast (1963)

logoimdbb Seijun Suzuki   Yaju no seishun aka Youth of the Beast (1963)

Synopsis:

Youth of the Beast marked a turning point in director Seijun Suzuki’s career. No longer content to just crank out production-line gangster films, here Suzuki starts to assert his own voice. The plot is fairly typical for the genre: chipmunk-cheeked Jo Shishido stars as ex-cop Jo Mizuno, who muscles his way into the shadowy world of the yakuza. He gets hired by the clan that killed his former partner while double-dealing with the clan’s rival. Yet the plot contains some particularly Suzuki-like details. Why is Jo’s partner more interested in guns than in women? Why does Hide, the notorious gay gangster, always slash the face of anyone who mentions his mother? What does this all have to do with the Takeshita School of Knitting? Suzuki’s audacious style heightens the absurdity and artifice of both the genre and the medium with pop-art colors, loopy camera placements, and bizarre, dream-like images: A feather-clad dancer silently struts behind sound-proofed two-way mirrors, a pink dust storm serendipitously occurs while a pimp whips a junkie prostitute. The film is a dizzying visual feast whose tone Seijun Suzuki would amplify to the most absurd heights in his later films, Tokyo Drifter (1966) and Branded to Kill (1967). — Jonathan Crow Continue reading

Sergei Bodrov & Ivan Passer – Nomad (2005)

nomadxlgww8 Sergei Bodrov & Ivan Passer   Nomad (2005)

logoimdbb Sergei Bodrov & Ivan Passer   Nomad (2005)

18th century Kazakhstan, a vast, pitiless region of austere and terrible beauty, bordered by China, Russia and Tibet. Here the proud and warlike Kazakh tribes have survived and fought for centuries – against invaders, against their formidable Jungar enemies and amongst themselves.
Oraz, a mystic and warrior possessed of great powers, foretells the birth of a new star, a hero. This boy -Mansur – is destined to unite the Kazakhs, and lead them to glorious victory against their enemies. Fearful of Oraz’ prediction, the Jungar ruler Galdan orders his General, Sharish, to find the child and slay him. However, Oraz saves Mansur and delivers him to his father, Sultan Wali. Continue reading

Ernest Pintoff – Jaguar Lives! (1979)

jaguar1 Ernest Pintoff   Jaguar Lives! (1979)

logoimdbb Ernest Pintoff   Jaguar Lives! (1979)

During a mission a secret agent called Jaguar loses his partner in a explosion. So after the disaster he goes back to his sensei to continue his training. But after a while he is called back on a mission involving that of a international drug dealer that might have had a hand in his friend / partner’s death. This leads Jaguar on a whirlwind trip across the glob, where he encounters many foes before he confronts his main man. Continue reading

Shinya Tsukamoto – Tetsuo: The Bullet Man (2009) (HD)

tumblrluizx9muyw1r2xi7c Shinya Tsukamoto   Tetsuo: The Bullet Man (2009) (HD)

logoimdbb Shinya Tsukamoto   Tetsuo: The Bullet Man (2009) (HD)

- from Variety-

“POWERED BY
A Tetsuo Group presentation of a Kaijyu Theater, Asmik Ace Entertainment production. (International sales: the Coproduction Office, Paris.) Produced by Shinichi Kawahara, Masayuki Tanishima.
Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto. Screenplay, Tsukamoto, Hisakatsu Kuroki.

With: Erik Bossick, Akiko Monou, Shinya Tsukamoto, Stephen Sarrazin, Yuko Nakamura, Tiger Charlie Gerhardt.
(English dialogue)

Twenty years after making his breakout cult hit, “Tetsuo,” and 17 years after its sequel, “Tetsuo II: Body Hammer,” multihyphenate filmmaker Shinya Tsukamoto busts out the big guns again with “Tetsuo the Bullet Man.” Contempo-set pic doesn’t bring much new to the half-man-half-machine concept, but with its delirious editing and eardrum-crunching soundtrack, it punches above its weight and musters a certain retro charm with its old-school effects, all done on about one-hundredth of the budget of a “Transformers” movie. Fans of the franchise will have this in their sights and show support, but crossover potential looks iffy. Continue reading