Lonely youth Shinji meets Hatsue, a pretty pearl diver, on the beach and the two fall in love. But Shinji has a rival for Hatsue’s affections, Yasuo. Yasuo spreads unpleasant gossip about his rival, and Hatsue’s father forbids her to see Shinji. But when the boy saves the passengers on a boat owned by Hatsue’s father, his luck in love begins to change.Read More »
Asian
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Kenjirô Morinaga – Shiosai AKA The Sound of Waves (1964)
1961-1970AsianJapanKenjirô MorinagaRomance -
Yoshimitsu Morita – Tokimeki ni shisu AKA Deaths in Tokimeki (1984)
1981-1990AsianJapanThrillerYoshimitsu MoritaAn emotionless hit man is sent on a mission to a remote town. There he stays with a caretaker / driver / servant / doctor who is given minimal instruction over the phone by “the organization.” A prostitute joins them. Death is inevitable, but whose?Read More »
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Mike De Leon – Kisapmata AKA In Just the Wink of an Eye (1981)
1981-1990AsianCrimeMike De LeonPhilippinesPlot: Retired policeman holds a woman and daughter in a claustrophobic grip with his dictatorial behaviour. His son-in-law resists and the result is a confrontation. A gruesome monster in his familiarity: it could be your next-door neighbour.Read More »
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Yôichi Sai – Tomo yo shizukani nemure AKA Let Him Rest in Peace (1985)
1981-1990AsianCrimeJapanYôichi SaiTsuyoshi Shindo came to the town of Tamari to prove the innocence of his friend, Sakaguchi. Sakaguchi was accused of attacking the president of Shimoyama Kensetsu, a local construction company, with a knife. Shindo knew Sakaguchi was not capable of committing such a crime. During his investigation, Shindo discovered the town and its police force to be under the control of Shimoyama. That made Shindo a marked man, with Shimoyama’s henchmen attacking in an effort to force him to end his investigation and leave town.Read More »
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Kôkichi Tsukiyama – Shibukawa Bangorô (1922)
1921-1930AsianJapanKôkichi TsukiyamaSilentA film on the life of Bangorō Shibukawa, the founder of the Shibukawa-ryū school of jūjutsu. To paraphrase Tadao Satō’s blurb on the back cover of the video, this is an important film for three reasons.
1. It is an almost perfectly well preserved copy of one of only few full-length movies still available of the first superstar in Japanese cinema history, the very famous Onoe Matsunosuke.Read More » -
Kihachi Okamoto – Dai-bosatsu tôge AKA The Sword of Doom (1966)
1961-1970ArthouseAsianJapanKihachi OkamotoQuote:
Through his unconscionable actions against others, a sociopath samurai builds a trail of vendettas that follow him closely.Read More » -
Yen-ping Chu – Yi shi er niao AKA One Stone and Two Birds (2005)
2001-2010ActionAsianChinaComedyYen-ping ChuDuring the reign of Emperor Jia Jing of the Ming Dynasty, the evil court official Yan Song relies on the emperor favoritism towards him, becoming overbearing and domineering. An honest official Zhang Ying Long impeaches Yan Song w/ a “Ten Cimes Five Deceits” against him. But instead he gets flogged 30 times, and banished to a far off frontier Guizhou.
Zhang Ying Long’s remonstration won the hearts of the common people, on the day of his banishment thousands of people turned out to see him off. At the sight of this, Yan Sung knows that if he does not kill off Zhang Ying Long, he will be unable to deter other court officials. Thereupon, he arranges for assassins to kill Zhang Ying Long during the journey.Read More »
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Kajirô Yamamoto & Akira Kurosawa – Uma aka Horse (1941)
1941-1950Akira KurosawaAsianDramaJapanThe story of the film is simple: A young girl in the countryside raises a young horse and develops a deep relationship to the animal. But the war is becoming part of life, so in the end she has to sacrifice her horse and sell it to the military.Read More »
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Khodzha Kuli Narliyev – Nevestka AKA Daughter in Law (1972)
1971-1980AsianDramaKhodzha Kuli NarliyevTurkmenistanQuote:
A woman whose husband has been killed in WWII lives with her father-in-law in the desert. She cannot leave and go back to her family, because that would mean the end of hope that her husband, a heroic pilot, might return one day.This film from Turkmenistan belongs to an edition of ten films from Central Asia that were shot both during the Soviet times and during the independence epoch. This collection contains 2 films of each country.
This collection was edited in 2006. It was released by the Center of Central Asian Cinematography with the financial support of “Arts and Culture” Network Program of Open Society Institute of Budapest. You will have english subtitles for each film.Read More »