Japan

  • Kihachi Okamoto – Aa bakudan AKA Oh, Bomb! (1964) (HD)

    1961-1970ComedyCrimeJapanKihachi Okamoto

    Filmed as a traditional Japanese play, a yakuza boss is released from prison, but finds his gang usurped by a shady politician. With the help of his former cell mate he decides to assassinate the politician with an explosive pen.Read More »

  • Kinji Fukasaku – Bakuto gaijin butai AKA Sympathy for the Underdog [+extra] (1971)

    1971-1980ActionCrimeJapanKinji Fukasaku

    Synopsis:
    From Kinji Fukasaku (Battles Without Honor & Humanity) comes this pivotal early crime drama in the celebrated career of the director who changed the face of Japanese action cinema. Stylish and hard-boiled, Sympathy for the Underdog stars Koji Tsuruta, one of Japan’s seminal figures in the Yakuza genre, as Gunji, an aging Yakuza who is released from prison after ten years. Gunji lives by a code of honor that has no place among Tokyo’s modern corporate gangs. He gets a new lease on life by reforming his former gang and taking over the whiskey trade on the island of Okinawa. But he is forced to make a final, fateful, bloody stand against the mainland gang that sent him to prison.Read More »

  • Koreyoshi Kurahara – Kaitei kara kita onna AKA The Woman from the Sea (1959)

    1951-1960FantasyHorrorJapanKoreyoshi Kurahara

    Quote:
    “A curious hybrid of taiyôzoku-eiga (“Sun Tribe”) and “girl-diver” genres, Koreyoshi Kurahara’s mermaid tale plays out like no other midnight movie in history – sinister, sensual and ethereal, it unfurls almost in slow motion. Hisako Tsukuba plays a voluptuous, gloomy beauty who likes to feast on fish guts.”Read More »

  • Mika Ohmori – Pûru aka Pool (2009)

    2001-2010ArthouseDramaJapanMika Ohmori

    Quote:
    A story of 6 days with 5 people gathered around a small sparkling pool at Chiang Mai in Thailand. 4 years ago, Kyoko started to live in Thailand and has been working in a Guest house outside in Chiang Mai, leaving her mother and her daughter Sayo, in Japan. Just before the graduation of University, Sayo sets foot on Thailand to visit her mother with mixed feelings. However, emotional experiences with the people living there changes such feelings toward her mother.Read More »

  • Kihachi Okamoto – Sukedachi-ya Sukeroku AKA Vengeance for Sale (2001)

    2001-2010ActionComedyJapanKihachi Okamoto

    Synopsis:
    This is the final movie from Okamoto Kihachi, the filmmaker who directed such great movies as “Sword Of Doom”, “Kill”, and “Red Lion”. With an equal mix of violence and humor he has forged a career that spanned over 4 decades and created some of the most memorable films to ever come out of Japan. This is no exception, and the hand of a master is evident in his treatment of this highly entertaining story. In a world where vendettas are officially sanctioned, the people sometimes needed help in carrying out their vengeance. Read More »

  • Nobuhiko Ôbayashi – Furimukeba ai AKA Take Me Away! (1978)

    1971-1980ArthouseJapanNobuhiko ObayashiRomance

    Quote:
    Kyoko met Tetsu during her trip to San Francisco. Soon they fell in love but getting married was not in his mind. They were to meet again back in Tokyo but Tetsu didn’t turn up.Read More »

  • Nobuhiko Ôbayashi – Ijin-tachi to no natsu AKA The Discarnates AKA Summer Among the Zombies (1988)

    1981-1990DramaFantasyJapanNobuhiko Obayashi

    Harada is a successful scenario writer, and his best buddy has just announced an intention to propose to Harada’s ex-wife. Recovering from the shock, Harada indulges in melancholy, mainly on his failure as a husband and father, and goes to a ‘Rakugo’ (sit-down comedy) show, where a friendly man in the audience invites him home. Harada is puzzled at the strong resemblance of this man and his wife to his own parents, who were killed nearly 30 years ago when he was twelve. He visits the couple repeatedly, and greatly enjoys the happy atmosphere there, which was much like his childhood, and such a contrast to his current existence, which is lonely and tortured. But he is no longer alone.Read More »

  • Azuma Morisaki – Niwatori wa hadashi da AKA Chicken is Barefoot (2004)

    2001-2010AsianAzuma MorisakiDramaJapan

    A disabled child of separated parents gets caught up in police espionage due to his uncanny ability to remember license plate numbers.Read More »

  • Tetsuya Mariko – Ierô Kiddo AKA Yellow Kid (2009)

    Drama2001-2010AsianJapanTetsuya Mariko

    Quote:
    Fired from his part-time job in a restaurant kitchen for absenteeism, rookie boxer Tamura has a lot to be angry and frustrated about in his life. But things start to change when he’s approached at the gym by the artist Hattori, who wants to use him as the new model for the manga character Yellow Kid. Yellow Kid first appeared in an American comic in the late 19th century, and Hattori revived him as an older character a century later. What makes the proposition intriguing for Tamura is that the first model for the revived character was former WBA Lightweight champ Mikuni Tokio, the man who inspired him to take up boxing. And Mikuni now lives as a virtual recluse in what seems to be a very fraught relationship with his girlfriend Mana. And Mana, now pregnant, used to be in a relationship with the artist Hattori… — Vancounver International Film FestivalRead More »

Back to top button