Japan

  • Shun’ya Itô – Inugami no tatari AKA Curse of the Dog God (1977)

    1971-1980AsianHorrorJapanShun'ya Itô

    A man looking to mine uranium in a rural Japanese village has the wicked curse of the Dog God set upon him.Read More »

  • Natsuka Kusano – Domains (2019) (HD)

    2011-2020DramaJapanNatsuka Kusano

    Aki and Naoko are childhood friends who are drifting apart as adults. Immersed in her family life, Naoko now has a husband and daughter; Aki, on the other hand, remains single and is on leave from work due to a personal crisis. The plot might sound familiar but it has never been told like this. The director Kusano Natsuka stages the interactions through an actors’ table-read and, as the lines are repeated, the scenes gradually develop into on-location conversations. Moreover, she repositions the dramatic peak of the story to the beginning: Aki has murdered Naoko’s daughter.Read More »

  • Macoto Tezuka – Hakuchi AKA The Innocent (1999)

    1991-2000DramaFantasyJapanMacoto Tezuka

    Harrowing drama is set in an alternate version of the 1990s in which World War II never ended and the citizens of Japan are subjected to nightly bombing raids.

    Hakuchi (1999) is based off of Ango Sakaguchi’s novel of the same name and directed by Makoto Tezuka, Osamu Tezuka’s son. “Hakuchi” means “Idiot” (and is in reference to a mentally handicapped woman in the storyline). It stars my favorite Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano (Kakihara in “Ichi the Killer”, Mamoru in “Bright Future”, etc.) as a directing assistant named Izawa who works at a television station in a war-ravaged Japan. He gets harassed and abused by a pop star/actress named Ginga who he works for. One day Izawa returns home to find that the mentally-challenged wife of the crazy man next door is hiding in his closet.Read More »

  • Akio Jissôji – Uta AKA Poem [Director’s Cut] (1972)

    Drama1971-1980Akio JissojiArthouseJapan

    Quote:
    Poem is the last film in Jissoji’s Art Theatre Guild trilogy and deals with the traditional stem-family system on the verge of collapse allegorically. Not very satisfied with the optimistic last scene of Mujo, Jissoji approaches a similar subject matter from a different perspective. And the film is more in line with his concern about the radical change in the society which prompted him to make the trilogy. It appears that the script was written through intense discussions between Jissoji and Ishido, this time too.Read More »

  • Nobuhiko Obayashi – Sabishinbô aka Lonely Heart (1985)

    1981-1990AsianComedyJapanNobuhiko Obayashi

    Lonely and love-struck, high-school student Hiroki pursues one girl but another one mysteriously appears in his life. Is she a figment of his lonely psyche, or real? An intricate triangle develops, and the viewer can’t quite be sure what is happening until the whole story is neatly resolved at the end.Read More »

  • Takashi Tsuboshima – Ai no kizuna AKA Bonds of Love (1969)

    Drama1961-1970JapanTakashi TsuboshimaThriller

    Adapted from the Seicho Matsumoto story “Tazutazushi”. Ryohei Suzuki, a manager at a travel company, is married to his superior’s daughter, but tires of their authority over his life. A chance encounter with Yukiko Hirai one rainy night brings a new romance into Ryohei’s life, and he and Yukiko fall deeply in love. Yukiko, however, reveals that she has a violent husband in prison – with only a week left until his release. Ryohei, desperate to maintain his social standing, brings Yukiko to the mountains in Nagano and sets in motion an unthinkable, tragic chain of events.Read More »

  • Tatsumi Kumashiro – Kurobara shôten AKA Black Rose Ascension (1975)

    1971-1980DramaEroticaJapanTatsumi Kumashiro

    Quote:
    This self-reflexive pinku eiga film may be to Nikkatsu softcore what Boogie Nights was to American hardcore. Shin Kishida stars as Juzo, a self-important pinku eiga director clearly modeled on Nagisa Oshima. Production is halted on his new film when lead actress Meiko is too obviously pregnant to film sex scenes. Looking for a replacement, he comes across the ubiquitous Naomi Tani, starring here in one of the rare roles which doesn’t require her to be bound with rope. Everything goes well until Tani starts a sex scene with Hajime Tanimoto, who got Meiko pregnant. Juzo realizes that he’s in love with his new starlet, so he cancels the film, marries Tani, and lives happily ever after.Read More »

  • Mitsuo Yanagimachi – Himatsuri AKA Fire Festival (1985)

    1981-1990AsianDramaJapanMitsuo Yanagimachi

    The villagers in a beautiful remote area of Japan are divided into the woodsmen, who worship the mountain goddess, and the fishermen, who worship the goddess of the sea. These traditions are threatened by a planned marine park. Tatsuo is a macho lumberjack who hunts boars and monkeys with the young Ryota. Tatsuo is married with two children, has four elder sisters, and is under pressure to sell the family land to the developers. When the fish pens are deliberately contaminated by oil, the fishermen suspect Tatsuo. Kimiko, an old girlfriend of Tatsuo, returns to the village to find money to pay off her debts. During the annual fire festival, Tatsuo becomes angry when the old traditions are not preserved.Read More »

  • Kaneto Shindô – Hadaka no jûkyû-sai AKA Live Today, Die Tomorrow! (1970)

    1961-1970DramaJapanKaneto Shindô

    Quote:
    Almost a decade before Imamura’s Vengeance Is Mine, Shindo crafted this fascinating documentary-inspired portrait of a serial killer that drew upon the actual events of a troubled nineteen-year old who went on a murderous rampage, killing four people with a pistol stolen from an US navel base. Shindo’s meticulous research into the background of the anti-social youth, including extensive interviews with his mother and acquaintances, brings a rare authenticity of unexpected detail to a film that also reads as an astute critique of American imperialism and reckless tabloid journalism.Read More »

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