Quote:
A hard working salaryman takes off five days from his busy job and sets off with his wife and two children to visit his parents in his hometown for the 1991 new year holidays. He decides that they will go by car to save on expenses. Unfortunately, the long drive from Tokyo to his hometown becomes a much longer journey than expected due to traffic, sickness and other misfortunes…Read More »
Japan
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Mitsuo Kurotsuchi – Jutai AKA Traffic Jam (1991)
1991-2000ComedyJapanMitsuo Kurotsuchi -
Mikio Naruse – Uwasa no musume aka The Girl in the Rumor (1935)
1931-1940DramaJapanMikio NaruseQuote:
A story of two sisters, the older being more traditional, the younger a “moga” (“modern girl”). Their widowed father runs the family sake shop — but is running into financial trouble (causing him to make some bad decisions). Meanwhile, his long-time mistress’s little business is also on the rocks. Amidst this, the older sister is introduced to a well-off suitor (a university boy who is much more intrigued by the less traditional “little sister”). Add a dotty grandfather, an officious uncle and busy body neighbors.Read More » -
Ishirô Honda – Gasu ningen dai ichigo AKA The Human Vapor (1960)
1951-1960AsianIshirô HondaJapanSci-FiSynopsis:
A librarian is subject to a scientific experiment which goes wrong and transforms him into ‘The Human Vapour’. He uses his new ability to rob banks to fund the career of his girlfriend, a beautiful dancer. The Human Vapour is ruthless in his quest for money and kills anyone who stands in his way, especially police. He soon becomes Tokyo’s most wanted criminal. Can he be stopped before he kills again?Read More » -
Yoshihiko Matsui – Tonkei shinjû aka Pig-Chicken Suicide (1981)
1981-1990CultExperimentalJapanYoshihiko MatsuiDirected by Japanese underground legend Yoshihiko Matsui, most famous for his epic film Noisy Requiem and his early work with maverik Japanese director Sogo Ishii (Gojoe, Crazy Thunder Road), Pig Chicken Suicide is a veritable assault on the senses, mixing violent images of animal slaughter, racial strife and surrealism to tell the story of two Koreans living in Japan who’s love is destroyed due to overwhelming racial discrimination.Read More »
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Tai Katô – Edogawa Rampo no injû AKA Beast in the Shadows (1977)
1991-2000AsianJapanMysteryTai KatôMultiple murders, red herrings and sadomasochistic sex are the order of the day in this ground-breaking mystery from Edogawa Rampo, Japan’s foremost writer of suspense novels. The year is 1930 and the chance meeting of a novelist and one of his fans
opens the door to a series of mysterious events culminating in the death of a wealthy industrialist who may have been leading a double life. Aoi Teruhiko and Kayama Yoshiko star along with two of Japan’s most famous and highly respected actors, Otomo Ryutaro and Wakayama Tomisaburo. In a departure from the samurai genre in which he made his name this is director Kato Tai’s masterpiece. A true work of cinema art comes to life in this deadly tale of love and betrayal!Read More » -
Tatsumi Kumashiro – Kaburitsuki jinsei AKA A Thirsty Life (1968)
Drama1961-1970AsianJapanTatsumi KumashiroBased on the 1964 novel of the same name by Komimasa Tanaka, the film tell the story of a strip-teaser, and her daughter who wishes to join her mother’s profession.Read More »
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Nobuhiko Ôbayashi – No no nanananoka AKA Seven Weeks (2014) (HD)
2011-2020DramaJapanNobuhiko Obayashi -
Masahiro Shinoda – Yari no gonza aka Gonza the Spearman (1986)
1981-1990AsianDramaJapanMasahiro ShinodaA lancer falls into disgrace when his social ambitions lead him to become engaged to two different women.
Quote:
LEAD: Don’t be put off by the title. ”Gonza the Spearman” is not an Eastern western. Masahiro Shinoda’s stately work, which opens the Public Theater’s Autumn in Japan series today, has few duels and only a gout or two of blood. Instead, it is filled with historical imagination, social comment and restrained passion, along with scene after elegantly composed scene of a culture that seems to have been paralyzed in a spare beauty.Read More » -
Junji Sakamoto – Zatôichi: The Last (2010)
2001-2010ActionAsianJapanJunji SakamotoMARK SCHILLING wrote:
Junji Sakamoto’s “Zatoichi: The Last,” the latest revival, doesn’t feature Katsu, who died in 1997 after a wild, riotous life. Instead it stars the hyper SMAP singer Shingo Katori, who has mostly appeared on the big screen in comedies (“The Uchoten Hotel”) or kiddie actioners (“Saiyuki”).Also, instead of portraying Ichi as an outcast and loner, the film gives him a wife, friends, a community — and strong feelings for all of them.Read More »