Plot / Synopsis (Pako to mahô no ehon (2008)
There once was a hospital where patients and even doctors and nurses were all strange. Above all, Onuki, a patient who built up his own company, is a super cranky old man. One day, he meets up a girl named called Paco, who cannot retain memory beyond one day due to a car accident. She reads the same picture book everyday. As time passes, Onuki starts bonding with Paco, and begins to doubt his way of living. He starts wanting to do something for Paco with his remaining life, and comes up with a brilliant idea. This pleases Paco, but their fate is…Read More »
Japan
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Tetsuya Nakashima – Pako to mahô no ehon aka Paco And The Magical Book (2008)
2001-2010FantasyJapanTetsuya Nakashima -
Kinji Fukasaku – Kamata kôshinkyoku AKA Fall Guy (1982)
1981-1990AsianComedyJapanKinji FukasakuKamata kôshinkyoku (1982)
Quote:
The English title Fall Guy is fitting – this is a film about a stuntman who takes several plunges for his movie star friend – but there’s a clever touch of subversion in the less obvious Japanese title. Kamata Koshin-Kyoku refers to Shochiku studio’s theme song. But this film about the production of a samurai epic on the Toei studio lot in Kyoto is hardly a fawning tribute to the world of cinema. It’s a film by Kinji Fukasaku. Like the director’s masterpiece, Battles Without Honor and Humanity, Fall Guy exposes the injustices visited on honest, hard-working men serving corrupt and undeserving bosses; all he has done is change the setting. In the place of low-ranking yakuza are stuntmen, the foot soldiers of the entertainment industry. In the place of Japan’s criminal underground is a movie set.Read More » -
Kôzaburô Yoshimura – Yoru no kawa AKA River of the Night (1956)
1951-1960ClassicsDramaJapanKôzaburô YoshimuraSynopsis:
Japanese drama from the 1950s, following a proud textile-dying family who continue practicing the traditional art even when most are abandoning it. Eldest daughter Kiwa (Fujiko Yamamoto) fuels the business with her ambition and unquestionable talent, but her attraction to a genetics professor will take her and her family’s practice to an unforeseeable direction…Read More » -
Sadatsugu Matsuda – Umon Torimonocho Benitokage AKA Case of Umon: The Red Lizard (1962)
1961-1970ActionJapanMysterySadatsugu Matsuda -
Tai Katô – Nihon kyôka den AKA The Blossom and the Sword (1973)
1971-1980ActionAsianJapanTai KatôYakuza film about Mine, a strong-minded woman, who risks her life and her body in a desperate search for true love.Read More »
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Yasuzo Masumura – Akumyo: shima arashi AKA Bad Reputation: Notorious Dragon (1974)
1971-1980AsianCrimeJapanYasuzô MasumuraQuote:
Set in 1937, this is the story of Asakichi, who is played by Shiuntaro Katsu, best known as being Zatoichi in 26 films. Asakichi has been disowned by his father for gambling, so he heads off to make his living in cockfighting. He, in quick order, wins some money, takes up with a fallen geisha and quickly comes in conflict with the yakuza. Besting their top man, Asakichi, is drawn into the life of a yakuza despite his efforts to remain outside of it.Read More » -
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi – Guzen to sozo AKA Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (2021)
2021-2030ArthouseJapanRomanceRyûsuke HamaguchiAn unexpected love triangle, a failed seduction trap and an encounter that results from a misunderstanding, told in three movements to depict three female characters and trace the trajectories between their choices and regrets.Read More »
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Kôji Wakamatsu – Hika AKA Secret Flower (1971)
1971-1980AsianEroticaJapanKoji WakamatsuA very rare ATG distributed Wakamatsu, starring Ken Yoshizawa and Rie Yokoyama as two pieces of a destructive love-triangle. Has all the usual Wakamatsu themes of politics, suicide and twisted love, as well as stylish Hideo Ito cinematography and great use of the more or less single set (a beach with an abandoned boat on it).Read More »
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Kôji Wakamatsu – Sei kazoku AKA Sex Family (1971)
1971-1980AsianEroticaJapanKoji WakamatsuQuote:
It’s supposed to be a political critique of the japanese patriarchal family structure. The father wearing his military uniform is dominating his family sexually and violently. And while his daughter keeps saying that everything is normal, nothing is normal in this family.Read More »