Two men get involved with a brother and sister that want to drive a local gang out of their neighborhood.Read More »
Asian
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Kiyoshi Kurosawa – Katte ni shiyagare! Eiyû-keikaku AKA Suit Yourself or Shoot Yourself: The Hero (1996)
1991-2000AsianComedyJapanKiyoshi Kurosawa -
Yukio Ninagawa – Masho no natsu – ‘Yotsuya kaidan’ yori AKA Summer of Demon (1981)
1981-1990AsianHorrorJapanYukio Ninagawa -
Raj Kapoor – Barsaat aka Rain (1949)
1941-1950AsianClassicsIndiaRaj KapoorPlot summary:
Two friends from the city with contrasting beliefs about love take their annual holiday in the country. One is a “love ’em and leave ’em” philanderer, the other is waiting for Miss Right. Whilst Gopal (Premnath) callously uses and then discards Neela (Nimmi), the sensitive Pran (Raj Kapoor) finds the love of his life when he meets Reshma (Nargis). But for neither man will the the consequences of these meetings be without anguish.Read More » -
Raj Kapoor – Aag aka Fire (1948)
1941-1950AsianClassicsIndiaRaj KapoorQuote:
In Raj Kapoor’s own words, Aag is “the story of youth consumed by the desire for a brighter and more intense life.” Kewal and Nimmi are childhood sweethearts who share a passion for theatre. They promise each other that when they grow up, they will together start their own theatre company, an unfulfilled dream as Nimmi and her parents move to another town. Years later, two young men Rajan (Prem Nath) and Kewal (Raj Kapoor) revive an old theatre that closed down. One day, a young destitute girl (Nargis) comes to the theatre and begins to act in Kewal’s plays. Fascinated by her, Kewal names her Nimmi. But when he discovers that Rajan is also in love with her, he steps aside only to realize that Nimmi loves him….Aag was the debut of Raj Kapoor’s astounding career as one of Indian cinema’s most illustrious directors and was the first time Nargis and Raj Kapoor came together as a romantic on-screen couple.Read More » -
Seijun Suzuki – Ankoku no Ryoken AKA Passport To Darkness (1959)
1951-1960AsianJapanMysterySeijun SuzukiQuote:
The story deals with a trombone player, Ibuki, who’s taking a “working” honeymoon with his wife. While they travel via train to the next gig, his wife disappears. Thinking she left him, Ibuki drowns his sorrow in beer. Depressed, he returns home to find her dead body. The police immediately suspect him, but he escapes and goes into the underground to find the real killer.Read More » -
Kinuyo Tanaka – Ruten no ôhi AKA The Wandering Princess (1960)
1951-1960AsianDramaJapanJapanese Female DirectorsKinuyo TanakaPu Zhe, the younger brother of the Emperor of Manchukuo, Pu Wen, marries Ryuko the daughter of a long-established aristocratic family – all in the interest of the Japanese rulers, which legitimizes the relationship between Japan and its Chinese puppet state. To the surprise of all , a deep love between Pu Zhe and Ryuko develops. It is put to the test when Japan loses the war, Manchukuo is dissolved and the imperial court must flee. The lovers now have to separate: Pu Zhe tries to escape to Japan with his brother, while Ryuko flees with her daughter Eisei over the country. A film on the relationship between Pujie (1907-94), brother of the “last emperor” Puyi and his second wife, Marquise Hiro Saga (1914-87).Read More »
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Hiromasa Nomura – Kinuyo no hatsukoi AKA Kinuyo’s First Love (1940)
1931-1940AsianClassicsHiromasa NomuraJapanKinuyo is a daughter of rice cracker shop in downtown. She fell in love with her sister’s boyfriend. It is a story whose theme is warm human relationships in a town of customs and manners.Read More »
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Kazuo Hara – Mata no hi no chika AKA The Many Faces of Chika (2005)
2001-2010AsianDramaJapanKazuo HaraDirector Kazuo Hara tells the tale of the eponymous Chika and four different relationships she has during the turbulent political climate of the 1970s. Four different actresses play the role of Chika in order to emphasise the different ways she is perceived by her husband, a teacher, a student and an aging gangster.Read More »
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Toshiya Fujita – Shinjuku outlaw: Buttobase AKA Shinjuku Outlaw: Step on the Gas! (1970)
1961-1970ActionAsianJapanToshiya FujitaYūji, fresh out of prison on parole, is taken to a bar that Nao operates and there he meets his old love Emiko, now working as hostess, and accepts Nao’s appeal for help in finding drug thieves. After grilling one of the small hoodlums about who took the marijuana, Yūji and Nao find the looter is a mammoth underground organization. Meanwhile, a group of hoodlums are disgruntled over their failure to sell the drug through Nao.Read More »