Based on Takiji Kobayashi’s 1929 novel “Kanikosen”.
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Aboard the Japanese crab ship ‘Kanikosen’ equipped with a cannery facility, workers are forced to labor under pitiful conditions at minimum wages. Some even die of cruel labor and malnutrition. And to top it off, the factory superintendent Asakawa (Hidetoshi Nishijima) is the most brutal sort who does not treat the workers as human beings.Read More »
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Directed by the Japanese king of kooky-cool, SABU, Hold Up Down has it all: bank robbers dressed in skin-tight Santa suits, the subway busker that looks like he is straight out of Woodstock, the suicidal church minister-turned-truck driver, a couple of twisted policemen – oh, and a key to a whole lotta cash.
SABU exploded on the Japanese film scene in 1986, first as an actor and later, taking a more firm role behind the camera as both director and scriptwriter with the acclaimed Dangan Runner in 1995. Hold Up Down is SABU’s second collaboration with all-male J-pop group V6 (they first starred in his previous Hard Luck Hero), which serves as a gentle reminder that, in Asia, pop stars who also act can find their CD sales actually increase (as opposed to the norm in this part of the world which seems to have the opposite effect).Read More »
synopsis:
Kenichi Asakura is an uptight, hyper-square salesman. One day, three bank robbers
commandeer his van. They are in hot pursuit of their fellow robber who has snatched the
money. Unfortunately for the bank robbers, Asakura never drives over 40 km/h speed limit
even under the extreme situation.Read More »
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Kanjaki, a middle-aged man, goes to a quiet countryside village. He puts his helmet on a shrunken old woman whom he meets by chance in a shop. As soon as he presses the buttons on the helmet one by one, she suddenly remembers forgotten happy moments and is rejuvenated. This is just the beginning. Kanjaki goes on to make the village people recall their happy pasts, but his face is lined with worry and a sadness that deepens. What is the secret of this helmet? And what is he trying to do with it? Director Sabu’s Happiness suggests happiness and suffering are intertwined through the unusual scenario of a helmet reminding people of the happiest moments of their lives. Sabu convincingly portrays the notion that memory is the source of both happiness and suffering, and how memory affects our lives.Read More »
review:
*** might contain spoilers ***
Story: After being convinced by his friend Ishii, Asai decides to take part in a fixed
underground Thai-Boxing fight as a last minute replacement. The deal is simple; convince
the crowd that he is in fact a Muay Thaï champion from Thailand, which should be
miraculous considering the fact that he has no experience, and get knock out on the
second round. However, an unexpected incident during the fight turns the event into total
chaos.Read More »
review:
Yassuda is on the run. In truth, he should be in his car, with money that was to have
been robbed from a bank, with a gun bought from Yakuza. He could have come off
well had he not forgotten the mask! Now he is on the run with a pursuer hot on his
trail.Read More »
Long is a Taiwanese killer known for his sword skills. After Long fails a Tokyo mission, he moves to a small town where no one knows about him.Read More »
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A doctor and his family receive an unexpected delivery from an old friend at their remote country home – a large wooden crate containing a gun, a female zombie and an instruction sheet telling them not to feed her meat. The family is concerned, of course, but she seems harmless enough. Perhaps she can help clean up outside?
Welcome to the unusual world of MISS ZOMBIE, a world in which the zombie virus is clearly a well-known phenomenon and in which more docile sufferers are bought and sold to hobbyists or those looking for cheap labor. It’s a practice not without controversy – the neighborsaren’t thrilled about the newly arrived undead – but she’s quiet, requires little supervision and is an immediate hit with the family’s young son.Read More »