Harada, a detective at the Shinjuku Police Station, lives with his little sister Noriko, who attends fashion school. One day, Harada is told by senior detective Ijima that Noriko is dating Yoshiura, a street thug. She quits school and rebels against Harada’s concerns. Soon after, Yoshiura is strangled to death, and Noriko’s pendant is found at the scene.Read More »
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Life seems to be good for Shintoto, an up-and-coming rakugo artist who has just had his first sexual experience at a local brothel. Lucky for him, he gets to date the beautiful sex worker he meets that day, and a younger high school rakugo aficionado is also vying for his attention. But for clumsy, heart-on-his-sleeve Shintoto, life doesn’t stay rosy for long.Read More »
Masayuki and Sachie had little to lose when they first met each other. They were young. Their lives unscripted. It did not take long for Masayuki to quit his job and for the two to move in together. In a neighborhood where the red paper lanterns lit up the alleyways at nightfall, they keep each other warm. Love takes its toll when they find that Sachie is pregnant.Read More »
For his 23rd birthday, Shintoto receives from his fellow Shins, Rakugo colleagues and friends, a somethinggy bank: the pass towards a new friendship.Read More »
Saraba Itoshiki Daichi (Farewell to the Land) takes up the question of what happens when the balance of an extended family in rural Japan is upset. The main character blames himself for the deaths of his two sons in a boating accident and leaves his wife and parents behind. He takes on a mistress, to the shame of his family, and he pops stimulants to keep up with his work schedule as a truck driver. Growing increasingly irritable and irrational, he goes through various conflicts with his brother, his colleagues, his boss, and his wife. The film ends in an act of violence for which no explanation is given.Read More »
Harada is a successful scenario writer, and his best buddy has just announced an intention to propose to Harada’s ex-wife. Recovering from the shock, Harada indulges in melancholy, mainly on his failure as a husband and father, and goes to a ‘Rakugo’ (sit-down comedy) show, where a friendly man in the audience invites him home. Harada is puzzled at the strong resemblance of this man and his wife to his own parents, who were killed nearly 30 years ago when he was twelve. He visits the couple repeatedly, and greatly enjoys the happy atmosphere there, which was much like his childhood, and such a contrast to his current existence, which is lonely and tortured. But he is no longer alone.Read More »
One entry of a trilogy of Seishun Kayo Eiga (youth film featuring songs) directed by Toshiya Fujita with Kumiko AkiyoshRead More »
Synopsis (from mnauce@ADC):
A Seishun Kayo Eiga (youth film featuring songs), about the “interesting” relationship btw a
brother and his younger sister. Actually one entry of a trilogy Toshiya Fujita made at that time
with Kumiko Akiyoshi. Also, One of the top 10 films voted by Jumpo that year.
One of the only few non-Roman Porno Nikkatsu films made after 1971 in 70s.
Starring Kumiko Akiyoshi. Jūzō Itami is also in it (as an actor of course).Read More »
Cute Devil (Kawaii Akuma) is a two-hour TV movie directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi that aired on Nippon TV on 10 August 1982.
It was based on The Bad Seed and starts with a brutal murder that was fairly shocking for network TV at the time and could be easily compared with the first murder in Suspiria. The movie moves on to be the story of a woman who has been released from a mental institution and is to reside with the murderous little girl and her mother in a secluded house. More cruel deaths occur and the mentally ill woman must convince those around her that the child is a psychopath. A pedophile also turns up to keep the proceedings lively.Read More »