Asian

Synopsis:
In adapting Kawabata’s famous novel about the entangled relations between the son of a seductive tea-ceremony teacher and the women in his father’s life, Masumura subverts the literary genre so beloved of Japanese cinema. Kikuji (Mikijiro Hira) attends of a tea ceremony held by his late father’s one-time mistress, Chikako, and there embarks on an affair with the real love of his father’s life, Mrs. Ota. Mrs. Ota’s grief is palpable, but Kikuji’s motives are more mysterious-perhaps, like her, to know his father through the sexual experience. A complex transference is played out in such relationships, and through objects, such as tea cups, that are infused with human spirit. Masumura takes these suggested relationships to extremes in the film: Ayako Wakao plays Mrs. Ota with breathless despair, while Machiko Kyo’s Chikako, the gracious manipulator, is a veritable specter.Read More »

Eiji Kawano (Kunie Tanaka) has recently broken from the Japanese company he used to work for. As an immigrant to Tasmania, he has been won over by the island’s immense natural beauty, and he is conscience-bound to oppose his former employer’s ecologically unsound practices. He is also estranged from his grown son, who still resides in Japan. When his son comes to Tasmania for a visit, he must face the challenge of renewing their relationship.Read More »

Very entertaining Kihachi Okamoto feature, and while it is a WWII film, it is also a tribute to John Ford’s Westerns, set in Manchuria. In addition to the regulars in the series, a fine performance by the always lovely Kumi Mizuno.

One of Okamoto’s trademarks is his recessive staging, i.e. the big foreground wide-angle look, the kind of wide-screen composition which is quite common in spaghetti westerns, particularly those of Sergio Leone’s (partly due to the technical problems of the Techniscope format, widely used in Italy in that period). We could notice this signature in Okamoto’s late 50s films already, that is, a few years earlier than Leone and other western directors.Read More »

Tange Sazen was at first, the character in Fubo Hayashi’s novel. Director Ito Daisuke made this one-armed, one-eyed man an nihilistic, alienated hero, representing the anarchic energy and rebellious spirit of the time. Then Yamanaka Sadao came in and made a parodic retelling of the story and completely rewrote this image of Sazen by changing him into a child-loving, openhearted, and good-natured ronin living in a tenement house with his lover. Now, as Yamanaka’s nephew, Tai Kato rewrote Sazen’s image too, and the film is imbued with satire and humor, albeit different from his uncle’s.Read More »

During the Vietnamese war a Korean military base receives a distress transmission from one of their units stationed at a strategically important location known as R-point. The grim message relays that the unit is under attack, soldiers are dying and assistance is desperately needed, but the base members just listen in shock and horror. This is because the unit in question went missing at R-point no less than six months ago and the one person who survived the ordeal was left horribly burned and screaming deliriously that his squadron was slaughtered by an unknown enemy, not the Viet Cong. If the soldier is telling the truth, then who is sending these distress signals?Read More »

This is the first of three major film adaptation of Junichiro Tanizaki’s famous novel from the 1940s, the second one being the 11959 version directed by Koji Shima, the third one being Kon Ichikawa’s The Makioa Sisters from 1983. Abe’s version stars Hideko Takamine, Hisako Yamane, Yukiko Todoroki and Ranko Hanai in the roles of the sisters. Yukiko Todoroki would also appear in Shima’s version of the film, here in the role of a different sister.Read More »

Quote:
The inventor of a ground-breaking glue, Sanada, becomes thanks to his discovery a high executive in his company. Because of this promotion, his world is changing completely : his wife behaves like never before, considering she’s now rich and has the right to do whatever she wants, even having an affair.Read More »

Two snakes reformed into two beauties. White Snake chose pedagogue Xian Xu as her husband and enjoyed human life, while Green Snake played around every day. Jealous to White Snake, Green Snake kept on flirting with Xian Xu. Xian Xu eventually found they were snakes … After being tempted by Green Snake, monk Fahai decided to imprison the two “monsters”. He kidnapped Xian Xu. A battle began … Just then, White Snake borned her new baby. What should monk Fahai do? Adapted from an old Chinese folk story but quite different from the original.Read More »

Young Breasts AKA Blue Breasts is a 1958 Japanese juvenile delinquent film directed by Seijun Suzuki for the Nikkatsu Corporation. Akira Kobayashi stars as a young hoodlum who tries to go straight after falling in love with his social worker.Read More »