Asian

Mid 50s: the trials and tribulations of Shinsuke Ibuki, freshly arrived in Tokyo from Kyushu.Read More »

This film deals with polyandry in a small society called Brokpas, a society of “Yak Shephards” who live in the mountain slopes of the Himalayan range. It is a custom in the region where a wife can have more than one husband. The director deals directly with the unique labyrinthine situation when the husband offers to accept the lover of his wife as a co-husband. The presence of the new husband catapulted the first husband out and he becomes very lonely. And the film slowly reveals the firm bonding of the natural pair-bond that exist between the men and women. Sonam, the wife of the duo slowly and silently starts suffering due to the body and mind complex. Being a believer of Buddhism she indulges herself a total and ultimate atonement in her own death.Read More »

Quote:
Sabu and his pals hold a pauper’s funeral for Sabu’s mother. His brother Jiro arrives home, fresh out of jail, and Sabu pointedly states that Jiro is not invited. Jiro meanwhile is planning a big job – steal 40 million in cash and drugs, and he invites Sabu and gang to act as decoys, for 50,000 each. The sting is a success, but the double-crossing starts almost immediately. Sabu discovers how little of the take they were promised and hides the stash. Jiro and his slimy partner pressure the kids to fess up. Meanwhile, their respectable elder brother Ichiro is being leaned on by the town’s big boss, whose money it was.Read More »

Quote:
Set in the mountains of rural Nara prefecture, the film centers on the Tahara family who eke out a living from the local ancient cedar forests. The head of the family, Kyozo, becomes fixated by plans to build a tunnel to improve the accessibility of the area. Construction begins, but is halted halfway through. Fifteen years later building has still not restarted, and the family is destitute. Against this backdrop, some family affairs develop. Kyozo’s daughter, Michiru, starts to fall in love with Eisuke, her cousin. Eisuke, meanwhile, finds himself attracted to his aunt.Read More »

Synopsis (from Letterboxed):
Aiba is a gang boss who has just got out of jail, and finds everything has changed. His old gang has broken up, and only a few people still respect him. So he becomes a consultant to another gang who are about to be clobbered by a much larger gang moving in from out of town. Aiba proves a crafty tactician, and does very well at playing gangs off against each other in order to save the smaller gang. His advice is not always taken by those he tries to help, but he is generally proved right.Read More »

KatsuKanai wrote:
The Deserted Archipelago was my first independently directed and produced film. The film won the Grand Prix at the Nyon International Film Festival and garnered considerable attention both overseas and in Japan. The film follows an extremely simple story of a plain boy who matures into manhood while constantly manipulated by nuns. But woven into this narrative are my own experiences and the history of postwar Japan as well as a series of fantasies. The result is a multifaceted and multilayered objet, the birth of a newly sur-realistic filmmaking. On August 15th, the day the war ended, I was in the third year of primary school. That day, when the reality that I had known turned completely upside down, I was saddled with the trauma of no longer being able to believe in anything. Searching here and there for some kind of spiritual salvation, I finally found the existentialism of Albert Camus. From there, I was able to build up my own kind of existentialism and this film is best understood as based in that “Kanai Katsu Existentialism.” The film was praised by European film scholars Max Tessier and Tony Rayns and was screened as part of “Eiga: 25 Years of Japanese Film,” a special program at the 1984 Edinburgh International Film Festival.Read More »

Synopsis wrote:
Min-Jun (SONG Il-Kook) and Ji-Won (SON Ye-Jin) are so-called the first-rate “players” who are dating gurus with 100% success rates in any dating pursuits. Following her usual systematic dating rules, Ji-Won fakes a schematic car accident to capture Min-Jun’s attention and successfully approaches him.

However, her smooth-sailing dating life finally encounters turbulence. Why in the world is this guy not succumbing to her alluring charm? Ironically enough, Min-Jun is also overwhelmed by the understanding that he has met his match. However, like the veteran players that they are, these two shouldn’t show any signs of weakness in their dating tactics. Who will emerge
victorious and become the last player standing?Read More »

Based on true incidents, a south Indian Hindu man falls in love with a Muslim woman–taboo in the small village from which they hail. They marry against family wishes and move to Mumbai, where he works as a reporter for a large daily newspaper. Eventually, the couple has twin boys. The rest of the film is set during the December 1992-January 1993 period when the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid controversy raised religious tension in Mumbai and other parts of India, which sparked rioting and violence. The couple is separated from their children, and the fathers of both parents are killed when their home is burned by rioters. A reporter is shown interviewing politicians from both factions as well as the police. An underlying moral of thinking of oneself as an Indian rather than a Hindu or a Muslim is prevalent throughout the latter part of the film. The family is finally reunited after much searching through hospitals, morgues, and shelters. But the violence has left indelible impressions in the minds of the children.Read More »

Ho Jun is a student from Beijing who is working in a cattle slaughter house in Tokyo. He lives with other Chinese friends in cheap lodgings. All of them find it difficult to adapt to Japanese culture. To make matters worse Ho Jun and some friends devise a plot to rob a local pinball gambling house – the gangster who owns the house finds them out and threatens to send Ho Jun back to China.Read More »