Quote:
…
Peter High: Your war films seem to fall into two categories – those large, epic productions you did for Toho like Gekido no Showa-shi Okinawa kesen (The Battle of Okinawa, 1971) and the low-budget, personal ones financed by yourself, like Nikudan (The Human Bullet, 1968) and Tokkan (Batle Cry, 1975).Read More »
Veteran director Juzo Itami who — shot to fame with his sharply satirical Ososhiki and Tampopo — turns to decidedly sweeter fare in this melodrama about the life of a mentally handicapped young man and his devoted sister after their famous novelist father and housewife mother go to Australia on a business trip. Adapted from the novel by Nobel Laureate and brother-in-law to Itami, Kenzaburo Oe, the film centers on Iyo (Atsuro Watabe) — a brain damaged lad who is a gifted musician — and his artist sister Ma-chan (Hinako Saeki), who slowly learn about the darker, more complicated life outside their idyllic home. One catalyst in this transition is Arai-kun (Masayuki Imai) who at first seems like not only the perfect swim instructor for Iyo — he’s kind and patient — but also the perfect boyfriend for Ma-chan. Unfortunately, Arai-kun has a darker side, which comes out in unfortunate ways. Itami’s wife, Nobuko Miyamoto, also appears. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie GuideRead More »
“Certainly the oddest Oshima film yet to surface in this country,” was how Vincent Canby, an Oshima champion, characterized Dear Summer Sister when it got its first New York release in 1985, and the film remains quite amazingly strange.Read More »
Quote:
Tora-san, the näive and romantic peddler, returns once more to his home in Hokkaido where, as usual, he falls in love with a lovely young lady. The girl this time is Rinko Ueno, who has come home in an attempt to repair her relationship with her gruff veterinarian father, Junkichi ‘Jun’ Ueno. Tora-san gets caught up in the entanglements not only between Rinko and her father but between Dr. Ueno and Etsuko, a restauranteur with amorous plans for the ornery veterinarianRead More »
結婚 陣内・原田御両家篇
An omnibus featuring the work of three different filmmakers.
Suzuki directed the third story about a woman who gets tired of waiting for her dream-boy to pay attention to her. She decides to take a chance on a close friend. Merely a footnote to Suzuki’s career of 46 movies.Read More »
A Takashi Miike film that is, to a degree, autobiographical, Young Thugs – Innocent Blood follows three friends through their first year after leaving school. Having robbed their teacher on their last day at school, Ryoko gets a job in a hair salon, while the two boys settle down to a career of enforcement and protection.Read More »
Regarded as a milestone in cult maestro Takashi Miike’s career, Osaka Tough Guys (Naniwa Yuukyôden) is the bridge between his work as an apprentice director and as an auteur. It also displays the two distinct themes that he would explore in later work.Read More »
At the end of the school semester, Bao is sent to Quchi to be with his recently widowed grandfather because his parents are considering a divorce. Depressed and sullen, he has to transfer to a small elementary school where he discovers that he shares the nickname, “Bear”, with a girl in his class.Read More »
Woman Basketball Player No. 5 not only explores the problems that a young female athlete faces in coming to grips with her ambitions in the field of sports, it portrays the fate of two different generations of Chinese athletes, one pre- and the other post-Liberation.Read More »