Page 3′ takes a behind-the-scenes look at A-list celebrity lifestyles through the eyes of a female entertainment journalist. It explores the power-play between the rich and famous and the media. It is also the story of three girls trying to make a decent living in an indecent societyRead More »
Two years after forming his own production company, Jet Tone, Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai released ASHES OF TIME, a martial-arts epic based on THE EAGLE-SHOOTING HEROES, a series of novels by Louis Cha writing under the pseudonym Jin Yong. The film was set in jianghu, an imaginary world with its own views of good and evil. In 2008, unhappy with the many alternate versions of ASHES OF TIME available, Wong reedited and restored the film, working with the original negative and soundtrack, which were in severe disrepair. Read More »
Yuko is 35 years old, single, out of work, and on medication from her psychiatrist to combat her manic depression. Living in Kamata Town, Yuko divides her time between a variety of men friends, each with his own peculiarities. Her university classmate, Homma, suffers from impotence. “K”, whom she meets on the net, is a self-confessed pervert. Then, there is a young gangster, Yasuda, who is a fellow manic depressive. Her cousin, Shoichi, is also on the scene, having left his family to pursue his mistress, only to be given the cold shoulder by her, too. Yuko seems to create a different persona depending on whom she is talking to at the time. Human contact is just as important for her as for anyone else, but sometimes her condition makes it difficult for others to relate to her for as long as she would like.”Read More »
Synopsis
A down and out man and his daughter live in an illegal hovel. The two live a happy peaceful life until the authorities intervene when the child reaches school age.Read More »
Synopsis
Two Chinese miners, who make money by killing fellow miners and then extorting money from the mine owner to keep quiet about the “accident”, happen upon their latest victim. But one of them begins to have second thoughts.Read More »
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Documentary on the Japanese boxer Unchain Kaji, who retired from the ring at the age of 30 with an eye injury and a losing record. He then tries to start a new life as a civilian.Read More »
Hajime Onchi (Ken Watanabe) works for Goku Airlines. He becomes the head of the labor union and fights to improve working conditions for the workers. The corporate bosses at Goku Airlines doesn’t take kindly to Hajime’s efforts and soon banishes him to distant work locations. Hajime spends the next ten years working in branch offices located in Pakistan, Iran, and Kenya. His corporate bosses offer to bring him back to Japan if he would leave the union and apologize for his actions. Read More »
Synopsis
A political activist escapes the prison van and is sheltered in a posh apartment owned by a sensitive young woman. Both are rebels: the activist against political treachery and the other on social level. Both are bitter about badly organized state of things. Being in solitary confinement, the fugitive engages himself in self-criticism and, in the process, questions the leadership. Questions are not allowed, obeying that is mandatory. Displeasure leads to bitterness, bitterness to total rift. The struggle has to continue, both for the political activist, now segregated, and the woman in exile.Read More »
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“Rooted in “salaryman” comedy and family drama, Burden of Life represents a marked advance over Gosho’s previous three shomin comedies. It placed sixth in the 1935 Kinema Jumpo polling, and has been praised by Burch for its seriousness and slice-of-life quality. Concurring with this judgment, John Gillett finds the film “imbued with a naturalistic tone and ‘lived in’ visual texture quite beyond American and European cinema.” David Owens is similarly enthusiastic, adding, “As is typical of the best Japanese directors, Gosho concentrates on developing characters rather than plot. Each of the family members is carefully drawn and each grows before us as an individual, surpassing the sort of character typing that was usual for family melodramas.” These comments effectively sum up the film’s most notable achievement.”Read More »