Asian

Quote:
A storm rages over Tokyo. Meanwhile, inside a high-rise apartment block, the bodies of four people are discovered – apparently the victims of a brutal crime. At first, the victims are all thought to be members of one family, but then it transpires that they were not related to each other at all. Investigations run aground. Who were the victims? Who was responsible for – it has to be said – having slaughtered them in such a way? And why on earth were the murders committed? What could possibly have been the motive? Innocuous citizens who do not normally have anything to do with such horrific crimes are dragged onto the case. And the more testimonies that are collated, the closer the case moves towards a surprising conclusion.Read More »

review:
Yassuda is on the run. In truth, he should be in his car, with money that was to have
been robbed from a bank, with a gun bought from Yakuza. He could have come off
well had he not forgotten the mask! Now he is on the run with a pursuer hot on his
trail.Read More »

A man continually trying and failing to get his wife to stay dead; a self-absorbed ad agency creative director who comes up with one unworkable inane idea after another; a British hitman who only wants to know everyone’s function in life; and an unfortunate office worker and father whose brain is left scrambled after a stage hypnotist is murdered in mid-performance. Starting off as unrelated plot lines, they intertwine with each other as they continue on their respective ways.Read More »

Quote:
In ancient China, before the reign of the first emperor, warring factions throughout the Six Kingdoms plot to assassinate the most powerful ruler, Qin. When a minor official defeats Qin’s three principal enemies, he is summoned to the palace to tell Qin the story of his surprising victory.Read More »

Tamiko has been with a geisha house since she was little. Torn between staying in the only world that she knows but also loathes, and a normal life on the outside, Tomiko becomes more and more desperate. Times are also changing, it isn’t easy to keeps the books balanced and there is a new law under debate that may end this way of life for good.Read More »

Contemporary Japanese Film by Mark Schilling (1999):

Topicality is tricky. Sylvester Stallone’s one-man war in Afghanistan in Rambo III might have suited the Evil Empire mentality of the early 1980s, but in 1988, with Russian troops rapidly withdrawing from the country, it was ludicrous. Rambo was battling a Cold War ghost.

Beijing Watermelon, which tells the story of a Chiba vegetable seller’s encounter with Chinese students, was also overtaken by events. Filming scheduled for Beijing had to be canceled because of the tragedy at Tienanmen Square. But instead of plugging away as though nothing had happened, director Nobuhiko Obayashi seized the opportunity to comment on that tragedy and make one of the most original, moving films in recent memory.Read More »

Synopsis:
A librarian is subject to a scientific experiment which goes wrong and transforms him into ‘The Human Vapour’. He uses his new ability to rob banks to fund the career of his girlfriend, a beautiful dancer. The Human Vapour is ruthless in his quest for money and kills anyone who stands in his way, especially police. He soon becomes Tokyo’s most wanted criminal. Can he be stopped before he kills again?Read More »

Multiple murders, red herrings and sadomasochistic sex are the order of the day in this ground-breaking mystery from Edogawa Rampo, Japan’s foremost writer of suspense novels. The year is 1930 and the chance meeting of a novelist and one of his fans
opens the door to a series of mysterious events culminating in the death of a wealthy industrialist who may have been leading a double life. Aoi Teruhiko and Kayama Yoshiko star along with two of Japan’s most famous and highly respected actors, Otomo Ryutaro and Wakayama Tomisaburo. In a departure from the samurai genre in which he made his name this is director Kato Tai’s masterpiece. A true work of cinema art comes to life in this deadly tale of love and betrayal!Read More »

Based on the 1964 novel of the same name by Komimasa Tanaka, the film tell the story of a strip-teaser, and her daughter who wishes to join her mother’s profession.Read More »