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Yuzo (Nao Okabe) and Mitsuki (Anne Ogawa) live together in Yuzo’s small apartment, their constant companionship tender and indifferent in turn. Then Yuzo receives a call from Satsuki (Hyunri), a documentarian resolved to make a film about a now-distant family tragedy, and the three meet, to search for some way to account for their relationship to one another, the memories they share and those they’ve kept to themselves.Read More »
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A haunting study of loneliness gradually gives way to a dark mystery in Hamaguchi’s unusual and beautifully acted Touching the Skin of Eeriness. After his father’s death, the reclusive Chihiro goes to live with his older half-brother brother and channels his unspoken feelings into his one passion, modern dancing. Chihiro’s relationship with his dance partner grows increasingly strange, mirroring the dances invented by their intense teacher, played by renowned dancer and choreographer Osamu Jareo.Read More »
Sometimes Mr Murata thinks that it was just yesterday when he was 50 or 60. “And now I’m pushing 90,” he says.
Like many parts of rural Japan, the fishing village of Ushimado suffers from an ageing population. Every day, Mr Murata still takes his boat out on the inland sea that separates Honshu and Shikoku, two of Japan’s main islands. He sells his catch at the local market, with a large share going to Mrs Koso, who runs the local fish trade and tours the village daily in her delivery van. She knows her customers’ preferences and habits inside out and tells the filmmakers how long each of the empty houses has been abandoned.Read More »
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A young girl in a sailor moon outfit, sits quietly in an empty room, looking at a photo album of girls (from earlier films in this series) who have commit harakiri. The viewing and thought of the suicide turns her on, much in the way that extreme desire and input draw us closer to feeling we have found something tangible. She believes she has found it, so much that she must feel closer to the experience, and the only way to do so is to commit harakiri herself.Read More »
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Kihachi Okamoto directs his 37th film with this sweet-natured satire about bungling cops and tax scams. The story opens with an 84-year-old widow and grandmother (Tanie Kitabayashi), who lives in a palatial estate in rural Wakayama prefecture, getting jumped by a trio of bumbling thugs (Toru Kazama, Katsuyoshi Uchida, and Hiroshi Nishikawa) and shoved into their waiting car. Instead of being afraid for her life, she is — to the chagrin of her would-be captors — having the time of her life. Soon the strong-willed granny takes command of her own kidnapping, offering the house of her former maid as a hideout and suggesting the amount of the ransom — ten million yen.Read More »
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When a local gambling house kidnaps some peasants because they failed to pay their debts, a rival gambling house pays their debts and sets them free. But it’s really all just a plot to enlist Ichi’s aid in eliminating the competition. Once that’s been attended to, the master of the surviving house of chance grabs more and more power – and more cash from the hapless farmers. Even a blind man can see that justice must be done.Read More »
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For those unfamiliar with its deep meaning, the Japanese tea ceremony appears to be a long, incredibly boring, basically uneventful ritual process. In contrast, for many of its practitioners it offers the key to understanding how to live life in a meaningful manner, and is in itself a refreshment for the spirit. The tea master Rikyu was a key figure in the evolution of the ceremony, and his teaching lineage continues to the present day. In 1591, as a result of a difference of opinion with the ruling warlord of Japan, Hideyoshi Toyotomi (Shinsuke Ashida), tea ceremony grand master Rikyu (Toshiro Mifune) was forced to commit suicide. Read More »
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One day Kyoko watches television and sees a man turning himself in to the police after murdering a family. Something within Kyoko connects with the man, as she recognizes a similar soul. Despite the worries of the killer’s lawyer, she approaches the killer and the two start corresponding…Read More »
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A school was built on one of the Gates of Hell, behind which hordes of demons await the moment they will be free to roam the Earth. Hiruko is a goblin sent to Earth on a reconnaissance mission. He beheads students in order to assemble their heads on the demons’ spider-like bodies. Hieda, an archaeology professor, and Masao, a haunted student, investigate the gory deaths and eventually battle Hiruko.Read More »