Japan

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In 16th century Japan, protracted feudal wars have created a prevailing sense of lawlessness. Bandits have organized into formidable armies that scavenge the countryside in search of villages to loot. One morning, a band of thieves arrive at the outskirts of a farming community, but is persuaded to delay their attack until the barley has been harvested. A peasant farmer overhears their plan, and summons the villagers for a town meeting. The farmers seek counsel from the village elder (Kuninori Todo) who advises them to hire “hungry samurai” who would protect their village in exchange for meals. But the task of finding formidable samurais who will accept such a meager compensation proves to be a difficult task. One day, the farmers witness a middle-aged ronin (masterless samurai) named Kambei Shimada (Takashi Shimura) single-handedly rescue an abducted child by relying solely on his cunning intelligence and precise technical skill. Kambei has grown weary of fighting, but the plight of the farmers wins his sympathy, and he agrees to take up their seemingly hopeless cause.Read More »

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Taking in the whole spectrum of pre-millennial new age phenomena, the bizarre August in the Water (whose English language release title is a direct translation of the Japanese, though is not to be confused with Yoichiro Takahashi’s identically titled Mizu No Naka No Hachigatsu, a 1998 coming of age drama which did the Festival circuit under the English language title of Fishes in August) is a bit of a mixed bag. Thematically, it’s a real inspiration. The X-Files notwithstanding, this sort of imaginative pseudo-scientific fantasy stands fairly uniquely amongst contemporary cinematic output. Visually the film is also a wonder, with impressive use of natural lighting in the bright exteriors, and beautifully composed Zen-like static shots of the assorted esoteric ephemera alternating with rapid multiple-angle edits and abstracted close-ups of the natural phenomena.Read More »

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Koji Wakamatsu, who in the past has directed such pungently titled exploitation flicks as Go Go Be a Virgin a Second Time and Violated Women in White, spins this biopic about jazz saxophonist Kaoru Abe (Ko Machida) and his wife, noted writer Izumi Suzuki (Reona Hirota). A sort of Sid and Nancy for the free-jazz set, the film opens with Suzuki dialing a wrong number and getting Abe. Instead of hanging up, he asks her out on a date and soon the two are shacked up and living together. Sex, drugs and Ornette Coleman feature prominently in the early phase of their relationship, and soon they realize that they are in fact soulmates. Abe is a romantic artist as well as a self-destructive, self-absorbed manchild prone to angry tirades and epileptic seizures. In turn, Izumi is first presented as a bubble-headed hippie chick who goes through men like tissues, but as her relationship with Abe deepens into marriage and evidently motherhood, Izumi reveals a steel will and pragmatism, refusing to sacrifice herself to Abe’s muse. Their tempestuous relationship grows increasingly destructive. ~ Jonathan Crow, RoviRead More »

Yasuo is a gangster just released from jail. Believing his boss double-crossed him, enraged Yasuo is on his way to find the boss. But before setting out for the dangerous trip, Yasuo asks Kenji to take care of his mentally challenged sister, Yuri, and a mysterious black bag.Read More »

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Shiratori Tatsuhiko (Go Ayano) is a no-good bum and a loser. Wandering the streets one day, he meets Matora (Yusuke Iseya), a blond-haired devil who introduces him to a talent agency called Burst. Their specialty? Finding girls to work in the many hostess clubs, love hotels and lurid hole-in-the-walls of Kabukicho, Shinjuku’s infamous red-light district. It’s a dog-eat-dog world like no other, and in a neighbourhood where all sorts of bad people converge, and where sex, money and business mean life and death, Tatsuhiko finds himself in constant trouble. Struggling to stay on top, he soon finds himself caked in layer upon layer of greed, violence and lies, let alone the ever-looming threat of ruthless scouting rivals and the yakuza themselves!Read More »

A convicted rapist, Ikuo is released from prison and goes in pursuit of the woman he raped, Mieko. So obsessed is he with revenge he see’s her in every woman he meets. After carrying out vicious attacks on a prostitute and a young girl he finally comes face to face with her. Mieko tells him she wants to escape from Tomimori. To redeem himself in her eyes Ikuo takes her plea to the extreme resulting in inextricable tragedy for them all. The film is set in Japan’s notorious ‘soaplands’ – areas where young women offer bathing and massage to men, as a way round the laws prohibiting prostitution.Read More »

A love story between a building-site labourer, whose best friend suddenly drops dead, and an overstressed, underpaid nurse.Read More »

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Tomu Uchida’s A Bloody Spear at Mt. Fuji is the story of an unassuming samurai who is more interested in a person’s actions than his social standing. In spite of the rigid class divide that exists between himself and his servants he tends to treat them as his equals even when they themselves feel that they are inferior to him. The film features remarkable subplots that add scope and depth to the social criticism offered by the main plot. Among these is the story of a male orphan who idolizes the samurai’s spear bearer and a young woman who is sold into prostitution because her family is too poor to support her.Read More »

Shuji Terayama (December 10, 1935—May 4, 1983) was an avant-garde Japanese dramatist, writer, director, and photographer, noted for such films as Emperor Tomato Ketchup and Fruits of Passion.
In 1967, Terayama started an experimental cinema and gallery called ‘Universal Gravitation,’ which is in fact still in existence at Misawa as a resource center. The Terayama Shuji Memorial Hall, which has a large collection of his plays, novels, poetry, photography and a great number of his personal affects and relics from his theatre productions, can also be found in Misawa.
source: artandpopularcultureRead More »