Quote:
Akio Kitano is a man who bet on a 0.1 second ecstasy. He is a lone wolf who does not belong to any team, who crawled up from loneliness to a legendary two wheeled racer. The group of beauties surrounding him – a designer, a daughter of a conglomerate, a wife of a banker, is mere tools. For Kitano it was all to run and become the fastest champ in the world!Read More »
review from Letterboxd
21st century modern love in 80s Japan. carried out with absolute smoothness, confidence, and nuance. The male protagonist: Choosing to leave after having conducted enough inward reflection (this is surprisingly non-masculine, even with a motorcycle). Somewhat radical, really showed a unique “nonconformist’s” ideal of what love relationship can be. Everything done right, beats Tampopo in almost every sense (except food).Read More »
Synopsis:
This is the story of Okita Soji, one of the finest swordsmen in the Shinsengumi group, captain of the first troop and a very popular figure in history. From his early days and his lifelong friendship with Hijikata Toshizo, through the rise and fall of the Shinsengumi as they protect the Shogunate from the Choshu rebels.Read More »
This 1981 nihilist epic by Shohei Imamura is witty, grotesque, relentless, and beautifully engineered. The setting is the Edo era, when local warlords battle the emperor for control of the country, and all of Japan is under cultural pressure from its long delayed opening to the West. Political loyalties and personal loves disintegrate; the only certainty is money, and even that is crumbling. Imamura follows eight major characters through a bright, bursting, impossibly dynamic mise-en-scene, leading up to the Eijanaika (“What the hell?”) riots—a frightening, exhilarating explosion of empty freedom, the freedom of those who have lost everything. A very important film, and possibly a great one.Read More »
This extraordinarily complex film is not only a send-up of every samurai film ever made, it is also an extrapolation of the value of life. The Yamatai, represented by Prince Susano-O and elderly advisor Sumuke, hire Yumihiko of Matsuro to hunt the phoenix so that Queen Himiko, sister of Susano-O can have eternal life.Read More »
Hirobe is a lonely man. After witnessing her girlfriend die with a terminal illness, he wanders through the city like a shadow. One day, he meets Masako and they begin an affair. Masako is in an unhappy marriage with Yazawa, who is also cheating on her with a younger lover. The tension builds up to an unforgiving, yet quiet climax…Read More »