Sana/Sana: Let Me Hear
The Guard from Underground
THE GUARD FROM UNDERGROUND Jigoku no Keibiin 地獄の警備員 Dir. Kurosawa Kiyoshi Horror slasher film Satire DISCLAIMER: Plot details that the reader may not wish to know before watching the film are discussed here. Discretion is advised. In 1982 Kurosawa Kiyoshi became involved in a project to produce and support the work of […]
TOKYO!
TOKYO! Dirs: Michel Gondry, Leos Carax, Bong Joon-ho Portmanteau City Symphony Fantasy In several blogs entitled Like Someone in Love (With Japan) I have undertaken to consider how non-Japanese directors have variously viewed, engaged with, thematized, experienced and/or appropriated the land of the rising sun. I have considered a range of different films: from post-WWII […]
Third Window Blu-Ray Review – The Work of Takashi Ono
Third Window Blu-Ray Review: New Directors from Japan: Takashi Ono Japanese Independent Cinema Jishu eiga Fantasy Kaiju Feminism Sports DISCLAIMER: You may wish to watch the films before reading this review as plot details are discussed Third Window Films is by now established as the foremost label for new Japanese films, especially those of […]
WIFE OF A SPY
Wife of a Spy Supai no Tsuma Dir: Kurosawa Kiyoshi War Espionage Drama Plot details that you may not want to know before watching the film are contained in this analysis. Watch the film first! Proceed at your own risk! Kurosawa Kiyoshi, like many great artists, has grown up alongside his characters – […]
Blade of the Immortal
Blade of the Immortal mugen no junin Director: MIIKE TAKASHI Samurai jidai-geki fantasy manga There have been several distinct phases to the career of Miike Takashi. Given his immensely prolific output there are obvious slippages and overlaps, but his development from V Cinema maestro to subversive genre iconoclast; and from poster boy for Asia Extreme […]
BLACK RAIN
BLACK RAIN (1989) Dir. Ridley Scott Thriller drama yakuza buddy film After and given the aesthetic design of Blade Runner (1982) it was arguably little surprise that Ridley Scott would sooner or later find his way to Japan. Neither it is especially notable that, after the commercial and largely critical failures of Legend (1985) and […]
Suzaki Paradise: Red Light District
SUZAKI PARADISE: RED LIGHT DISTRICT 洲崎パラダイス 赤信号 Dir. Kawashima Yuzo Drama Gendai-geki 1950s The work of Kawashima Yuzo was for a long time almost invisible outside Japan, rarely seen and even more rarely considered. Despite this, he was a key figure in Japanese cinema, someone whose influence on directors like Imamura Shohei was palpable and […]
Crazy Thunder Road
Crazy Thunder Road 狂い咲きサンダーロード 1980 • Directed by Ishii Sogo Japanese Cinema Punk Dystopian 1980s Cult Classic There are few more significant Japanese films of the 1970s and 1980s, and fewer still who wear their significance with such gleeful abandon, as Crazy Thunder Road. Began as a student graduation project in 16mm and ultimately given […]
Burst City
Burst City 爆裂都市 1982 • Directed by Ishii Sogo Japanese Cinema PunkDystopian 1980s Cult Classic There are few filmmakers that better encapsulate the punk aesthetic of much 1980s Japanese independent cinema than Ishii Sogo; and of his riotous, anarchic, frequently iconoclastic work in this decade arguably no film better represents such an aesthetic than Burst […]