In the 1860s Japan is in a turbulent period of transition as the Americans’ gunboat diplomacy forces the country to interact with a broader world. In a Tokyo brothel a grifter named Saheji (Frankie Sakai) overstays with no money, and … Continue reading REVIEW: Sun in the Last Days of the Shogunate (1957)
This is one of the more unusual feature film projects that I have seen. In the mid-1980s the independent movie studio New World Pictures, run by the legendary low budget film producer Roger Corman, acquired the American rights to the … Continue reading REVIEW: In the Aftermath (1988)
Wakatasuki, a young employee at an insurance firm, receives a telephone call from a woman asking if her life insurance policy covers her committing suicide. Concerned for her welfare, he rushes to her house only to stumble upon the dead … Continue reading REVIEW: Black House (1999)
Kai lives a sullen life in the coastal Hinashi Town with his umbrella-making grandfather and recently divorced father. Kai plays in a teen band with his friends Kunio and Yuho, though he is thinking of quitting. When a trip to … Continue reading REVIEW: Lu Over the Wall (2017)
Within Japan a number of directors are widely noted as the masters of the screen arts: Ozu, Mizoguchi, Naruse, and so on. Internationally there has only ever really been one name: Kurosawa. In a career spanning 57 years Akira Kurosawa … Continue reading “We continue on without rest” | The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail (1945)
A group of four animals – a puppy, a pheasant, a monkey, and a bear – leave their families to help with the Japanese war effort. After basic training, they are dispatched as paratoopers to invade Suwawesi and wrest control … Continue reading REVIEW: Momotaro, Sacred Sailors (1945)
Riko Rinda (Haruka Ayase) is a professional appraiser, working out of her own small business All-Round Appraiser Q. Upon the invitation of the Louvre art museum, Riko travels to Paris – a dogged young journalist (Tori Matsuzaka) in tow – … Continue reading REVIEW: All-Round Appraiser Q: The Eyes of Mona Lisa (2014)
Yamakawa (Frankie Sakai) and Nakai (Tadao Takashima) are salesmen working for Tokyo firm Towa Tours, which is seeking to secure lucrative American travel contracts over rival Kyokuto Tours. When the president’s daughter Yoko (Izumi Yukimura) takes over their department, she … Continue reading REVIEW: You Can Succeed, Too! (1964)
Nasa (Eri Tokunaga), a Japanese online columnist, ponders the question of whether men and women can be platonic friends, without romance or sexual attraction getting in the way. To that end, she books a series of sessions with a ‘friend-for-rent’ … Continue reading REVIEW: Rent a Friend (2018)
Tsubame Hiyakawa (Long Mizuma) is summoned to his father’s home to satisfy his dying wish. Deep in debt, and terminally ill, his father needs him to deliver legal documents to Tsubame’s estranged brother Ryushin (Takashi Yamanaka) – who Tsubame has … Continue reading REVIEW: Yan (2019)
