Tag: Japan
REVIEW: Jellyfish Eyes (2013)
There is a long, rich tradition of fine artists making a transition into filmmaking. It is, after all, just another medium for expression- and a primarily visual one at that. American painter Julian Schnabel made the jump with his excellent 1996 biographical drama Basquiat, before moving on to acclaimed films like Before Night Falls and The Diving Bell and the ...
REVIEW: Drive (2002)
A depressed businessman suffering from hypertension finds his car hijacked by three armed bank robbers. A fourth criminal has driven away in their own getaway car with their loot, and a chase begins. What ensues is a bizarre and purposefully absurd odyssey through the streets of Tokyo over a 24-hour period. The film is Drive, released ...
REVIEW: Galaxy Turnpike (2016)
It is the year 2265. Midway between Earth and an outer solar system colony lies the Galaxy Turnpike, where travellers can pull over their spacecraft and relax at a retro-styled Sandsand burger joint. Inside the husband and wife team of Noa (Shingo Katori) and Noe (Haruka Ayase) operate the kitchen while coping with a disintegrating ...
REVIEW: Udon (2006)
Kosuke (Yusuke Santamaria) returns home to Japan after an attempted stand-up comedy career in New York fails to eventuate. Home is Sanuki in Kagawa prefecture, where udon noodles are a local tradition and where Kosuke's ill-tempered father (Katsumi Kiba) runs a popular udon takeaway restaurant. A chance encounter with a bear introduces Kosuke to aspiring ...
REVIEW: Belladonna of Sadness (1973)
In medieval France, a young couple approach the local lord to request permission to marry. Rather than receive permission, the bride-to-be - Jeanne - is violently raped by members of the court. Abandoning her broken fiancee, Jeanne makes a pact with the devil. Living in the forest, she manifests magical powers and becomes a dangerous ...
REVIEW: Horrors of Malformed Men (1969)
Hirosuke (Teruo Yoshida) is a medical student that has been kidnapped and consigned to a run-down mental institution. Haunted by visions of a remote island, he soon finds himself framed for murder and on the run across Japan. After stumbling upon a death notice for a man that looks exactly like him, Hirosuke impersonates the ...
“We’re out of sake for the saint” | Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937)
Within Japan Humanity and Paper Balloons has long been celebrated as one of the greatest films ever made, as well as one of the most significant films in the jidai-geki, or period drama, genre. Internationally, however, it has remained obscure until very recently. Part of its problem is that its director, Sadao Yamanaka, died a year after ...
