Incompetent police officer Reiji Kikukawa (Toma Ikuta) has spent several years working undercover in one of Japan’s most powerful yakuza clans. Now the time has finally come to close the trap on its leader – but is Reiji in too … Continue reading MIFF REVIEW: The Mole Song Final (2021)
Reiji Kikukawa (Toma Ikuta), Tokyo’s worst police officer, was rehired as an undercover mole sent to infiltrate Japan’s most powerful yakuza syndicate. Now accidentally installed near the very head of the clan, he is tasked with taking down the Dragon … Continue reading REVIEW: The Mole Song: Hong Kong Capriccio (2016)
Teenager Koichi Hirose (Ryunosuke Kamiki) is the new kid in town, starting at a new high school and eager to make friends. He finds Josuke Higashikata (Kento Yamazaki), a surly teen rebel with the world’s biggest pompadour haircut and the … Continue reading REVIEW: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable (2018)
Mortally wounded after an epic-sized duel, the master swordsman Manji (Takura Kimura) is supernaturally revived to walk feudal Japan as an immortal. 50 years later he is called upon to aid a young woman (Hana Sugisaki) seeking revenge for the … Continue reading REVIEW: Blade of the Immortal (2017)
Regular readers of this website will likely be aware of my love for director Takashi Miike. He is one of Japan’s most versatile directors, jumping from genre to genre pretty much on a film by film basis. He seems as … Continue reading REVIEW: The Bird People in China (1998)
Leo (Masataka Kubota) is a young amateur boxer who gets knocked out in the ring and diagnosed with a brain tumour. When he meets the drug-addicted sex worker Yuri (Sakurako Kanishi), he gets unwittingly dragged into a drug-smuggling operation involving … Continue reading REVIEW: First Love (2019)
Riichi (Yuki Nagata) is a boy growing up in 1969 Japan. His father (Naoto Takenaka) is low-level yakuza with a penchant for adultery and violence. His mother (Setsuko Karasuma) regularly leaves their house in disgust, only to randomly returns days … Continue reading REVIEW: Young Thugs: Nostalgia (1998)
In the 26th century, an attempt to terraform Mars for Earth’s overcrowded human population has led to a planet with a breathable atmosphere but an infestation of cockroaches. A varied crew of criminals and desperate civilians undertake special genetic engineering … Continue reading REVIEW: Terra Formars (2016)
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