Juro Kara is a Japanese avant-garde playwright, theatre director, author, actor, and songwriter. He was at the forefront of the Angura (“underground”) theatre movement in Japan, while as an actor, he cooperated with some of the biggest names of the Japanese movie industry, including Shohei Imamura, Masahiro Shinoda, Shuji Terayama, Toshio Matsumoto and Koji Wakamatsu. As a director, however, he only came up with one title, co-produced by Atg “Sea of Genkai”, an unusual type of yakuza film that focuses intently on the treatment of Korean women in the hands of the Japanese.
Follow our coverage of Atg by clicking on the link below
The movie begins with a young man causing a ruckus on a high traffic street, until an older man takes him under his wing. The young man is named Taguchi and seems to have no one in his life, which is why he almost immediately becomes...
Follow our coverage of Atg by clicking on the link below
The movie begins with a young man causing a ruckus on a high traffic street, until an older man takes him under his wing. The young man is named Taguchi and seems to have no one in his life, which is why he almost immediately becomes...
- 9/11/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The 79th Venice International Film Festival has just announced the line-up for the next edition. The 79th Venice International Film Festival is organised by La Biennale di Venezia and directed by Alberto Barbera. It will take place at Venice Lido from 31 August to 10 September 2022. The Festival is officially recognised by the Fiapf (International Federation of Film Producers Association).
The aim of the Festival is to raise awareness and promote international cinema in all its forms as art, entertainment and as an industry, in a spirit of freedom and dialogue. The Festival also organises retrospectives and tributes to major figures as a contribution towards a better understanding of the history of cinema.
Here are all the Asian Titles on the Programme:
Competition:
Love Life
Director Koji Fukada
Main Cast Fumino Kimura, Kento Nagayama, Atom Sunada / Japan, France / 123’
Shab, Dakheli, Divar (Beyond The Wall)
Director Vahid Jalilvand
Main Cast Navid Mohammadzadeh, Diana Habibi,...
The aim of the Festival is to raise awareness and promote international cinema in all its forms as art, entertainment and as an industry, in a spirit of freedom and dialogue. The Festival also organises retrospectives and tributes to major figures as a contribution towards a better understanding of the history of cinema.
Here are all the Asian Titles on the Programme:
Competition:
Love Life
Director Koji Fukada
Main Cast Fumino Kimura, Kento Nagayama, Atom Sunada / Japan, France / 123’
Shab, Dakheli, Divar (Beyond The Wall)
Director Vahid Jalilvand
Main Cast Navid Mohammadzadeh, Diana Habibi,...
- 7/26/2022
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
“Branded to Kill” is Seijun Suzuki’s absurdist nihilistic statement. A film compelled by Freudian drives, surreally, brought into the bright light of day. From this perspective, the utterly insane plot makes deranged sense. Suzuki worked with a team of writers, in a daring collaborative effort; to bash the out script in double quick time. The studio, Nikkatsu rejected the initial script by another writer. Suzuki took this to mean that the studio was out of ideas, so eight men frantically wrote a script, and Suzuki bolted it altogether in a riot of cinema!
Action and eroticism were the popular fashions in Japanese cinema through 1966/1967, so Suzuki intended to give the studio what they want! This slice of pragmatism led to him being fired, a long law-suit and being blacklisted for a decade.
“Branded to Kill” is an anarchic gangster film, jarring in tone, brutal in action and wild in sex,...
Action and eroticism were the popular fashions in Japanese cinema through 1966/1967, so Suzuki intended to give the studio what they want! This slice of pragmatism led to him being fired, a long law-suit and being blacklisted for a decade.
“Branded to Kill” is an anarchic gangster film, jarring in tone, brutal in action and wild in sex,...
- 5/29/2020
- by Jonathan Wilson
- AsianMoviePulse
Jô Shishido, the leading man whose chubby cheeks and swaggering sense of cool brought an unforgettable X-factor to some of Japan's most influential yakuza cinema, has died. He was 86.
Shishido was found dead at his home in Tokyo's Setagaya district Tuesday morning, Japan's national broadcaster NHK reported. Police said he had been suffering from an unspecified illness.
Known affectionately as "Joe the Ace" (Ēsu no Jō) at home in Japan, Shishido was an icon of the country's relentlessly eclectic post-war entertainment landscape, with some 300 film credits to his name and nearly as many performances ...
Shishido was found dead at his home in Tokyo's Setagaya district Tuesday morning, Japan's national broadcaster NHK reported. Police said he had been suffering from an unspecified illness.
Known affectionately as "Joe the Ace" (Ēsu no Jō) at home in Japan, Shishido was an icon of the country's relentlessly eclectic post-war entertainment landscape, with some 300 film credits to his name and nearly as many performances ...
- 1/22/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Joe Shishido, the leading man whose chubby cheeks and swaggering sense of cool brought an unforgettable X-factor to some of Japan's most influential yakuza cinema, has died. He was 86.
Shishido was found dead at his home in Tokyo's Setagaya district Tuesday morning, Japan's national broadcaster Nhk reported. Police said he had been suffering from an unspecified illness.
Known affectionately as "Joe the Ace" (Ēsu no Jō) at home in Japan, Shishido was an icon of the country's relentlessly eclectic post-war entertainment landscape, with some 300 film credits to his name and nearly as many performances ...
Shishido was found dead at his home in Tokyo's Setagaya district Tuesday morning, Japan's national broadcaster Nhk reported. Police said he had been suffering from an unspecified illness.
Known affectionately as "Joe the Ace" (Ēsu no Jō) at home in Japan, Shishido was an icon of the country's relentlessly eclectic post-war entertainment landscape, with some 300 film credits to his name and nearly as many performances ...
- 1/22/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Inflato-faced Jô Shishido is at it again, here in a typically precocious, spoofy crime adventure by Japan’s playful Seijun Suzuki. If the eccentric color scheme doesn’t do the trick, the antic comic relief and wild musical numbers will. Shishido dances the Charleston, and the nightclub rocks with a terrific twist number. The music under Nikkatsu’s logo is more progressive than that in a Hollywood picture of 1963.
Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards!
Blu-ray
Arrow Video USA
1963 / Color / 2:35 widescreen (Nikkatsuscope) / 89 min. / Kutabare akutô-domo – Tantei jimusho 23 / Street Date July 10, 2018 / 39.95
Starring: Jô Shishido, Tamio Kawaji, Reiko Sassamori, Nobuo Kaneko, Kinzô Shin, Naomi Hoshi,Asao Sano.
Cinematography: Shigeyoshi Mine
Film Editor: Akira Suzuki
Original Music: Harumi Ibe
Written by Iwao Yamazaki from a book by Haruhiko Ôyabu
Produced by Shôzô Ashida
Directed by Seijun Suzuki
One can always count on Seijun Suzuki for something different, and even in...
Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards!
Blu-ray
Arrow Video USA
1963 / Color / 2:35 widescreen (Nikkatsuscope) / 89 min. / Kutabare akutô-domo – Tantei jimusho 23 / Street Date July 10, 2018 / 39.95
Starring: Jô Shishido, Tamio Kawaji, Reiko Sassamori, Nobuo Kaneko, Kinzô Shin, Naomi Hoshi,Asao Sano.
Cinematography: Shigeyoshi Mine
Film Editor: Akira Suzuki
Original Music: Harumi Ibe
Written by Iwao Yamazaki from a book by Haruhiko Ôyabu
Produced by Shôzô Ashida
Directed by Seijun Suzuki
One can always count on Seijun Suzuki for something different, and even in...
- 7/3/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
This podcast focuses on Criterion’s Eclipse Series of DVDs. Hosts David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett give an overview of each box and offer their perspectives on the unique treasures they find inside. In this second episode of a two-part series, David and Trevor are joined by Pablo Knote to discuss two films (Cruel Gun Story and A Colt is My Passport) from Eclipse Series 17: Nikkatsu Noir.
About the films:
From the late 1950s through the sixties, wild, idiosyncratic crime movies were the brutal and boisterous business of Nikkatsu, the oldest film studio in Japan. In an effort to attract youthful audiences growing increasingly accustomed to American and French big-screen imports, Nikkatsu began producing action potboilers (mukokuseki akushun, or “borderless action”) that incorporated elements of the western, comedy, gangster, and teen-rebel genres. This bruised and bloody collection represents a standout cross section of what Nikkatsu had to offer, from such prominent,...
About the films:
From the late 1950s through the sixties, wild, idiosyncratic crime movies were the brutal and boisterous business of Nikkatsu, the oldest film studio in Japan. In an effort to attract youthful audiences growing increasingly accustomed to American and French big-screen imports, Nikkatsu began producing action potboilers (mukokuseki akushun, or “borderless action”) that incorporated elements of the western, comedy, gangster, and teen-rebel genres. This bruised and bloody collection represents a standout cross section of what Nikkatsu had to offer, from such prominent,...
- 3/11/2017
- by David Blakeslee
- CriterionCast
“I make movies that make no sense,” Seijun Suzuki would often say, and he wasn’t being modest. The prolific director, who died earlier this month at the age of 93, was the Jackson Pollock of Japanese cinema, an irrepressibly creative artist who painted with gobs of color and geysers of fake blood in order to defy the strictures of narrative and remind viewers that movies are more than the stories they tell.
His hyper-stylized gangster sagas, which had a way of turning the most basic B-picture plots into unfettered symphonies for the senses, were born out of a rabid intolerance for boredom; audiences never knew what was going to happen next, and sometimes it’s tempting to suspect that Suzuki didn’t either. Few directors ever did more to fundamentally demolish our understanding of what film could be, and even fewer did so while working under the auspices of a major production studio.
His hyper-stylized gangster sagas, which had a way of turning the most basic B-picture plots into unfettered symphonies for the senses, were born out of a rabid intolerance for boredom; audiences never knew what was going to happen next, and sometimes it’s tempting to suspect that Suzuki didn’t either. Few directors ever did more to fundamentally demolish our understanding of what film could be, and even fewer did so while working under the auspices of a major production studio.
- 2/22/2017
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Stars: Kenji Shimada, Glenn Maynard, Skye Medusa, Cris Cochrane, Kristen Condon, Vlady T, Saya Minami, Tom Liddy | Written by Addison Heath, Glenn Maynard, Kenji Shimada | Directed by Addison Heath
A brand-new take on the Japanese Yakuza films of the 1960s, Mondo Yakuza is clearly inspired by the nihilistic work of Seijun Suzuki (Branded to Kill) in particular. The film tells the story of Ichiro Kataki (Shimada), a violent Yakuza gang member travels to Melbourne, Australia after his beloved sister Yuko is brutally murdered by a group of criminals. Hell bent on vengeance he teams up with Cassidy Arizona (Skye Medusa), a lady of the night with a vendetta of her own…
Seijun Suzuki’s prolific work in the yakuza genre was marked by a few things: his visual flair, the often avant-garde nature of his movies, sheer coolness… and actor Joe Shishido; who appeared in a number of Suzuki’s movies,...
A brand-new take on the Japanese Yakuza films of the 1960s, Mondo Yakuza is clearly inspired by the nihilistic work of Seijun Suzuki (Branded to Kill) in particular. The film tells the story of Ichiro Kataki (Shimada), a violent Yakuza gang member travels to Melbourne, Australia after his beloved sister Yuko is brutally murdered by a group of criminals. Hell bent on vengeance he teams up with Cassidy Arizona (Skye Medusa), a lady of the night with a vendetta of her own…
Seijun Suzuki’s prolific work in the yakuza genre was marked by a few things: his visual flair, the often avant-garde nature of his movies, sheer coolness… and actor Joe Shishido; who appeared in a number of Suzuki’s movies,...
- 2/6/2017
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Haryashu Noguchi's Murder UnincorporatedSTORY66%DIRECTION72%ACTING67%VISUALS74%POSITIVESSlapstick humorPreposterous CharactersGreat restoration NEGATIVESSpecifically addressing fans of slapstick humor2016-07-2970%Overall ScoreReader Rating: (1 Vote)65%
The third part of Arrow’s Diamond Guys Vol 2 is definitely the funniest, as suggested by the guy in the introduction, who threatens to shoot anyone who does not laugh, suggests.
The film revolves around a mysterious individual named Joe of Spades, who threatens the existence of a criminal syndicate, despite the fact that no one knows who he is. The crime syndicate, that comprises of five kingpins, each one in charge of various “fields” (prostitution, drugs, gamble, etc) decide to hire professional assassins to kill Joe of Spades, after one of their members is gunned down, with a card with the ace of spades lying next to his body. In order to choose ten of them, they use the Assassin’s office, which actually auditions professionals.
The third part of Arrow’s Diamond Guys Vol 2 is definitely the funniest, as suggested by the guy in the introduction, who threatens to shoot anyone who does not laugh, suggests.
The film revolves around a mysterious individual named Joe of Spades, who threatens the existence of a criminal syndicate, despite the fact that no one knows who he is. The crime syndicate, that comprises of five kingpins, each one in charge of various “fields” (prostitution, drugs, gamble, etc) decide to hire professional assassins to kill Joe of Spades, after one of their members is gunned down, with a card with the ace of spades lying next to his body. In order to choose ten of them, they use the Assassin’s office, which actually auditions professionals.
- 7/29/2016
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Buichi Saito's Danger PaysSTORY68%ACTING75%DIRECTING72%VISUALS74%POSITIVESHilarious parodyGreat comedic actingImpressive finaleNEGATIVESA bit nonsensical script2016-07-2372%Overall ScoreReader Rating: (0 Votes)0%
The second film in Arrow’s Diamond Guys Vol 2 takes a more definite turn towards the comical, being a parody of the crime noir film.
In the film’s intro, it is stated that “danger is where the money is,” and that is actually the main theme of the film, which deals with a case of counterfeiting, revolving around an expert forger and the efforts of a crime syndicate headed by Hijikata and various individuals, to have him working for them. The parody element of the film kicks right in, as these individuals have names like “Glass Headed” Joe (the protagonist), “Slide Rule” Tetsu, and “Dump-Truck” Ken, while the expert forger is comfortably named “The Expert.” The three aforementioned eventually team up, and along with Tomoko, an ex-secretary, skilled in Judo and Aikido,...
The second film in Arrow’s Diamond Guys Vol 2 takes a more definite turn towards the comical, being a parody of the crime noir film.
In the film’s intro, it is stated that “danger is where the money is,” and that is actually the main theme of the film, which deals with a case of counterfeiting, revolving around an expert forger and the efforts of a crime syndicate headed by Hijikata and various individuals, to have him working for them. The parody element of the film kicks right in, as these individuals have names like “Glass Headed” Joe (the protagonist), “Slide Rule” Tetsu, and “Dump-Truck” Ken, while the expert forger is comfortably named “The Expert.” The three aforementioned eventually team up, and along with Tomoko, an ex-secretary, skilled in Judo and Aikido,...
- 7/23/2016
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Take a look @ the June 2016 home video releases from cult movie specialists Arrow Video Us, via Mvd Entertainment Group, including "Nikkatsu Diamond Guys Vol 2 on Blu-ray + DVD, June 14, "Suture" on Blu-ray + DVD, June 21 and "Return Of The Killer Tomatoes" on Blu-ray, June 28:
"Nikkatsu Diamond Guys Vol 2" available June 14, 2016, includes three classic films from directors Buichi Saito ("Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril"), Ko Nakahira ("Crazed Fruit") and Haruyasu Noguchi.
In Saito's "Tokyo Mighty Guy" : "...Akira Kobayashi stars as 'Jiro' , a chef who opens a restaurant in the busy 'Ginza' district. His culinary skills and dashing good looks bring in the women as well as unwanted trouble, while an explosive political scandal builds around his girlfriend's business.
In Nakashira's "Danger Pays", actor Joe Shishido ("Massacre Gun", "Retaliation") stars in a crime caper about counterfeiting:
"...when one billion yen goes Awol, 'Joe the Ace' (Shishido) spies an opportunity to get rich quick,...
"Nikkatsu Diamond Guys Vol 2" available June 14, 2016, includes three classic films from directors Buichi Saito ("Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril"), Ko Nakahira ("Crazed Fruit") and Haruyasu Noguchi.
In Saito's "Tokyo Mighty Guy" : "...Akira Kobayashi stars as 'Jiro' , a chef who opens a restaurant in the busy 'Ginza' district. His culinary skills and dashing good looks bring in the women as well as unwanted trouble, while an explosive political scandal builds around his girlfriend's business.
In Nakashira's "Danger Pays", actor Joe Shishido ("Massacre Gun", "Retaliation") stars in a crime caper about counterfeiting:
"...when one billion yen goes Awol, 'Joe the Ace' (Shishido) spies an opportunity to get rich quick,...
- 4/19/2016
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Prior to helming a trio of the Meiko Kaji starred Stray Cat Rock series, the fourth and final film in the Female Convict Scorpion series, or a number of violent pink films after Nikkatsu studios slid into the gutter of softcore porno flicks, director Yasuharu Hasebe began his career with a trio of yakuza action quickies featuring budding genre standbys Jô Shishido and Akira Kobayashi. The second and third, 1967’s Massacre Gun and 1968’s Retaliation, respectively, have been lovingly released for the first time on home video by Arrow Video, restoring bit by bit Hasebe’s rather spotty oeuvre by highlighting his knack for stylish economy in his early work.
Essentially a downbeat yakuza film that covers all the basics in warring gangs over territory and reputation, Retaliation is unique in that it also dabbles in enemy bromance and the inevitable overtaking of nature by the unstoppable force of industry.
Essentially a downbeat yakuza film that covers all the basics in warring gangs over territory and reputation, Retaliation is unique in that it also dabbles in enemy bromance and the inevitable overtaking of nature by the unstoppable force of industry.
- 5/19/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Stars: Akira Kobayashi, Jô Shishido, Hideaki Nitani, Tamio Kawachi, Eiji Gô, Tatsuya Fuji, Jirô Okazaki, Meiko Kaji, Shôki Fukae, Ryôji Hayama, Kaku Takashina | Written by Yoshihiro Ishimatsu, Keiji Kubota | Directed by Yasuharu Hasebe
There’s something about Japanese gangster movies, whether it be the Stray Cat Rock films or others like Massacre Gun. These movies are getting Arrow Video Blu-ray releases and as I review them I’m beginning to get a taste for the effortlessly cool style of not only the directors but also the actors, especially Jô Shishido. Retaliation is an excellent example of just why I am getting hooked.
Jiro (Akira Kobayashi) an ex-convict is released onto the streets after being in jail to find his gang all but disbanded with only the aging boss hanging in there on his sick-bed. Still loyal Jiro approaches the Hasama family for assistance. Hasama gives Jiro a job, to settle...
There’s something about Japanese gangster movies, whether it be the Stray Cat Rock films or others like Massacre Gun. These movies are getting Arrow Video Blu-ray releases and as I review them I’m beginning to get a taste for the effortlessly cool style of not only the directors but also the actors, especially Jô Shishido. Retaliation is an excellent example of just why I am getting hooked.
Jiro (Akira Kobayashi) an ex-convict is released onto the streets after being in jail to find his gang all but disbanded with only the aging boss hanging in there on his sick-bed. Still loyal Jiro approaches the Hasama family for assistance. Hasama gives Jiro a job, to settle...
- 5/12/2015
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
Stars: Jô Shishido, Tatsuya Fuji, Jirô Okazaki, Ryôji Hayama, Takashi Kanda, Hideaki Nitani, Ken Sanders, Tamaki Sawa | Written by Yasuharu Hasebe, Ryûzô Nakanishi | Directed by Yasuharu Hasebe
Gangster movies have always been popular, especially with the likes of The Godfather Trilogy and Goodfellas almost defining what we see as masterpieces of the genre. When we look to world cinema though, and especially Japan there are some movies that fans should look at to broaden their perspective. Massacre Gun (Minagoroshi no kenjû) is one of them which gets a release on Blu-ray from Arrow Video this week.
When hitman Kuroda (Jô Shishido) is ordered by his employers to kill the woman he loves he joins forces with his brothers Eiji (Tatsuya Fuji) and Saboruo (Jirô Okazaki) to gain revenge on the wrongs that have been done to them. As their power rises and the violence escalates Kuroda knows the inevitability is...
Gangster movies have always been popular, especially with the likes of The Godfather Trilogy and Goodfellas almost defining what we see as masterpieces of the genre. When we look to world cinema though, and especially Japan there are some movies that fans should look at to broaden their perspective. Massacre Gun (Minagoroshi no kenjû) is one of them which gets a release on Blu-ray from Arrow Video this week.
When hitman Kuroda (Jô Shishido) is ordered by his employers to kill the woman he loves he joins forces with his brothers Eiji (Tatsuya Fuji) and Saboruo (Jirô Okazaki) to gain revenge on the wrongs that have been done to them. As their power rises and the violence escalates Kuroda knows the inevitability is...
- 4/8/2015
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
Fandor, the premiere streaming service for independent, classic and critically-acclaimed films, shorts and documentaries, in a partnership with the Criterion Collection and Hulu Plus, is currently home to a rotation of uniquely curated bundles of Criterion films available to watch instantly via desktop, set top and mobile devices.
Every Tuesday, Fandor rolls out a new collection of films that share a common theme, genre, time period, film style, etc. These films are available on the site for 12 days before being replaced by a fresh new batch of featured Criterion masterpieces.
Fandor’S Criterion Picks For March
March 17-28: The Sixteenth Century
Carnival in Flanders(1935, Director Jacques Feyder): A small village in Flanders puts on a carnival to avoid the brutal consequences of the Spanish occupation. Ivan the Terrible(1944, DirectorSergei Eisenstein): As Ivan ascends to lead Russia, the Boyars are determined to disrupt his rule. Ivan’s relationship...
Every Tuesday, Fandor rolls out a new collection of films that share a common theme, genre, time period, film style, etc. These films are available on the site for 12 days before being replaced by a fresh new batch of featured Criterion masterpieces.
Fandor’S Criterion Picks For March
March 17-28: The Sixteenth Century
Carnival in Flanders(1935, Director Jacques Feyder): A small village in Flanders puts on a carnival to avoid the brutal consequences of the Spanish occupation. Ivan the Terrible(1944, DirectorSergei Eisenstein): As Ivan ascends to lead Russia, the Boyars are determined to disrupt his rule. Ivan’s relationship...
- 3/21/2015
- by Robert Greenberger
- Comicmix.com
Mvd Entertainment Group furthers the distribution of Arrow Video in North America with a strong schedule of May 2015 cult releases receiving the deluxe treatment in video, audio, supplements and artwork:
"Retaliation" - Limited Edition Dual Format Blu-ray & DVD, available May 12, 2015 is "...a tale of gang warfare with Akira Kobayashi as a yakuza lieutenant who emerges from jail to find his gang dispersed and his aging boss in his sickbed, with a rival waiting to kill him and a young girl caught in the crossfire..."
This restored High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) (and Standard Definition DVD) presentation, is on Blu-ray for the first time, with original uncompressed mono Pcm audio, newly translated English subtitles, a new interview with star Jô Shishido, an interview with critic, historian Tony Rayns, the film's original theatrical trailer, a gallery featuring rare promotional images, a reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork by Ian MacEwan, a...
"Retaliation" - Limited Edition Dual Format Blu-ray & DVD, available May 12, 2015 is "...a tale of gang warfare with Akira Kobayashi as a yakuza lieutenant who emerges from jail to find his gang dispersed and his aging boss in his sickbed, with a rival waiting to kill him and a young girl caught in the crossfire..."
This restored High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) (and Standard Definition DVD) presentation, is on Blu-ray for the first time, with original uncompressed mono Pcm audio, newly translated English subtitles, a new interview with star Jô Shishido, an interview with critic, historian Tony Rayns, the film's original theatrical trailer, a gallery featuring rare promotional images, a reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork by Ian MacEwan, a...
- 2/16/2015
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Nick wades into another stack of DVD releases, including 80s action epic Remo: Unarmed And Dangerous, and lots more besides...
"Whatever happened to Fred Ward?" is a line surely on the tip of most people’s tongues. Apparently, the star of Tremors and The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult has mostly been doing TV work over the last few years, though you’ll almost certainly remember him as the charismatic star of 1985’s Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins. No? Well, shame on you, because Remo, making a welcome Blu-Ray debut, leads this month’s action-packed, erm, action special.
If you weren’t one of the lucky few that grew up with the preposterous movie otherwise known as Remo: Unarmed And Dangerous punctuating their childhood, we’ll fill you in. Riding on the success of the Rambo films (essentially, the only tenuous link being the vaguely similar name), Bond director...
"Whatever happened to Fred Ward?" is a line surely on the tip of most people’s tongues. Apparently, the star of Tremors and The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult has mostly been doing TV work over the last few years, though you’ll almost certainly remember him as the charismatic star of 1985’s Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins. No? Well, shame on you, because Remo, making a welcome Blu-Ray debut, leads this month’s action-packed, erm, action special.
If you weren’t one of the lucky few that grew up with the preposterous movie otherwise known as Remo: Unarmed And Dangerous punctuating their childhood, we’ll fill you in. Riding on the success of the Rambo films (essentially, the only tenuous link being the vaguely similar name), Bond director...
- 9/9/2014
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Stars: Jô Shishido, Kôji Nanbara, Isao Tamagawa, Anne Mari, Mariko Ogawa, Hiroshi Minami | Written by Hachiro Guryu, Takeo Kimura | Directed by Seijun Suzuki
Writing movie reviews opens up a world that is full of films that I probably would never have had the chance to see. Branded to Kill (Koroshi no rakuin) is one of these and Arrow Video have taken the movie and given it their usual excellent treatment, providing a chance to see it in its best form.
The story revolves around a hit-man who is ranked three with a fetish for sniffing boiling rice. When he fails at his latest job the woman who paid for the hit comes into conflict with him, pushing him into a fight consumed with her own death wish. Finding that his wife also now wants to kill him for his failure and the number one ranked hit-man known as the Phantom...
Writing movie reviews opens up a world that is full of films that I probably would never have had the chance to see. Branded to Kill (Koroshi no rakuin) is one of these and Arrow Video have taken the movie and given it their usual excellent treatment, providing a chance to see it in its best form.
The story revolves around a hit-man who is ranked three with a fetish for sniffing boiling rice. When he fails at his latest job the woman who paid for the hit comes into conflict with him, pushing him into a fight consumed with her own death wish. Finding that his wife also now wants to kill him for his failure and the number one ranked hit-man known as the Phantom...
- 8/20/2014
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
Feature Dan Auty 19 Jun 2013 - 06:55
Dan looks back at the best films to come out of Japan's Nikkatsu studio...
Formed in 1912, Nikkatsu was Japan’s oldest film studio, and prior to World War II, one the most prolific and successful. The Japanese government’s control and consolidation of the film industry during the war years effectively forced Nikkatsu to cease movie production, and the studio spent more than a decade working solely in exhibition and distribution.
In 1954, the company resumed production, and entered a period that was not only a golden era for the company, but for Japanese cinema in general. Eschewing the period samurai films being made elsewhere, Nikkatsu focused on contemporary stories - action and crime movies, comedies and the increasingly popular ‘wild youth’ films, attracting young, imaginative filmmakers who had found it hard to flourish within the regimented structure of studios like Toho and Shochiku. Throughout the 60s,...
Dan looks back at the best films to come out of Japan's Nikkatsu studio...
Formed in 1912, Nikkatsu was Japan’s oldest film studio, and prior to World War II, one the most prolific and successful. The Japanese government’s control and consolidation of the film industry during the war years effectively forced Nikkatsu to cease movie production, and the studio spent more than a decade working solely in exhibition and distribution.
In 1954, the company resumed production, and entered a period that was not only a golden era for the company, but for Japanese cinema in general. Eschewing the period samurai films being made elsewhere, Nikkatsu focused on contemporary stories - action and crime movies, comedies and the increasingly popular ‘wild youth’ films, attracting young, imaginative filmmakers who had found it hard to flourish within the regimented structure of studios like Toho and Shochiku. Throughout the 60s,...
- 6/18/2013
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
The Twitch curated Tokyo Drifters: 100 Years Of Nikkatsu screening series continues at the Tiff Bell Lightbox this Saturday with a rare screening of Hasebe Yasuharui's Retaliation. An early effort from a director who would go on to shape the pinky violence movement, this one features a young Kaji Meiko (Stray Cat Rock, Lady Snowblood) in a key role!Two years before they collaborated on the immortal Stray Cat Rock series, director Yasuharu Hasebe and soon-to-be-superstar Meiko Kaji teamed up for this potent gangster flick that also stars the great Joe Shishido (Branded to Kill) and Akira Kobayashi, who would shortly thereafter star in Kinji Fukasaku's epic yakuza series Battles Without Honor and Humanity. Emerging from a stint in prison, yakuza lieutenant Sumukawa (Kobayashi) discovers that...
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- 1/30/2013
- Screen Anarchy
The Twitch curated Tokyo Drifters: 100 Years Of Nikkatsu screening series kicks off Saturday with a rare screening of Hasebe Yusaharu's Massacre Gun. A hard boiled tale that pits bad men against worse men from the helmer of the Stray Cat Rock series of films, Massacre Gun has been screened with English subtitles just a literal handful of times so don't miss this chance to catch the iconic Shishido Jo (Branded To Kill) in action!One of three classic gangster films that Nikkatsu superstar Joe Shishido made for the studio in 1967 -- the other two, Branded to Kill and A Colt Is My Passport, are also screening in this series -- Massacre Gun (also known as Slaughter Gun) has scarcely been seen in the West,...
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[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 1/16/2013
- Screen Anarchy
DVD Playhouse—February 2012
By Allen Gardner
To Kill A Mockingbird 50th Anniversary Edition (Universal) Robert Mulligan’s film of Harper Lee’s landmark novel pits a liberal-minded lawyer (Gregory Peck) against a small Southern town’s racism when defending a black man (Brock Peters) on trumped-up rape charges. One of the 1960s’ first landmark films, a truly stirring human drama that hits all the right notes and isn’t dated a bit. Robert Duvall makes his screen debut (sans dialogue) as the enigmatic Boo Radley. DVD and Blu-ray double edition. Bonuses: Two feature-length documentaries: Fearful Symmetry and A Conversation with Gregory Peck; Featurettes; Excerpts and film clips from Gregory Peck’s Oscar acceptance speech and AFI Lifetime Achievement Award; Commentary by Mulligan and producer Alan J. Pakula; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS 2.0 mono.
Outrage: Way Of The Yakuza (Magnolia) After a brief hiatus from his signature oeuvre of Japanese gangster flicks,...
By Allen Gardner
To Kill A Mockingbird 50th Anniversary Edition (Universal) Robert Mulligan’s film of Harper Lee’s landmark novel pits a liberal-minded lawyer (Gregory Peck) against a small Southern town’s racism when defending a black man (Brock Peters) on trumped-up rape charges. One of the 1960s’ first landmark films, a truly stirring human drama that hits all the right notes and isn’t dated a bit. Robert Duvall makes his screen debut (sans dialogue) as the enigmatic Boo Radley. DVD and Blu-ray double edition. Bonuses: Two feature-length documentaries: Fearful Symmetry and A Conversation with Gregory Peck; Featurettes; Excerpts and film clips from Gregory Peck’s Oscar acceptance speech and AFI Lifetime Achievement Award; Commentary by Mulligan and producer Alan J. Pakula; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS 2.0 mono.
Outrage: Way Of The Yakuza (Magnolia) After a brief hiatus from his signature oeuvre of Japanese gangster flicks,...
- 2/26/2012
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Branded to Kill Directed by Seijun Suzuki Written by Hachiro Guru Starring: Joe Shishido, Koji Nanbara, Isao Tamagawa Like 'Tokyo Drifter', Seijun Suzuki's 'Branded to Kill' is a strange, quirky, moody gangster picture that goes out of its way to poke holes in the tropes of this sub-genre while also indulging in some sixties pop cinema. While the film's characters and plot are sometimes tough to penetrate, Suzuki's sense of style and his gleeful mocking of genre conventions is the real draw here. The plot of 'Branded to Kill' is rooted in simple genre beats yet still comes across as characteristically over-complicated. To simplify; hitman Goro Handa and his wife Mami catch a taxi after arriving in Tokyo. The driver, Kasuga, is a former hitman and asks Goro to help him out on a job in order to break back into the business.
- 1/20/2012
- by Jay C.
- FilmJunk
DVD Links: DVD News | Release Dates | New Dvds | Reviews | RSS Feed
It's the holidays so I'm going to continue featuring some deals you can get at Amazon right now as there are some really good ones either for yourself or as gifts for movie lovers among your family and friends. Deal Of The Week Planet of the Apes 40th Anniversary Collection [Blu-ray] only $39.99 Planet of the Apes Beneath the Planet of the Apes Escape From the Planet of the Apes Conquest of the Planet of the Apes Battle for the Planet of the Apes Blu-ray Deals The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Extended Editions) ($49.99) Inception ($7.99) The Ultimate Matrix Collection ($32.99) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 ($9.99) The Dark Knight ($7.99) Batman Begins ($7.99) The Social Network ($11.99) Sherlock Holmes ($8.49) 300 ($10.49) Seven [Blu-ray Book] ($10.99) The Departed ($7.99) The Town (Two-Disc Extended Cut) ($9.99) DVD Deals It's a Wonderful Life (60th Anniversary Edition) ($10.49) The Wizard of Oz...
It's the holidays so I'm going to continue featuring some deals you can get at Amazon right now as there are some really good ones either for yourself or as gifts for movie lovers among your family and friends. Deal Of The Week Planet of the Apes 40th Anniversary Collection [Blu-ray] only $39.99 Planet of the Apes Beneath the Planet of the Apes Escape From the Planet of the Apes Conquest of the Planet of the Apes Battle for the Planet of the Apes Blu-ray Deals The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Extended Editions) ($49.99) Inception ($7.99) The Ultimate Matrix Collection ($32.99) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 ($9.99) The Dark Knight ($7.99) Batman Begins ($7.99) The Social Network ($11.99) Sherlock Holmes ($8.49) 300 ($10.49) Seven [Blu-ray Book] ($10.99) The Departed ($7.99) The Town (Two-Disc Extended Cut) ($9.99) DVD Deals It's a Wonderful Life (60th Anniversary Edition) ($10.49) The Wizard of Oz...
- 12/13/2011
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
DVD Links: DVD News | Release Dates | New Dvds | Reviews | RSS Feed
It's the holidays so I'm going to continue featuring some deals you can get at Amazon right now as there are some really good ones either for yourself or as gifts for movie lovers among your family and friends. Deal Of The Week Planet of the Apes 40th Anniversary Collection [Blu-ray] only $39.99 Planet of the Apes Beneath the Planet of the Apes Escape From the Planet of the Apes Conquest of the Planet of the Apes Battle for the Planet of the Apes Blu-ray Deals The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Extended Editions) ($49.99) Inception ($7.99) The Ultimate Matrix Collection ($32.99) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 ($9.99) The Dark Knight ($7.99) Batman Begins ($7.99) The Social Network ($11.99) Sherlock Holmes ($8.49) 300 ($10.49) Seven [Blu-ray Book] ($10.99) The Departed ($7.99) The Town (Two-Disc Extended Cut) ($9.99) DVD Deals It's a Wonderful Life (60th Anniversary Edition) ($10.49) The Wizard of Oz...
It's the holidays so I'm going to continue featuring some deals you can get at Amazon right now as there are some really good ones either for yourself or as gifts for movie lovers among your family and friends. Deal Of The Week Planet of the Apes 40th Anniversary Collection [Blu-ray] only $39.99 Planet of the Apes Beneath the Planet of the Apes Escape From the Planet of the Apes Conquest of the Planet of the Apes Battle for the Planet of the Apes Blu-ray Deals The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Extended Editions) ($49.99) Inception ($7.99) The Ultimate Matrix Collection ($32.99) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 ($9.99) The Dark Knight ($7.99) Batman Begins ($7.99) The Social Network ($11.99) Sherlock Holmes ($8.49) 300 ($10.49) Seven [Blu-ray Book] ($10.99) The Departed ($7.99) The Town (Two-Disc Extended Cut) ($9.99) DVD Deals It's a Wonderful Life (60th Anniversary Edition) ($10.49) The Wizard of Oz...
- 12/13/2011
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Velvet Bullets and Steel Kisses: Celebrating the Nikkatsu Centennial was a sidebar at this year's New York Film Festival that Dan Sallitt, writing a couple of weeks ago, found "so exciting that it threatens to overshadow the main slate: a retrospective of the Japanese studio Nikkatsu, whose opportunistic shifts of focus always seemed to open doors for some of Japan's most creative filmmakers. Compare film magazine Kinema Junpo's 1999 and 2009 lists of all-time greatest Japanese films to the Lincoln Center series schedule, and count the overlaps." Last year in the Notebook, Dan reviewed one of the 37 films in the series, Tomu Uchida's Earth (1939).
"The sidebar is peppered with nearly impossible to see rediscoveries," notes Steve Dollar at GreenCine Daily: "early silent films like 1927's A Diary of Chuji's Travels and harshly realistic World War II dramas like Mud and Soldiers. Shot on location in China in 1939, the latter film blends...
"The sidebar is peppered with nearly impossible to see rediscoveries," notes Steve Dollar at GreenCine Daily: "early silent films like 1927's A Diary of Chuji's Travels and harshly realistic World War II dramas like Mud and Soldiers. Shot on location in China in 1939, the latter film blends...
- 10/16/2011
- MUBI
Release Date: Dec. 13, 2011
Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $39.99
Studio: Criterion
Yakuza assassin Joe Shishido is Branded to Kill.
When Japanese New Wave bad boy Seijun Suzuki (Tokyo Drifter) delivered the 1967 film Branded to Kill to the executives at his studio, he was promptly fired.
A stylish crime-action thriller movie (with a lot of drama thrown in, as well), Branded to Kill tells the ecstatically bent story of a Yakuza assassin (Joe Shishido) with a fetish for sniffing boiled rice who botches a job and ends up a target himself.
Branded to Kill is a film that reveals the legendary Suzuki at his most extreme—it’s the flabbergasting pinnacle of his 1960s pop-art aesthetic.
Criterion’s DVD and Blu-ray releases offer the film with a new high-definition digital restoration, including an uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition and a new English subtitle translation.
The company previously issued the movie on DVD...
Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $39.99
Studio: Criterion
Yakuza assassin Joe Shishido is Branded to Kill.
When Japanese New Wave bad boy Seijun Suzuki (Tokyo Drifter) delivered the 1967 film Branded to Kill to the executives at his studio, he was promptly fired.
A stylish crime-action thriller movie (with a lot of drama thrown in, as well), Branded to Kill tells the ecstatically bent story of a Yakuza assassin (Joe Shishido) with a fetish for sniffing boiled rice who botches a job and ends up a target himself.
Branded to Kill is a film that reveals the legendary Suzuki at his most extreme—it’s the flabbergasting pinnacle of his 1960s pop-art aesthetic.
Criterion’s DVD and Blu-ray releases offer the film with a new high-definition digital restoration, including an uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition and a new English subtitle translation.
The company previously issued the movie on DVD...
- 9/29/2011
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Didn’t I just write one of these a week ago? Of course I did, because this is your destination for the best coverage of all the new titles Criterion puts up on their Hulu Plus page, and this week is no different. There’s fewer films (unless they decide to throw up another 30 when I least expect it) but in this case, less is more. And the lucky number is 13 this time. With worries of what the future for Hulu is, there are supposed talks that Google is definitely interested, which is interesting. Especially with their roll out of Google+ these past few days. If you like what you see, please sign up via this link. It does wonders for this article. But enough about that, you want to know about the movies. So let’s not make the good people wait.
The one that made my head explode was Godzilla,...
The one that made my head explode was Godzilla,...
- 7/4/2011
- by James McCormick
- CriterionCast
As if the recent November titles weren’t enough, we now have some other films to add to our upcoming Criterion Collection wishlists.
The Criterion Collection will once again be curating the upcoming All Tomorrow’s Parties Film Screenings, in Monticello New York, this September. The event overall, will be curated by Criterion alum, Jim Jarmusch (Down by Law, Night on Earth, Stranger Than Paradise, Mystery Train). Earlier today, Atp & Criterion announced their line-up of films, and hidden among the list of epic titles that we already knew were going to be released, or are already available, were a few little verifications of rumors going around.
The line-up looks to be pretty amazing, and if I could afford the flight, I would surely head out for that weekend. Several of the new Bbs box set will be screening, as well as some other films that we’ve discussed on the...
The Criterion Collection will once again be curating the upcoming All Tomorrow’s Parties Film Screenings, in Monticello New York, this September. The event overall, will be curated by Criterion alum, Jim Jarmusch (Down by Law, Night on Earth, Stranger Than Paradise, Mystery Train). Earlier today, Atp & Criterion announced their line-up of films, and hidden among the list of epic titles that we already knew were going to be released, or are already available, were a few little verifications of rumors going around.
The line-up looks to be pretty amazing, and if I could afford the flight, I would surely head out for that weekend. Several of the new Bbs box set will be screening, as well as some other films that we’ve discussed on the...
- 8/21/2010
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
They’re still ironing out the wrinkles, but the English language site for the Nikkatsu Corporation’s newly created genre arm, Sushi Typhoon, is now up and running. ‘Ninja Vs Aliens’ and ‘Mutant Girls Squad’ are just two of the much anticipated horror/gore/splatter creations heading our way from some of the top names (Nishimura, Miike!!!, Sono!!!) in Japanese genre movie making. Want to know more? The press release reveals all…..“Born in 2010, The Sushi Typhoon is the upstart, wild offspring of a respectable parent—Nikkatsu Corporation, the oldest film studio in Japan and once home to legendary 1960’s action stars like Joe Shishido, Akira Kobayashi, Tetsuya Watari, Meiko Kaji and Yujiro Ishihara. With a long history of genre films and violent gangster epics, the company was also the leader of Japan’s erotic renaissance of the 1970’s with their Roman Porno line…and now, Nikkatsu’s latest offering,...
- 7/5/2010
- 24framespersecond.net
They’re still ironing out the wrinkles, but the English language site for the Nikkatsu Corporation’s newly created genre arm, Sushi Typhoon, is now up and running. ‘Ninja Vs Aliens’ and ‘Mutant Girls Squad’ are just two of the much anticipated horror/gore/splatter creations heading our way from some of the top names (Nishimura, Miike!!!, Sono!!!) in Japanese genre movie making. Want to know more? The press release reveals all…..“Born in 2010, The Sushi Typhoon is the upstart, wild offspring of a respectable parent—Nikkatsu Corporation, the oldest film studio in Japan and once home to legendary 1960’s action stars like Joe Shishido, Akira Kobayashi, Tetsuya Watari, Meiko Kaji and Yujiro Ishihara. With a long history of genre films and violent gangster epics, the company was also the leader of Japan’s erotic renaissance of the 1970’s with their Roman Porno line…and now, Nikkatsu’s latest offering,...
- 7/5/2010
- 24framespersecond.net
They’re still ironing out the wrinkles, but the English language site for the Nikkatsu Corporation’s newly created genre arm, Sushi Typhoon, is now up and running. ‘Ninja Vs Aliens’ and ‘Mutant Girls Squad’ are just two of the much anticipated horror/gore/splatter creations heading our way from some of the top names (Nishimura, Miike!!!, Sono!!!) in Japanese genre movie making. Want to know more? The press release reveals all…..“Born in 2010, The Sushi Typhoon is the upstart, wild offspring of a respectable parent—Nikkatsu Corporation, the oldest film studio in Japan and once home to legendary 1960’s action stars like Joe Shishido, Akira Kobayashi, Tetsuya Watari, Meiko Kaji and Yujiro Ishihara. With a long history of genre films and violent gangster epics, the company was also the leader of Japan’s erotic renaissance of the 1970’s with their Roman Porno line…and now, Nikkatsu’s latest offering,...
- 7/5/2010
- 24framespersecond.net
DVDs may be sooner or later drummed out of existence -- by online downloads, at first, I'd guess, reducing movie "releases" to nothing more than press announcements of availability -- but for now they're still "things" you can buy or rent, physical manifestations of the art form, not just the opportunity for access. In the process, they're continuing as our default B-movie distribution stream, offering up indies and foreign films and unforeseen archivals that had a snowball's hellbound chance at finding theatrical screentime. These are still not eligible for any year-end toasts, absurdly enough, and so here's my list of the best of the year's straight-to-digi-vid, for which the only qualification is being entirely overlooked, this year or ever, by our theatrical distribution wimps, and being new to U.S. home video of any stripe.
15. "Absurdistan"
(Veit Helmer, Germany/Russia/Azerbaijan, 2008)
A bawdy Caucasus folktale, Helmer's nutty yarn visits a...
15. "Absurdistan"
(Veit Helmer, Germany/Russia/Azerbaijan, 2008)
A bawdy Caucasus folktale, Helmer's nutty yarn visits a...
- 12/22/2009
- by Michael Atkinson
- ifc.com
Note: Certain aspects of the film’s plot are discussed, which may cause those allergic to spoilers to convulse.
Takumi Furukawi’s Cruel Gun Story, which was released in 1964, is a snappy, suspenseful heist film centered around a great performance by Joe Shishido. The central character is Togawa (played by Shishido), an ex-con who is sprung out of prison early by the mob. In exchange for his freedom and some cash, the mob asks Togawa to rob an armored car carrying 120 million yen in gambling money from a race track. Togawa is skeptical, but his desire to help his sister Rie (Chieko Matsubara), who was crippled in a car wreck, leads him to at least entertain the idea. Togawa is given the names of three crooks to help him pull off the job. With the help of his old buddy Shirai (Yuji Odaka), Togawa tests the mettle of his potential partners in crime,...
Takumi Furukawi’s Cruel Gun Story, which was released in 1964, is a snappy, suspenseful heist film centered around a great performance by Joe Shishido. The central character is Togawa (played by Shishido), an ex-con who is sprung out of prison early by the mob. In exchange for his freedom and some cash, the mob asks Togawa to rob an armored car carrying 120 million yen in gambling money from a race track. Togawa is skeptical, but his desire to help his sister Rie (Chieko Matsubara), who was crippled in a car wreck, leads him to at least entertain the idea. Togawa is given the names of three crooks to help him pull off the job. With the help of his old buddy Shirai (Yuji Odaka), Togawa tests the mettle of his potential partners in crime,...
- 8/29/2009
- by Rodney Perkins
- Screen Anarchy
Takashi Nomura’s 1967 film A Colt is My Passport is arguably the best known of the five films featured in the Nikkatsu Noir box set from Eclipse. For that reason, and the fact that it is the most recent of the five films including in the set, A Colt is My Passport a good place to start when examining Nikkatsu Noir.
In A Colt is My Passport , chipmunk-cheeked action star Jo Shishido plays Kamimura, a hitman hired by a mob boss to exterminate the head of an opposing group. Kamimura, who runs around with a sidekick named Shiozaki (Jerry Fujio), does the job perfectly. In fact, he does the job too perfectly, forcing his employers to send him into hiding. While in Kamimura is in exile, the rival mobsteam up, leaving Kikimura and his buddy in a bad situation. During their effort to get out of Japan, they are aided...
In A Colt is My Passport , chipmunk-cheeked action star Jo Shishido plays Kamimura, a hitman hired by a mob boss to exterminate the head of an opposing group. Kamimura, who runs around with a sidekick named Shiozaki (Jerry Fujio), does the job perfectly. In fact, he does the job too perfectly, forcing his employers to send him into hiding. While in Kamimura is in exile, the rival mobsteam up, leaving Kikimura and his buddy in a bad situation. During their effort to get out of Japan, they are aided...
- 8/28/2009
- by Rodney Perkins
- Screen Anarchy
Nothing quite stings the throat and refreshes the nasal cavities like a Seijun Suzuki film, if like most of us you're mired in contemporary pulp with an idea of style that amounts to digital inorganicity, monochromatic images, lunkhead muscles and stolid inexpression. Style is something filmmakers seem to think a lot about these days, without having any sense of what it is: not merely crisp lighting and short shots and frozen beauty, but also personality (of the actors and the filmmaker), invention, energy, pacing, wit, attitude, language, culture. (In brief, you could say that Quentin Tarantino, for better or worse, has style, but high-priced hacks like McG, Christopher Nolan, J.J. Abrams, etc., do not, and neither do most placid indies and mumblecorists.)
In the '60s, when he'd often spurt out three or more movies a year, Suzuki had style to use up in a blue flame -- typically, his...
In the '60s, when he'd often spurt out three or more movies a year, Suzuki had style to use up in a blue flame -- typically, his...
- 6/2/2009
- by Michael Atkinson
- ifc.com
How popular are the noir tinted Detective Office 5 films in their native Japan? Popular enough that both screenings of the latest entry - The Code - at the just completed Tokyo International Film Festival sold out a reported thirty seconds after the online box office opened for business. And that is rather fast. Once again the iconic Jo Shishido stars in a key support role while the main body of the story revolves around a code breaker trying to unearth the information that will free a night club singer. The noir conventions flow hard and fast, with everything from the stark lighting, femme fatale, hard boiled detective talk and choice of headgear and while this series of films has definitely been turned out fast and cheap they’re popular for a very simple reason: they’re good.
Check the trailer out in the Twitch Player below the break.
Check the trailer out in the Twitch Player below the break.
- 10/29/2008
- by Todd Brown
- Screen Anarchy
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