Lifer Movies

Title: Ugetsu Monogatari Rating: 4.5/5 Genre: Drama, Fantasy Starring:Masayuki Mori, Machiko Kyô, Kinuyo Tanaka Director: Kenji Mizoguchi Language: Japanese When perusing articles on the subject of Japan's golden age of cinema – the 50s and 60s – one name that kept making an appearance, often more so than the world renowned Kurosawa, was the name of Mizoguchi, and after witnessing this masterpiece it's not difficult to see why. As was common for the time, much of his cinema harks back to the feudal era of Japan's history, the Edo period, filled with danger, samurai, retainers, shoguns, daimyo; plots of war and constant fighting for control of the small nation. Many great works from this period were really written hundreds of years later and immortalised in film, but it's in this well explored material that Mizoguchi manages to do something few others attempted. Rather than tell his tales from those with power, he tells his parables from the perspective of the com...

Title: Himizu Rating: 4.5/5 Genre: Dark Drama Starring: Shôta Sometani, Fumi Nikaidô Director: Sion Sono Language: Japanese I've said it before but it bears repeating, I don't read what this directors films are about, I just go watch them knowing that what he emerges with will be – for better or worse – unique in his style, and once again he's proven that this faith isn't misguided. But before I go on let me just point out that this film is bleak beyond comprehension. A man who made his name lightly mocking suicide circles and showing murderers gleefully hacking victims into bite size chunks has lightened up on the bloodshed but not on the dark atmospheres he seems to relish, and despite the comparative conventionality, this must be the most despair-filled and hopeless piece he's ever emerged with. There are funerals happier than this, and it's no surprise given the material he had to work with. Set in post-tsunami Japan, the scene is set with rolling ...

Title: Guilty of Romance Rating: 3.5/5 Genre: Avant-Garde, Dark Drama, Horror, Sexploitation Starring: Makoto Togashi, Megumi Kagurazaka Director: Sion Sono Language: Japanese Now emerging with the final part of his “Hate Trilogy,” (the first two being “ Love Exposure ” and “ Cold Fish ” respectively) Sion Sono is one of those few directors on my list that no longer requires me to read anything about their newest work to already want to see it; his style so unique and outside of the conventions of modern cinema that whatever he's up to you can be assured it'll be strange, thought-provoking, and if you're lucky, actually make sense first time. The works aren't mindfucks; they aren't puzzles waiting for you to mentally find the piece to put everything else into context, they just require attention to the details as he rapidly descends the viewer into his chaotic visions of darkness. This film is no different, I didn't read the back of the box but have no ...

Title: Sky High Rating: 2/5 Genre: Action, Horror Starring: Yumiko Shaku, Takao Osawa, Shôsuke Tanihara Director: Ryuhei Kitamura Language: Japanese Helmed by the man responsible for both 'Versus' and 'Azumi,' two of my favourite Japanese action flicks, I decided to save this one, sure that once again he would deliver the goods. But actually, far from being epic it's rather disappointing, and there's nobody else that can really take the blame for this one. Let me get on with describing the plot and perhaps you'll see what I mean. It all opens promising enough; a wedding between a young detective and his bride to be all goes tits up when she walks down the aisle with her heart removed. After much deliberating about 'how could such a thing happen' - though in the case of the doctor, literally how could she walk so far without a heart - we begin to learn of Kudo and his dark plan. Head of the largest pharmaceutical company in the world, this y...

Title: The Shinjuku Incident Rating: 3.5/5 Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller Starring: Jackie Chan Director: Derek Yee Language: Chinese / Japanese I'll admit I never really followed Jackie Chan's career so what was news to me might not be to others; that he hadn't abandoned Chinese cinema for Hollywood tripe but rather was still active in both worlds, producing and starring in this film. Surprisingly, it never feels as self-indulgent as it easily could have, re-living his classic martial arts days, but instead there is not a karate kick in sight. In fact this is a very different role for him from what we would expect, as what he's created is a Chinese film about a side of Asia not too unfamiliar to a Western audience, based on actual events that occurred in Shinjuku, and hence has an almost Hollywood vibe to it all as he tackles an issue unique to no single country. For this is a tale about immigrants, following the path of one as he navigates his way to Tokyo an...

Title: Kwaidan Rating: 5/5 Genre: Period Drama / Supernatural Horror Starring: Rentarô Mikuni, Michiyo Aratama, Misako Watanabe Director: Masaki Kobayashi Language: Japanese It doesn't happen very often, but once in a while a film will come across your path that leaves you speechless. Kwaidan is a perfect example of such a film; a 3 hour horror epic that i'm at a loss to describe; a masterpiece of film making that by its end will make you want to watch it again so as to re-live those immaculately filmed moments. Released back in '64, when most of Japan was still fawning over "Godzilla," their modern horror film origins were starting to take form. For Japan has a long history of ghost stories, and through this man's masterful vision, he's brought to life 4 classic horror tales penned in the 19th century by a Greek man, Lafcadio Hearn, who lived most of his life in the states before becoming obsessed with Japan - perhaps the original otaku - writing ...

Title: Tokyo Godfathers Rating: 4/5 Genre: Mystery, Drama, Anime Starring: Toru Emori, Yoshiaki Umegaki, Aya Okamoto Director: Satoshi Kon Language: Japanese Its one of those casual conversations that continued to plague the mind I was having recently: why are there so few decent christmas films? Racking my brains for something more than just "Die Hard" or "Gremlins," it was only until I saw my shelf and remembered this lesser known Satoshi Kon flick yet to be watched that I saw hope or another entry to the list. If you've seen much of his other work, you'd notice a strong theme in how they're devised, but not here. With this film he's gone for a more accesible tone of film making, telling us a simple (for Satoshi Kon) tale of three homeless people in tokyo on the journey to the end of the year, discovering a newborn baby on christmas eve and resolving to become its carers until the real parents can be found. As we get to know our homeles...

Title: Death Kappa Rating: 4/5 Genre: Action, Sci-Fi (Comedy) Starring: Daniel Aguilar Gutiérrez, Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi Director: Tomo'o Haraguchi Language: Japanese Someday, we'll be together, you and me I'm wearing panties again today The stars above are all lucky, happy I'm going to end up putting our secret inside a treasure chest Sometimes I wonder just how they manage to sell films like this to potential producers; whether they simply say 'It's about a Kappa that destroys stuff' and hope they don't ask for any further details, or if they have to ask them sit down and brace themselves whilst they explain exactly what they want this film to do. At least here they sold it to the right people; the producers who gave us 'Tokyo Gore Police' and 'Machine Girl' are on board, and that for me automatically seals the deal, I'm on board for the ride too. And this is one hell of a ride; this is the sort of B-Movie that ma...

Title: Exte: Hair Extensions Original Title: Ekusute Rating: 3.5/5 Genre: Horror Starring: Chiaki Kuriyama, Ren Osugi, Miku Satô Director: Sion Sono Language: Japanese Capping my marathon of a man I've been intending to watch more of for far too long already comes the film I couldn't not end on; now getting sufficiently dark outside that the atmosphere for a horror film feels appropriate, and starring the ever-welcome presence of Chiaki Kuriyama whose work constantly seems to find itself in my collection (albeit most, if not all, pre-date this blog), this infamous film sounds like it just has to be a comedy. When hair extensions start terrorising a small town, it's all the police can do to track down the culprit; a deranged hair obsessed maniac who stole a body from the morgue for her beautiful hair which mysteriously seems to constantly grow. He soon realises that she isn't quite dead but her hair still lives on, angry over the brutal manner in which she was ...

Title: Suicide Club (Suicide Circle) Rating: 3/5 Genre: Crime, Drama, Horror Starring: Ryo Ishibashi, Masatoshi Nagase, Mai Hosho Director: Sion Sono Language: Japanese Continuing my day exploring the work of the man I currently consider the 'next Takeshi Miike' comes one of his earlier, and still best known works. Famous for it's opening, where we see a rather disconcerting and blood-laden scene of 54 happy go lucky high school girls, chatting, laughing, and jumping in front of trains. You heard me correctly; within in a few minutes you'll know precisely if you're too squeamish to deal with the contents of this low-budget flick – although the graphic scenes don't take precedence as in most horror films – as it treads its course of exploration of the little discussed subject. Following the police as they dig deeper into the mystery surrounding a suicide of this quantity and the ensuing chaos; copy cat 'clubs' following suit in this dangerous new ...

Title: Cold Fish Rating: 4/5 Genre: Dark Drama/Thriller Starring: Denden, Mitsuru Fukikoshi Director: Sion Sono Language: Japanese In case you missed my review of Sion Sono's “Love Exposure,” it was one of the greatest discoveries I made last year (and let's be honest, at four hours long I wouldn't blame you) and so when I heard news he was following up with a two and a half hour lesson in the tropical fish trade, based on a true story (albeit loosely), I knew I needed get my hands on it. When Mitsuko, the daughter of the mild mannered tropical fish store owner Nobuyuki Syamoto and his wife Taeko, is caught shoplifting, it is fellow – albeit far more successful – tropical fish store owner Yukio Murata that convinces the owner of the store being robbed to let her off, and quickly his forceful nature results in the two men carving an uneasy rapport. Quietly agreeing to let Mitsuko work at Yukio's shop, he soon finds discussions beginning to arise of him being invi...