This valiant melodrama is the brilliant debut as a moviemaker of the great Japanese actress Kinuyo Tanaka Read More »
Tag Archives: Japan
Cannonball Wedlock AKA Konzen tokkyû (2011) Kôji Maeda, Yuriko Yoshitaka, Ryô Kase, Kenta Hamano
A slapstick comedy about a woman who has led a life of noncommittal romance Read More »
Cats on Park Avenue AKA Kôendôri no nekotachi (1989) Shin’ichi Nakada, Nekohachi Edoya, Ayumu Hasegawa, Izumi Igarashi
A group of young dancers prepare for a stage musical based on the street cats of their neighborhood. Read More »
Bullet Wound AKA Dankon (1969) Shirô Moritani, Yûzô Kayama, Kiwako Taichi, Kei Satô
Thriller about a Japanese-American CIA agent (Kayama) in Japan. Read More »
The Biggest Gamble AKA Sengo Saidai no Toba (1969) Kôsaku Yamashita, Kôji Tsuruta, Ken Takakura, Akiko Koyama
When Honjo is selected as Kansai district’s chairman, Iwasa of the rival gang asks Itsuki to do everything possible Read More »
Tora-San 1: Our Lovable Tramp AKA Otoko wa tsurai yo (1969) Yôji Yamada, Kiyoshi Atsumi, Chieko Baishô, Sachiko Mitsumoto
Tora-San, an itinerant peddler who is thrown out of his father’s house twenty years Read More »
Sharaku (1995) Masahiro Shinoda, Hiroyuki Sanada, Furankî Sakai, Shima Iwashita
A crippled kabuki player is taken into a strolling company of itinerant actors. Read More »
Love/Juice (2000) Kaze Shindô, Mika Okuno, Chika Fujimura, Toshiya Nagasawa
Twenty-something lesbian Chinatsu shares a one-bedroom apartment with heterosexual Kyoko. Read More »
Black Lizard AKA Kurotokage (1962) Umetsugu Inoue, Machiko Kyô, Minoru Ôki, Junko Kanô
Kurotokage (1962, aka Black Lizard) has its origins in a 1934 detective novel Read More »
The Bad Sleep Well AKA Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru (1960) Akira Kurosawa, Toshirô Mifune, Masayuki Mori, Kyôko Kagawa
It is a high-profile wedding: the daughter of Mr Iwabuchi, a wealthy businessman Read More »
Tora-san 34 AKA Otoko wa tsurai yo: Torajirô shinjitsu ichiro (1984) Yôji Yamada, Kiyoshi Atsumi, Chieko Baishô, Masami Shimojô
Tora-san spends several days at the home of a hard-working salary man Read More »
Tora-san 33 AKA Otoko wa tsurai yo: Yogiri ni musebu torajiro (1984) Yôji Yamada, Kiyoshi Atsumi, Chieko Baishô, Rie Nakahara
In Shibamata, Tokyo, Tora-san’s family prepares for a wedding. Read More »
Distant Justice (1992) Tôru Murakawa, Bunta Sugawara, David Carradine, George Kennedy
After his daughter is kidnapped and his wife murdered by drug dealers Read More »
Little Cheung AKA Xilu xiang (1999) Fruit Chan, Yuet-Ming Yiu, Wai-Fan Mak, Yuet-Man Mak
In 1997, Little Cheung is a street-wise nine-year-old boy living in a bustling neighbourhood of Hong Kong Read More »
Judgment Night (1993) Stephen Hopkins, Emilio Estevez, Cuba Gooding Jr., Denis Leary
Four pals are on their way to a boxing match, but get stuck in heavy traffic. Read More »