16 years after the fateful “revenge of the Forty-seven Ronin” involving samurais from the Ako Read More »
Tag Archives: Japan
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (2021) Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Kotone Furukawa, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Katsuki Mori
An unexpected love triangle, a failed seduction trap and an encounter that results from a misunderstanding Read More »
Delinquent Girl Boss: Ballad of Yokohama Hoods AKA Zubeko banchô: Hamagure kazoe uta (1971) Kazuhiko Yamaguchi, Reiko Ôshida, Yukie Gagawa, Shuushibo
The local yakuza gangs dominating the port of Yokohama do not take well the invasion of their territory Read More »
Delinquent Girl Boss: Tokyo Drifters AKA Zubekô banchô: Tôkyô nagaremono (1970) Kazuhiko Yamaguchi, Kayako Sono, Reiko Ôshida
Rika, an ex reform school student, joins a clan of street vendors: the Yakuza intervention soon breaks their peaceful business. Read More »
Misono Universe AKA La La La at Rock Bottom (2015) Nobuhiro Yamashita, Subaru Shibutani, Fumi Nikaidô, Sarina Suzuki
As a band plays for a crowd in a certain town square in Osaka, a young man rushes the stage Read More »
Marriage AKA Kekkon (1947) Keisuke Kinoshita, Kinuyo Tanaka, Ken Uehara, Eijirô Tôno
In postwar Japan a young woman is unable to marry her sweetheart because her family’s in difficult circumstances and needs her income to keep afloat. Read More »
Fine with Occasional Murders AKA Hare tokidoki satsujin (1984) Kazuyuki Izutsu, Noriko Watanabe, Yôsuke Tagawa, Masataka Matsutôya
Kanako returns from the USA to a troubled mother who witnessed a man Read More »
Trail of Blood AKA Mushukunin Mikogami no Jôkichi: Kiba wa hikisaita (1972) Kazuo Ikehiro, Yoshio Harada, Atsuo Nakamura, Kayo Matsuo
Can a sinful man change and find peace? It’s unlikely in gang-plagued Japan. Read More »
The Lady in a Black Dress AKA Kuroi doresu no onna (1987) Yôichi Sai, Tomoyo Harada, Toshiyuki Nagashima, Hideo Murota
A woman arrives as an acquaintance of a sister in law for a day under the bar master Tamura who had guided Yakuza’s escaping. Read More »
The Island Tales AKA You shi tiaowu (2000) Stanley Kwan, Takao Osawa, Shu Qi, Michelle Reis
The story of seven people stuck on a remote island, quarantined by the government due to a viral outbreak. Read More »
Black River AKA Kuroi kawa (1957) Masaki Kobayashi, Fumio Watanabe, Tatsuya Nakadai, Ineko Arima
Perhaps Kobayashi’s most sordid film, Black River is an exposé of the rampant corruption on Read More »
Women of the Night AKA Yoru no onnatachi (1948) Kenji Mizoguchi, Kinuyo Tanaka, Sanae Takasugi, Tomie Tsunoda
Fusako Owada, a young woman in postwar Japan, is the mistress of a notorious drug dealer. Read More »
Hollywood Hong-Kong AKA Heung Gong you ge He Li Huo (2001) Fruit Chan, Xun Zhou, Glen Chin, You-Nam Wong
A prostitute named Tong Tong enters the life of a man who runs a barbecue pork restaurant Read More »
Eagle of the Pacific AKA Taiheiyô no washi (1953) Ishirô Honda, Denjirô Ôkôchi, Hiroshi Nihon’yanagi, Masao Shimizu
Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, a brilliant tactician Read More »
Turn AKA Taan (2001) Hideyuki Hirayama, Riho Makise, Kankurô Nakamura, Akira Emoto
Maki is a talented copper plate artist, however, just before her first gallery show, she gets struck by a truck. Read More »