In the 1920s, the anarchist revolutionary Sakae Osugi is financially supported by his wife, journalist Itsuko Masaoka. Read More »
Tag Archives: Japan
Nippon konchuki / The Insect Woman (1963) Shôhei Imamura, Emiko Aizawa, Setsuko Amamiya, Tomio Aoki, Drama
Amorality in Japan. Tome is born into poverty in rural Japan, in the late 1910s. Chuji, her father, dotes on her; her mother is less faithful. Read More »
Sleepy Eyes of Death 10: Hell Is a Woman (1968) Tokuzô Tanaka, Raizô Ichikawa, Miwa Takada, Yaeko Mizutani, Drama
Two devious retainers are competing to take control of a fief when the current Lord dies, but involving Kyoshiro in the conflict against his will is the textbook example of a bad idea – especially when the collateral damage starts to tick him off. Read More »
Ninjô kami fûsen / Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937) Sadao Yamanaka, Chôjûrô Kawarasaki, Kan’emon Nakamura, Tsuruzô Nakamura, Drama
The story develops in the Tokugawa era of the 18th century, in a poor district of Tokyo, where impoverished samurai live from hand to mouth among equally poor people of lower social classes. Read More »
Caterpillar (2010) Kôji Wakamatsu, Shinobu Terajima, Keigo Kasuya, Emi Masuda, Drama, War
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, in 1940, Lieutenant Kurokawa returns home as a honored and decorated soldier… but deprived of his arms and legs lost in battle in mainland China. Read More »
Cha no aji / The Taste of Tea (2004) Katsuhito Ishii, Maya Banno, Takahiro Satô, Tadanobu Asano, Comedy, Fantasy
A spell of time in the life of a family living in rural Tochigi prefecture, north of Tokyo. Though her husband is busy working at an office, Yoshiko is not an ordinary housewife, instead working on an animated film project at home. Read More »
Sleepy Eyes of Death 9: Trail of Traps (1967) Kazuo Ikehiro, Raizô Ichikawa, Nobuo Kaneko, Toshio Kimura, Action, Drama
The Son of the Black Mass returns in this ninth installment in Daiei’s longstanding Nemuri Kyoshiro series. Read More »
Shiroi yajuu / White Beast (1950) Mikio Naruse, Mitsuko Miura, Sô Yamamura, Eiji Okada, Drama
The critical establishment was clearly not prepared to accept a woman’s prison film featuring former prostitutes recovering from venereal diseases, unwanted pregnancies, and estranged lovers. Read More »
Nogiku no gotoki kimi nariki / She Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum (1955) Keisuke Kinoshita, Noriko Arita, Chishû Ryû, Haruko Sugimura, Drama, Romance
An old man, being rowed along a river, sees a field of daisies (or Wild Chrysanthemums, as they are described in the title, or starworts, as they are referred to in the subtitles), and thinks back to when he was fifteen. Read More »
Sleepy Eyes of Death 8: Sword of Villainy (1966) Kenji Misumi, Raizô Ichikawa, Shigeru Amachi, Shiho Fujimura, Action, Drama
Nemuri Kyoshiro discovers a conspiracy centering around a band of disgruntled samurai wanting to avenge the death of their sensei Read More »
Haruka naru yama no yobigoe / A Distant Cry from Spring (1980) Yôji Yamada, Ken Takakura, Chieko Baishô, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Drama
A mysterious stranger appears at the door of a farmhouse on a stormy night and asks for shelter. The young widow who owns the farm puts him up in the barn. Read More »
Nora Inu / Stray Dog (1949) Akira Kurosawa, Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Awaji, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Murukami, a young homicide detective, has his pocket picked on a bus and loses his pistol. Read More »
Sleepy Eyes of Death 7: The Mask of the Princess (1966) Akira Inoue, Raizô Ichikawa, Yaeko Mizutani, Ichirô Nakatani, Drama
The masked daughter of the Shogun wants to kill a samurai who has seen her scarred face. She sends waves of ninja warriors to kill the samurai and plots diabolical schemes / ambushes without much success. Read More »
Sleepy Eyes of Death 6 – Sword of Satan (1965) Kimiyoshi Yasuda, Raizô Ichikawa, Michiko Saga, Machiko Hasegawa, Action, Drama
Sixth film in the series. A little boy who just wants to be a carpenter is at the center of a plot that might topple — or save — a mighty Clan Read More »
Pikunikku / Picnic (1996) Shunji Iwai, Chara, Tadanobu Asano, Koichi Hashizume, Drama, Fantasy
Believing that the world will end that very day, three mental patients Coco, Tsumuji, and Satoru set out upon a journey. Read More »