Loyal samurai Samanosuke is attacked, mutilated, and left for dead while carrying out a mission for his clan. Read More »
Tag Archives: Japan
Four Days of Snow and Blood (1989) Hideo Gosha, Ken’ichi Hagiwara, Tomokazu Miura, Masahiro Motoki, Action, Drama, War
Based on the “2.26 Incident”, an attempted coup d’état in Japan 1936, launched by radical ultra-nationalist parts of the military. Read More »
Death Shadow (1986) Hideo Gosha, Mariko Ishihara, Masanori Sera, Mari Natsuki, Action, Drama
Three men sentenced to death are spared and changed into “shadows executioners”, a group of ruthless ninjas working for mysterious high ranking officials. Read More »
Trials of an Okinawa Village (1971) Shigehiro Ozawa, Junko Fuji, Bunta Sugawara, Michitarô Mizushima, Action, Crime, Drama
A female of a trucking company has run-ins with evil yakuza during the American occupation of Okinawa. Read More »
Kyo mo mata kakute ari nan / Thus Another Day (1959) Keisuke Kinoshita, Teiji Takahashi, Yoshiko Kuga, Kanzaburô Nakamura, Drama, Romance
A young wife looses patience with her career-minded husband and returns to her parents’ home while an unpaid mortgage force the couple to rent out their home for the summer to the husband’s boss. Read More »
Kono ten no niji / The Eternal Rainbow (1958) Keisuke Kinoshita, Teiji Takahashi, Yoshiko Kuga, Takahiro Tamura, Drama
Two men at an ironworks encounter roadblocks: the first does not have the grades to get a job, while the other finds himself falling for a co-worker. Read More »
Hakujitsumu / Daydream (1964) Tetsuji Takechi, Kanako Michi, Akira Ishihama, Chôjûrô Hanakawa, Drama, Fantasy, Horror
While under sedation in a dentist’s office, a young art student has sex fantasies about naked women, vampires and a beautiful patient he saw in the office. Read More »
Kurobe no taiyo / The Sands of Kurobe (1968) Kei Kumai, Toshirô Mifune, Yûjirô Ishihara, Osamu Takizawa, Drama
Kitagawa is an engineer charged with construction of a gigantic tunnel through the Japan Alps for the transportation of equipment in the building of the massive Kurobe Dam. Read More »
Taiyo to bara / The Rose on His Arm (1956) Keisuke Kinoshita, Akira Ishihama, Katsuo Nakamura, Sadako Sawamura, Drama
Ignoring the protests of his working-class mother, a young man becomes wrapped up in the world of delinquents and yakuza. Read More »
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983) Nagisa Ôshima, David Bowie, Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Drama, War
In 1942 British soldier Jack Celliers comes to a Japanese prison camp. The camp is run by Yonoi, who has a firm belief in discipline, honor and glory. Read More »
Ryôjû / Hunting Rifle (1961) Heinosuke Gosho, Yoshie Minami, Mariko Okada, Nobuko Otowa, Drama
Story of a woman, Saiko, who divorces her doctor husband when she is given a baby by a stranger who claims it is the husband’s child. Read More »
Nihon no don: kanketsuhen / The Godfather: Resolution (1978) Sadao Nakajima, Toshirô Mifune, Bunta Sugawara, Naoko Ôtani, Crime, Drama
Double crosses and backstabbing while older yakuza bosses fight for the title of “The Godfather of Japan” violent history and a cast full of stars. Read More »
Dead End Run (2003) Gakuryû Ishii, Tadanobu Asano, Urara Awata, Mikako Ichikawa, Action, Thriller
Dead End Run is an hour length collection of three short films by Japanese visual genius Ishii Sogo. Read More »
Nihon no fûikusaîchi / The Fixer (1979) Yasuo Furuhata, Shin Saburi, Masakazu Tamura, Kyôko Enami, Crime
A fixer controls political events from behind the scenes – the portrait of a political fixer and his machinations. Read More »
Yoru no nagare / Evening Stream (1960) Yûzô Kawashima, Mikio Naruse, Yôko Tsukasa, Isuzu Yamada, Akira Takarada, Drama
A woman and her daughter are in love with the same man, a chef at the restaurant that the mother manages. Read More »