After the group suicide of four people, journalists Yuu and Rie investigate the reasons behind an endless cycle of suicides Read More »
Tag Archives: japanese
Niryû shôsetsuka: Shiriarisuto / The Serialist (2013) Nobuaki Izaki, Takaya Kamikawa, Denden, Aya Hirayama, Mystery
Ippei Akabane (Takaya Kamikawa) is an unpopular novelist. He barely makes ends meet writing serials novels under different pen names. Read More »
Shimauma / Zebra (2016) Hajime Hashimoto, Ryô Ryûsei, Kenta Suga, Kyoko Hinami, Crime, Thriller
Dora (Ryo Ryusei) and associates runs a badger game scheme to extort victims out of money. One day though, their target looks like an ordinary guy, but he tuns out to be a yakuza. Read More »
Orion-za kara no shôtaijô / The Invitation from Cinema Orion (2007) Kenki Saegusa, Rie Miyazawa, Ryo Kase, Ryûdô Uzaki, Drama
Based on the short story from the best-selling collection “Poppoya” by Jiro Asada, “The Invitation from Cinema Orion” tells the story of a couple’s undying love for the cinema and each other. Read More »
Onihei Hankacho: Unibrow / Onihei Crime Files: Unibrow (2007) Akira Inoue, Action
Onihei Hankach? is a popular series of stories and television jidaigeki in Japan. A story by Sh?tar? Ikenami in the December 1967 issue of the magazine “All Yomimono” developed into a series, which Bungei Shunju published the following year. Read More »
Okami yo rakujitsu o kire / The Last Samurai (1974) Kenji Misumi, Hideki Takahashi, Ken Ogata, Takahiro Tamura, Action, Drama
The film follows the story of Sugi Toranosuke, a ronin, who returns to his home town of Edo many years after his attempted suicide as a sickly child. Read More »
Buta to gunkan / Pigs and Battleships (1961) Shôhei Imamura, Hiroyuki Nagato, Jitsuko Yoshimura, Masao Mishima, Drama, Comedy, Crime
Kinta is caught in the mesh of poverty and opts out by joining the local yakuza gang. His greed draws him into the drug dealing, pimping, and racketeering that fill the gang’s coffers. Read More »
Sengoku jieitai / G.I. Samurai (1979) Kôsei Saitô, Shin’ichi Chiba, Jun Etô, Moeko Ezawa, Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A squadron of Japanese Self-Defense Force soldiers find themselves transported through time to their country’s warring states era Read More »
Kiiroi namida / Yellow Tears (2007) Isshin Inudô, Shô Sakurai, Masaki Aiba, Kazunari Ninomiya, Drama
They famously say that all the hippies of the ’60s ended up becoming nothing more than bankers. Read More »
Waga koi wa moenu / Flame of My Love (1949) Kenji Mizoguchi, Kinuyo Tanaka, Mitsuko Mito, Kuniko Miyake, Drama, Romance
A woman’s struggle for equality in Japan in the 1880s. Eiko Hirayama leaves Okayama for Tokyo, where she helps the fledgling Liberal Party and falls in love with its leader Kentaro Omoi Read More »
Â! Ikkenya puroresu / Oh! My Zombie Mermaid (2004) Naoki Kubo, Terry Ito, Shinya Hashimoto, Sonim, Shirô Sano, Action, Drama
Comedy, horror and wrestling combine in this fight fest starring real-life wrestler Shinya Hashimoto as Kouta Read More »
Neko to shozo to futari no onna / Shozo, a Cat and Two Women (1956) Shirô Toyoda, Hisaya Morishige, Isuzu Yamada, Kyôko Kagawa, Comedy, Drama, Family
A timid man who has spent much of his life attempting without success to get out from under the domination of his mother, finds that marriage is no answer. Read More »
Happî awâ / Happy Hour (2015) Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Sachie Tanaka, Hazuki Kikuchi, Maiko Mihara, Drama
Jun, Akari, Sakurako and Fumi truly believe that they can confide in each other. Read More »
Hana to dotô / The Flower and the Angry Waves (1964) Seijun Suzuki, Akira Kobayashi, Tamio Kawaji, Chieko Matsubara, Action, Drama
Working from a novel by Aoyama Koji he tells the story of Ogata Kikuji (Kobayashi Akira) – a former Yakuza member, now on the straight and narrow. Read More »
Shunkinsho: Okoto to Sasuke / Okoto and Sasuke (1935) Yasujirô Shimazu, Kinuyo Tanaka, Kôkichi Takada, Hideo Fujino, Drama
The Okoto blind is a talented music teacher, but his pride keeps others – especially men – at a distance. Read More »