An unusual blending of elements comes together in this crime story drawn from Japanese history. During the early Meiji period a number of “Dokufu” (Poison Women) committed a significant number of murders. These crimes were most often committed by wives on their husbands in order to be together with their lovers. At that time women were executed in the same manner as men, to wit: by being decapitated. This is the story of the most notorious of all, Takahashi Oden who, in 1879, was the last woman executed by decapitation in Japan.
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Tag Archives: Japan
A Brief History of Time (1991) Errol Morris, Stephen Hawking, Isobel Hawking, Janet Humphrey, Documentary, Biography
A documentary film based on the life of scientist Steven Hawking. The film explores the intimate life of Steven Hawking through him, his friends and his family, as he goes through school, is diagnosed with a degenerative disease, and discovers revolutionary theories about time, black holes, and the origin of the universe. A visually interesting and at times funny film about a extraordinary life.
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Unagi / The Eel (1997) Shôhei Imamura, Kôji Yakusho, Misa Shimizu, Mitsuko Baishô, Drama
White-collar worker Yamashita finds out that his wife has a lover visiting her when he’s away, suddenly returns home and kills her. After eight years in prison, he returns to live in a small village, opens a barber shop (he was trained as a barber in prison) and talks almost to no-one except for the eel he “befriended” in prison. One day he finds the unconscious body of Keiko, who attempted suicide and reminds him of his wife. She starts to work at his shop, but he doesn’t let her become close to him.
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Muri shinjû: Nihon no natsu / Japanese Summer: Double Suicide (1967) Nagisa Ôshima, Keiko Sakurai, Kei Satô, Tetsuo Ashida, Crime, Drama
Over the course of a night, a sex-obsessed young woman, a suicidal man, and a gun-crazy wannabe gangster are taken prisoner of a gang awaiting a shootout between a rival gang at dawn.
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Koi yamabiko / Echo in the Mountains (1959) Masahiro Makino, Sumiko Hidaka, Yûnosuke Itô, Kunio Kaga, Drama
A man is brutally murdered and his famed shamisen (a three-stringed musical instrument) called the “Yamabiko” stolen. Prince Kogenta swears to avenge his father-in-law’s death and retrieve the family heirloom.
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Path of the Beast / Shoujo shofu: kemonomichi (1980) Tatsumi Kumashiro, Ayako Yoshimura, Minako Mizushima, Yûya Uchida, Drama, Erotic
Saki lives in a run-down hack with her mom who survives by pushing a food cart from dawn to dusk. Saki has dropped out of school, and when she’s not helping her mother selling noodles in the streets, she’s playing flesh-games with boyfriend Sotoo. In her spare time, the girl also entertains a truck driver named Ataru. She believes her promiscuity is a trait inherited from her mom. Determined to improve her lot in life (she doesn’t want to grow up like her mother), Saki decides to stop seeing the two guys. The sizzling Japanese Tatsumi Kumashiro’s erotic drama
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Marusa no onna / A Taxing Woman (1987) Jûzô Itami, Nobuko Miyamoto, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Masahiko Tsugawa, Comedy, Crime
Ryoko Itakura is a government tax agent who has just landed a big promotion. Her first assignment is to catch wheeler-dealer Hideki Gondo. She has a tough job, since in Japan tax evasion is an art and Gondo is, in effect, Rembrandt. Her job is complicated by a growing sympathy for the rogue and by political pressure to lay off.
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MacArthur’s Children / Setouchi shonen yakyu dan (1984) Masahiro Shinoda, Takaya Yamauchi, Yoshiyuki Omori, Shiori Sakura, Comedy, Drama, War
In this drama at the end of World War II, the inhabitants of a small Japanese fishing village must come to terms with their nation’s defeat and the sudden occupation of General MacArthur and his troops.
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Jail Breakers/ Dasso yugi (1976) Kôsaku Yamashita, Shin’ichi Chiba, Haruko Wanibuchi, Eitarô Ozawa, Action, Crime
Kamiki is a professional fixer of jailbreaks who allows prisoners to escape for big money.
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Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956) Ishirô Honda, Raymond Burr, Takashi Shimura, Momoko Kôchi, Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
When American reporter Steve Martin investigates a series of mysterious disasters off the coast of Japan, he comes face to face with an ancient creature so powerful and so terrifying, it can reduce Tokyo to a smoldering graveyard. Nuclear weapon testing resurrected this relic from the Jurassic age, and now it’s rampaging across Japan. At night, Godzilla wades through Tokyo leaving death and destruction in his wake, disappearing into Tokyo Bay when his rage subsides. Coventional weapons are useless against him; but renowned scientist Dr. Serizawa has discovered a weapon that could destroy all life in the bay – including Godzilla. But which disaster is worse, Godzilla’s fury, or the death of Tokyo Bay?
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