The film traces the growth and friendship of two very different high-school ping-pong players. Read More »
Tag Archives: japanese
Farewell to the Land AKA Saraba itoshiki daichi (1982) Mitsuo Yanagimachi, Jinpachi Nezu, Kumiko Akiyoshi, Jirô Yabuki
The film opens with the drowning deaths of farmer Yukio’s two sons. Read More »
An Obsession / Tsumetai chi (1997) Shinji Aoyama, Ryo Ishibashi, Yôzaburô Itô, Eiko Nagashima
An Obsession is Aoyama’s remake for the 1990s of Akira Kurosawa’s Stray Dog (“Nora inu,” 1949). Read More »
Many Happy Returns AKA Kyôso tanjô (1993) Toshihiro Tenma, Masato Hagiwara, Kôji Tamaki, Ittoku Kishibe
A young man, Kazuo, joins a new cult religion even though he sees through the initial recruitment pretense Read More »
The Geisha AKA Yôkirô (1983) Hideo Gosha, Ken Ogata, Kimiko Ikegami, Atsuko Asano
1933. 20 years before, Katsuzo was in love with a geisha who gave him a daughter. Read More »
Sword of Fury AKA Miyamoto Musashi (1973) Tai Katô, Jirô Tamiya, Keiko Matsuzaka, Mitsuko Baishô
In Part I we see the young would-be swordsman setting out to achieve greatness in war Read More »
The River with No Bridge AKA Hashi no nai Kawa (1992) Yôichi Higashi, Naoko Ôtani, Tamao Nakamura, Tetta Sugimoto
Though ethnically and culturally identical to the average Japanese, the burakumin have been an underclass in Japanese society Read More »
God’s Puzzle AKA Kamisama no pazuru (2008) Takashi Miike, Hayato Ichihara, Mitsuki Tanimura, Ken’ichi Endô
A set of twins — one a hard-working student and the other a drifter Read More »
Ninjitsu, Part II AKA Yagyû bugeichô: Sôryû hiken (1958) Hiroshi Inagaki, Kôji Tsuruta, Toshirô Mifune, Nobuko Otowa
In the Tokugawa Era, the clan of Lord Yagyu has hidden away three scrolls containing Read More »
Ninjitsu AKA Yagyû bugeichô (1957) Hiroshi Inagaki, Toshirô Mifune, Yoshiko Kuga, Kyôko Kagawa
In the Tokugawa Era, the clan of Lord Yagyu has hidden away three scrolls containing clan secrets which Read More »