Quentin Tarantino is undoubtedly one of the finest filmmakers of our time. But as much as he is a passionate filmmaker, he is also a passionate cinephile: having absorbed the best that contemporary cinema has to offer since childhood, Tarantino bases his work on the most recognizable tropes and directorial styles, creating a refined pop culture mishmash. And as a huge film buff, Tarantino shared a list of the 20 films he 'admires the most' in a conversation with Sky Movies in 2009.
20 Must-Watch Movies According to Tarantino
Before we get to the list itself, it's important to note that it's not in order of importance, but in alphabetical order. Except for the number one, because for Tarantino it is 'favorite movie that has come out in the last 17 years.' Besides, as he pointed out, this is one of the few movies he would personally dream of directing.
But without further ado,...
20 Must-Watch Movies According to Tarantino
Before we get to the list itself, it's important to note that it's not in order of importance, but in alphabetical order. Except for the number one, because for Tarantino it is 'favorite movie that has come out in the last 17 years.' Besides, as he pointed out, this is one of the few movies he would personally dream of directing.
But without further ado,...
- 5/13/2024
- by louise.everitt@startefacts.com (Louise Everitt)
- STartefacts.com
Hiroyuki Sanada has been honing his acting skills for over fifty years, having started when he was six years old. He landed his first role opposite the celebrated Japanese actor and martial artist Sonny Chiba in Game of Chance. Since then, the Tokyo-born actor, 63, has barely decelerated.
Hiroyuki Sanada in Shōgun (Credit: FX)
That being said, we cannot overlook the brilliant performance he gave in Rachel Kondo & Justin Marks’ Shōgun. As Lord Yoshii Toranaga, he practically steals every scene of the FX series. Unfortunately, the 10-episode series is over, but he has starred in a number of similar flicks that are well worth your time.
Nevertheless, Sanada’s résumé includes a number of stellar but lesser-known roles. Rest assured, if you enjoy his portrayal of Lord Toranaga, here are three must-see films starring the talented actor that will satisfy your craving for more of his compelling performances.
1. The Twilight Samurai...
Hiroyuki Sanada in Shōgun (Credit: FX)
That being said, we cannot overlook the brilliant performance he gave in Rachel Kondo & Justin Marks’ Shōgun. As Lord Yoshii Toranaga, he practically steals every scene of the FX series. Unfortunately, the 10-episode series is over, but he has starred in a number of similar flicks that are well worth your time.
Nevertheless, Sanada’s résumé includes a number of stellar but lesser-known roles. Rest assured, if you enjoy his portrayal of Lord Toranaga, here are three must-see films starring the talented actor that will satisfy your craving for more of his compelling performances.
1. The Twilight Samurai...
- 5/11/2024
- by Siddhika Prajapati
- FandomWire
The 2000s saw the action genre in a state of flux. The Matrix revolutionized everything at the end of the previous decade, The Bourne Supremacy would make shaky cameras standard practice in 2004, and the MCU would take flight with Iron Man in 2008. At the same time, Michael Bay reached his ultimate form with Bad Boys II, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Kill Bill made kung fu classy, and Oldboy changed the way we look at hallways.
Within those changes came a host of greats that didn’t get the same attention. Some of these movies represent the first steps in the development of those who would define the genre, such as Scott Adkins and Gareth Evans. Some find stars at the height of the powers, such as Donny Yen and Michael Jai White. And some are just cool, because that’s really all an action movie needs.
If you’ve...
Within those changes came a host of greats that didn’t get the same attention. Some of these movies represent the first steps in the development of those who would define the genre, such as Scott Adkins and Gareth Evans. Some find stars at the height of the powers, such as Donny Yen and Michael Jai White. And some are just cool, because that’s really all an action movie needs.
If you’ve...
- 5/9/2024
- by Joe George
- Den of Geek
In 2009, at the request of SkyMovies, Quentin Tarantino named his 20 favorite films released between 1992 and 2009. 1992 was chosen as the starting point because that was the year Tarantino himself became a film director. Quentin cited a Japanese action movie that he felt was blatantly ripped off by The Hunger Games as his favorite project of the past 17 years:
“I’m a big fan of the Japanese movie Battle Royale, which is what Hunger Games was based on. Well, Hunger Games just ripped it off. That would have been awesome to have directed Battle Royale.”
Long before The Hunger Games, director Kinji Fukasaku captured the frenzy of teenagers stranded on an island to survive. Battle Royale is a Japanese film that has become a cult classic over the course of two decades, spawning a wave of works about deadly games.
What is Battle Royale About?
In the future, an economic crisis has...
“I’m a big fan of the Japanese movie Battle Royale, which is what Hunger Games was based on. Well, Hunger Games just ripped it off. That would have been awesome to have directed Battle Royale.”
Long before The Hunger Games, director Kinji Fukasaku captured the frenzy of teenagers stranded on an island to survive. Battle Royale is a Japanese film that has become a cult classic over the course of two decades, spawning a wave of works about deadly games.
What is Battle Royale About?
In the future, an economic crisis has...
- 4/21/2024
- by zoe-wallace@startefacts.com (Zoe Wallace)
- STartefacts.com
The Jitsuroku eiga, as established essentially by Kinji Fukasaku's “Yakuza Papers”, is one of the most interesting trends in Japanese cinema, with the combination of realism regarding the lives of the yakuza after the war and the intense violence and sex creating a truly explosive combination that remains entertaining until this day. “A True Story of the Private Ginza Police”, which was released in the same year as “Battles Without Honour and Humanity” is a prominent sample of the category, as much as of Junya Sato's style.
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
After a series of some footage stills that point towards a documentary, the film actually begins with a scene that sets up the tone of the whole thing quite eloquently. Watarai, a former soldier, returns to Tokyo in 1946, where he finds his wife having sex with a black GI, while...
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
After a series of some footage stills that point towards a documentary, the film actually begins with a scene that sets up the tone of the whole thing quite eloquently. Watarai, a former soldier, returns to Tokyo in 1946, where he finds his wife having sex with a black GI, while...
- 4/11/2024
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Revolution+1.On July 8, 2022, Shinzo Abe, who had been the longest-serving prime minister of Japan in its postwar years, was shot and killed in broad daylight in a country with barely any civilian access to firearms. The suspect was immediately arrested, and commentators from all over the world began to speculate about the killer’s motive. After a few days, the police revealed that the 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami, who had built his own gun and tracked Abe’s movements, had not originally planned to kill Abe. In fact, the most high-profile political assassination in decades was carried out by a man who cared little for politics. Legendary Japanese filmmaker Masao Adachi, sensing a story sure to be misconstrued by the press, immediately began production on a biopic—not of Abe, but of Yamagami. At the North American premiere of the film, Revolution+1 (2023), last July, he said that this quick turnaround was not intended to garner controversy,...
- 3/11/2024
- MUBI
Kinji Fukasaku's last film was a production worthy of his lifetime achievements in the field, since “Battle Royale” caused much controversy; it was banned outright or deliberately excluded from distribution in several countries, but at the same time, it also influenced a great number of movies and many filmmakers, including Quentin Tarantino and “The Hunger Games”.
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
At the beginning of the new millennium, unemployment has reached 15 percent, with 10 million people left without a job, while school violence has reached unprecedented levels. In order to control the youth, the desperate government votes in the ‘Battle Royale' law, which states that each year, students from a randomly chosen class will be transferred to a secluded island where they will have to fight to the death, to the last person standing.
The story, which is based upon the homonymous novel by Takami Koushun,...
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
At the beginning of the new millennium, unemployment has reached 15 percent, with 10 million people left without a job, while school violence has reached unprecedented levels. In order to control the youth, the desperate government votes in the ‘Battle Royale' law, which states that each year, students from a randomly chosen class will be transferred to a secluded island where they will have to fight to the death, to the last person standing.
The story, which is based upon the homonymous novel by Takami Koushun,...
- 2/27/2024
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Mubi’s retrospective Takeshi Kitano: Destroy All Yakuza—featuring Violent Cop, Boiling Point, and Outrage Coda—is now showing in the United States, Canada, and select countries.Kubi.The presidential suite of the Grand Hotel Yerevan sits at the end of an amber-lit, carpeted corridor. The door comes fitted with its own CCTV camera, the concierge proudly gloats as an elevator slingshots us several floors above the ground, “so guests can feel safer.” Not that the current occupant has much to worry about. Guarding the suite on this exceptionally hot July afternoon is a small platoon of suit-clad Japanese men, looking equally stern and jet-lagged. The lucky few who get to pad in and out of the room do so in reverential silence, and even those outside speak in hushed voices, lest he should be disturbed. "He" is somewhere in the suite right now, and his name is Takeshi Kitano.
- 1/11/2024
- MUBI
In the 1960s, director Kinji Fukasaku created what would be the ultimate yakuza-sage for years to come with his “Battles Without Honor and Humanity”-series. While the various features of the series can be regarded as great entertainment on the one hand, they gain much more value when considered as a reflection on human greed, power and manipulation. Over the course of his career, director Takeshi Kitano has made quite a number of features, such as “Sonatine” or “Brother”, which would blend these themes with a certain poetic or philosophical approach, depending on your point of view. However, with the “Outrage”-series, he attempted to create his own version of Fukasaku's epic, albeit with a much more cynical undertone.
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
The second entry into the “Outrage”-series, “Beyond Outrage”, takes place five years after the incidents of “Outrage”, with the...
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
The second entry into the “Outrage”-series, “Beyond Outrage”, takes place five years after the incidents of “Outrage”, with the...
- 1/5/2024
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Ever had that late-night itch for a cinematic scare, only to find yourself tired of the same old slashers and ghost stories? Enter J-Horror, the dazzling (and terrifying) world of Japanese horror. Filled with vengeful spirits, hair-raising urban legends, and a unique cultural zest, J-Horror has secured its spine-chilling reputation on a global scale.
If you’re not quite up-to-speed with terms like ‘Yūrei’* or haven’t been thoroughly traumatized by a cursed videotape yet, you’re in for a treat! We’re about to embark on a roller coaster ride of the very best Japanese Horror (or ‘J-Horror’ for those in the know) that promises more thrills than a Tokyo karaoke night gone awry. So grab your safety blanket; it’s about to get eerily entertaining!
*Yūrei (幽霊): spirits or ghosts in Japanese folklore, often likened to Western notions of restless ghosts. Characterized by white funeral garments, long unkempt black hair,...
If you’re not quite up-to-speed with terms like ‘Yūrei’* or haven’t been thoroughly traumatized by a cursed videotape yet, you’re in for a treat! We’re about to embark on a roller coaster ride of the very best Japanese Horror (or ‘J-Horror’ for those in the know) that promises more thrills than a Tokyo karaoke night gone awry. So grab your safety blanket; it’s about to get eerily entertaining!
*Yūrei (幽霊): spirits or ghosts in Japanese folklore, often likened to Western notions of restless ghosts. Characterized by white funeral garments, long unkempt black hair,...
- 8/27/2023
- by Kimberley Elizabeth
Few American filmmakers of the last 40 years await a major rediscovery like Hal Hartley, whose traces in modern movies are either too-minor or entirely unknown. Thus it’s cause for celebration that the Criterion Channel are soon launching a major retrospective: 13 features (which constitutes all but My America) and 17 shorts, a sui generis style and persistent vision running across 30 years. Expect your Halloween party to be aswim in Henry Fool costumes.
Speaking of: there’s a one-month headstart on seasonal programming with the 13-film “High School Horror”––most notable perhaps being a streaming premiere for the uncut version of Suspiria, plus the rare opportunity to see a Robert Rodriguez movie on the Criterion Channel––and a retrospective of Hong Kong vampire movies. A retrospective of ’70s car movies offer chills and thrills of a different sort
Six films by Allan Dwan and 12 “gaslight noirs” round out the main September series; The Eight Mountains,...
Speaking of: there’s a one-month headstart on seasonal programming with the 13-film “High School Horror”––most notable perhaps being a streaming premiere for the uncut version of Suspiria, plus the rare opportunity to see a Robert Rodriguez movie on the Criterion Channel––and a retrospective of Hong Kong vampire movies. A retrospective of ’70s car movies offer chills and thrills of a different sort
Six films by Allan Dwan and 12 “gaslight noirs” round out the main September series; The Eight Mountains,...
- 8/21/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Is there anything scarier than being a teenager? Bd has learned that the Criterion Channel will be launching their 13-film High School Horror collection on September 1!
The streaming service previews, “Relive your high school nightmares with these tales of terror unleashed in classrooms, gyms, locker-lined halls, and cafeterias, where psychotic slashers and supernatural monsters pursue jocks, nerds, and prom queens alike.
“The everyday fears of adolescence—social anxiety! changing bodies!—have inspired some of horror cinema’s most giddily bloodthirsty visions, from VHS-era exploitation shockers like Massacre at Central High and Slumber Party Massacre to ’90s teen-movie touchstones like I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Faculty and cult favorites like Donnie Darko and Battle Royale.”
Of particular note, Dario Argento’s Suspiria will be included in the collection, marking the worldwide streaming premiere of the restored uncut version from Synapse Films!
The full “High School Horror” lineup includes…...
The streaming service previews, “Relive your high school nightmares with these tales of terror unleashed in classrooms, gyms, locker-lined halls, and cafeterias, where psychotic slashers and supernatural monsters pursue jocks, nerds, and prom queens alike.
“The everyday fears of adolescence—social anxiety! changing bodies!—have inspired some of horror cinema’s most giddily bloodthirsty visions, from VHS-era exploitation shockers like Massacre at Central High and Slumber Party Massacre to ’90s teen-movie touchstones like I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Faculty and cult favorites like Donnie Darko and Battle Royale.”
Of particular note, Dario Argento’s Suspiria will be included in the collection, marking the worldwide streaming premiere of the restored uncut version from Synapse Films!
The full “High School Horror” lineup includes…...
- 8/11/2023
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
1973 signaled Sadao Nakajima's first and last collaboration with Atg, with “Aesthetics of a Bullet” featuring some of the trademark elements of the company, including punk aesthetics, a genuine anti-hero, social commentary, while the artistic freedom Atg always granted its filmmakers, allowed Nakajima to retain his favorite Yakuza theme and include intense exploitation elements.
The movie starts with a rather impressive scene, where under a loud punk track that is also an ode to the overall punk philosophy, Nakajima sets the frame the story of the movie takes place in, showing people overbying, overeating, overpolluting while enjoying themselves in sex shows and hostess clubs. The protagonist, Kiyoshi Koike, is a direct product of this setting, as we first meet him peddling supposedly dwarf-rabbits on the street, only to make enough money to waste on drinking and gambling. His girlfriend, a prostitute, loves him dearly and is even willing to continuously...
The movie starts with a rather impressive scene, where under a loud punk track that is also an ode to the overall punk philosophy, Nakajima sets the frame the story of the movie takes place in, showing people overbying, overeating, overpolluting while enjoying themselves in sex shows and hostess clubs. The protagonist, Kiyoshi Koike, is a direct product of this setting, as we first meet him peddling supposedly dwarf-rabbits on the street, only to make enough money to waste on drinking and gambling. His girlfriend, a prostitute, loves him dearly and is even willing to continuously...
- 8/9/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Amazon Freevee is packed to the gills with free-to-watch movies and TV shows, and the streaming app now boasts a few original productions of its own, but when there’s so much choice at your fingertips, how do you decide what’s worth your precious eyeball time?
If you’re on the lookout for a hidden sci-fi gem to check out, we’ve got you! This list sorts the science fiction wheat from the science fiction chaff, and we’ll be updating it regularly to make sure all the best options are still available, while adding any new gems that appear on the streaming service in the future.
Daybreakers
Daybreakers is one of the most overlooked vampire movies of the modern era, but its sci-fi elements really do shine and its clinical vibes are not what you’d expect from your average bloodsucker tale. It’s inventive, entertaining, and definitely worth a look.
If you’re on the lookout for a hidden sci-fi gem to check out, we’ve got you! This list sorts the science fiction wheat from the science fiction chaff, and we’ll be updating it regularly to make sure all the best options are still available, while adding any new gems that appear on the streaming service in the future.
Daybreakers
Daybreakers is one of the most overlooked vampire movies of the modern era, but its sci-fi elements really do shine and its clinical vibes are not what you’d expect from your average bloodsucker tale. It’s inventive, entertaining, and definitely worth a look.
- 7/18/2023
- by Kirsten Howard
- Den of Geek
Sadao Nakajima passed away from pneumonia on 11th June, 2023. He was 88 years old. Active as a director until just four years before his passing, Nakajima left behind legacy of work that most directors would dream of. Alongside Kinji Fukasaku and Junya Sato, he is credited as being one of the main names to define the Yakuza genre, with some of his greatest works coming within that genre for Toei Studios, showcasing a range of styles and narrative complexities while at it. Outside of the yakuza genre as well though, Nakajima made a number of terrific features, mixing a range of genres and filmmaking styles effectively over an illustrious career that lasted a little under 60 years, starting from his debut in 1964 all the way until his swansong in 2019.
Without further ado, we list 12 essential films by Sadao Nakajima that are not in the Yakuza genre, in chronological order.
1. Female Ninja Magic...
Without further ado, we list 12 essential films by Sadao Nakajima that are not in the Yakuza genre, in chronological order.
1. Female Ninja Magic...
- 7/11/2023
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
Arrow Video has announced the July 2023 lineup of their subscription-based Arrow platform, available to subscribers in the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland.
Here’s everything you need to know…
July 7 starts the month in sun and fun with the “Permanent Vacation” Collection (UK/Ire/US/CA). In desperate need of a vacay? Well, be careful who you book with, because the flicks trips in Permanent Vacation are dream holidays that you’ll never return from.
Featuring murderous mini-breaks and sun, sea, sand and psychos, these gory getaways feature everything from island paradises full of monsters and mutants to nature breaks from the rat race that will be the death of you. So, pack your sunglasses and flip-flops, but don’t bother buying a return ticket, because you’re going on a Permanent Vacation.
Titles Include: Horrors of Malformed Men, Lake Michigan Monster, The Wind.
Also on July 7, subscribers are...
Here’s everything you need to know…
July 7 starts the month in sun and fun with the “Permanent Vacation” Collection (UK/Ire/US/CA). In desperate need of a vacay? Well, be careful who you book with, because the flicks trips in Permanent Vacation are dream holidays that you’ll never return from.
Featuring murderous mini-breaks and sun, sea, sand and psychos, these gory getaways feature everything from island paradises full of monsters and mutants to nature breaks from the rat race that will be the death of you. So, pack your sunglasses and flip-flops, but don’t bother buying a return ticket, because you’re going on a Permanent Vacation.
Titles Include: Horrors of Malformed Men, Lake Michigan Monster, The Wind.
Also on July 7, subscribers are...
- 6/27/2023
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
Arrow Offers Classic and Cutting Edge Cult Cinema - July 2023 Lineup Includes Spaghetti Westerns, a Trip Through History, the Inspiration of Josh Ruben and More!: "London, UK - Arrow Video is excited to announce the July 2023 lineup of their subscription-based Arrow platform, available to subscribers in the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland.
July 7 starts the month in sun and fun with Permanent Vacation (UK/Ire/US/CA).
In desperate need of a vacay? Well, be careful who you book with, because the flicks trips in Permanent Vacation are dream holidays that you’ll never return from.
Featuring murderous mini-breaks and sun, sea, sand and psychos, these gory getaways feature everything from island paradises full of monsters and mutants to nature breaks from the rat race that will be the death of you. So, pack your sunglasses and flip-flops, but don’t bother buying a return ticket, because you...
July 7 starts the month in sun and fun with Permanent Vacation (UK/Ire/US/CA).
In desperate need of a vacay? Well, be careful who you book with, because the flicks trips in Permanent Vacation are dream holidays that you’ll never return from.
Featuring murderous mini-breaks and sun, sea, sand and psychos, these gory getaways feature everything from island paradises full of monsters and mutants to nature breaks from the rat race that will be the death of you. So, pack your sunglasses and flip-flops, but don’t bother buying a return ticket, because you...
- 6/22/2023
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
The Film
When Battle Royale came out in 2000, I was 19 and just really getting into foreign language films. Like many of my generation of cinephiles, it was an early part of my DVD collection. While I enjoyed it though, I have to confess that I’ve not been back to it for over 15 years, and I never used it as a jumping off point to discover more of its director Kinji Fukasaku’s work. On this evidence, that was an error.
After a failed rebellion in which 37,000 Christians are massacred, their leader Amakusa Shiro (Kenji Sawada) returns from the dead, pledges his soul to the Devil and becomes a demon who can resurrect others to join him in his quest for vengeance. This is an interesting jumping off point for the film, because for much of the opening half hour, as Shiro gathers his band of demons (including swordmaster Miyamoto Musashi...
When Battle Royale came out in 2000, I was 19 and just really getting into foreign language films. Like many of my generation of cinephiles, it was an early part of my DVD collection. While I enjoyed it though, I have to confess that I’ve not been back to it for over 15 years, and I never used it as a jumping off point to discover more of its director Kinji Fukasaku’s work. On this evidence, that was an error.
After a failed rebellion in which 37,000 Christians are massacred, their leader Amakusa Shiro (Kenji Sawada) returns from the dead, pledges his soul to the Devil and becomes a demon who can resurrect others to join him in his quest for vengeance. This is an interesting jumping off point for the film, because for much of the opening half hour, as Shiro gathers his band of demons (including swordmaster Miyamoto Musashi...
- 6/21/2023
- by Sam Inglis
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Sadao Nakajima passed away from pneumonia on 11th June, 2023. He was 88 years old. Active as a director until just four years before his passing, Nakajima left behind legacy of work that most directors would dream of. Alongside Kinji Fukasaku and Junya Sato, he is credited as being one of the main names to define the Yakuza genre, with some of his greatest works coming within that genre, showcasing a range of styles and narrative complexities while at it. Having joined Toei Studio in 1959, he worked primarily at Toei's Kyoto studio, despite running his contract out and going independent in 1967. In fact, the majority of the titles we list here are productions from after he left Toei as a contracted director and yet continued to work for the Studio as a freelancer, likely because of the freedom it provided him and his relationship with their existing roster of actors and crew,...
- 6/21/2023
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
by Nathan Stuart
On June 11 2023, Sadao Nakajima sadly passed away in Kyoto after a bout of pneumonia at the age of 88. He leaves behind a rich and deep cinematic legacy, one that has rightly been praised in his home of Japan, but one that has never received its proper recognition in the West, much in part to his work being overshadowed, ironically, by that of his friend Kinji Fukasaku. Outside of niche circles of fans who have zealously consumed as much of his work as possible via bootlegs, not much has been said or written about Nakajima, despite his 1976 Jitsuroku classic ‘Okinawa Yakuza War' already having a cult following, even without a legitimate disc release.
Born in Togane City in 1934, he lost his father at the age of 10 to the Second World War and would go on to graduate from Tokyo Metropolitan Hibiya High School in 1954, before spending a further...
On June 11 2023, Sadao Nakajima sadly passed away in Kyoto after a bout of pneumonia at the age of 88. He leaves behind a rich and deep cinematic legacy, one that has rightly been praised in his home of Japan, but one that has never received its proper recognition in the West, much in part to his work being overshadowed, ironically, by that of his friend Kinji Fukasaku. Outside of niche circles of fans who have zealously consumed as much of his work as possible via bootlegs, not much has been said or written about Nakajima, despite his 1976 Jitsuroku classic ‘Okinawa Yakuza War' already having a cult following, even without a legitimate disc release.
Born in Togane City in 1934, he lost his father at the age of 10 to the Second World War and would go on to graduate from Tokyo Metropolitan Hibiya High School in 1954, before spending a further...
- 6/20/2023
- by Guest Writer
- AsianMoviePulse
By Earl Jackson
In 1939, Sadaho Maeda was born in Fukuoka, the third of five children to an Imperial Army pilot and a retired track-and field runner. While still a toddler, the family moved to Chiba Prefecture where Sadaho grew up. Perhaps that location was the inspiration of the publicity people at Toei in 1960 to rename this “new face” – Shin'ichi Chiba. He became a teen favorite as a “funky hat” detective in a series directed by Kinji Fukasaku, and then gained another fan base with his pursuit of serious martial arts training. Chiba was already a powerhouse by the time the three “Street Fighter” films in 1974 introduced him to the world as Sonny Chiba.
If the world had granted him more time, Toru Murakawa's “Game Trilogy” in 1978-1979, might have done the same for Yusaku Matsuda. Although it was always already too late for Matsuda, we now have time to...
In 1939, Sadaho Maeda was born in Fukuoka, the third of five children to an Imperial Army pilot and a retired track-and field runner. While still a toddler, the family moved to Chiba Prefecture where Sadaho grew up. Perhaps that location was the inspiration of the publicity people at Toei in 1960 to rename this “new face” – Shin'ichi Chiba. He became a teen favorite as a “funky hat” detective in a series directed by Kinji Fukasaku, and then gained another fan base with his pursuit of serious martial arts training. Chiba was already a powerhouse by the time the three “Street Fighter” films in 1974 introduced him to the world as Sonny Chiba.
If the world had granted him more time, Toru Murakawa's “Game Trilogy” in 1978-1979, might have done the same for Yusaku Matsuda. Although it was always already too late for Matsuda, we now have time to...
- 5/26/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
In the early ’90s, Japan’s Takeshi “Beat” Kitano was on a roll, with a superb string of nuanced crime movies that stood in stark contrast to the good-vs.-evil bullet operas that were coming out of Hong Kong at the time. Kitano’s darkly funny cynicism (who else could have made Violent Cop?) made him stand out by miles, but it soon became his weakness, as became evident in the lean period after the success of Zatoichi in 2013. The experimental, semi-autobiographical trilogy that followed — Takeshis’, Glory to the Filmmaker and Achilles and the Tortoise — seemed to offer little more than self-sabotage, the work of a frustrated artist trying to take a blowtorch to his populist image without much thought for the future.
The collateral damage was his international reputation, which took a hit to the extent that his next trilogy, the Outrage series, generally was received as the half-hearted work of a bored auteur.
The collateral damage was his international reputation, which took a hit to the extent that his next trilogy, the Outrage series, generally was received as the half-hearted work of a bored auteur.
- 5/24/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Samurai Reincarnation [Makai TENSHŌ] (Masters of Cinema) Special Edition Blu-ray is available to Pre-order now from the Eureka Store http://bit.ly/42x5ua2
In the aftermath of a failed rebellion, Amakusa Shiro (Kenji Sawada) is crucified, but returns as a vengeance-filled demon with the power to resurrect the dead. Shiro uses his power to assemble a team of undead warriors—including legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi (Ken Ogata)—and the only one who can stop them is the wandering samurai, Yagyu Jubei (Sonny Chiba).
A spectacular chanbara fantasy epic from Kinji Fukasaku (Battle Royale), Samurai Reincarnation makes its UK debut from a stunning 2K restoration as part of the Masters of Cinema series.
Special Edition Blu-ray Features:*
Limited Edition Slipcase (First print run of 2000 copies) featuring artwork by Takato Yamamato | 1080p presentation on Blu-ray from a 2K restoration of the original film elements | Uncompressed original Japanese mono audio | Alternate English dubbed audio...
In the aftermath of a failed rebellion, Amakusa Shiro (Kenji Sawada) is crucified, but returns as a vengeance-filled demon with the power to resurrect the dead. Shiro uses his power to assemble a team of undead warriors—including legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi (Ken Ogata)—and the only one who can stop them is the wandering samurai, Yagyu Jubei (Sonny Chiba).
A spectacular chanbara fantasy epic from Kinji Fukasaku (Battle Royale), Samurai Reincarnation makes its UK debut from a stunning 2K restoration as part of the Masters of Cinema series.
Special Edition Blu-ray Features:*
Limited Edition Slipcase (First print run of 2000 copies) featuring artwork by Takato Yamamato | 1080p presentation on Blu-ray from a 2K restoration of the original film elements | Uncompressed original Japanese mono audio | Alternate English dubbed audio...
- 3/31/2023
- by Don Anelli
- AsianMoviePulse
Emerging from the rubble of two war-ending weapons of mass destruction as well as its own barbarism, Japan was reduced to its knees. With a cascade of constitutional changes at the hands of their occupiers, as well as the liberation of so-called “Sangokujin” whom Japan had spent the century systematically oppressing and obliterating, the people looked on in punishment as their country underwent rapid reformation once again. It is against this backdrop Rikio Ishikawa (a soul-destroyingly evil performance from Tetsuya Watari), the son of a country humiliated beyond defeat, the product of the pillaging of a national identity, violently defies salvation as a modern-day Ryunosuke Tsukue in Kinji Fukasaku’s most abyssal picture of his ferociously graphic career; enter the “Graveyard of Honour”.
Following Ishikawa’s tumultuous descent into oblivion over the span of the Japanese Occupation, “Graveyard of Honour “endeavours to plunder the lowest depths of immorality, deliberately finding...
Following Ishikawa’s tumultuous descent into oblivion over the span of the Japanese Occupation, “Graveyard of Honour “endeavours to plunder the lowest depths of immorality, deliberately finding...
- 2/19/2023
- by JC Cansdale-Cook
- AsianMoviePulse
This month’s installment of Deep Cuts Rising features a variety of horror movies. Some selections reflect a specific day or event in February, and others were chosen at random.
Regardless of how they came to be here, or what they’re about, these past movies can generally be considered overlooked, forgotten or unknown.
From a killer bear to a man-eating demon, here are five hidden horror gems and deep cuts that you can check out in February 2023.
Trapped (1973)
Directed by Frank De Felitta.
In this offering from ABC Movie of the Week, James Brolin plays a divorced father looking for a certain gift for his daughter. Had he not tried to thwart a mugging, though, his character might have been able to deliver the gift on time. Instead, the protagonist is rendered unconscious until he wakes up alone in the mall. Well, not completely alone because the grounds are...
Regardless of how they came to be here, or what they’re about, these past movies can generally be considered overlooked, forgotten or unknown.
From a killer bear to a man-eating demon, here are five hidden horror gems and deep cuts that you can check out in February 2023.
Trapped (1973)
Directed by Frank De Felitta.
In this offering from ABC Movie of the Week, James Brolin plays a divorced father looking for a certain gift for his daughter. Had he not tried to thwart a mugging, though, his character might have been able to deliver the gift on time. Instead, the protagonist is rendered unconscious until he wakes up alone in the mall. Well, not completely alone because the grounds are...
- 2/14/2023
- by Paul Lê
- bloody-disgusting.com
The Japanese entertainment industry has lost a truly marvelous talent. On January 15th, 2023, versatile character actor Noboru Mitani passed away at the age of 90. On the website Yahoo! Japan, Kyodo News reports the cause of death being “due to acute exacerbation of chronic heart failure”( Kyodo News 1). Mitani worked with an array of filmmakers, frequently appearing in the works of Kinji Fukasaku and Juzo Itami. He was also quite active in television and theatre. Tokusatsu fans may recognize him for his appearances in “Return of Ultraman,” “Ultraman Taro,” and “Space Sheriff Gavan,” while anime enthusiasts may remember him for voice acting in the series “Princess Tutu.” His wide range, colorful personality, and how real he could make his characters feel made him stand out as an actor. He also was often able to convey so much through his facial expressions alone, even in moments without dialogue.
Noboru Mitani and Hiroyuki Kawase...
Noboru Mitani and Hiroyuki Kawase...
- 2/3/2023
- by Sean Barry
- AsianMoviePulse
The beginning of the 1970s marked a critical period for the Japanese film industry, as it finally realized it had to come to terms with a changing audience that was more than willing to switch to foreign productions or the television set if their demands were not met. It was also the start of an incredibly creative period in mainstream cinema, with many directors suddenly concentrating on other genres or finally experiencing a kind of freedom they felt they had been denied before. With Kinji Fukasaku’s highly successful “Battles Without Honor and Humanity”-series becoming a new milestone within the Japanese gangster film, many wanted to have their piece of the success. Having collected experiences in many genres besides chanbara, which he still stayed somewhat faithful to in the coming decade, director Hideo Gosha turned to the yakuza genre too with features such as his 1974 effort “Violent City”, which even stars Bunta Sugawara,...
- 12/27/2022
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Produced in 1980, Kinji Fukasaku’s apocalyptic downer peers into the distant future of 1982 to imagine a virus wiping out the earth’s population. A number of civilians and military stationed in Antarctica survive—the plague can’t operate in cold temperatures. Fukasaku’s movie boasts a cast worthy of an Irwin Allen disaster movie, toplined by Sonny Chiba, Glenn Ford, and Chuck Conners. The American cut features a pessimistic finale while the Japanese version concludes on a more hopeful note.
The post Virus appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post Virus appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 12/5/2022
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
The reality of the yakuza in Japan has changed significantly during the last decades, with their lives having nothing to do with what Kinji Fukasaku portrayed in the 70s. A number of the latest productions focus on this change and the current lives of the members of the “underworld”, with movies like the recent “Under the Open Sky” being one of the most prominent examples. Oudai Kojima also implements this approach, focusing, though, on the criminal practices of the current yakuza, through a rather dark approach.
Joint is screening at Camera Japan
After having served 2 years in prison, former yakuza Takeshi Ishigami spent two miserable years working on a construction site, building up funds before he returned to Tokyo with the help of Yasu, his best friend. He is determined to go straight and in order to do that, he decides to invest in a big data startup company. To raise the funds,...
Joint is screening at Camera Japan
After having served 2 years in prison, former yakuza Takeshi Ishigami spent two miserable years working on a construction site, building up funds before he returned to Tokyo with the help of Yasu, his best friend. He is determined to go straight and in order to do that, he decides to invest in a big data startup company. To raise the funds,...
- 9/22/2022
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
After three features which focused on Japanese media, society and the cult surrounding his own persona, director Takeshi Kitano decided to return to the yakuza-genre with “Outrage”, which was the start of a trilogy of movies about the inner turmoil of a criminal syndicate. Given the commercial failure of works such as “Takeshis’” and “Achilles and the Tortoise”, this decision was perhaps also fueled by the idea of winning back the kind of audience that got to know the filmmaker through “Sonatine”, “Brother” or “Hana-Bi”. While this premise does not actually sound like “Outrage” might be Kitano’s passion project, the movie itself, along with its successors, is easily one of the best works of the director and, at the very least, another look at the connections of organized crime and society.
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
After a meeting at the headquarters of the Sanno-kai,...
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
After a meeting at the headquarters of the Sanno-kai,...
- 9/4/2022
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Many international viewers probably know filmmaker Kinji Fukasaku for his terrific dystopian action-thriller “Battle Royale,” a movie that blends dark comedy with tragedy and kickstarted a narrative concept that would continue to be frequently utilized in other fictional works. Some may associate him with his campy sci-fi features like “The Green Slime.” Yet, early on, the director gave Japanese audiences viscerally outspoken and bold features. Look no further than his yakuza film series “Battles Without Honor and Humanity,” which tears apart Japan’s most operative crime organizations. The director was never afraid to speak his mind on a matter, even if he were to receive criticism as a result. Fukasaku’s mindset is openly expressed in his haunting anti-war masterpiece “Under the Flag of the Rising Sun.”
on Amazon
The film is based on a collection of war short stories by Shoji Yuki. Beyond the source of adaptation,...
on Amazon
The film is based on a collection of war short stories by Shoji Yuki. Beyond the source of adaptation,...
- 8/12/2022
- by Sean Barry
- AsianMoviePulse
There was a time when it was more likely for a successful foreign film to be remade in English than see a proper release in America. From the decade-long ban on Kinji Fukasaku’s Battle Royale to the Lovecraftian Valdemar Legacy films never getting an official Region 1 release, being a fan of overseas genre thrills […]
The post Six of the Best Foreign-Language Found Footage Movies appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
The post Six of the Best Foreign-Language Found Footage Movies appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
- 8/4/2022
- by Luiz H. C.
- bloody-disgusting.com
Best known for his successful five-part “Battle Without Honor and Humanity” or “The Yakuza Papers” film series from 1973 to 1974 directed by Kinji Fukasaku in which he played the real-life gangster Shozo Hirono, Bunta Sugawara is certainly no stranger when it comes to yakuza films. Nevertheless, inspired by Raoul Walsh’s gangster film “White Heat” (1949) starring James Cagney, Sugawara and Toei Company came up with their very own machine-gun blazing Japanese version in 1976.
During one rainy night, three gangsters wearing monster masks steal a bag of drugs worth one and a half million yen from some members of the Mutsumi Clan after gunning them down. While making their getaway, gang leader Ryuta Yabuki (Bunta Sugarwara) kills one of his masked partners because of his injury. Interestingly, the remaining member, a female driver, turns out to be his own mother, Masa (Aiko Mimasu). After hiding their loot in a sewer, the pair...
During one rainy night, three gangsters wearing monster masks steal a bag of drugs worth one and a half million yen from some members of the Mutsumi Clan after gunning them down. While making their getaway, gang leader Ryuta Yabuki (Bunta Sugarwara) kills one of his masked partners because of his injury. Interestingly, the remaining member, a female driver, turns out to be his own mother, Masa (Aiko Mimasu). After hiding their loot in a sewer, the pair...
- 8/3/2022
- by David Chew
- AsianMoviePulse
“Battle Royale” with cheese?
Quentin Tarantino revealed during Jimmy Kimmel Live! that he wished he directed the 2001 Japanese action film “Battle Royale,” which the Oscar winner said directly inspired Suzanne Collins’ “Hunger Games” series and subsequent films.
“Battle Royale,” directed by Kinji Fukasaku and based on the novel by Kōshun Takami, follows a group of junior high students who are forced to fight to the death in a dystopian world.
“I’m a big fan of the Japanese movie ‘Battle Royale,’ which is what ‘Hunger Games’ was based on,” Tarantino explained. “Well, ‘Hunger Games’ just ripped it off. That would have been awesome to have directed ‘Battle Royale.'”
Tarantino included an ode to “Battle Royale” by casting star Chiaki Kuriyama in “Kill Bill: Volume 1” as schoolgirl Gogo Yubari in the 2003 film. While “The Hunger Games” lands the prequel feature “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,...
Quentin Tarantino revealed during Jimmy Kimmel Live! that he wished he directed the 2001 Japanese action film “Battle Royale,” which the Oscar winner said directly inspired Suzanne Collins’ “Hunger Games” series and subsequent films.
“Battle Royale,” directed by Kinji Fukasaku and based on the novel by Kōshun Takami, follows a group of junior high students who are forced to fight to the death in a dystopian world.
“I’m a big fan of the Japanese movie ‘Battle Royale,’ which is what ‘Hunger Games’ was based on,” Tarantino explained. “Well, ‘Hunger Games’ just ripped it off. That would have been awesome to have directed ‘Battle Royale.'”
Tarantino included an ode to “Battle Royale” by casting star Chiaki Kuriyama in “Kill Bill: Volume 1” as schoolgirl Gogo Yubari in the 2003 film. While “The Hunger Games” lands the prequel feature “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,...
- 7/19/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Director Kinji Fukasaku’s (“Battle Royale”) “Street Mobster” is a yakuza rise and fall story that was pivotal to both the director and its lead Bunta Sugawara, paving the way for their subsequent collaborations on the landmark “Battles Without Honour and Humanity” series that began the following year.
On release after five years in prison, a yakuza gangster comes face to face with a prostitute who he had assaulted years earlier. While the two outcasts form an unlikely bond, he joins with his previous gang members to build up their gang and shake up the two leading yakuza clans who control the city.
However, when the new outfit goes too far into the turf of the big boys, they find themselves caught in the midst of a violent reprisal before an offer of patronage appears from an unlikely source.
On release after five years in prison, a yakuza gangster comes face to face with a prostitute who he had assaulted years earlier. While the two outcasts form an unlikely bond, he joins with his previous gang members to build up their gang and shake up the two leading yakuza clans who control the city.
However, when the new outfit goes too far into the turf of the big boys, they find themselves caught in the midst of a violent reprisal before an offer of patronage appears from an unlikely source.
- 5/13/2022
- by Don Anelli
- AsianMoviePulse
Battle Royale Review — Battle Royale (2000) Film Review, a movie directed by Kinji Fukasaku, and starring Takeshi Kitano, Tatsaya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Taro Yamamoto, Chiaki Kuriyama, Takashi Tsukamoto, and Sôsuke Takaoka. More than two decades have passed since this controversial yet seminal dystopian film was first released in Japan. The film sticks fairly close to [...]
Continue reading: Film Review: Battle Royale (2000): A Vintage Tale for Modern Times and Sensibilities...
Continue reading: Film Review: Battle Royale (2000): A Vintage Tale for Modern Times and Sensibilities...
- 5/11/2022
- by David McDonald
- Film-Book
The school of Yakuza films Kinji Fukasaku set up with Yakuza Papers found a number of students in the following years, implementing his frantic pace in the editing, the intense action, and the occasional news strip presentation of the real events. Sadao Nakajima is one of those “students” with his “Terror of Yakuza” following the path of the second part of the quintology, “Hiroshima Death Match”. The movie was initially banned in Okinawa because the local government feared it would incite too much interest in the local yakuza and reignite the rather violent events the story is based on.
“Terror of Yakuza” is screening at Japan Society
These events took place in Okinawa in December 1971, the year before its reversion to Japan and resulted in the 4th Okinawa conflict. In this setting, Hideo Nakazato, a yakuza who has just been released from prison, is trying to adapt to all the changes that he sees happening,...
“Terror of Yakuza” is screening at Japan Society
These events took place in Okinawa in December 1971, the year before its reversion to Japan and resulted in the 4th Okinawa conflict. In this setting, Hideo Nakazato, a yakuza who has just been released from prison, is trying to adapt to all the changes that he sees happening,...
- 5/7/2022
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Hou Zuxin’s ‘The Italian Recipe’ to open the 24th edition of the Asian festival in Italy.
The Far East Film Festival (Feff), held in the Italian town of Udine, has unveiled the full line-up for its 24th edition, including 13 world premieres.
The festival, which has established itself as a European showcase for Asian cinema, is set to run from April 22-30 and will open with the world premiere of The Italian Recipe from China’s Zuxin Hou. The romantic comedy, starring Huang Yao and Liu Xan, is mostly set in Rome and marks just the second official co-production between Italy and China.
The Far East Film Festival (Feff), held in the Italian town of Udine, has unveiled the full line-up for its 24th edition, including 13 world premieres.
The festival, which has established itself as a European showcase for Asian cinema, is set to run from April 22-30 and will open with the world premiere of The Italian Recipe from China’s Zuxin Hou. The romantic comedy, starring Huang Yao and Liu Xan, is mostly set in Rome and marks just the second official co-production between Italy and China.
- 4/12/2022
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Tokyo Vice, which premiered on HBO Max on April 7, is a series adaptation of Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan, the 2009 memoir by Jake Adelstein, played by Ansel Elgort in the series. He was the first non-Japanese reporter ever hired by Yomiuri Shimbun, one of the biggest and most respected newspapers in Japan.
Adelstein is the only American on the crime beat at the paper, and is given an outsider’s help. In the series, he is taken under the wing by Hiroto Katagiri, played by Ken Watanabe, a detective in the organized crime division. He is investigating his own group of outsiders. Adelstein ultimately fled Japan when an article for The Washington Post got him in trouble with the yakuza mob.
The yakuza are well known in Japan. They inspired fan magazines, manga, and have been the subject of quite a few gangster films.
Adelstein is the only American on the crime beat at the paper, and is given an outsider’s help. In the series, he is taken under the wing by Hiroto Katagiri, played by Ken Watanabe, a detective in the organized crime division. He is investigating his own group of outsiders. Adelstein ultimately fled Japan when an article for The Washington Post got him in trouble with the yakuza mob.
The yakuza are well known in Japan. They inspired fan magazines, manga, and have been the subject of quite a few gangster films.
- 4/7/2022
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Mubi has unveiled its streaming offerings this April in the U.S. and leading the pack is a special spotlight on Franz Rogowski, star of their recent theatrical release Great Freedom. Selections include Christian Petzold’s Transit as well as a pair of underseen offerings, Luzifer and Aisles.
Also in the lineup are a number of recent releases, including Dominik Graf’s Fabian: Going to the Dogs, Alice Rohrwacher, Francesco Munzi, and Pietro Marcello’s Futura, Mario Furloni and Kate McLean’s Freeland, and Sion Sono’s Red Post On Escher Street. Timed with her new documentary Cow, a trio of shorts by Andrea Arnold will also arrive.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
April 1 | Battle Royale | Kinji Fukasaku
April 2 | Mood Indigo | Michel Gondry
April 3 | Army of Shadows | Jean-Pierre Melville
April 4 | Wasp | Andrea Arnold | Three Shorts by Andrea Arnold
April 5 | Tracks | Henry Jaglom | Method in the...
Also in the lineup are a number of recent releases, including Dominik Graf’s Fabian: Going to the Dogs, Alice Rohrwacher, Francesco Munzi, and Pietro Marcello’s Futura, Mario Furloni and Kate McLean’s Freeland, and Sion Sono’s Red Post On Escher Street. Timed with her new documentary Cow, a trio of shorts by Andrea Arnold will also arrive.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
April 1 | Battle Royale | Kinji Fukasaku
April 2 | Mood Indigo | Michel Gondry
April 3 | Army of Shadows | Jean-Pierre Melville
April 4 | Wasp | Andrea Arnold | Three Shorts by Andrea Arnold
April 5 | Tracks | Henry Jaglom | Method in the...
- 3/31/2022
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
(We are running this review from 2016 in commemoration of Pearl Harbor Day.)
By Lee Pfeiffer
If ever an epic deserved the Blu-ray deluxe treatment, Fox's 1970 Pearl Harbor spectacular Tora! Tora! Tora! is it. The film was a major money-loser for the studio at the time and replicated the experience of Cleopatra from a decade before in that this single production threatened to bankrupt the studio. Fox had bankrolled a number of costly bombs around this period including Doctor Doolittle, Hello, Dolly and Star! Fortunately, they also had enough hits to stay afloat. However, the Tora! debacle cost both Fox chairman Darryl F. Zanuck and his son, production head Richard Zanuck, their jobs. Ironically, Darryl F. Zanuck had saved the studio a decade before by finally bringing Cleopatra to a costly conclusion and off-setting losses with spectacular grosses from his 1962 D-Day blockbuster The Longest Day. By 1966, Zanuck and that film's producer...
By Lee Pfeiffer
If ever an epic deserved the Blu-ray deluxe treatment, Fox's 1970 Pearl Harbor spectacular Tora! Tora! Tora! is it. The film was a major money-loser for the studio at the time and replicated the experience of Cleopatra from a decade before in that this single production threatened to bankrupt the studio. Fox had bankrolled a number of costly bombs around this period including Doctor Doolittle, Hello, Dolly and Star! Fortunately, they also had enough hits to stay afloat. However, the Tora! debacle cost both Fox chairman Darryl F. Zanuck and his son, production head Richard Zanuck, their jobs. Ironically, Darryl F. Zanuck had saved the studio a decade before by finally bringing Cleopatra to a costly conclusion and off-setting losses with spectacular grosses from his 1962 D-Day blockbuster The Longest Day. By 1966, Zanuck and that film's producer...
- 12/7/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Salor Suit and Machine Gun
A perky high-schooler takes on the mob in “Sailor Suit and Machine Gun”, a one-of-a-kind genre-bender that riffs on the yakuza film, coming-of-age drama and ‘idol movie’, inventively adapted from Jiro Akagawa’s popular novel by director Shinji Somai, a massively influential figure in Japanese cinema whose work has been little seen outside his homeland.
Hoshi Izumi is a young innocent forced to grow up quickly when her father dies and she finds herself next in line as the boss of a moribund yakuza clan. Wrenched from the security of her classroom and thrust into the heart of the criminal underworld, she must come to terms with the fact that her actions hold the key to the life or death of the men under her command as they come under fire from rival gangs.
Presented in both its Original Theatrical and longer Complete versions, and...
A perky high-schooler takes on the mob in “Sailor Suit and Machine Gun”, a one-of-a-kind genre-bender that riffs on the yakuza film, coming-of-age drama and ‘idol movie’, inventively adapted from Jiro Akagawa’s popular novel by director Shinji Somai, a massively influential figure in Japanese cinema whose work has been little seen outside his homeland.
Hoshi Izumi is a young innocent forced to grow up quickly when her father dies and she finds herself next in line as the boss of a moribund yakuza clan. Wrenched from the security of her classroom and thrust into the heart of the criminal underworld, she must come to terms with the fact that her actions hold the key to the life or death of the men under her command as they come under fire from rival gangs.
Presented in both its Original Theatrical and longer Complete versions, and...
- 8/29/2021
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Shinichi “Sonny” Chiba, the Japanese actor and martial arts legend who had roles in American films like “Kill Bill” and “The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift,” died on Thursday, his agent confirmed to Variety. He was 82.
Chiba’s career in film and television spanned from the 1960s through the 2010s, and he appeared in countless Japanese titles, in addition to some popular American films. In many of his projects, he showcased his expert martial arts skills, and he went on to choreograph fight scenes later in his career.
Born Sadaho Maeda in Fukuoka, Japan, on January 22, 1939, he began learning martial arts while at the Nippon Sports Science University in 1957. He studied under karate master Masutatsu “Mas” Oyama and earned a first-degree black belt in 1965. He later played Oyama in a trilogy of films, “Champion of Death,” “Karate Bearfighter” and “Karate for Life,” in the late 1970s. In 1984, he received a fourth-degree black belt.
Chiba’s career in film and television spanned from the 1960s through the 2010s, and he appeared in countless Japanese titles, in addition to some popular American films. In many of his projects, he showcased his expert martial arts skills, and he went on to choreograph fight scenes later in his career.
Born Sadaho Maeda in Fukuoka, Japan, on January 22, 1939, he began learning martial arts while at the Nippon Sports Science University in 1957. He studied under karate master Masutatsu “Mas” Oyama and earned a first-degree black belt in 1965. He later played Oyama in a trilogy of films, “Champion of Death,” “Karate Bearfighter” and “Karate for Life,” in the late 1970s. In 1984, he received a fourth-degree black belt.
- 8/19/2021
- by Jordan Moreau
- Variety Film + TV
Born in Kobe, Japan, Oudai Kojima lived in New York City for 10 years before returning to Japan. After studying architecture at Tokyo University, he changed direction to filmmaking. He served as an assistant director to Tomokazu Yamada before going freelance and starting to direct full time. While directing numerous music videos, commercials and short films, he started work on his first feature film, Joint, in 2019. The film premiered at the 2021 Osaka Asian Film Festival and is scheduled for release in Japan in autumn 2021.
Kim Chang-bak is a S. Korean actor who was castein the film, but eventually also became part of the production, working as executive producer, in his first effort in the role.
On the occasion of “Joint” screening at New York Asian Film Festival, we speak with them about shooting a film about modern yakuza, crime, Korean immigrants, Shogen, Ikken Yamamoto and Kim Jin-cheol, the production in general,...
Kim Chang-bak is a S. Korean actor who was castein the film, but eventually also became part of the production, working as executive producer, in his first effort in the role.
On the occasion of “Joint” screening at New York Asian Film Festival, we speak with them about shooting a film about modern yakuza, crime, Korean immigrants, Shogen, Ikken Yamamoto and Kim Jin-cheol, the production in general,...
- 8/17/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
In 2002, there was possibly no way of avoiding the presence of Japanese director Takashi Miike in his home country, given the incredible output of eight films released that year. Starting off with the final entry in the “Dead or Alive”-trilogy 2002 included such features as “The Happiness of the Katakuris”, “Agitator” as well as “Graveyard of Honor”, a re-interpretation of the original directed by Kinji Fukasaku in 1975. While some of the entries of that year have more or less disappeared into obscurity, perhaps one of the most notable development in Miike’s career is the occurrence of two films – “Graveyard of Honor” and “The Happiness of the Katakuris” – based on an already existing film. But then again, a “remake” by Takashi Miike is never just a “remake”, it is always something quite unique.
In an interview during the 2002 International Rotterdam Film Festival, Miike finds a moment of...
In an interview during the 2002 International Rotterdam Film Festival, Miike finds a moment of...
- 8/9/2021
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
This year’s festival will highlight in-person programming at Film at Lincoln Center and Sva Theatre, featuring over 60 world, international, and North American premieres, with many selections also available virtually to fans of Asian cinema across the country.
On August 6, 2021, the New York Asian Film Foundation and Film at Lincoln Center will kick off the 20th edition of the New York Asian Film Festival (Nyaff), a hybrid event with Nyaff’s largest film lineup to date. The Festival will screen over 60 films, both virtually and in person, to audiences in New York and across the country from August 6 – 22, 2021.
Nyaff’s 2021 lineup will include two world premieres, six international premieres, 29 North American premieres, eight U.S. premieres, and nine New York premieres, showcasing the most exciting action, comedy, drama, thriller, romance, horror, and art-house films from East Asia.
Following an unprecedented year in which Covid-19 and increased violence against the Asian...
On August 6, 2021, the New York Asian Film Foundation and Film at Lincoln Center will kick off the 20th edition of the New York Asian Film Festival (Nyaff), a hybrid event with Nyaff’s largest film lineup to date. The Festival will screen over 60 films, both virtually and in person, to audiences in New York and across the country from August 6 – 22, 2021.
Nyaff’s 2021 lineup will include two world premieres, six international premieres, 29 North American premieres, eight U.S. premieres, and nine New York premieres, showcasing the most exciting action, comedy, drama, thriller, romance, horror, and art-house films from East Asia.
Following an unprecedented year in which Covid-19 and increased violence against the Asian...
- 7/8/2021
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
This mix is a focus on moments of Johann Sebastian Bach’s neverending filmography that have stuck to memory. The opener belongs in my mind to Kinji Fukasaku’s Battle Royale (2000). “Air on D String” has over 30,000 titles featured on an IMDb search and I find myself thinking of Scorsese's After Hours (1985). Bach’s sound is sacred, a fact that two of cinema’s beloved philosophers, Ingmar Bergman and Andrei Tarkovsky responded to throughout their careers. This mix includes Bach in Persona (1966) and The Sacrifice (1986). The earliest use in horror, in Rouben Mamoulian’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) with the “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Bwv 565” is now synonymous with the macabre. A piece which fans of Fantasia (1940) and Sunset Boulevard (1950) will recognize too. And an audience may feel differently about “The Goldberg Variations” upon watching Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of The Lambs (1991). The sounds of Bach...
- 7/1/2021
- MUBI
Despite being active since 2013, Michihito Fujii has only managed to become more widely known in 2019, when two of his movies, “Night and Day” and “The Journalist” garnered much attention, both in Japan and internationally. “A Family” follows in the same footsteps of the two, both stylistically and contextually, with the second aspect focusing on an effort to present themes that are usually depicted in genre fashion, with realism. This time he deals with the world of yakuza, and particularly the concept of family within these organizations, which, supposedly, is one of the main values of the underworld.
“A Family” is screening at Toronto Japanese Film Festival
The story coves two decades in the life of Kenji Yamamoto, starting in 1999, when he has just lost his yakuza father, becoming an orphan, something that has turned him into an insolent punk, who seems to fear and respect of nothing, and is always...
“A Family” is screening at Toronto Japanese Film Festival
The story coves two decades in the life of Kenji Yamamoto, starting in 1999, when he has just lost his yakuza father, becoming an orphan, something that has turned him into an insolent punk, who seems to fear and respect of nothing, and is always...
- 6/7/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
When discussing a film movement, it’s always difficult to pin down the exact moment it began. With Heroic Bloodshed it’s often considered that “A Better Tomorrow” was the key movie but “The Story of Wu Viet” and “Coolie Killer” before it could be said to have demonstrated themes prior. Going back, we have “The Club” by Kirk Wong in 1981 but even two years before that we have “Cops and Robbers”. So a genre evolves organically rather than emerging fully formed. So it’s an interesting release on blu ray and provides a chance to catch a moment in time as a new style of action began to emerge in Hong Kong.
A team of cops headed by Inspector Chow (Kam Hing-Yin) and Sergeant Kei (Wong Chung) successfully foil a robbery on a security van despite Kei being wounded. A gang of bank robbers including the...
A team of cops headed by Inspector Chow (Kam Hing-Yin) and Sergeant Kei (Wong Chung) successfully foil a robbery on a security van despite Kei being wounded. A gang of bank robbers including the...
- 5/10/2021
- by Ben Stykuc
- AsianMoviePulse
The reality of the yakuza in Japan has changed significantly during the last decades, with their lives having nothing to do with what Kinji Fukasaku portrayed in the 70s. A number of the latest productions focus on this change and the current lives of the members of the “underworld”, with movies like the recent “Under the Open Sky” being one of the most prominent examples. Oudai Kojima also implements this approach, focusing, though, on the criminal practices of the current yakuza, through a rather dark approach.
Joint is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival
After having served 2 years in prison, former yakuza Takeshi Ishigami spent two miserable years working on a construction site, building up funds before he returned to Tokyo with the help of Yasu, his best friend. He is determined to go straight and in order to do that, he decides to invest in a big data startup company.
Joint is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival
After having served 2 years in prison, former yakuza Takeshi Ishigami spent two miserable years working on a construction site, building up funds before he returned to Tokyo with the help of Yasu, his best friend. He is determined to go straight and in order to do that, he decides to invest in a big data startup company.
- 3/12/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
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