K-20: The Fiend with Twenty Faces / K-20: Kaijin niju menso den (2008)

I first looked at K-20 because it was written and directed by a woman, Shimako Sato, expecting something similar to Sway or Wild Berries. Boy, was I surprised. What I found instead was a full Spielbergian extravaganza, full of barely credible derring-do told with the same kind of inventive yet nostalgic recreation of the feeling …

Circus Boys / Nijisseiki shônen dokuhon (1989)

The Art Theater Guild had ceased production and distribution in 1986, but its spirit lived on, most notably in the films of Kaizo Hayashi. In a sense, Hayashi was the first Japanese writer/director who fell in love with movies themselves rather than with making movies, which led eventually to his three movies about Maiku Hama, …