Wild Life (1997)

It is often very difficult to determine the tone of a Japanese movie, but it has rarely been as difficult as in Wild Life. Hiroki is an ex-boxer working for a company that supplies and repairs pachinko machines. Mizuguchi is a strange undefined character who steals a video from Hiroki's boss Tsumura. Two different yakuza …

Night in Nude / Nudo no yoru (1993)

In a striking pre-title scene, a woman in an elegant black dress walks into an empty bar. She removes her panties and then lies down in a booth with legs spread before the owner, though still wearing her black dress. This sets the tone for Night in Nude, which does not take place in one …

Graceful Brute / Elegant Beast / Shitoyakana kedamono (1962)

In the early sixties, Japanese films began to express a cynicism about the "new Japan" that was appearing* with the return of properity. Possibly the most cynical of all was Elegant Beast, in which we meet the perfect Ozu family turned on its head. Papa, Mama, Son, and Daughter live together, but they are completely …

Zero Focus / Zero no shoten (1961)

One week after her marriage, a young wife sees her new husband off on the train, supposedly to wrap up business at a branch office of his ad agency before moving permanently to Tokyo. He never returns and she sets out to find him. Before she's done, she uncovers a web of secrets and murder …