Though it was widely seen and written about on its initial release, Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Tokyo Sonata is so full of forgotten detail that it is more than worth a second or a third look. While it is the story of a salaryman who loses his job and almost loses his family, it is far more … Continue reading Tokyo Sonata (2008)
karaoke
Linda Linda Linda (2005)
“Linda, Linda, Linda” was a 1987 pop hit by a group called the Blue Hearts, so the movie is already steeped in nostalgia for much of its original audience before we see the opening scene of high schoolers making an introductory video to their school festival about memories they will keep all their lives. However, … Continue reading Linda Linda Linda (2005)
Face / Kao (2000)
Masako is an overweight and reclusive woman living in and doing sewing for her mother's dry cleaning shop. Her younger sister is a vivacious bar hostess who ridicules her. After Mom dies, the younger sister plans to convert the cleaners to a coffee house and throw her sister out, and in a quick fit of … Continue reading Face / Kao (2000)
Woman in Witness Protection / Marutai no onna (1997)
As with his Last Dance, Juzo Itami's Woman in Witness Protection is a comedy about the threat of death. There are shootings, attempted murders, and enough blood to satisfy any Japanese film-maker of the nineties except perhaps Takashi Miike. At the same time, it takes on a target far more dangerous than mere yakuza -- … Continue reading Woman in Witness Protection / Marutai no onna (1997)
World Apartment Horror (1991)
Japan's post-war surge to prosperity naturally attracted a number of immigrants, many of whom had come from territories Japan had occupied earlier in the century, especially Korea and Taiwan. Chance has thrown a bunch of them together in a dumpy apartment building that the yakuza want to raze to build something new. Ita is ordered … Continue reading World Apartment Horror (1991)
Winter’s Flower / Fuyu no hana (1978)
Winter’s Flower is a lesson in how to make the familiar into something new and engrossing without tricks and gimmicks – simply take it seriously. By 1978, after nearly a decade of the jitsuroku yakuza movies, a sixties yakuza story we had seen hundreds of times before now seems fresh, fascinating, and emotionally powerful. The … Continue reading Winter’s Flower / Fuyu no hana (1978)
Japanonfilm 