The Foreign Duck, the Native Duck, and God in a Coin Locker / Ahiru to kamo no koinrokka (2006)

The God in the coin locker is Bob Dylan, whose “Blowin' in the Wind” is used as a repeated motif in this most unexpected film. Shiina sings it on the train to his freshman year at one of the several universities to be found in Sendai, and the story itself often seems to be blowing …

Murders in the Dollhouse / Midare karakuri (1979)

From the first sounds of Midare karakuri's title music, we know that we are securely in the international movie-land of the seventies, even before we see Yusaku Matsuda's hair style. Coming off the success of three movies that made Matsuda Japan's top modern-dress action star, he again plays a detective, but with the action skills …

Beast in the Shadows / Edogawa Rampo no injû (1977)

One of the most unexpected and generally unknown aspects of Japanese movies in the seventies was the revival of the murder mystery as a top of the bill feature. That examples of this genre are all but unseen in Europe or America is no surprise, of course, since every nation produced plenty of those in …

Shadow Within / Kage no kuruma (1970)

A man (Go Kato) sees a beautiful woman (Shima Iwashita) on a crowded bus, and she reminds him of a girl he knew in high school. He speaks to her and she recognizes him. She is a now a widow, selling insurance for a living, but he is married to a woman who is as …