W’s Tragedy / Daburyu no higeki (1984)

Shizuko Natsuki's novel Daburyu no higeki, also known as Murder at Mt. Fuji, had been a best-seller, immediately adapted to TV in 1983. For the Kadokawa-produced movie version in 1984, director Shin'ichiro Sawai and former pinku screenwriter Haruhiko Arai moved the mystery itself into the background to build a vehicle for teen idol Hiroko Yakushimaru …

Funeral / Ososhiki (1984)

Wabisaki and his wife Chizuko are actors who make most of their living from TV commercials. One day Chizuko gets a phone call from her mother that her father has died, and the mother wants her and her husband to organize the funeral. Thus begins Juzo Itami’s quietly charming first movie The Funeral, as pure …

Policeman’s Diary/Keisatsu nikki (1955)

There is a type of movie the Japanese have regularly made that I have rarely found in any of the other major film cultures. It's not quite a comedy, though there are often many chuckles (rather than laughs). It's not quite a tragedy, though things often end badly for many of the characters. It's not …