In what is definitely one of the greatest transitions in movie history, former actor Juzo Itami wrote and directed his first film in 1984, “The Funeral” which ended up netting five Japanese Academy Awards in 1985, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor for Tsutomu Yamazaki, while it also came first in the annual Kinema Junpo critics' poll. The production was financed by Itami and his wife Nobuko Miyamoto, along with a friend of theirs, the cake mogul Yasushi Tamaoki, and was distributed by Atg. The script was inspired by Itami's own experience of his father-in-law's funeral, while it was shot in the house of the family, and the son of the couple also played a part.
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The movie begins with the narrator introducing us to an elderly couple, Shinkichi Amamiya and his wife, Kikue, just before the former has...
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The movie begins with the narrator introducing us to an elderly couple, Shinkichi Amamiya and his wife, Kikue, just before the former has...
- 9/13/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Melodrama has always been one of the most crowd-pleasing genres, with its themes of misery and triumphing love appealing to a rather large demographic. As such, it comes as no surprise that Atg filmmakers also dealt with the specific genre, with Kenji Yoshida coming up with a movie that seems to want to somewhat reinvigorate the category by introducing strong elements of social commentary.
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Katsuo is a young man who is trying to escape the place he was born, where the dominant mining business is essentially closing down, which is why he has come to Tokyo, where he ends up working as a high rise windows cleaner. Before that, however, he was working at a dump truck business, where we find him for the first time, “accommodating” the needs of a widow whose recently deceased husband looks like him.
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Katsuo is a young man who is trying to escape the place he was born, where the dominant mining business is essentially closing down, which is why he has come to Tokyo, where he ends up working as a high rise windows cleaner. Before that, however, he was working at a dump truck business, where we find him for the first time, “accommodating” the needs of a widow whose recently deceased husband looks like him.
- 9/11/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Considered one of the best films in Nikkatsu’s Roman Porno series and voted as one of the 100 Best Japanese films of the 20th century by Kinema Junpo, “Ichijo’s Wet Lust” focuses on the life of the famous real-life stripper Sayuri Ichijo, who appears in the movie under her own name. Sayuri became famous in 1970, when she pioneered the tokudashi or ‘open stage’ style of striptease, with her allowing the customers to inspect her private parts with a magnifying glass, a tactic however, who had her charged for breaking obscenity laws and jailed for a short period that year. (source: Jasper Sharp’s Behind the Pink Curtain)
The film is based on Sayuri’s real life but follows a fictional narrative, although the protagonist is actually Hiroko Isayama, who plays Harumi, a girl who also works as a stripper in the same parlor as her more famous colleague, and...
The film is based on Sayuri’s real life but follows a fictional narrative, although the protagonist is actually Hiroko Isayama, who plays Harumi, a girl who also works as a stripper in the same parlor as her more famous colleague, and...
- 4/11/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Remake of his own, first 8mm film, which played to sold-out Tokyo movie houses back in 1977, “Panic in High School”, is an impressive film, particularly when one considers that Ishii was just 20 years old when he shot it. Nikkatsu did not take any chances, however, adding Roman Porno veteran Yukihiro Sawada to help with the direction, in a collaboration that resulted in a truly punk production that thrives on its tension.
The film begins with a school kid counting his steps from the street to the top of block of flats, just before he jumps from the roof, in a rather shocking and indicative for what is about to follow intro. The news of the suicide shake the student body of the school the young man attended, but the school master has nothing but a few vague words for the tragic incident, instead asking them to focus on their studies,...
The film begins with a school kid counting his steps from the street to the top of block of flats, just before he jumps from the roof, in a rather shocking and indicative for what is about to follow intro. The news of the suicide shake the student body of the school the young man attended, but the school master has nothing but a few vague words for the tragic incident, instead asking them to focus on their studies,...
- 3/22/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The “Stray Cat Rock”-series was designed by Nikkatsu to compete with Toei’s “Delinquent Boss”-series, in an effort of the company at the time, to attract more youth audiences to its movies, an approach that also included the appearances of pop idols and rock bands, as either themselves or playing supporting character. The first film of the series, “Delinquent Girl Boss”, was co-produced by talent agency Horipro, that also represented the protagonist, pop singer Akiko Wada. However, the one who truly shined in the film was Meiko Kaji, who became the protagonist of the remaining four films of the series.
Mei is the hard-nosed leader of an all girls gang, the Stray Cats, who, as the film begins, are about to have a fight with similar group. Mei, who has just before met girl biker Ako, emerges victorious, even slashing the opponents’ leader with her knife,...
Mei is the hard-nosed leader of an all girls gang, the Stray Cats, who, as the film begins, are about to have a fight with similar group. Mei, who has just before met girl biker Ako, emerges victorious, even slashing the opponents’ leader with her knife,...
- 3/3/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The Juzo Itami-Nobuko Miyamoto (director-protagonist who also were husband and wife) duo has given us a number of delightful movies, including “Tampopo“, “The Funeral” and “Minbo no Onna“. “Supermarket Woman” follows in the same footsteps.
Goro Kobayashi, owner of the Honest Goro supermarket, has been seeing his shop underperforming for years, and when a shiny new one, Bargains Galore, opens nearby, his situation becomes even worse. During an “inspection” of his new contender, he stumbles upon an old classmate, Hanako, who proceeds on explaining to him the perspective of the housewife regarding how a supermarket should work. Impressed with her input, and facing the possibility of bankruptcy, he hires her as head cashier, with the additional purpose of introducing new sales techniques and policies, particularly regarding the food section. Hanako soon takes over both customer service and the procedures of food selling, discovering a number of...
Goro Kobayashi, owner of the Honest Goro supermarket, has been seeing his shop underperforming for years, and when a shiny new one, Bargains Galore, opens nearby, his situation becomes even worse. During an “inspection” of his new contender, he stumbles upon an old classmate, Hanako, who proceeds on explaining to him the perspective of the housewife regarding how a supermarket should work. Impressed with her input, and facing the possibility of bankruptcy, he hires her as head cashier, with the additional purpose of introducing new sales techniques and policies, particularly regarding the food section. Hanako soon takes over both customer service and the procedures of food selling, discovering a number of...
- 4/25/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Yasha, a concept that comes from Hindu mythology, refers to benevolent nature spirits who take care of trees and the earth. In Buddhism, however, they were interpreted as evil, ghost-like spirits who preyed upon travelers, but later gave up their wicked ways upon hearing the sermons of the Buddha. The Buddhist version of yasha is very similar to another class of Hindu spirits: the ogrish, man-eating demons known as rasetsu. When Buddhism was brought into China, it mixed with Chinese folk religion and astrology, and yasha grew even further away from their Hindu origins. When Buddhism was brought to Japan from China, the Chinese interpretation of yasha was brought along with it. In Japan, yasha were often viewed as Buddhist manifestations of local evil spirits, like amanojaku and oni. Yasha took on some of the characteristics of these spirits, and sometimes even became synonymous with them (source: yokai.com)
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- 12/10/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
After experiencing the permeating machismo of the Yakuza Papers Pentalogy, the opportunity to watch a film that actually parodied the yakuza ways, and even more, which had a girl for a protagonist, was more than welcome. “Sailor Suit and Machine Gun” is based on the homonymous, 1978 novel by Jiro Akagawa and stars pop idol Hiroko Yakushimaru, with her presence helping immensely in the appeal the film had in Japan, winning popularity awards for both the title and the protagonist from the Japanese Academy. Furthermore, the distribution income it generated was the biggest in the domestic market for 1982, while the theme song of the film, which was also sung by Yakushimaru, stayed at the 1st place of the weekly Oricon Singles Chart for five consecutive weeks.
Izumi Hoshi is a normal high school girl, until one day, and after a number of yakuza appear in the school she attends,...
Izumi Hoshi is a normal high school girl, until one day, and after a number of yakuza appear in the school she attends,...
- 12/8/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The most visceral experiences force you to bury your head in those two sullen hands at the end of those weakening arms; covered by fingers, you force a peep through the gaps because curiosity is a menace to your sanity. New Wave cinema has also manipulated its audience in this way, since, no matter when or where yet, with its brazen attitude, hip demeanour, and stylish cinematography, you are obliged to soak it in as a whole. When it comes to the handling of taboo subject matter, only the best pioneering auteurs succeed in whisking its audience in a whirlwind and smashing previously socially-acceptable boundaries with a ten-ton hammer. Koreyoshi Kurahara was one such auteur and his maniacal 1960 film ‘The Warped Ones’ is as glamorous and cool as it is vicious and brutal.
“The Warped Ones” is screening at Japan Society:
A frenzied foray into the nihilistic madness of post-war youth,...
“The Warped Ones” is screening at Japan Society:
A frenzied foray into the nihilistic madness of post-war youth,...
- 4/1/2019
- by Jamie Cansdale
- AsianMoviePulse
Inflato-faced Jô Shishido is at it again, here in a typically precocious, spoofy crime adventure by Japan’s playful Seijun Suzuki. If the eccentric color scheme doesn’t do the trick, the antic comic relief and wild musical numbers will. Shishido dances the Charleston, and the nightclub rocks with a terrific twist number. The music under Nikkatsu’s logo is more progressive than that in a Hollywood picture of 1963.
Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards!
Blu-ray
Arrow Video USA
1963 / Color / 2:35 widescreen (Nikkatsuscope) / 89 min. / Kutabare akutô-domo – Tantei jimusho 23 / Street Date July 10, 2018 / 39.95
Starring: Jô Shishido, Tamio Kawaji, Reiko Sassamori, Nobuo Kaneko, Kinzô Shin, Naomi Hoshi,Asao Sano.
Cinematography: Shigeyoshi Mine
Film Editor: Akira Suzuki
Original Music: Harumi Ibe
Written by Iwao Yamazaki from a book by Haruhiko Ôyabu
Produced by Shôzô Ashida
Directed by Seijun Suzuki
One can always count on Seijun Suzuki for something different, and even in...
Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards!
Blu-ray
Arrow Video USA
1963 / Color / 2:35 widescreen (Nikkatsuscope) / 89 min. / Kutabare akutô-domo – Tantei jimusho 23 / Street Date July 10, 2018 / 39.95
Starring: Jô Shishido, Tamio Kawaji, Reiko Sassamori, Nobuo Kaneko, Kinzô Shin, Naomi Hoshi,Asao Sano.
Cinematography: Shigeyoshi Mine
Film Editor: Akira Suzuki
Original Music: Harumi Ibe
Written by Iwao Yamazaki from a book by Haruhiko Ôyabu
Produced by Shôzô Ashida
Directed by Seijun Suzuki
One can always count on Seijun Suzuki for something different, and even in...
- 7/3/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Visually, Man From Reno looks like the year’s best mystery thriller. Much of it is set in San Francisco, that twisty, foggy city by the sea that has housed the works of Raymond Chandler and Alfred Hitchcock. Several sequences within Dave Boyle’s film have the olive green tinted lighting of a David Fincher flick, and that director’s fascination with laying out the details of a dense investigation is also replicated here.
Boyle’s screenplay, which he co-wrote with Joel Clark and Michael Lerman, pays tribute to the wit and panache of classic sleuths. Both of the film’s detective protagonists are conventional in the classical way: one is a sly, intelligent woman trying to flee her past, the other an old time sheriff of a small town with a creased face and fatigued voice.
Unfortunately, Boyle’s beautifully lensed pastiche is less the sum of its parts,...
Boyle’s screenplay, which he co-wrote with Joel Clark and Michael Lerman, pays tribute to the wit and panache of classic sleuths. Both of the film’s detective protagonists are conventional in the classical way: one is a sly, intelligent woman trying to flee her past, the other an old time sheriff of a small town with a creased face and fatigued voice.
Unfortunately, Boyle’s beautifully lensed pastiche is less the sum of its parts,...
- 3/31/2015
- by Jordan Adler
- We Got This Covered
A film about a mystery novelist and a Japanese man who vanishes from a San Francisco hospital won the top narrative prize at the Los Angeles Film Festival Thursday. “Man from Reno" stars Osaka-born actor Ayako Fujitani as Aki Akahori, a crime writer who takes a breather from her press tour and ends up mixed up with Akira Suzuki—played by Kazuki Kitamura, who hails from the same Japanese city as his co-star—a mysterious stranger from Reno who’s staying at the same hotel in San Francisco. The film, directed by Dave Boyle ("White on Rice"), uses a mix of English and subtitled Japanese. "Stray Dog" took the Best Documentary Feature award. The first documentary from director Debra Granik ("Winter's Bone") followed a Vietnam War veteran biker and his struggle for place in America. Meanwhile, the festival’s audience picked “Young Kieslowski,” directed by Kerem Sanga, in the narrative category,...
- 6/20/2014
- backstage.com
The official website for Hyakka Ryōran Samurai Bride, the second season of Hyakka Ryōran Samurai Girls, revealed additional cast members for the second season on Tuesday.
The additional cast is as follows:
Chinatsu Akasaki as Sasuke Sarutobi
Yōko Hikasa as Musashi Miyamoto
Naomi Shindo as Kojirō Sasaki
Haruka Tomatsu as Motaemon Araki
Satomi Satou as Inshun Hōzōin
Mamiko Noto as Keiji Maeda
The website also confirmed that the series will premiere in April. The staff for the second series remains the same, except Satoru Nishizono (Needless, Welcome to the Nhk) is handling the series composition instead of Ryunosuke Kingetsu.
The series, based on Akira Suzuki‘s novels, is set in the early 21st century — except in this alternate world, the Tokugawa shogunate never lost power and Japan maintained its enforced seclusion from the rest of the world. At a giant academy for children of military families at the foot of Mt.
The additional cast is as follows:
Chinatsu Akasaki as Sasuke Sarutobi
Yōko Hikasa as Musashi Miyamoto
Naomi Shindo as Kojirō Sasaki
Haruka Tomatsu as Motaemon Araki
Satomi Satou as Inshun Hōzōin
Mamiko Noto as Keiji Maeda
The website also confirmed that the series will premiere in April. The staff for the second series remains the same, except Satoru Nishizono (Needless, Welcome to the Nhk) is handling the series composition instead of Ryunosuke Kingetsu.
The series, based on Akira Suzuki‘s novels, is set in the early 21st century — except in this alternate world, the Tokugawa shogunate never lost power and Japan maintained its enforced seclusion from the rest of the world. At a giant academy for children of military families at the foot of Mt.
- 1/7/2013
- by Vesna Sunrider
- Filmofilia
The 2010 Nobel Prize for Chemistry has been awarded to three scientists for a powerful process to produce carbon bonds important for medicine production, materials science, and electronics--including the tech behind Oled screens.
The Heck reaction, Negishi reaction, and Suzuki reaction are the three independent processes that are being rewarded here: Each was championed by the eponymous scientists, and in concert with the element palladium as a catalyst the three result in a powerful way to create new carbon-carbon bonds.
These bonds are key to synthesizing new medicines, clones of biological molecules, and in producing novel materials in the electronic industry. Without the methods of this year's Nobel prize, it would've been far harder to synthesize "high tech materials that benefit society" in large scales, according to the Nobel Committee, and resulting in the ability to "create sophisticated chemicals, for example carbon-based molecules as complex as those created by nature itself.
The Heck reaction, Negishi reaction, and Suzuki reaction are the three independent processes that are being rewarded here: Each was championed by the eponymous scientists, and in concert with the element palladium as a catalyst the three result in a powerful way to create new carbon-carbon bonds.
These bonds are key to synthesizing new medicines, clones of biological molecules, and in producing novel materials in the electronic industry. Without the methods of this year's Nobel prize, it would've been far harder to synthesize "high tech materials that benefit society" in large scales, according to the Nobel Committee, and resulting in the ability to "create sophisticated chemicals, for example carbon-based molecules as complex as those created by nature itself.
- 10/6/2010
- by Kit Eaton
- Fast Company
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