Japanese Movie Mini Reviews

[Takuma]

 Shogoro Nishimura x 3

Seishun no kaze (青春の風) (Japan, 1968) [VoD] – 3/5
One man Roman Porno factory Shogoro Nishimura made many movies about girls, but here he made one for the girls. This is one of his roughly dozen pre-porno mainstream films from the 60s (nearly all of which are better than almost any of his roman features), this isn't quite among his best, but still has certain cheerfulness personified by lead Sayuri Yoshinaga that makes it fun to watch. Yoshinaga is young woman who becomes a maid for an American family (of three gaijin actors who all speak surprisingly decent Japanese) while also (sort of) chasing sweetheart Mitsuo Hamada who is getting little too intimate with friend Yoko Yamamoto. Yes, this at least partially a romantic comedy, but above all it’s a girl film. There’s very little in terms of men (besides Hamada) in the film. Some of Yoshinaga's interactions with the gaijin family (timid mother, silly womanizing husband and a lonely kid) are pretty funny and, Yoshinaga (with a very common look here, as opposed to the screen beauty appearance you’d expect) is highly likeable.



The Blazing Continent (燃える大陸) (Japan, 1968) [VoD] – 3/5
Another breezy Shogoro Nishimura film from the years before he went pervert. Tetsuya Watari plays a painter who is dispatched to Australia for a work gig, then fall in love with Chieko Matsubara. She is however (about to be) engaged to Aussie man Masumi Okada. At one point Watari becomes hostage / getaway driver to short fuse kid Ken Sanders who had used a little too much force in defending his sister's honour. There's plenty going on in this stylish and entertaining film, to the extent it can't quite decide what it wants to be. It can also get a bit too travelogue in places, but not as bad as many other Japanese films shot in foreign locations. The biggest stumbling block here is the English dialogue. Watari does ok with short lines only, and Sanders doesn't have any command of the language (despite his name, he is of course Japanese). Conversely, the French born, internationally educated Okada speaks English effortlessly. Meiko Kaji appears for a few seconds as well. She had much bigger roles in two other, superior Nishimura films: Goodbye Mr. Tears (1966) and Burning Nature (1967).



Women's Cruel Double Suicide (残酷おんな情死) (Japan, 1970) [VoD] - 3/5
Shogoro Nishimura’s grimy, docudrama esque film about lesbian lovers in yakuza infested Shinjuku. A suicidal call girl (Annu Mari) and a temperamental gold-digger (Sanae Ohori) meet by chance and eventually decide they are better off without men. But the former’s yakuza guardian / boyfriend (Jiro Okazaki) and his gang disagree. This was the last film Nishimura did before Nikkatsu’s Roman Porno switchover in the following year. It coincidentally became a bit of a transitional work, a much gloomier and fleshier picture void of the breeze and colourful art direction of his 60s pictures. It's also worse acted and edited with some jarring cuts, making it feel more like an independent picture than a Nikkatsu film. But it has its own charm, from authentic Tokyo locations to smutty atmosphere and even a brief cult lesbian orgy scene where Ohori is made love by white-hooded Ku Klux Clan types. It’s an interesting picture, though ultimately less bizarre and more low-key than some of the above-mentioned plot points might suggest. Also known as “Midnight Virgin”.



Others x 4

Manji (卍) (Japan, 1983) [TV] - 1/5
Holy pretentiousness, Batman!

Memories of You (ラブ・ストーリーを君に) (Japan, 1988) [TV] – 2/5
A sappy idol film with a terminally ill 14 year old (cute Kumiko Goto) spending one last summer with her ex-tutor (heart-throb Toru Nakamura) she has a crush on. "A Love Story for You" reads the Japanese title, which pretty much summarizes it. Love, nostalgia and tears has been the formula for box office success in Japan for decades. But cinematically, one would expect more from director Shinichiro Sawai, whose earlier works include the excellent Tragedy of W with Hiroko Yakushimaru at Kadokawa. This film was made at Toei. But it's not just the studio that is different here: Tragedy of W was written by nihilist/misogynist/screenwriter extraordinaire Haruhiko Arai, while this obviously wasn't (Shoichi Maruyama is the guilty party). While it doesn’t quite descend to the deepest melodrama gutters, there really isn’t much going for it other than pretty landscapes and decent leading performances.

Knife (KNIFE-ナイフ-) (Japan, 1996) [TV] – 2.5/5
A female assassin loses her memory after a botched job in this rather passable DTV film. She escapes from captivity and is rescued by a dad & daughter combo who provide her a safe environment to ask "who am I?" (even from a ridiculously dated computer system where assassin profiles written in broken English are stored). This isn’t too bad a film. There's some action, some nudity, and a decent amount of 90s existentialism (think of poor man’s Mamoru Oshii) aided by an occasionally pretty musical score. The pacing is ok and the thematics just about keep you interested, even if nothing really stands out. Director Hidehiro Ito is probably best known for a handful of sleazy 80s Roman Porno films, such as Secretary Rope Discipline (1981) and Debauchery (1983).



Ghost Master (ゴーストマスター) (Japan, 2019) [TV] - 1.5/5
What is it with these modern kids who can't make a genre film without burying it under five layers of apologetic, self-ironic meta? Ghost Master is a potentially fun tale of a film crew in the middle of a shoot when the assistant director's horror script comes alive and starts slaughtering the crew. There are some great practical splatter effects. Less CGI than expected. Some fun jokes too (the Tarantino jab especially). Lots of references, particularly to Evil Dead and Tobe Hooper. And then we have characters commenting how dumb and unreal it all is, on behalf of viewers and filmmakers who sort of like it, but are embarrassed to admit it, hence trying to strike a balance between laughing at films and laughing with films. It gets progressively worse with more and more idiotic post-modern scenes to assure viewers it's really just a self-aware joke, and can be enjoyed without losing credibility in one’s social circles. And then there’s a typically (for modern Japanese cinema) drawn-out drama anti-climax. Unlike the similarly themed but sincere One Cut of the Dead, this is fundamentally spoiled goods by apologetic filmmakers too afraid to commit to their craft.

Edited July 29, 2022 by Takuma

[DrNgor]

5 minutes ago, Takuma said:

Memories of You (ラブ・ストーリーを君に) (Japan, 1988) [TV] – 2/5
A sappy idol film with a terminally ill 14 year old (cute Kumiko Goto) spending one last summer with her ex-tutor (heart-throb Toru Nakamura) she has a crush on.

Is that the same Kumiko Goto who was in City Hunter?

[Takuma]

10 minutes ago, DrNgor said:

Is that the same Kumiko Goto who was in City Hunter?

Yes! I didn't even remember she was in City Hunter. But of course she is. How silly of me.

[DrNgor]

2 hours ago, Takuma said:

And then we have characters commenting how dumb and unreal it all is, on behalf of viewers and filmmakers who sort of like it, but are embarrassed to admit it, hence trying to strike a balance between laughing at films and laughing with films. It gets progressively worse with more and more idiotic post-modern scenes to assure viewers it's really just a self-aware joke, and can be enjoyed without losing credibility in one’s social circles

Are you working as an English teacher? If so, do current Japanese social circles cast a disdainful shadow on genre films? Is there anything that would explain that sort of intellectual dishonesty in these movies and among their fans?

[Takuma]

On 7/30/2022 at 2:08 AM, DrNgor said:

Are you working as an English teacher? If so, do current Japanese social circles cast a disdainful shadow on genre films? Is there anything that would explain that sort of intellectual dishonesty in these movies and among their fans?

No, I'm not a teacher. Thank god for that. According to the latest stats, 75% of junior high teachers in Japan do over 80 hours of overtime each month (and high school isn't much better).

I think it's the combo of snobbish critic attitudes + common audiences having been accustomed to domestic kitchen dramas on TV for the past three decades.

Oddly enough, foreign action films still do alright in Japan. I don't know why there is such double standard.

[DrNgor]

And I close out my Japanese movie marathon at my site with a review of the Sci-fi action-adventure film Samurai Commando Mission 1549, a remake of Sonny Chiba's G.I. Samurai. Check out my review: https://abeautifulfilm.blogspot.com/2022/07/samurai-commando-mission-1549.html

[DrNgor]

The Ghost of Kasane Swamp (1957, d: Nobuo Nakagawa) - aka: The Depths - original title: Kaidan Kasani-ga-fuchi - A blind masseuse (who doesn't carry a cane sword) visits a samurai client whom owes him money. The samurai can't even give him a little bit of what he owes, so he kills the masseuse and has his body dumped in the local swamp. The samurai goes mad, kills his wife, and then disappears into the swamp. His baby son is taken to Edo and is raised by another family. Twenty years later, the son, Shinkichi, is the servant to a young Miss Hisa, who is in an arranged marriage to a young lord named Saetoro. Miss Hisa is learning music from Miss Rui, the daughter of the murdered masseuse. Both are in love with Shinkichi, but the villainous machinations of the wicked samurai Omuri (Tetsuro Tanba) will guarantee that everybody has a tragic ending.

The movie starts out well, getting straight to the murder and subsequent haunting. It then veers into soap opera territory with a complicated love rectangle/pentagon before finally eeking out some atmosphere in the final few minutes. The best I can say is that the lead actresses, Norika Kitazawa (Miss Hisa) and Katsuko Wakasugi (Miss Rui), are very beautiful women. And the film is only 65 minutes long.

[DrNgor]

Robot Carnival (1987, d: Atsuko Fukushima, Hidetoshi Oomori, Hiroyuki Kitakubo, Hiroyuki Kitazume, Katsuhiro Otomo, Koji Morimoto, Mao Lamdo, Takashi Nakamura, Yasuomi Umetsu) - A beautifully-drawn anthology of stories about robots, androids, etc., which each story having its own art style and general tone. A few, like "Star Lite Angel" and "Deprive", are more action-oriented stories full of lasers, robot-tank thingies and alien overlords. A lot of people are divided over "Clouds," which is animated to look like an illustration panel of a picture book come to life. It doesn't really have a story, but is mainly about a robot boy wandering the Earth during different periods of humanity. I particularly liked "Presence," about an affection-starved inventor/toymaker who does a Pygmalion with a robot girl, only to be put off by the humanoid's growing sentience. "Chicken Man and Red Neck" feels like a robot version of Fantasia's "Night on Bald Mountain" segment, featuring a villainous robot who looks like Crow from MST3K. And because the Japanese can't resist giant robots fighting each other, "Strange Tales of Meiji Machine Culture: Westerner's Invasion" features steampunk mechs duking it out like a 19th century incarnation of a Super Sentai show. Highly recommended for the art alone.

[WarriorBloodCrest]

2 hours ago, DrNgor said:

Robot Carnival (1987, d: Atsuko Fukushima, Hidetoshi Oomori, Hiroyuki Kitakubo, Hiroyuki Kitazume, Katsuhiro Otomo, Koji Morimoto, Mao Lamdo, Takashi Nakamura, Yasuomi Umetsu) - A beautifully-drawn anthology of stories about robots, androids, etc., which each story having its own art style and general tone. A few, like "Star Lite Angel" and "Deprive", are more action-oriented stories full of lasers, robot-tank thingies and alien overlords. A lot of people are divided over "Clouds," which is animated to look like an illustration panel of a picture book come to life. It doesn't really have a story, but is mainly about a robot boy wandering the Earth during different periods of humanity. I particularly liked "Presence," about an affection-starved inventor/toymaker who does a Pygmalion with a robot girl, only to be put off by the humanoid's growing sentience. "Chicken Man and Red Neck" feels like a robot version of Fantasia's "Night on Bald Mountain" segment, featuring a villainous robot who looks like Crow from MST3K. And because the Japanese can't resist giant robots fighting each other, "Strange Tales of Meiji Machine Culture: Westerner's Invasion" features steampunk mechs duking it out like a 19th century incarnation of a Super Sentai show. Highly recommended for the art alone.

On a quick note, Robot Carnival was among the first anime media that was shown on the (original American) Cartoon Network all the way back in January 1995, so quite a while before the advent of Toonami.

https://cartoonnetwork.fandom.com/wiki/Night_of_the_Vampire_Robots

https://blog.kaiserdingus.com/post/188721986319/night-of-the-vampire-robots-1995-cartoon-network

https://www.deviantart.com/mamonstar761/art/Cartoon-Theatre-presents-Robot-Carnival-FAKE-849910651

 

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Your Name. (2016: Makoto Shinkai: Japan):

This had been recommended to me by a barista, it is in IMDBs top 250 movies (it is the eighth most voted on Japanese film on IMDB), it was a box office smash not only just in Japan (currently third highest grossing Japanese film in Japan) but worldwide and it was about time I saw this.  It is quite a good film.

This movie is an interesting mix of Somewhere in Time and Freaky Friday (or you Vice Versa fans out there) mixed with a teen love story in Japan (later on it reminded me a bit of Early Edition, but I don’t want to spoil that).  I also got some Quantum Leap vibes as well.

There are two teenagers Taki and Mitsuha: one from Tokyo and one from a small city who is yearning to get out.  They both seem to have the same issue as occasionally missing a day in their life or suddenly getting the urge to grope oneself when waking up.  Why is this happening?

There is also a comet coming which seems to collide with their fate.  It unfolds nicely with its story line which makes me hesitant on writing too much about it because there are surprises throughout.

I find it interesting when animation uses (imitates) time lapse photography.  There is use of split screen (not overdone) as well.  It also has some extraordinarily beautiful scenes. The music by the Japanese rock band Radwimps is good.

There is one semi-large plot issue, but I cannot state it as it is a spoiler.  I was wondering how could they miss this very crucial aspect when they are both on their smartphones a lot and going to class.  I am sure you will figure out the ending.

This is worth watching.  It is a film about memory, time and a search for love.  It is moving and the animation is outstanding.  Now I wish I saw this in the theater like Belle.

[Takuma]

Young Wolf (aka Hidden Fangs) (若い狼) (Japan, 1961) [35mm] - 3/5
Hideo Onchi’s stylish directorial debut, a semi-documentary style drama about young man Yosuke Natsuki trying to go straight after being released from youth prison. To his dismay, girlfriend Yuriko Hoshi waiting in Tokyo has followed in his footsteps, now complete with an attitude and a delinquent girl hairstyle. This is a solid film with beautifully captured and authentic looking black & white street cinematography. It is however only borderline delinquent youth film, following its protagonist's attempts to steer away from the yakuza world and resisting the temptation to let it all explode in violent mayhem. It hence gets more low key as it goes on. The recently deceased Kunie Tanaka appears in a supporting role as fellow inmate released at the same time as the protagonist.



Prison Gambler (監獄博徒) (Japan, 1964) [TV] – 2/5
Part 2 in the Gambler series, set almost entirely in Miike Prison (also the setting for director Ozawa and star Tsuruta's 1973 film Three Lakes Prison). The storyline is standard fluff, but the film's setting is quite unusual, especially for a film made in 1964. While many ninkyo films included prison segments, few made it their primary setting aside some films in the Abashiri Prison series that started in 1965. There are a few other points of interest, from prison brutality to tiny outdoor humiliation cages, the sun setting behind the prison walls and the prisoner forced to work at a coal mine, sweaty and half naked. It is curious how this film, alongside the opening segments in Teruo Ishii's The Shogun's Vault (1963), pre-dated the later women in prison films in terms of more than a few elements and visual details. It is not enough to save an otherwise uninspired ninkyo picture, however.

Escape Man (脱獄者) (Japan, 1967) [35mm] - 3.5/5
Kazuo Ikehiro tackles modern day crime thriller in an uneven, but highly rewarding Daiei noir. Tetsuro Tamba is a police detective with a little brother Jun Fujimaki in the yakuza. Tamba eventually gets framed and jailed for being too close to the gang - though despite the film's title this doesn't happen until the second half. And here lies the film's unevenness. The opening half is stylish, but not particularly convincing (two gangs gathering for a 5 vs. 5 quickdraw death duel being an example of both) or always engaging. However, once Tamba is behind bars, the film goes into highly suspenseful observative mode as he desperately tries to find a weak spot in the prison security while also keeping himself alive till the action packed climax. The entire second half is first rate filmmaking and Tamba is expectedly good. Sniper assassin Kyosuke Machida, gangster Nobuo Kaneko and former chief Yoshi Kato all excel in supporting roles. Fine score and stylish black & white cinematography complete the package.



Confessions of a Lovelace: At Lust’s End (ある色魔の告白　色欲の果て) (Japan, 1968) [TV] - 4/5
An astonishing exploitation extravaganza about a lusty hothead (Takashi Fujiki) who goes seducing and conning women until one is left dead. He then finds himself on the run from the law, handcuffed to a violent, discriminated and mentally unstable half-Japanese man (Shohei Yamamoto in blackface). The two go on an incredible escape / rape frenzy through the countryside, making brief destructive stops at a guesthouse, golf court populated by gaijin women, and church. And of course they take turns bonding and punching each other in the face. Wow! This is cinematic anarchy, immoral celluloid garbage and the kind of cinema you're not supposed to enjoy. Take the guesthouse scene as an example: the escapees peek in from a window, and there’s a lesbian couple making love; they move on to the next window and witness a rape in progress; then they decide to join the fun. All this depravity was expertly helmed by Mio Ezaki, one of Nikkatsu's in-house directors here working for independent production house Aoyama Production and making sure the film is technically on par with any mainstream Nikkatsu gangster film. There’s really no other film to compare this to (that I’ve seen) than Yasuharu Hasebe's depraved action thriller Rape! 13th Hour (1977) which, despite its far more graphic nature, can't quite match the frenetic nature and 60s swing of this film.

Note that Nikkatsu’s website claims this is the 2nd film in the Nikkatsu honno series / route (日活本能路線), but there is no mention of what is part 1. It is not either one of the Confessions of a Girl films, which only premiered after this movie. My guess is it’s Tokyo Bath Harem aka Sadistic Violence to 10 Virgins aka Onna ukiyoburo (女浮世風呂) (1968), an earlier Aoyama Pro film made for Nikkatsu by the same producer.



Confession of a Girl: The Forbidden Fruit (ある少女の告白　禁断の果実) (Japan, 1968) [TV] - 3/5
A Nikkatsu youth film unrelated to Confessions of a Lovelace despite its similar title. This is a notably tamer in-house production, a youth film about the sexual awakening of teenage boys and girls. It's a solid drama spiced up with some exciting scenes, like the boys helping a prostitute escape from a yakuza run brothel, and slight sun tribe type elements although in a little different context. Meiko Kaji appears in a supporting role with a hairdo almost like an afro! Also notable for being Mitsuko Oka's screen debut, complete with a very brief topless scene at the end. Followed by one sequel.



Bondage Tattoo on Wet Skin (濡れた肌刺青を縛る) (Japan, 1982) [35mm] - 1/5
I felt obliged to watch this Mamoru Watanabe Shintoho film since it was screening in 35mm. I probably shouldn't have. A soldier (Shiro Shimomoto) comes home from war, only to find his sweetheart (Mai Hana) missing. She's actually in the attic, tied up on ropes and tattooed from ankles to neck, under intensive yakuza care. What's curious about this tale is that she's fully engaged in self-torture, tying herself up and even pulling herself up in the air on ropes by herself when there's no one to whip her. It's slightly spectacular to look at and supposedly adds a psychological layer to the sleaze. Meanwhile he proceeds to bang other women... a lot. Then there’s a bit of revenge at the end. I watched this back to back with Toei's Virgin Breaker Yuki and Nikkatsu's Red Vertigo, and it's painfully evident how much lower the production values and filmmaking quality are here. On a more subjective opinion, the same is true to the prettiness of the actresses. This may have been satisfactory to sleaze-hungry pink audiences, but the (very) occasional moments of cinematic interest and the entirely elementary yakuza aspect to the plot offer little comfort to others.

[DrNgor]

8 hours ago, Takuma said:

a semi-documentary style drama about young man Yosuke Natsuki trying to go straight after being released from youth prison. To his dismay, girlfriend Yuriko Hoshi waiting in Tokyo has followed in his footsteps, now complete with an attitude and a delinquent girl hairstyle.

Oohh...two Godzilla veterans! Must be interest to see Yuriko Hoshi playing against her good-girl roles in Mothra vs. Godzilla and Ghidrah, the 3-Headed Monster. 

[DrNgor]

2LDK (2003, d: Yukihiko Tsutsumi) - This short film is best known as a film that was the result of a drunken bet that director Yukihiko Tsutsumi made with Ryuhei Kitamura in that both of them would make a film with two (or three) actors, one setting, with at least one of the characters dying, and it would have to be filmed over the course of 7 days. Ryuhei Kitamura ended up giving us Aragami. Tsutsumi gave us this film.

Two actresses who are auditioning for the same role are staying in the same apartment, supplied by the head of their agency. One of them, Nozomi (Eiko Koike), is a clean-freak country girl who has done well in community theater on the island she hails from, but wants to expand her repertoire to film. The other one is Lana (Maho Nonami), a more worldly city girl who is a bit more promiscuous and may not be above using her body to get roles. The two really don't like each other, but try to keep things cordial. However, on the night before they are to discover who got the role, little annoyances will boil over into passive-aggressive attacks, which becomes more direct attacks, and finally devolves into outright physical violence.

I find it amusing that Nozomi is characterized as the plain-looking girl who can't get a man, despite the fact that Eiko Koike was a former gravure model (her large bust served her well in that regard--even Lana criticizes her for having big boobs in the film). Otherwise, the movie makes an effort to give each girl her legitimate grievances and flaws--one is envious, the other is a slut; one has enjoyed the praise of others while lacking in support from her mother, the other is constantly blamed for the unforseen fallout of one of her dalliances. The movie is often classified as a horror film, although it's more of a black comedy and psychological thriller. There are some violent moments, especially at the very end.

[DrNgor]

Don't Look Up (1996, d: Hideo Nakata) - Orig. title: Joyû rei - Interesting pre-Ringu film from Hideo Nakata features a long-haired adolescent girl girl dressed in white, albeit less creepy than Sadako. There's film crew shooting a low-budget period drama at an old studio. The director, Murai (Yûrei Yanagi, who was the first two Ringu films as Reiko's coworker), starts having visions of a ghostly girl wandering about the studio, sometimes in the rafters (hence the title). There is some connection between the visions and some made-for-TV horror show that Murai saw as a kid decades earlier, although the story never really explains it. Honestly, the supernatural goings on are treated almost as a secondary plot, with the bulk of the movie focusing on the filming experience itself, which was kinda interesting. I can kinda see how Hideo Nakata got hired for Ringu, even though this film on the whole is unremarkable.

[DrNgor]

Haunted Campus (2016, d: Satoshi Takemoto) - orig. title: Hônteddo kyanpasu - Weak-sauce J-horror film plays like The Sixth Sense with a teen love story thrown in. Shinji Yagami (TV actor Yuma Nakayama) has the ability to see dead people, which he has never come to terms with. During his first year in college, he joins an Occult Research Club in order to stay close to Koyoma Nada (Ghost Theater's Haruka Shimazaki, who looks like a young Yumiko Shaku), a girl he had a crush on in high school. His powers come in handy in dealing with different cases for the club, while he tries to work up the courage to confess his love Koyoma. The first act introduces the characters and puts them on their first "mission," after which the story gets bogged down in Shinji's inability to accept his powers and the puppy love stuff. The story doesn't really get focused on the main ghost story until the climax, which is anything but scary. It's a horror film for people who hate horror and prefer teeny-bopper romances.

[DrNgor]

Death Note (2006, d: Shusuke Kaneko) - This seems to be the second project of note[1] that Kaneko was involved in after his directing fan-favorite Godzilla-Mothra-King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001). Kaneko is most renown for his 90s Gamera films and, of course, Danger Dolls. Adapting a popular horror-mystery manga (and anime) to live-action seems up his alley, as Kaneko had worked in horror, including a segment in Necronomicon (1993) before moving on to kaiju eiga. It seems that this film was popular in Japan and currently has a 7.5 rating on the IMDB out of 31K votes, which is quite good.

As visual shorthand for the manga (and anime), it does its job nice and efficiently, covering the first eight episodes in two hours. The main difference between the two is how the subplot involving former FBI agent Naomi Misora is handled. This is one thing the film does better than the anime, as it really drives home how cruel Light Yagami is and feels more natural about how he would engineer his opponent's demise; the anime resolution was based a lot more on coincidence. The film's main shortcoming is that Light Yagami (played by Tatsuya Fujiwara) never convinced me that he's a super genius. That was the major appeal of the anime: watching two geniuses try to out-genius the other. While the Yagami's diabolical intelligence is revealed at the climax, the anime made Light a fascinating antihero by showcasing his smarts from the first moment. Also, some of the photography in the film feels like a TV movie, which is odd, considering how good the visuals in Kaneko's kaiju films were.

[1] - The first being Azumi 2: Death or Love.

[Takuma]

 Denko karate uchi (電光空手打ち) (Japan, 1956) [VoD] – 2/5
Denko ryusei karate uchi (電光流星空手打ち) (Japan, 1956) [VoD] – 2/5
Ken Takakura's screen debut, following his admission into Toei ranks via the studio's annual New Faces program, came surprisingly enough in this pair of Okinawa karate films. The two-parter was released on Jan. 29, 1956 as two thirds of a triple feature also containing Kiyoshi Saeki's Samurai of the Great Earth. Both halves run just under one hour. The fighting is actually pretty good for the time, and it's fun to see Takakura as an impatient, bearded karate rascal. But there's not much vitality to the plot or storytelling. It comes out as rather bland as a whole.

Detective (刑事) (Japan, 1964) [TV] - 3/5
Though enjoying a more versatile image abroad, Tetsuro Tamba's name is almost synonymous with detective roles in his native country. This film was his first leading role as a detective. Tamba is here chasing a sex maniac who has kidnapped a woman who by coincidence turns out to be Tamba's little sister. That far-fetched twist aside this is a surprisingly low-key docudrama with plenty of time spent at the police station in frustration when there are simply no firm clues to follow: the kidnapper could be hiding anywhere, and trying to find his car is like looking for a needle in haystack. That doesn’t always make spectacular cinema, but the film is nevertheless solid and greatly increases intensity towards the end. Tamba is good, but it is Shinjiro Ehara as the nervous, socially inept and woman-hating kidnapper who stands out most in the cast. His character is featured extensively on screen as the film documents his evil doings, firmly placing the film in the grittier new wave of cinema that was emerging in Japan in the early/mid 60s (interestingly, that happened simultaneously with the rise of the fairytale-like ninkyo films).



Mud Dog (どろ犬) (Japan, 1964) [TV] - 4/5
Compromised cop Minoru Oki is feeding intelligence to reckless gangster acquaintance Ko Nishimura, who’s had him on a leash ever since learning about Oki bed-friending an arrested gangster's woman. But Oki's colleagues are starting to suspect something, and he needs to take increasingly drastic actions to cover his own ass. This is real a discovery in Toei's crime film catalogue. Adapted from a novel by Shoji Yuki (Fukasaku's Under the Flag of the Rising Sun) but reportedly even more nihilist than the source material, this is a gripping tale of a desperate cop turning into a beast, the kind of film that would more often be made in the 70s and after, with Oki in one of the best roles of his career. Nishimura is also excellent as blackmailing scum (the type of role he played better than anyone else), and Kunie Tanaka appears as his mentally challenged yakuza brother. The film starts out leisurely, but gets progressively more intense as Oki finds himself without a way out of the situation. Debut director Takaharu Saeki sadly never made another movie for Toei. He got caught up in a labour dispute and was unable to land directing jobs after angering the studio execs. He’d work for TV (including Toei) after the dust settled for two decades before making his second and last theatrical movie in 1984.



Exodus from Japan (Young Oh! Oh!) (ヤングおー！おー！ 日本のジョウシキでーす) (Japan, 1973) [VoD] - 1.5/5
"There is porno, there is gambling, there is action!" Toei sure knew how to advertise family entertainment to movie goers. This is essentially a 79 minute sketch marathon, a theatrical side-product of the popular TV variety show “Young Oh! Oh!” that ran from 1969 to 1982. Toei brought it to the big screen with comedians from the show's early years. There’s almost no plot beyond a bunch of comical twats wanting to escape Japan in search of a better life. Lots of stupid sketches follow. Some of the silliness might be considered action. And what about the porno? That would be Harumi Tajima and her frontal assets doing a couple of comedy nude scenes at the end. Needless to say the word "porno" was and still is used a lot more loosely in Japan than elsewhere. It was a trendy loan word that took Japan by storm in the early 70s, and was used to refer to almost any kind of erotic content… even in G-rated family entertainments like this.

The Dump Truck Rascal (ダンプ渡り鳥) (Japan, 1981) [VoD] – 2.5/5
Toei producer Shigeru Okada and Kanji Amao's failed attempt at creating a follow-up series to the hugely successful Truck Yaro (1975-1979). The focus is now on dump truck drivers instead of those flashy 70s dekotora vehicles and their drivers. And here lies the main difference between the two. We're now well into a new era, the decade of human drama and grey everyday reality, aimed men and housewives alike, and long past the outrageous action/comedy/melodrama roots of the Suzuki/Sugawara series. Also, director Ikuo Sekimoto does not have Suzuki’s skill at mixing fast action with genuinely touching drama, hence we end up with a long funeral / sobbing scene for someone we never cared much for. Toshio Kurosawa is the titular dump truck wanderer (of the film’s Japanese title) who takes dead pal's ashes back to wife Junko Miyashita in the snowy Hokkaido, then feels some inner need to abandon his truck and temporarily settle down in Hokkaido. Along came mentally unstable half-girlfriend Mieko Harada. Not bad, but regrettably 80s in the usual lacklustre ways. The best thing about the film is the extensive Hokkaido scenery (with constant snow storms) and 70s relic Tatsuo Umemiya as gun toting rival who goes hunting for bears alone! Also features a silly (Truck Yaro esque) Takeshi Kitano comedy bit in the beginning before the heavy drama takes over.

[morpheus]

Harakiri (1962)

Technically a samurai film, this could also fall under "drama."  With few scene changes and characters, this film really depended on the skills and talents of the actors.....and they do deliver.  Tatsuya Nakadai was outstanding.  This is a great film.

 

 

[Takuma]

 The Drifting Avenger (荒野の渡世人) (Japan, 1968) [TV] – 3/5
A Japanese western shot in Australia with a local supporting cast. Takakura is an immigrant gone lone avenger seeking justice for his dead parents. Not a highly rated movie, but it really isn't as bad as sometimes suggested. It's fun to see Takakura as a gunslinger alongside a cast made of Australians (plus one Turk), even if everyone is dubbed in Japanese, and at the very least the film should strike as quite exotic to casual viewers. It was not the only one of its kind, however, with the genre's output ranging from Fukasaku's localized Drifting Detective: Tragedy in Red Valley (1961) to Okamoto's shot-in-abroad East Meets West (1995), with many cowboy episodes in Key Hunter (1968-1973) in between. These were mostly drawing from old American westerns rather than the spaghetti westerns that influenced late 60s new wave directors like Hideo Gosha and Kazuo Ikehiro, and can appear quite rather dated nowadays. That is the case here too, but much of the silliness of the cowboy shenanigans is offset by the dead-serious revenge tale where every kill, even the justified ones committed by the hero, leave a mourning wife or an orphaned kid behind.



Rogue (ごろつき) (Japan, 1968) [TV] – 3.5/5
This is a surprisingly breezy and enjoyable ninkyo film. Country bumpkins Takakura and Sugawara head to Tokyo to become kickboxers. Neither have experience, and both are fish out of water in the big city, not having even washed their faces after leaving coal mines. But they’re in luck when they befriend benevolent ex-boss Kenjiro Ishiyama and gym owner Minoru Oki (whose ring is populated by real kickboxers in minor roles, such as Tadashi Sawamura and Isao Fujimoto). Takakura eventually becomes a kickboxer (who is barely seen doing any kickboxing). The film doesn’t really become a yakuza movie until 50 min into the tale when gangster Fumio Watanabe pulls the boys down the usual ninkyo trail, leading to a satisfying katana massacre at the end. What’s best about the film, however, is its sense of laidback fun that many ninkyo films lack. My favourite part comes when Ken and Bunta earn pocket money by performing songs in bars. Ken does the vocals, Bunta plays the guitar. They perform both the Abashiri Prison and the Brutal Tales of Chivalry themes. There’s also a part where Bunta loses his part time job as caretaker after mistreating a dog’s balls (yes, you read that correct)! Thankfully none of that plays out as mere throwaway gags, but rather as humoristic bits of characterization that contributes to a larger dramatic but breezy narrative. This is all the more surprising coming from director Masahiro “ten litres of tears” Makino, whose yakuza films tend to be full of sobbing and heavy handed melodrama.



Rogue Wanderer (ごろつき無宿) (Japan, 1971) [TV] - 2.5/5
Country bumping coal miner Takakura makes his way to Tokyo, joins rotten Watanabe's construction company. He later switches team to benevolent Shimura's tekiya family upon realizing how Watanabe's gang is exploiting the locals and even cause the death of a little boy's father, something Takakura indirectly contributed to. Long, but not bad modern day ninkyo film by Yasuo Furuhata (though the era seems almost irrelevant). Takakura is in his element as kind, honourable common man burdened by guilt. His interactions with the locals and the little boy are quite good, and the musical score by Toei / Daiei composer Takeo Watanabe is solid (and slightly resembles his incredible work in Flower Cards Chivalry). But in the end, the film is just ok. There's nothing particularly memorable about it that hasn't been done better in many other ninkyo films. It should also be mentioned that despite sharing the title and again featuring Takakura as coal miner heading to Tokyo, this is not really related to the earlier film Rogue (1968).

Nostalgic Lullaby (望郷子守唄) (Japan, 1972) [TV] – 1.5/5
There are few badly made films in Toei's ninkyo line-up. They were all studio productions helmed by seasoned professionals. But this one is exceptionally weak and far-fetched, borderline laughable. Takakura is a tattooed yakuza and a mama's boy sent to military service, where he spends the film's first 30 min getting beaten by Rinichi Yamamoto. Then he's back on the streets, and to his old habits, much the dismay of his frequently, hysterically crying mother. Of course he later runs into Yamamoto again, now employed by evil yakuza, in a half-arsed attempt to justify the film's first 30 minutes and pretend it wasn't just a desperate attempt to bring something, anything, remotely fresh to a genre that had ran its course. Of course, even the yakuza + military hybrids had been done before and more devotedly by Daiei's Katsu (Hoodlum Soldier), Toei's Wakayama (Outlaw Corps) and even Takakura himself (Tattooed Ambush), though not quite as a pure ninkyo film like this.

Neo Chinpira : Zoom Goes the Bullet (ネオ チンピラ 鉄砲玉ぴゅ) (Japan, 1990) [TV] – 4/5
Breezy Toei V-Cinema gem with Sho Aikawa in his first starring role. Aikawa is an youngster in a gang whose senior members specialize in "zooming", or escaping their duties. Two of his bosses are assigned on a hit, but one "accidentally" puts a bullet in his stomach while riding roller coaster, and the other OD’s himself mad, leaving only Aikawa to carry out the job. He doesn't want to do it either, and ends up wasting copious amounts of time slacking with and banging his narcoleptic girlfriend (Robotrix's Chikako Aoyama). This is a much breezier film that one might expect, a deadpan yakuza satire with a genuinely cute romance in its core. It's also constantly clever, visually creative, very funny, and packs a hell of a cool rock soundtrack. Director Banmei Takahashi is a former pink film powerhouse who made a mainstream transition with Tattoo (1982), an awarded but depressing celebration of gray everyday misery. This film is much different. It somewhat resembles Nikkatsu's terrific late Roman Porno / Okinawa yakuza gem Burai no onna (1988), which has a similar storyline and oddly enough starred Hitoshi Ozawa, another to-be video star, in his first lead role.

[ChillyChong]

Sister street fighter.

When brother  of sis Street  Fighter disappear in yokohama durig drug cartel investigation she arrives from HK to seatch him. Cartel has some martial arts expert but she gets some help from Sonny Chiba.

I found unarmed action scenes slightly dull. One could sort of think chinese basher kung fu movies but with weaker choreography. However there are some crips moments of Nunchaku action along with some other traditional japanese weapons. I was wondering did they forget katana but even that appears near ending. It`s quite bloody, scene or two reminded me of baby cart movies. And at times was thinking are few things inspired by enter the dragon like claw villain uses in the end.

Not great movie but entertaining enough.

[Yihetuan]

The Beast Shall Die: Mechanic of Revenge [1974] Dir- Eizō Sugawa (Japan)

More of a straight forward revenge thriller than Director Sugawa's 1959 film of the same name starring Tatsuya Nakadai. Nakadai's performance as a nihilistic sociopathic killer is light years ahead of Hiroshi Fujioka's portrayal of Kunehiko Date. This 'sequel' is in name only although it shares some themes with the 1959 version as evidenced by the bloody finale. I've longed for an English subbed version and special thanks to kagetsuhisoka for fulfilling my wish!

Once again, I ask fans of Japanese cinema to please support custom subbers such as Ropponica and Ohaku subs, so we may enjoy these obscure films. Please donate what you can!

 

[Yihetuan]

Gang Loyalty and Vengeance (1963) - Dir. Shigehiro Ozawa [1963] (Japan)

Basically a re-telling of the Chūshingura (Loyal 47 Ronin) but transposed to post-war Showa era with rival Yakuza factions and their henchmen taking over for daimyo's and ronin. Appears to be a big All-Star cast film with many famous names (Chiezo Kataoka, Tetsura Tamba, Koji Tsuruta, Ken Takakura & a young Sonny Chiba - albeit many with rather brief appearances or minor roles) and it faithfully sticks to the story with even the main villain played by Toru Abe named after the infamous Lord Kira.

I wish I can give a complete review of the movie but unfortunately, I only was able to watch part 1 fully subbed & as far as I know, the second part has never been available subbed or otherwise in the West. It's a shame as the first part leaves off with the '47 yakuza' ready to partake in their vendetta & the film was just ramping up for a violent and spectacular end. Anyway, I'm happy to have at least seen the first part subbed in English and perhaps, the finale will be discovered one day and made available.

 

[Takuma]

On 10/26/2022 at 1:09 PM, Yihetuan said:

Gang Loyalty and Vengeance (1963) - Dir. Shigehiro Ozawa [1963] (Japan)

the second part has never been available subbed or otherwise in the West.

It was never even made! So don't waste your time waiting for it

[Yihetuan]

10 hours ago, Takuma said:

It was never even made! So don't waste your time waiting for it

In fairness, even if it was made I think anyone who is familiar with the Ako Incident & its many TV and film interpretations can surmise what happens next. Seems Ozawa didn't take any liberties with the script and he just replaced "swords" with "handguns" & "kamishimo" with "business suits".

[Takuma]

Shogoro Nishimura x 3

Fearless Comrades (不敵なあいつ) (Japan, 1966) [VoD] – 3/5
The man with the guitar is back. This plays out much like a follow-up to Akira Kobayashi's earlier Wandering Guitarist and its sequels. Kobayashi is a musical yakuza who breaks up with his gang after growing sick with their inhuman practices. He arrives in a new town and finds work in a hotel / bar, but of course they are also harrassed by the local yakuza. The owner's daughter takes a liking in Kobayashi, as you'd expect. Kobayashi is also accompanied by a side-kick guitarist, who is a complete idiot! This is another good Shogoro Nishimura film, but also a reminder why he never gained much critical acclaim. He was a skilled technician capable of bringing tremendous entertainment to the screen, as well as just serviceable films. But he rarely made a number of himself behind the camera. He didn’t have many trademarks, concurring themes or messages. This film is a Kobayashi show inside out, with little indicating Nishimura of all people stood behind the camera. It suffers from lack of originality & stand-out scenes, but still works just fine as a slick, harmless time waster. Three sequels followed.

Hawk of the Harbour (波止場の鷹) (Japan, 1967) [VoD] – 3/5
Hardly innovative but otherwise decent Nikkatsu Mood Action with Yujiro Ishihara as the head of a small shipping company who gets harassed by the yakuza. When he refuses to take part in their smuggling business, they try to force him and even get Ishihara’s sister killed. Stoic Ishihara resists resorting to violence to the point of the audience’s frustration. This is another pretty solid effort by invisible director Shogoro Nishimura. My review of the previous year's Nishimura film Fearless Comrades could be reused here with minor edits: this one could do with stronger finale, but the welcome lack of comedy evens things out. What this film really has going for it, besides the rock solid art direction expected from Nikkatsu films of this era, is heavyweight villain actor Toru Abe as Ishihara's loyal, short tempered employee. Though he wasn't always cast as bad guy, rotten yakuza bosses had become his bread and butter by the mid 60s to the extent that most genre film fans probably have never seen him play anything else. Here, in a rare good guy role, he gets to stretch his acting muscles a bit more than usual, which makes for delightful viewing for yakuza film fans.



Wandering Seagull: Night In Kushiro (さすらいかもめ 釧路の女) (1973) [VoD] - 2.5/5
Truck driver Kiyoshi Yoshida gives a ride to Junko Miyashita who is returning to her home town in Hokkaido. She's got a past, he's got a young hostess girlfriend Yuko Katagiri, and everyone is connected. Love, sex and drama in the Kushiro port town follows. This is one of Shogoro Nishimura's better Roman Porno films (almost none of which are as good as his earlier youth and gangster films from the 60s), a throwback to Nikkatsu's 60s youth cinema and perhaps even more to Toei's Song of the Night type of films depicting the young men and women of the night. It retains the thematics and fabulous art direction of those films, though with added boring sex and more hollow characters. Ultimately, however, the visuals, the setting and the solid ending are enough to make it worth a view.

Toei ninkyo x 3

Kanto Fight Challenge (関東果たし状) (Japan, 1965) [TV] – 2/5
Talkative, rather uneventful fourth entry in the Kanto series. The first 4 of the 5 films came out in 1965, making it one of the notable early works in the ninkyo genre. But you might argue the films were quite simplistic compared to some of the later, better pictures that had a more interesting obligation vs. humanity conflict in their core. This film goes some way in the right direction, with honourable clansman Tsuruta's closest friend Hiroyuki Nagato working for another gang under an evil oyabun. But not much comes out of it. Other highlights include blinded-by-dynamite Junko Fuji spending half of her scenes in black sunglasses and looking cool and ridiculous at the same time, and a dynamite packed clan-war action finale.

Chivalrous Man (渡世人) (Japan, 1967) [TV] - 3/5
One of the few ninkyo films starring Toei's playboy hustler Tatsuo Umemiya. He was usually found in less chivalrous pictures, though, oddly enough he also starred in Toei's most poetic ninkyo picture, Flower Cards Chivalry (1967) just 4 months prior to this. Chivalrous Man is a much more standard affair, made by different people, but is not without merits. More interesting than the chivalrous Umemiya are the unchivalrous Wakamayama and Tsuruta as a villain duo, the latter in particular playing a more compromised character than usual. The two are responsible for assassinating Umemiya's decent boss, though gunslinger Tsuruta later comes to regret what he's done. The unusual villain pairing alone carries the film once we get over the sluggish first third. One sequel followed later the same year.



Expelled by a Man’s Rivals (男涙の波門状) (Japan, 1967) [TV] – 3.5/5
Here is a solid ninkyo film with an unusual opening and a superb ending. Clansman Kyosuke Machida loses the gang’s money to a thieving friend, and is expelled by boss Kanjuro Arashi (usually playing more forgiving characters). It’s quite touching really and establishes an important supporting character. Star Koji Tsuruta doesn’t appear until 13 minutes into the film when he’s released from prison. He’s dismayed about his brother’s fate. Soon comes in the news that Arashi’s daughter (Teruo Ishii muse Masumi Tachibana) has run away to reunite with sweetheart Machida. Tsuruta immediately volunteers to go after them, eventually finding Machida in a coal mine working for benevolent boss Kenjiro Ishiyama, both of them harassed by rotten boss Bin Amatsu. Then we have the thief’s sister Hiroko Sakuramachi who falls in love with Tsuruta, and honourable nemesis Minoru Oki who saves Tsuruta so that he could kill him himself. There’s nice web of relationships and duty/honour conflicts, even if they are not as developed as in director Yamashita’s best films, and the drama runs somewhat out of steam after the first half. The musical score by Takeo Watanabe (Flower Cards Chivalry) is awesome in places and good in others. But the film really comes alive in the spectacular ending where Tsuruta kills more than two dozen men in pure rage. I’ve never seen him as deadly and furious in any other film. It’s one of the best choreographed, most exciting action climaxes in any ninkyo film.