Member Takuma Posted July 15, 2019 Author Member Share Posted July 15, 2019 Front Row Life (かぶりつき人生) (Japan, 1968) [DVD] - 2/5 Tatsumi Kumashiro's debut film about a moody gal whose fat mother is a stripper. The daughter gets a bit into the same trade, and runs into some unpleasant men, one of whom wants her to star in a pink film. Kumashiro fans should enjoy this as it’s unmistakably his work; I wasn't that impressed by it though, nor were the audiences at the time it seems. Kumashiro was back to assistant duties until Nikkatsu went Roman Porno. This film is tame compared to those, a character drama with mainly talk, but there are a few (non-striptease) scenes that show brief glimpses of nudity while pretending to be part of serious narrative. You get the feeling they calculated how much they could get away with. The Turkish Bathhouses of Japan (札幌・横浜・名古屋・雄琴・博多 トルコ渡り鳥) (Japan, 1975) [TV] – 3/5 A Toei documentary exploration of "Turkish baths". The film features toruko-wanderer Meika Seri employing herself in the country’s many brothels in a fictional frame story into which documentary footage and interviews with real pros are inserted. Shingo Yamashiro narrates, Tsusai Sugawara pops up, and there’s footage of foreign prostitutes and a visit to a women’s toruko with male workers. The most obscure thing we learn: 90% toruko girls own a pet because they are lonely! Some of the lengthy footage with bubble specialist sex workers doing their thing is also interesting, though marred by tons of fogging, and this being an exploitation doc you can never be quite sure what’s staged and to what extent. The structure works pretty well anyway, with real footage balanced with a fictional road movie drama and not too many boring moments. A bit better than Sadao Nakajima’s similar pictures from a few years earlier. Note: Turkish baths were re-named into Soaplands in the 80s after the Turks took offense. The younger Japanese are no longer familiar with the term “toruko”. - The Day of No Return (Kaerazaru hibi) (帰らざる日々) (Japan, 1978) [DVD] - 3/5 A young man (Toshiyuki Nagashima) returns to his hometown and recalls his youth, including an unlikely friendship with a brutish bully (Jun Etô), and a girl (Kahori Takeda from Pink Hip Girl) whose father (Atsuo Nakamura in a Yoshio Harada role) was a yakuza. Told in parallel in 1978 and 1972 with plenty of period detail. Another good, though not exceptional film by Japan's top youth film director of the 70s, Toshiya Fujita. He's ironically best known abroad for his most atypical film, Lady Snowblood. Perhaps that makes sense though, as revenge films travel better, and serious youth dramas are a genre the Japanese are for some reason much more comfortable with than the rest of the world. Prey (餌食) (Japan, 1979) – 4/5 Yuya Uchida x Koji Wakamatsu x Reggae. Uchida is a pot smoking ex-rocker back from the States. He hooks up with a small community of ex political radical, a bozo zoku style lone youngster and a teenage girl while growing increasingly concerned about the heroine trade conducted by gangsters in the show biz back-stage. A little more laidback than your average Wakamatsu fair, with an amazing non-stop reggae soundtrack and no graphic sex. Not the director at his most intense, yet unmistakably Wakamatsu all the way to the ending where Uchida goes postal in bright daylight and starts shooting random people on the street. Shanghai Rhapsody (上海バンスキング) (Japan, 1984) [35mm] - 3/5 Enjoyable but overlong Shanghai musical set in the 30s and 40s. With Fukasaku's usual frantic pacing I was quite enjoying the film until at 45 minutes I realized there's still two thirds to go (most directors would’ve taken 80 minutes to get that far). Plenty of singing and dancing in night club context, a gwailo gangster speaking English and Japanese in the same sentence, and a brief, hysterical Etsuko Shihomi karate scene (she has the film’s biggest supporting role as Chinese girl marrying a Japanese musician). For a while I though the film was drawing a naive depiction of Japanese-Chinese co-living until I realized the war just hadn't started yet. When it does, it’s Japanese soldiers executing children on the streets. Not what the target audiences expected perhaps, but this wouldn't be a Fukasaku film without that kind of brutal honesty. Big Magnum Kuroiwa Sensei (ビッグ・マグナム黒岩先生) (Japan, 1985) [DVD] – 3/5 “Violence education is my motto”, explains one of the new teachers at the School without Honor and Humanity, an institution full of delinquents, neo nazis and girls flashing their breasts (imported Nikkatsu actresses, I believe). And by "violence education" he means using violence in education. But the real badass in the school is the other newcomer, Kuroiwa sensei, a harmless looking old man who is actually a secret agent armed to the teeth, sent by the Board of Education! A relatively insane Kazuhiko Yamaguchi high school action comedy runs out of bullets at the end when the educational Rambo has to clear the school of bad boys without actually killing anyone. Lame. It's because the film was a family friendly mainstream comedy manga adaptation, released just prior to the 80s high school action boom (Be-bop High School and Sukeban Deka followed soon). It's still a good bit of fun, though. - Railroad Man (鉄道員) (Japan, 1999) [VoD] - 1/5 Old man devoted his life to work instead of family and spends most of the movie seeing b&w and sepia toned flashbacks. Popular Takakura movie could just as well have been women's sappy TV drama because nothing sets it apart from those other than the occasional widescreen landscape shot. Shinobu Otake's wife character so exceedingly tailor made for female TV audiences that any other viewer's head is likely to explode à la Scanners. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted July 22, 2019 Author Member Share Posted July 22, 2019 The Tale of Zatoichi (座頭市物語) (Japan, 1962) [BD] - 4.5/5 Zatoichi meets honourable but enemy gang affiliated samurai Shigeru Amachi in the beautifully written and directed opening film. It's curious how ninkyo'ish the storyline is (before the genre even existed), with Katsu and Amachi's meetings and discussions being old fashioned romanticized male honour/duty/friendship cinema at its best (you don't find anything quite like this in modern cinema, except maybe in 80s John Woo films). At the same time it steers away from the dull evil gang vs. good gang yakuza film pattern by making both gangs rotten. And the entire movie is funny and touching, with both elements beautifully integrated into the narrative rather than slapped on top of it. Also Amachi, an actor I've sometimes dismissed in his Toei films, is extremely good here. One of the all time best yakuza films. The Tale of Zatoichi Continues (続・座頭市物語) (Japan, 1962) [BD] - 3.5/5 Part 2. Zatoichi meets a man from the past (Katsu's brother Tomisaburo Wakayama). Enjoyable, wonderfully short (72 min) sequel nevertheless feels slightly superficial compared to the amazing original. The score (by Ichiro Saito instead of Akira Ikufube) dates the film, the storyline is built on back-story threads intentionally left loose in part one, and the Katsu-Wakayama pairing isn't milked to the full until the fantastic last 15 minutes. Still very good, but there was potential for even more. New Tale of Zatoichi (新・座頭市物語) (Japan, 1963) [BD] - 4/5 Part 3. The first colour entry and a return to top form with comparable honour/duty/respect play as the original film. Zatoichi is about to leave the yakuza life behind when he encounters a man who isn't evil, but must kill Zatoichi because his brother was slain by him. Effective and very touching. Three further points of notice: the film contains one of Akira Ikufube's most beautiful scores, features stunning framing throughout, and intensifies the action with powerful sword action sound effects (something that, typical to older chambara and yakuza films, was largely absent from the first two Zatoichi movies). - Zatoichi's Flashing Sword (座頭市あばれ凧) (Japan, 1964) [BD] - 3/5 Part 7. Evil yakuza Tatsuo Endo tries to obtain a riverside area from a decent boss who is harbouring Zatoichi without knowing his true identity. Standard entry with a routine storyline. Katsu is lovable as usual and Endo has a great evil laugh. Adventures of Zatoichi (座頭市関所破り) (Japan, 1964) [BD] - 3.5/5 Part 9. Sometimes you can do without a good plot. The characters, scenery and the hugely atmospheric final duel, all handled with finesse, make the uninspired `yakuza scheming with corrupt officials to extort villagers` plot surprisingly unobtrusive. Smooth sailing with the world's most lovable movie character. Zatoichi's Conspiracy (新座頭市物語・笠間の血祭り) (Japan, 1973) [BD] - 3.5/5 Part 25. The last of the original run before the 1989 one-time revival. This one is better than the previous few entries, more in line with the classic 60s films than some of the cruder 70s entries. Nothing unique, but there's a nice atmosphere and the film makes a satisfying closing for the series. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted August 8, 2019 Author Member Share Posted August 8, 2019 Keiko Sekine x 6 With Laputa Asagaya running a Keiko Sekine / Daiei Lemon Sex series in Tokyo soon, but me not being there, I gave myself a quick introduction to Daiei's early 70s youth film star at home since most of these films are streaming on Amazon Prime (also out on DVD). Btw, Sekine now goes by the name Keiko Takahashi... ever since she married Banmei Takahashi. High School Affair (高校生ブルース) (Japan, 1970) [VoD] – 2/5 Daiei youth eros with a school girl (cute Keiko Sekine in her debut role) getting accidentally pregnant after a tender moment with a boyfriend. Charmingly innocent with an old fashioned score, sweet characters and amazing metaphors (the love scene cross-cut to a basketball match has to be seen) until suffocating conservatism kicks in and robs it of all the joy. Sekine's character turns into an irritating drama queen in the process. The lesson is: sex is a filthy thing and will destroy a youngster's life. This was the opening film in Daiei’s Lemon Sex line, which was quite a bit tamer than what other studios were putting out. The theatrical poster, however, is surprisingly daring for Daiei, with Sekine in a wet see-through shirt... at 15. - Child Bride (おさな妻) (Japan, 1970) [VoD] - 2.5/5 High school girl Keiko Sekine part-times as kindergarten teacher and falls in love with the young single father of her favourite student. She becomes his wife and the child's mother. Expectedly sweet and tame, but also a curious contrast to High School Affair with its pro shagging-minors narrative. But then again, shagging minors has always been a popular activity among the conservatives and this movie doesn't stray far from its conservative roots. Quite watchable nevertheless, not least because of Sekine, who had a lot of charm to her. This was supposed to be her debut film, but became no. 2 when Daiei used her as a replacement star in High School Affair a few months earlier. The Forbidden Fruit (新・高校生ブルース) (1970) [VoD] – 2.5/5 More Daiei conservatism, this time disguised as sex comedy. A group of boys makes a pledge to lose their virginity. One of the targets is ultra-chaste Keiko Sekine who preaches in class "sex without love is for wild animals, not for human beings". This is actually moderately entertaining despite of, or because of, its American style hypocrisy that simultaneously preaches about love and morals but can't resist being a bit naughty (or perhaps it's the other way around, doesn't really make a difference). A sequel to High School Affair. The Awakening (成熱) (Japan, 1971) [VoD] - 2/5 A barely disguised 'Keiko Sekine and pretty scenery` concept film set in various small towns during summer festival season. The story excuse aka plot centres on two rival high schools competing in photography. Tension and romance ensues. Quite watchable, but ultimately unrewarding (save for the "let's raid the agricultural high school" line that surely can't be heard in any other film). For some reason Sekine doesn’t get naked this time, and there's nothing even discreetly erotic in the movie, which is greatly at odds with the Lemon Sex Line billing. - Love for Eternity (高校生心中 純愛) (Japan, 1971) [DVD] – 3/5 High school lovers and part-time runaways Keiko Takahashi and Saburo Shinoda try to escape the conservative world that won't accept their relationship. A real rollercoaster, emotionally and quality wise. Sekine hits career low in a hysteric crying scene, then climaxes in a love scene in the clouds (which is awesome)! The adults are all toxic cunts, which gets your blood boiling because you really care for the young protagonists and wish they'd have the upper hand. Play (Asobi) (遊び) (Japan, 1971) [VoD] - 3/5 Keiko Sekine gets the Yasuzo Masumura treatment. Shy girl Sekine from shitty home hooks up with unconfident youngster Masaaki Daimon who is revealed to be a yakuza under peer pressure. The story is told with frequent flashbacks to be past putting present moment scenes into an emotional context. This is Masumura in Electric Jellyfish mode, only the spark isn’t quite on the same level. There an overload of misery (especially with the bad parents) and characters feel like they’re on rails towards doom. But it comes alive big time when they decide to fight the destiny, with a very rewarding and touching last half an hour of gritty youth escapism. Easily Sekine’s most rebellious Daiei film. - 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted August 22, 2019 Author Member Share Posted August 22, 2019 Kinji Fukasaku x 5 Blackmail is My Life (恐喝こそわが人生) (Japan, 1968) [DVD] - 3/5 One of the films Kinji Fukasaku helmed for Shochiku instead of his native Toei. The breezy youthful touch found in his film indeed fits Shochiku better than gangster heavyweight Toei, though one also feels this could’ve been a Nikkatsu film. The cast and crew are largely Toei people, though. Hiroki Matsukata is the titular blackmailer heading a very Nikkatsu esque youth gang gradually moving on to bigger fish to blackmail. Hideo Murota gets one of his best roles as Matsukata's pal, for once playing a good guy (if a blackmailer can be described as such). This was actually the 2nd time the source novel was adapted; it was preceded by a 1963 Toei film Life of Blackmail starring Tatsuo Umemiya and Sonny Chiba in a very different kind of rendering of the storyline (Chiba's policeman/former best friend character does not even appear in Fukasaku's version). Fukasaku's film is the more rebellious and faster paced one with frantic cutting between past and present to explain ongoing scenes on the fly. There’s a flashback overkill but it's an interesting way to tell a story anyway, and unmistakably Fukasaku. Violent Panic: The Big Crash (Japan, 1976) [35mm] - 4/5 An utterly insane action film that is one of Kinji Fukasaku's lesser known movies, despite featuring one of the greatest car chases of all time. Tsunehiko Watase is a bank robber trying to escape the country with his girlfriend while being chased by the police and his dead partner's maniac brother (Hideo Murota) who wants his share of the cash. Fort the first 60 min it's an enjoyable heist drama set to Toshiaki Tsushima's (Battle without Honor and Humanity) terrific score and with excellent turns by Watase and Sugimoto (her best performance was in the previous year's ATG film Preparation for a Festival), followed by an incredible 20 minute demolition derby car chase. Imagine The Blues Brothers directed by Fukasaku as an ultraviolent crime film and you'll get the idea. Also features a hilarious Takuzo Kawatani performance as policeman whose girlfriend (Yayoi Watanabe) has constant trouble remaining faithful. - Lovers Lost (道頓堀川) (Japan, 1982) [VoD] - 3/5 A Kinji Fukasaku Shochiku drama about two young blokes in Osaka. The origin is a novel by Teru Miyamoto, whose Muddy River was filmed by Kohei Oguri a year before. Fukasaku’s film is a bit of an acting showcase for relative newcomers Hiroyuki Sanada and Koichi Sato, a JAC talent and Rentaro Mikuni’s son, playing a wanna-be painter and a pool player respectively. It is spare-part Ken Ogata Tsutomu Yamazaki as the latter’s hated father who is brilliant, though, while Keiko Matsuzaka steals the first billing just because her face had most marketing value. Maki Carousel, Mariko Kaga, Tsunehiko Watase and Megumi Saki (from Red Violation and Rape Ceremony) are in it too. Slow at first, but eventually electrifying with strong drama and a great pool duel at the end, followed by a totally over-the-top death scene. The 80s also brought a little pervert out of Fukasaku with remarkable nude scenes in one film after the other. Here we get, among other topless scenes, a crazed two minute nude dance for the camera, all in the name of serious drama narrative! Legend of the Eight Samurai (里見八犬伝) (Japan, 1983) [35mm] - 4/5 An extremely entertaining samurai fantasy based on the Satomi hakkenden story, which Kinji Fukasaku had already adapted into a disappointing sci-fi film Message from Space a few years before. It's unmistakably a Kadokawa production, with fine production values and superstar cast starring Hiroko Yakushimaru and JAC sweetheart Hiroyuki Sanada at the height of their idolhood. Sanada was in terrific physical shape at the time and Yakushimaru, one of the cutest girls ever to grace Japanese cinema, had the kind of freshness about her performances that other idols couldn't even dream of. Sonny Chiba and Etsuko Shihomi are an added bonus. The sets are wonderfully over the top, the film is colourful and there is a genuine feel of a fantasy adventure. Special effects vary between great and amusingly cheesy. The soundtrack, with songs by Dan O'Banion, contains more greatness than is humanly possible to express in words. An utterly enjoyable (and enduringly popular in Japan) piece of pop samurai cinema for boys; only a notch below Fukasaku's finest films. - House on Fire (火宅の人) (Japan, 1986) [DVD] - 3/5 80s novel adaptation of the stormy private life of a novelist, thankfully directed by Kinji Fukasaku. It's quite long at 132 min and feels even longer with Fukasaku cramming 3 hours worth of drama into 2, but not boring thanks to Fukasaku's sparkling direction and drama that is both believable and a bit outrageous. Ken "I am the best actor of the 80s" Ogata is his usual great self in the lead and so are all the actresses playing wives and mistresses, including Mieko Harada and her heavenly breasts. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted September 4, 2019 Author Member Share Posted September 4, 2019 Daiei time! Took a free trial for Amazon Prime's Kadokawa Channel. Yakuza Priest (やくざ坊主) (Japan, 1965) [VoD] – 2/5 Messy ‘fallen monk opens a business’ picture in which nothing interesting happens. Shintaro Katsu, still half in Zatoichi mode, plays the hoodlum monk who gambles, brawls and womanizes his way through the uneventful non-story. It even lacks exploitative or technical edge. But it does have one saving grace (in addition to Katsu): the underused Mikio Narita as Katsu's ronin opponent. Typecast to the point of boredom in the 70s yakuza films, Narita’s 60 swordsman roles have been a real discovery. A watchable film, but criminally weak considering the potential and talent involved. Followed by one sequel. - Bloody Shuriken (赤い手裏剣) (Japan, 1965) [VoD] – 2/5 Dagger throwing anti-hero Raizo Ichikawa rides into a spaghetti western town full of crooks and a hidden treasure everyone wants to locate. Watchable yakuza / jidaigeki / western hybrid is occasionally stylish, but too superficial to make you care about what's going on. Woman Gambling Expert (女の賭場) (Japan, 1966) [VoD] – 2.5/5 Part 1 in the 17 film Daiei series. An old man commits suicide after being accused of cheating in gambling den by a crooked yakuza (excellent Fumio Watanabe in a routine role). His restaurant owner daughter (Kyoko Enami) becomes the next target. Conservative Daiei surprisingly initiated this series two years before Toei took reign of the female gambler genre with Red Peony Gambler. But the origin is still evident. This is mainly a Daiei woman drama with yakuza elements until the electrifying last 15 minutes when Enami decides to learn the trade and get even. In a Toei picture, that scene would have played after the opening credits, or even before them, and served as the starting point for the story. Love for an Idiot (痴人の愛) (Japan, 1967) [VoD] – 3/5 A couple goes domestic World War III in Masumura's exceedingly 60s gender satire. A pre-otaku era salaryman (excellent Shoichi Ozawa) gets a young wildcat (Michiyo Yasuda) as his pet, a role she goes along with for a while till she gets bored with the old geezer trying to fit her into his idea of what a woman should be like. There are some crazy outfits and amazing still photos, wickedly funny observations about desperate men, and fine performances too, but the lack plot can make all the rage a bit numbing at times. Michiyo Yasuda, who is better known as Daiei’s late 60s action Duracell Bunny (Lady Sazen and the Drenched Swallow Sword, Bamboo Leaf Omon) does a surprisingly daring role, however, there is doubt whether it’s really her or a body double in the numerous nude photos. Oh, and the English title is a bit different from the Japanese “An Idiot’s Love”, the idiot being the salaryman. Based on a 1924 novel by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki - bit ironic considering how unmistakably 60s Masumura's film is. There had been at least 2 earlier film adaptations as well, in 1949 and 1960. - A Certain Killer's Key (ある殺し屋の鍵) (Japan, 1967) [VoD] - 3.5/5 Refined, stylish action thriller with professional killer Raizo Ichikawa hired to assassinate a businessman. Ichikawa, with his handsome looks integrated into a character who immerses in traditional arts when not assassinating people, doesn't look much like a hired killer, but that's one of the film's charms. From story to stylistic touches, the film does most things a bit differently, without becoming overly quirky. Captivating, even when nothing in particular is happening. A sequel to A Certain Killer, also a stylish film, but this sequel is even more focused and low key, better. - Electric Jellyfish (The Hot Little Girl) (しびれくらげ) (Japan, 1970) [VoD] - 3.5/5 A drunken dumbfuck father Ryoichi Tamagawa falls in yakuza debt trap after drawing attention by bragging about his sexy model daughter Mari Atsumi. He figures he can get the money from her jerk boyfriend Yusuke Kawazu, who just sold her body to a sleazy American to advance his own career. Meanwhile she's growing determined to tell everyone to go fuck themselves. An angry little Masumura film with dynamite Mari Atsumi on fire. Half of the dialogue is yelled, and the classical influenced score is overwhelming. For modern audiences the film may be a bit of an eye opener: this is where Sion Sono got his drama dynamics. A follow-up of sorts to a less exciting Masumura / Atsumi picture Electric Medusa (1970). - 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted September 17, 2019 Author Member Share Posted September 17, 2019 (edited) Kadokawa x 3 Curtain Call (愛情物語) (Japan, 1984) [VoD] – 3.5/5 Utterly crazy Kadokawa dance flick with an amazing, ultra-80s "Broadway" musical opening which also collects all the black dudes in Japan into one scene! It's poor man's Flashdance, Streets of Fire, Michael Jackson and every 80’s female pop star in one, and it's one of the best manifestations of Kadokawa, whose strategy was to bring Hollywood spectacle into Japanese filmmaking. And this was helmed by the big man himself, narcotics criminal Haruki Kadokawa. The story is about 16 year old Tomoyo Harada going on a trip to find a lost father, then making a father figure of a nice middle aged man (the always watchable Tsunehiko Watase) while training for a musical audition. Showman Kadokawa was less a storyteller and more a monkey in the director's chair. But it works here, and there's no denying the musical scenes, many of which even the most hard-core 80s junkie would admit are cheesy as hell, deliver the fun and the sheer amazement. - Inujini seshi mono (犬死にせしもの) (Japan, 1986) [VoD] - 1/5 Fisherman Hiroyuki Sanada and two pals go pirate in 1947 Japan. A rather miserable drama with awful quirky direction and performances, including a couple of Japanese Richard Nortons. Sanada is the only one who comes off at least half-tolerable. I gave up after 40 minutes and fast-forwarded the rest, which seemed to be even worse. Lover’s Time (Koibitotachi no jikoku) (恋人たちの時刻) (Japan, 1987) [VoD] – 3.5/5 Kadokawa discoveries, part deux. Great opening scene with cute, disturbed girl (Michiko Kawai from Somai’s P.P. Rider) silently watching the sea. She sees a lonely surfer boy swallowed by the waves. The next moment two biker guys emerge and try to rape her. The surfer boy manages to drive the goons away, but gets knocked out in the process. The girl, who seems more irritated than shocked by the incident, comes out from hiding, still minus the clothes which she doesn't seem to mind. As the story continues, he develops an obsession to get her to go out with him. The girl (she lives with an old sculptor as his nude model) then asks him to track down a missing person. There's an odd quality to the film from the very beginning that I kept wondering about till Japan-best screenwriter Haruhiko Arai's (Rape Ceremony, Distant Thunder, Vibrator) name popped up in the OP credits, followed by Shinichiro Sawai's directorial credit. Sawai did Tragedy of W with Hiroko Yakushimaru, and this movie has the same kind of grip and relative grit. Not Arai at his most steady handed, yet endlessly interesting with plenty of unusual character details and melancholy, often captured by Sawai with ultra-long takes against gray Hokkaido fall backdrop. And the score is a by a certain Joe Hisaishi, who plagiarized his own work for A Scene at the Sea. Almost like a film from an alternative universe where idols do nudity and have traded bubblegum pop for dark psychological movies. - Also, the curious thing about Arai is that throughout the 80s essentially every second of his scripts were filmed as a Roman Porno and every second as mainstream or arthouse production, and most of them could've been any of the three with minor or no modifications. Edited September 17, 2019 by Takuma 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted September 18, 2019 Author Member Share Posted September 18, 2019 Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman (新座頭市・破れ！唐人剣) (Japan, 1971) [35mm] – 3/5 This is the only film in the series where Zatoichi farts! On someone's face, even! The reason I bring this up is that that fart in descriptive of the film: funny and functional, but rather unambitious, which is a shame for this being Zatoichi vs. the One-Armed Swordsman, Katsu vs. Wang Yu. Pitting the two giants against each other is only right, but doing it on the excuse of cultural and linguistic misunderstandings is just lazy writing. There was potential for more. Also, you’ve got to wonder how smoothly the filming went? Neither one of the two stars are known as the easiest people to work with, and this has them playing their most beloved characters in a Japan vs. China death match. Reportedly an alternative cut was released to HK audiences with additional and altered footage. The War of the Sixteen Year Olds (十六歳の戦争) (Japan, 1973/1976) [35mm] – 4/5 Funeral Parade of Roses director Toshio Matsuda's bloody excellent youth film set in rural Japan. This has one of the best opening scenes I've seen since Kiyoshi Nishimura's Too Young to Die (1969), with a young man arriving a town, and falling in love with a 16 year old girl as they watch the police pull two dead bodies from a river, all against a great rock song (the film's soundtrack is absolutely stunning!). Pure cinema! The film then follows their relationship as WWII traumas begin to surface in the town and lead the film down a far darker - and ambiguous - path. There are some jarring cuts and imperfections that make the film no less fascinating, and an amusingly gratuitous topless scene for Akiyoshi who looked pretty stunning at 19. Filmed independently in 1973, but not released until 1976. This became instantly of one my favourite 70s youth films! Failed Youth (青春の蹉跌) (Japan, 1974) [35mm] – 4.5/5 Tatsumi Kumashiro's legendary youth film. This was his first movie for Toho, a departure from Roman Porno. The politically conscious script by Kazuhiko Hasegawa (The Youth Killer, The Man Who Stole the Sun) follows indecisive university student Ken'ichi Hagiwara and hopelessly in love younger girlfriend Kaori Momoi in the midst of young confusion, violent student radicalism and an era where modern and traditional clashed. It's a slow-burner, but excellently acted by Hagiwara and Momoi (also look out for Meika Seri as a street beggar) and filmed with loads of meaningful long takes, including an amazing love scene in the snowy mountains near the end. And the score is just beautiful! Kumashiro's masterpiece, no doubt! The film's obscurity shows just how little Toho cares for their own catalogue titles: chosen by the nation's best known film journal Kinema Junpo as the 21st best Japanese film ever made, Toho has not even bothered putting the film out on DVD (though it’s finally coming in December 2019). Crazed Beast (狂った野獣) (Japan, 1976) [35mm] – 3.5/5 Sadao Nakajima's outrageous action farce that is essentially one 78 min action sequence. Punks Takuzo Kawatani and Ruyji Katagiri highjack a bus which, unbeknownst to them, is already carrying a bigger bad guy Tsunehiko Watase. This is an obvious production follow-up to Kinji Fukasaku's car chase film Violent Panic: The Big Crash (1976), with largely the same cast but more hysterical approach. The bus is loaded with quite some characters and the cops chasing the bus are the most self-destructive bunch I've ever seen. Watase, who had already starred in Violent Panic, got a bus driver’s license and proceeded to do his own stunts, including flipping the bus on its side (the other actors who remained inside the bus were the expendable Piranha Corps. Kawatani, Katagiri and Takashi Noguchi, the rest of the passengers were replaced with dolls) despite Nakajima trying to stop him! I hated this film upon my first viewing about 10 years ago when I expected a serious action drama à la Violent Panic, but found it quite amusing this time. The funniest scene: an old woman consoles children who are scared of Kawatani’s character: "don't worry, that uncle will be caught and get death penalty". Mosquito on the 10th Floor (十階のモスキート) (Japan, 1983) [35mm] – 2/5 Yoichi Sai's debut, a depressing life-is-shit picture with Yuya Uchida as a cop in debt (to the bank, not the yakuza, unfortunately). He proceeds to do... very little. I first saw this on DVD and found it largely a bore; a 35mm screening a decade later did not change my mind. Flat filmmaking and a non-eventful story that Uchida's convincing performance can't save. The Miracle of Joe Petrel (海燕ジョーの奇跡) (Japan, 1984) [VoD] – 3.5/5 Toshiya Fujita's gangster film loosely based on the 4th Okinawa Yakuza Conflict (also the base for Okinawa Yakuza War, 1976) where a Kyokuryu-kai president was shot dead by a hitman. The film starts out a bit dull, but gains momentum when the titular killer flees to Manila (fully fiction from here on) where he hooks up with Japanese small time gangster (Yoshio Harada) who deals anything from women to VCRs. Fujita uses the foreign location expertly, capturing the corruption, dirt, sleaze and beautiful nature, while steering away from the travel show / tourist filmmaker approach that plagues many similar Japanese productions. Leading man Saburo Tokito could be more charismatic and there are a couple of misfire clichés in the action, but overall the film is impressive. Trivia: Toei originally acquired the rights to the novel the film is based on, and intended to make it with Kinji Fukasaku and Yusaku Matsuda. It went into pre-production and reportedly had a sales poster ready, but after various problems (it seems first Matsuda insisted on re-writing the script, then heroine Setsuko Karasuma dropped out because she felt Toei had exploited her in her previous film The Four Seasons: Natsuko (四季・奈津子) (1980) and she wanted nothing to do with the studio, and the release date was closing) the production was cancelled. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted September 27, 2019 Author Member Share Posted September 27, 2019 (edited) Heaven Sent (Kamisama ga kureta akanbo) (神様のくれた赤ん坊) (Japan, 1979) [VoD] - 3/5 A surprisingly good road movie drama/comedy with careless Tsunehiko Watase finding out he's a dad to a small kid - maybe. The mother took off and left a list of 5 potential dads. Watase of course figures it must be one of the other 4. Companion Kaori Momoi isn't all too happy but stick along for a road trip to dump the kid to the real dad (the others can be blackmailed out of some money, they figure). One of the funniest segments features Watase catching one of the potential dads… in the middle of his wedding ceremony! Jidai geki & yakuza veteran Kanjuro Arashi (in his last role at 76 years old, he died the following year) is in the film too, in a bit that's bound to bring a smile to any genre film fan's face. Also, the child (child, not baby despite the erroneous Japanese title) is not irritating at all, in fact, he barely does anything but sit silently). Honest crowd pleasing entertainment, but also well made with good pace and script. Haruhiko Arai is credited as contributing writer, but the main credit should no doubt go to writer-director Yoichi Maeda. - Play it, Boogie-Woogie (スローなブギにしとくれ) (Japan, 1981) [VoD] - 3/5 A slice of life picture with a bar / semi-drifter girl, an angry youngster with a bike, a divorced asshole, and a middle aged woman living with him. There's no plot, just one year of gritty life. And it works. Yoshio Harada (the asshole's friend), Hideo Murota (bar owner) and Kahori Takeda (teenage mom) have supporting roles, Kenji Sawada, Akira Takahashi and several others cameos. Toshiya Fujita directs. Time and Tide (時代屋の女房) (Japan, 1983) [VoD] – 2/5 Nice guy antique store owner Tsunehiko Watase meets idiosyncratic girl Masako Natsume, then later another odd girl (also Natsume). A rather dull and very Shochiku-like drama co-scripted by Haruhiko Arai, whose usually identifiable touch is barely visible here, save for the normal guy / strange girl premise. Watase is very good (he's hugely under-rated, with solid performances one after another in both action pictures and dramas), the score is alright and there's some good use of cat-cam, but the film lacks bite. Downtown Heroes (ダウンタウンヒーローズ) (Japan, 1988) [VoD] - 1/5 Deadly Yoji Yamada boredom. Even Hiroko Yakushimaru can't save this as she is barely in it despite being the 1st billed. Yamada is more interested 1940s boy’s boarding school drama and nostalgia than her or, well, anything of interest. Had I had a rope, I would’ve probably hanged myself watching this. Sting of Death (死の棘) (Japan, 1990) [VoD] – 2.5/5 An unfaithful family man and a ‘jealous to the point of mental illness’ wife face each other in a series of heated but unnaturally formal dialogues only interrupted by occasional surreal visions and scenes of almost horror film like dark atmosphere. Not an easy watch at 114 min, nor am I sure if this is good cinema, or just pretentious art. But it is, at least partly, oddly captivating and somewhat memorable, and that's something. 1990 Cannes Grand Prize of the Jury winner. Director Kohei Oguri releases films very sparsely: he has directed only six movies in 34 years, from 1981 to 2015. The Lowlife (最低。) (Japan, 2017) [VoD] – 3.5/5 Exceptionally unbiased examination of women involved in the Japanese AV industry, based on a book by the AV superstar Mana Sakura. The film follows a young AV actress (Kokone Sasaki) whose narrow minded mother keeps putting blame on her over her career choice, a high school girl (Aina Yamada) bullied over her mother’s AV past (the same moral composition as the 1st story but in reverse), and a 34 year old woman (Ayano Moriguchi) who tries AV due to her husband’s lack of commitment to family life. This must be one of the most female centered films I have seen, not only all main and most supporting characters being women, but every scene focusing on how they feel as opposed to what they do. Rather than focusing on the industry; the film deals with people involved in the industry. Thoroughly well acted (with Kokone Sasaki way above her usual level) and directed with unexpected finesse by the frequently disappointing Takahisa Zeze. That is, before the film becomes a crying fest towards the end. Somehow I feel like forgiving that. And no, the film doesn’t shy away from the sex and nudity that naturally accompanies the subject despite being a mainstream film with major female audience appeal. - Edited September 27, 2019 by Takuma 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted October 20, 2019 Author Member Share Posted October 20, 2019 Cat Girl Gambling x 3 Cat Girl Gambling (賭場の牝猫) (Japan, 1965) [BD] - 3/5 Early female gambler film, surprisingly not by Toei or Daiei, but the hip Nikkatsu. Yumiko Nogawa is very good in the lead, extremely beautiful and determined yet somehow fragile in a way most Toei heroines were not. The fact that she does not fight in the film translates to character realism rather than conservatism. The gambling scenes are excellent as well, with the course of the game depicted in detail, which is vital for sustaining suspense and not always done right in yakuza films. There's even the fun game tactic laid out for all the wannabe cat girl gamblers out there: show some thigh and the players are less likely to notice you are cheating! And finally, the film is lower key and void of the pathos of many Toei films. A richer storyline and more focus on the modern milieu would not have hurt, however. As it stands, the film is good but not especially memorable. - Cat Girl Gambling: Naked Flesh Paid Into the Pot (賭場の牝猫 素肌の壷振り) (Japan, 1965) [BD] - 2/5 A direct follow-up with Nogawa now working in a bathhouse where gangster runaway Nitani (different role than last time) seeks shelter. Nogawa’s detective uncle is again investigating the case with young partner Tatsuya Fuji. Nogawa is her usual electrifying self, but the story is dull as dishwater with no gambling until the second half and only about 45 seconds of action in the entire film. Nikkatsu fans may get more out of it than I did. Cat Girl Gambling: Game of Sharpened Fangs (賭場の牝猫 捨身の勝負) (Japan, 1965) [BD] – 2.5/5 The last in the trilogy, notably better than part 2. Nogawa gets acquainted with an honourable gang boss running a strip joint (!) (no nudity, however) who is being harassed by a crook boss. The enigmatic Nogawa dominates the screen, especially whenever someone tries to fuck with her - she's really fantastic, like Meiko Kaji but cuter and spicier. And she wears tattoos perhaps better than any other female star. She also gets to do a bit more action here, in addition to the great dice matches. But as usual, the storyline isn't especially dynamic and doesn't always even feel much like a gangster picture with the softer Nikkatsu drama touches. - Sister Street Fighter x 3 Sister Street Fighter: Hanging by a Thread (女必殺拳 危機一発) (Japan, 1974) [BD] - 3.5/5 Fun Shihomi flick suffers from some shaky cam excess, something that director Yamaguchi invented in late '74 (probably a Fukasaku influence) but gradually let go off in 75. It's still a lot of fun with guest star Kurata, Hideo Murota in rare main villain role, sleazy smugglers operating jewels into girls' arses, that awesome apocalyptic shot near the end, and some kiddie porn (is that Eva Ionesco? She seems to have been big in Asia... her Playboy photos are in one of the Shaw Bros.'s Criminals films too) that EVERYONE had forgotten was in the film until BBFC made it front page news. - Return of the Sister Street Fighter (帰ってきた女必殺拳) (Japan, 1975) [BD] - 3.5/5 The most excessive film in the series. Shihomi goes through her entire Chinese wardrobe, wheelchair villain Rinichi Yamamoto organizes a fight tournament reminiscent of Wang Yu films (one fighter is a fucking Zulu!) and my idol Osman Yusuf appears for 10 seconds as strip joint customer. Only a notch away from overly goofy, it still remains on the cool side and is mostly well paced at lovely 77 minutes. Shunsuke Kikuchi's score rocks the socks off as usual, and Yamaguchi thankfully does away with the shaky cam. But the storyline is a rehash of the first two films (how many relatives / friends / friends' relatives to be kidnapped does she have?) and Ishibashi is again denied the finale he deserves, which slightly hamper the enjoyment. - Sister Street Fighter: Fifth Level Fist (女必殺五段拳) (Japan, 1976) [BD] - 3/5 The least in the series, yet packed with small pleasures. Shihomi in a hippie costume, future ATG director Claude Gagnon as a US drug lord, and ATG talents Ken Wallace & Michi Love as half-blooded siblings in a ridiculously manipulative yet sympathetic sub-plot. Shigehiro Ozawa helms it as pg-rated affair, which is a stumbling point for many fans. The real problem: a conservative doubt whether girl power goes all the way after all, given in Watase's speech about a woman's place and later verified when he needs to save Shihomi, something unheard of earlier in the series. - 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted October 27, 2019 Author Member Share Posted October 27, 2019 (edited) King Kong vs. Godzilla (キングコング対ゴジラ) (Japan, 1962) [VoD] – 3/5 Fun entry with an awesome monster pairing, a more watchable than usual media satire storyline, and perhaps the most awesomely ridiculous Godzilla discovery scene in the whole series. Osman Yusuf appears for a few seconds as well. Version reviewed: Japanese. Son of Godzilla (怪獣島の決戦 ゴジラの息子) (Japan, 1967) [VoD] – 2.5/5 Godzilla teaches toxic masculinity to his son. Intelligent kaiju film was 50 years ahead of its time. The X from Outer Space (宇宙大怪獣ギララ) (Japan, 1967) [VoD] - 3/5 A pleasant surprise for a non kaiju fan. The opening half is dull as they tend to be, but then you get Guilala, the Nicolas Cage of giant space monsters! From there on it’s non-stop destruction with a wonderfully monotonic score, an exciting car vs. giant monster chase, and the infinitely charismatic antenna-headed space-bird on drugs, Guilala. - Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla (ゴジラvsスペースゴジラ) (Japan, 1994) [VoD] – 2/5 The cutest minilla ever almost saves this watchable but unremarkable entry. The end fight has potential for an epic, but comes off unfocused. Megumi Okada from Hana no Asuka gumi co-stars, the score rips off You Only Live Twice. South to the Horizon (南へ走れ、海の道を!) (Japan, 1986) [VoD] – 3/5 Three Okinawa punks fuck with the yakuza and pay the price. Fast forward one month and shift gear to revenge film as combat vet older brother Koichi Iwaki comes out of the jungle for vengeance. The main target is yakuza boss Hideo Murota. Delightfully violent b-action film disguised as Shochiku studio production, by former porn director Seiji Izumi who splatters the walls with blood and can't even resist wielding some chainsaw. Plenty of bad writing, several gaijin supporting actors (mostly good, not bad guys) and music cues so bad they shouldn't suffice even for b-cinema. And it's all rather enjoyable; the kind of action cinema Japan wasn't producing anymore in the 80s. You just need to get past the deceivingly dull opening act. Director Izumi’s 80s mainstream work has been a discovery: he also did the renegade biker cop film On the Road (1982) and the gritty delinquent girl rock picture Majoran (1984), both minor cult classics. - Four Days of Snow and Blood (226) (Japan, 1989) [VoD] – 1.5/5 Dull military drama tries to humanize the men behind the infamous Feb. 26 1936 coup d'état attempt. This is of the few male-centric films by late Hideo Gosha who had switched almost exclusively to women’s cinema in the 80s. It makes no difference, the man was long out of touch. The only points of interest here are the ridiculously packed cast – stars like Tetsuro Tanba, Tatsuya Nakadai, Tatsuo Umemiya, Hiroki Matsukata and even Takuzo Kawatani popping up in 2 minute roles, sometimes without a single line of dialogue (Nobuo Kaneko) – and the perspective which is strictly with the renegade military men. The other 2/26 film I've seen, the 1962 Ken Takakura film The Escape, focuses on the prime minister hiding in the house (barely featured in this film at all) and the police trying to save him. For those who slept in their history class, the incident was about a conservative military wing trying to assassinate Western minded politicians, the prime minister being the prime target. They invaded the prime minister's house with several hundred men, but lacking smart phones and Google Image Search they committed the fuck-up of the century and killed the wrong man (the brother-in-law posing as the prime minister) without ever realizing their mistake. The real prime minister managed to hide in the house for several days and finally escape. Edited October 27, 2019 by Takuma 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted October 27, 2019 Member Share Posted October 27, 2019 I recall liking Godzilla vs Space Godzilla - Space Godzilla himself has a great design IMO, and Minilla (or whatever his name was in this - IIRC, he changed name in each of the Heisei movies he was in and I think he was "baby" in Mechagodzilla II and Jr. in Destoroyah) is quite adorable. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted November 2, 2019 Author Member Share Posted November 2, 2019 High Noon for Gangsters (白昼の無頼漢) (Japan, 1961) [DVD] - 4/5 An excellent, racially and sexually charged heist thriller with gangster Tetsuro Tamba blackmailing 4 foreigners (a black G.I., a racist white American and his wife, and a Korean) into robbing an armoured vehicle with him, girlfriend and yakuza bro Sone. "$300 000 for me, $200 000 for the six of you, that's $50 000 a head" Tamba says, and remarks after being told his math is off "school math won’t do, at least two of you are gonna die, that’s $50 000 a head". There's terrific tension throughout and some witty dialogue in both Japanese and English (Tamba interpreting his Japanese lover for the American wife: "She said you're pretty charming for a pig"). The foreign cast is passable, and the white American actually speaks fluent Japanese while Tamba speaks understandable English. The heist itself is a bit rushed and there's an uninspired twist here and there, but only noticeable because the film is damn good overall! Fukasaku’s 1st full length film. - A Man's Showdown (男の勝負) (Japan, 1966) [TV] - 1.5/5 Hideo Murata was a pretty big ninkyo star in the 60s despite lacking anything resembling charisma. His enka singing career ensured his popularity. This is a co-starring vehicle for Murata and Shigeru Amachi, an actor who did better when portraying suffering, morally compromised tough guys (e.g. Yellow Line, The Tale of Zatoichi). They make a rather dull heroic duo against crooked Bin Amatsu. Young Sadao Nakajima directed this under Masahiro Makino’s supervision. The film feels more Makino than the Nakajima. Not so much a terrible film as just a boring one. The only energetic scenes are in the mid third: a duel between Murata and Amachi, and a stylishly executed sakazuki scene. Delinquent Street (不良街) (Japan, 1972) [TV] - 2.5/5 Lightweight yakuza romp with a cool Hiroki Matsukata theme song and an ultra-violent finale, where the heroes massacre at least 40 bad guys. Matsukata, Hayato Tani and a moustached, sun glassed Shingo Yamashiro make a three man punk gang. Girlfriend Mari Tsutsui hangs around in revealing tops, and Bunta Sugawara shows up in two scenes. Yukio Noda directs with a tad more seriousness than some of his other films, and Yamashiro is surprisingly tolerable, even cool. It's just regretful the film is another waste of a great title: there is no delinquent street here. - Hobo General (Kinkin no lumpen taisho) (キンキンのルンペン大将) (Japan, 1976) [VoD] - 1/5 A forgotten Teruo Ishii comedy, by far one of his worst films. Kinya Aikawa (Sugawara's co-star in the Truck Yaro series) is a silly country bumpkin in Tokyo without home or friends. Extremely tame, childish, unfunny gags and some weeping follows. Imagine the comedy segments from the Abashiri Prison series extended into a feature length film minus all the yakuza stuff and you are... still not low enough. This is a far cry from the naughty comedy genius of The Executioner 2: Karate Inferno which looks like a Stanley Kubrick picture in comparison. Taiyo no koibito: Agnes Lum (太陽の恋人 アグネス・ラム) (Japan, 1976) [TV] - 2.5/5 A Toei curiosity that misleadingly occasionally pops up in Pinky Violence context. This isn't actually a movie, but a 25 min gravure film with Hawaii beauty Agnes Lum. Japanese men had such a crash for Lum (familiar from magazines and commercials) that Toei sent action director Atsushi Mihori (Criminal Woman: Killing Melody) to Hawaii to film this piece, and unloaded it onto screens as theatrical youth triple bill with Gang of Men: Delinquent Prison and Detonation: 750cc Tribe. Difficult to evaluate from the cinematic side - it largely lacks one - but for what it's worth, Lum looks stunning and (the costume department) has impeccable taste in bikini. Includes slow-motion running in bikini, and the Hawaii locations provide additional eye candy. Lum comes off sweet and naive, and the single interview scene where they try to force her talk about her body feels nasty and exploitative (unless her reactions were scripted for the pleasure of sadist Japanese viewers). - Best Guy (ベストガイ) (Japan, 1990) [VoD] - 1/5 A miserable Top Gun derivative from Toru Murakawa. The biggest problem is that while it's as superficial as Top Gun, it's not any wilder, imaginative or exploitative, it's just duller. The characters are cardboards, the Canadian band doing the music awful, and the film goes on forever at 114 min. The action, with some decent flying clumsily mixed with cast insert shots and background projections, seems half-watchable at first but even these scenes drag to no end. The title supposedly refers to a Japan Air Self-Defense Force rank, but it conveniently also works as a Karate Kid reference (known as “Best Kid” in Japan). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted December 4, 2019 Author Member Share Posted December 4, 2019 (edited) Nikkatsu Youth Film x 3 Goodbye Mr. Tears (涙くんさよなら) (Japan, 1966) [VoD] – 4/5 A delightful Nikkatsu youth musical from the days before director Shogoro Nishimura became a Roman Porno vending machine. An American-Japanese girl (16 year old Judy Ongg who starred in Nishimura's tremendously enjoyable Sun Tribe picture Return of the Wolf) travels to Japan in search of a lost mother, hooks up with a bunch of musically minded youngsters (actor/singer Ken Yamauchi and his fellow Young and Fresh band members + Meiko Kaji) for a road trip, hitches a ride in 60s pop super stars The Spiders's tour bus, all while being chased by mass media (one persistent reporter being played by Akira Takahashi, a future Roman Porno heavy). Perhaps not a huge artistic achievement, this is nevertheless terrific fun with great location work, wonderful pace at 81 min, amazing colors popping straight through the screen, and some very funny character play between the too-lovely-for-her-own-sake Ongg and jealous kid Kaji. The title comes from a Japanese 1965 pop song that found popularity after American singer Johnny Tillotson performed it in Japanese and English - he's in the movie, too! - Youth A Go-Go (青春ア・ゴーゴー) (Japan, 1966) [VoD] - 4/5 Another insanely energetic Nikkatsu youth / music picture with student kids (Ken Yamauchi & Young and Fresh again) starting a band. They cross paths with the The Spiders (prominently featured in the film) and find a vocalist in a strange girl (awesome Judy Ongg who gloriously mixes Japanese, Mandarin and English) they meet while practicing in an abandoned church. Also features the most awesome moment of cameraman going nuts with the film's swing and starting to do crazy zooms and movements before flipping the whole camera upside down. Meiko Kaji is in the film too, in a minor little sister role. - The Evening Sun Is Crying (夕陽が泣いている) (Japan, 1967) [VoD] – 3.5/5 Another one in a series of Nikkatsu youth films starring Young and Fresh and made in a fruitful collaboration with The Spiders who’d contribute new hit songs and play a supporting role in the storyline. A pessimist might call it shameless commercialism, but why not when everyone, the audience included, benefitted from the results. This film plays out like a more realistic, low key version of Youth a Go-Go with very a similar storyline.The difference is that this time the student band struggles to find any success, as such a band in reality probably would. Curious observation: cinematography somehow levels up 20 minutes before the film’s closing, with some fantastic framing and use of the widescreen format. - Nikkatsu Roman Porno x 4 Castle Orgies (色暦大奥秘話) (Japan, 1971) [VoD] - 1.5/5 Nikkatsu's half-arsed, first ever Roman Porno production (a double feature with Apartment Wife: Affair in the Afternoon). Setsuko Ogawa stars as a girl forced to leave her boyfriend to join the shogun's harem. This was strictly a concept film: take a routine period drama, add sex scenes and expect audiences to pay up. They did. Loads of sequels followed. Two points worth noting: 1) Some of the music is lifted from Blind Woman's Curse (1970) and 2) All male roles in the film are worth a round zero. Enka jōshikō: kizudarake no kaben (怨歌情死考 傷だらけの花弁) (Japan, 1972) [VoD] – 1.5/5 Naive small town girl Setsuko Ogawa goes to Tokyo to become a singer, discovers the industry is full of jerks. An early Roman Porno drama may appeal with its nostalgia and relative restraint, but it really doesn't have cinematic merits of any sort. Except maybe the most ridiculous falling off a cliff shot I've ever seen. Koyu Ohara directs, but you wouldn't guess it if his name wasn't in the credits. Sex Highway (ＳＥＸハイウェイ 女の駐車場) (Japan, 1974) [VoD] - 2/5 Plenty of sex, but no highway. This seems like an aimless miss at first, but an old geezer's young wife falling in love with a young bloke makes for watchable character drama during the 2nd half. Helps that the wife is played by the sweet Yoko Katagiri who delivers one of her better performances. This is also surprisingly un-explicit for 1974. Not to be confused with the Nikkatsu action influenced Sex Rider: Wet Highway (1971). Lusty Discipline in Uniform (セーラー服色情飼育) (Japan, 1982) [VoD] – 3/5 Middle aged, well dressed professor has a crush on a cute high school girl, starts harassing her with obscene phone calls. And he's the film's hero! At first a positively ridiculous piece of Japanese pop culture - surely no other country could produce films like this - but it's only so far till you start feeling bad for the victim, and become disgusted by the filthy bastard of a protagonist. But then, what do you expect from a film written by Gaira Komizu! He wins you over again by the end. Kazumi Kawai, an insanely pretty young actress in her film debut role, plays the stalking interest. This was her first and only foray into Roman Porno, which has further elevated the film's status. She went on to act on TV and films, including Chusei Sone's Blow the Night (1983), before taking her own life by jumping off a building in 1997 at the age of 32. Title is a bit of a misnomer btw, there's little lust under this girl's uniform, and Kawai does little more than topless nudity as contractually stated. The film remains one of Nikkatsu’s most popular titles, having been released theatrically multiple times, as well as on VHS, DVD (4 times!) and BD! - Edited December 4, 2019 by Takuma 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted December 31, 2019 Author Member Share Posted December 31, 2019 (edited) Nikkatsu x 4 The Beautiful Teen (美しい十代) (Japan, 1964) [VoD] - 2.5/5 A young yakuza punk (Mitsuo Hamada) falls in love with an adorable orphan girl (Mieko Nishio) who is going out with a sweet guy (Akira Mita) who loves kids, animals and singing. Guess who wins her heart? A pretty enjoyable Nikkatsu youth / lightweight yakuza mash-up if you can get past the above mentioned relationship realism (!). The only problem is that the film proceeds nicely towards a climax that... never arrives. It almost feels as if the screenwriter died before finishing the story (though that was not the case, she, Fukiko Miyauchi, survived until 2010). Oh and the film’s English translation title is an absolute disaster: The Japanese title refers to an age period (10-19), not some pretty teenager! You and I (逢いたくて逢いたくて) (Japan, 1966) [VoD] - 1.5/5 A rather unbearable vanity project / fan film for singer Mari Sono, disguised as Nikkatsu youth film. A college girl (Sono) participates a look-a-like competition for beloved idol Mari Sono (Sono again) and wins it. The film's first half is made of shockingly unfunny and boring college drama/comedy but it gets a bit better when the showbiz hits in. Tetsuya Watari and Chieko Matsubara play reporters, Meiko Kaji a school girl friend. Their roles aren't worth a lot. Still, the film at least looks good. I had to resort to a fair bit of fast forwarding to make it to the end so I may have missed something. - Love Eternal (骨まで愛して) (Japan, 1966) [VoD] - 3/5 A romantic Nikkatsu action film with the always charming Tetsuya Watari / Chieko Matsubara pairing. Watari is a young yakuza who finds new life in rural Hokkaido until the past comes knocking. Nobuo Kaneko is the crooked boss, Joe Shishido a nemes / friend and Ruriko Asaoka a woman from the past. Slick and good looking film with decent characters, though ultimately nothing too special. Based on a Takuya Jo hit song “Hone made aishite”, adapted into a film screenplay by songwriter Kohan Kawauchi himself who doubled as both screenwriter and songwriter (and had a successful career in both). - My Sweetheart (君は恋人) (1967) [VoD] - 2/5 A Nikkatsu youth / musical about a young actor making a comeback (Mitsuo Hamada making a real comeback after an 8 month hospital stint following a bar fight that nearly blinded him) in a yakuza film that he feels is too dark and needs to be re-written. The tale unfolds with the “film” being the main story and the “reality” interacting with the fiction. Despite the curious concept and meta aspect, this is mass entertainment with several musical numbers and tons of cameos & supporting roles with major stars (Yujiro Ishihara, Ichiro Araki, Tetsuya Watari, Joe Shishido, Meiko Kaji, Akira Kobayashi, The Spiders etc.). The ridiculously long opening credits with a list of nearly a dozen songs featured in the film give some indication. Not much coherence or innovation to be found here, just superficial mass entertainment. Toei Yakuza x 2 Gambling Code and Feuds (仁義と抗争) (Japan, 1976) [TV] - 2.5/5 A bizarre Toei yakuza film that is fundamentally a semi-fairytale of a husband and wife willing to do a lot for each other... despite the husband being a bit of a jerk. Hiroki Matsukata does his usual energetic act as a lone wolf operator who bounces from one gang to another and kills people occasionally for living. His wife runs a restaurant but it’s not long until she's helping out the husband by part-timing as geisha in yakuza meetings. It makes zero sense and has even less credibility, yet it’s not entirely over-the-top either. Neither the characters nor the film seem to know where they are heading or what the film's tone should be. The strange, upbeat musical score just adds to the confusion. But it does have some entertainment value and pretty cool supporting turns by gang bosses Joe Shishido and Asao Koike (who looks great in gray hair and gray yukata, btw). The Boss's Head (総長の首) (Japan, 1979) [DVD] – 1.5/5 A long, star studded yakuza drama; the epitome of the new era. It cuts down the violence and takes 40 minutes to set up what a mid-70s film would have done in 4. The remaining 95 don’t go any faster. There are dozens of characters, most of them of little importance to the story, and many of them not even yakuza. Reiko Ike appears briefly as a reformed ex-sukeban. Neither the character's past nor the character otherwise matter. Junya Sato x 3 Gambler - Counterattack (博徒斬り込み隊) (Japan, 1971) [DVD] - 3.5/5 Part 10 in the Gambler series (not to be confused with the Gambling Den series) which begun as ninkyo films, but got hijacked into the jitsuroku territory by Kinji Fukasaku and Junya Sato. This one is an impressively cold depiction of lone wolf Koji Tsuruta (in a more cynical role than usual) becoming a gangster clan's consultant. Director Sato focuses on the underworld politics and power struggle that involves the yakuza and a cold blooded, calculating police commander Tetsuro Tamba who would love to the clans slaughter each other off. It's a talkative film with some superb, atmospheric scenes, but not as intense as some of Sato's later movies, or as comprehensive as in Organized Crime 2 (1967), Sato's best gangster film. - Violent Gang Re-Arms (暴力団再武装) (Japan, 1971) [DVD] - 4/5 Fundamentally honourable but occasionally ruthless yakuza (Koji Tsuruta with darker shades than usual) is set in charge of a port business by a syndicate who are complete arseholes in suits and to whom nothing but money matters (including extremely menacing Tetsuro Tamba). The port workers (lead by Asao Koike and Tomisaburo Wakayama, both wonderfully cast against type) retaliate with strikes and by establishing a union. The police (Fumio Watanabe as the head, another excellent piece of casting against type) are more beneficial to the yakuza than the common man. This is one of director Junya Sato's best pictures, a strong, political piece of filmmaking disguised as a yakuza film. There is a dynamic depiction the corruption in society and the socio-political network comprising of all kinds of people coming in touch with the yakuza, an area Sato did better in his films than Kinji Fukasaku. - Gang vs. Gang: The Red and Black Blues (ギャング対ギャング 赤と黒のブルース) (Japan, 1972) [VoD] - 3.5/5 Stylish, well written tale of a to-be Olympic sharpshooter (Koji Tsuruta in one of his best later day roles) who wastes a blackmailing chinpira scum, then has a gangster boss (Noboru Ando in a very good role) waiting for him at the prison gates four years later. The gang could use a man of such talent. There's the usual Junya Sato surplus of gangster brutality, as well as all players from cops to gangsters to civilians laid on the chess table, but also a romantic ninkyo breeze with Tsuruta a man of honour who falls in love with a suicidal woman (Hiroko Fuji, the weakest performance in the film) who witnessed him commit an assassination. One of the rare films that successfully merges bits of ninkyo romanticism with jitsuroku grit, producing a tough film with heart instead of a mediocre halfway-there effort that was the more common outcome of this formula. - Edited December 31, 2019 by Takuma 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted January 30, 2020 Author Member Share Posted January 30, 2020 Fukasaku x 2 Rampaging Dragon on the North (北海の暴れ竜) (Japan, 1966) [VoD] – 3/5 A fishermen vs. yakuza pot-boiler similar to many others (e.g. North Sea Chivalry, 1967) made around the same time. An evident pay-check job for Fukasaku, yet more energetic and entertaining than most of its kind. There are some overly clichéd plot developments, but also a delighting little twist at the end that I've never seen in any other yakuza film. Good performances as well: back in hometown punk Tatsuo Umemiya full of energy, villagers Yoko Mihara & Toru Yuri (in a less comedic role than usual!), opponent gambler Joji Takagi (a typical ninkyo role that always tends to be good), Hideo Murota looking literally dirty, etc. Ceremony of Disbanding (解散式) (Japan, 1967) [DVD] - 3/5 "What are we, the yakuza, without honour and humanity?" A rare ninkyo effort from Fukasaku, one that embraces the genre's old fashioned form to the point of becoming unrecognizable in the director's filmography. There are several lyrically melancholic scenes with Tsuruta witnessing his old yakuza pals consumed by greed and abandon the traditional way of the yakuza, a beautifully depicted honour/duty play with rival clan ex-bodyguard Tamba, and mature performance by Junko Miyazono as a woman from the past. It’s a shame the scrip as a whole isn’t quite as accomplished, failing to give some wonderful scenes the context they deserve. Note: not to be confused with Gambler: Ceremony of Disbanding (1968), also directed by Fukasaku. Nishimura x 2 Attack on the Sun (白昼の襲撃) (Japan, 1970) [35mm] – 3.5/5 Two punks and a girlfriend come in possession of a handgun in Kiyoshi Nishimura’s politically and socially conscious Toho action film. This has similar vibe to early 70s Nikkatsu new action, only with Nishimura’s trademark aggressive jazz score and international flair with G.I.s and their offspring flocking the bars in the era of ANPO controversy. An interesting film, though one of the lesser works by fascinating director Nishimura, mainly because of some slower patches and poor acting by the foreign enforcements. The Japanese cast does better, especially lead Toshio Kurosawa and girlfriend Noriko Takahashi (who had an exceptionally captivating presence and facial features. Unfortunately Takahashi would go on to retire soon after co-starring in Jun Fukuda’s City of Beasts later the same year following marriage at the age of 24). The Target of Roses (薔薇の標的) (Japan, 1972) [35mm] - 4/5 Superb Kiyoshi Nishimura action thriller with professional killer Yuzo Kayama hired to assassinate a foreign photographer (Rolf Jesser) and a Chinese woman (Zhen Zhen). Before soon, he falls in love with the woman and realizes his own employer is the Japanese branch of a neo-nazi organization planning to initiate the fourth reich! This features some of the most beautiful, naturalistic cinematography I've seen in any Japanese film, and very little music, which elevates the intensity near the level of Too Young to Die (1969), Nishimura's masterful debut film. The almost documentaristic attention to detail and observation, together with a rather outrageous (but cleverly down-played) plot ensure there is not a single boring scene in the film. The movie was shot in Japan and Hong Kong, the 1st half mainly in Japanese with some English, German and Chinese whereas the 2nd half is mainly in English, which isn't a problem because Kayama almost never butchers a line beyond understanding (something that was/is not a given with Japanese actors). His delivery does tend to go stiff when delivering English dialogue (as if he was looking at cue cards?) and the dialogue isn't exactly award winning stuff, but small flaws shall be forgiven when the rest of the film is so damn good. Only if the otherwise badass ending had had a bit more inspired action design the film would be even better. Others Rising Dragon's Iron Flesh (昇り竜鉄火肌) (Japan, 1969) [35mm] - 3/5 Teruo Ishii somehow found time initiate this ninkyo series at Nikkatsu in 1969, the year he helmed no less than 6 movies at Toei. A bit of a routine production, Ishii nevertheless elevates several scenes above the film's level with his personal injection of the perverse: there's an unexpected 30 min prison segment complete with a gratuitous bathing scene, a super violent fight where Hideki Takahashi's sword causes someone's face to explode, and a cool final massacre with the heroes repeatedly aligning their tattoos into one big dragon as they proceed in the midst of the action. Not a great movie, but features enough stand-out scenes to warrant a viewing. The series was a vehicle for singer gone actress Hiroko Ogi (best known in the West as the older prisoner who helped Meiko Kaji in the 1st Female Prisoner Scorpion film) who does alright in the lead. Ishii skipped the 1st sequel (he was busy, no shit) but was back on board for the 3rd and best known instalment, Blind Woman's Curse, which traded Ogi for Kaji. Ichi the Killer (殺し屋１) (Japan, 2001) [Netflix] - 3.5/5 Never been a huge fan of this, but I've grown to like it. Miike has always been good at location work and this, too, captures the threatening 90s anguish Tokyo much like Shinya Tsukamoto films. The violence seems surprisingly tame by today's standards; in a world where Hostels, Saws and Night Comes for Us pass for mainstream entertainment, Ichi could almost be downgraded to a “15”. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted February 23, 2020 Author Member Share Posted February 23, 2020 (edited) Brothers of Capones (舶来仁義 カポネの舎弟) (Japan, 1970) [VoD] – 3.5/5 Completely ridiculous, and yet superbly entertaining action comedy non-sense with Tomisaburo Wakayama as Kuriyama Capone who learned his trade under Al Capone in Chicago. The film follows his first venture to Japan with gangster brothers Frank (Shingo Yamashiro) and Joe (Fumio Watanabe). They all speak heavily American accented Japanese with bits of English here and there, sometimes complete gibberish, something that caused my brain to melt at least a dozen times. And if that isn’t enough, the film has them watching a Tomisaburo Wakayama flick in cinema (“who’s that guy, some C-grade actor!”) and being chased by gangster and the FBI, including the granddaughter of Eliot Ness (played by a blonde actress who is actually pretty good!). The whole thing is a good amount of fun, the performances especially (Wakayama, Yamashiro, Watanabe in a rare heroic role), making this one of routine director Takashi Harada’s best pictures. Capone's Younger Brother: Heart and Speculation (カポネの舎弟 やまと魂) (Japan, 1971) [VoD] – 2.5/5 Lesser, but still modestly entertaining sequel. Wakayama is wonderfully bastardly here, but has to do without Chicago bros. Yamashiro & Watanabe and the film is just that much less fun. It's also a little bogged down by an out-of-place environmental message. In return one does get Willie Dorsey (best known for losing his balls in The Street Fighter) in a rather big role as Capone's right hand man. There's a legion of other gaijin as well, Osman Yusuf among them of course. The rating could be a notch higher on a good day. Bad Girl Mako (不良少女 魔子) (Japan, 1971) [DVD] - 3/5 Koretsugu Kurahara's first and last Nikkatsu New Action - the studio went Roman Porno three months later. Though a hip gangster film, this also has the kind of low key character realism that young Nikkatsu audiences identified with. The morals are ambiguous, the characters unconfident and the gang story relatively down to earth compared to Toei's more outlandish pictures. Junko Natsu is the delinquent girl who doesn't know on whose side to be: yakuza big brother Tatsuya Fuji or small time gang leader Jiro Okazaki. Entertaining, but not particularly memorable. The scrip was penned by Yasuharu Hasebe under his screenwriter pseudonym Tahashi Fujii. Tekken (鉄拳) (Japan, 1990) [VoD] – 2/5 Old grump Bunta Sugawara takes young hothead Takeshi Yamato under his wings and tries to make a boxing champ out of him. Fate intervenes and cripples the young hope, THEN some kind of super-right pure-Japan group of karate hooligans beat him half dead because he's a cripple. This is an odd, drawn-out meditation on ultra-masculinity, ultimately more admiring than critical of its heroes and their huge balls. They get their share of almost homo-erotic love from director Junji Sakamoto via endless slow-motion images and scenes trying to accomplish “something” by constantly running 30 seconds longer than they need. And then, just when you're bored out of your head, Bunta builds a training course and boxing ring in the middle of a fucking forest (!) for his protégé who has now been enhanced with an iron fist (literally), resulting in a freaking amazing, 5 minute cyber-punkish training sequence. And then some more big balls at the end when it’s payback time! Bunta goes full-on killer boxing, too! Not a good film, but has its moments. Slum-Polis (Japan, 2014) [VoD] - 1.5/5 Ambitious but unconvincing early feature Ken Ninomiya (The Limit of Sleeping Beauty), set in 2041 when parts of Japan have become outlaw areas ruled by gangs and killers. Ninomiya's energized editing rhythms and eye for striking visual compositions are partially evident, but the young (evidently student) cast lacks any credibility in tough guy roles, and the ending is the epitome of an emotional J-film climax gone embarrassing. The characters may be crying their heart out, but the audience doesn't buy any of it. Ninomiya soon after established himself as one of the few new Japanese filmmakers worth keeping an eye on. Edited February 23, 2020 by Takuma 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted February 29, 2020 Author Member Share Posted February 29, 2020 3 x Queen Bee Queen Bee (女王蜂) (Japan, 1957) [DVD] - 2/5 Talkative, dated opening film in Shintoho's otherwise noteworthy Queen Bee series. The problem here is that an occasional gambling and action bit aside, the film hesitates letting its heroine into the action. The restraint also extends to the "sleaze" factor, busty star Naoko Kubo holding on to her clothing aside a flash of a shoulder in a gambling den scene, though one incredibly agile night club dancer makes a lasting impression. Yoko Mihara pops up (only) briefly. All this would change after Teruo Ishii took the helm of the series (parts 2 & 3). Queen Bee's Anger (女王蜂の怒り) (Japan, 1958) [DVD] – 3/5 Fast paced, superior sequel with Teruo Ishii taking the helm. The first thing one notices is the lavish widescreen colour cinematography that looks really good. One could even say this anticipates Seijun Suzuki's 60s colour films. Kubo is back, in a more active role than last time, getting her share of good scenes including a great yakuza ceremony scene. This is one of the several bits that pre-date almost identical images in the Red Peony Gambler series a decade later. There's also a young lone wolf yakuza entering the scene and falling for a wild girl Terumi Hoshi (resulting in some energetic dance floor scenes), a pretty functional sub-plot that adds the compulsory male co-lead Ken Utsui but doesn't feel like it's stealing the film from Kubo. Yoko Mihara and Bunta Sugawara are in the film, too. A bit more depth and the film would be even better. Queen Bee and the School for Dragons (女王蜂と大学の龍) (Japan, 1960) [35mm] - 3/5 Superficial, but fast paced Shintoho street actioner with new queen bee Yoko Mihara as badass yakuza daughter who is also the leader of a scarcely clothed, arse kicking prostitute / townswomen gang whose tops are constantly about to fall off. Word! Unfortunately the plot is less about her and more about daddy Kanjuro Arashi's gang threatened by foreign bastards in the fight for the post-war black market. Enter University Dragon Teruo Yoshida (in the typical Teruo Yoshida hero role), a student kid and street brawler who wants his share of the action. Yoshida is quite energetic here, but it's really Mihara who shines. This film, along with some other Shintoho movies like Female Beast (1960), was very much the 50s/60s predecessor to Pinky Violence, but the time was not yet ripe for fully female dominant action, hence Yoshida and Arashi. Also of note: the English title seems like a mistranslation: there’s no school of any sort, neither concrete nor metaphoric, just a dude who calls himself “The University’s Dragon” because he is supposedly a student. 3 x Tatsuo Umemiya Night Guy (夜の手配師) (Japan, 1968) [VoD] - 2.5/5 Hustler of the night Tatsuo Umemiya seduces beauties, deals girls to hostess clubs and does a bit of gigolo work himself. But he's still a small timer, the 60s Japanese pimp version of John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. Not a particularly good film, but it does radiate the vibes of the night in a way the later, lazier "Night" films did not. The melodramatic, never-ending web of deceptions, seductions and dreams by everyone in the film (the women alike) almost requires a pen and paper from to keep track of. Works, despite being extremely tame as exploitation. Oh and the film has a great opening scene with Umemiya taking a beating from gangsters after slipping into the boss' woman's bed. Such an Umemiya-like mistake to make! Hunting Night Women (夜の女狩り) (Japan, 1972) [VoD] – 2/5 Suave gangster Tatsuo Umemiya is pimping women in “Bancoa” (fictionalized Bangkok?) until he gets sent back to Japan for the lion's share of the film. The curious thing about the “Night” series was that they were exploitation films without exploitation. This one wastes its exotic potential by moving back to Japan immediately after the opening, only to set up a standard "Umemiya meets a nice pro-human rights lady, joins boxer brother Rinichi Yamamoto to fight evil yakuza Kenji Imai to save her" storyline that ignores everything the opening set up. Yumiko Katayama pops up very briefly as one of Umemiya's girls, with more clothes than lines. In fact, there's neither sex nor nudity in the film despite the topic matter. Tech credits are nevertheless decent enough to make this somewhat watchable, and better than the utterly boring Master Night Manipulator: 1000 Women Killer (1971) and Rogue of the Night (1972). Scoundrel Boss (極道社長) (Japan, 1975) [VoD] - 2/5 A modestly amusing salaryman/yakuza merger, advertised as a Tatsuo Umemiya film but in fact a Piranha Gang vehicle for Takuzo Kawatani and Hideo Murota. Kawatani and Murota are two opportunistic punks trying anything to come up with a (somewhat legal) successful business, but always getting outwitted by everyone, including suave company boss / crook Umemiya who has just opened a bar/strip joint. Kawatani and Murota make a great combo, but the storyline is strictly no-thrills and there isn't that much yakuza film content. Sadao Nakajima directs. Unrelated to the “Scoundrel” series starring Tomisaburo Wakayama. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted March 25, 2020 Author Member Share Posted March 25, 2020 Delinquent Boss vs. Scoundrel Delinquent Boss: Money Hunters (不良番長 一獲千金) (Japan, 1970) [VoD] - 1/5 Part 7 in the Furyo bancho series, and it's a complete piece of shit. Director Yukio Noda put three banchos - Tatsuo Umemiya, Reiko Oshida and Akiko Wada * - in one film and somehow the result still came out less than zero. The first 50 minutes is non-stop retard comedy with almost no action or gang stuff. Even super-girl Oshida is annoying in the film (Wada too, but that goes without saying). She doesn't get to ride a bike either. The last third is a bit better with action and bikes, but nothing can make up for the miserable first two. A rare highlight moment in the film: Bunta Sugawara stabs a man by dropping a knife from a helicopter! * To be accurate, both the Stray Cat Rock and the Delinquent Girl Boss series started briefly after this film, so soon-to-be banchos, actually. Delinquent Boss: First to Fight (不良番長 突撃一番) (Japan, 1971) [VoD] - 1.5/5 Part 13. Umemiya's gang try to shoot a porno while evading the police. Daiei refugee Junko Natsu appears (not in a porno). Another pretty miserable comedy entry in the series, though it does at least have boobs and a great Shingo Yamashiro moment where he does spear fighting, ninjutsu and karate, even pulling one guy's guts of. Sonny Chiba's role model, eh? IMDb has the direction mistakenly credited to Makoto Naito, who did a few entries but not this one. Yukio Noda is the correct answer. Delinquent Boss: Moving Against the Stray Dog (不良番長 のら犬機動隊) (Japan, 1972) [VoD] – 3.5/5 Part 14, the one with Reiko Ike. And it fucking rules! In the first few scenes alone the gang has already terrorized the streets, bike-duelled with nemesis gang, caused a man to explode, pulled out biker girl Ike's boob, and abducted a bunch of girls who get raped, arrested, sent to reform school, escape, and then sold to a brothel. And it's not even 10 min into the film yet. The whole movie bears notable similarity to the Girl Boss series made around the same time (ironic, isn't it?) except that this is Toxic Masculinity - The Movie! Also, Umemiya's gang has done away with the goofier members and are now a bunch of anarchistic assholes. Tatsuya Fujii has joined the ranks, and even Shingo Yamashiro is a machine gun wielding lone wolf killer. There's barely any comedy at all, and the ending is a total bloodbath. There’s a bit of Nikkatsu New Action influence too, and not just in form of Tatsuya Fuji. What a delightful surprise. Scoundrel (極道) (Japan, 1968) [VoD] - 2/5 The 1st in Tomisaburo Wakayama's action comedy series, unfortunately this is 75 minutes of talk with yakuza bumpkin Wakayama doing table conversations with rivals, friends, women etc, followed by a rather satisfying last 15 min of action. There are some out-of-the-blue fine scenes, and the gun/explosives action at the end is better staged than in many other yakuza films, but it's hard to get terribly excited about the film. Bunta Sugawara plays one of Wakayama's men in one of his first Toei roles; Koji Tsuruta does a guest appearance. Return of the Scoundrel (帰って来た極道) (Japan, 1968) [VoD] - 2.5/5 Superior sequel weighted down by a dull opening third. Gokudo has been thrown in jail, which produces rivalry/bonding with fellow hood Minoru Oki + boring comedy routines à la Abashiri Prison. At least you get regular bad guy Bin Amatsu as one of the guards. Once done with the prison, the film gets faster, funnier, better. Reiko Oshida pops up as a cute stripper (who doesn't strip), Gokudo's battle axe wife is back (with a Hong Kong bodyguard), and the ending is a fine machine gun massacre. This would be a 3 star film had the opening been better. Scoundrel Soldier (兵隊極道) (Japan, 1968) [TV] - 2/5 Gokudo goes to war, but spends most of his time quarrelling with other yakuza and trying to charm Chinese girl Reiko Oshida. Too lightweight to achieve anything memorable, this is strictly filler material. Bunta Sugawara plays one of the men, but has almost no dialogue at all. Wakayama did a better gangsters-in war-picture called Cockroach Corps (1969), which was a more serious action adventure with death row prisoners sent on a suicide mission. Scoundrel vs. the Delinquent Boss (極道ＶＳ不良番長) (Japan, 1974) [TV] – 2/5 This is a Toei fraud! Delinquent Boss Tatsuo Umemiya dumbfucks himself into hospital in his first scene, and remains there for the rest of the film. So much for Scoundrel vs. Delinquent Boss. What we're left with is new delinquent Tsunehiko Watase (not a bad trade) leading a bunch of bikers who clash with Scoundrel Wakayama’s rather harmless army of street vendors armed with food stalls (wait for the Lone Wolf and Cub joke) and guest star Judy Ongg whose uninspired extended cameo as a singer is just about the best thing about the film. Watchable, but pretty low thrills to be honest. This was the last in both series. Kosaku Yamashita directed. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted April 2, 2020 Author Member Share Posted April 2, 2020 (edited) Shintoho x 6 Female Beast (女獣) (Japan, 1960) [DVD] - 2.5/5 A crime thriller with police woman Namiji Matsuura infiltrating a dangerous gang whose one lead figure is a cold blooded woman (Kinuko Obata) harbouring female delinquents. Detective Bunta Sugawara (at 27 years old, looking almost like a Nikkatsu youth idol!) provides back-up. Progressive for its era, this still isn't quite as slick as you'd wish, at least compared to what would follow 10 year later. There are quite a few bits pre-dating 70s Pinky Violence, including ruthless women, water torture and a reform school segment complete with an extended girl fight similar to Criminal Woman: Killing Melody. Unfortunately the climax has the women take the back seat again, as typical for the era. Death Row Woman (女死刑囚の脱獄) (Japan, 1960) – 2.5/5 A Nobuo Nakagawa / Shintoho WiP film with an innocent woman framed for murder and thrown in jail full of foul-mouthed ladies and lesbians. Despite an occasional sensationalist moment, this is mainly a suspense drama, and only the 1st half is spent behind the bars. Not badly made, but not awfully exciting either. The storyline is pretty good. Dark Breasts (黒い乳房) (Japan, 1960) [DVD] - 3/5 Nightclub hostess / gangster's woman Kinuko Obata sees a short cut to the riches upon learning from dying mother that she's an Abashiri convict's daughter, while her innocent sister's real father is a wealthy company president (unaware of having a daughter). She tells her sister and the old man the exact opposite of the truth, schemes to marry herself to her new daddy's favourite employee (nice guy Bunta Sugawara) and plots a couple of tactical murders to get rid of people standing on her way. Impressively twisted psycho drama with good pacing and slick output, pre-dates similar mid-60s Mako Midori films at Toei. Character psychology remains superficial and borderline offensive (inherited evil/good) though, and the pigment of Obata's breasts unconfirmed. It would still take some time till the nipple was freed in JP mainstream cinema, though Shintoho was pushing the boundaries here, filling the OP credits with hand-drawn boobs and live model side views. Female Slave Ship (女奴隷船) (Japan, 1960) - 3/5 An amusing Shintoho concept film with a group of prostitutes behind bars on a slave ship, then thrown into a jungle prison after pirates sink their ship! Bunta Sugawara is a noble soldier shot down and saved from the sea, to emerge as the saviour for the girls. This film actually anticipated the 70s Filipino WiP actioners a great deal. It's a bit repetitive for the 1st 60 min, but the last 25 min is tremendous fun with Sugawara going complete machine gun Rambo on the pirates and arming the girls with grenades and rifles. Tetsuro Tamba plays the pirate leader, Yoko Mihara an evil slave trader's girl always siding with the strongest man in sight. King of the Girls Cave (女巌窟王) (Japan, 1960) [DVD] – 3/5 Enjoyably frank pulp entertainment with two sexy and busty night club dancers (Yoko Mihara & Masayo Banri as sisters) caught in the middle of a drug related gang war. Their brother gets killed after losing the merchandise, and the girls escape into an island cave (!). Thought to be dead, it's revenge time, but not before making bikini out of the shreds of their clothes and finding a way out of the island. Slick and trashy, with a fair bit of visual style, this sometimes feels like it could've been a Teruo Ishii film. The actual director is Yoshiki Onoda, who also did Female Slave Ship. The Shining Horizon (地平線がぎらぎらっ) (Japan, 1961) [DVD] – 3/5 A moderately insane action thriller with six criminals meeting in prison and conceiving an escape plan to go after hidden diamonds. The first half is old school tough guy cinema behind bars, thankfully free of the dumb humour that plagued Toei's similar mid/late 60s pictures. The second half is where the film abandons all self-restraint. There's a scene where they steal a circus truck but have to stop to sing with children after being surrounded by kids. Later they see some hot women on the countryside road and decide to rape them, chasing the screaming women in forest while still in clown outfits. The six criminals themselves are a miscellaneous bunch: one is a suave playboy, another is a crybaby who is constantly beating people with bats and other sticks, and so on. Edited April 3, 2020 by Takuma 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted April 10, 2020 Author Member Share Posted April 10, 2020 Prisoner Maria x 3 Female Prisoner Punisher Maria (女囚処刑人マリア) (Japan, 1994) [DVD] – 2.5/5 Largely idiotic, manga-based DTV junk with a bit of exotism. A Japanese warden in Thailand assigns prisoner Maria (singer / actress / hair nudist Naomi Kawashima) to conduct an assassination outside the prison because her profile says "does karate, is dangerous". She needs to be back on time or they'll kill her irritating idiot son. The target is hanging out with some random girls at his pool till one of them turns out to be an assassin. He immediately replaces her with another stranger, Maria, who turns out to be the 2nd assassin of the day. By the evening, he’s found himself a 3rd new girl! He just doesn't learn, does he? Luckily for him, Maria is just as incompetent, botching every chance she gets by not pulling the trigger fast enough. It sort of makes sense, Maria being the sweetest looking single mother in the world who doesn't look like she'd hurt a fly. Frankly quite inept, and not convincing in the least, but the film does have a sweet lady in a cool outfit (eventually) killing evil men with guns, knives and bare hands, and somehow you can't help but to be moderately entertained by it all. Bad, but in a sympathetic way. Director Jun Furusho was a contributing writer in the Rapeman series, but this film chaste as a choirboy with no nudity other than a few butts. Prisoner Maria 2 (女囚処刑人マリア2) (Japan, 1995) [VoD] – 3/5 This one does a 180 degree turn on the choir boy policy. Full nude body check, sadistic torture and deflowering a virgin with chopsticks are some of the scenes this incredibly sleazy sequel packs into its first 20 minutes alone! Still to come: the most misogynistic assault rifle execution of all time. Maria's target this time is a foreign diplomat's son, a sex crazy gaijin serial killer who just wants to have good time in Japan. And he's played by some bilingual dude Charlie whose acting rivals the wildest achievements of his Hong Kong gweilo brothers. Always fun to see white people portrayed as second to Satan in Asian film. Maria is this time played by idol / singer / actress Aya Sugimoto who has two facial expressions and does one of the most ridiculously bad karate demonstrations in the history of mankind. Her main merit is her resemblance of Reiko Ike. The film is junk, but fast paced and so gloriously politically incorrect that it's good junk. Of course it lacks all the genuine qualities that comparable 70s Japanese cinema had, but as cheap 90s DTV junk you sure could do a lot worse. Prisoner Maria: The Movie (女囚処刑人マリア 劇場版) (Japan, 1995) [VoD] – 3/5 Shuji Kataoka's theatrical follow-up to the two DTV films (1994 & 1995). It still feels like video cinema inside out. Busty pop idol (hence the no nudity clause) Noriko Aota takes over the lead role as prisoner assassin for dispatch for the warden (pink veteran Shirô Shimomoto). Her target is a politician's son who's been a bad boy (mainly, cutting open young women's stomachs) and needs to be eliminated before he causes too much embarrassment to his mom. Kataoka was the right man for this, a pink director who wanted to be an action director (often producing hybrids, e.g. SM Hunter and Subway Serial Rape). This is sex and violence a plenty, with rapes, gore, gunfights, martial arts (ranging from bad to alright depending on who's performing) and crazy villains. There's a bit of 80s/90s violence anime vibe as well. It's all cheap, yet heaps above modern digi-video garbage. Had Aota gone topless this'd be an easy three, now I award the rating with some reservations. Just a note: a WiP film this is not, lacking the genre shenanigans and, for the most part, the prison. WiP x 4 Female Prisoners: Demon of Sex (女囚性欲魔) (Japan, 1976) [DVD] – 1.5/5 Tarantino may have made a heist film that doesn’t show the heist, but here we have a prison escape film that doesn’t show the escape - or the prison. The money, you know. This was directed by Seiji Izumi, who’d later go on make some cool mainstream action films like On the Road (1982), Majoran (1983), and South to the Horizon (1986). The desire for action is evident here as well, the three prison escapees running into rapey gangsters, recalling their violent pasts in flashbacks, and one of them being a sukeban type school girl. But none of that ultimately saves this from being a cheap and somewhat amateurish sex flick. Had I seen this in cinema, I might have had the patience to appreciate it as a product of its era and genre. At home, move on to better films. Female Prison: Lynch (女刑務所 ザ・私刑) (Japan, 1978) [VoD] - 1/5 Loving big sister Naomi Oka takes the blame and bails her brother from murder charges, wins herself a prison sex vacation. Cheap Shintoho WiP pinku full of sex scenes and lightweight lesbian nastiness. Minor amusement rises from the prison only employing one guard! Director Banmei Takahashi followed up with three sequels… probably. As per pink film industry conventions, many of them have been re-released under new titles. The sequels should be Female Prison: Pervert (1979), Female Prison: Tight Bondage (1980) and Female Prison: Rape (1981). Assault! Female Prison (1982) is not a sequel, but a theatrical re-release of part 1. Part 2 has at least three different Japanese titles. Also, the series title is “Sukemusho”, an unorthodox reading of the “Onna keimusho” which is what really stands in the poster. They could not possibly have made it more confusing. Female Prisoner: Caged! (女囚 檻) (Japan, 1983) [DVD] – 2.5/5 Most Roman Porno sub-genres produced artistic gems; WiP did not. The majority of Nikkatsu’s roughly a dozen WiP efforts were barely more representative than the cheap sex films by the smaller pink studios. This Masaru Konuma film is a sleaze fest as well, but directed with impressive professionalism. It’s mean spirited yet with small heartfelt moments, convincingly acted (Mina Asami in particular, but the rest are good too), stylishly filmed, and even ends with bit of a punch. Btw, the writer / assistant director on this one was Osamu Murakami, who later helmed one of Nikkatsu’s best later day Roman Porno films, the superb yakuza thriller Burai no onna (1988). Joshu 701 go - Sasori gaiden – Dai 41 zakkyobo (女囚701号 さそり外伝 第41雑居房) (Japan, 2012) [DVD] – 1/5 Shintoho’s second and last pink Sasori, curiously much darker than the 2011 movie. This one pushes the focus more to violence and peril, even featuring some cheap gore effects and boring action scenes, most likely attributable to DTV action director Ken'ichi Fujiwara (Zombie Hunter Rika). But he’s little more than an amateur+ at what he’s doing, and his attempts at playing homage to the original series materialize as ugly digi-video remakes of three scenes from the first three Meiko Kaji films. The storyline is about Nami on the run, till she gets caught by vengeful female guard who throws her back in Jailhouse 41 (which looks like some abandoned school building… you know, Shintoho production values). Being a pink film, Nami is still a nymphomaniac – a nonsensical contrast to her ice cold, speak-none, need-none characteristics. Flavour of the month AV-girl Tsukasa Aoi replaces the previous film’s space monster Asuka Kirara as the lead. Marginally better than the 2011 film. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted April 29, 2020 Author Member Share Posted April 29, 2020 The Yagyu Chronicles 8: The One-Eyed Ninja (柳生武芸帳 片目の忍者) (Japan, 1963) [TV] - 3.5/5 Part 8 in the Yagyu Chronicles series. Yaguy Jubei tries to curb a revolution against the Tokugawa shogunate after a weapons shipment goes missing. He calls in all the Yaguy ninjas, but among them comes a young impostor (young Hiroki Matsukata). I'm not well versed in classic Toei jidaigeki nor ninja films, so all I can say is that this film is loads of good time, a stylishly filmed ninja suspense tale full of action, including a ninja version of the Battle of Normandy as part of the massive 25 minute action climax. YA-KU-ZA-Hoodlums (８９３愚連隊) (Japan, 1966) [DVD] - 3.5/5 Early Sadao Nakajima film detailing the daily activities of young opportunistic hoodlums (Hiroki Matsukata, Ichiro Araki, Ken Sanders and a few others) in Kyoto, a city of bigger, more organized yakuza. It takes a while to get going, but Nakajima does well with a catchy jazz score, effective cuts and cinéma vérité style cinematography de-romanticizing the gang life. One of Nakajima's more personal projects conceived outside the usual genre cinema box, together with Memoir of Japanese Assassins and Aesthetics of a Bullet. The Threat (脅迫) (Japan, 1966) [VoD] - 4/5 Brutal, extremely intense Kinji Fukasaku thriller about a family man (Rentaro Mikuni) forced to help two criminals (Ko Nishimura and Hideo Murota) in a kidnapping/blackmail plot after they invade his house and take his family as hostage. Fukasaku once said he's proud of his filmography from the early 70s on, but closer inspection shows he already directed various small, but highly effective pictures in the 60s. This one is almost as hard hitting as his 70s classics, sharing their editing rhythms and documentary style street cinematography. The cast is terrific, Nishimura (the old priest from Lady Snowblood) in particular as the main bad guy. Virgin Breaker Yuki (玉割人ゆき) (Japan, 1975) [DVD] - 2.5/5 Nasty bitch / brothel virgin breaker Masumi Jun gets involved with outlaw revolutionaries and is stalked by dickless hobo Takuzo Kawatani. Early Showa set political Toei Porno isn't really great shakes, and oddly the storyline has more to do with supporting characters than the protagonist. But there's some sadism, a great Kawatani role, and it's quite watchable from the general/technical standpoint. It's worth noting that most of director Yuji Makiguchi's output wasn't as outrageous as his most notorious picture, Shogun's Sadism, and nor was this. Virgin Breaker Yuki II: Western Licensed District (玉割り人ゆき 西の廓夕月楼) (Japan, 1976) [DVD] - 3/5 An unusual sequel that is essentially a meditative character piece of cruel poetry. This time Yuki falls in love with a man haunted by a complex past. There quite a lot of attention to period detail and more than a bit of arthouse Roman Porno flavour despite being a Toei film. In fact, had Noboru Tanaka or Tatsumi Kumashiro been Toei directors, they might have made with something like this. Well, it was written by Yozo Tanaka who did write several films for Noboru Tanaka and Masaru Konuma (and later even Shinji Somai). The film doesn’t ultimately achieve as much as it could, but it is quite an interesting curiosity in Toei's line-up. Fans of the more exploitative part 1 will be disappointed, but I think this is the better of the two. Tattoo ari (TATTOO<刺青>あり) (Japan, 1982) [DVD] – 2/5 Osaka chinpira Ryudo Uzaki goes around gambling, beating women and running miserable little businesses. 70s Daiei lemon sex starlet Keiko Sekine plays his punching bag, Yuya Uchida contributes a song. Depressing 80s misery porn not unlike Mosquito on the Tenth Floor and Ryuji, two films I have little love for. The 80s fashion disasters in prominent display don't make them any easier to take. Should find its fans, however, and it did. Director Banmei Takahashi picked up the best director trophy at the Yokohama Fest, Uzaki was crowned best actor. A for me, had this been made 5 years earlier with Takuzo Kawatani in the lead, I think it could've produced something quite different and cinematically outrageous. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted May 2, 2020 Member Share Posted May 2, 2020 On 4/29/2020 at 8:18 AM, Takuma said: including a ninja version of the Battle of Normandy as part of the massive 25 minute action climax. I always learn about a new show or movie, via your informative review's. At least 90% of them are new to me anyway. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted June 7, 2020 Author Member Share Posted June 7, 2020 (edited) Daiei x 2 Nakano Spy School (陸軍中野学校) (Japan, 1966) [VoD] - 3/5 Daiei's 5 film take on the famous WWII spy school, with Raizo Ichikawa in the lead. There have been many films covering the subject, including the superb Sonny Chiba noir/commando action Army Intelligence 33 (1968) and the grittier Junya Sato directed Nakano Spy School (1974) at Toei. This one is more of a military thriller, with some dry training and build-up segments with the naive young men, but also a very suspenseful final 30 minutes that really make the film. Bleak, but one can't help but to feel it's lacking the kind rigorous of assault on war, nationalism and the viewer's senses that was present in many of director Yasuzo Masumura's other films (e.g. Hoodlum Soldier, Red Angel). Nakano Spy School: Cloud #1 Directive (陸軍中野学校 雲一号指令) (Japan, 1966) [VoD] - 2/5 Part 2. Ichikawa is assigned to investigate who is planting bombs in Japanese cargo ships. Plenty of spy activity, but this sequel loses the darker shades of the original and is essentially void of action to boot. The tension only starts to build up towards the very end. Toei x 2 Flower Cards Chivalry (花札渡世) (Japan, 1967) [TV] - 4.5/5 Astonishing art house ninkyo yakuza film by Masashige Narusawa. Wandering gambler Tatsuo Umemiya runs into a young swindler woman Haruko Wanibuchi working with old man Junzaburo Ban. They are both arrested by detective Ko Nishimura. A year later Umemiya is staying with gangster Tatsuo Endo when he comes across that woman and her partner again. Endo lusts for both her and his own daughter, while Endo's looney yakuza brother Toru Abe has a thing for Endo's daughter, who in turn has her eye on Umemiya, and is willing to annihilate people standing on her way. And here lies one of the film's remarkable departures from the standard ninkyo efforts: it doesn't have a third party villain, nor a clear distinction between good and evil. It's bursting with romantic emotion and wrenched with gritty realism, shot with striking black and white compositions, and explodes into shocking carnage. It has lengthier, more detailed gambling scenes than any other yakuza film I've seen. And it has a heartbreakingly beautiful score. You could call it the Ashes of Time of ninkyo yakuza films. A masterpiece! Account of a Showa Era Scoundrel (昭和極道史) (Japan, 1972) [VoD] – 1.5/5 Unimaginative yakuza programmer with Tatsuo Umemiya. It's a ninkyo film set in modern milieu, lacking both the old fashioned charm of the 60s films and the brutal edge of the emerging 70s jitsuroku violence. Most characters are chatterboxes, but there is no reason to care about what they say. Tetsuro Tamba, Tsunehiko Watase and Mariko Kaga are all wasted in their supporting roles. The first and last 10 minutes are alright. Screenwriters Isao Matsumoto and Hideaki Yamamoto were in charge of the Delinquent Boss series at the time, and this is about what you'd expect from them minus the comedy. There is no reason for this film to exist other than as a programmer. Nikkatsu Roman Porno x 2 Erotic Diary of an Office Lady (OL官能日記 あァ！私の中で) (Japan, 1977) [DVD] – 3/5 An interesting, if cinematically a bit mediocre, socio-political exploration on women's poor standing in Japan’s patriarchal business society. It's more ambitious than the hideous title would have one expect, with a solid-enough character narrative for the then-newcomer Asami Ogawa caught between various men, and it dials down the excessive perviness, too. Nikkatsu has been keen to take credit of creating "women's cinema" in their retroactive re-branding of the Roman Porno series (particularly since 2012), but this one could actually qualify. The storytelling isn't always great shakes per se, but director Konuma brings it to an absolutely fabulous 7 min climax that rocks the socks off with some of the best merging of music and images in the Roman Porno series alongside Noboru Tanaka's road movie Pink Salon: Five Lewd Women (1978). Friday Bedroom (金曜日の寝室) (Japan, 1978) [DVD] – 2/5 A middle aged salaryman has woman trouble (wife, lover, and unknown caller threatening to expose latter to the former) in Masaru Konuma's dull Roman Porno Daisaku (a Golden Week release with Pink Hip Girl). This one doesn't know what it wants to be: a thriller or a human drama, a kinky flick or a mainstream movie, ending up being a bit of everything and not a whole lot of anything. It feels like a 80s TV film with 15 minutes of added sex scenes. It remains somewhat watchable, but is unlikely to be anyone's favourite Konuma film. See Erotic Diary of an Office Lady (1977) and Bed-In (1986) for similar but better Konuma efforts. Edited June 7, 2020 by Takuma 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted July 26, 2020 Author Member Share Posted July 26, 2020 New Abashiri Prison Story (新網走番外地) (Japan, 1968) [DVD] - 2.5/5 Part 1 in the reboot series. This initially looks like it's going to break new ground with Takakura sent not to Abashiri Prison but a US/JP joint military prison camp in snowy Abashiri, governed by American guards and packing international prisoners like Osman Yusuf! Unfortunately the segment only runs 20 minutes after which it's sunshine and standard yakuza plotting in Honshu for the rest of the pic. There is a cool ending though with Takakura raiding the villain headquarters with hand grenades and sword, earning himself a ticket to you know where. New Abashiri Prison Story: Harbour Duel (新網走番外地 流人岬の血斗) (Japan, 1969) [DVD] - 2/5 Part 2. Weak summer-set entry with a handful interesting scenes, including strange opening with Toru Yuri breaking the fourth wall and introducing the film and cast. Later we get bare-assed Takakura in a bath fight - I'm not sure how many girls got their kicks out of it, but nice to see it wasn't just the ladies who had to strip. Finally, there's a beautiful, poignant closing scene. Not very much for a severely over-long (typical to director Furuhata) 109 minute film. One additional note: Takakura's character is worse behaving, a bit less chivalrous than usual here. New Abashiri Prison Story - Vagrant Comes to a Port Town (新網走番外地 さいはての流れ者) (Japan, 1969) [DVD] - 2/5 Part 3 in the “New” series. There comes a point in the Abashiri Prison series where you start wondering just how many times the audiences were be willing to pay ticket price just to hear Takakura's theme song and enjoy his charisma in otherwise mediocre pictures. It's also a reminder that these weren't cult cinema or anything like that, they were mainstream in the purest. This film is the same affair as the rest, with a fisherman theme this time. Takakura's theme song and the chilly white landscapes are the assets, the story and characters are not. New Abashiri Prison Story: Duel in the Forest (新網走番外地 大森林の決斗) (Japan, 1970) [DVD] - 2/5 Part 4. Another summer-set by-the-numbers entry with one distinctive feature: Takakura spends the entire film on a prison camp as opposed to being released after the first reel as usual. Little of interest happens (aside Nikkatsu refugee Joe Shishido being one of the prisoners). But once again, when you hear the fabulous theme near the end when Takakura rides to enemy headquarters to whop ass you almost forgive the long road that took you there. The climax also features two of the most brutal kills yet, the latter one downright absurd as Takakura pushes a full size freight train car over a wounded enemy. New Abashiri Prison Story: A Wolf in the Blizzard (新網走番外地 吹雪のはぐれ狼) (Japan, 1970) [DVD] - 2.5/5 Part 5. Alright but pretty silly entry with Takakura joining the church after making friends with a charismatic prison priest, then struggling with the “Turning the other cheek” idea! He usually punches back right away! Chris D. praised this as "one of the best in series... with skilful, patient handling of the narrative" but I'm really not seeing that in the film. For the first 90 minutes winter landscapes and the lack of overt goofiness is what it's got going for it. Fantastic, bloody ending makes it all feel worthwhile, however. New Abashiri Prison Story: Stormy Cape (新網走番外地 嵐を呼ぶ知床岬) (Japan, 1971) [DVD] – 1.5/5 Part 6. Summer set Abashiri with no Prison, but instead much ado about a horse. Another sub-par entry in a series that ceased to be serious yakuza cinema when the filmmakers figured they could have Takakura and others goof around at a farm most of the film (as in here) and then throw in some namely-yakuza bad guy (Rinichi Yamamoto) to create conflict leading to final reel action sequence. And a comedy sequence where Takakura has forgotten how to ride a horse! The saving grace and the only real yakuza here is Noboru Ando as determined yet honourable avenger lining up with the bad guys. I can only repeat myself that the popularity of the series had less to do with cinematic quality, and more with it being as-mainstream-as-it-gets entertainment for mass (probably blue collar) audiences. New Abashiri Prison Story: Escape in the Blizzard (新網走番外地 吹雪の大脱走) (Japan, 1971) [DVD] – 2/5 A welcome, if not particularly good back-to-basics entry set entirely in the Abashiri Prison + immediate surroundings (the first time since the original in 1965, I think). It is just too bad this is another 90 min stretched into 105 for no apparent reason, especially considering how dull the drama is. That’s typical of director Furuhata. What it does have is a small number of ironic and anarchic moments: the court failing to keep track of Takakura's crimes, Takakura offering to guide the new prison official because it’s his “17th time here, ask me anything”, the first boobs in the series (those of a nun, none the less), and a pretty good last 15 minutes with some action set in the snowy wilderness. Noboru Ando appears briefly in a typical lone wolf / badass role. The rest of the usual suspects are on board as well: Murota and Imai (evil guards), Tanaka and Tani (inmates), Yamamoto (evil nemesis) etc. New Abashiri Prison Story: Honor and Humanity, Ammunition That Attracts the Storm: (新網走番外地 嵐呼ぶダンプ仁義) (Japan, 1972) [DVD] - 1.5/5 More fourth wall jokes in the opening with Takakura, Shishido and palls cheering and sobbing to a Brutal Tales of Chivalry film in a prison screening. Shishido gets himself killed before the opening credits roll, and Takakura goes on to work for a dump truck company once he's out. More comedy and tiresome yakuza shenanigans ensue. The truck plot is simply a variation of the usual good labourer gang vs. evil labourer gang plot done before with dock workers, railway builders, horse breeders etc. This was the 8th and last NEW film, made when the series was way past its prime and void of any inspiration. It still ranked 3rd at the annual box office, but the B-film that opened with it, Girl Boss Guerilla, had frankly much more vitality. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted September 4, 2020 Author Member Share Posted September 4, 2020 Scoundrel vs. Delinquent Boss: Round 2 The Scoundrel Takes a Trip (旅に出た極道) (Japan, 1969) [VoD] – 3/5 Part 5. Gokudo goes Hong Kong. Junya Sato took helm of this entry. It's not up to his usual level, but as a harmless time waster it's not too bad. Gokudo tries to take down the Hong Kong international drug syndicate to save the daughters of China (whom he's been shagging), bonds with Chinaman gangster Minoru Oki and does less comedy stuff than in some other entries. Sugawara, Oshida, Yusuf, old battle axe wife are in, Yumiko Katayama appears briefly, too. But what really saves the film is a single stunning scene of characterization for villain Watanabe that director Sato seemingly pulls out of nowhere 15 minutes before the film ends. Some decent location work, too but also the irritating action cliché where machine gun shooters don't shit no matter how many bullets they spread. Anyway, the best of the seven Gokudos I've seen. The Scoundrel Returns from Kawagasaki (極道釜ヶ崎に帰る) (Japan, 1970) [VoD] - 2/5 Part 6. Gokudo goes home only to find his hometown occupied by Americans and terrorized by Chinese gangsters. Orphan kids are there too for the melodrama factor. A dull post-war entry, hopping back in time after the present day set Scoundrel Goes on a Trip, and solely lacking its exotism and artistic touches. Supporting cast provides some minor delight: Tomoko Mayama, Takuzo Kawatani in a blink twice and you'll miss him role, and Osman Yusuf doing double shift acting one role and dubbing another. The English title is a mistranslation: it should be The Scoundrel Returns to Kawagasaki. Fugitive Scoundrel (極道兇状旅) (Japan, 1970) [VoD] – 2/5 Part 7. Gokudo goes politics. Gray-haired Bin Amatsu has Wakayama assist a politician, meaning trashing the opponent. But of course the opponent has a pretty daughter to have a crush on. Enter protective Bunta Sugawara and Gokudo’s gotta settle for a cheaper Toei nude actress (in a rather gratuitous scene; a sign of the change of times). The old battle axe wife Nijiko Kiyokawa (wasn’t she already killed in one of the earlier films?) is back too. A standard entry with nothing much to write about, for or against. Approach with low expectations and you may enjoy it. The rating could be a notch higher on a good day. ----------- Delinquent Boss: Take Your Chance (不良番長 出たとこ勝負) (Japan, 1970) [VoD] - 1.5/5 Part 8. An amusing overload of Nazi drooling in the opening 10 minutes with Umemiya's goofballs dressing and gesturing like SS men, but the rest of the film evades the memory. By the time it was over, I could no longer remember what the plot was about, or if there even was one. Makoto Naito helmed this one instead of Yukio Noda, but you wouldn't know if the name wasn't in the credits. Reiko Oshida appears in a few scenes as "beauty queen" (gets dragged into the competition and wins it instantly). She neither rides a bike nor wears that groovy underwear (bikini?) from the gorgeous hand-drawn poster. Watase appears in the film as well, and is likewise wasted. These films feature some of the only bland performances on his career. Delinquent Boss: The Swindlers (不良番長 口から出まかせ) (Japan, 1970) [VoD] - 2.5/5 Part 10. This one has an utterly idiotic opening with Umemiya and the hoods as pirates trying to sail to America, but of course ending up back in Japan. They arrive on an island populated by only women, a fun idea that doesn't produce anything fun... until the gals are tricked into working at a sex club. Things get even more interesting when France returnee beauty Reiko Oshida (in her 3rd and final appearance in the series) enters the pic, gets kidnapped, then does strip tease in a "first to get boner loses" competition between Umemiya and rival gang leader Harumi Sone. The rest of the film is episodic to the point of having little continuity, and often silly, but kind of entertaining. There's a lot of Oshida, Bunta Sugawara does a cool guest appearance and the film moves at a good pace. Not quite "good", but better than most entries in the series. Delinquent Boss: Wholesale Roundup (不良番長 一網打尽) (Japan, 1972) [VoD] - 1.5/5 Part 15. This one starts out well and gritty, only to soon descend into Z-grade idiocy full of pee, poo and gay jokes. It's Looney Tunes meets the Farrelly Brothers, minus the quality. Admittedly there are moments when the humour gets so surreally bad that you can't help but to laugh in disbelief, such as priest Toru Yuri's moustache which looks like a bucketful of pubic hair glued to his face, but most of the film is just painful to sit through. Notable for being Yuriko Hishimi's Toei debut - her main function is to run around naked. At least she gets to hop on a bike. Typical to the series, the last third is more watchable than what preceded, with one particularly mad, out-of-the-blue Shingo Yamashiro martial arts moment. Delinquent Boss: Pierced to the Bone and Sucked Dry (不良番長 骨までしゃぶれ) (Japan, 1972) [VoD] - 1.5/5 Part 16, the last in the series. Umemiya's goofballs steal a suitcase full of diamonds from the yakuza and try to hide in holiday resorts in Kyushu. In one scene they almost manage to slip out by posing as little kids on a school trip, but get caught when they stop to grope the female teacher. Also after the diamonds is a small, merely silly girl gang who keep yelling “viva bancho” at every turn. One of their members is a dark skinned chick (Vera Sims, or something like that, she was also in Delinquent Convulsion Group) whose sole function is to distract enemies by showing her boobs, which happens about half dozen times in the film. Good, because priest’s (yeah, Toru Yuri, who else?) daughter Yuriko Hishimi holds on to her clothes this time. This one is comedy from start to finish, with some irritating breaking-the-third-wall jokes adding to the insult. And there’s barely any biker stuff in it. But it’s somehow slightly more watchable than some other entries in the series, maybe because of the boobs and the swift pace. I think I'm going to call it quits with the Delinquent Boss series. Going through the films has been an exercise in masochism greater than the entire body of work of Oniroku Dan. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.