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Red Beard (1965)

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Posted on October 13, 2005 by Ben Jennings

Thank god for Toshirô Mifune. Heretical as it may be, I can’t say I’m a big fan of this one. This loose and only fitfully engaging drama marks a frustrating end to one of the great director/star collaborations in the cinema, and appropriately Mifune is by far the best thing about it.

Mifune plays the title character, one of those doctor types you see quite a lot in fiction who is both grizzly and deeply humane, and is never less … (read more)

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About Love (2005)

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Posted on August 4, 2005 by Eugene

There is always a sense of fondness when looking at the short film. Part of that has to do with being exposed too often to ideas and stories forcibly drawn out to meet certain time expectations, so that when one comes across a short film that gets to its point and does it well, it’s always refreshing. Besides which, that sense of a bite of culture without the commitment of a full feature appeals to my capricious, contrary nature.

This … (read more)

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Sonatine (1993)

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Posted on June 16, 2005 by Alison

This is one of Kitano’s finest films, despite its faults. It’s the first film in which he showed the gentleness and compassionate tolerance of human faults for which he’s become renowned, as well as the playfulness that sits oddly in a yakuza film.

The first half of the film drags a little: it’s mainly setting the scene and delineating the characters. Worthwhile, it’s true, but it could have been done in less time. Had Kitano made this film now, with … (read more)

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Samurai (2001)

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Posted on December 2, 2004 by Alison

Okay, well, it helps to know the genre of any film before you start watching, and this one falls into the category of “Japanese computer geek samurai and sci-fi thriller”. Oh. Like a lot of Japanese films, devilishly hard to pigeonhole, and therefore usually entertaining, because so much variety usually throws up something worth a look.

The best thing about this film is undoubtedly the actor playing the cop Fujiwara: veteran actor Yasuaki Kurata, perhaps last seen in Fist Of … (read more)

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Dead End Run (2003)

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Posted on August 19, 2004 by Alison

Ishii Sogo is what I would call a Rorschach director: he makes films that are often as incomprehensible as those ink blots used in psychological testing, but which can tell a great deal about you by your reaction to them. It follows that Ishii’s films are not enjoyed by everyone, and can be lauded as ‘excellent fun’ or condemned as ‘weird and boring’.

As described in the synopsis, each sequence begins with a chase down an alley. After a little … (read more)

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Dragon Head (2003)

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Posted on August 7, 2004 by Alison

For the first fifteen minutes of this film, Teru falls over. A lot. Really. Granted, he does have reason: he’s one of three survivors of a huge (and very fast: they don’t call them bullet trains for their size) train smash. He’s stumbling over the rubble and the corpses, looking for others and a way out. But you’ll soon be clenching the arms of your seat and urging the boy to just walk, dammit!

He does recover his motor skills, … (read more)

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Bright Future (2003)

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Posted on July 28, 2004 by Alison

Everyone needs a goal in life, and that of Mamoru (played by the very tasty Asano Tadanobu) is to adapt his red medusa jellyfish to fresh water and set it free. A lovely goal, except for the fact that the things are highly poisonous, and he wants to liberate his in the waterways of Tokyo.

But despite what the director says, this is not a monster film. There are no giant red jellyfish lurching out of the canals to menace … (read more)

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Zatoichi (2003)

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Posted on June 3, 2004 by Eugene

I am not a critic. I am a reviewer.

(It’s a line I’ve nicked off an article Steven Grant (an American comic book writer) once wrote in one of his forums. It being applicable, I thought I’d use it for myself.)

So why the distinction and why now? Well, the thing with being a reviewer is that all I really do is fulfil a consumer role — I basically recommend whether something is worth seeing or not. I’m not really … (read more)

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