Blog Archives

Happiness of the Katakuris (2001)

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Posted on June 1, 2004 by Deni

If The Happiness of the Katakuris opens with a bizarre claymation sequence that makes you wonder if you accidentally stumbled into a screening of Eat Carpet shorts or early Peter Jackson films, don’t worry. You are definitely in the right place, and soon to be in the right frame of mind, for Miike Takashi’s hilariously twisted family values romp through traditional Julie Andrews territory. Don’t try to understand, just use it for preparation time because believe me you are going … (read more)

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Jubei Chan, the Ninja Girl (2003)

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Posted on February 3, 2004 by Ching Yee

The cover of Jubei Chan looked harmless enough — what with the cute girl on a bike and the pink love heart designs you’d think it’s just another teen series like Ranma and the like: romantic hijinks with a samurai twist thrown in.

Hah… nothing will prepare you for the loopiness and the drama that is to follow!

300 years ago, Jubei Yagyu, Japan’s greatest warrior passes away, leaving his faithful assistant, Koinosuke to look for a successor and the … (read more)

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Monday (2000)

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Posted on October 23, 2003 by Alison

What can you say about a film that starts with a funeral? Well, almost starts with a funeral: our hero (an unassuming salaryman) wakes up in a hotel room, discovers that it’s Monday instead of the Saturday he was expecting, and tries to remember his weekend.

While this might be a familiar experience for some of you, what he gradually pieces together of his action-packed 60 hours would not be familiar. It starts with the funeral, at which, in the … (read more)

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Twenty-Four Eyes (1954)

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Posted on October 16, 2003 by James

The last comment above might also read “people shed more tears in this film than any other….”

Just about everyone cries at some point in this melodrama spanning twenty years of a teacher’s life, which concentrates specifically on her career-long involvement with her first class of pupils: twelve little kids with twenty-four innocent eyes between them.

Charming sensei Oishi (Takamine) forms a bond with her students largely through a rather malicious act on their behalf. One day at the beach, … (read more)

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Taboo (Gohatto) (1999)

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Posted on September 11, 2003 by Alison

There are two main reasons you might want to watch Taboo:

  • You enjoy watching some sword-wielding samurai action;
  • You like looking at beautiful young Japanese men.

    • On both those counts, Taboo is bound to satisfy. The samurai swordplay has the plenitude of droopy pants, flashing blades, and stern-faced shouting that one requires of a samurai flick, while the two young leads are, and I shall put it mildly in order not to be confined to quarters for a week, … (read more)

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    Not Forgotten (2000)

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    Posted on September 4, 2003 by Alison

    Not Forgotten is a moving portrayal of a group of aging war veterans dealing with a number of issues. The most obvious is the brutality of war, and this is dealt with first and in a fairly simple way. By now everyone should be aware that war is an obscenity: taking young healthy men and sending them away to try and kill strangers while being bombed from a distance is a situation in which no-one wins. It is refreshing that … (read more)

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    Big Mama (2001)

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    Posted on August 28, 2003 by Alison

    Big Mama is an unashamed melodrama that is surprisingly gentle. There is no great tragedy, no milking of unpleasant situations for their emotive effect, and no villainous characters. That makes it rather more difficult to pluck on the heartstrings, but this film manages, using ordinary moments to show the strength of the family bonds. Okatsu, on seeing the intruder in her house, first abjures him to be quiet so as not to wake her sons, then serves him a bowl … (read more)

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    Warm Water Under A Red Bridge (2001)

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    Posted on August 19, 2003 by Ching Yee

    Once a successful businessman, Yosuke is now unemployed and penniless. Taro, a friend, tells him about a golden Buddha he hid in an old wooden house overlooking a red bridge on the Noto Peninsula of the Japan Sea. After Taro dies, Yosuke heads off in the hope of finding the treasure and turning his life around, and meets a beautiful woman named Saeko who lives in an old wooden house, just as Taro described. Saeko confides in him that she … (read more)

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