A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Reviews of films from Japan.
Hiroshi Inagaki, “The 47 Ronin / Chushingura: Hana no Maki, Yuki no Maki” (1962) The tale of the 47 masterless samurai who avenged their lord’s forced…
Makoto Shinkai, “She and Her Cat” (1999) The debut animé film by Makoto Shinkai as director / animator / script-writer is a charming 5-minute morsel exploring…
Kazuchika Kise, “Ghost in the Shell: Arise – 1: Ghost Pain” (2013) First of a new four-part series in the Ghost in the Shell franchise, this…
Makoto Shinkai, “Garden of Words / Koto no ha no niwa” (2013) Makoto Shinkai is a new name to me and he has been billed as…
Kinji Fukasaku, “Battle Royale (Director’s Cut)” (2000) For all its extreme violence and other liberties it takes, for me this film reads like a satire of…
Akira Kurosawa, “The Hidden Fortress” (1958) Inspiration for George Lucas’ “Star Wars: A New Hope”, the 1978 space-fantasy flick that spawned an industry, this unusual historical…
Takashi Miike, “Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai” (2011) As this is a Takashi Miike film, this flick has the requisite blood-letting shock factor to satisfy Miike’s…
Koji Yamamura, “Franz Kafka’s A Country Doctor / Franz Kafka: Ein Landartz / Kafuka: Inaka Isha” (2007) Excellent if rather visually grotesque animated short film based…
Japanese Films, Middle Eastern Films
Kathy Hearn, “Fukushima Fallout” (101 East / Al Jazeera, 8 March 2012) A year after the combined earthquake / tsunami / Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant explosion and…
Kihachiro Kawamoto “Tabi (The Trip)” (1973) Very striking little animation piece, reminiscent of an extended Monty Python cartoon piece, “The Trip” looks quite simple and has…