Warning from Space (Japan, 1956)

UFOs are seen around Tokyo. Because they look like giant starfish the aliens cannot approach us without creating panic. Hence one of them sacrifices itself and takes the form of a popular female singer. It/she warns mankind that a meteor will crash on Earth. While the approaching meteor causes hotter and hotter weather, mankind runs and builds a last-chance anti-meteor weapon.

Warning from Space is nothing less than Japan's first colored sci-fi movie, complete with ridiculous alien costumes and miniature towns getting blown up. The special effects team would later go on to make the Gamera monster movies in the 60's. Warning from Space was one of several that got made after the success of Godzilla (1954), and also relied heavily on the theme of atomic power. It reminded me of The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) with how the aliens doesn't show up just to wipe us out but to help us save ourselves. 

A fun little film to have seen, nothing too serious, just some helpful star creatures that really don't want to see Earth get smashed by a meteor.

Genre: Sci-Fi 

Melancholic (Japan, 2018)

Kazuhiko, a graduate of a prestigious university, wasn't enjoying his life, until he takes a job at a bathhouse. Then he discovers that the baths are used as a space for killing people after closing hours.

Melancholic tells the compelling story of how a somewhat socially awkward man, Kazuhiko, gets involuntarily thrown into the belly of the Yakuza killing business. It's a working blend of dark comedy and tense atmosphere, with some small amounts of well-directed action in-between. All while also following the believable, bittersweet love story between Kazuhiko and Yuri, a young woman who frequents the bathhouse.

The film stands out due to the original approach it has to the Yakuza genre by not dealing with warring families, but of how to take care of the mess after the killing is done, and the director makes some good decisions by focusing more on the moral struggles of the characters rather than just tryin to make a shallow, bloody spinoff Yakuza flick. 

Genre: Crime/Drama

Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (South Korea, 2018)

The crew of a horror web series travels to an abandoned asylum for a live broadcast. It soon encounters much more than expected as it moves deeper inside the nightmarish old building.

Gonjiam is quite far from being original, even its title is so over-used it's almost invisible. That being said, it's actually not bad. Sure, the director basically rips off classic horror films we've all seen before, The Blair Witch Project (1999) being the most blatant, but with a more modern spin on the story with a live-streaming thing going on. Even though it's stuff we have seen before the film creates a haunting atmosphere and if you're going in not expecting the scariest film of the year there's definitely some great moments in here. 

Genre: Horror

Graveyard of Honor (Japan, 1975)

A look at the life of renegade yakuza, Rikio Ishikawa, particularly the years from 1946 to 1950 when his violent antics get him in trouble with his own clan, Kawada, and then with the clan of his protector, Kozaburo Imai. In these years, he can rely on Chieko, a young Tokyo courtesan who gives him shelter. He's banished to Osaka, where he picks up a drug habit. Through it all, he keeps his friends and enemies off balance with unpredictable behavior - and he seems indestructible.

Kinji Fukasaku's (Battle Royale) Graveyard of Honor is one of the must-see masterpieces of the yakuza cinema, and an ultra-violent journey through Osaka's underworld of misery and power struggles. Fukasaku makes it feel almost like a documentary in how the film is like a chronicle of one disturbed man's life, and how he's sort of like an anti-hero. I love how wild the film-style is, with different filters popping in and out and how in every fight it's like the camera man is scared senseless and stumbles around while trying to shoot the film. 

The film had a remake in 2002 by Takashi Miike and while both films are fantastic, the 1975 version has a realness to it which in my opinion is far more effective than having more violence. 

Genre: Action/Crime