To Sleep So As To Dream (Japan, 1986)

An aging silent film actress hires a private eye and his wacky but helpful assistant to track down her missing daughter, Bellflower. The two follow a succession of bizarre, obscure clues, until they track down the location of the kidnappers and the daughter.

With one of the most interesting and imaginative plots I've ever seen, To Sleep So As To Dream feels like a hidden avant-garde classic that's been unearthed from the old days of Japanese cinema. It's a surreal watch and unfolds like a mysterious, grainy silent movie-era fantasy adventure, inviting you into its dreamlike narrative. 

Both an homage to early cinema and a kidnapping drama with a modern twist, director Kaizo Hayashi shows his skills in looking back at film history but doing so through a then present perspective. Movie magic for cineasts. 

Genre: Fantasy. 1h 21min.

Have You Seen the Barefoot God? (Japan, 1986)

Shigeru, an aspiring hobby painter, adores the seemingly unapproachable flutist Haruyo Kikuchi from afar, and secretly paints her portrait for a national contest.

Have You Seen the Barefoot God? sounds far from original on paper; a triangle teen drama between friends, and the girl is caught in the middle, although you'd be missing out if this film were to pass you by. It's done with great respect to the script, the director really squeezes out the emotions out of his actors. I'm also strangely fond of films which takes place in the northern part of Japan, probably because the Tokyo/Kanto area is overrepresented in Japanese film.  

Genre: Drama

Gonza the Spearman (Japan, 1986)

The tragic story of Gonza, a handsome ladies man, set in the Tokagawa Period, a time in which appearences are very important. Gonza competes with Bannojo for the honor to perform the tea ceremony to celebrate the birth of an heir to the lord of their clan. To see the sacred tea scrolls Gonza promises to marry the daughter of the family which possesses them, even though he is unofficially engaged to another. When studying the scrolls with Osai, the mother of the house, Bannajo sneaks into the house and steals their obis and runs through the town proclaiming the two as adulterers.

With Gonza the Spearman, director Masahiro Shinodo (Double Suicide, Ballad of Orin) made yet another classic Edo-period film. He has a knack for telling stories which doesn't always revolve around sword fighting, though he doesn't shy away from showing the bloodshed. Gonza the Spearman is a great story where deceit and lies gets in the way of better judgement. It's a beautifully shot film and I was constantly reminded of the outstanding cinematography, especially the soft and warm lighting. Shinodo rarely moves the camera and the many, many static shots feels like a lovingly homage to Yasujiro Ozu. 

Genre: Drama

Fist of the North Star (Japan, 1986)

After a nuclear holocaust tears the world apart, mankind is forced to the harshness of not only the oppression of others who are much more powerful, but the dead earth which seems to be getting worse with every passing moment. But a savior has risen from the ashes, a man who will defeat those who would torment the weak and make the world a livable place once more. A man named Kenshiro.

Fist of the North Star began as a manga series, then turned into an animated show and during its run a film was made due to its popularity. The story takes place in a Mad Max-inspired world where nuclear war has made the earth a dead and desolate place, and extravagant villains roam the wasteland preying on the weak. Amongst the ruins of cities long gone, warriors with extreme power are rising up to fight for their right to rule. 

The amount of gore in this film is nothing less of astonishing. The creators even studied anatomy to get the exploding of bodies more correct, which says a lot of what they were trying to do with the film. Fist of the North Star is known for being a testosteron bomb like few others, and the majority of its runtime is dedicated to brutal fights between muscle mountains. Trust me, it gets pretty crazy.

Genre: Animation/Action/Drama

A Better Tomorrow (Hong Kong, 1986)

This story is the tale of two brothers: one a successful counterfeiter and the younger a fledgling graduate of the HK police academy. The plot revolves around the split when the younger brother learns the other is a criminal and the efforts of the criminal brother to reform.

John Woo is one of the masters of old Hong Kong action. His resumé includes gems like Hard Boiled (1992) and The Killer (1989), and A Better Tomorrow is an instant adrenaline shot for action fans. Chow Yun-fat, who's now almost known as an action hero, was given one of the main parts due to the fact that he didn't look like one at all. Thank God for that because he's excellent, and the style of his character Mark (trench coat, match in mouth and sunglasses) was copied all over Hong Kong after the films premiere. 

Some seriously well-shot shootouts are sprinkled all over this tale of brother versus brother, and I urge you to see it if you haven't already. A sequel was made the following year, and it also delivered some brutal shootouts and has one of the highest body counts ever.

Genre: Action/Crime/Drama

Barefoot Gen 2 (Japan, 1986)

Three years after the Hiroshima bombing, Gen and his adopted brother, Ryuta, befriend a group of orphans. A fierce typhoon hits the city, leaving the orphans' home flooded and beyond repair. Gen helps them build a new home on an abandoned piece of property, and brings love and encouragement to one of the children whose face has been badly scarred by radiation. Gen's mother, though, is getting weaker and weaker from radiation poisoning.

I've written about the first Barefoot Gen movie, and I wouldn't hesitate in calling it one of the best films ever made about the Hiroshima bomb. This sequel takes place three years later and focuses on the same family we got to know in the first film. Hiroshima is still a pile of rubble, and among the ruins a group of kids form a bond. They find friends when their world has fallen apart and it's easy to wonder how life must have been near ground zero. A generation of kids that crawled up from beneath a disintegrated city. Barefoot Gen 2 tells that story, and how they adapted to their new life.

Genre: Animation/Drama/War

The Terrorizers (Taiwan, 1986)

A metaphysical mystery about the lives of three couples in Taipei that continually intersect over a span of several weeks.

The director of The Terrorizers, Edward Yang, only made a handful of movies, including my favorite film of all time: Yi Yi (2000), but still managed to be recognized as one of the most important film-makers ever. He sadly passed away in 2007, but his work will always be remembered. 

The Terrorizers shows Yang's skill at bringing out the best in his actors, the tears and the subtle gestures feels so real that it's scary. He follows a small group of people that sooner or later will cross each others paths, and when they do, nothing will ever be the same again. A relationship is portrayed almost as a house of cards that's about to fall, there's no way to turns things around once things begin to crumble. 

Yang's use of static shots are also magnificent, making it almost feel like a Yasujiro Ozu (Tokyo Story) film. Not bad at all. So, as you can tell I'm more than satisfied with The Terrorizers. It didn't knock down Yi Yi from the number one spot, but for me, it once again cemented Edward Yang as one of the sharpest film-makers to have lived. Rest in peace.

Genre: Drama