Survival Family (Japan, 2016)

When a blackout occurs an ordinary family in Tokyo believes power would be restored shortly. As the lack of power persists and all sources of energy show no sign of returning to functionality the family heads out south to reunite with the parents of the wife and mother. The family learns and bonds as it treks south on its bicycle, which is the only alternative to being on foot.

I read somewhere that Survival Family is a family friendly disaster flick, and that's actually kind of accurate. It stirs up a lot of own thoughts of how one would react in a similar situation, and shows how survival instinct can make people overcome a lot of hardships without modern technology. The film makes it clear on how falsely dependent we are on certain technical conveniences but still inspires a lot of hope. A road trip worth taking, which doesn't loose itself in melodrama.

Genre: Drama/Family

Shoplifters (Japan, 2018)

A Japanese couple stuck with part-time jobs and hence inadequate incomes avail themselves of the fruits of shoplifting to make ends meet. They are not alone in this behaviour. The younger and the older of the household are in on the act. The unusual routine is about to change from care-free and matter-of-fact to something more dramatic, however, as the couple open their doors to a beleaguered young girl.

Shoplifters made a huge splash when released in film festivals, winning prizes left and right. It was a film  about family that director Hirokazu Koreeda (Nobody Knows) had wanted to make since his last film Like Father, Like Son (2013). The goal was to explore the bonds that ultimately makes a family, and shed light on the people in Japan who lives on minimum wages and/or are homeless, who're only growing in numbers. With an important theme, Koreeda shows us love and death beneath our modern society, and portrays joy where I reckon most people don't even think it exists. 

Genre: Drama

Shogun Assassin (US/Japan, 1980)

Long ago there was a great samurai warrior who served his Shogun honorably. The Shogun however grew paranoid as he became more and more senile. The Shogun sought to destroy all those who might stand to oppose his rule, and so he sent his ninja spies to the samurai's home. The ninjas failed to kill the samurai, but did kill his beloved wife. From then on, the samurai swore on his honor to seek out the Shogun and avenge the death of his love. 

Consisting of parts from the two first entries in the Japanese Lone Wolf and Cub-film series, Shogun Assassin could be seen as sort of a best-of compilation. It was put together, dubbed and released for the western market and does a great job of introducing the characters from the original manga. The ultra violence gets almost comical with all the blood in way too bright shades, but it's all good fun. Exploitative, gory and fun.

Genre: Action/Adventure

Patriotism (Japan, 1966)

Two characters on a Noh stage dramatize the rite of love and death of Lieutenant Shinji Takeyama and his wife Reiko. Takeyama was one of a cadre of young officers who staged a coup d'état in February, 1936. He was not arrested when the coup failed, but as an officer of the palace guard, he knew he would be given the order to execute his friends. The night before the execution, he and his wife prepare for hara-kiri, first with passion without shyness, then in uniform and kimono with sword and dagger. Calligraphy figures in the preparation, as Reiko gathers her keepsakes to give to survivors.

I've written about Yukio Mishima before and how the movie Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985) tells the story of his bitter end. In short, he committed suicide by seppuku following an unsuccessful coup. Four years before he directs the short film Patriotism which deals mainly with the act of seppuku (a.k.a. harakiri), and treats it all like a Noh play (classical Japanese musical drama) with static shots and long close-ups.  The act itself is portrayed with seemingly no censorship at all and for 1966 this must have been extremely graphic. Mishima himself plays the Lieutenant and one can't help but think of the irony of fate. After Mishima's own suicide the film was ordered to be destroyed and all copies burned, but many years later the original negatives were found and received a restored release, and I'm very glad that happened because it's a huge puzzle piece in the enigma of Yukio Mishima and offers a stunning and fascinating insight into his mind. The lighting and the beautiful black and white photography comes together perfectly, and you would never guess this was Mishima's directorial debut.

Patriotism is a short yet fantastic insight into Japanese culture, and erupts in one of the most gory and realistic depictions of one of Japans most mythical and ancient traditions, seppuku.

Genre: Drama/Short. 25min.

Castle of Owls (Japan, 1963)

The Iga ninjas are a dying breed as Toyotomis rule allows Japan to experience some peace. Juzo, an Iga ninja who had vowed revenge for the death of his family, is hired by a rich weapons merchant to assassinate Toyotomi, restarting his quest for blood. In his way are rival ninja, and his once best friend who has decided to become a government vassal. The main plot centers around the conflicts that confront Juzo.

Sometimes, one can just have the need for a ninja flick. Castle of Owls (a.k.a. Owl Castle) meets that need with classic shinobi stealth action, meaning of course a lot of lurking behind shoji walls and assassinations from the dark. At first I thought it would have an outdated cheese factor but it was an entertaining watch. I would love a remake of this because there aren't nearly as many shinobi-themed films as there are samurai-themed ones. 

Genre: Drama

Orgies of Edo (Japan, 1969

A collection of stories dealing with punishment towards women. The first story; involves a woman forced into prostitution. The second: a woman is turned on by unattractive men who has threesomes with dwarfs. Her admirer disfigures himself so she will like him. The third: a sadistic and powerful man who has bulls with flaming horns charge into a courtyard of women wearing red who are forced to strip to avoid being gored.

With a plot like that, many may wonder what kind of freakish film is this? But it's better than it sound on paper. Director Teruo Ishii was known for his pinku films (softcore) and came fresh off the sets of titles such as Shogun's Joys of Torture (1968) and Horrors of Malformed Men (1969). In Orgies we follow different women in their struggles in feudal Japan, and boy does it get twisted. Nowadays the gore isn't something to write home about but just the sheer idea of some of it is really messed up. We see an ugly side of the feudal society that doesn't often gets the spotlight in samurai films. Beyond the nudity and suffering there's great production values, with gorgeous set design and depth to this hell hole rather than being an excuse to show naked women. Ishii gained a huge reputation for himself within his genre and when his smaller pink films was shown in cinemas years later he became known as Japan's King of Cult.

Maybe not a film to see with your loved ones on a Friday night, but if you want to venture into an obscure film history, Orgies may provide an interesting watch.

Genre: Drama/Horror

Shadow (China, 2018)

In a kingdom ruled by a young and unpredictable king, the military commander has a secret weapon: a "shadow", a look-alike who can fool both his enemies and the King himself. Now he must use this weapon in an intricate plan that will lead his people to victory in a war that the King does not want.

Zhang Yimou, director of visual spectacles such as House of Flying Daggers (2004) and Hero (2002), is back with another film that unleashes itself upon its viewer rather than getting watched. Zhang uses his usual style of amazing looking battles in slow-motion, rain drops which gets cut in half and sword strikes with terrifying precision. This is a film where brutal martial arts are being treated as beautiful poetry, and every punch flows as smooth as a stream through a bamboo thicket. The color palette rarely moves out of the gray, black and white so that the feeling of watching an old Chinese ink painting only gets stronger. Hand in hand with these jaw-dropping fight scenes we're treated to a bombastic Shakespeare-like historical drama, both intimate and epic in scope with political intrigue, and affection between fighters. A true return to form for Zhang.   

Genre: Action/Drama/War

Jigoku (Japan, 1960)

A group of sinners involved in interconnected tales of murder, revenge, deceit and adultery all meet at the Gates of Hell.

Jigoku (a.k.a. The Sinners of Hell) was the last movie made by the studio Shintoho, thus it became a very rushed production due to budget cuts and all the actors having to help with the sets. Even still, Jigoku turned out to be a bold and different film for its time and is now considered to be a cult classic. It deals with heavy buddhism themes involving hell and how one must atone for sins. The effects and make-up are very dated naturally but the whole depiction of hell and the amount of suffering the sinners has to go through is as effective and horrific as it was way back when, and it goes to show that even with limited means director Nobuo Nakagawa could create a long standing movie because of his visions and ideas.

Genre: Drama/Horror

Burning (South Korea, 2018)

Jong-su, a part-time worker, bumps into Hae-mi while delivering, who used to live in the same neighborhood. Hae-mi asks him to look after her cat while she's on a trip to Africa. When Hae-mi comes back, she introduces Ben, a mysterious guy she met in Africa, to Jong-su. One day, Ben visits Jong-su's with Hae-mi and confesses his own secret hobby.

Straight from the head of Japanese writer Haruki Murakami we get Burning (based on his short story Barn Burning), a heavily character-driven story which dips its toes in both slow-pace drama as well as creepy mystery. If you've ever read a Murakami novel or short story you're bound to recognize a few of his more prevalent plot details such as a well, cats and disappearing people. Being a fan of his works I'm glad we see more adaptions of his books, and though Burning isn't as good as Norwegian Wood (2010) in my opinion it's still a great story and a beautifully shot film. 

Genre: Drama/Mystery

Rampo Noir (Japan, 2005)

This four-part anthology takes its cue from the short fiction of legendary horror writer Edogawa Rampo. It begins with Mars Canal, which sees a naked man collapse at the edge of a lake that descends, seemingly into the bowels of hell itself. Mirror Hell follows a detective following a trail of beautiful female corpses back to a mad mirror maker. The Caterpillar sees a limbless war veteran return home only to be systematically abused by his wife. And in Crawling Bugs, a chauffeur becomes obsessed with his actress employer.

I don't know how many viewers who are gonna be familiar with Edogawa, but solely hearing his pseudonym makes it clear from whom he takes inspiration from; Edgar Allan Poe. But their similarities basically stops there, for this film is steeped in Japanese weirdness and Lars von Trier-esque imagery. I saw this film years ago and it was fighting for my attention, but if you see it for what it isn't half bad actually, plus I'm a big fan of Tadanobu Asano who appears throughout the segments. Rampo Noir is a surreal experience with the stories ranging from straightforward murder mystery to  strange, dreamlike body horror. Very far from what westerners usually call horror, but definitely not without its own sense of artistic dread.

Genre: Fantasy/Horror

One Cut of the Dead (Japan, 2017)

Things go badly for a hack director and film crew shooting a low budget zombie movie in an abandoned WWII Japanese facility, when they are attacked by real zombies.

This has to be one of the best surprises in a while. I've heard of how this film tried to break some new ground in a genre that's so stale it's practically a walking corpse itself, and at the beginning I couldn't help but feel really sceptical, but then director Shin'ichiro Ueda makes a sharp turn with the narrative and makes you feel stupid for thinking this was just another run-of-the-mill comedy. Characters you thought you hated are redeemed and everything just clicks. An original and very funny film that gives you a great lasting feeling. Now we can say that Japan has its own Shaun of the Dead (2004), and for the moment I rate this movie higher than most other zombie films I've seen. 

Genre:  Comedy/Horror

The Night Comes for Us (Indonesia, 2018)

Ito, a gangland enforcer, caught amidst a treacherous and violent insurrection within his Triad crime family upon his return home from a stint abroad.

To call The Night Comes for Us an action flick would be a huge understatement. Halfway through, the film starts to feel like the longest fight sequence you've ever seen. Arms are breaking like nobody's business, necks are snapping and blood is gushing almost constantly. Due to the main focus on the action I would strongly recommend it to martial art film aficionados, and every one else, well, let's just say that it's not only thugs that gets a severe beating but the plot as well. Yes there's talk of betrayal and our hero suddenly comes across a child he needs to protect, but this all really just amounts to padding between one spectacular brawl to another. 

An adrenaline rush no doubt, and superbly choreographed, but can be exhausting if you're not in the mood for this kind of film. 

Genre: Action/Thriller

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (US/Japan, 1985)

A fictionalized account in four chapters of the life of celebrated Japanese author Yukio Mishima. Three of the segments parallel events in Mishima's life with his novels (The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, Kyoko's House, and Runaway Horses), while the fourth depicts the actual events of the 25th Nov. 1970, "The Last Day".

Mishima is actually directed by an American film-maker, Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver) but a film about Yukio Mishima seems too good to pass up. Mishima was a nationalist and founded his own right-wing militia. In 1970, he and three other members of his militia staged an attempted coup d'état when they seized control of a Japanese military base and took the commander hostage, then tried and failed to inspire a coup to restore the Emperor's pre-war powers. Mishima then committed ritual suicide by seppuku. 

It's a fascinating history and it feels like it easily could have been very melodramatic and unnecessarily violent in the hands of the wrong director, but Schrader portrays the events with the greatest of respects. Not only does he carefully tell the story and all of its context, but at the same time bringing it to life with fantastic, dreamlike cinematography and all sorts of playful ways of using his camera. The films production designer, Eiko Ishioka, was tracked down by Schrader after the team had seen her work on the Japanese poster for Apocalypse Now (1979), and had this to say about the work on Mishima:

"It would be like the sets themselves were characters, as though they were actors, and they would challenge the real actors. So that when the sets and the actors came together, they’d set off a spark and a new kind of energy."

I just really adore how this movie looks, and Eiko's idea of making each of the films segment's be filmed in what looks like theatrical sets gives the film rich, numerous personalities. I could post screenshots from it all day long, but I'll try to refrain from that. Superb film about a maybe somewhat less-known piece of Japanese history. 

Mishima could be called a samurai film set in modern days, with how Yukio tried his best to honor the traditions and ways of the bushido, so in the end when his crushing defeat was unavoidable he also chose to die like a samurai. 

Genre: Biography/Drama