Schoolteacher Shinzaburo (Kojiro Hongo) meets a beautiful courtesan named Otsuyu (Miyoko Akaza) and her maid Oyone (Michiko Otsuka), during the summer Obon festival. Obon is the one week in the year when the spirits from the netherworld are allowed into this one and sure enough Otsuyu and Oyone turn out to be ghosts. Servant Banzou (Ko Nishimura) and a local … Read the rest
Month: May 2017
Pitfall (Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japan, 1962)
A miner (Hisashi Igawa) is murdered by a man in a white suit (Kunie Tanaka) but returns as an understandably upset ghost determined to find out why. His search leads him to his identical double, Otsuka (also played by Igawa), who’s the union chief of a local mine embroiled in a row with a rival union headed by Toyama (Sen … Read the rest
Blue Christmas (Kihachi Okamoto, Japan, 1978)
After Professor Hyodo makes claims about UFO’s and aliens he disappears and TV reporter Minami (Tatsuya Nakadai) is assigned to investigate. Minami’s search turns up rumours of people whose blood has turned blue after exposure to UFO’s and their forcible incarceration and vivisection in secret US detention camps. But Minami’s attempts to reveal the truth face a global conspiracy by … Read the rest
Silence (Masahiro Shinoda, Japan, 1971)
In 17th century Japan two Jesuit priests from Portugal Rodrigo and Garrpe (David Lampson and Don Kenny) attempt to spread the gospel but the country has turned against Christianity and both they and their Japanese converts face torture and death at the hands of Magistrate Inoue (Tetsuro Tanba) and his men, even as they search for their mentor Ferreira who … Read the rest
Promise of the Flesh (Kim Ki Young, South Korea, 1975)
Middle-aged Sook-young (Kim Ji-mee) takes a train journey and recalls her abuse at the hands of men whose brutal treatment provoked her into killing in self-defence. A spell in prison leaves her suicidal but a temporary release under the watchful eye of a female warden leads to an encounter with Hoon (Lee Jeong-il) whose friendly persistence breaks through Sook-young’s mistrust … Read the rest
Yellow Handkerchief (Yoji Yamada, Japan, 1977)
Jilted teen Kinya (Tetsuya Takeda) embarks on a road trip across Hokkaido, picking up shy, nervous Akemi (Kaori Momoi) and middle-aged loner Yusaku (Ken Takakura) as travelling companions. But as Kinya struggles too woo Akemi a routine police stop unexpectedly reveals that the taciturn Yusaku is actually a former convict just released from jail after serving time for murder. Yusaku … Read the rest
School Trip (Yoo Hyun-mok, South Korea, 1969)
On a tiny remote island off the Korean coast a schoolteacher named Mr. Kim takes a class of young children on their first ever trip to the country’s capital, Seoul.
A lovely account of simple island kids exploring a big city and winningly told through the eyes of children whose wonderment at seeing the likes of skyscrapers and neon lights … Read the rest
The Inheritance (Masaki Kobayashi, Japan, 1962)
Dying businessman Senzo (So Yamamura) announces his vast fortune is to be split among his three illegitimate children provided they can be located. To this end he orders loyal and innocent secretary Yasuko (Keiko Kishi) to locate his eldest whilst a bent lawyer (Jun Hamamura) is instructed to find the other two. But Senzo’s greedy wife Sato (Misako Watanabe) conspires … Read the rest
The Blue Light (Yukio Ninagawa, Japan, 2003)
A bright teenager named Shuichi (Kazunari Ninomiya) lives with his mother and sister. But although outwardly happy the return of Shuichi’s estranged stepfather – whom he believes to have sexually abused his sister – stirs violent impulses in the boy. So Shuichi hatches an ingenious death-by-electrocution plan to murder his stepfather. But when a psychotic schoolmate gets wind of the … Read the rest
Jersey Boys (Clint Eastwood, US, 2014)
The story of how young and gifted singer Frankie Valli (John Lloyd Young), and close friends Tommy DeVito (Vincent Piazza) and Nick Massi (Michael Lomenda), three close friends from New Jersey with dubious criminal connections – along with brilliant singer-songwriter Bob Gaudio (Erich Bergen) – became the smash hit pop group The Four Seasons and the internal pressures caused by … Read the rest
