An excellent anthology film comprising three determinedly unsentimental stories about the struggles of modern women. Despite getting on for 60 years of age it feels remarkably modern. Both in its depiction of women making their own way in the world and its sexual frankness (it’s certainly way ahead of anything coming out of Hollywood circa 1960). Masumura muse Ayako Wakao … Read the rest
Category: Japan
Doppelganger (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan, 2003)
Hayasaki (Koji Yakusho) the genius inventor of the world’s first artificial body is stunned when his own doppelganger turns up and offers to help clear away all the stresses in his own life so he can concentrate on his work. With the help of hired thug Kimishima (Yusuke Santamaria) and Yuka (Hiromi Nagasaku), a woman whose own brother has also … Read the rest
Retribution (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan, 2006)
Detective Noboru (Koji Yakusho) investigates the killing of a woman found drowned in a puddle of salt-water. As more victims are murdered in the same manner Noboru finds himself haunted by a figure in a red dress (Riona Hazuki) accusing him of her death. But when the victim’s killer turns out to be her ex-boyfriend Noboru realises that the vengeful … Read the rest
Gorath (Ishiro Honda, Japan, 1962)
The Earth learns that an approaching planetoid named Gorath is on a collision course. Dr.Tazawa (Ryo Ikebe) persuades the United Nations to co-operate in the construction of a massive nuclear engine at the South Pole whose thrust can literally push the Earth out of Gorath’s path. But a space mission to gather data on Gorath leaves astronaut Kanai (Akira Kubo) … Read the rest
Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan, 1997)
In Tokyo a string of murders in which all the victims have ‘X’ carved into their body convinces Detective Takabe (Koji Yakusho) that the killers may have been hypnotised. When a young man with unusual powers of suggestion named Mamiya (Masato Hagiwara) is arrested on suspicion his connection with an early 20th century hypnotist named Mesmer is discovered. As Takabe … Read the rest
Cash Calls Hell (Hideo Gosha, Japan, 1966)
On the eve of his release from prison after killing a father and his child in a car crash Oida (Tatsuya Nakadai) accepts an offer of 15 million yen from his cellmate Sengoku to kill three men with no questions asked. But when the first of his intended victims is killed by two hitmen the deceased man’s infant daughter Tomoe … Read the rest
Desperate Outpost (Kihachi Okamoto, Japan, 1959)
In Manchuria during WW2, newspaper reporter Okubo (Makoto Sato) arrives at a beleaguered frontline garrison nicknamed Desperate Outpost and immediately takes an interest in the double suicide of a captain and his lover who supposedly killed themselves on the eve of battle. However when an old flame of Okubo’s named Tomie (Izumi Yukimura) inadvertently gives away his true motives to … Read the rest
The Human Vapor (Ishiro Honda, Japan, 1960)
Opening with a taut robbery sequence in which employees react with terror as doors and bank vaults seemingly open at will, a second robbery gets even stranger when a dead employee is found inside the locked but ransacked vault. With both keys in the hands of the authorities it’s a mystery as to how someone could have gotten into the … Read the rest
Tony Takitani (Jun Ichikawa, Japan, 2005)
Tony (Issei Ogata) a man comfortable in his own insular nature is shaken by the intrusion into his life of a beautiful young workmate named Eiko (Rie Miyazawa). He woos and marries her but when Tony perceives Eiko’s obsession with buying expensive clothes to be out of control he asks her to stop. Eiko agrees but shortly thereafter she dies … Read the rest
A Wife Confesses (Yasuzo Masumura, Japan, 1961)
Housewife Ayako (Ayako Wakao) stands trial for the death of her husband on a climbing expedition in the Japanese Alps. An accident left Ayako, cruel elderly hubby Ryokichi (Eitaro Ozawa) and friend Osamu (Hiroshi Kawaguchi) – for whom Ayako harbours strong romantic feelings – dangling from a single rope. Ayako claims she cut the rope which sent her husband plunging … Read the rest
