Wealthy university graduate Naomi (Hiroko Yakoshimaru) discovers that her absent father has hired a private detective named Shuichi (Yusaku Matsuda) to keep an eye on her. But when Shuichi’s estranged wife becomes the chief suspect in the murder of a Yakuza employee the irrepressible Naomi throws herself into solving the case whilst wrestling with her increasingly affectionate feelings toward her … Read the rest
Category: Japan
Sanjuro (Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1962)
A terrific film that vaults into the first rank of my favourite Kurosawa’s alongside Ran, Rashomon, High and Low and Rhapsody in August. Toshiro Mifune is an absolute delight here as the scruffy, indolent, but-light-years-ahead-of-everyone-else warrior who rescues a bunch of witless samurai and then cleans up their corruption difficulties in local government. Two things I loved … Read the rest
Flag In The Mist (Yoji Yamada, Japan, 1965)
A poor and desperate young woman named Kiriko (Chieko Baisho) makes a long journey to request help from Otsuko (Osamu Takizawa), a rich, successful lawyer, to defend her brother on a murder charge. But Otsuko brushes her off because she can’t meet his fees and the brother dies in prison. After befriending Otsuko’s mistress Kiriko has her framed on a … Read the rest
The Booth (Yoshihiro Nakamura, Japan, 2005)
An obnoxious phone in DJ named Shinjo (Ryuta Sato) broadcasts his late-night chat show – in which listeners are invited to reveal on air the meanest thing that’s ever been said to them – from a supposedly haunted studio. But what should be a night of easy listening ends up persistently undermined by an unknown voice on the line accusing … Read the rest
Maborosi (Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan, 1995)
Yumiko (Makiko Esumi), a happily married 20-year old woman with a 3-month old baby boy suddenly loses her husband when he is struck by a train one night while walking home along the tracks. Was it an accident or suicide? Nobody knows but after eventually remarrying and relocating with her young son from Osaka to a small fishing port in … Read the rest
Peony Lanterns (Satsuo Yamamoto, Japan, 1968)
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
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
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
