Stars: Tomorô Taguchi, Kei Fujiwara, Nobu Kanaoka, Shinya Tsukamoto, Renji Ishibashi, Naomasa Musaka | Written and Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto
After spending his youth creating short films and entering experimental theatre, Shinya Tsukamoto made an indelible mark on Japanese horror cinema with his feature debut, Tetsuo: The Iron Man. The writer/director/producer/editor also appears on-screen as a metal fetishist, setting the tone for this bizarre work as his character inserts scrap metal into a self-inflicted wound in his thigh. The sight of maggots within the wound causes him to run in fear, resulting in him becoming the victim of a hit-and-run accident.
The story then focuses on a salaryman (Tomorô Taguchi), who discovers a metallic thorn sticking out of his cheek while shaving. While he later waits in a subway station, a woman infected with metallic tentacles begins chasing him. This begins a campaign of terror upon the salaryman,...
After spending his youth creating short films and entering experimental theatre, Shinya Tsukamoto made an indelible mark on Japanese horror cinema with his feature debut, Tetsuo: The Iron Man. The writer/director/producer/editor also appears on-screen as a metal fetishist, setting the tone for this bizarre work as his character inserts scrap metal into a self-inflicted wound in his thigh. The sight of maggots within the wound causes him to run in fear, resulting in him becoming the victim of a hit-and-run accident.
The story then focuses on a salaryman (Tomorô Taguchi), who discovers a metallic thorn sticking out of his cheek while shaving. While he later waits in a subway station, a woman infected with metallic tentacles begins chasing him. This begins a campaign of terror upon the salaryman,...
- 10/11/2023
- by James Rodrigues
- Nerdly
Considering Koji Wakamatsu's most significant output percentage, that dealt with pinku films that still managed to appear avant-garde despite the sex and violence presented in them, and the way Art Theatre Guild gave essentially complete freedom and a more significant budget than what they had in the particular type of films to its directors, the collaboration of the two was a great “experiment” from the get go. It seems, however, that the two reached an equilibrium of sorts, with “Eros Eterna” being one of the most artful and even spiritual and sociopolitical on occasion, erotic/exploitation films Wakamatsu ever shot.
Follow our coverage of Atg by clicking on the link below
In a style that reminds of de Sade's “120 Days of Sodom”, the movie revolves around a priestess who believes she is the reincarnation of the Happyaku Bikuni-sama, a legendary nun who lived for eight-hundred years but retained the...
Follow our coverage of Atg by clicking on the link below
In a style that reminds of de Sade's “120 Days of Sodom”, the movie revolves around a priestess who believes she is the reincarnation of the Happyaku Bikuni-sama, a legendary nun who lived for eight-hundred years but retained the...
- 8/23/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Informa is a Japanese series directed by Michihito Fujii starring Kenta Kiritani, Reo Sano and Go Morita.
Fancy a series about committed journalists? Yes, the kind that seeks the news and fervently fights to get the scoop… like in the movies before the Internet era.
Informa has just arrived from Japan.
Storyline
Kanji Mishima (Leo Sano) is a reporter for the Weekly Times, a newspaper that mainly reports gossip. He feels a sense of emptiness and discomfort as he spends his days chasing celebrity scandals without a shred of the journalistic spirit he had aspired to. One day, Mishima goes to Amagasaki to pick up a certain person under the direction of Asuka Nagasawa (Megumi), the editor-in-chief. Nagasawa sends him off by chance to fulfill Mishima’s former wish to “see a world you would never see if you lived a normal life,” but what awaits him is Keijiro Kihara...
Fancy a series about committed journalists? Yes, the kind that seeks the news and fervently fights to get the scoop… like in the movies before the Internet era.
Informa has just arrived from Japan.
Storyline
Kanji Mishima (Leo Sano) is a reporter for the Weekly Times, a newspaper that mainly reports gossip. He feels a sense of emptiness and discomfort as he spends his days chasing celebrity scandals without a shred of the journalistic spirit he had aspired to. One day, Mishima goes to Amagasaki to pick up a certain person under the direction of Asuka Nagasawa (Megumi), the editor-in-chief. Nagasawa sends him off by chance to fulfill Mishima’s former wish to “see a world you would never see if you lived a normal life,” but what awaits him is Keijiro Kihara...
- 3/21/2023
- by Veronica Loop
- Martin Cid - TV
When it comes to jidaigeki, most people’s minds conjure images of honour-bound samurai and quaint Edo-era villages. Evidently, director Junji Sakamoto envisions shit-covered peasants and social injustice. With his latest film, “Okiku and the World”, the filmmaker presents a different vision of Japan’s Edo-era than the one we’re used to seeing.
Okiku and the World screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam
Beginning in the late summer of 1858, we follow Yasuke (Sosuke Ikematsu) and Chuji (Kanichiro), two vagrants who deal in an oddly valuable commodity that Edo’s citizens provide in abundance – human excrement. The pair trek around the city, collecting shit and selling it to farmers as fertiliser. The two manage to find humour in this lowly existence, but that doesn’t free them from poverty. In one of the tenements where Chuji collects manure, a woman named Okiku (Haru Kuroki) is struck by a tragedy that changes her life permanently.
Okiku and the World screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam
Beginning in the late summer of 1858, we follow Yasuke (Sosuke Ikematsu) and Chuji (Kanichiro), two vagrants who deal in an oddly valuable commodity that Edo’s citizens provide in abundance – human excrement. The pair trek around the city, collecting shit and selling it to farmers as fertiliser. The two manage to find humour in this lowly existence, but that doesn’t free them from poverty. In one of the tenements where Chuji collects manure, a woman named Okiku (Haru Kuroki) is struck by a tragedy that changes her life permanently.
- 2/11/2023
- by Tom Wilmot
- AsianMoviePulse
After three features which focused on Japanese media, society and the cult surrounding his own persona, director Takeshi Kitano decided to return to the yakuza-genre with “Outrage”, which was the start of a trilogy of movies about the inner turmoil of a criminal syndicate. Given the commercial failure of works such as “Takeshis’” and “Achilles and the Tortoise”, this decision was perhaps also fueled by the idea of winning back the kind of audience that got to know the filmmaker through “Sonatine”, “Brother” or “Hana-Bi”. While this premise does not actually sound like “Outrage” might be Kitano’s passion project, the movie itself, along with its successors, is easily one of the best works of the director and, at the very least, another look at the connections of organized crime and society.
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
After a meeting at the headquarters of the Sanno-kai,...
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
After a meeting at the headquarters of the Sanno-kai,...
- 9/4/2022
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Third adaptation of Toson Shimazaki’s classic novel “Hakai”, after the ones by Keisuke Kinoshita in 1948 and Kon Ichikawa in 1962, Kazuo Maeda’s edition marks the centenary of Japan’s first-ever human rights declaration, which argued that Burakumin (aka Eta and untouchables), Zainichi Koreans, Ainu and other “disadvantaged minorities” deserve the same respect and freedoms accorded to others, and is set during the Russo-Japanese War.
Broken Commandment is screening on New York Asian Film Festival
Ushimatsu Segawa is a respected teacher in an elementary school, cherished by both his colleagues and his students. However, he harbors a dark secret, as he is actually a burakumin whose father sent him away when he was a child, insisting he never reveals his origin, in an effort to have him avoid the fate of the lower classes. The initial scene, where an older man is kicked from a hotel upon the discovery that he is an Eta,...
Broken Commandment is screening on New York Asian Film Festival
Ushimatsu Segawa is a respected teacher in an elementary school, cherished by both his colleagues and his students. However, he harbors a dark secret, as he is actually a burakumin whose father sent him away when he was a child, insisting he never reveals his origin, in an effort to have him avoid the fate of the lower classes. The initial scene, where an older man is kicked from a hotel upon the discovery that he is an Eta,...
- 7/29/2022
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
It must be great fun to use one own’s family name to create the legend of a famous samurai who fought demons 1000 years ago, with power-bearing descendants to carry on with his heroic deeds in present times. It is equally conspicuous that Yusuke Watanabe had a blast re-creating the world of Yokai which aged well due to Takashi Miike’s previous take on creatures from the Japanese folklore and mythology: “The Great Yokai War (2005)” is still as exciting to watch as it was 15 years ago, and it stands out as one of the best fantasy films ever made.
“The Great Yokai War: Guardians” is screening at Toronto Japanese Film Festival
If there could be any talk of change in quality between the original movie and its sequel, it can be frankly attributed to one technical aspect only (although the great job was also done back in 2005). The special effects...
“The Great Yokai War: Guardians” is screening at Toronto Japanese Film Festival
If there could be any talk of change in quality between the original movie and its sequel, it can be frankly attributed to one technical aspect only (although the great job was also done back in 2005). The special effects...
- 6/11/2022
- by Marina D. Richter
- AsianMoviePulse
Focusing on the aftermath of the failed student revolution of the 1968-69, “Lost Lovers” seems to highlight their defeat by evoking the concepts of former glory and current demise, in a rather unusual road movie which is also filled with (absurd) eroticism.
The protagonist here is Takeru, a former pole vaulting champion, who roams the streets aimlessly, trying to rob people to make a living, while occasionally performing with a band or trying to gather audience to hear his speeches, with all of his endeavors usually resulting in failure. During his “travels” he stumbles upon a young couple who turn out to be deaf-mute, as they perform in a supermarket, and decides to follow them, even though initially the man beats him. Their common trip throughout Honshu brings them into various locations, including the beach and an abandoned military warehouse of sorts. The companionship of the couple, and the whole...
The protagonist here is Takeru, a former pole vaulting champion, who roams the streets aimlessly, trying to rob people to make a living, while occasionally performing with a band or trying to gather audience to hear his speeches, with all of his endeavors usually resulting in failure. During his “travels” he stumbles upon a young couple who turn out to be deaf-mute, as they perform in a supermarket, and decides to follow them, even though initially the man beats him. Their common trip throughout Honshu brings them into various locations, including the beach and an abandoned military warehouse of sorts. The companionship of the couple, and the whole...
- 3/30/2022
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Choosing to live a double-life, while quite complicated and next-to-impossible in reality, is one of the most interesting themes in literature and movies. Especially combined with the thriller-genre it can lead to quite interesting narratives, for example, with the idea of a gangster of a hitman having to disguise his or her actions in front of others. In his new feature film prolific Japanese filmmakers Junji Sakamoto, whose drama “Another World” won the Audience Award at Tokyo International Film Festival 2018, utilizes that concept in a blend of drama and comedy telling the story of a wannabe writer of crime fiction who disguises himself as an infamous killer in the Japanese underworld.
I Never Shot Anyone is screening at Camera Japan
By daytime, Susumu Ichikawa (Renji Ishibashi) is a writer of hard-boiled crime thrillers, whose work is respected by his publisher but put on hold as it lacks the qualities which...
I Never Shot Anyone is screening at Camera Japan
By daytime, Susumu Ichikawa (Renji Ishibashi) is a writer of hard-boiled crime thrillers, whose work is respected by his publisher but put on hold as it lacks the qualities which...
- 9/24/2021
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
It must be great fun to use one own’s family name to create the legend of a famous samurai who fought demons 1000 years ago, with power-bearing descendants to carry on with his heroic deeds in present times. It is equally conspicuous that Yusuke Watanabe had a blast re-creating the world of Yokai which aged well due to Takashi Miike’s previous take on creatures from the Japanese folklore and mythology: “The Great Yokai War (2005)” is still as exciting to watch as it was 15 years ago, and it stands out as one of the best fantasy films ever made.
The Great Yokai War: Guardians is screening at Japan Cuts
If there could be any talk of change in quality between the original movie and its sequel, it can be frankly attributed to one technical aspect only (although the great job was also done back in 2005). The special effects of today are simply more advanced,...
The Great Yokai War: Guardians is screening at Japan Cuts
If there could be any talk of change in quality between the original movie and its sequel, it can be frankly attributed to one technical aspect only (although the great job was also done back in 2005). The special effects of today are simply more advanced,...
- 8/24/2021
- by Marina D. Richter
- AsianMoviePulse
Howling Village Review — Howling Village / Inunaki mura (2019) Film Review, a movie directed by Takashi Shimizu, and starring Ayaka Miyoshi, Ryota Bando, Tsuyoshi Furukawa, Renji Ishibashi, Takamasa Suga, Hina Mayano, Megumi Okina, Reiko Takashima, Rinka Otani, Masanobu Takashima, Minori Terada, Akira Sasamoto, and Ken Tanaka. Takashi Shimizu’s recent entry, Howling Village, draws its plot [...]
Continue reading: Film Review: Howling Village (2019): Takashi Shimizu Takes on a Famous Urban Legend With a Solid Movie...
Continue reading: Film Review: Howling Village (2019): Takashi Shimizu Takes on a Famous Urban Legend With a Solid Movie...
- 8/17/2021
- by David McDonald
- Film-Book
All Hallows' Eve In Salem: "Trick Or Treat?! Join the Monster’s as they prepare for Halloween in Salem!
Halloween time is upon us in Salem! Salem is a place where monsters are not feared but looked upon as pillars of Halloween and the community. Join Frankie, Wolfie, the Witches and many more as they prepare their costumes and treats for a night of fun and togetherness! Salem truly is the Unofficial Town of Halloween, especially when the moon is full on All Hallows’ Eve.
You can purchase a signed/personalized hard cover copy of the book along with other fun merchandise coming soon at www.allhallowseveinsalem.com
You can follow Kristian on Ig @kristian13james and the book page @allhallowseveinsalem"
[Editor's Note: Kristian is one of Daily Dead's original team members and we want to congratulate him on the new release!]
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Watch a Clip from Howling Village: "After her brother goes missing, Kanade, a young psychologist visits his last known location, an infamous haunted and cursed site known as...
Halloween time is upon us in Salem! Salem is a place where monsters are not feared but looked upon as pillars of Halloween and the community. Join Frankie, Wolfie, the Witches and many more as they prepare their costumes and treats for a night of fun and togetherness! Salem truly is the Unofficial Town of Halloween, especially when the moon is full on All Hallows’ Eve.
You can purchase a signed/personalized hard cover copy of the book along with other fun merchandise coming soon at www.allhallowseveinsalem.com
You can follow Kristian on Ig @kristian13james and the book page @allhallowseveinsalem"
[Editor's Note: Kristian is one of Daily Dead's original team members and we want to congratulate him on the new release!]
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Watch a Clip from Howling Village: "After her brother goes missing, Kanade, a young psychologist visits his last known location, an infamous haunted and cursed site known as...
- 8/12/2021
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
When he is not dealing with samurais in various approaches (from realistic dramas to comedies), Katsuhide Motoki seems to focus on various aspects of corruption and the people dealing with it, as he did in the excellent “Recall”. This time his work deals with a series of actual incidents that took place in a Toyama fishing village 103 years ago, in 1918. A number of “ordinary” women raised their voices against the unreasonable government policies, with their actions getting picked up the press, and eventually evolving to “Rice Riots”, a nation-wide movement.
“Angry Rice Wives” is screening at Toronto Japanese Film Festival
The protagonist, Ito, a farmer’s daughter who was married in the village and is one of the few literate women there, lives in the aforementioned area with her husband, three children and mother-in-law. During July and August, the men in the village find work in big boats away from the area,...
“Angry Rice Wives” is screening at Toronto Japanese Film Festival
The protagonist, Ito, a farmer’s daughter who was married in the village and is one of the few literate women there, lives in the aforementioned area with her husband, three children and mother-in-law. During July and August, the men in the village find work in big boats away from the area,...
- 6/9/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
“The Woman with Red Hair” is probably the most acclaimed work of the late Tatsumi Kumashiro, one of the most celebrated directors within the pinku genre whose pink films even made it repeatedly to the Kinema Junpo’s Best 10 of the year. This particular one was number 4 that year, and was also nominated for four awards (although it did not win any) from the Japanese Academy, including Best Director, Best Screenplay for Haruhiko Arai, Best Sound for Fumio Hashimoto and Best Actress for Junko Muyashita, who actually won the accolade from the Hochi Film Awards.
The film focuses on the friendship between two construction workers, Kozo and Takao, with the first one being a specialist worker and thus much cherished and somewhat higher up the chain, and the second a simpleton who idolizes him for the most part. The story begins when the boss’s daughter, Kazuko (played by Ako...
The film focuses on the friendship between two construction workers, Kozo and Takao, with the first one being a specialist worker and thus much cherished and somewhat higher up the chain, and the second a simpleton who idolizes him for the most part. The story begins when the boss’s daughter, Kazuko (played by Ako...
- 3/29/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The sequel to one of the most well-known J-horror franchises saw some major changes. Takashi Miike gave his stead to Renpei Tsukamoto, while the Taiwanese “flavour” of the new story also brought a change in the cast, with Ko Shibasaki, Shinichi Tsutsumi and Goro Kishitani giving their place to Rie Mimura, Asaka Seto and Peter Ho, with the only one retaining his place being Renji Ishibashi as officer Motomiya. Let us see how the new group fared.
Kindergarten teacher Kyoko and her friend Madoka visit the former’s boyfriend, Naoto, in the Chinese restaurant he works at. At the same time, Mr Wang, the owner, picks up his daughter’s phone and the “missed call curse” begins once again, ending up almost immediately to his death. Journalist Takako Nozoe, who has been following the story since the previous deaths, also gets involved in the case soon after the murder occurs,...
Kindergarten teacher Kyoko and her friend Madoka visit the former’s boyfriend, Naoto, in the Chinese restaurant he works at. At the same time, Mr Wang, the owner, picks up his daughter’s phone and the “missed call curse” begins once again, ending up almost immediately to his death. Journalist Takako Nozoe, who has been following the story since the previous deaths, also gets involved in the case soon after the murder occurs,...
- 2/8/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Straying far away from the techno-industrial style of the two Tetsuo, Shinya Tsukamoto based this particular film on the homonymous Edogawa Rampo story that takes place in the Meiji era, in order to present a mystery/thriller/costume drama combination, which, once again though, thrives on visual and contextual deliriousness.
The film revolves around Yukio Daitokuji, a famous doctor who was decorated for his services during the war, and has now succeeded his father in the practice, amassing fame for both his past deeds and his present. Yukio seems to live a very happy life in the family mansion, with his parents and his beautiful wife, Rin. However, not everything is idyllic in his life. His parents disapprove of his wedding, since Rin is an amnesiac who Yukio found in the banks of a nearby river and took in, and no one knows anything about her past.
The film revolves around Yukio Daitokuji, a famous doctor who was decorated for his services during the war, and has now succeeded his father in the practice, amassing fame for both his past deeds and his present. Yukio seems to live a very happy life in the family mansion, with his parents and his beautiful wife, Rin. However, not everything is idyllic in his life. His parents disapprove of his wedding, since Rin is an amnesiac who Yukio found in the banks of a nearby river and took in, and no one knows anything about her past.
- 1/30/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
In February, Arrow Video send a wonderful Valentine to genre film fans, with a bells and whistles release of a classic J-horror trilogy.
The One Missed Call Trilogy- An iconic trilogy of J-horror films comes to Blu-ray for the first time! Tapping into the same brand of terror as the Ring and Grudge movies, visionary director Takashi Miike presents a modern, high-tech twist on that mainstay of Japanese folklore, the yurei or vengeful spirit, in the form of its own iconic antihero – the terrifying Mimiko.
In the first instalment in the trilogy, 2003’s One Missed Call, student Yoko receives a phone message from her future self, ending with her own death scream. Two days later, she dies in a horrific rail collision. As the mysterious phone curse spreads, claiming more young lives, Yoko’s friend Yumi joins forces with detective Hiroshi, whose sister met the same gruesome fate.
The One Missed Call Trilogy- An iconic trilogy of J-horror films comes to Blu-ray for the first time! Tapping into the same brand of terror as the Ring and Grudge movies, visionary director Takashi Miike presents a modern, high-tech twist on that mainstay of Japanese folklore, the yurei or vengeful spirit, in the form of its own iconic antihero – the terrifying Mimiko.
In the first instalment in the trilogy, 2003’s One Missed Call, student Yoko receives a phone message from her future self, ending with her own death scream. Two days later, she dies in a horrific rail collision. As the mysterious phone curse spreads, claiming more young lives, Yoko’s friend Yumi joins forces with detective Hiroshi, whose sister met the same gruesome fate.
- 12/1/2019
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
Daisaku Kimura made a name for himself working as a cinematographer in Japanese cinema since the 70’s, with his work netting him awards from the Japanese Academy three times, namely for “House on Fire”, “Yukai” and “Chorus of Angels“. However, the surprise came when he first transitioned to the director’s chair with “Mt Tsurugidake”, a film that took the Academy by storm in 2010, winning six awards including the ones for direction and cinematography for Kimura. Having exhibited his love and his ability to shoot about and in the mountains, Kimura continued with the theme in “Climbing to Spring”, although in much more tender fashion.
“Climbing to Spring” is screening at Ulju Mountain Film Festival 2019
The story is based on Ryouhei Sasamoto’s homonymous novel and revolves around Tooru, a young man who, as the story begins, works as a securities trader in Tokyo. However, his past is completely different,...
“Climbing to Spring” is screening at Ulju Mountain Film Festival 2019
The story is based on Ryouhei Sasamoto’s homonymous novel and revolves around Tooru, a young man who, as the story begins, works as a securities trader in Tokyo. However, his past is completely different,...
- 9/8/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The Japanese actor Takao Osawa was so moved by Masashi Sada’s popular song “The Lion Standing in The Wind”, that he approached the songwriter with a suggestion of adapting it into a novel. Not only that Sada made Osawa’s wish come true, but he also wrote the movie script based on the novel inspired by the song, thus, one would believe – completing the circle. “The Lion Standing Still” – all forms of it – is based on a true story about Koichiro Shimada (Takao Osawa), a Japanese doctor who in 1987, motivated by a long-time medical missionary in Africa Albert Schweizer, left the university hospital in Nagoya to join the research team of The Institute of Tropical medicine in Kenya, the country where he found his tragic end. It is indeed a story of big importance that deserves to be told, and yet it is difficult to comprehend what made Takashi Miike...
- 8/20/2019
- by Marina D. Richter
- AsianMoviePulse
If there is one thing no one can accuse Miike of, that would be for lack of diversity. In our project regarding his filmography, we have dealt with movies almost of any kind, from indie dramas to violent crime movies and almost anything between. Thus, it was inevitable for him not to deal with a kids’ movie, particularly since his filmography turned almost exclusively towards manga/anime adaptations. “Ninja Kids”, which is based on the anime series “Nintama Rintaro”, in its turn based on the manga “Rakudai Ninja Rantaro”, serves exactly this purpose, although with a distinct Miike flavor.
The film takes place in the Muromachi period in the 16th century, and the protagonist of the story is a bespectacled kid named Rantaro, whose low-class ninja parents send him to the 6-year ninja school, as the movie begins. In theory, the Ninja Academy is a proper college,...
The film takes place in the Muromachi period in the 16th century, and the protagonist of the story is a bespectacled kid named Rantaro, whose low-class ninja parents send him to the 6-year ninja school, as the movie begins. In theory, the Ninja Academy is a proper college,...
- 8/7/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
In the perhaps golden period of Miike at the beginning of the second millennium, where he already consolidated his cult following, comes “Man in White”, divided into two parts: “Bloody Battle of Lions” and “Requiem for the Lion”. There is a single international cut condensed in 150 minutes, but make sure to watch the first and second parts separately to delve deeper into the film and the characters that are presented to us.
The protagonist, Asuza, is a yakuza – always dressed in white – raised in the streets in a setting of tragedy marked by the death of his parents. The father is killed by his stepbrother, and the mother subsequently commits suicide. The feeling of guilt tortures Azusa while leaning on the father figure of his boss. Sadly, fate will play tricks again, when his superior dies suddenly murdered in his presence. The man in white will search the killer obsessively,...
The protagonist, Asuza, is a yakuza – always dressed in white – raised in the streets in a setting of tragedy marked by the death of his parents. The father is killed by his stepbrother, and the mother subsequently commits suicide. The feeling of guilt tortures Azusa while leaning on the father figure of his boss. Sadly, fate will play tricks again, when his superior dies suddenly murdered in his presence. The man in white will search the killer obsessively,...
- 8/6/2019
- by Pedro Morata
- AsianMoviePulse
From time to time, one always has the need to watch one of those strange stories that end up impressing the viewer with his personality. Japan is a country that knows well how to tell this kind of stories thanks to well-known talents such as Takashi Miike and Sion Sono, of whom you can see a lot of similarity in this film. Ikki Katashima narrates The Dog Bridegroom, a 4 hour runtime epic tale about a woman who decides to leave everything behind in search of a new destination that knocked at her door.
“The Dog Bridegroom” is screening at Japan Film Fest Hamburg
Azusa is a primary school teacher who does not know what to do with her life. She feels lost and most importantly, she does not feel fulfilled, but one day she hears a voice from the sky that says: “If you go to Imore Island, you will get what you want.
“The Dog Bridegroom” is screening at Japan Film Fest Hamburg
Azusa is a primary school teacher who does not know what to do with her life. She feels lost and most importantly, she does not feel fulfilled, but one day she hears a voice from the sky that says: “If you go to Imore Island, you will get what you want.
- 5/24/2019
- by Pedro Morata
- AsianMoviePulse
There are two genres that Teruo Ishii definitely knows well: Yakuza and exploitation. Evidently, combining the two into one film (even if it is an omnibus) was definitely a good idea, particularly because Toei’s backing guaranteed the quality of the production values and a rather famous cast. Let us take a look at the result, though.
The script deals with three stories revolving around Yakuza and its rules, but in essence with the punishment received by those who break them. The first one takes place during the Edo period, and tells the story of a gang whose members end up having an area under their complete control, when they win against an opposing gang. Their cruel, sadistic and completely mistrustful boss shares a number of responsibilities to his men, but soon decides that everyone is against him, and sends his younger men to kill those who...
The script deals with three stories revolving around Yakuza and its rules, but in essence with the punishment received by those who break them. The first one takes place during the Edo period, and tells the story of a gang whose members end up having an area under their complete control, when they win against an opposing gang. Their cruel, sadistic and completely mistrustful boss shares a number of responsibilities to his men, but soon decides that everyone is against him, and sends his younger men to kill those who...
- 4/27/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Audition
Blu ray
Arrow Video
1999 / 1:85:1 / 115 Min. / Street Date – February 12, 2019
Starring Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina
Cinematography by Hideo Yamamoto
Directed by Takashi Miike
It could be described as lyrically sadistic but de Sade himself might flinch at Audition – like its fragile leading lady, Takashi Miike’s film treads ever so softly before lowering the boom on its stupefied audience.
Ryo Ishibashi plays Shigeharu Aoyama, a middle-aged widower tired of sleeping in a single bed but ill-equipped for the dating game. Like the desperate anti-heroes of so many noirs, Aoyama makes just one mistake but it’s a doozy – he stages a sham audition as his personal matchmaking service. Into that not-so-tender trap steps Asami, a supernaturally shy ballerina with secrets all her own.
Miike spins their gauzy-lensed courtship with kid gloves and compassion and by the time the happy couple set sail for a seaside rendezvous we’re aching...
Blu ray
Arrow Video
1999 / 1:85:1 / 115 Min. / Street Date – February 12, 2019
Starring Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina
Cinematography by Hideo Yamamoto
Directed by Takashi Miike
It could be described as lyrically sadistic but de Sade himself might flinch at Audition – like its fragile leading lady, Takashi Miike’s film treads ever so softly before lowering the boom on its stupefied audience.
Ryo Ishibashi plays Shigeharu Aoyama, a middle-aged widower tired of sleeping in a single bed but ill-equipped for the dating game. Like the desperate anti-heroes of so many noirs, Aoyama makes just one mistake but it’s a doozy – he stages a sham audition as his personal matchmaking service. Into that not-so-tender trap steps Asami, a supernaturally shy ballerina with secrets all her own.
Miike spins their gauzy-lensed courtship with kid gloves and compassion and by the time the happy couple set sail for a seaside rendezvous we’re aching...
- 2/23/2019
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Love is certainly in the air this week, especially with our horror and sci-fi home releases, as we have plenty of tainted love on tap for those of you who tend to enjoy the darker side of romance. Scream Factory is ready to put you in the mood with both the Collector’s Edition of Valentine and their Poison Ivy box set, and Arrow Video has assembled an impressive Special Edition of Audition that fans are definitely going to want to pick up on Tuesday.
For those of you looking for some less romantically-inclined entertainment, Popcorn is getting the SteelBook treatment, and you can take a ride aboard the Horror Express as well. Other notable releases for February 12th include Possum, Killer Campout, Doom Room, Haunted Hospital: Heilstätten, Purgatory Road, and Nightflyers: Season One.
Audition: Special Edition
One of the most shocking J-horror films ever made, Audition exploded onto the...
For those of you looking for some less romantically-inclined entertainment, Popcorn is getting the SteelBook treatment, and you can take a ride aboard the Horror Express as well. Other notable releases for February 12th include Possum, Killer Campout, Doom Room, Haunted Hospital: Heilstätten, Purgatory Road, and Nightflyers: Season One.
Audition: Special Edition
One of the most shocking J-horror films ever made, Audition exploded onto the...
- 2/12/2019
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Takashi Miike’s Audition will be available on Blu-ray From Arrow Video February 12th
One of the most shocking J-horror films ever made, Audition exploded onto the festival circuit at the turn of the century to a chorus of awards and praise. The film would catapult Miike to the international scene and pave the way for such other genre delights as Ichii the Killer and The Happiness of the Katakuris.
Recent widower Shigeharu Aoyama is advised by his son to find a new wife, so he seeks the advice of a colleague having been out of the dating scene for many years. They take advantage of their position in a film company by staging an audition to find the perfect woman. Interviewing a series of women, Shigeharu becomes enchanted by Asami, a quiet, 24-year-old woman, who is immediately responsive to his charms. But soon things take a very dark and...
One of the most shocking J-horror films ever made, Audition exploded onto the festival circuit at the turn of the century to a chorus of awards and praise. The film would catapult Miike to the international scene and pave the way for such other genre delights as Ichii the Killer and The Happiness of the Katakuris.
Recent widower Shigeharu Aoyama is advised by his son to find a new wife, so he seeks the advice of a colleague having been out of the dating scene for many years. They take advantage of their position in a film company by staging an audition to find the perfect woman. Interviewing a series of women, Shigeharu becomes enchanted by Asami, a quiet, 24-year-old woman, who is immediately responsive to his charms. But soon things take a very dark and...
- 1/25/2019
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
After dealing with the Roman Porno Reboot, doing the same with the Yakuza film was the reasonable path for Kazuya Shiraishi, whose career seems to be picking up during the last few years, with productions like “Twisted Justice”, “The Devil’s Path”, and “Birds Without Names”. Furthermore, his approach toward the Yakuza film, with a combination of Kinji Fukasaku’s aesthetics as dictated in the “Yakuza Papers” and the style of “Training Day”, seems to be the way for the genre to go from now on. Let us take things from the beginning though.
“The Blood of Wolves” is screening at Five Flavours Festival
The script is based on the novel “Korou no Chi” by Yuko Yuzuki and is set in 1988 in Hiroshima, prior to the enactment of the anti-organized crime law. Shuichi Hioka is the new guy in the East Kurehara precinct and is partnered up with Detective Shogo Ogami,...
“The Blood of Wolves” is screening at Five Flavours Festival
The script is based on the novel “Korou no Chi” by Yuko Yuzuki and is set in 1988 in Hiroshima, prior to the enactment of the anti-organized crime law. Shuichi Hioka is the new guy in the East Kurehara precinct and is partnered up with Detective Shogo Ogami,...
- 11/15/2018
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Above: Tony Stella’s illustration for an alternative poster for Suspiria for Alphaville.One of my favorite working movie poster illustrators is the Italian-born, Berlin-based artist Tony Stella, a true connoisseur of cinema as well as a prodigious and prolific artist. I profiled Tony in this column a few years ago. Tony recently joined forces with the designer known as Midnight Marauder to start the boutique movie poster design agency Alphaville, and since I recently asked Mm for his ten favorite movie posters it was only fair that I ask Tony too, a task he took up with alacrity.So, without further ado, here are Tony Stella’s ten favorite movie posters of all-time, in ascending order, with his own comments. His choices take us on a tour through some of the best movie poster illustration of the past 50 years.10. Get Carter (1971)“The number ten spot was a toss-up between...
- 11/9/2018
- MUBI
A rather unusual flick by Takashi Miike. No detached Body parts, no gory violence. Instead, we get to see a modern fairytail about the downside of globalization.
Wada, played by Masahiro Motoki, works for an energy company. One day he unwillingly replaces a colleague on a business trip to a Chinese jade mine. On his heels is the yakuza Ujiie (Renji Ishibashi), whose boss is also interested in the jade mine. In the beginning separated then together, both of them are going on a journey into the untouched parts of the Chinese jungle, only accompanied by a local guide.
Due to an accident, the guide is temporarily unconscious and the group is lost until locals rescue them and take them to the village next to the jade mine. Once there, they learn about the peculiarity of the villagers. According to an old legend, the people have the ability to fly.
Wada, played by Masahiro Motoki, works for an energy company. One day he unwillingly replaces a colleague on a business trip to a Chinese jade mine. On his heels is the yakuza Ujiie (Renji Ishibashi), whose boss is also interested in the jade mine. In the beginning separated then together, both of them are going on a journey into the untouched parts of the Chinese jungle, only accompanied by a local guide.
Due to an accident, the guide is temporarily unconscious and the group is lost until locals rescue them and take them to the village next to the jade mine. Once there, they learn about the peculiarity of the villagers. According to an old legend, the people have the ability to fly.
- 10/12/2018
- by Alexander Knoth
- AsianMoviePulse
In Takashi Miike’s vast filmography, there are some films that could be considered as trademarks of his ever-changing style, like “Ichi the Killer”, “Visitor Q”, “Audition” and many others. I feel though, that if one would like to present a title that is the embodiment of his style, the “Dead or Alive” trilogy is the perfect choice. Today, we are going to deal with the first part.
After an 8-minute sequence filled with punk music, sex, and violence that largely sets the tone of the film, the narrative cools a bit down, in order to present the story. Jojima is a competent police officer who happens to retain connections with the local Yakuza and their leader, Satake. Jojima is about to ask for a loan to pay for his daughter’s medical expenses. Around that point, Ryuichi, another outlaw, this time of Chinese ancestry, and his...
After an 8-minute sequence filled with punk music, sex, and violence that largely sets the tone of the film, the narrative cools a bit down, in order to present the story. Jojima is a competent police officer who happens to retain connections with the local Yakuza and their leader, Satake. Jojima is about to ask for a loan to pay for his daughter’s medical expenses. Around that point, Ryuichi, another outlaw, this time of Chinese ancestry, and his...
- 9/29/2018
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
After dealing with the Roman Porno Reboot, doing the same with the Yakuza film was the reasonable path for Kazuya Shiraishi, whose career seems to be picking up during the last few years, with productions like “Twisted Justice”, “The Devil’s Path”, and “Birds Without Names”. Furthermore, his approach toward the Yakuza film, with a combination of Kinji Fukasaku’s aesthetics as dictated in the “Yakuza Papers” and the style of “Training Day”, seems to be the way for the genre to go from now on. Let us take things from the beginning though.
The Blood of the Wolves is screening at the 17th New York Asian Film Festival
The script is based on the novel “Korou no Chi” by Yuko Yuzuki and is set in 1988 in Hiroshima, prior to the enactment of the anti-organized crime law. Shuichi Hioka is the new guy in the East Kurehara precinct and is...
The Blood of the Wolves is screening at the 17th New York Asian Film Festival
The script is based on the novel “Korou no Chi” by Yuko Yuzuki and is set in 1988 in Hiroshima, prior to the enactment of the anti-organized crime law. Shuichi Hioka is the new guy in the East Kurehara precinct and is...
- 7/4/2018
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Stars: Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Tetsu Sawaki, Jun Kunimura, Renji Ishibashi, Miyuki Matsuda, Toshie Negishi, Ren Ôsugi, Shigeru Saiki, Ken Mitsuishi, Yuriko Hiro’oka | Written by Daisuke Tengan | Directed by Takashi Miike
Takashi Miike’s Audition will always be a special movie to me, because it sparked off my obsession with Takashi Miike. It also put me off the meal I was eating when I first watched it, so it impressed me too. The fact that Arrow Video have given it a special edition should be enough to make it a must buy, but do they do the film justice with their release?
Audition (Ôdishon) is the story of Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) a widower who “auditions” prospective women to date under the rues of a film role. When Asami Yamazaki (Eihi Shiina) is interviewed she catches his eye, and he takes her on a first date. Little does he...
Takashi Miike’s Audition will always be a special movie to me, because it sparked off my obsession with Takashi Miike. It also put me off the meal I was eating when I first watched it, so it impressed me too. The fact that Arrow Video have given it a special edition should be enough to make it a must buy, but do they do the film justice with their release?
Audition (Ôdishon) is the story of Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) a widower who “auditions” prospective women to date under the rues of a film role. When Asami Yamazaki (Eihi Shiina) is interviewed she catches his eye, and he takes her on a first date. Little does he...
- 3/3/2016
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
There are some films that once seen are never forgotten. Audition is one of these films. Having first seen Takashi Miike’s arguably most famous and notorious movie some fifteen years ago, the memory of how it quite simply stunned me back then has never quite faded, and so returning to it for the first time in a decade and a half it was a pleasant surprise to discover that not only has Audition lost none of its power to shock and horrify in the intervening years, but that it’s actually a much deeper, entertaining and, yes, funnier film that I’d remembered.
For those unfamiliar with the film it works best going into it knowing as little as possible, but the basic plot revolves around widower Shigharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) being persuaded by his son Shigehiko (Tetsu Sawaki) that seven years of being alone is long enough and...
For those unfamiliar with the film it works best going into it knowing as little as possible, but the basic plot revolves around widower Shigharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) being persuaded by his son Shigehiko (Tetsu Sawaki) that seven years of being alone is long enough and...
- 2/29/2016
- Shadowlocked
Today more cast members were announced for the upcoming Kanjani8 movie, The Eight Rangers, directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi. Most notably, Becky will play a female detective and Noriyuki Higashiyama will play a villain for the first time in his career.
Kanjani8 is a boy band under Johnny & Associates that made their CD debut in 2004. Partly due to the numeric significance of this year marking their eighth anniversary, a movie version of the sentai parody the group performs at concerts was announced early last month.
Higashiyama will be playing the leader of a terrorist organization called “Dark Crusade”. For his first attempt at playing a villain, he reportedly drew inspiration from Gary Oldman’s character in Luc Besson’s 1994 film Léon while still trying to maintain his own style.
Becky’s character, Mokoko Kito, is a female detective who unites with the Eight Rangers after becoming outraged at the escalating crime...
Kanjani8 is a boy band under Johnny & Associates that made their CD debut in 2004. Partly due to the numeric significance of this year marking their eighth anniversary, a movie version of the sentai parody the group performs at concerts was announced early last month.
Higashiyama will be playing the leader of a terrorist organization called “Dark Crusade”. For his first attempt at playing a villain, he reportedly drew inspiration from Gary Oldman’s character in Luc Besson’s 1994 film Léon while still trying to maintain his own style.
Becky’s character, Mokoko Kito, is a female detective who unites with the Eight Rangers after becoming outraged at the escalating crime...
- 4/11/2012
- Nippon Cinema
Directed by Takashi Miike, based on the novel by Ryu Murakami
Starring: Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Tetsu Sawaki, Jun Kunimura, Renji Ishibashi, Miyuki Matsuda
Runtime: 115mins
Rate This Movie
Summary:
This is a masterful thriller, horror, and romance story all in one. Solitary widower Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) gets talked into finding a date by his son (Tetsu Sawaki). He is uncertain about seeing women, and expresses his worries to his friend, a film maker (Jun Kunimura), who suggests an Audition. The women who attend have no idea they are really being auditioned for a date. To his surprise, Aoyama does like one of the women who comes to the audition, and he asks her out. Her name is Asami (Eihi Shiina), and she is both charming and unsettling. As the film progresses we learn about her dark past, and Aoyama finds himself sucked into her strange world. The tension builds...
Starring: Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Tetsu Sawaki, Jun Kunimura, Renji Ishibashi, Miyuki Matsuda
Runtime: 115mins
Rate This Movie
Summary:
This is a masterful thriller, horror, and romance story all in one. Solitary widower Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) gets talked into finding a date by his son (Tetsu Sawaki). He is uncertain about seeing women, and expresses his worries to his friend, a film maker (Jun Kunimura), who suggests an Audition. The women who attend have no idea they are really being auditioned for a date. To his surprise, Aoyama does like one of the women who comes to the audition, and he asks her out. Her name is Asami (Eihi Shiina), and she is both charming and unsettling. As the film progresses we learn about her dark past, and Aoyama finds himself sucked into her strange world. The tension builds...
- 3/12/2012
- by Lena Llis
- AsianMoviePulse
Today it was announced that Kie Kitano will be starring in Bakushin (ground zero), a film adaptation of a novel by Akutagawa Prize winner and Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum curator Yuichi Seirai.
Kitano, who discussed the project at a press event in Tokyo, revealed that this is her first time playing a character who confronts death and she felt like she was carrying the weight of many people’s emotions with the role.
Also in attendance at the press conference were director Taro Hyugaji and cast members Izumi Inamori, Renji Ishibashi, Junko Miyashita, and Chizuru Ikewaki. Additionally, it was learned that actor Yuya Yagira plays a boy named Yuichi who falls for Kitano’s character.
In the original novel, various short stories are told about every day lives of individuals living in the areas surrounding the center of the atomic blast that hit Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.
In the film version,...
Kitano, who discussed the project at a press event in Tokyo, revealed that this is her first time playing a character who confronts death and she felt like she was carrying the weight of many people’s emotions with the role.
Also in attendance at the press conference were director Taro Hyugaji and cast members Izumi Inamori, Renji Ishibashi, Junko Miyashita, and Chizuru Ikewaki. Additionally, it was learned that actor Yuya Yagira plays a boy named Yuichi who falls for Kitano’s character.
In the original novel, various short stories are told about every day lives of individuals living in the areas surrounding the center of the atomic blast that hit Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.
In the film version,...
- 3/6/2012
- Nippon Cinema
Director: Takeshi Kitano. Review: Chris Sawin. Two yakuza families that were once able to co-exist thanks to a pact made by their bosses while the two were in prison soon find themselves at each other's throats after there are a few hiccups in the drug trafficking side of the business. The Ikemoto family and the Murase family are in the middle of a war as the chairman the two crime syndicates answer to continues to pull the strings. Sekuichi (Kitamura Soichiro), the boss of the Sannokai, tells his right-hand man Ikemuto (Kunimura Jun) to put the Murase family in line. Since Ikemuto and Murase (Renji Ishibashi) are still under their pact at this point, Ikemuto passes the assignment onto his subordinate Otomo (Takeshi Kitano), who takes matters into his own hands with his own gang. I probably have a fairly limited amount of knowledge when it comes to Takeshi Kitano...
- 11/30/2011
- 24framespersecond.net
Directed by Takeshi Kitano
Featuring Beat Takeshi, Kippei Shiina, Soichiro Kitamura, Tetta Sugimoto, Renji Ishibashi, Jun Kunimura and Ryo Kase
Takeshi Kitano returns to his yakuza-themed roots with a rollicking, violent, entertaining black comedy about gangster family values.
Gangsters are, and always have been, part of international cinematic language. From The Public Enemy to The Departed, via the likes of Rififi, Tokyo Drifter, Foxy Brown, and Two Hands, audiences over the decades have engaged enthusiastically with criminal anti-heroes whose goals don’t get any more complicated than blowing each other up. Bloody, internecine warfare unleashed across a cityscape is guaranteed to fill seats. Kitano’s specific goal with Outrage was this brand of genre entertainment – he started the script process by outlining a series of violent kills, then figured out how to weave them into the plot – and from the start this is a tale of action, not redemption. Don’t expect any moral framework,...
Featuring Beat Takeshi, Kippei Shiina, Soichiro Kitamura, Tetta Sugimoto, Renji Ishibashi, Jun Kunimura and Ryo Kase
Takeshi Kitano returns to his yakuza-themed roots with a rollicking, violent, entertaining black comedy about gangster family values.
Gangsters are, and always have been, part of international cinematic language. From The Public Enemy to The Departed, via the likes of Rififi, Tokyo Drifter, Foxy Brown, and Two Hands, audiences over the decades have engaged enthusiastically with criminal anti-heroes whose goals don’t get any more complicated than blowing each other up. Bloody, internecine warfare unleashed across a cityscape is guaranteed to fill seats. Kitano’s specific goal with Outrage was this brand of genre entertainment – he started the script process by outlining a series of violent kills, then figured out how to weave them into the plot – and from the start this is a tale of action, not redemption. Don’t expect any moral framework,...
- 11/20/2011
- by Karina Wilson
- Planet Fury
Outrage (Autoreiji)
Written and Directed by Takeshi Kitano
Japan, 2010
Originally a comedy star on Japanese television, Takeshi Kitano (aka Beat Takeshi) rose to international fame as a director of yakuza dramas during the 1990s. He’s known primarily for Sonatine and Fireworks (Hana-bi), which offered remarkable visions of violence and beauty. His stunning long takes can resemble intricate paintings while his characters enjoy a brief respite from the ruthlessness of the real world. There’s little of that sanctuary in his latest work Outrage (Autoriji), a nasty depiction of yakuza life in the 21st century. The story opens with a striking wide shot of a large group of gangsters dressed in black as their leaders meet. These guys have sworn allegiance to their bosses, but it means little once the bullets start flying.
This film most closely resembles 2000’s Brother in tone, but it outdoes that picture by remaining unpredictable with constant betrayals.
Written and Directed by Takeshi Kitano
Japan, 2010
Originally a comedy star on Japanese television, Takeshi Kitano (aka Beat Takeshi) rose to international fame as a director of yakuza dramas during the 1990s. He’s known primarily for Sonatine and Fireworks (Hana-bi), which offered remarkable visions of violence and beauty. His stunning long takes can resemble intricate paintings while his characters enjoy a brief respite from the ruthlessness of the real world. There’s little of that sanctuary in his latest work Outrage (Autoriji), a nasty depiction of yakuza life in the 21st century. The story opens with a striking wide shot of a large group of gangsters dressed in black as their leaders meet. These guys have sworn allegiance to their bosses, but it means little once the bullets start flying.
This film most closely resembles 2000’s Brother in tone, but it outdoes that picture by remaining unpredictable with constant betrayals.
- 11/12/2011
- by Dan Heaton
- SoundOnSight
Reviewed at Fantastic Fest 2010.
"Outrage" may be Takeshi Kitano's return to the yakuza movie on which his international reputation as a filmmaker was built, but it's not a return to the elegiac, melancholy tone those movies embraced. When the killing starts, and there is a lot of killing, it arrives with a shrug of inevitability -- what, did anyone really expect these duplicitous, aggressive, violent men to get along? "Outrage" may come up empty in the end, but it's an entertaining ride to nowhere that pokes fun at the ritual and rules that its characters pretend to abide by even as they ruthlessly stab each other in the back.
The first domino falls when Ikemoto (Kunimura Jun), the head of a gang that's part of the Sanno-kai, a larger crime syndicate, is taken to task by the chairman (Kitamura Soichiro) because he's been partnering up with another gang, headed...
"Outrage" may be Takeshi Kitano's return to the yakuza movie on which his international reputation as a filmmaker was built, but it's not a return to the elegiac, melancholy tone those movies embraced. When the killing starts, and there is a lot of killing, it arrives with a shrug of inevitability -- what, did anyone really expect these duplicitous, aggressive, violent men to get along? "Outrage" may come up empty in the end, but it's an entertaining ride to nowhere that pokes fun at the ritual and rules that its characters pretend to abide by even as they ruthlessly stab each other in the back.
The first domino falls when Ikemoto (Kunimura Jun), the head of a gang that's part of the Sanno-kai, a larger crime syndicate, is taken to task by the chairman (Kitamura Soichiro) because he's been partnering up with another gang, headed...
- 9/29/2010
- by Alison Willmore
- ifc.com
Takeshi Kitano is back. After a trio of increasingly self-reflective films Kitano is back in the genre where he built his name and audience in the first place. He is back to the world of the yakuza, a world of manly men doing manly things which generally involve a great deal of pain for other, less manly men. When it comes to the gangster film few have ever done it better than Kitano and with Outrage he is absolutely back in peak form, his latest film playing as though the Kitano who made Fireworks and Sonatine has spent the past several years steeping himself in the world of original yakuza-auteur Kinji Fukasaku.
The complex plot stars the writer-director as Otomo, a mid level mob boss. Otomo's direct loyalties lie with Ikemoto, his gangster-father, an aging gang leader who has formed a formal pact with Murase. This pact has raised the...
The complex plot stars the writer-director as Otomo, a mid level mob boss. Otomo's direct loyalties lie with Ikemoto, his gangster-father, an aging gang leader who has formed a formal pact with Murase. This pact has raised the...
- 5/18/2010
- Screen Anarchy
Takeshi Kitano in Outrage
Photo: Celluloid Dreams Director Tikashi Kitano's Outrage exists in an effort to explore the various amounts of violence that can be dispensed in the midst of a yakuza turf war in the Japanese underworld. With an overwhelming measure of inventive kills, Outrage invites its audience to the slaughter with a story in which cooler heads prevail, but it isn't really much more than that. I laughed with and enjoyed this film, but it didn't strike me as any kind of overwhelming achievement.
Territorial war begins with a minor offense and a suggestion of power as boss Ikemoto (Jun Kunimura) is warned of his potentially damaging relationship with boss Murase (Renji Ishibashi). To show his allegiance to yakuza top dog, "Mr. Chairman," Ikemoto sicks Otomo (Kitano) on Murase's family, an order that will carry lasting consequences. Payback and revenge become the order of the day and the...
Photo: Celluloid Dreams Director Tikashi Kitano's Outrage exists in an effort to explore the various amounts of violence that can be dispensed in the midst of a yakuza turf war in the Japanese underworld. With an overwhelming measure of inventive kills, Outrage invites its audience to the slaughter with a story in which cooler heads prevail, but it isn't really much more than that. I laughed with and enjoyed this film, but it didn't strike me as any kind of overwhelming achievement.
Territorial war begins with a minor offense and a suggestion of power as boss Ikemoto (Jun Kunimura) is warned of his potentially damaging relationship with boss Murase (Renji Ishibashi). To show his allegiance to yakuza top dog, "Mr. Chairman," Ikemoto sicks Otomo (Kitano) on Murase's family, an order that will carry lasting consequences. Payback and revenge become the order of the day and the...
- 5/17/2010
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Chicago – The DVD Round-Up has traveled the globe this week to bring you a diverse slate of under-the-radar titles received in the HollywoodChicago.com offices this holiday season. With so many major releases this time of year, it’s hard to cover everything, but we wanted to make sure you knew these were out there in case you have a gift card burning a hole in your pocket.
One quick note: We don’t usually inject opinion into the DVD Round-Up. It’s a recurring column merely designed for informational purposes regarding some lower profile titles new on shelves. We’d like to make a rare exception for “Sita Sings the Blues,” a simply wonderful animated film that we only wish we had more time to spotlight but that we wanted to make sure you knew was available before the end of the year. Don’t just go rent it.
One quick note: We don’t usually inject opinion into the DVD Round-Up. It’s a recurring column merely designed for informational purposes regarding some lower profile titles new on shelves. We’d like to make a rare exception for “Sita Sings the Blues,” a simply wonderful animated film that we only wish we had more time to spotlight but that we wanted to make sure you knew was available before the end of the year. Don’t just go rent it.
- 12/31/2009
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Takashi Miike’s controversial and terrifying “Audition,” recently released in a ten year anniversary Blu-Ray edition, feels even richer and more dramatically interesting than it did ten years ago as the dating world has become so much more reliant on technology. And it remains just as effective as as when it was first released in terms of genuine, chill-inducing scares. The Blu-Ray is a bit disappointing in terms of technical presentation and the special features are merely so-so, but the film itself is still a must-see and the release a must-own for foreign film or horror fans.
Blu-Ray Rating: 4.0/5.0
“Audition” is not a typical horror movie. If you want traditional scares this Halloween, check out the great “Drag Me To Hell” or go see “Paranormal Activity”. “Audition” is a domestic horror tale, more in the vein of something like “Fatal Attraction” than anything supernatural (or even typical Miike insanity...
Blu-Ray Rating: 4.0/5.0
“Audition” is not a typical horror movie. If you want traditional scares this Halloween, check out the great “Drag Me To Hell” or go see “Paranormal Activity”. “Audition” is a domestic horror tale, more in the vein of something like “Fatal Attraction” than anything supernatural (or even typical Miike insanity...
- 10/20/2009
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Audition first hit American shores as one of the earliest entries in the late-1990s J-horror craze, and since then it has held an almost unassailable position as one of the masterpieces of the genre. The new two-disc Collector’s Edition from Shout! Factory attempts to capitalize on that renown by convincing nostalgic fans to purchase yet another edition of the film (there have been at least two others just for the Region 1 market), but unfortunately, there isn’t much here to make you open up your wallet if you already have before.
Normally, you’d expect a 10th-anniversary special DVD/Blu-ray to be awash with in-depth breakdowns of the shooting process, anecdotes from cast and crew, self-congratulatory praise for the legacy of the movie; in short, some kind of recognition that this was not a mere movie, but an Event. However, that’s not really the situation with this release,...
Normally, you’d expect a 10th-anniversary special DVD/Blu-ray to be awash with in-depth breakdowns of the shooting process, anecdotes from cast and crew, self-congratulatory praise for the legacy of the movie; in short, some kind of recognition that this was not a mere movie, but an Event. However, that’s not really the situation with this release,...
- 10/7/2009
- by no-reply@fangoria.com (Jennifer Morrow)
- Fangoria
Tokyograph has posted some first details for director/writer/actor Takeshi Kitano next project. According to the report, Kitano will finally return to “his” violent Yakuza eiga genre with this yet unnamed project after several years.
Filming has already started in August with Kitano starring next to Tomokazu Miura, Kippei Shiina, Ryo Kase, Soichiro Kitamura, Renji Ishibashi, Jun Kunimura and Fumiyo Kohinata. Distributed by Warner Bros. Japan, the film is supposed to open in Japan in 2010.
[via @wildgrounds]...
Filming has already started in August with Kitano starring next to Tomokazu Miura, Kippei Shiina, Ryo Kase, Soichiro Kitamura, Renji Ishibashi, Jun Kunimura and Fumiyo Kohinata. Distributed by Warner Bros. Japan, the film is supposed to open in Japan in 2010.
[via @wildgrounds]...
- 9/14/2009
- by Ulrik
- Affenheimtheater
Shout! Factory announced that Takashi Miike's "Audition" is hitting 2-disc special edition DVD and Blu-ray on Oct. 6. The new edition features an introduction with director Miike and star Eihi Shiina, newly-recorded audio commentary with Miike and screenwriter Daisuke Tengan, new interviews with cast members Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Renji Ishibashi and Ren Osugi, international trailers and a booklet. The new editions of the film are mastered from a new 1080p high definition transfer from the inter-negative, and feature a new 5.0 digital soundtrack mixed from the original Japanese audio elements. It should be noted that it is rare for Miike to do a commentary. .
- 8/13/2009
- ESplatter.com
The wondrous Marc Walkow of Outcast Cinema has officially dropped the news that the mystery Takashi Miike film release he has been working on his indeed Audition. This year will celebrate the 10th year since the groundbreaking horror film was unleashed to the masses.
Shout! Factory will handle the release which is set for both DVD and Blu-ray format with the following extras in tow:
• Feature-length audio commentary with Miike and screenwriter Daisuke Tengan, who is also scripting Miike’s upcoming remake of the chanbara classic 13 Assassins. Film writer and Eiga Hi-Ho contributor Masato Kobayashi moderates the Japanese-language (and English-subtitled) commentary track.
• Video introduction by Miike
• New video interview featurettes with the film’s main cast
- From Audition to Vampire Girl: Eihi Shiina
- Tokyo—Hollywood: Ryo Ishibashi
- Miike’s Toy: Renji Ishibashi
- The Man in the Bag Speaks: Ren Osugi
• Film trailer, plus liner notes by...
Shout! Factory will handle the release which is set for both DVD and Blu-ray format with the following extras in tow:
• Feature-length audio commentary with Miike and screenwriter Daisuke Tengan, who is also scripting Miike’s upcoming remake of the chanbara classic 13 Assassins. Film writer and Eiga Hi-Ho contributor Masato Kobayashi moderates the Japanese-language (and English-subtitled) commentary track.
• Video introduction by Miike
• New video interview featurettes with the film’s main cast
- From Audition to Vampire Girl: Eihi Shiina
- Tokyo—Hollywood: Ryo Ishibashi
- Miike’s Toy: Renji Ishibashi
- The Man in the Bag Speaks: Ren Osugi
• Film trailer, plus liner notes by...
- 6/26/2009
- by Aaron Fowler
- Screen Anarchy
Disc company Shout! Factory gave Fango the exclusive first peek at the cover art for a new two-dvd release of Takashi Miike’s Audition, as well as content info. Featuring a new high-definition transfer from the internegative (with a fresh digital stereo soundtrack) of Miike’s notorious chiller, about a widower (Ryo Ishibashi) who holds “auditions” for a new girlfriend and winds up hooking up with a beautiful psychopath (Eihi Shiina), the set will street in October, along with a double-Blu-ray edition.
Both versions will include an impressive array of original special features; the lineup includes:
New audio commentary by director Miike and screenwriter Daisuke Tengan New video introduction by Miike Over 90 minutes of new interviews with the cast, including Ishibashi, Shiina, Renji Ishibashi and Ren Osugi Trailers Liner notes by Tom Mes, author of Agitator: The Cinema Of Takashi Miike Retail price is $24.98 each for both the DVDs and the Blu-rays.
Both versions will include an impressive array of original special features; the lineup includes:
New audio commentary by director Miike and screenwriter Daisuke Tengan New video introduction by Miike Over 90 minutes of new interviews with the cast, including Ishibashi, Shiina, Renji Ishibashi and Ren Osugi Trailers Liner notes by Tom Mes, author of Agitator: The Cinema Of Takashi Miike Retail price is $24.98 each for both the DVDs and the Blu-rays.
- 6/15/2009
- by no-reply@fangoria.com (Michael Gingold)
- Fangoria
In a quick flurry of e-mails between myself and Outcast Cinema’s Marc Walkow I found out he has been hinting at an upcoming DVD release of a very popular Takashi Miike film over the past week. In fact, he’s been over in Japan meeting with Miike recording commentary for the film; he has also met and conducted interviews with Ren Osugi and Renji Ishibashi about the film. Then on yesterday he dropped the biggest hint of all and posted a couple images of the lead actors from said film- Ryo Ishibashi and Eihi Shiina!
Yes, though he cannot give details about this DVD release we now know that somewhere, sometime soon, there’s gonna be a DVD release of Miike’s Audition and Marc has been meeting with principal cast members and the director conducting new interviews and recording new commentary. Sweet!
Yes, though he cannot give details about this DVD release we now know that somewhere, sometime soon, there’s gonna be a DVD release of Miike’s Audition and Marc has been meeting with principal cast members and the director conducting new interviews and recording new commentary. Sweet!
- 5/13/2009
- by Mack
- Screen Anarchy
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