Japanese Movie Thread

...Tonight I will be checking out Hausu!

I'll be needing your typed reaction to it, sir - you can only see Hausu for the first time once!


Page one started with 13 Assassins and so should page two:

This one made by Eiichi Kudo in '63.

Nice thread, here are some of my favourites.
First of all I totally agree with House, it's an amazing movie and among my favourites.
Having said that here's IMO the best Miike I've seen so far (and I've seen quite a few):

Agitator



Followed by a couple of classic masterpieces:

Ugetsu Monogatari by Kenji Mizoguchi



and Ozu's Tokyo Monogatari



Not to forget Oshima's Ai No Corrida



or Wakamatsu's Embryo




* Apologies for the huge images, replacing them

Last edited by RudeBeast on Sun Nov 27, 2011 6:18 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I think the 2 words that describe Hausu best are fun and insane. The special effects are also great, especially for the seventies. One freaking awesome psychedelic adventure!!! Soundtrack rules big time.. But I am afraid my- or any words do not capture this movie well enough . This movie scores a full pull on my list
Ordered this T ;

Thanks Rob, much appreciated! Just ordered Agitator^^

Some other noncanonical minor masterworks that come to mind include Kurosawa's The Bad Sleep Well and High and Low, Studio Ghibli's Pom Poko and Whisper of the Heart, Ichikawa's The Burmese Harp and Mizoguchi's Sansho the Bailiff.

And Gozu exemplifies Takashi Miike at his best.

I think the 2 words that describe Hausu best are fun and insane. The special effects are also great, especially for the seventies. One freaking awesome psychedelic adventure!!! Soundtrack rules big time.. But I am afraid my- or any words do not capture this movie well enough . This movie scores a full pull on my list
Ordered this T ;

Hey Mart, that T is awesome! Hope you'll enjoy Agitator, I loved it. I also enjoyed other Miike movies like Audition (and Ichi) but Agitator is my favourite new wave yakuza flick, more blunt and violent than Kitano (well, it's Miike after all) but if I remember well pretty sad and melancholic. I've been telling myself I need to watch it again but haven't got to seeing it a second time. Will do soon though.
Forgot to add these:
Beside Tsukamoto's Iron Man, another great b&w cyberpunk classic is Electric Dragon 80.000V by Sogo Ishii



Here's a clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nHfldl5FzQ
Awesome Asano guitar scene!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNrrQl45 ... re=related

On a completely different page I would also suggest Tatsuya Mori's docs on the Aum sect 'A' and 'A2':



Loved them both, very interesting insight on the Asahara clan (just in case you can't find a US edition which I wasn't aware of the Japanese ones have english subs!).

Not to derail, but Murakami did a great non-fiction piece on Aum. A nice intro, for anyone not familiar with the background

Do you mean 'Underground', the Murakami book?

In the meantime some more stuff I just thought of...
First of all my favourite Samurai series (I prefer these to a lot of the often mentioned Kurosawa classics - although I love Sanjuro):



I would recommend this particular release, great quality and complete box set. Not all Lone Cub and Wolf movies are amazing but the Keji Misumi ones are simply awesome.
Also released by Eureka!:



IMO definitely less exciting than Misumi's Itto Ogami but still fun to watch.

Another series directed by Misumi (and a great one too) is the classic Zatoichi one (I would also add the Kitano rimake):

Last edited by RudeBeast on Wed Jul 06, 2011 9:46 am, edited 1 time in total.

Electric Dragon is great!

Interesting to see Eureka featured so heavily here. Great company.

When asked I define Hausu as Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds meets the Evil Dead.
And seeing that Hausu shirt makes me feel like I should pimp my own shirts... (sorry, I am not a fan of this sort of self promotion, but I think you guys will appreciate them).

Our Shogun Assassin shirt:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DWFNOavALzg/Ta8op1I7EdI/AAAAAAAAAXE/GdbHAaXS47M/s1600/IMG-20110416-00273.jpg
(edited to a url because the image is fucking ginormous!!!

and on Friday I'll be doing a Ringu/Poltergeist double bill and have this shirt available on the night, afterwards in our shop:

Check the shop on the CB webpage.

In September I'll be doing a Female Convict Scorpion shirt as well.

Oh, Eureka did an amazing steel box blu ray release of Shogun Assassin, totally worth getting.

Hey, wait a minute, I want that Itto Ogami shirt!! Where can I get one!?

I feel a bad cough coming up.. *cough* I am getting sick So much gems I still have to watch.

Those series look like a pretty fun watch Rob!

I will be waiting for those shirts to drop backtrack. Cigarette Burns Cinema look like a great place to be! I might be dropping by in a month or so .

That's a cooool one !

I second Electric Dragon 80000V.

Also would like to add Funky Forest, Street Mobster, and Survive Style 5+.

And if you go into animation: Mindgame.

I second Electric Dragon 80000V.
Also would like to add Funky Forest, Street Mobster, and Survive Style 5+.
And if you go into animation: Mindgame.

Heavy hitters, I Am The Fourth!

If you had a look at Funky Forest, Survive Style 5+ and Mind Game in quick succession,
you'd have to ask exactly when the world became insane. Research would tell you it was late 2004.
Bonkers shit in 31 flavors. Per movie.
And Street Mobster? Only one of the best, grittiest, most intense, ahead of it's time crime movies ever made.
Who made it, you ask? In his 400th appearance in two pages of forum thread - Kinji Fukasaku!

I'd like to add - Any animation by Studio 4°C, the production house that made Mind Game, you should try to get your hands on.
Seriously. Their stuff is like no one else's. Genuine innovation coming from those people. Wow.

I second Electric Dragon 80000V.
Also would like to add Funky Forest, Street Mobster, and Survive Style 5+.
And if you go into animation: Mindgame.

Heavy hitters, I Am The Fourth!

If you had a look at Funky Forest, Survive Style 5+ and Mind Game in quick succession,
you'd have to ask exactly when the world became insane. Research would tell you it was late 2004.
Bonkers shit in 31 flavors. Per movie.
And Street Mobster? Only one of the best, grittiest, most intense, ahead of it's time crime movies ever made.
Who made it, you ask? In his 400th appearance in two pages of forum thread - Kinji Fukasaku!

I'd like to add - Any animation by Studio 4°C, the production house that made Mind Game, you should try to get your hands on.
Seriously. Their stuff is like no one else's. Genuine innovation coming from those people. Wow.

Wow. Toothaction, you took the words out of my mind and mouth, and couldn't have put it better. Exactly why I chose all 5 of these. Hell, might even be my Top 5. Street Mobster is probably my favorite Kinji Fukasaku film, and yakuza film in general. It's like Scorsese on steroids and put in a rat cage to bash around. Mindgame, well, all I can say it was one of the most inspiring pieces of animation next to Akira for me. Mindblowing. I might even throw in Versus, the first original release. Such a cult classic like Evil Dead, with some INCREDIBLE fight choreography.
Oh, and I saw Sonatine mention. I second that. One of my favorite Kitano films.
And toothaction, Pistol Opera is SO underrated! Great, artistically-fun remake.
Seriously, the Japanese film scene isn't what it was back in 2000-2004. Such crazy years.

4 titels I never heard about Your enthusiasm put them on top of my watchlist. I am currently searching for a place where i can score all 4.

I need to double check that Fukusaku movie, not sure I've ever seen it (the title Street Mobster doesn't sound familiar).
I've just realized I've added little Imamura, one of my favourite Japanese directors. The following are simply stunning and beg to be watched if you've never seen them:







Some images from Black Rain still haunt me after several years since I last saw it. Very powerful cinema.

The Mikogami Trilogy (1972-1973) - The Trail of Blood - The Fearless Avenger - Slaughter in the Snow


Another great series that came out around the same time as the Lone Wolf and Hanzo pictures is Kazuo Ikehiro's Mikogami Trilogy.
Ikehiro, who had previously directed films in both the Zatoichi and Sleepy Eyes of Death series, adapted and helmed all three installments of this epic revenge saga, based on a manga by Saho Sasazawa.
Told in a classic style, but with a modern sensibility (and dazzling blood lettting), I thought these films were an excellent study in character, landscape and focus --- broken up by spectacular violence! I cared that our wronged anti-hero, Jokichi of Mikogami, meet his dark goal, and I loved watching him slowly get there.

The TOHO tokusatsu of Honda and Tsuburaya (1953 - 1970)


Duh.

Another great one that is often overlooked as it doesn't fall into the traditonal monster genre is Kyuketsuki Gokemidoro (aka 'Goke: Body Snatcher From Hell). But I highly recommend it, c'mon zombie space-vampires? How can you go wrong



Here is a classic screen cap as a teaser of what you are in for:

New avatar, anyone?

I heart Goke.

First I need to buy and watch 'Goke'. I promiss I will!! Then the anvatar is mine^^. Who wouldn't want a head like that, I would play with myself 24/7

Gantz ガンツ Great sci-fi action flick based on the Japanese manga and anime series. Definitely worth a watch.