Tag Archives: Japan

Review: Red Crow and the Ghost Ship (Japan 1989)

When you have a magical flying sloop designed by Hayao Miyazaki and staffed by a muppet crow created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, who are you going to get to captain the ship? Jo F’in Shishido, of course. Very short, … Continue reading

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Review: Shin Ultraman (Japan 2022)

New York Asian Film Festival 2022 A total throwback to the oldest iterations of the TV series, this latest Higuchi/Anno “Shin” reinterpretation captures the goofy magic of old school Ultraman perfectly. Episodic, tongue-in-cheek but always played straight, the plot moves so … Continue reading

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Review: Wife of a Spy (Japan 2020)

Watching Kiyoshi Kurosawa experiment with new genres over this past decade or so has been fascinating. The man knows how to make an incredibly spooky supernatural chiller – his Kairo/Pulse is probably the pinnacle of J-horror for me – but … Continue reading

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Review: Wonderful Paradise (Japan 2020)

Japan Cuts 2021 Looking to scratch that “weird Japan” itch but with some more substantive meat under the oddity? This has a bit of an After Hours energy, as a small goodbye party thrown by a depressed family losing their home … Continue reading

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Review: Cutie Honey (Japan 2004)

Now THAT’S how to do a comic book superhero movie. Total live action cartoon full of bizarro touches and cheesecake, it’s genially sleazy in an old fashioned pin-up kind of way but maybe 1/10th as perverted as the original Go … Continue reading

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Review: Lupin the Third: The Legend of the Gold of Babylon (Japan 1985)

We all know that auteur Hayao Miyazaki polished his chops on a work for hire Lupin film, the delightful Castle of Cagliostro. But what about the OTHER auteur who slaved in the Lupin salt mines? That’s right, Seijun Suzuki, following … Continue reading

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Review: Outlaw: Gangster VIP 2 (Japan 1968)

Part 2 of the Goro saga moves to Tohoku, and gives us snow instead of city for a while. Tetsuya Watari is back as honorable (now former) gangster Goro – he tries to get out but they keep pulling him … Continue reading

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Review: Outlaw: Gangster VIP (Japan 1968)

First in the series (working my way through a box set I received as a present). Apparently I’d watched this before but had no memory of it. Somewhat old fashioned Yakuza high melodrama starring Tetsuya Watari covers all the cliches: … Continue reading

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Review: Tokyo Knights (Japan 1961)

This early Seijun Suzuki youth flick is basically an Elvis movie starring Koji Wada as the young heir to a construction combine mixed up in illegal shenanigans. It’s a super breezy, super jazzy (literally) play on Hamlet, and as soon … Continue reading

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Review: Fly Me to the Saitama (Japan 2019) – NYAFF 2019

I fucking loved this movie. Perhaps the campiest thing I’ve seen in years, this boys-love Romeo and Juliet fable of a Rococo oppressive Tokyo dominating its lame bedroom suburb neighbor Saitama (imagine if folks from New Jersey needed visas just … Continue reading

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