Movie Going Madness in Japan

[Takuma]

Somehow I ended up here again...



Actually I needed to take an early morning flight from Tokyo to Finland (Christmas, you know), which provided the perfect excuse to arrive one day early and go to the movies! I had to execute a very tight schedule, but everything went perfect thanks to Japan’s super reliable public transport and I arrived Laputa Asagaya 7 minutes before my first film, exactly as planned (after first taking a domestic flight from Chitose to Haneda, (literally) running to the airport capsule hotel to drop off my bags, running to the train station to take the monorail to Hamamatsucho Sta., rushing to the Yamanote line to ride to Tokyo Sta. and transfer to Chuo Rapid line to Asagaya, and finally eat three mini Kit Kats during the 5 minute walk to Laputa because I couldn’t fit a lunch break or even a convenience store visit into the schedule).



Laputa was still playing their 25th Anniversary Program. First up was the 1969 Toho film Bonds of Love (愛のきずな) from yet another gorgeous 35mm print. Good film, too. Jerk travel agency employee Makoto Fujita falls in love with pretty girl Mari Sono, only to learn too late that she’s secretly married to a violent criminal (Makoto Sato) who’s about to be released from prison in 10 days! Based on a Seicho Matsumoto story, with a rather evident Hitchcock vibe, though some plot turns feel a bit forced.



Next up was… a meal actually. Asagaya Kitchen. I hadn’t eaten anything other than breakfast and the mini Kit Kats.

Back to Laputa with Junya Sato’s legendary True Account of the Ginza Tortures (実録・私設銀座警察) (1973) up next. Although I don’t personally consider this one of the very best jitsuroku yakuza films (many others do, however), it is probably the bleakest, plain most violent jitsuroku film ever made and absolutely essential viewing. For the record, the 35mm print (produced by Laputa Asagaya about a decade ago when I last saw it) does look a bit rough with yellow/brown colours and strong contrast. I think Toei’s digital master looks about the same but I’ve only seen it briefly. I’m not convinced the film is supposed to look quite like that, but the materials / negative may be in rough shape.



The last film was Akira Kato’s melancholic Roman Porno drama Office Lady Journal: Wet Bundle (ＯＬ日記　濡れた札束) (1974). I’ve never held Kato in a particularly high regard, but perhaps I should give some of his other films a re-watch. This movie, which is loosely inspired by a real life incident where a female bank clerk (played by Aoi Nakajima) who stole money for her gambling addict boyfriend, is actually rather complex, following its protagonist in several different phases of her life and moving back and forth in time throughout the film. It’s a slow burner and I don’t quite agree with some of the highest praise it’s getting, but there’s certainly something about it and the closing shot is great.





Same poster earlier in a different place. Note: the poster hasn't been censored by the theater, but by an earlier user. There's a piece of black tape that has been partially removed. Whoever tried to remove it had to stop halfway when paper started coming off with it.




Merry Christmas!

[Jason C]

Those are incredible. I am seriously thinking I may need to plan a trip to Japan. It doesn't fit my lifestyle, but I'd have the time of my life.

[Takuma]

That place looks so inviting! My local arthouse cinema is so boring and grey, even the waiting room at my dentist is more inviting :(

It warms my heart to see Laputa Asagaya still thriving.

I'd love to be able to visit again some time.

Not only are they the coolest movie theater, they also have the coolest movie tickets. I scanned some old tickets that I have saved over the past 11 years. They print themed tickets for every retrospective, and some programs can have a dozen different ticket arts (you can see that I’m missing some from the Kazuhiko Yamaguchi program, lol).

[Jason C]

Love the pictures. I can't imagine seeing Reiko Ike on the big screen.

[BW Haggar]

It warms my heart to see Laputa Asagaya still thriving.

I'd love to be able to visit again some time.

In fact, even your food pics make me miss hanging about in Tokyo, Takuma... *sigh* maybe next year?

[The Silly Swede]

That place looks so inviting! My local arthouse cinema is so boring and grey, even the waiting room at my dentist is more inviting :(

[Takuma]

Happy 25th Anniversary Laputa Asagaya!

My favourite movie theater in the whole wide world is currently celebrating its 25th anniversary. From October to December they are screening 46 selected films from their old retrospectives, all from then-new prints that Laputa had produced for their programs. It is mentioned over the years they’ve paid for about 120 new 35mm prints to be produced for films that didn’t have decent prints available.

Of course I had to reserve a pair of flights and drop by last weekend, not least because there was a chance to see two extremely rare 70s Toei pictures, Kazuhiko Yamaguchi’s Neon Jellyfish: Shinjuku Flower Streetcar (ネオンくらげ 新宿花電車) (1973) and Tatsuo Honda’s Hitozuma sex jigoku (人妻セックス地獄) (“Married Woman’s Sex Hell”, if you allow me to translate the title) (1974) (which btw was written by Masahiro Kakefuda under the pen name Baku Isshiki, and co-stars Takuzo Kawatani). I also caught Kosaku Yamashita’s Yakuza of Seki (関の弥太っぺ) (1963) from an absolutely gorgeous print radiating cinema magic unlike any digital version ever could, not matter how many K’s.

Long live Laputa Asagaya! And it’s looking very good for next year already! January kicks off with Jushiro Konoe’s Yagyu Chronicles (all 9 films) that goes on till March in the morning show, and February sees the third edition of Toei Oizumi in the main program, with 36 Toei films from 1958-1968, including loads of Mako Midori films like Women's Native Ground: Bitches' Chains (おんな番外地　鎖の牝犬) (1965) and Return to the Women's Native Ground (続・おんな番外地) (1966).





Flowers from Nikkatsu


Neon Jellyfish: Shinjuku Flower Streetcar


Hitozuma sex jigoku


Kumo no ue dan gorō ichiza + Police Department Story 24: Missing


Police Department Story 24: Missing, Yakuza of Seki, Hokuriku Proxy War










In addition to Toei films I also caught the delightful 1962 Toho comedy Kumo no ue dan gorō ichiza in the Yaeko Mizutani morning show. A pretty funny film about a theatrical troupe that has to flee town after two of its members have an affair with a yakuza boss' mistress, and another magically gorgeous print! Glad I woke up early for this even though I knew nothing about the film in advance. By strange coincidence I caught another surprisingly similar if much more graphic films later the same day when I headed to Jimbocho Theater for Azuma Morisaki's stripper drama comedy Pimp Heaven aka Kigeki Tokudashi: Himo Tengoku (1975) featuring excellent dramatic performances by Reiko Ike and Shingo Yamashiro, and another maniacal Takuzo Kawatani performance. And after that it was Hitozuma sex jigoku in Laputa with the 2nd madcap Kawatani performance in a row. Strange how these films connect to each other. I could have fit even one more film in the afternoon but I had a date with Nanami Matsumoto...

Man needs to eat... random ramen restautant somewhere between Asakusa and Jimbocho (I had time so I walked).


Asagaya Kitchen, my usual place when stomach needs felling in Asagaya.

[Takuma]

I had an opportunity to drop by at Laputa Asagaya very briefly last weekend for their Ikuo Sekimoto program. There’s a new book about Sekimoto which I really need to get as his career seems fascinating. It seems Sekimoto was a high school grad who was immediately told he has no place among elite directors without a university degree, and when he did make it as a director the general message was “don’t fuck up”. But he pretty much did that with his meant-to-be-debut Girl Boss: Crazy Ball Game (女番長 玉突き遊び) (1974) in which Yuko Kano was injured and filming had to be stopped for a year, resulting in Diamond Showdown (女番長 タイマン勝負) with Reiko Ike to be filmed and released first.

I watched Crazy Ball Game, which was a blast in 35mm, probably my 2nd or 3rd most favourite in the series after Escape from Reform School and Girl Boss Guerilla. Lots of audience too, as the theater was almost completely full. It's a shame I wasn't able to stay longer since Sekimoto was to attend several later screenings.

http://www.laputa-jp.com/laputa/program/sekimotoikuo/

[Takuma]

Here in Japan Lee's Golden Harvest films are having a nationwide theatrical re-release... again.
https://wblc.jp/

The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, The Way of the Dragon and Game of Death also had a full theatrical run three years ago when it was 80 years from Lee’s birth. They were DCP reconstructions of the Japanese versions of the films (English dubs, Mike Remedios theme songs, Lee's battle cries inserted from Mandarin prints, and extended version of The Way of the Dragon) though not entirely authentic as there were numerous “errors” like computer generated text screens in The Way of the Dragon. They also lacked colour correction as they used the Fortune Star 4K masters. I saw them all in theatre back then (and “Way” twice because it’s so damn good)

I assume what’s in theatres now are the same DCPs, except they’ve added Tower of Death to the line-up. I went to see it today as it was advertised as the Japanese Version of the film. This was quite an unexpected presentation. The first 40 minutes (till the funeral scene) and last 40 minutes (roughly from when our hero goes on a rampage) were clearly scanned from a dirty and somewhat faded Japanese 35mm print, complete with Japanese side-titles. In between them was roughly 20 minutes of SD upscale footage from a completely different digital source. I don’t know why it was so. Missing / damaged reel perhaps?

The running time was listed at 100 min, which is probably accurate. I briefly checked my Criterion BD which is the 96 min International Version and looks more or less the same content wise as the Japanese Version. However, the Japanese version comes with a different soundtrack with songs by Brute East Family used throughout the film, and much longer end credits that run 5-6 min with two English language songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8MKxCrfHP8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWcynb6k5rY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh_a6n6Vfu8

The ending credits are the same as this, but with different music:

Unfortunately I don’t know what else is different in this Japanese version, if anything.

I’ll be receiving my Arrow UHD set tomorrow, but it doesn’t seem like it includes the Japanese Version of Tower of Death. In fact, I’m not sure if it has been released in BD or DVD anywhere in the world, including Japan.

[Takuma]

I went to Tokyo to renew my passport at the embassy earlier this week. I must've had the wrong address! :lol:

(Tatsuo Nogami retrospective at Laputa Asagaya)



Tales of Japan's Chivalrous Women: Duel of Swirling Flowers




Lion Enforcer


Yagyu Clan Conspiracy


I caught Lion Enforcer (1974) (one of the weaker Sadao Nakajima gangster films from the era, though I enjoyed it a bit better than last time) and Tales of Japan's Chivalrous Women: Duel of Swirling Flowers (1971) (one of my favourite Junko Fuji ninkyo epics). Solid though unexceptional 35mm prints. I meant to attend The Yagyu Clan Conspiracy (1978) too, but I took the wrong train from the airport and didn't make it on time (no huge loss since I viewed the film in Shin bungeiza less than two years ago). Decided to stop at Nakano Broadway instead just to check if the movie poster store was still there (I heard someone say it closed, but it was still there though possibly under a new name and owner... it was now one of the Mandarake stores but the shelves were the same as before).

Finished the day with a giant meal at Asagaya Kitchen. I used to go to this place when it operated under a different name (forgot what it was) for their stamina yaro meals. The new menu is more or less the same as before, just everything's been renamed. Superb value for 1500 yen. I was starving after eating nothing but three onigiri all day.



The next day I also finally managed to catch The Man who Stole the Sun (1979) in 35mm at Jinbocho Theater after missing half dozen screenings over the past 10 years. Phenomenally beautiful print with a bit of dirt and a very slight sunset tint (probably from ageing), but looked absolutely fantastic with superb clarity and natural colours. Incredible film too, one of the most legendary Japanese movies ever. I hope this will come to BD soon since it's airing in HD on TV (good master, though obviously pales in comparison to the 35mm presentation). Oh and I came across this very cool fan-made trailer for the film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j_X...ature=youtu.be

There was no poster for Sun, but for other program yes.







I wish I would have had time to see Africa's Light again... it would've been my 3rd time seeing it in the same theater. Well, maybe next time.

[Takuma]

So I went to see Cannibal Holocaust yesterday. The film is given a nationwide theatrical 4K re-release to celebrate its 40th anniversary (*). It’s been booked to 21 theaters so far. In Sapporo where I saw it, it plays twice a day on Satsugeki’s biggest screen (of four), which comes with 200 seats. There were about 100 people in the audience in the first screening. Let’s see if this will go on for a 2nd week.

I forgot to drop the news earlier, but the answer is yes! Cannibal Holocaust indeed headed for a 2nd week of screenings and is currently playing on the no. 4 screen for 170 seats twice every day. This is the 2nd biggest screen Satsugeki has and is somewhat fittingly located underground.

And it doesn't end here! The latest update came out last night that the film will go on for a 3rd week of screening from Friday. It will continue on the same no. 4 screen with one screening each day.

I also took a brief look at the situation in Tokyo, where Cannibal Holocaust opened simultaneously in three theaters two weeks ago. It's still playing in each of them, and they all announced last night that the screenings will continue next week as well. In one of them, Cinemart Shinjuku, it will continue on their 335 seat no. 1 screen where it's currently playing.

I was hoping for the film to do well, but this is much better than I expected. Japan gets a lot of theatrical re-releases of old classics (Vanishing Point, Escape from New York, Dawn of the Dead, Django, Last Tango in Paris, The Way of the Dragon, Sorcerer just to mention a few from the past 5 years) but it's rare for re-releases to play longer than one week, and even many new European arthouse dramas or smaller Japanese dramas and genre films have to settle for one or two weeks. Glad to see the Japanese haven't lost their taste for human flesh!

[Andrew Monroe]

I also find your movie experiences and photos very interesting. You folks get a goldmine of vintage films there. That never happens in my city.

[Takuma]

Very cool - was there a Cronenberg retrospective going on there as well?

Not quite. Videodrome is going for a nationwide theatrical re-release next month, ahead of Crimes of the Future which opens in August.

Obviously I've not seen Crimes of the Future yet, but I was a little surprised about the Japanese PG-12 rating it has been given

Very cool. I love how you describe/photograph these outings.

Thanks. Always good to hear someone finds them useful / entertaining.

[Jason C]

Very cool. I love how you describe/photograph these outings.

[Ian Jane]

Very cool - was there a Cronenberg retrospective going on there as well?