Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Movie Going Madness in Japan

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Originally posted by AngelGuts View Post
    Very nice to see those RAPEMAN dvds on the shelf. All pretty good transfers, too.

    YOu have an opinion on this series, Takuma?

    I found it very well written, and surprisingly emotional at times with its focus on Rapeman's alter ego schoolteacher and his relationship with his Uncle. Great score, too, and well made on Beta-SP.
    Saw them a long time ago. My opinion is the same as your basically, perhaps with a bit less praise but still.

    Comment


    • A friend of mine just attended this last night in Tokyo:



      Battles Without Honor and Humanity all night. All 5 films back to back in 35mm, from 8:20 pm to 6 am.

      Couldn't afford a Tokyo trip myself this time as I needed to save money... all the Lone Wolf and Cub films are gonna be on screen in 35mm from next month.

      Comment


      • Originally posted by Takuma View Post
        A friend of mine just attended this last night in Tokyo:



        Battles Without Honor and Humanity all night. All 5 films back to back in 35mm, from 8:20 pm to 6 am.
        must've been a tough viewing experience ... what theater organize such allnighters? Laputa?

        Comment


        • Originally posted by tetrapak View Post
          must've been a tough viewing experience ... what theater organize such allnighters? Laputa?
          Shin bungeiza. Every saturday night.
          - http://www.shin-bungeiza.com/allnight.html

          Sometimes they are semi-recent films in DCP, and sometimes even lame BD or DVD screenings, but every now and then there are dynamite 35mm nights, e.g. Teruo Ishii Wonder Night

          I was actually interested in their Mamoru Oshii night as seeing Ghost in the Shell in 35mm has been a long time dream, but the event sold out immediately.

          Comment


          • In search of a Lone Wolf

            It is no secret that Laputa Asagaya is my favorite movie theatre in Tokyo. I also love the Asagaya district. I was walking the streets one day and spotted something interesting:



            What's that, you ask? Could it be that Laputa Asagaya is running a Lone Wolf and Cub retrospective?



            Lone Wolf isn't the only thing on screen. This ad attached to a restaurant wall is for Toei Literature Adaptations retrospective in Laputa.



            We have found the treatre



            Let's get inside. Oh yes! Babycart at River Styx!



            Babycart in Peril



            Fast forward a few weeks to another night: White Heaven in Hell



            I watched Babycart to Hades, Babycart in Peril and White Heaven in Hell (actually it took two Tokyo trips to do that). I had already seen Sword of Vengeance and Babycart at River Styx in National Film Archive, and Babycart in the Land of Demons in Jinbocho Cinema before. Which means I have now seen them all in glorious 35mm! Life goal achieved. What a blast it was!

            http://www.laputa-jp.com/laputa/prog..._wolf_and_cub/

            Comment


            • Those Japanese LW&C one sheets are gorgeous.
              Rock! Shock! Pop!

              Comment


              • Of course Lone Wolf was not the only thing I saw in Laputa Asagaya. I went there early in the morning to catch the entertaining 1957 Toho thriller The Decoy with Ryo Ikebe using his wife as a decoy to catch escaped prisoner Makoto Sato.



                I also re-watched the Koji Tsuruta ninkyo film Dragon's Life (1964), which features Sonny Chiba and Junko Fuji in supporting roles as brother and sister, in the Toei Literature series.



                I did not have time for other films, but here are some photos







                Gotta love the curry plate under the film poster for “Curry Rice”.





                They just started a 20 year celebration program screening some of the films they have shown in the past two decades. Here are some old chirashi ads for their programs

                Comment


                • Also on my travels I stopped by in Cinema Vera. Unfortunately they no longer play double features. That beautiful, traditional system came to its end last summer. What we get now is a set of 5 or 6 films played every day in different order for a week. The prices went up as well as now you have to a separate buy ticket to each film. The programming is still the same, a mix of JP and foreign film retrospectives, with JP programs mainly 35mm and foreign mostly digital.

                  Also I need to mention that the projection quality is not as good as it used to be. A few years ago they started projecting films with brighter image which causes weaker blacks and weaker colors. I don't know if that's to do with the projector lamp or what, but the difference is clear when you compare to Laputa Asagaya, Shin Bungeiza, Film Archive etc.

                  That being said, it's still very much worth visiting for the program and film prints. This time they were playing Toei Ninkyo Yakuza series with a focus on lesser known films (no Red Peonies or Brutal Tales in the program). I caught the rare and entertaining if unexceptional Ken Takakura / Sonny Chiba modern day ninkyo tale Violent Street (1963), the messy Toei-turns-Zatoichi-into-an-Osaka-punk Blind Monk Swordsman (1964) that only woke my up from a come when a woman ran through the screen with her boobs out, and the enjoyable Koji Tsuruta epic Theater of Life - New Hishakaku Story (1964).

                  Vera's chirashi / retrospective poster art is consistently great!


                  A set of Gambling Den posters


                  Violent Street (right) and Blind Monk Swordsman (left)








                  http://www.cinemavera.com/preview.php?no=216

                  Comment


                  • So cool seeing all of those displayed in a public place. I plan on getting a few more LW&C posters myself.

                    Comment


                    • Kinji Fukasaku retrospective at National Film Archive



                      46 films, all in 35mm, plus two TV episodes in 16mm.
                      - https://www.nfaj.go.jp/exhibition/fukasaku201903/

                      Managed to drop by for a few screenings... Legend of the Eight Samurai, Bloodstained Clan Honor, Shanghai Rhapsody, Violent Panic: The Big Crash, and Hokuriku Proxy War. Also wanted to re-watch Graveyard of Honor but went to Laputa to see No Pants Nurses instead. That was a mistake...











                      The Bloodstained Clan Honor (血染の代紋 ) (1970) poster is a strange one, with Tomisaburo Wakayama and Junko Fuji depicted AND credited (as 3rd and 4th billed). But neither one of them are actually in the film!










                      (There's a disclaimer saying something like “You can't take photos of the posters, however, you can take photos if they feature people in them”. At first I was going gave my friend stand at the side in each photo and crop him out later… but then I realized everyone was taking photos and no one, not even the staff, cared. So I dared to take a few quick shots. I'm sure the disclaimer is some legal formality (other theatres in Tokyo don't have such).
                      Takuma
                      Senior Member
                      Last edited by Takuma; 05-23-2019, 12:56 PM.

                      Comment


                      • Thanks for all the pictures, those posters are amazing.
                        Rock! Shock! Pop!

                        Comment


                        • I also briefly visited Laputa Asagaya's Kinnosuke Nakamura retrospective.
                          - http://www.laputa-jp.com/laputa/prog...osuke_matsuri/



                          This was a typically massive retro with 35 films (all 35mm of course, Laputa always screens films in their original screening format). I only had time to catch two films, Hideo Gosha's Tange Sazen film The Secret of the Urn (丹下左膳 飛燕居合斬り) (1966), which was weaker and duller than I recalled, and the very enjoyable matatabi/ninkyo yakuza tale Tokijiro Kutsukake: Lone Yakuza (沓掛時次郎 遊侠一匹) (1966). Both screened from beautiful prints.

                          Tokijiro Kutsukake: Lone Yakuza


                          Tokijiro Kutsukake: Lone Yakuza


                          The Secret of the Urn


                          The Secret of the Urn + other Nakamura films




                          I also caught Pink Salon Hospital: No Pants Nurses (ピンサロ病院 ノーパン白衣) (1997) in the late show where Laputa is screening their 3rd Shintoho Last Film Show series (the title is supposed to mean that this is probably the last time you get to see those films from 35mm prints since pink cinemas have gone digital... the ones that haven't gone out of business already, and there is little interest in these films among other theatre programmers).

                          - http://www.laputa-jp.com/laputa/program/shintoho-pink3/



                          I actually sacrificed Film Archive's Graveyard of Honor (1975) screening (that would have been the 2nd time for me, the 1st was in 2014 in Laputa) to see No Pants, and I sort of wish I hadn't. The film is bordering on AV with nonstop sex dullness. Director Sachi Hamano (real name Sachiko, she dropped the feminine ko to hide her gender), one of the few female pink directors. It doesn't really show; I and a friend tried to come up with anything in the film that would distinguish it from the male helmed pinks till he finally said “the women are active in taking their own pants off”. Hmm, maybe. Released in the US by Pink Eiga as “Whore Hospital”.

                          One of the more interesting films included in the series is Sexy Battle Girls (1986). Being a 35mm print, it should (hopefully, though not necessarily) have all the music stolen from Sukeban Deka (the film is a parody / rip off of Sukeban Deka II: Legend of the Girl in Iron Mask) intact. The US DVD by Pink Eiga has all the music removed and replaced because copyrights were invented sometime after the film was made.

                          Comment


                          • So Jealous

                            Comment


                            • Takuma: Also on my travels I stopped by in Cinema Vera. Unfortunately they no longer play double features. That beautiful, traditional system came to its end last summer. What we get now is a set of 5 or 6 films played every day in different order for a week. The prices went up as well as now you have to a separate buy ticket to each film. The programming is still the same, a mix of JP and foreign film retrospectives, with JP programs mainly 35mm and foreign mostly digital.

                              Also I need to mention that the projection quality is not as good as it used to be. A few years ago they started projecting films with brighter image which causes weaker blacks and weaker colors. I don't know if that's to do with the projector lamp or what, but the difference is clear when you compare to Laputa Asagaya, Shin Bungeiza, Film Archive etc.


                              I'm weeping for you, brother.

                              Comment


                              • I wish you guys were in Tokyo with me, running from one theatre to another and eating onigiri in the train because there is no time to stop for lunch...

                                Speaking of which...

                                I'm not that much of a kaiju fan, but since I was in Tokyo for Fukasaku, I also went to see a couple of Mothra films in 35mm.

                                The films were playing in Ikebukuro at Shin bungeiza, who have the biggest screen out there for 35mm screenings, and excellent seats. The program is nearly always double features, meaning the same two films played back to back from morning to night. The day I visited they were screening Mothra (1961) and Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964).



                                It took quite a bit of effort to fit both into my schedule, since I also wanted to see Tokijiro Kutsukake: Lone Yakuza at Laputa Asagaya, and Hokuriku Proxy War at the Film Archive at Kyobashi, all of which are located at opposite sides of central Tokyo. At first I thought it'd be impossible, but after a careful examination and managed to come up with a plan that involved running, strategic choice of trains, and zero error margin.

                                9:45 Mothra vs. Godzilla (Shin bungeiza / Ikebukuro)
                                13:00 Tokijiro Kutsukake: Lone Yakuza (Laputa / Asagaya) (91min, finish at 14:31)
                                -------- Rush to Asagaya Station (8 min)
                                14:39 Take Chuo Line Rapid train to Shinjuku
                                14:48 Arrive Shinjuku Station (Track 8), transfer to JR Saikyo Line (Track 3)
                                14:51 JR Saikyo Line Local Train to Ikebukuro
                                14:57 Arrive Ikebukuro Station
                                -------- Run to the theatre (8 min)
                                15:05 Mothra (Shin bungeiza / Ikebukuro)
                                19:00 Hokuriku Proxy War (Film Archive/ Kyobashi)







                                As I said, I'm not a huge kaiju fan, but I quite enjoyed seeing Mothra projected from a beautiful 35mm print. It's got nice adventure touch, lavish colour cinematography, Frankie Chan makes a sympathetic lead, Peanuts are Peanuts and Osman Yusuf gets another gaijin henchman role. Better than Mothra vs. Godzilla, which suffers from the usual dull story and characters, though the monster fights are good and the film is one of the better Godzillas IMO.

                                Ad for upcoming Yuya Uchida retro which I missed (which made me want to hang myself, thankfully I don't own a rope).

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X