What Asian Films Have You Been Watching Recently?

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The majority of these roman porno reboots are readily available as blu ray rips (from the Happinet domestic releases) with English fan subs or retail subs. I think the only one that isn't is AROUSED BY GYMNOPEDIES but I'm sure subs will appear soon as the retail HK dvd has been out for a few months already.

Sure enuff, Isao Yukisada's AROUSED BY GYMNOPEDIES is out now. A nice looking BD rip from the happinet release with added English subs.

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Went last night to check out Kim Tae-gyun's Korean crime thriller, DARK FIGURE OF CRIME starring Kim Yun-seok and Ju Ji-hoon. Based on a true event of a killer in prison who suddenly confesses to multiple past murders and the detective working to crack the cold cases but at a steep price. We've all seen this scenario played out ad nauseum by now and unfortunately, despite the best efforts of actors Kim Yun-suk and Joo Ji-hun, the material is so familiar and cliched that this flick offers nothing new for the viewer. It's a shame because Kim Yun-seok is one of Korea's finest actors. As the detective he's hamstrung by the script and it shows. He's still able to turn in a very credible performance but I felt he never really hit his stride here and I was even less impressed with Ju Hi-hoon as the killer who strings him along. Can't really put my finger on it but something about his whole performance was just off - it appeared he was concentrating so much on mustering an authentic Busan satoori for the role that it took away from other things. His persona - the cocky demeanor of a killer who thinks he's one step ahead of law enforcement just lacked nuance and he came off as an actor trying way to hard at times. So overall, a mediocre flick that isn't worth a repeat viewing.

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The Greatest Post-War Gambler (戦後最大のè³å ´) (Japan, 1969) [DVD] - 3/5
With all the criticism on remakes and reboots these days, it's good to remember that back in the 60s and 70s it was ok to remake a movie a mere 12 months after its release. This is a modern day re-imagining of director Kosaku Yamashita's own Big Time Gambling Boss (1968), which was a Shakespearian ninkyo yakuza tale about conflicting duties and honour. Koji Tsuruta stars again as the noble hero, Tomisaburo Wakayama is out and Ken Takakura plays the role that roughly corresponds to Wakayama's hot headed character whose friendship with Tsuruta is tested when conflicts arise. Chris D. named this as one of his favourite ninkyo films; I found the first half a bit too slow and preferred Big Time Gambling Boss, though this is decidedly more low key and quite good towards the end.

Evil Boss vs. The Henchmen (悪親分代貸) (Japan, 1971) [TV] - 2.5/5
A conceptually fun twist to the usual ninkyo formula with Tomisaburo Wakayama as... The Evil Boss! He's the corrupt bastard who'd normally function as the villain threatening the heroes, who are largely absent from this film. Made between Wakayama's similar Story of Japanese Evil Men films (1971, 1972), this one is a bit better than them. The film still underperforms with little action, no sex, and a deadly boring first 30 min, but the concept does begin to spark eventually and the ending is a ton of fun. Also features a goodish Wakayama vs. Bunta Sugawara fight that echoes their brawls in the Wicked Priest series.



The Limit of Sleeping Beauty (リミット・オブ・スリーピング ビューティ) (Japan, 2017) [DVD] - 3.5/5
http://www.rockshockpop.com/forums/s...940#post178940

Liverlief (ミスミソウ) (Japan, 2018) [DVD] - 2/5
http://www.rockshockpop.com/forums/s...073#post179073

Call Boy (娼年) (Japan, 2018) [DVD] - 4/5
http://www.rockshockpop.com/forums/s...072#post179072

River's Edge (リバーズ・エッジ) (Japan, 2018) [BD] - 3/5
Set in early 90s Japan, ironically soon playing at Tokyo International Film Festival's "Japan Today" series. Bullies, bulimia, secret gay relationships and a slaughtered cat... with its "shocking story", digital image and amateurish "talking to the camera" scenes it feels like a j-dorama director going big screen - something you shouldn't feel with experienced Isao Yukisada. Perhaps this is Japan(ese cinema) Today indeed. That being said, it is captivating with its dramatic story, surprisingly graphic sex, good performances and the always watchable Fumi Nikaido. Oh and did I mention she goes nude in the film? Good for us. Also, shot in 1.37:1. You don't see that often these days.

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Caught a triple header today. First up was Hideo Gosha's HUNTER IN THE DARK which looks like it was ripped from the soon to be defunct FS streaming service. I admittedly wasn't a fan of this flick upon first viewing years ago but it's grown on me. The convoluted plot takes some patience to sit through and the pay off for the viewer's patience isn't anything special either but I especially enjoyed the performance of Yoshio Harada as the one eyed Yojimbo for Nakadai. I believe this is the only flick that Chiba and Nakadai ever made together which is another surprise.

Next up was a re-watch of Fung Hak-on's triad flick GODFATHER'S DAUGHTER MAFIA BLUES & it hasn't aged particularly well. It was nothing special upon first viewing but I recall I did enjoy the Yukari Oshima fight scenes and Mark Cheng looked pretty decent here as well. Having watched it a second time, my initial opinion of it being a mediocre flick with a few entertaining fight scenes still stands. It is pretty funny how Alex Man gets duped again and again by Dick Wei though. Guess he's never heard of "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me"

Last was the best of the bunch, it's Tang Gaopeng's debut feature, the quirky road movie shot in the Gobi desert, THE ROAD NOT TAKEN. I read it's gotten some buzz & won a few awards, so I jumped on the chance to see it. It didn't disappoint as it was a true multi-mood experience - it had a very dry comedic feel in the beginning bordering on straight out absurd comedy but then the film takes various turns into dark thriller territory interspersed with bits of bittersweet melodrama all the while encompassing a certain indie vibe. The cinematography is another highlight with vast stretches of the Gobi desert serving as beautifully lit backdrop. The only downside was that the embedded subtitles were fucking microscopic and eye straining to read. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for this director's future projects.

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Caught another double header earlier, first up was the final flick in the TRUCK YARO series, RUN, TRUCK RASCAL, RUN (1979) and it kinda went out with a whimper as opposed to a bang. It was more of the same with Momojiro getting smitten (yet again!) with 2 ladies this time, one an aspiring enka singer and the other a filial waitress who takes care of her bedridden mother who just happens to save a suicidal Jonathan from taking a leap off a cliff. As you can expect, Bunta Sugawara gets involved in both the gals' affairs and arrives in time to save the day for both. Some nonsensical comedic relief played by a gaijin couple on their pilgrimage and Jonathan's wife, Masumi Harukawa taking over trucking duties for her stay at home hubby. I've always enjoyed her comedic character in this series and also in the SHOGUN ABARENBO one as well. There was one laugh out loud moment when her kids prod her to become a sex worker to finance an addition to their home.

The second flick was surprisingly more entertaining - it was Danny Lee's motorcycle cop movie, ROAD WARRIORS. Some parts were extremely sappy and contrived particularly the tearjerker involving Jamie Luk and that one insufferably adorable little kid, Bobbie but I have to say that it kept me engrossed for the duration. The spoiled rich scion of a porno magnate played by Billy Ching was really despicable and was his buddy, Shing Fui-on and you kept waiting for both of them to get their comeuppance at the end. I have to say that HK had no qualms of portraying young children in dangerous situations or at least don't have the sentimentality as in the West in that regard -- the aftermath of the horrific school bus accident is shown in all its graphic glory with little kids with nasty looking compound fractures and all sorts of gruesome injuries. There is also a very graphic surgery scene later on too.

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After reading my previous post, I realized I had accidentally deleted a few lines from my review of RUN, TRUCK RASCAL RUN! I should start editing my posts but just too lazy. Anyway, just wanted to add for any dog lovers out there that if you have any qualms about seeing animal cruelty onscreen then I would avoid this one. One of the storylines involves dog fighting and it's shown in rather realistic fashion (read: looks like real dog fighting scenes and not effects) with huge Tosa dogs clamping down on each other's throats.

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Had like a month break from watching movies, so decided to catch up some on Kazuhiko Yamaguchis filmography (1 to go as far as english subs goes) seeing as the 2nd Delinquent Girl Boss film just got a fansub.
Still a handful to go that would be lovely to see some day like the 3rd Delinquent Girl Boss, Karate Murder, Evil Bodyguard Troops etc.



Delinquent Girl Boss: Tokyo Drifters (1970) 6.0/10
Reiko Oshida helps another delinquent (a pregnant one) escape from the reformary and takes a job as a streetvendor and eventually battles it out with the yakuza.
There's some geezer humour but thankfully not enough to be to distracting, it's fairly enjoyable but could have used more of what was a fairly epic finale.
Nothing outstanding as far as pinky violence goes, but then again it's pinky violence so time is well invested.

Tarao Bannai: The Tragedy in the Devil Masked Village (1978) 7.0/10
A women is found murdered hanging in a waterwheel. Fastforward 20 years, the victims daughter returns to her fathers mansion and murders start happening again.
Who could be the culprit(?), possibly a shy young painter with a deformed face. Detective Tarao Bannai arrives at the scene for partly personal mathers but also to snoop around of course.
Somewhat of a surprise to me despite knowing this would be an old fashioned murder mystery in the vein of the Inugami Family, Devil's Flute, Beast in the Shadows etc.
Some of the imagery is just fantastic, macabre and gruesome. Also one setpiece in particular is undeniably inspired by one from Suspiria - Death by creative hanging!
Recommended to those who enjoy anything among the above mentioned movies, otherwise acquired taste be warned you might find it to campy.

Karate Warriors (1976) 6.5/10
Sonny Chiba plays this kind of vagabond fearless karate man who teams up with a Sword Master and goes yojimbo/fistful of dollars on two yakuza gangs over some drugs.
Add to it a sidplot where this sword masters kid is kind of abandoned and you can sort of assume Chiba shares this upgrowing.
It's Sonny Chiba, it's going to be enjoyable. At times fast paced, some fight scenes are great. Some sleaze etc. Pretty good.

Karate for Life (1977) 6.5/10
Sonny Chiba is Mas Oyama, in this one he gets into prearranged fights with fat wrestlers. Unfortunate for the arrangers he doesn't do loosing to well.
Pretty much same verdict as previous one, minus the sleaze. And perhaps a bit more even.

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Karate for Life (1977) 6.5/10
Sonny Chiba is Mas Oyama, in this one he gets into prearranged fights with fat wrestlers. Unfortunate for the arrangers he doesn't do loosing to well.
Pretty much same verdict as previous one, minus the sleaze. And perhaps a bit more even.

Do you know if Chiba's JUDO FOR LIFE series where he plays the Shiro Hongo character has ever been put out on dvd or streaming anywhere?

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Not been able to find those, trying to watch all japanese martial arts movies (from the 60s-early 80s period) i can come across though.

Only Judo titled one i've seen is Judo Showdown from 65 (not a very good one!)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203221/reference
http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1965/co004640.htm

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Not been able to find those, trying to watch all japanese martial arts movies (from the 60s-early 80s period) i can come across though.

Only Judo titled one i've seen is Judo Showdown from 65 (not a very good one!)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203221/reference
http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1965/co004640.htm

I haven't had a chance to see JUDO SHOWDOWN as the only Judo themed flicks I've caught were the Kurosawa ones on Sanshiro Sugata and the remake in '65 that starred Mifune as the judo instructor Yano.

The reason I asked about JUDO FOR LIFE is because I've seen the trailer for it as it was part of Celluloid Fury's KUNG FU TRAILERS part 1 dvd, so thought it might've been available somewhere.

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I watched Sabu's MR. LONG and I enjoyed it for the most part. Not my fave by a long stretch but I this was better than some of his recent films. This was an international production with a cross cultural mix of Taiwanese & Japanese actors set in both countries but it's still very much a "Sabu" production & his trademark 'style' appear especially during the finale.

The highpoint is Chang Chen, who is superb as the taciturn hitman who is as handy with the knife in culinary terms as he is in dispatching his victims (strange but I actually enjoyed the knife fighting scenes in this flick more than Tak Sakaguchi's RE:BORN). Taiwanese actress Yao Yiti is okay portraying the ex-prostitute/junkie mom raising her son in a desolate abandoned shanty town out in the boonies in Japan but the rest of the supporting cast seem to be mere stand ins and props including the aforementioned son of Yiti's character. There are some lulls, the pacing is quite leisurely & the rather long flashback sequence to Yao Titi's backstory should've been condensed but overall, it's recommended especially if you're a fan of Sabu.

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Been enjoying the third season of KAGE NO GUNDAN III (SHADOW WARRIORS III) with Sonny Chiba, Etsuko Shihomi and Hiroyuki Sanada. As with each new season, Chiba plays a different ninja character (various descendants of the original Hattori Hanzo), this time he's Tarao Hanzo but still works at the public bathhouse for women (still run by Kiki Kirin as the comedic relief & love foil for Chiba along with a female impersonator this time around) as a masseuse and fire stoker. This season both Shihomi and Sanada are integrated into the Iga Ninja clan and Sanada (who goes by Sasuke here and not Hayate as in season 2) is no longer freelancing & uses a top as a weapon. The other Iga clan members are new too (other than regular Hikaru Kurosaki) - the two that are prominently featured is a specialist in medicine (Mitsutake Tachikawa) and also Kanie Keizo. The plots seems to revolve around assassinations for hire as Chiba has no interest in governmental affairs but only wants justice for the oppressed common folk who suffer under the rule of the Shogunate. Some cameos by Isao Natsuyagi and Tomisaburo Wakayama as well. Still no bloody graphic violence shown but occasional female nudity with bare breasts and naked buttocks. I also enjoy the luminescent masks and katanas the Iga clan employs in some episodes (apparently from some type of plant in the forest that has these light emitting properties that they rub their masks and swords with) and it makes their swords look like light sabres! Pretty cool.

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Finished of the Yamaguchi project, with a morning doublebill, for the time being.



Delinquent Girl Boss: Ballad of Yokohama Hoods (1971) 6.5/10
Rika (Reiko Oshida) gets out of Juvunile School once again. Yokohama have changed 3 years later, her juvenile rival is the leader of a girl biker gang and then there's the yakuza. Rika is starting to make a name for herself and crosses paths with the bikers and the yakuza. A bit better then the last one (which was the previous one I watched, but this wasn't avail then) and again nothing outstanding, and again the buck is in the finale. Oh and there's a lot of spaghetti western shots.

Big Magnum Kuroiwa Sensei (1985) 6.0/10
Two teacher arrive to rescue a school where the teens are nothing but out of control!. The first teacher is this blown up guy carrying a big magnum and the other a skinny nerdy looking guy (the titular Kuroiwa), through different means they both share the same goal of turning the school around though. There's also a sideplot (with little focus) where none of the previous principals have survived the school and the current one has 55 days before retirement. Nothing great but better then expected (I have a tendency to save the least interesting movies to last when it comes to filmographies and here's no exception), it sure has it's moment's such as one of those Ms. 45 type POVs where everone just stares down Kuroiwa upon his first hallway entry, unmissable Taxi Driver references, there's also a shot of bikers on the highway which pretty much is exactly the same as one in the finale of Delinquent Girl Boss: Ballad of Yokohama Hoods (1971) (propably would have missed this if I didn't watch them back to back). Oh and there's a few roman porno actresses in there aswell (use your imagination to figure what kinds of scenes will be in there!)

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I watched Eisuke Naito's latest manga adaptation about teen bullies, LIVERLEAF. I really enjoyed his debut, LET'S MAKE THE TEACHER HAVE A MISCARRIAGE CLUB (what a fucking title heh?) and thought his other "club" flick, LITCHI HIKARI CLUB was okay too, so had some expectations going in for this one. I have to say he's one of the better ones in portraying the world of clueless adults and sociopathic teens that's for sure. Never read the manga that his based on but I've heard Naito sticks close to the manga and is a pretty faithful representation of it. Overall, it's a decent little flick but nothing special. It had some nice stylistic touches, the winter landscape added a certain bleak and gloomy feel and while the characters are never fully fleshed out, the young cast did a decent job with the gal who played Rumi a particular standout. She just had this most psycho smirk that is unforgettable.

I thought there was going to be a slow buildup to the revenge aspect but it occurs sooner than I expected and while bloody and violent, it's mostly cartoonish CGI gore and it diminished the impact that I felt it should of had since it was done in a low budget schlocky horror film type of way. I was chuckling at how she finds various tools and implements to carve, chop up and bludgeon her tormentors just conveniently laying in the snow beside her at the most opportune time. I did enjoy the twist in the final act though and just when you think a hero emerges and the lone sympathetic male figure in the film, it's not at all what it seems.

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River's Edge (リバーズ・エッジ) (Japan, 2018) [BD] - 3/5
Set in early 90s Japan, ironically soon playing at Tokyo International Film Festival's "Japan Today" series. Bullies, bulimia, secret gay relationships and a slaughtered cat... with its "shocking story", digital image and amateurish "talking to the camera" scenes it feels like a j-dorama director going big screen - something you shouldn't feel with experienced Isao Yukisada. Perhaps this is Japan(ese cinema) Today indeed. That being said, it is captivating with its dramatic story, surprisingly graphic sex, good performances and the always watchable Fumi Nikaido. Oh and did I mention she goes nude in the film? Good for us. Also, shot in 1.37:1. You don't see that often these days.

I decided to check this out based on your review and thought it was okay but overly long (this had no business have a run time of 2 hours) & my main criticism is the same one you mentioned and that is the "amateurish" tone and feel to some of the scenes. I haven't seen a Isao Yukisada flick since his YEAR ONE IN THE NORTH & CRYING OUT LOVE IN THE CENTER OF THE WORLD and you couldn't get any further polar opposite from those movies to this "edgy" coming of age youth drama. It almost felt if Yukisada was out of his element here as the story (derived from the manga) has some compelling material to have gone even darker and more sinister but it's if Yukisada held back.

The "surprisingly graphic sex" scene you mentioned was the cocaine fueled 69 between Kannozaki and Rumi & it was pretty hardcore with the dildo in the ass and bondage play. The cumshot was funny though as the opening scene from ICHI flashed in my mind for a sec. Of course with a title like RIVER'S EDGE, I couldn't help but harken back to the mid-80s indie youth crime movie with Crispin Glover, Dennis Hopper, etc & strangely enough these two seemingly disparate films have some commonalities in terms of centering around self absorbed morally bereft teens with a bleak and nihilistic societal outlook.