What Asian Films Have You Been Watching Recently?

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Caught the 2010 indie SK flick, PASSERBY #3 aka RAINBOW directed & completely self financed by Shin Su-won. This was her directorial debut and is based on her own life as a middle aged woman who suddenly gives up her steady career to embark on a new journey as a director, filmmaker, & screenwriter. I've enjoyed some of her later stuff like PLUTO and MADONNA, so was curious how her debut fared. Fairly entertaining from a biographical standpoint & there are some funny and charming moments but it's all over the place - a critique on SK's paint by the numbers movie industry, modern family demands & marriage life, teen bullying, & even the indie rock scene. Some of these topics have been revisited in greater detail in some of her later films but felt she tried to do too much here. Still entertaining and worth a watch for the comedic quirks and strong performance by actress Park Hyun-young as the pusillanimous lead character loosely based on Shin Su-won herself.

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Caught the 1992 HK revenge crime drama, STING OF THE SCORPION directed by Lee Kwok-laap and starring Anthony Wong, who looks ridiculous with a half perm/half mullet hairstyle. Lee Kwok-lap uses revenge driven females as the primary focus of his flicks from that girls with guns era (early 90s) and this time it's Maggie Siu who is assigned that role. It had its moments & good to see Johnny Wang Lung-wei playing his usual baddie self as a corrupt police captain & Eddy Ko as a triad boss but ultimately, it's mediocre in terms of story and action. Watch once and forget.

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Re-watched Teddy Yip's THE THUNDER KICK aka SURVIVAL OF THE DRAGON as I recently picked up the German dvd. Saw this years ago and upon a re-watch, it was a pretty good basher with a particularly good final fight with Yukio Someno. Both are real life martial artists and karate technicians & it shows. Larry Lee's career was relatively short lived compared to his contemporaries (he was a bigger star in Indonesia) & he didn't have the leading man looks or charisma but he was a decent & underrated onscreen fighter with a certain rough edge about him.

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After listening to the latest POF, I decided to re-watch a couple of the Pang brothers' early works with THE EYE and BANGKOK DANGEROUS. Truly forgot how good THE EYE was and even after all these years it's still one of the better Asian horror/supernatural flicks. Some of those films that started the whole Asian horror boom are recognized as classics and this is one of them. Much better than that overrated SIXTH SENSE crap. The lead, Angelica Lee has gone on to do a bunch of movies but I don't think she ever topped her performance here & her performance was worthy of the numerous awards she won for this role.

The next flick I caught was Lee Ji-won's debut feature, MISS BAEK. It played locally in my area but unfortunately my busy schedule precluded me from seeing this during its theatrical run. I subsequently read it got some buzz and hype, so I was doubly disappointed to have missed it. So I made it a point to see it this weekend on Amazon prime.

It was a mixed bag. The positives were the excellent performance by Han Ji-min as the lead character who is emotionally stunted from a terrible childhood of abuse, neglect and abandonment & especially the young actress in her first film role, Kim Shi-a as the badly abused young girl who under Han Ji-min's care allows her catharsis and ultimate forgiveness. I got the same feeling watching Kim Shi-ah as I first did when I caught a young Kim Sae-ron in her early flicks like AHJUSSI and A BRAND NEW LIFE, she's got that "it" factor and is going to be something special especially considering how demanding this role was for her both mentally and physically at such a young age.

The negative was the second half after such a nice build up. It was a let down and very predictable. I had hoped the director, Lee Ji-won would drop the heavy handed approach that was very effective in the opening for a more nuanced story in the second half but alas, it became more of the same and a police procedural at that. The last 15 minutes or so was absolutely ridiculous and turned a very tense emotional story into some sort of cheap action flick. Same for the sappy everything turns out all right 'ain't life grand' ending as well. Such a shame since for the first 60 minutes, I was engrossed in the story and felt I was watching something truly special only to have the rug pulled out from under me.

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The Viper Brothers: Just Out of Jail (懲役太郎　まむしの兄弟) (Japan, 1971) [DVD] - 2/5
Part 1 in a long running (8+1 films) action/comedy/melodrama series about a pair of short tempered, amoral, but not evil chinpira (Bunta Sugawara and Tamio Kawaji) thinking too big of themselves. Cinematically unspectacular, save for the fine chemistry between Kawaji and Sugawara, it is nevertheless interesting to place this film in the cinematic cannon. Made just prior to the jitsuroku era, before Sugawara established his image as the bad boy of gangster cinema, the direction Japanese cinema was heading to was already evident in how this film frequently portrays its "heroes" in unflattering light. Sugawara and Kawaji may have their comedy moments and emerge as heroes at the end, but only after bullying innocent people, making fools of themselves and even trying to rape a woman.



The Viper Brothers: Cruel Gratitude (まむしの兄弟 お礼参り) (Japan, 1971) [DVD] - 2/5
Part 2. More of the same with a bit less edge to the main characters who behave better this time. There are some energetic club scenes and Noboru Ando has a decent if familiar silent tough guy supporting role, though. The director is Tatsuo Honda, a long time assistant director who only ever directed two films. This was the first, followed by one pink film in 1975. He'd go on to work as writer and producer.

The Viper Brothers: Prison Gang 13 (まむしの兄弟 懲役十三回) (Japan, 1972) [DVD] - 1.5/5
Part 3. This one is set in 1935, continuity be damned (the first two were post WWII). Sugawara and Kawaji nevertheless seemingly portray the same characters. Such disregard to continuity is actually beautiful! That's about as far as this film's excitement goes, unfortunately. Routine chinpira comedy lacks the grittiness of the first film. Instead it features Sugawara becoming a babysitter.

The Viper Brothers: 18 Extortion Threats (まむしの兄弟 傷害恐喝十八犯) (Japan, 1972) [DVD] - 2/5
Part 4. Sugawara tries to overcome a traumatic experience of getting in bed blindfolded with a girl who turned out to be an old granny. Later he and Kawaji try to settle down in a neighbourhood harassed by businessman yakuza Bin Amatsu. Very little to remember here. Like many of the Abashiri Prison sequels, this series seemed to be running on the fumes of its star power - which the audience did not mind. Four plus one more films were to come.

The Viper Brothers: Jail - Living for 4 1/2 Years (まむしの兄弟 刑務所暮し四年半) (Japan, 1973) [DVD] - 3/5
Part 5. Delightful start with Tatsuo Endo as a nice guy prison guard! How many times have you seen that? He does mention he's a former inmate for having killed 4 men but oh well. The rest of the film isn't half bad either. Kosaku Yamashita, well past his prime by 1973, manages some characterization that reminds of his 60s films and come with surprisingly moving results. Sugawara and Kawaji's chemistry is even more evident here than usual, the storyline is alright if melodramatic, and we got Kyosuke Machida (henchman) with cool beard and the always good Tsunehiko Watase (young hood) on board as well. One of the best films in the series.



The Viper Brothers: Extortion Plot for 3,000,000 Yen (まむしの兄弟 恐喝三億円) (Japan, 1973) [DVD] - 3/5
Part 6. Another really funny opening with Sugawara just out of prison (every film in the series starts this way) and having to hitch hike a ride with a group of vacationing grannies. This was Norifumi Suzuki's entry in the series, and it shows. The humour is lowbrow, women fall in love with their rapists, and the film is uneven with several early scenes directed on auto pilot. There's also great action, good laughs, more boobs than in any other film in the series, and just when you least expect it Suzuki pulls out genuinely touching characterization with gangster's subordinate Hiroki Matsukata, a discriminated man of Chinese ethnicity, always reminded that he's no better than a dog. There's great sadness behind his superficially cool sunglassed look, skilfully conveyed by Matsukata.

The Viper Brothers: Up on 30 Charges (まむしの兄弟 二人合わせて30犯) (Japan, 1974) [DVD] - 2/5
Part 7. Kawachi finds his long lost mother, who is a rich lady of a respectable family. Comedy and melodrama ensue. Watchable but hardly exciting entry save for a few highlights such as the excessively violent ending and a wonderful only-in-Japan comedy rape when jailed Sugawara is determined to have sex with a female guard despite there being bars between them. Michi Azuma (the topless swordswoman from Babycart in Peril) plays a tomboy girl who wants to join the bros, overdoing it a bit while remaining clothed this time.

The Viper Brothers and the Young General (まむしと青大将) (Japan, 1975) [DVD] - 1.5/5
The last in the series. Sugawara runs into two mahjong cheaters (Ichiro Araki and Mako Midori + sidekick Takuzo Kawatani) whom he takes for friends in need as his naivety prevents him from seeing their true nature. Sadly this is waste of good cast, with cool-Araki, maniac-Kawatani and femme fatale Midori all in relatively restrained, boring roles. Kawachi doesn't appear until 35 min into the film. Sugawara's mother complex becomes a pain, too. The grit, the drama and the fun of parts 1, 5 and 6 respectively are nowhere to be found here. This is typical routine Nakajima with an occasional fun or exciting moment (the mahjong scenes fare the best). Note that there was one film made before this, Scoundrel vs. The Viper Brothers, which was a cross-over with the Tomisaburo Wakayama action comedy series and seems to be primarily considered part of that series.

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Mako Midori x 4

Night Scandal (Akujo) (悪女) (Japan, 1964) [TV] - 2.5/5
Toei had Yusuke Watanabe, Mako Midori and Mayumi Ogawa team up for this lesser, more conservative follow-up in the wake of the success of Two Bitches (1964). Ogawa is an innocent maid entering a decadent house with predatory playboy son Tatsuo Umemiya, lesbian party bitch Midori, and wife Hizuru Takachiho who is waiting for the old man to die and pass his fortunes to her. Pretty watchable exploitation-melodrama, but Ogawa is the weakest link. She's loud, hysterical and a bit annoying, which is at odds with the role she's playing. Umemiya fares the best, surprisingly. He spent two decades playing sexist playboy characters, usually seen thru a questionable macho filter. Here, however, he is a genuine bastard whose actions are not glorified.



Female (Mesu) (牝) (Japan, 1964) [TV] - 3.5/5
Amazingly convoluted but breathtakingly shot tale of a somewhat disturbed young woman (Mako Midori) engaging in a relationship with a married man at night and spying on his wife at day. The wife then seeks consolation from an attorney who just happens to be Midori's old man (who is unaware of his daughter's game)! And that's just the beginning of the storyline! Entertaining in spite of (or perhaps partly because of) its melodramatic convolution, it's also packed with beautiful melancholy with Midori wandering through the night and observing the city in lyrical images of exceptional beauty. Some of these scenes feel almost as if they were directed by Wong Kar Wai or Hirokazu Koreeda, and filmed by Ping Bin Lee (In the Mood for Love, Air Doll). Also, there is an amazing scene where Midori, who's gotten herself on a TV show, "spies" on her lover and his wife making love via the television screen.



Impudent Vixen (Abazure) (あばずれ)　(Japan, 1966) [TV] - 3/5
Entertaining Yusuke Watanabe / Mako Midori drama about a naive young girl who joins the circus and becomes a token for the male performers. For the most part, this feels old fashioned yet daring at the same time, a melodrama with bubbling-under sexuality and bizarre circus setting stylishly filmed in black and white almost like a film noir. The final reel is less impressive, with conservative and perhaps underlyingly misogynist end. Midori is good despite overacting, but it's Kyosuke Machida who shines as a lecherous trapeze artist lurking at young girls.



Pretty Devil Yoko (非行少女ヨーコ) (Japan, 1966) [DVD] - 3/5
Easily bored, but still innocent and naive countryside girl Mako Midori discovers partying in Tokyo is a ton of fun. Yakuza-to-be Ichiro Araki is an acquaintance who tries to rape her, and the typically bland but very-good-here Hayato Tani the first boyfriend. Director Yasuo Furuhata (his first picture) lets his camera roll in trendy clubs amongst partying youngsters in a way that could've been out of 60s England or a Nikkatsu film if it wasn't shadowed by dated 60s Toei conservatism. The resulting film is a bit confused, either a rebellious youth tale chained by moral concerns, or something conceived as a morality tale trying to break free from its chains. It's notable that this, like most Midori films, got slapped with an 18 rating despite featuring nothing graphic, as if out of fear of how it might influence the teenagers. Lavishly filmed with striking B&W compositions, the film retains its visual cool even during the more moralizing moments. For a superb 70s counterpart, see Tooru Murakawa's Delicate Skilful Fingers (1972), also with Araki.




Recent films x 5

Rapist (犯る男) (Japan, 2015) [Netflix] - 2.5/5
Abused young woman falls in love with a homeless thief/murderer/rapist who lives by the river with his glorious special effect zombie monster dog. This is one movie that proved my initial assessment of it as garbage wrong. The first half is dull and the train groping parts downright ridiculous, but the further it gets, the odder it becomes till it ends up downright memorable twisted love story. But the best thing about the movie: the John Carpenter / Escape from New York rip-off score. The film, released theatrically as R18 and R15 versions in porn and arthouse cinemas respectively in 2014 and 2015, marked a sort of comeback for junk director Daisuke Yamanouchi (I once asked a friend who was working on a Daisuke Yamanouchi article which of his movies he'd recommend. His reply: none). The version reviewed here is the R15 one, running 70 minutes. The R18 version is supposed to have the same running time, more or less (it was released as a “Groper Train” film, btw). In 2017 Yamanouchi also released a 90 minute director's cut, also with an R15 rating. And Amazon US is streaming a 61 minute version called Wanted: For Forced Entry, reportedly missing almost all sex.



Ken and Kazu (ケンとカズ) (Japan, 2015) [Netflix] - 3.5/5
Ice cold indie drama about two drug dealers making a barely sufficient living by dealing meth on suburban streets. The film opens with them mercilessly beating the shit out of punks who came to their territory. There's not one bit of Scorsese or Coppola's glory, not even Fukasaku's explosive chaos, but only bleak realism. Initially almost unwatchable for this reason, little by little the film gets under the viewer's skill thanks to terrific performances and fine characterization with the slightest bit of humanity inserted into Ken's character who is about to become a father. Debut director Hiroshi Shoji also helms the film with just enough visual cool to compensate for the draining nihilism. The last 25 minutes is less impressive with a more conventional confrontation. Nevertheless, the most noteworthy crime film from Japan in a while.



One Cut of the Dead (カメラをæ¢ã‚ã‚‹ãª!) (Japan, 2017) [Flight] - 4/5
For my distrust in new Japanese indies, I skipped this one in theatres despite it becoming the Japanese cinematic phenomena of the year (it went from having no certain theatrical release to receiving limited arthouse release to finally ending up with massive mainstream distribution comparable to Marvel films as the word spread… it was made for $25 000 and went on to gross $25 million). My mistake! What begins as a moderately amusing zombie film (a frustrated film director summons real zombies to get genuine reactions from his cast and tries to film it all) shot in a single 36 minute take then turns into an absolutely genius and hilarious cinematic wonder. It is best not to reveal anything about the film's final hour and let the audience discover it for themselves. Also don't be put off by the film's trailer - like the movie itself, it's pulling the viewer's leg.

Alley Cat (アリーã‚ャット) (Japan, 2017) [Netflix] - 3.5/5
A failed boxer (Yí´suke Kubozuka) and a punk (rock star Kenji Furuya) try to help a woman blackmailed by obsessive ex with revenge porn. They are soon way over their heads as they run into her old acquaintances. Surprisingly good neo noir built on a socially aware blue collar indie drama. There are some very well acted and directed low key segments, as well as impressively realistic violence. In one scene the boxing hero's encounter with two gangster-like bodyguards leaves him lying on the ground nearly dead after receiving "only" a couple of hard punches and kicks. The storyline gets convoluted towards the end and struggles to find an entirely satisfying closing, though. Director Hideo Sakaki is best known as the main villain in Ryuhei Kitamura's Versus; he's also a competent director this movie proves.



Shoplifters (万引き家族) (Japan, 2018) [Flight] - 4/5
Perhaps Koreeda's most accessible film with heartfelt, uniformly excellent performances by every central player. The characters, the direction and the performances are so good, so entertaining yet socially conscious that you don't realize until halfway into the film that you don't actually know anything about their backgrounds, which is something the film cleverly begins to examine from then on.

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I totally forgot about Koreeda's SHOPLIFTERS. Going to check it out tomorrow on Amazon Prime. For those without it, it's readily available on the usual sites and looks like it's a webrip of the HD version on Prime anyway. Going to check out Alan Mak's crime drama, INTEGRITY tonight starring Lau Ching-wan & Nick Cheung. Supposed to be the first in a planned trilogy. I'll do a review once I get back.

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Just a few out of last months escapades, been a while since i updated anything.

Man & Woman Behind the Fusuma Screen: Enduring Skin (1974) 3.5/10
Pretty damn lame, bland, lazy, you-name-it followup to Streets of Joy (which is far from a favorite).

Ultimate Teacher (1988) 2.0/10
Trying to find some nuggets in anime once again. In style seemed like something nearing the Go Nagai universe.
The story concerns a cockroach mutated into a giant male teacher vs a teenage girl and as intresting (or not) that may sound it's just loaded with dull humour and peoples doing funny faces (or not so funny faces).

Baki (2018) 10 episodes -> dropped
Another reminder of why most current anime is total shit when Grappler Baki can't even be made close to enjoyable. I guess hollywood trends are catching on in japan (fair to say they have for a while).
Both series and the OVA are fantastic. Violence anime is really a thing of beauty usually. This one however.. Is just totally unimaginate, retarded piece of garbage.
So many bad-guys are thrown into the mix, everyone presented pretty much the same way, big muscles, violent, superhuman etc,
sure these are traits of the original series but things have to be presented subtle sometimes, not just same for everything cause it loose any meaning otherwise.
There so much action (sound good right!?!?!?) but you get to see nothing of it as the are pretty much always cuts away to a detailshots.
Modern cinema in general has an obssession with closeups and here's no exception (a sidenote on a few other trends.. bokeh EVERYTHING, tracking shots from behind, profile closeups...)
I guess it's made so you can watch it on your mobile phone or anywhere that suits you! This pile of cash-in junk just enrages me, it amazes me that it seems to get an overall positive feedback.

Artist of Fasting (2016) 4.5/10
Veteran Adachi adapts Kafkas 'A Hunger Artist'. A man goes on a hunger strike, and everyone that passes by starts figuring out how to use his unknown cause to their benefits.
Well enjoyable for a while, but then becomes repetative, theres a funny John Waters salute (if it's even meant to be one, haha, but it's hard to imagine it wouldn't) in there without spoiling anything.

To bring something positive to this post. Not to much of Kafka have been made into to larger scale productions but 'The Castle' does have a few very good adaptations (or close enough adaptations): Zamok (1994), City Zero (1988), They Have Changed Their Face (1971), Haneke made one aswell which is his only minor film imo.

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Man & Woman Behind the Fusuma Screen: Enduring Skin (1974) 3.5/10
Pretty damn lame, bland, lazy, you-name-it followup to Streets of Joy (which is far from a favorite).

Glad I'm not the only one who was bored to death by it (when I saw it about 10 years go).

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I caught Koreeda's SHOPLIFTERS a few days ago and didn't think it was all that upon my first viewing. Thought it was a rehash of NOBODY KNOWS with the same themes from LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON but upon a second viewing, I appreciated it much more. Have to say Sakura Ando is quickly becoming one of my favorite actresses. She just gave off this insidious vibe throughout the whole movie and I was quietly waiting for her to go off at anytime. The second most interesting character was Koreeda veteran character actress, Kiki Kirin in her last role. Her performance was the glue that kept everything together. She'll definitely be missed as she passed away after making this movie. For those that feel the same way as I did initially, please give it another chance and watch it again.

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I recall mentioning during my review of Zhang Yimou's wuxia flick, SHADOW that I've seen that umbrella weapon used somewhere before but the name of the movie escaped me. well, I just remembered where I've seen it before - it was in Tsui Hark's SEVEN SWORDS. It was used by one of Fire Wind's minions to decapitate his enemies in battle. It was bugging me for the longest and just had to get that off my chest.

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Glad I'm not the only one who was bored to death by it (when I saw it about 10 years go).

yeah it's something else, never though about it to much but would easily say it easily ranks among my bottom 5 roman pornos.
reminds me about of those 50s and 60s japanese films that are like filmed theatre, for example Demon of Mount Oe.

Uniform Virgin: The Prey is easily my pick for worst of them all so far though.

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As mentioned I went to see Alan Mak's latest crime drama, INTEGRITY. It was decent but nothing special. Mainly carried by the solid acting performances by the big 3 in Lau Ching-wan, Nick Cheung and Karena Lam but then again, that's to be expected when you have such A-listers appearing in the film. I don't expect another INFERNAL AFFAIRS out of him or Felix Chong but it look like the planned trilogy for INTEGRITY is going to follow Mak's OVERHEARD trilogy, where the first film is pretty decent with the subsequent films petering out. The dynamic between Lau Ching-wan and Karena Lam as an estranged husband and wife teaming up to bring down a financial bribery scandal was interesting but fairly predictable with the usual tropes and cliches. But the strength of Lau Ching-wan's acting makes up for the rather lackluster script and storyline especially towards the later third where things fall apart. The other downer was the movie played in my theater with dubbed Mandarin instead of Cantonese but that's to be expected now with all the Chinese financing of these movies and playing to a mainland audience especially overseas.

Also, caught Jia Zhangke's latest gangster flick, ASH IS PUREST WHITE. Jia's real life wife, Zhao Tan is back yet again and I have no issues with that since she puts on a virtuoso performance here (her finest IMO of all the collabs she did with Zhangke) and Lian Fao of BLACK COAL, THIN ICE & THE FINAL MASTER fame is the male protagonist and the object of Zhao's affection and sorrow. An unconventional and at times bizarre take on the Jianghu gangster theme which eventually becomes a road movie of self discovery & vengeance. Equally brilliant and perplexing. There's a standout scene where Zhao and Lian are getting down to the Village People's YMCA which I replayed a couple times.

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Circuit of Sorrow (哀愁のサーã‚ット) (Japan, 1972) [TV] - 3.5/5
Extremely interesting, if slightly ham-fisted 2nd follow-up to Tí´ru Murakawa's landmark Roman Porno Delicate Skillful Fingers (1972). Based on real life Toyota race driver and fashion model Sachio Furusawa (Tí´ru Minegishi) who tragically died on track in 1969 and pop singer Tomoko Ogawa (Kei Kiyama), the film depicts their brief romance in the shadow of media pressure. Like Delicate Skillful Fingers, the film is essentially a Nikkatsu youth film conceived under the Roman Porno reign. There are fast cars, a bunch of Sun Tribe youngsters who challenge the protagonist to a bike race, and absolutely shitloads of catchy pop music (enough that they released an LP). But the title oversells the film: there's little sorrow on the circuit as the protagonist is only behind the racing car wheel in the opening and closing scenes. There's potential for great melancholic poetry which comes thru occasionally (their departure from a seaside motel on a rainy day is soaked with movie magic), but the protagonist is superficially written and portrayed. Murakawa's touch likewise isn't as sharp and dynamic as in Skillful Fingers, even if he claims to have had the actors have real sex in the camera. The film nevertheless remains highly entertaining, extremely stylish and thematically fascinating, and is yet another example of Nikkatsu Roman Porno's incredible versatility.



Kí´kí´sei burai hikae: Kanjirí» Muramasa (高校生無頼控 感じるゥ～ムラマサ) (Japan, 1973) [VoD] - 2/5
Part 3. The last and least of the three Kazuo Koike Muramasa adaptations. This time Muramasa saves a girl from drowning herself, then proceeds to demonstrate the beauty of living by making love to her (he forgets to ask permission). Moments later he's selling school girl panties and agrees to molest one while being photographed to trick a clueless parent (yakuza baddie Toru Abe!) to pay abortion money! Great opening half hour, naughty and perverted to the bone, yet plays out like a cheerful family film. These kinds of boys' fantasies would be impossible to film in Western countries. Too bad from halfway on the film completely loses its steam. One problem is the plot - there isn't one. Basically by that time Muramasa has shagged too many girls and there's trouble with boxer/kendo kid Eiji Go & the silly gang who are both protecting the honour of one of Muramasa's conquests and intend to propose another one. At the end there is a bad car chase and some fighting, all of it purely comedic.

Yakuza vs. G-Men: Decoy (やくざ対gメン 囮) (Japan, 1973) [Netflix] - 4/5
Ruthless drug dealer (Hiroki Matsukata) is busted and forced to become a mole for an equally ruthless undercover cop (Tatsuo Umemiya) in a stylish, little known gangster film gem. Void of any comic relief, the film is bad to the bone with unmistakable jitsuroku aesthetics - even if it's entirely fictional. Writer Koji Takada and director Eiichi Kudo examine the honour/brotherhood tension between two bad men (the cop is so deep undercover that, except for his superiors who have also grown suspicious of him, everyone treats him as a gangster and he behaves accordingly) without going too over the top, and the film does exceptional job capturing the pulse of the city and streets. Bunta Sugawara has a great supporting role as Chinese (!) drug boss. The film's main flaw? It actually feels too short at 93 minutes!



Onsen osana geisha (温泉おさな芸者) (Japan, 1974) [DVD] - 1.5/5
The 6th and final Hot Springs Geisha film, somehow as tame if not even tamer than the 1968 Teruo Ishii original. This was directed by the walking definition of mediocre Ryuichi Takamori who sabotaged a whole bunch of Sonny Chiba films. Occasionally he delivered good entertainment, though. Silly, childish and largely void of exploitation, this still remains just about watchable, partly because it's wise enough to focus on its theme (modern harem in onsen town), unlike the fore-mentioned Ishii film (which is the best comparison point because all the other films were better, especially part 2). It's also somewhat fast moving at delightfully short 70 minutes, positive rather than smutty, and features high school girl geishas. The rating could be perhaps a notch higher.

Impact: Prostitution Capital (衝撃!売春都市) (Japan, 1975) [TV] - 2.5/5
G-man Tatsuo Umemiya infiltrates a narcotics/prostitution racket in a poorly crafted, but astonishingly on-your-face morality lesson. Structurally it's all over the place with zero charisma gangster Jo Shiraishi getting the lion's share of the screen time, and no real tension between him and Umemiya, however the film has something else in its pocket. The first questionable highlight comes in form of a disgusting educational shock footage accompanying a doctor's explanation to a woman how she's got syphilis from sleeping with strangers and is going to die a horrible death after her body deforms. And even this scene pales in comparison to the jaw dropping moral punch ending that must be seen to be believed! The film features the real life anti drugs/prostitution/sexually transmitted diseases campaigner Tsusai Sugawara as Umemiya's boss. There was a trio of entertaining Sonny Chiba films (A Narcotics Agent's Ballad, Terrifying Flesh Hell, Tokyo-Seoul-Bangkok Drug Triangle, 1972-1973) "based on" the guy's ramblings, but in true Toei fashion the films were exploitative and seductive enough to occasionally beat the “purpose”. In Impact, however, Sugawara's pathos was back with a vengeance. The film was made in collaboration with his “Three Evils Prevention Association”.



Japan's Violent Islands: Murder in the Capital by an Army of Killers (日本暴力列島　京阪神殺しの軍団) (Japan, 1975) [DVD] - 2/5
Weak jitsuroku tale by 60s ninkyo master Kosaku Yamashita, who often lost his touch with the grittier 70s material. The film not only fails to establish strong characters, but it also comes with clumsy edits and a somewhat misfit laidback score by the usually great Masao Yagi. There are occasional impressively cold blooded moments (e.g. Hideo Murota's disposal in the beginning) but most of the film leaves the viewer feel indifferent. Things are not helped by Nikkatsu migrant Akira Kobayashi, whose teddy bear looks never sold the jitsuroku psycho characters the way Sugawara, Watase or fellow Nikkatsu escapee Watari could under good direction. Here Kobayashi plays a fictionalized character based on real life gangster Jiro Yanagawa, the head of the Yanagawa gang. The film shows his rise in the 1950s. But he and the other character are regrettably superficial, a problem probably arising from adapting real life events into a film without enough consideration to cinematic characterization. In this respect, too, Yamashita's 60s output was much more satisfying.

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Japan's Violent Islands: Murder in the Capital by an Army of Killers

Love that title!