Stars: Tadanobu Asano, Masatoshi Nagase | Written and Directed by Sogo Ishii
Electric Dragon 80.000 V’s opening narration, delivered by Masakatsu Funaki, informs us that dragons are not mythical creatures, they exist with the bodies of men. That’s followed by scenes of a young boy climbing an electrical pylon only to get a massive shock from the high-tension wires.
This does something to the part of his brain that “we inherited unchanged from lizards” and results in Dragon Eye Morrison frequently getting in trouble for fighting. Attempts to cure it with electric shock therapy only make it worse, turning him into a walking battery. Now an adult he collects lizards and plays guitar to work out his aggression. As the narrator puts it “what saved him from ruin was…The Electric Guitar” as we watch him play.
But ruin in the form of Thunderbolt Buddha has come looking for him.
Electric Dragon 80.000 V’s opening narration, delivered by Masakatsu Funaki, informs us that dragons are not mythical creatures, they exist with the bodies of men. That’s followed by scenes of a young boy climbing an electrical pylon only to get a massive shock from the high-tension wires.
This does something to the part of his brain that “we inherited unchanged from lizards” and results in Dragon Eye Morrison frequently getting in trouble for fighting. Attempts to cure it with electric shock therapy only make it worse, turning him into a walking battery. Now an adult he collects lizards and plays guitar to work out his aggression. As the narrator puts it “what saved him from ruin was…The Electric Guitar” as we watch him play.
But ruin in the form of Thunderbolt Buddha has come looking for him.
- 3/22/2023
- by Jim Morazzini
- Nerdly
Junji Sakamoto’s “Okiku and the World” is not just a period drama, but also feels like period filmmaking. Shot in black and white and a 4:3 aspect ratio, this in some ways feels like a homage to the films of yesteryear. But, with modern technology to hand, this looks divine, despite its subject for the most part being that of human faeces.
Yasuke (Sosuke Ikematsu) works among the rowhouses of the Edo era as a collector of human faeces for sale as fertiliser. A dirty job, he is seen as the lowest of the low. He takes on Chuji (Kanichiro Sato) as a helper as they just about make ends meet. Okiku (Haru Kuroki) is the daughter of a samurai who volunteers at a local temple as a calligraphy teacher. Gradually, she takes a shine to Chuji, despite his lowly status, though tragedy soon comes to her life.
Starting...
Yasuke (Sosuke Ikematsu) works among the rowhouses of the Edo era as a collector of human faeces for sale as fertiliser. A dirty job, he is seen as the lowest of the low. He takes on Chuji (Kanichiro Sato) as a helper as they just about make ends meet. Okiku (Haru Kuroki) is the daughter of a samurai who volunteers at a local temple as a calligraphy teacher. Gradually, she takes a shine to Chuji, despite his lowly status, though tragedy soon comes to her life.
Starting...
- 2/24/2023
- by Andrew Thayne
- AsianMoviePulse
No. 82 in Kinema Jumpo’s Top 100 Japanese Films of All Time Poll in 1999, “Knockout” was one of the biggest successes in Japan on its year of release, netting awards for direction and cast from the majority of the local competitions.
Eiji Adachi fell in love with boxing from his childhood, eventually following up until he became a champion, always having Takako in his corner, both in the fights and real life, although the romance between them never actually materialized. As the story begins, however, Eiji suffers a shattering defeat, which sends him to the hospital with brain damage. The operation is successful but the doctors inform Eiji that he will no longer be able to fight. Frustrated, angry with everyone around him, even punching all those who try to help him, eventually he decides to open his own gym, with the help of a transvestite promoter, forgetting his promise to both his former coach,...
Eiji Adachi fell in love with boxing from his childhood, eventually following up until he became a champion, always having Takako in his corner, both in the fights and real life, although the romance between them never actually materialized. As the story begins, however, Eiji suffers a shattering defeat, which sends him to the hospital with brain damage. The operation is successful but the doctors inform Eiji that he will no longer be able to fight. Frustrated, angry with everyone around him, even punching all those who try to help him, eventually he decides to open his own gym, with the help of a transvestite promoter, forgetting his promise to both his former coach,...
- 7/13/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Gakuryu Ishii, or Sogo as he was known during this production, is one of Japan’s most exciting voices to come out of the ‘80s. His vibrant and manic punk aesthetic helped shape the counter-capitalist culture of artists that worked against the growingly homogeneous world of consumerism. The aggressive male teen angst portrayed in his work highlighted the disconnect between youth and Japan in a loud and bold form, but as the ‘90s approached, Ishii would move his style away from the formative films that helped define him. He would begin to create more nuanced works, pieces that reflected a different director and a different Japan, and one of those is the beautiful 1997 piece, “Labyrinth of Dreams”.
Ishii thoroughly explored masculinity in his early career, but the ’90s saw female protagonists taking center stage in his cinema. It acts as a refreshing change of perspective to such a male-centric body of work.
Ishii thoroughly explored masculinity in his early career, but the ’90s saw female protagonists taking center stage in his cinema. It acts as a refreshing change of perspective to such a male-centric body of work.
- 11/11/2020
- by Robert Edwards
- AsianMoviePulse
By Robert Edwards
Gakuryu Ishii, once known as Sogo Ishii, is a prolific punk filmmaker, and radical auteur for his outsider narratives and fiercely original techniques. Pioneering the formal language that would become a staple of the Japanese cyberpunk genre while still in college, put Ishii into a league of his own. His sense of kinetic camerawork and fast editing created a style that would dominate the indie scene during the ‘80s, but this style was not his only contribution to cinema. As his career developed into the ‘90s, he moved away from the aggressive masculine punk narratives that formulated his early identity as an auteur and began creating female centred stories that felt more mature in execution. “August in the Water” is one of those films.
The story revolves around a young girl named Isuku, played by Rena Komine, who moves to a new school. Her...
Gakuryu Ishii, once known as Sogo Ishii, is a prolific punk filmmaker, and radical auteur for his outsider narratives and fiercely original techniques. Pioneering the formal language that would become a staple of the Japanese cyberpunk genre while still in college, put Ishii into a league of his own. His sense of kinetic camerawork and fast editing created a style that would dominate the indie scene during the ‘80s, but this style was not his only contribution to cinema. As his career developed into the ‘90s, he moved away from the aggressive masculine punk narratives that formulated his early identity as an auteur and began creating female centred stories that felt more mature in execution. “August in the Water” is one of those films.
The story revolves around a young girl named Isuku, played by Rena Komine, who moves to a new school. Her...
- 5/9/2020
- by Guest Writer
- AsianMoviePulse
What started with “Pornostar“, continued in the best way possible in “Blue Spring”, with the concept of the guerilla/punk film finding its apogee here, in probably Toshiaki Toyoda’s best work to date.
The script of the film is based on a series of autobiographical short stories by the manga author Matsumoto Taiyo, and takes place in a rundown boys’ high school, which seems to be attended only by delinquents and lost causes. The protagonist, Kujo, becomes the leader of a seven-member gang of the school’s seniors, by winning a suicidal clapping game. Initially, he seems to cherish his role, punishing those who do not treat the rest of the gang members with respect, occasionally using a baseball bat to do so. However, after awhile he gets bored, a tendency that expands onto everything he does.
Aoki, a childhood friend of Kujo’s, becomes his right hand; nevertheless,...
The script of the film is based on a series of autobiographical short stories by the manga author Matsumoto Taiyo, and takes place in a rundown boys’ high school, which seems to be attended only by delinquents and lost causes. The protagonist, Kujo, becomes the leader of a seven-member gang of the school’s seniors, by winning a suicidal clapping game. Initially, he seems to cherish his role, punishing those who do not treat the rest of the gang members with respect, occasionally using a baseball bat to do so. However, after awhile he gets bored, a tendency that expands onto everything he does.
Aoki, a childhood friend of Kujo’s, becomes his right hand; nevertheless,...
- 4/1/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Lee Sang-il has always had a different, unique approach in his films, as the fact that he is Zainichi Korean allows him to combine elements from both Japanese and Korean cinema. This trait became obvious in “Villain”, but it is in “Rage” that it finds its apogee.
“Rage” was part of the program of the New York Asian Film Festival,
The intricate story is based on the homonymous novel by Shuchi Yoshida, (who also wrote the book that “Villain” was based upon), and uses a gruesome murder, that receives much publicity as it is investigated by the police, as its base, before it splits into three different settings.
The first one takes place in Chiba where Yohei Maki rescues his daughter Aiko, from a life as a sex worker. As both of them try to heal from the wounds of the past and to face public prejudice, Aiko starts having...
“Rage” was part of the program of the New York Asian Film Festival,
The intricate story is based on the homonymous novel by Shuchi Yoshida, (who also wrote the book that “Villain” was based upon), and uses a gruesome murder, that receives much publicity as it is investigated by the police, as its base, before it splits into three different settings.
The first one takes place in Chiba where Yohei Maki rescues his daughter Aiko, from a life as a sex worker. As both of them try to heal from the wounds of the past and to face public prejudice, Aiko starts having...
- 8/8/2017
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Mark Kermode: a handsome translation of Eastwood's 1992 western offers a grand spectacle
Westerns have traditionally borrowed from Japanese legend (The Magnificent Seven reworking Seven Samurai etc) so now it's time to repay the compliment with this handsome translation of Clint Eastwood's Oscar-winner from Korean-Japanese film-maker Lee Sang-il. Set on the northernmost island of Japan at the dawn of the Meiji era (the time period matches that of the original), the narrative unfolds as before; a bounty offered on the heads of two men who assaulted and scarred a young woman draws vigilantes from afar. Ken Watanabe steps into Clint's Bill Munny boots as Jubei Kamata, a retired warrior whose promise to abandon the sword has been weakened by the death of his wife. Teaming up with an ageing comrade and a young firebrand, Jubei leaves his two children to head off once again into the fray, and back into the abyss.
Westerns have traditionally borrowed from Japanese legend (The Magnificent Seven reworking Seven Samurai etc) so now it's time to repay the compliment with this handsome translation of Clint Eastwood's Oscar-winner from Korean-Japanese film-maker Lee Sang-il. Set on the northernmost island of Japan at the dawn of the Meiji era (the time period matches that of the original), the narrative unfolds as before; a bounty offered on the heads of two men who assaulted and scarred a young woman draws vigilantes from afar. Ken Watanabe steps into Clint's Bill Munny boots as Jubei Kamata, a retired warrior whose promise to abandon the sword has been weakened by the death of his wife. Teaming up with an ageing comrade and a young firebrand, Jubei leaves his two children to head off once again into the fray, and back into the abyss.
- 3/2/2014
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox has bagged six nominations at the 56th Asia-Pacific Film Festival including Best Film and Best Director.
Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur and Nawazuddin Siddiqui have secured nominations in Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor categories respectively.
Rajeev Ravi has been nominated in Best Cinematography category for Monsoon Shootout.
The awards will be announced on December 15 in Macau. The Asia-Pacific Film Festival (Apff) is an annual event hosted by the Federation of Motion Picture Producers in Asia-Pacific (Fpa).
Best Picture:
“The Grandmaster” (Hong Kong)
“Like Father Like Son” (Tokyo)
“The Lunchbox” (Mumbai)
“Stray Dogs” (Taipei)
“Ilo Ilo” (Singapore)
“In Bloom” (Tbilisi)
Best Director:
Tsai Ming-liang, “Stray Dogs” (Taipei)
Bong Joon-ho, “Snowpiercer” (Seoul)
Ritesh Batra, “The Lunchbox” (Mumbai)
Jafar Panahi and Kamboziya Partovi, “Closed Curtain” (Tehran)
Wong Kar-wai, “The Grandmaster” (Hong Kong)
Hirokazu Kore-eda, “Like Father Like Son” (Tokyo)
Best Actor:
Irrfan Khan, “The Lunchbox” (Mumbai)
Nick Cheung,...
Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur and Nawazuddin Siddiqui have secured nominations in Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor categories respectively.
Rajeev Ravi has been nominated in Best Cinematography category for Monsoon Shootout.
The awards will be announced on December 15 in Macau. The Asia-Pacific Film Festival (Apff) is an annual event hosted by the Federation of Motion Picture Producers in Asia-Pacific (Fpa).
Best Picture:
“The Grandmaster” (Hong Kong)
“Like Father Like Son” (Tokyo)
“The Lunchbox” (Mumbai)
“Stray Dogs” (Taipei)
“Ilo Ilo” (Singapore)
“In Bloom” (Tbilisi)
Best Director:
Tsai Ming-liang, “Stray Dogs” (Taipei)
Bong Joon-ho, “Snowpiercer” (Seoul)
Ritesh Batra, “The Lunchbox” (Mumbai)
Jafar Panahi and Kamboziya Partovi, “Closed Curtain” (Tehran)
Wong Kar-wai, “The Grandmaster” (Hong Kong)
Hirokazu Kore-eda, “Like Father Like Son” (Tokyo)
Best Actor:
Irrfan Khan, “The Lunchbox” (Mumbai)
Nick Cheung,...
- 12/2/2013
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
For the first time in Japanese cinema history, an American-made film is being remade and released in Japan with award-winning director Lee Sang-il’s Japanese-language motion picture Yurusarezarumono, inspired by the Oscar-winning classic Unforgiven, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. Released in the U.S. in 1992, Unforgiven was nominated for nine Academy Awards in 1993 and won four, including Best Picture. The announcement was made today by Richard Fox, Executive Vice President, International, Warner Bros. Entertainment, and William J. Ireton, President & Representative Director, Warner Entertainment Japan Inc.
Inspired by the Eastwood classic, writer/director Lee Sang-il (the Japan Academy Prize-winning film Villain, Hula Girls) shifts the setting to Japan in retelling the epic, adapting the Unforgiven screenplay by David Webb Peoples. The film stars an ensemble including some of Japan’s most acclaimed actors, led by Ken Watanabe (Letters from Iwo Jima, The Last Samurai) as Jubei Kamata, reinterpreting the role...
Inspired by the Eastwood classic, writer/director Lee Sang-il (the Japan Academy Prize-winning film Villain, Hula Girls) shifts the setting to Japan in retelling the epic, adapting the Unforgiven screenplay by David Webb Peoples. The film stars an ensemble including some of Japan’s most acclaimed actors, led by Ken Watanabe (Letters from Iwo Jima, The Last Samurai) as Jubei Kamata, reinterpreting the role...
- 8/20/2012
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
"Dandy'' is a poseur, a dim and grungy piece of experimental exhibitionism from Germany. Technically amateurish and philosophically blowsy, "Dandy'' kicks off the venerable Vagabond Theatre's new direction.
The Wilshire Boulevard revival house will now screen art-house fare, hopefully better than this filmic flotsam.
A shrill barrage of non-linear images and abstract acts punctuated by the musical-dance morass of Nick Cave, Nina Hagen, Yoshito Ohno, among equally untalented others, "Dandy'' is bargain-basement underground filmmaking -- low on ideas, style and backbone.
Kindergarten counterculture, "Dandy'' is an unimaginative, monotonic grind revved up only intermittently by its sophomoric shock shots and its wide-ranging geographical images.
Times Square, Marrakech, Cairo, Himalaya, Tokyo are among the disparate settings for this dark hodgepodge of philosophical mumblings and guitar strummings. While it has minor appeal as a travelogue, this techno-jumbo struts as bigger stuff, repeatedly pontificating about the nature of death.
Example: A female punker is asked the burning question, "What would you do if you had only 10 days left to live?'' She replies, "I'd like to be stoned.''
The camera then lingers over a stone desert, blearily focusing on a running coyote. Such is the thematic and visual level of this punk gunk.
Peter Sempel's directorial style, and we use the term loosely, is characterized only by its grim, in-your-face tonality. The sloppy transitions, the underlit images, the off-kilter framings are not so much a marriage of style with substance but seem rather a cop-out to have neither.
DANDY
Pandora, Peter Sempel
Producers Niko Brucher, Pandora-film, Peter Sempel
Director Peter Sempel
Directors of photography Frank Blasberg, Jonas Scholz, Norimichi Kasamatsu, Peter Sempel
Editor Wolf Ingo Romer
Sound Drago Hari, Takashi Endo, Kai Wessel, Susanne Greuner, Stefanie Hesse, Roxana Herbst
Color/Stereo
Cast: Blixa Bargeld, Nick Cave, Dieter Meier, Yoshito Ohno, Nina Hagen, Lene Lovich, Rattenjenny, Imke Lagemann
Running time -- 89 minutes
No MPAA rating
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
The Wilshire Boulevard revival house will now screen art-house fare, hopefully better than this filmic flotsam.
A shrill barrage of non-linear images and abstract acts punctuated by the musical-dance morass of Nick Cave, Nina Hagen, Yoshito Ohno, among equally untalented others, "Dandy'' is bargain-basement underground filmmaking -- low on ideas, style and backbone.
Kindergarten counterculture, "Dandy'' is an unimaginative, monotonic grind revved up only intermittently by its sophomoric shock shots and its wide-ranging geographical images.
Times Square, Marrakech, Cairo, Himalaya, Tokyo are among the disparate settings for this dark hodgepodge of philosophical mumblings and guitar strummings. While it has minor appeal as a travelogue, this techno-jumbo struts as bigger stuff, repeatedly pontificating about the nature of death.
Example: A female punker is asked the burning question, "What would you do if you had only 10 days left to live?'' She replies, "I'd like to be stoned.''
The camera then lingers over a stone desert, blearily focusing on a running coyote. Such is the thematic and visual level of this punk gunk.
Peter Sempel's directorial style, and we use the term loosely, is characterized only by its grim, in-your-face tonality. The sloppy transitions, the underlit images, the off-kilter framings are not so much a marriage of style with substance but seem rather a cop-out to have neither.
DANDY
Pandora, Peter Sempel
Producers Niko Brucher, Pandora-film, Peter Sempel
Director Peter Sempel
Directors of photography Frank Blasberg, Jonas Scholz, Norimichi Kasamatsu, Peter Sempel
Editor Wolf Ingo Romer
Sound Drago Hari, Takashi Endo, Kai Wessel, Susanne Greuner, Stefanie Hesse, Roxana Herbst
Color/Stereo
Cast: Blixa Bargeld, Nick Cave, Dieter Meier, Yoshito Ohno, Nina Hagen, Lene Lovich, Rattenjenny, Imke Lagemann
Running time -- 89 minutes
No MPAA rating
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
- 11/1/1992
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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