Over Christmas I’ve watched a handful of films made in Japan. They’re all a bit too obscure to warrant a thread of their own but I thought I’d list them and see if anyone else has seen any of them and what they thought.
Shikoku – A ghostly type horror film about a young women returning to the island of her youth to find that her best friend has died. But the dead girl’s mother is busy visiting the islands 88 temples, in reverse order, in an attempt to bring her back. It’s not very good really, apart from some nice eerie moments. It has a particularly poor ending.
Visitor Q – A Miike (Ichi the Killer) film that is without doubt the craziest film I’ve ever seen. It features a dysfunctional family and a random guest making their way through almost every dodgy act you can think of (Incest, rape, drug abuse, bullying, lactating and so on). But it’s all done in a surreal black comedy style so it’s surprisingly un-shocking.
Suicide Club (aka Suicide Circle) – A film by Sion Sion. This is another pretty weird film that takes you through a series of suicides that seem somehow related but can’t easily be linked or stopped. The suicides range from individuals leaping from buildings to some mass suicides at stations and schools. I really enjoyed this one but was left a bit confused in the end as to what had happened. And having looked at the boards on IMDB I’m clearly not the only one. This is the first one I’d recommend to others.
2LDK – This is one of a pair of movies made in the Dual Project. The two directors challenged each other to make a film about a duel to the death but set in only one location. So 2LDK’s sister film (Aragami) is shot solely in a temple and this film takes place in a rented apartment (2 living rooms, dinning room and kitchen). The duellists are to aspiring actresses who are auditioning for the same role. They are two very different characters and they soon become ‘confrontational’. This has some hilarious fight scenes involving all sorts of household appliances. Even a tatami floor mat is used as a weapon.
Hana Bi – a film from Beat Takeshi starring Beat Takeshi. He plays a detective who suffers several tragic misfortunes and tries to make a few things right. I loved this film. Of these films I’ve watched over Christmas this is the first that actually felt like a ‘proper’ movie, although it is still far away from a Hollywood level production. It has a nice mix of emotion, comedy and violence - not unlike his Zatoichi did.
Eureka – Saving the best till last. This is definitely my favourite of the films I’ve watched. This film deals with the after effects of a violent bus-jacking on the driver and two school children (a brother and sister). A beautiful film that drew me in and made me watch it right through in one sitting. I know watching a film in one sitting probably doesn’t sound very unusual but when a film is just shy of 4 hours long, shot in sepia, subtitled and features only four ‘main’ characters – two of whom are practically mute, it must say something about the quality of the film.
So has anyone seen any of these or can you recommend some other Japanese movies that I should see?
Shikoku – A ghostly type horror film about a young women returning to the island of her youth to find that her best friend has died. But the dead girl’s mother is busy visiting the islands 88 temples, in reverse order, in an attempt to bring her back. It’s not very good really, apart from some nice eerie moments. It has a particularly poor ending.
Visitor Q – A Miike (Ichi the Killer) film that is without doubt the craziest film I’ve ever seen. It features a dysfunctional family and a random guest making their way through almost every dodgy act you can think of (Incest, rape, drug abuse, bullying, lactating and so on). But it’s all done in a surreal black comedy style so it’s surprisingly un-shocking.
Suicide Club (aka Suicide Circle) – A film by Sion Sion. This is another pretty weird film that takes you through a series of suicides that seem somehow related but can’t easily be linked or stopped. The suicides range from individuals leaping from buildings to some mass suicides at stations and schools. I really enjoyed this one but was left a bit confused in the end as to what had happened. And having looked at the boards on IMDB I’m clearly not the only one. This is the first one I’d recommend to others.
2LDK – This is one of a pair of movies made in the Dual Project. The two directors challenged each other to make a film about a duel to the death but set in only one location. So 2LDK’s sister film (Aragami) is shot solely in a temple and this film takes place in a rented apartment (2 living rooms, dinning room and kitchen). The duellists are to aspiring actresses who are auditioning for the same role. They are two very different characters and they soon become ‘confrontational’. This has some hilarious fight scenes involving all sorts of household appliances. Even a tatami floor mat is used as a weapon.
Hana Bi – a film from Beat Takeshi starring Beat Takeshi. He plays a detective who suffers several tragic misfortunes and tries to make a few things right. I loved this film. Of these films I’ve watched over Christmas this is the first that actually felt like a ‘proper’ movie, although it is still far away from a Hollywood level production. It has a nice mix of emotion, comedy and violence - not unlike his Zatoichi did.
Eureka – Saving the best till last. This is definitely my favourite of the films I’ve watched. This film deals with the after effects of a violent bus-jacking on the driver and two school children (a brother and sister). A beautiful film that drew me in and made me watch it right through in one sitting. I know watching a film in one sitting probably doesn’t sound very unusual but when a film is just shy of 4 hours long, shot in sepia, subtitled and features only four ‘main’ characters – two of whom are practically mute, it must say something about the quality of the film.
So has anyone seen any of these or can you recommend some other Japanese movies that I should see?
I wanted so badly to not be left confused at the end,but that just didn't happen.I think it took a nose dive at the part where the glam rock looking guy with blonde hair started singing hah From then on,I couldnt really make out what was happening except for the odd moment when I thought I was understanding 
