Category Archives: Film

Cruel Story of Youth / Naked Youth (青春残酷物語)

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  • 青春残酷物語 (Cruel Story of Youth / Naked Youth)

8/15/26 (Sat)

Oshima Nagisa’s sensational 1960 sophomore effort proved a major hit for Shochiku, a far cry from its staid family fare at the time. The cruelty in the title is no joke. In line with the nihilistic Sun Tribe films that were popular at the time with all the usual images (motorboats, Hawaiian shirts, nightclubs, apathetic men, casual sex, abortions), but showing the seamy side of society rather than the aimless middle class. Stylistically in line with New Wave French films with its jumpy camerawork and discordant images; Oshima specifically cites Breathless as an inspiration. This film sparked what is known as a Japanese New Wave, though he dismisses the phrase as a mere signal for sex and violence – which is certainly true in his case.

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Exit 8 (8番出口)

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  • 8番出口 (Exit 8)

7/8/26 (Wed)

A young man on a subway, listening blankly on his earphones to the incessantly repetitive “Bolero”, sees a guy lashing out at a woman whose baby is crying but does nothing to help her. He alights at a station and gets a call from his girlfriend, who tells him she’s pregnant. She is frightened and trying to decide whether to abort it. He tells her that he’ll go right away to the hospital.

Heading for Exit 8, he becomes caught in an endless loop of corridors. A sign informs him that he can only go forward if there are no anomalies – but it’s up to him to decide what is and isn’t an anomaly. If he fails, he will be sent back to the start, where he must go through the process again.

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Samurai Vengeance (木挽町のあだ打ち)

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  • 木挽町のあだ打ち (Samurai Vengeance)

8/21/26 (Fri)

The Japanese title of Minamoto Takashi’s entertaining period flick, based on a best-selling book, translates to Revenge at Kobikicho, referring to a former district that boasted one of Edo’s three great Kabuki theaters, the Moritaza (near today’s Kabukiza). I was taken by the odd spelling of the word “revenge” in the title, only later realizing its significance. The English title as usual throws in “samurai” for marketing purposes, but the only real samurai swordfight in the film is not what it seems. This is, in fact, less a warrior bloodfest than a comedy-mystery.

The setting is 1810. A woman coming out of a crowded performance at the Moritaza – playing, as it happens, the ultimate vendetta drama Chushingura (The 47 Ronin) – is suddenly approached in the snowy streets by a ruffian. The “woman” turns out to be a samurai, Kikunosuke, in disguise, and the ruffian, Sakubei, is the one who killed the man’s father back in rural Mino (today’s Gifu). Kikunosuke throws off his bright red kimono to reveal a warrior’s outfit and sword underneath. People quickly gather to watch a real-life revenge drama, and the theater obliges by turning its spotlights (did those exist in 1810??) onto the fighters. After a vigorous battle, Kikunosuke emerges with the attacker’s head and declares loudly that he has achieved his vendetta. It seems odd that the hunted would seek out his hunter or that they would coincidentally meet on the streets in faraway Edo, especially given Kikunosuke’s disguise. But that doesn’t seem to occur to anyone amid all the excitement. When this scene repeats itself at the end of the film, we see it in a whole new light (shades of One Cut of the Dead).

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The Samurai and the Prisoner (黒牢城)

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  • 黒牢城 (The Samurai and the Prisoner)

8/5/26 (Wed)

Kurosawa Kiyoshi makes a rare venture into period pieces with this detective story posing as a samurai drama, based on a Naoki Prize-winning novel of 2021. The creative Japanese title translates as “Black Prison Castle”, referring to the dungeon in which one character is held, the castle itself that the lord has effectively made a prison, and the dark mindset in which the lord resides. I thought this might be an historical nickname for the real-life structure, which is actually named Arioka Castle, but it’s apparently an invention by the book’s author and is not mentioned in either the book or screenplay. It’s been noted that “kuro” (black) is part of the hostage’s name (Kuroda) and thus may be a subtle reference to him as well. Whatever. I assume that US distributors felt it necessary to throw “samurai” in as a marketing ploy, but I really wish they’d use some imagination. (For one thing, the lead is a daimyo, not a mere samurai, though I’m sure the distributors will argue that it’s a comment on the role reversal in the story.)

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A Useful Ghost (ผีใช้ได้ค่ะ )

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  • A Useful Ghost (ผีใช้ได้ค่ะ )

7/28/26 (Tues)

I put Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s 2025 film on my must-see list when I learned it was about a woman who dies and comes back as a vacuum cleaner. I had thought that the last word in reincarnation was My Mother the Car, a short-lived TV series in the 1960s about a woman who returns as her son’s automobile. (It’s now ranked one of the worst TV shows ever made, but I remember enjoying it as a kid – maybe I have a thing for haunted appliances.) In the Thai tale, however, what starts as a deadpan comedy turns into something deeper, if a bit convoluted.

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The Black Lizard (黒蜥蜴, 1968 film)

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  • 黒蜥蜴 (The Black Lizard, 1968 film)

7/5/26 (Sun)

I decided to watch Fukasaku Shinji’s 1968 film of Mishima Yukio’s nutty detective comedy upon the death of its star, the cross-dressing Miwa Akihiro, just last week at the age of 91. The part in the original 1962 stage show was played by an actual female, the venerable Mizutani Yaeko, but Miwa (reputedly Mishima’s lover) became closely associated with the show over the years. Despite claims to the contrary, Miwa was not playing the role in drag, which implies some sort of parody, but in utmost seriousness as a woman in a Japanese tradition going back centuries. That fits the hall-of-mirrors free-flow of identities throughout, not least when Miwa disguises himself as a man – a Victor Victoria touch that highlights the moment in a way that actresses can’t touch. (Miwa performs here under his real name Maruyama, but I’ll refer to him below by his much better known stage name.)

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Bye Bye Love (バイバイラブ)

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  • バイバイラブ (Bye Bye Love)

7/4/26 (Sat)

A gender-bending piece of 1974 by Fujisawa Isao, his only feature movie after stints as assistant director to Hiroshi Teshigahara (on Woman in the Dunes and The Face of Another, no less) and on yakuza films. I can see the influence of the former in the slipperiness of identity, and Bonnie and Clyde is an obvious inspiration (others frequently mention Pierrot le Fou, which I haven’t seen). It’s not the first Japanese film with an overtly gay character – the wild Funeral Parade of Roses beat it by five years – but it has an arresting take on the subject. While the film was apparently a relative success at the time, it had been thought lost for years and was only rediscovered in 2022.

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Bacurau

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  • Bacurau

6/14/26 (Sun)

This 2019 Brazilian film is classified offputtingly as “Weird Western”, but the generally positive reviews lured me to it. I had assumed vaguely that the title referred to salted cod (bacalhau), but it actually means either a nocturnal bird (nightjar or nighthawk) or, according to one source, “the last chance to make it home at night”. Either is pretty obscure in the context of the film. I must be missing something.

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Safety Last!

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  • Safety Last!

6/13/26 (Sat)

A film deserving of its exclamation point. Harold Lloyd was hugely successful in his day and is often mentioned as the third great silent comedian along with Charles Chaplin and Buster Keaton, both of whom he outgrossed in theaters. The still of him in this film dangling precariously from a skyscraper clock may be the most iconic image of the entire silent era. But somehow his reputation has not lasted to their extent; I’m sure many people assume that the man on the clock is Chaplin. Visually he is not as distinctive with that spiffy college look and could blend easily into the background. So I figured it was about time to catch up with him and see what the praise is all about.

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Police Story (警察故事)

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  • 警察故事 (Police Story)

6/9/26 (Tues)

Jackie Chan conceived, co-wrote and directed this 1985 film after his unhappy experience with The Protector, the misconceived vehicle that was supposed to have been his US breakthrough. The producers in that film were trying to fit him into typical US action star mode, clearly not understanding his unique brand of choreographed comedy action. So he took matters into his own hand – to spectacular results.

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