13 Assassins

Miike is Miike. You find him either essential or inaccessible. 13 Assassins is no different. Thankfully I find myself in the first camp and I have to say this is his most conventional and possibly his best work to date. I was lucky enough to catch a 3 day window for a pre screening special on Amazon (I suggest checking them out from time to time for cool limited release films). 13 Assassins is a classic chanbara film in the vein of Kurosawa's samurai movies or the Zutochi flicks. Like I said it's either your thing or it's not but those appreciative of solid film making will find plenty to love here. Acting, story and cinematography all come together like no samurai movie has in decades. 13 Assassins clocks in at 2 hours and 5 minutes with a 45 minute fight scene. That's right almost half the movie is an intense, just slightly over-the-top action scene, so to develop an emotional attachment to the heroes in such a short amount of time is nothing short of a once in a lifetime achievement for director Takashi Miike. By the time you get to the scene with the picture above I guarantee you will be on the edge of your seat. I literally had to stop the movie to prepare myself for the biggest fight scene I have ever seen.
I can't recommend 13 Assassins enough. It's a solid, straight forward good guy vs bad guy chanbara film that deserves the respect that Seven Samurai has earned because in my humble opinion it is the new standard. I won't go into too many details because you have to experience it for yourself.
Btw the samurai with the staff is my favorite.

Crazy Lips

Crazy Lips is a foul, disturbing, hyper offensive 90 minute experiment gone terribly right. I mean I can't say that I enjoy ritualistic rape but I do enjoy blonde Japanese women toting machine guns running through the forest singing our national anthem in broken English only to be scalped moments later. Did I say enjoy? Well something of the sort. I always have enjoyed the energy of these kinds of films (Miike, Rodriquez)enough to forgive even the trashiest of their kind. Crazy Lips is the trashiest of its kind. Sure there is a plot behind the vulgarity but it's almost besides the point because it's so silly. Despite the rather low production value, there is an incredibly well choreographed fight scene towards the end that's worth the wait. The director found the perfect balance of sex and violence to create a memorable ending to a movie most would prefer to forget. Needless to say only shock fans need apply.

In the Realm of the Senses

If you are related to me stop reading. If you are offended by explicit sexual content stop reading because In the realm of the Senses is one graphic sex scene after another. When I say graphic I mean its what prudes call porn and people like me call art. This is erotica people if you can look past and the fornicating you will discover a masterpiece of the dangers of desire. Directed by Nagisa Ôshima (Japanese Summer Double Suicide) the story is told though the sex life of a man and his mistress. Their sex directly reflects the state of their relationship as they spiral out of control. From giggly feisty love making to the dangerous and violent depths of sexual depravity. The cinematography is perfect and is what keeps this from being porn. It transforms screwing into love making and that's all the difference in the world. What really makes the movie though, what really makes this a masterpiece is not the bold content but the actors that deliver it. H-o-l-y s-h-i-t I can not even begin to imagine the kind of trust and bond Tatsuya Fuji and Eiko Matsuda had to have to do the things they did on screen. The complete dedication of the actors towards their craft is in my opinion is unrivaled. I have the most insane respect for them and that's why I blog, to make sure movies like this are watched and appreciated as they should be. If you can get over the graphic sexual content I promise you it will be one of the most important and unforgettable movie experiences of your life.

Japanese Summer: Double Suicide

You cant find it on Netflix and you cant find it for less than $50 on dvd. Go steal this movie and share it with as many people as possible because Japanese Summer: Double Suicide has to be seen. The plot follows a large cast of characters who all represent some facet of the directors personality. His lust, desire to hill himself and others, his longing to be good and the frustration of his youth all come to life in the most fantastic ways. You know when you have those imaginary arguments in your head where you over analyze everything trying to weigh the risk of each decision you make? The whole movie plays out like this with each of his desires interfering with each other constantly shifting the story in new and exciting directions. I was so impressed I cant really think of anything I didn't like about it other than the poor quality of the subtitles. I look forward to seeing more of Nagisa Ôshima's work and if this movie is any indication of whats in store for me that fifty dollar price tag wont seem so steep.

The next best thing to Star Wars/10

Youth of the Beast

What a treat 2 awesome yakuza flicks in a month! Youth of the Beast is easily the coolest most coherent gangster film I have ever seen come from Japan. Violence and jazz splash across the screen with style years ahead of its time. I want to put a real emphesis on how well the story flowed. Seijun Suzuki's later and more popular Tokyo Drifter was a bit too sporadic, while Takashi Miike's yakuza movies with a few exceptions tend to be strongly influenced by 80's and 90's American action movies thus ending up a bit lite on story. Youth of the Beast on the other hand shares elements of more traditional story telling bristling with all the turbulent energy of the 1960s. There is such an awesome sense of anarchy in Seijun Suzuki's movies that very few Japanese directors have managed to emulate.
Fantastic entertainment
9/10

Dead or Alive

There has been little time for movies lately, Tatsunoko vs Capcom and Megaman 10 have eaten my soul. I made one last run to the Hollywood video and found two Takashi Miike films sitting next to each other in the back as if hidden away waiting just for me. Dead or Alive is far from Miike's best work, its 99 minutes and few things are worth mentioning except the last 5 minutes but holy crap, what a last 5 minutes. This is more than a wtf moment its a carefully constructed scene where Miike continues to top himself slowly pulling the viewer in with one intense act of violence after another until quite literally they blow up the world. Note that until this point there has been a fair amount of shooting, stabbing and punching but nothing too far removed from reality, which is what makes the ending so freaking fantastic. This is for Miike fans only.
7.9/10

Dodes'Ka-Den

I just finished my 10th Kurosawa film and its true, there is no such thing as a bad Kursosawa movie. His ability to tell a story and to make the audience empathize with his characters has yet to be matched by another director. Does'Ka-Den is in my opinion his best non samurai film and his most human. Shot in 28 days Dodes'Ka-Den is what you would call a directors film, a character driven story blended with psychedelic imagery. I would not recommend this as an introduction to Kurosawa but as another chapter in the history of cinemas greatest film maker.
9/10

Love exposure

Irreverent, vulgar, silly, violent, confusing and hilariously bloody are just a few words to describe Love Exposure, a 4 hour long japsploitation romantic comedy, yeah that's right let that one sink in. Love Exposure is also one of the freaking best movies I have ever or probably will ever see. Its so brave and uncompromising but most of all its fun. I love asian shock, its one of the reasons I fell in love with film and this is the Citizen Cain of the genre. Now I don't want to conjure up images of an Attack Swim Girls Team vs The Unliving Dead kind of shock film, you can tell early on this was a labor of love. I think it also helps to have been exposed to some of Shion Sono's earlier films like Suicide Club and Noriko's Dinner Table. I loved both of those movies but they both felt like an experiment and in Suicide Clubs case like a half finished idea. Love Exposure though is complete from start to its 4 hour finish. I love that this flick was given enough time to play out otherwise you have the narrative mess of Nariko's Dinner Table. You really get to see the growth of the characters as they are thrust into one bizarre situation after another. I would not be doing my job if I did not mention there are more panty shots in this movie than any other in history. Its central to the plot and the way its handled is fantastic. This film tip toes all over the line of exploitation never going too far but probably a little intense for someone who has never experienced cinema from the far east (or been to 4chan). All in all I love movies that shatter the mold and do something never seen before and Love Exposure does so with undeniable style. The 4 hours flew by and I cant wait for this thing to hit American shelves because it has cult status tattooed all over it.
11/10

MELT-BANANA Lite LIVE Ver. 0.0

How do you describe a Melt Banana album to someone who has never heard them before? Pure joy or god awful noise? They aren't so much a rock band as they are an anti-personnel weapon. Melt Banana lite live ver. 0.0 is 27 minutes of rapid fire noise that can peel the paint off walls and scramble your brain. This album is a welcome return to their 2 minute blasts of noise from the mid '90s. With nothing but vocals, drums, samples and synths, it's a stripped down nasty sounding album which is just what I have been hungry for.

Patriotism

Patriotism is a brutal short film about a Japanese officer choosing to take his own life rather than betray his emperor and his friends. The silent black and white film quickly turns from sad but beautiful to horrifying and bloody. Clocking in at only 29 minutes, Patriotism is a captivating look at the Japanese perspective of death and duty and definitely not for the squeamish. In the time it takes to watch a sitcom you can witness a kind of film making that as not been seen in decades. Very very powerful stuff.

10/10

Planet Roll Call!!!

I just stumbled across Susumu Hirasawa's new album Planet Roll Call... No words are adequate I'm just in love. I would like to think everyone has a band, song or musician that moves them in such a way that's positive and life affirming.


Enjoy

Kicking it off with Onibaba

Even without multimillion dollar budgets Japanese directors like Hiroshi Teshigahara, Kurosawa and Kaneto Shindô manage to do what all those dollars can not. Make a film human. Kaneto Shindô's film drips with raw human emotion. The characters lust and desperation are tangible and terrifying.The sound in this movie is key; whether it be the eerie silence of the wind whispering in the grass, or Hikaru Hayashis psychedelic free jazz it always adds the perfect sinister edge. The swaying grass fields perfectly depict the torment of emotion as the 3 main characters struggle for even the most simple of lifes pleasures.
There are these few magnificent scenes were the camera peaks trough the tall grass, allowing us to join in on private matters. I always got this feeling of being watched and hunted. The dark eroticism burns up the screen in a way that transcends all cultural barriers.Extremely claustrophobic, this is a dark little gem of human fears and desires. Acting, lighting, setting, and story at its best.
9.8/10
Similar films: Woman in the Dunes
IN MY PERSONAL TOP 10

P.S. This is my first time writing in a long time so I hang on my writing will improve! (depending on my beer intake)