‘Homunculus’: You need to see this like you need a hole in the head
Takashi Shimizu’s adaptation of a manga series about a man who gains psychic powers after having a hole drilled in his head manages to be tasteless and timid at once.
‘A Family’: This sentimental ode to yakuza life ignores reality
Michihito Fujii’s yakuza film waxes nostalgic about the old-school days of gangsterdom with soggy sentimentality.
'Beneath the Shadow': Too obscure for its own good
Keishi Otomo's latest film looks at two colleagues whose blossoming bromance threatens to turn into something more mysterious.
'Family of Strangers': An admirable ode to the institutionalized
Hideyuki Hirayama's latest feature, filmed in a real psychiatric hospital in Nagano Prefecture, tells the story of three residents of an institution who form an unlikely bond
'The Promised Land': Zeze's latest is far from heaven-sent
Takahisa Zeze unveils his latest feature, an ambitious film based on two short stories by best-selling author Shuichi Yoshida
Kendo drama 'Mukoku' takes a stab at Showa Era sports spirit
One of the attractions of Asian martial arts for many Westerners (including this one) is the promise of self-improvement that goes beyond better street fighting. In Kazuyoshi Kumakiri's "Mukoku," a turgid film set in the kendo world, mastery of the sword is supposed to not ...
'Twisted Justice': Gangster black comedy is a shade off
In 2003, a Hokkaido cop named Yoshiaki Inaba was sentenced to nine years in jail, on charges including drug use and possession with intent to supply. During his trial, the former police inspector revealed that his impressive career record had involved an unhealthy degree ...
'Six Four': Japan held hostage by the Showa Era
'Don't you understand what is to have a child taken from you? How could you be a policeman and not understand that?" That's a line from "Rokuyon" ("Six Four") the latest addition to Japan's host of films about kidnapping. "Six Four" is distinctive in the ...
Painful love in decaying Hokkaido port town
My interview with Mipo Oh, the director of the turbulent new love drama "Soko Nomi Nite Hikari Kagayaku (The Light Shines Only There)," did not begin smoothly.
Trial by media, conviction by word of mouth
Yoshihiro Nakamura makes movies that puzzle, surprise and illuminate their themes both cleverly and literally (the fireworks of "Golden Slumber," the comet of "Fish Story"). Everyone's heard of the "butterfly effect" — how a small action in one place (a butterfly flapping its wings ...
