Third Window Films
Blu-Ray Review: Fires on the Plain
You can probably count the number of genuinely good remakes which are better than the originals on the digits of two hands. It’s safe to say that they’re mostly reinterpretations of old films (The Thing, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Maltese Falcon, Little Shop of Horrors etc). This is precisely what Shin’ya Tsukamoto …
Blu-Ray Review: Scene at the Sea
Takeshi Kitano is one of the most famous faces in Japan. Actor, director, screenwriter, author, comedian and TV personality, he’s a man of many talents. Whilst violent films such as Hana-bi, Violent Cop and Sonatine made his name as a director, it is perhaps more considered outings like Dolls and Kikujiro where he excels. Scene …
DVD Review: Love and Peace
Japanese culture, as you probably already know, is distinct and often puzzling. They’re a nation who like pigeon-holing and almost everything you can possibly think of sits neatly into one category or another. One much-loved genre is that trodden by the likes of Godzilla, Gamera and Astro Boy. Tokusatsu encompasses TV and Films which rely …
Film Review: Uzumasa Limelight
As The Artist proved, cinema audiences have a thirst for film nostalgia. The golden days of Hollywood may be long gone but the memories of the great films and film stars continue to prevail within popular culture. The same can be said for Japanese cinema. Whilst the nature of film-making in the Rising Sun may …
DVD Review: Greatful Dead
Japanese cinema has brought us many mentally unhinged protagonists over the last few decades. Whilst Nao Ômori became iconic as Ichi The Killer, and director Takashi Miike has continued to be fascinated by sociopaths and psychopaths, it’s often female characters who have a longer-lasting effect. Leading ladies and female killers have been a prevalent since …
DVD Review: New Directors From Japan
Japan has a rich and colourful cinematic history and produced one of the greatest directors of all time: Yasujirō Ozu. They have an animator to outstrip anyone in the West in the shape of Hayao Miyazaki and the beautiful films of Studio Ghibli. That’s without even mentioning the inimitable Akira Kurosawa. Since the turn of …
DVD Review: Sake Bomb
Asian comedies can sometimes lose much of their humour in translation, often struggling to find a Western market. I remember watching the Japanese comedy Ping Pong, which is a lowbrow American Pie imitation until about halfway through when it suddenly changed into a serious drama It was a very bizarre experience. However, when it’s done …
DVD Review: A Story of Yonosuke
Whilst Japanese cinema is widely known for the work of Akira Kurosawa, and to a lesser extent Yasujirō Ozu, latterly it’s become renowned for horror and extreme cinema. There’s always been a strong seem of independent film making in Japan, often under the Western radar, with only a few indie films making it over here …