Why are Japanese films so terrible?

I've been overdosing on the 3 DVD set of Toshio Matsumoto's Experimental Film Works 1961-1987. I can't believe I didn't know about this guy, utterly beautiful abstract film & video works all set to blazing period electronic scores -- expensive but worth it -- if you're only getting one, get Volume 2

Black Lizard, one of my favorite films. not on this thread yet. I think there are very few people on this thread who wouldn't love that film.

Wild Zero is amazing!

http://www.pwi.racknine.net/guitarwolf.jpg

"LOVE KNOWS NO NATIONALITIES, BOUNDARIES OR GENDER! ROCKNROLL!"

Why are the French such lousy cooks?

Jews got no sense of humor. Am I right?

Why is our president so damn smart?

we should

I watched Mizoguchi's Sisters of the Gion last night... short, bleak and grim. I prefer his '30s visual palette to Ozu's or Naruse's.

http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/nyaff06_yokai.htm

$9 + $1 if you buy online

Was Ichi the Killer that hard to follow? I didn't think so. The special effects in it were silly/bad but it was fairly easy to follow if you don't let the ambiguity about Ichi's past get your panties in a bunch.

^^ best and most truthful post on an ile film thread ever

A Taxing Woman 2xDVD edition
Tanpopo 2xDVD edition
Eureka DVD
Seishun Dendekedekedeke (The Rocking Horsemen?) DVD

The Itami special editions came out in celebration of his death (!?!), the Eureka DVD is an aspect remaster from the crummy version from a few years ago, and the last one is one of my favorite movies that hasn't been exported (no subtitles, eek)... starring an 18y/o Tadanobu Asano in his first studio role for all you Miike nuts.

I'm open to any drama/comedy/thriller (non-monster, non-horror, non-samurai, non-yakuza, non-anime please!) recommendations.

I just wanted to point out the simply wonderful fact that the blob of rape-fetishist-peeping-top semen in which the title credit for "Ichi the Killer" appears is, in fact, REAL HUMAN SEMEN.

And Tsukamoto "donated" it.

Just, you know, FYI...

:)

But me, I've even seen it a few times IN REAL LIFE.

Top that, tough guy...

They're all so good, in different ways. _Ikiru_'s dying bueauracrat, with
his last redemptive quest to build a playground for inner city children,
really exemplifies the idea that any ordinary person can find it in
themselves to struggle against injustice, and win a personal victory
against the night.

Or how about _Seven Samurai_'s vagabond warriors, lovable, stern, mostly
over-the-hill men who find it in themselves to fight for a cause not their
own, against suicidal odds. In the hands of another director, it would just
be another action-adventure. But leave it to Kurosawa to keenly zoom in
on the human element, the internal struggles that will strike a chord with
anyone that has a pulse, in any country, any era. Witness the youngest
samurai, determined to make a name for himself, fearless in battle;
yet totally uncertain and confused when faced with the lust of a village
waif.

Kurosawa Movies I Haven't Seen:
Madadayo (1993)
Dodesukaden
Red Beard
High And Low
Scandal
The Quiet Duel
I Live In Fear (also Record Of A Living Being)
Drunken Angel

which one of these should I watch first?

This thread neds more Kiyoshi Kurosawa, because Pulse and Retribution are awesome and I really want to see Cure.

err, "needs." Apologies to Ned.

anyone know an Ichikawa film based on Mishima, called Conflagration? May see tonight.

I really enjoyed Miike's The Bird People in China. I'm not really even sure if it's a good movie or if the concepts just resonate w/ me. Lots of great suggestions on this thread. Will bookmark!

well, Voice is underwhelmed by this 10-hour revival:

http://daily.greencine.com/archives/006393.html

Seen a few films on NFT's Japanese Gems season, which is now near its end.

Conflagration was one of them. I found Oshima's Ceremony to be a far more faithful expression of Mishima's dissatisfaction with the way Japan went after WWII (even if politically they are at polar opposites of the spectrum). Ichikawa's film is too literal, with its moments.

Other highlights => Kurosawa's Ikiru, feeling drained this morning.

Ikiru was good but it dragged at the end.

Ikiru never dragged for me. My issues, if any, were with the basic story construction: local government never gets anything done, the world of politics hand-in-hand with gangsters, etc. which might've been saying something in a world recently ravaged by war but now simply feeds into everyone's cynicism these days. But the film had this (surely, even now) combination of hard iron laughs and fighting back the tears moments (I failed at this).

The switching of straight melodrama to recounting the struggle after Watanabe's death, using the tricks in Rashomon, suggesting that Watanabe wasn't -- just maybe -- as heroic really lifted the whole thing to some place else.

The acting as well...I don't have much of an appreciation of it, but recounting all I've seen I enjoyed almost every performance.

I only saw Black Rain at this particular NFT JPfest, wish I'd seen some of the others now. I did see Death Note 1&2 at the ICA to make up for it though.

Every time this thread is revived I seethe inwardly at the stupidity of the thread title.

Ikiru is great!

Saw the Seven Samurai the other day, but my two favourite samurai both got killed - the cool one and the crazy one. I thought this was unnecessary.

Stray Dog is also good!

Ha Matt! The thread starter was there last night at the same screening :-)

I think the two Ichikawa films were disappointing. Really Actor's Revenge is pretty incredible but I wonder if its a one off. The one Imamura flick I saw was nice but next to Oshima and Kurosawa its a lot of meh. Missed the Suzuki yakuza stuff.

That is probably the one really great season the NFT have got on now for the next 2-3 months. August looks a bit lame.

Miracle Fortress is another good Kurosawa movie.

(But Ikiru is my favourite, even though i agree it dragged at the end)

heh Miracle Fortress.. it's Hidden Fortress)

Anyone have any thoughts on Marebito? Just saw it, and thought it was spectacular, oddly terrifying and contemplative at the same time.

Netflix has made finding these films so much easier, which in some strange way almost diminishes their impact. I doubt I would have been quite so amazed by Tetsuo if I hadn't watched it after finding it shoved behind other stuff in a shitty small town video store.

It's interesting that Japan has produced the greatest film ever made (Ran) as well as the worst (Pinch Runner).

The bits of Ran I saw put me off Kurosawa until recently.

anyone seen Kaneto Shindo's The Island?

http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/kawakita/theislandakanakedisland.html

Kiyoshi Kurosawa really should be on this thread more. Just watched Doppleganger and it was fantastic.