Watched in 2019
A log of all the films I have watched in 2018. I only give full number ratings on scale from 1 to 5. This means I sometimes have to make difficult calls in whether I round down or up IMDB scores (e.g. 7 becomes either 3/5 or 4/5 feature for the review blurp). But in the first place numerical ratings are only rough indications of film's quality and merit so I think this is fine.
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- DirectorAkihiko ShiotaStarsTasuku NagaokaYuki MamiyaYûmi AkagiWhen a successful, but tired Tokyo-based playwright who has sworn off easy women and casual encounters takes refuge in the countryside, his plans are disrupted by a horny woman who pedals fast into his life and is unrelenting.January 1
The funniest film of the new Roman Porno stack by far is fairly entertaining romp through occasionally ridiculous sex antics.
3/5 - DirectorHideo NakataStarsRin AsukaKaori YamaguchiShôma MachiiTokiko, a renowned ceramic artist, and her husband encounter Haruka, a teenage runaway, and take her into their home, where Tokiko teaches her about ceramics.January 3
Ring director helms Roman Porno revival feature that is horrific only due to how poorly made it is. Lifeless direction and weak script nullify any effort the actors and production team might've put in. How can a lesbo romp be so unintentionally unerotic to boot?
2/5 - DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsDenjirô ÔkôchiSusumu FujitaRyûnosuke TsukigataSugata returns to prove his judo mastery in a match against Western opponents.January 12
Sugata Sanshiro was a great debut feature and would remain the strongest Kurosawa film for years to come. Its great success led to this sequel which overall is a very common sequal movie. Reuse of the same ingredients with somewhat grander scale but lacking the vitality and essentiality of the original. It's qualities as propaganda film are also more pronounced and in a way harmful to the production.
Which is not to say the second Sugata Sanshiro film is bad. It's a fine film showcasing Kurosawa's superb directing talent in many individual scenes and the climax is at least as good as anything in the first film. But overall this sequel remains a nice extra, not an essential viewing.
3/5 - DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsTakako IrieDaisuke ItôKyôko KagawaA documentary film on the life and works of director Kenji Mizoguchi.January 14
Kaneto Shindo's lovingly crafted, indepth documentary feature on Mizoguchi is one of the rare documentaries of its kind that is thoroughly captivating, despite heavy reliance on talking heads.
It's fine filmmaking on its own but essential viewing for anyone interested in the master filmmaker.
4/5 - DirectorHideo GoshaStarsKen'ichi HagiwaraTomokazu MiuraMasahiro MotokiBased on the "2.26 Incident", an attempted coup d'état in Japan 1936, launched by radical ultra-nationalist parts of the military. Several leading politicians were killed and the center of Tokyo was briefly held by the insurgents before the coup was suppressed.January 15
Hideo Gosha's treatment of the infamous February 26 Incident left me unsatisfied - and all the moreso because the film has considerable virtues.
226 is a great film all the way through the first night of the incident when the insurgent militarymen take over key targets and assassinate their targets. Unfortunately it stagnates in the long second half depicting the siege of insurgents. Characters are too thin to support any meaningful drama and Gosha's treatment of the incident itself and its political and social implications is just too superficial and uncommitted in its appraisal pro or con.
2/5 - DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTakashi ShimuraSôji KiyokawaIchirô SugaiWorld War II film about female volunteer workers at an optics plant who do their best to meet production targets.January 29
Kurosawa's propaganda film features an aesthetically interesting mixture of potent formalism and realistic grit, but ultimately the film cannot overcome its utilitarian origins and the mesh of elements never gels together firmly.
2/5 - DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsDenjirô ÔkôchiSusumu FujitaKen'ichi EnomotoA Japanese general and his men disguise themselves as monks in order to pass an enemy border patrol.January 30
Kurosawa's adaptation of classic story known from Noh and Kabuki theatre is a powerhouse feature which showcases what keen focus, dramatic unity and Denjiro Okochi's masterclass acting can do when put together.
The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail is Kurosawa's supreme wartime achievement alongside Sanshiro Sugata.
4/5 - DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsIsao NumasakiChieko NakakitaAtsushi WatanabeDuring a Sunday trip into war-ravaged Tokyo, despairing Yuzo and optimistic Masako look for work and lodging, as well as affordable entertainments to pass the time.January 30
Kurosawa's most ambitious postwar, pre-Stray Dog feature attempts to portray the harsh human realities and glittering dreams of Occupation era Japan. On the whole Kurosawa's ambitions exceed his grasp, and the feature is notable for some weak scenes and a general feeling of being less than sum of its parts. In select sequences and scenes we do, however, encounter masterful filmmaking of the highest level, an unmistakanable sign Kurosawa was to soon emerge as one of the greatest masters of them all.
3/5 - DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneTakashi ShimuraMiki SanjôA surgeon gets syphilis from a patient when he cuts himself during an operation. The doctor's life is destroyed, but unlike the patient, he doesn't destroy others along with him.February 2
Kurosawa's uneven postwar melodrama feels like there is a great film somewhere here buried under all the production difficulties and overblown emotions. The early scenes set during the war are nevertheless great, and the film features some excellent acting too.
2/5 - DirectorMary HarronStarsChristian BaleJustin TherouxJosh LucasA wealthy New York City investment banking executive, Patrick Bateman, hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he delves deeper into his violent, hedonistic fantasies.February 21
Get guy movie for the ages and the most iconic performance of Christian Bale's career. Dark, macabre, disgusting and hysterically funny. American Psycho's status as cult classic is well deserved and the film more than the memes it spawned.
5/5 - DirectorHideo GoshaStarsYûko NatoriRino KataseJinpachi NezuA young woman is sold into the famous red light district brothel in Yoshiwara by her bankrupt father.February 24
Intentionally melodramatic and somewhat Operatic (at least if fierce burning emotions of Carmen are taken as normative for Opera) look at prostitution in Yoshiwara of the old. The film is marred somewhat by its excesses in lenght and bathos, but its recreation of turn-of-the-Century Yoshiwara is undeniably stunningly thorough and its key scenes pull one's attention irresistibly.
"Yoshiwara burns" is a sumptuous, visual splendor.
3/5 - DirectorKazuya ShiraishiStarsTakayuki YamadaPierre TakiLily FrankyJournalist Shuichi Fujii receives a letter from convicted killer Junji Sudo. Writing from death row, Sudo wants to confess to crimes unknown to the police. On visiting Sudo in prison, Fujii learns about a real estate broker called "Doc" who masterminded a string of murders that Sudo worked muscle for. Set up by Doc, Sudo seeks revenge and implores Fujii to find the evidence needed to bring in his former boss. Working off Sudo's sketchy memories, Fujii begins to piece together a grizzly tale of extortion, torture, rape, and arson. But as his desire to see Doc brought to justice nears the boiling point, he runs into resistance from his editor, who views the story as tripe, the police, who seem indifferent to the case, and his wife, who is at her wits' end dealing with his mother's increasing dementia. Based on true crime cases, "The Devil's Path" exposes the secret underbelly of crime in modern Japan.March 12
The Devil's Path features one of the great Japanese performances of 2010s in cinema from Lily Franky and it works as a dark crime, but the film is kept from highest echelons by being overlong. Some of its choices in focus and structure are also somewhat questionable. Nevertheless, the feature is worth seeing at leatst once for Lily Franky's atypical role here.
3/5 - DirectorShin'ichirô UedaStarsTakayuki HamatsuYuzuki AkiyamaHarumi ShuhamaThings go badly for a hack director and film crew shooting a low budget zombie movie in an abandoned WWII Japanese facility, when they are attacked by real zombies.March 15
Absolute delight of a movie that proves there is real life left in Japanese independent movies as a scene - and in comedy as a genre. Movie that reminds us why we love movies in the first place.
5/5 - DirectorShûichi OkitaStarsTsutomu YamazakiMunetaka AokiMitsuru FukikoshiVegetation thrives in painter Morikazu's garden, which is home to creatures that serve as models for his paintings, including numerous bugs and cats. A sweet and heartwarming day begins for Morikazu, who gazed at these garden creatures on a daily basis for over three decades, and those who love him.March 16
Typical quietly amusing, quietly touching miniature portrait of life through carefully chosen main character, in this case an eccentric artist who really loves his garden, from Shuichi Okita. This fine feature sees the world as its main character sees it with admirable intensity, but overall it is somewhat thin offering.
What a lovable geezer, nevertheless.
3/5 - DirectorKazuya ShiraishiStarsKisetsu FujiwaraArata IuraKuu IzimaSpring, 1969. The Japanese New Wave, represented on international screens mainly by the films of Nagisa Oshima, reaches new heights. 21-year-old Megumi Yoshizumi goes to Wakamatsu Production. The company makes films popular with young people. Pink film director Koji Wakamatsu gathers there with young talented people who are all fascinated with movie making. When they are not making movies, they spend their time smoking, drinking alcohol, scouting for actresses and looking for material for their next film. When filming begins, everybody immerses themselves into the production and will do everything on the filming set from running, shouting to acting.March 16
Disappointingly crummy and safe film about an outrageous subject matter - Koji Wakamatsu's 60s/70s pink film production company and escapades of its workers. The film is compromised by its poorly chosen focus of main character, which results in a strange 'forced feminism' feel to the whole endeavour.
2/5 - DirectorShôhei ImamuraStarsYoshiko TanakaKazuo KitamuraEtsuko IchiharaThe story of the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing, based on Masuji Ibuse's novel.March 24
Imamura's harrowing b&w feature on impact of atomic bomb is one of the best Hiroshima themed Japanese movies, and one of the high points in director's filmography. It is a strong, serious drama that doesn't stoop down to sentimentality or navelgazing the way Japan's cultural reminiscenes of that nuclear apocalypse often do. Rare bright spot in rather bleak decade for Japanese cinema.
5/5 - DirectorJohn Carroll LynchStarsHarry Dean StantonDavid LynchRon LivingstonLucky follows the spiritual journey of a 90-year-old atheist and the quirky characters that inhabit his off the map desert town.March 13
Somber reflection on mortality and an enjoyable character study at the same time, Lucky feels like a respectful tribute to its star Harry Dean Stanton not far from end of his own life.
4/5 - DirectorWoo-sang ParkY.K. KimStarsY.K. KimVincent HirschJoseph DiamandA martial arts rock band goes up against a band of motorcycle ninjas who have tightened their grip on Florida's narcotics trade.March 14
A true so-bad-it-is-good classic not to be missed by 80s kinoastes.
2/5 - DirectorPawel PawlikowskiStarsJoanna KuligTomasz KotBorys SzycIn the 1950s, a music director falls in love with a singer and tries to persuade her to flee communist Poland for France.March 15
Pawlikowski's excellent portrayal of fiery romance in pressure cooker of Soviet communism and Cold War in general does not reach the cinematic heights of Ida, but it still is one of the noteworthy films of the 2010s.
5/5 - DirectorNobuhiko ÔbayashiStarsYasufumi HayashiAiko AsanoVajra BarzaghiAn international school in Kobe, Japan is catapulted into the future after a time-slip occurs.June 3
Obayashi's SFX heavy manga adaptation represents 80s Japanese cinema at its absolute nadir: not even stylistic eccentricity of the director can make this poorly told, unfocused story any better. If anything the form fares no better than the content, reminding us just how unbearable Obayashi can be as a director when he is bad.
Some cool practical effects by standards of 80s Japan can be found, I guess. I struggle to find anything else nice to say. How a film with such outrageous premise can be such a boring mess is astonishing.
1/5 - DirectorYûzô KawashimaStarsFurankî SakaiSachiko HidariYôko MinamidaIn the last days of the Shogunate, a resourceful grifter seeks to outwit competing prostitutes, rebellious samurai and other inhabitants of a brothel in order to survive the hardened times.July 2
*The* great comedy from Golden Age of Japanese Cinema has stood up to the test of time no less than its more famous contemporaries (more famous in the west, that is). Kawashima's social satire of Japan of his own time as well as that of soon to end Edo era has biting wit, great cast and superb script. It is still funny and Frankie Sakai in the lead role surely ranks among the great performances from 1950s Japanese cinema.
In short, Bakumatsu is a masterwork that deserves the high reputation it enjoys in its country of origins.
5/5 - DirectorNaoyuki TomomatsuStarsAi HanedaYuto KobayashiNana NinomiyaA schoolgirl with a zombie fetish manage with help from a nerd to translate a book from Italian that explains how to manufacture zombies.July 10
While 'objectively' this flick is fairly terrible, this pink film horror comedy schlock is far more clever and entertaining than cheaply made rubbish has any right to be. This nonsensical glory is what happens when horror fan slaving away in the C-budget pinky trash industry just stops giving a fuck. Even sex scenes feel like gags.
3/5
edit: rewatch on 3rd November. - DirectorTakashi MinamotoStarsHiroki NarimiyaYû YamadaShûgo OshinariSet in Tokyo's otaku mecca Akihabara, "Akihabara@DEEP" tells the story of five otaku who drop out of society and end up founding their own successful IT venture called Crook. But Nakagomi, president of an influential electronics company called Digital Capital, will do anything to get his hands on Crook.July 11
Akihabara@Deep is a shameless cash-in on Akiba subculture and otakus at large during peak Akiba otakudom, but reasonably entertaining one. Better kind of mediocre as far as Japanese productions of this kind go, and somewhat nostalgic too.
3/5 - DirectorShin'ya KawatsuraStarsKotori KoiwaiRie MurakawaAyane SakuraSummer vacation is drawing to an end. When Suguru wins a free trip to Okinawa, all of the five students of Asahigaoka branch school are excited to end their vacation with a bang. Along with Hikage, Konomi, and their teacher and the candy store owner, everyone goes to Okinawa for a fun three-day trip. There, Natsumi makes friends with Aoi, the girl who helps out at the hotel they stay in.July 12
Non Non Biyori cast go down to Okinawa and back again in this extended episode marketed as feature film. But this is no knock on the movie, which delivers all the charm and healing slice of life escapades that made the anime series such a delight.
4/5 - DirectorFederico FelliniStarsGiulietta MasinaSandra MiloMario PisuVisions, memories, and mysticism all help a 40-something woman to find the strength to leave her cheating husband.July 19
Juliet of the Spirits is often seen as first feature where Fellini's preoccupation with depth psychology, whimsy and his personal life slip into downright embarrassing degree of self-indulgence. It is also criticized as ultimately self-serving apologia for his marital infidelities in guise of loving tribute to his wife.
While there is more truth to both criticisms than one would care for, Juliet is still a place of magic and cinematic wonder that amply demonstrates why Fellini is one of the all time greats.
4/5