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When a filmmaker takes over directing duties after a movie’s original helmer has passed away, many viewers will be inclined to wonder what could have been if that particular lost voice had stayed involved to the finish line. Having directed only one scene of “Battle Royale II: Requiem,” Kinji Fukasaku was hospitalized due to complications from prostate cancer, dying a few weeks later; his son Kenta Fukasaku, a screenwriter on both “Battle Royale” films, completed the sequel as his directorial debut. Elsewhere, “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” is likely the most famous example of this. Stanley Kubrick reportedly tried handing off his long-gestating sci-fi feature to Steven Spielberg several years before his death, though Spielberg apparently convinced Kubrick to remain as director.

Both “A.I.” and “Battle Royale II” were dedicated to the men who were once set to bring them to fruition. With “Enzo”, the latest feature directed by Robin Campillo,...

Based on the novel “Kirishima, Bukatsu Yamerutteyo” by Ryo Asai, “The Kirishima Thing” established Daihachi Yoshida as one of the most competent contemporary directors of the country. The movie won five awards from the Japan Academy, including Picture and Director of the Year for Yoshida, Best Editor for Mototaka Kusakabe, and Best Newcomers for Masahiro Higashide and Ai Hashimoto, both of whom ended up becoming superstars later on.

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The original story is an omnibus telling the stories of numerous characters, although Yoshida’s movie focuses mostly on two of them, Ryoya Maeda and Hiroki Kikuchi. The titular student, however, Kirishima, the captain of the volleyball team, a good student and boyfriend to one of the most popular girls in the school, Risa, shines through his absence. One day, out of the blue, he stops coming to school, and the rumors circulating...

“You just have to fight for yourself; no one’s going to save you. That’s just life, right?”

Generational identity is a sensitive subject. We often feel as if people our age have been put into reductive categories or dismissed and maligned due to the worst tendencies of a fraction of our members. But the one thing on which we all usually agree is that the generation that follows is even worse. Gen Xers spent years mocking Millennial indulgence in participation trophies and avocado toast and we all now unite in shaking our heads over Gen Z culture like voice messages, baggy jeans, and internet speak. It’s always “these kids today” who are ruining our lives and never the problems we’ve created for ourselves.

No film explores generational scapegoating like Kinji Fukasaku’s Battle Royale. With an economy in shambles and teen mischief on the rise, an...

Dang, February is not that far off. Better check in on our friends over at Arrow and see what they have lined up for us on the Arrow Player next month.    A friend to many Anarchists, Jenn Wexler, is the focus of next month's Selects portion of the programming. Keeping with the spirit of the season, this Valentine's month features the program Love Sucks, a small selection of vampire flicks.    Japan is also in season as there are a quartet of terrific crime and gangster flicks lined up for subscribers. The four titles include Kinji Fukasaku's Wolves, Pigs and Men, Kazuo Mori crime flicks A Certain Killer and A Killer's Key, and Junk Fuji as Red Peony Gambler.    There are the usual amount...

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In the dystopian, post-apocalyptic world of Panem, the society that remains is divided into districts. Once a year, tributes who are usually children are selected from each poor, agrarian district to compete in the wealthy, decadent Capitol in a gladiatorial combat spectacular called "The Hunger Games." It's a fight until only one competitor is left alive, and it's broadcast on national TV, making it almost as important for the competitors to be telegenic as it is for them to be deadly.

This is the premise of Suzanne Collins' original trilogy of Hunger Games novels, initially turned into a four-part film series. Jennifer Lawrence became a certified A-lister as protagonist Katniss Everdeen, who volunteers as tribute to save her little sister, and eventually escapes the games to lead a rebellion against the tyrannical President Snow (Donald Sutherland). Collins has since written two prequels, one of which has also become a film.

First book by then journalist Koushun Takami, “Battle Royale” was initially completed in 1996 but was not published until 1999. It was entered into the 1997 Japan Horror Fiction Awards but was eventually rejected in the final round due to concerns over its depictions of students killing each other. Upon publication in 1999, the novel became a surprise bestseller. In 2000, one year after publication, “Battle Royale” was adapted into a manga series, written by Takami himself, and a feature film. The film was both controversial and successful, becoming one of the year’s highest-grossing films as well as prompting condemnation by Japan’s National Diet. The film spawned a sequel, and two more brief manga adaptations were also created.

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“Battle Royale” is set in a fictional fascist Japan in 1997, now called the Republic of Greater East Asia, a regime born from an alternate WWII where Japan emerged victorious.

The film is based on the notorious “Inaba Case” an actual turn of events that occurred in Hokkaido in 2002, and was called the biggest scandal in Japan’s police history. The perpetrator, Yoshiaki Inaba wrote a book about the case after spending 9 years in prison, with the script following the novel.

The story starts in 1970s Hokkaido where Moroboshi, an unemployed Judo champion is hired by the local police department to help them win the national judo championship. Starting in his new job without knowing the ropes at all, Moboroshi soon becomes an object for mocking and bullying, until a senior colleague named Murai, decides to make him his protégé. Murai however, has ties with the local Yakuza, who help him by giving him tips for other criminal organizations, and is actually a brute, who spends his time drinking and womanizing in hostess clubs. Moboroshi follows his advice of finding...

Welp, it’s January. That special time of year where everyone is simultaneously recovering from the holidays and trying to kick off the new year by putting their best foot forward. TV shows that have been on break will soon return and mid-season premieres quickly follow thereafter, but for film, January is often looked at as slow period for new releases, with offerings like “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera,” Leigh Whannell’s “Wolf Man,” and Steven Soderbergh’s “Presence” being unveiled. Films that have had awards-qualifying runs like Mike Leigh’s “Hard Truths” and Gia Coppola’s “The Last Showgirl” will also expand wider, boosting their profiles in time for Oscar voting, but generally, there’s not much going on to excite the average movie-goer this month. So what better time to say, “Out with the new, in with the old!”

Repertory theaters in New York and Los Angeles have...

Squid Game, the Netflix horror thriller from South Korea, returns to the streamer next December 26 with its highly-hyped second season. Showrunner Hwang Dong-hyuk who works as creator, writer, and director has shared many new details about the return of the streaming mega-hit, but none of them are as exciting as what he has just said about Squid Game's forthcoming installment: "The second season is much crueler, scarier and more gruesome than the first."

Hwang is currently promoting the sophomore outing of the show that changed his life back in 2021. Squid Game became Netflixs most successful TV series after a couple of weeks on the platform, with viewers tuning in week after week for their taste at the very sick game, in which desperate, random people attempted to win millions, only to end up slashed and diced in a competition that turned children's games into death traps for adults.

To this day,...

Sony is reportedly in discussions to acquire Kadokawa Corporation, the Japanese media giant behind recent features by Takeshi Kitano and Kiyoshi Kurosawa.

Sources say that if ongoing talks are successful, a deal could be signed within weeks, according to Reuters.

Sony has held a 1.93% stake in Kadokawa since 2021, when the two firms formed a capital alliance alongside digital advertising firm CyberAgent. Sony also owns a stake in FromSoftware, the Kadokawa subsidiary outfit behind hit video games such as Elden Ring.

Kadokawa was founded in 1945 as a publisher and is known in the film business for Kadokawa Daiei Studio, which was...

Since the 2010s, it seems like everywhere you look, theres a new show or video game involving the concept of a battle royale large groups of people duking it out until only a single victor remains. And thats not a bad thing; the subgenre has given us juggernaut franchises like The Hunger Games, Fortnite is still one of the most popular video games around, and it feels like everyone is on the edge of their seat waiting for the new season of Squid Game. The reason for the surge in popularity is also the origin of the subgenres very name: in 2000, director Kinji Fukasaku released the movie Battle Royale, featuring a group of junior high students in Japan being forced to brutally murder each other by the government.

Around 1976, Toei Studios showed the money to two of its star directors, Kinji Fukasaku and Sadao Nakajima, to direct their own versions of vehicular mayhem action features, both starring one of their key leading men Tsunehiko Watase. Nakajima’s effort was released in May, 1976 in the form of the stylish “A Savage Beast Goes Mad”, but it was Fukasaku’s output that came earlier, with “Violent Panic: The Big Crash” hitting theatres in February, 1976.

Bank robbers Yamanaka Takashi and Seki Mitsuo have been plaguing Japan, doing smash-and-grab jobs in banks across the country. The young and rebellious Midorikawa Michi, who Takashi has a soft spot for, keeps throwing a spanner in his plans but Takashi is determined to pull one last big job and retire to Brazil with the loot. The two robbers finalise on Kobe as that job, but when Mitsuo is killed while fleeing from the scene after...

By 1964, Kinji Fukasaku had been working as a director for only three years, but had already directed eight works. That year, however, is an important one in the famed director’s long and illustrious career. For one, it gave him one of his early box office hits in “Jakomon and Tetsuo”, which starred Ken Takakura, then an actor freshly making his name and secondly, it also saw the release of what is now considered amongst his early career masterworks, the film noir tinted “Wolves, Pigs and Men”, a feature that may not have done well at the box-office upon release due to extenuating circumstances but would have an impact not just on his career but also his personal life.

Set in post-war Japan, “Wolves, Pigs and Men” follows three brothers. Ichiro, the eldest, abandoned the family to join the yakuza for a life of comfort and luxury. Jiro, the middle brother,...

By 1964, Kinji Fukasaku had been working as a director for only three years, but had already directed eight works. That year, however, is an important one in the famed director’s long and illustrious career. For one, it gave him one of his early box office hits in “Jakomon and Tetsuo”, which starred Ken Takakura, then an actor freshly making his name and secondly, it also saw the release of what is now considered amongst his early career masterworks, the film noir tinted “Wolves, Pigs and Men”, a feature that may not have done well at the box-office upon release due to extenuating circumstances but would have an impact not just on his career but also his personal life.

“Wolves, Pigs and Men” is released by Eureka Entertainment and Film Movement

Set in post-war Japan, “Wolves, Pigs and Men” follows three brothers. Ichiro, the eldest, abandoned the family to join...

Around 1976, Toei Studios showed the money to two of its star directors, Kinji Fukasaku and Sadao Nakajima, to direct their own versions of vehicular mayhem action features, both starring one of their key leading men Tsunehiko Watase. Nakajima’s effort was released in May, 1976 in the form of the stylish “A Savage Beast Goes Mad”, but it was Fukasaku’s output that came earlier, with “Violent Panic: The Big Crash” hitting theatres in February, 1976.

“Violent Panic: The Big Crash” is released by Film Movement

Bank robbers Yamanaka Takashi and Seki Mitsuo have been plaguing Japan, doing smash-and-grab jobs in banks across the country. The young and rebellious Midorikawa Michi, who Takashi has a soft spot for, keeps throwing a spanner in his plans but Takashi is determined to pull one last big job and retire to Brazil with the loot. The two robbers finalise on Kobe as that job, but...

Stars: Vic Morrow, Sonny Chiba, Etsuko Shihomi, Philip Casnoff, Peggy Lee Brennan, Tetsurô Tanba, Mikio Narita, Makoto Satô, Seizô Fukumoto, Hiroyuki Sanada | Written by Kinji Fukasaku, Shotaro Ishinomori, Hirô Matsuda | Directed by Kinji Fukasaku

Message from Space, directed by Kinji Fukasaku, is a Japanese science fiction film that blends traditional space opera tropes with unique cultural elements, delivering a visually captivating yet narratively uneven experience. Released in the wake of the monumental success of Star Wars, this film ambitiously seeks to carve out its own niche within the genre.

One of the standout features of Message from Space is its visual presentation. The film showcases an impressive array of special effects for its time, with meticulously designed spacecraft and vibrant alien landscapes that reflect a distinctively Japanese aesthetic. The miniature models and practical effects, though not as polished as those in Hollywood blockbusters, possess a charming quality that adds to the film’s retro-futuristic appeal.

Experience

A “Friends”-themed exhibition and experience is setting up home permanently in London. Inspired by the iconic sitcom, The Friends Experience is set to open in a purpose-built location at London’s ExCel center this summer ahead of the show’s 30th anniversary this year.

The experience features full-scale recreations of the show’s sets, from Monica and Rachel’s apartment to the infamous “Pivot!” scene complete with couch, as well as costumes, backdrops, props and memorabilia. Guests can recreate some of their favorite on-screen moments and enjoy themed food and drinks as well as exclusive merch.

It has been created by Warner Bros. Discovery Global Themed Entertainment, Original X Productions and Warner Bros. Television Group and is operated by U.K.-based The Luna Entertainment Group. Tickets can be purchased at www.FriendsTheExperience.com/London.

Homecoming

Philippines-born filmmaker Isabel Sandoval (Venice title “Lingua Franca”) has wrapped principal photography on her new film “Moonglow.

Hiroyuki Sanada has been honing his acting skills for over fifty years, having started when he was six years old. He landed his first role opposite the celebrated Japanese actor and martial artist Sonny Chiba in Game of Chance. Since then, the Tokyo-born actor, 63, has barely decelerated.

Hiroyuki Sanada in Shōgun (Credit: FX)

That being said, we cannot overlook the brilliant performance he gave in Rachel Kondo & Justin Marks’ Shōgun. As Lord Yoshii Toranaga, he practically steals every scene of the FX series. Unfortunately, the 10-episode series is over, but he has starred in a number of similar flicks that are well worth your time.

Nevertheless, Sanada’s résumé includes a number of stellar but lesser-known roles. Rest assured, if you enjoy his portrayal of Lord Toranaga, here are three must-see films starring the talented actor that will satisfy your craving for more of his compelling performances.

1. The Twilight Samurai...

The 2000s saw the action genre in a state of flux. The Matrix revolutionized everything at the end of the previous decade, The Bourne Supremacy would make shaky cameras standard practice in 2004, and the MCU would take flight with Iron Man in 2008. At the same time, Michael Bay reached his ultimate form with Bad Boys II, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Kill Bill made kung fu classy, and Oldboy changed the way we look at hallways.

Within those changes came a host of greats that didn’t get the same attention. Some of these movies represent the first steps in the development of those who would define the genre, such as Scott Adkins and Gareth Evans. Some find stars at the height of the powers, such as Donny Yen and Michael Jai White. And some are just cool, because that’s really all an action movie needs.

If you’ve...

The Jitsuroku eiga, as established essentially by Kinji Fukasaku's “Yakuza Papers”, is one of the most interesting trends in Japanese cinema, with the combination of realism regarding the lives of the yakuza after the war and the intense violence and sex creating a truly explosive combination that remains entertaining until this day. “A True Story of the Private Ginza Police”, which was released in the same year as “Battles Without Honour and Humanity” is a prominent sample of the category, as much as of Junya Sato's style.

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After a series of some footage stills that point towards a documentary, the film actually begins with a scene that sets up the tone of the whole thing quite eloquently. Watarai, a former soldier, returns to Tokyo in 1946, where he finds his wife having sex with a black GI, while...

Revolution+1.On July 8, 2022, Shinzo Abe, who had been the longest-serving prime minister of Japan in its postwar years, was shot and killed in broad daylight in a country with barely any civilian access to firearms. The suspect was immediately arrested, and commentators from all over the world began to speculate about the killer’s motive. After a few days, the police revealed that the 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami, who had built his own gun and tracked Abe’s movements, had not originally planned to kill Abe. In fact, the most high-profile political assassination in decades was carried out by a man who cared little for politics. Legendary Japanese filmmaker Masao Adachi, sensing a story sure to be misconstrued by the press, immediately began production on a biopic—not of Abe, but of Yamagami. At the North American premiere of the film, Revolution+1 (2023), last July, he said that this quick turnaround was not intended to garner controversy,...

Kinji Fukasaku's last film was a production worthy of his lifetime achievements in the field, since “Battle Royale” caused much controversy; it was banned outright or deliberately excluded from distribution in several countries, but at the same time, it also influenced a great number of movies and many filmmakers, including Quentin Tarantino and “The Hunger Games”.

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At the beginning of the new millennium, unemployment has reached 15 percent, with 10 million people left without a job, while school violence has reached unprecedented levels. In order to control the youth, the desperate government votes in the ‘Battle Royale' law, which states that each year, students from a randomly chosen class will be transferred to a secluded island where they will have to fight to the death, to the last person standing.

The story, which is based upon the homonymous novel by Takami Koushun,...

Mubi’s retrospective Takeshi Kitano: Destroy All Yakuza—featuring Violent Cop, Boiling Point, and Outrage Coda—is now showing in the United States, Canada, and select countries.Kubi.The presidential suite of the Grand Hotel Yerevan sits at the end of an amber-lit, carpeted corridor. The door comes fitted with its own CCTV camera, the concierge proudly gloats as an elevator slingshots us several floors above the ground, “so guests can feel safer.” Not that the current occupant has much to worry about. Guarding the suite on this exceptionally hot July afternoon is a small platoon of suit-clad Japanese men, looking equally stern and jet-lagged. The lucky few who get to pad in and out of the room do so in reverential silence, and even those outside speak in hushed voices, lest he should be disturbed. "He" is somewhere in the suite right now, and his name is Takeshi Kitano.

In the 1960s, director Kinji Fukasaku created what would be the ultimate yakuza-sage for years to come with his “Battles Without Honor and Humanity”-series. While the various features of the series can be regarded as great entertainment on the one hand, they gain much more value when considered as a reflection on human greed, power and manipulation. Over the course of his career, director Takeshi Kitano has made quite a number of features, such as “Sonatine” or “Brother”, which would blend these themes with a certain poetic or philosophical approach, depending on your point of view. However, with the “Outrage”-series, he attempted to create his own version of Fukasaku's epic, albeit with a much more cynical undertone.

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The second entry into the “Outrage”-series, “Beyond Outrage”, takes place five years after the incidents of “Outrage”, with the...

Blue Lock draws inspiration from Koushun Takami's Battle Royale, incorporating elements such as a cruel authority figure and the rapid friendships and betrayals seen in sports. Unlike Squid Game, Blue Lock and Battle Royale feature government-selected participants, highlighting themes of government overreach and control. Blue Lock and Battle Royale both satirize the Japanese government's totalitarian urges and their desire to shape the youth to suit their goals.

Blue Lock has cemented itself as one of the most popular new series of the last few years. The over-the-top soccer series has resonated with anime and manga fans, even those who don't usually care about soccer. During this meteoric rise to fame, the show has been frequently compared to Squid Game, the death game series that became a surprise smash hit in 2021. However, while the comparison is understandable, it's slightly off, as Blue Lock is much closer to another legendary death game franchise,...

Ever had that late-night itch for a cinematic scare, only to find yourself tired of the same old slashers and ghost stories? Enter J-Horror, the dazzling (and terrifying) world of Japanese horror. Filled with vengeful spirits, hair-raising urban legends, and a unique cultural zest, J-Horror has secured its spine-chilling reputation on a global scale.

If you’re not quite up-to-speed with terms like ‘Yūrei’* or haven’t been thoroughly traumatized by a cursed videotape yet, you’re in for a treat! We’re about to embark on a roller coaster ride of the very best Japanese Horror (or ‘J-Horror’ for those in the know) that promises more thrills than a Tokyo karaoke night gone awry. So grab your safety blanket; it’s about to get eerily entertaining!

*Yūrei (幽霊): spirits or ghosts in Japanese folklore, often likened to Western notions of restless ghosts. Characterized by white funeral garments, long unkempt black hair,...

Few American filmmakers of the last 40 years await a major rediscovery like Hal Hartley, whose traces in modern movies are either too-minor or entirely unknown. Thus it’s cause for celebration that the Criterion Channel are soon launching a major retrospective: 13 features (which constitutes all but My America) and 17 shorts, a sui generis style and persistent vision running across 30 years. Expect your Halloween party to be aswim in Henry Fool costumes.

Speaking of: there’s a one-month headstart on seasonal programming with the 13-film “High School Horror”––most notable perhaps being a streaming premiere for the uncut version of Suspiria, plus the rare opportunity to see a Robert Rodriguez movie on the Criterion Channel––and a retrospective of Hong Kong vampire movies. A retrospective of ’70s car movies offer chills and thrills of a different sort

Six films by Allan Dwan and 12 “gaslight noirs” round out the main September series; The Eight Mountains,...

Is there anything scarier than being a teenager? Bd has learned that the Criterion Channel will be launching their 13-film High School Horror collection on September 1!

The streaming service previews, “Relive your high school nightmares with these tales of terror unleashed in classrooms, gyms, locker-lined halls, and cafeterias, where psychotic slashers and supernatural monsters pursue jocks, nerds, and prom queens alike.

“The everyday fears of adolescence—social anxiety! changing bodies!—have inspired some of horror cinema’s most giddily bloodthirsty visions, from VHS-era exploitation shockers like Massacre at Central High and Slumber Party Massacre to ’90s teen-movie touchstones like I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Faculty and cult favorites like Donnie Darko and Battle Royale.”

Of particular note, Dario Argento’s Suspiria will be included in the collection, marking the worldwide streaming premiere of the restored uncut version from Synapse Films!

The full “High School Horror” lineup includes…...

1973 signaled Sadao Nakajima's first and last collaboration with Atg, with “Aesthetics of a Bullet” featuring some of the trademark elements of the company, including punk aesthetics, a genuine anti-hero, social commentary, while the artistic freedom Atg always granted its filmmakers, allowed Nakajima to retain his favorite Yakuza theme and include intense exploitation elements.

The movie starts with a rather impressive scene, where under a loud punk track that is also an ode to the overall punk philosophy, Nakajima sets the frame the story of the movie takes place in, showing people overbying, overeating, overpolluting while enjoying themselves in sex shows and hostess clubs. The protagonist, Kiyoshi Koike, is a direct product of this setting, as we first meet him peddling supposedly dwarf-rabbits on the street, only to make enough money to waste on drinking and gambling. His girlfriend, a prostitute, loves him dearly and is even willing to continuously...

Amazon Freevee is packed to the gills with free-to-watch movies and TV shows, and the streaming app now boasts a few original productions of its own, but when there’s so much choice at your fingertips, how do you decide what’s worth your precious eyeball time?

If you’re on the lookout for a hidden sci-fi gem to check out, we’ve got you! This list sorts the science fiction wheat from the science fiction chaff, and we’ll be updating it regularly to make sure all the best options are still available, while adding any new gems that appear on the streaming service in the future.

Daybreakers

Daybreakers is one of the most overlooked vampire movies of the modern era, but its sci-fi elements really do shine and its clinical vibes are not what you’d expect from your average bloodsucker tale. It’s inventive, entertaining, and definitely worth a look.

Sadao Nakajima passed away from pneumonia on 11th June, 2023. He was 88 years old. Active as a director until just four years before his passing, Nakajima left behind legacy of work that most directors would dream of. Alongside Kinji Fukasaku and Junya Sato, he is credited as being one of the main names to define the Yakuza genre, with some of his greatest works coming within that genre for Toei Studios, showcasing a range of styles and narrative complexities while at it. Outside of the yakuza genre as well though, Nakajima made a number of terrific features, mixing a range of genres and filmmaking styles effectively over an illustrious career that lasted a little under 60 years, starting from his debut in 1964 all the way until his swansong in 2019.

Without further ado, we list 12 essential films by Sadao Nakajima that are not in the Yakuza genre, in chronological order.

1. Female Ninja Magic...

Many of us rely heavily on streaming services to watch the latest releases as well as memorable films from the 2000s. However, the evolution of the cinema age has always been prior to the 1990s, when CGI played a minimal role, rendering the efforts of films indescribable. While many streaming platforms, such as Hulu, often bring old classics to the audiences, it still feels somewhat lacking, which is where Arrow comes in.

Arrow Films is a film distributor based in England that has grown tremendously since its inception in 1991, mainly specializing in horror and classic films. As it continues to expand its catalog, it adds new movies every month, and July is no exception. Recently, Arrow Films released its cutting-edge cult cinema lineup for this month, which ranges from Bruce Lee's most influential films to mafia classics worth rewatching, and we're here to give you a rundown on the best ones from the schedule.

Arrow Video has announced the July 2023 lineup of their subscription-based Arrow platform, available to subscribers in the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland.

Here’s everything you need to know…

July 7 starts the month in sun and fun with the “Permanent Vacation” Collection (UK/Ire/US/CA). In desperate need of a vacay? Well, be careful who you book with, because the flicks trips in Permanent Vacation are dream holidays that you’ll never return from.

Featuring murderous mini-breaks and sun, sea, sand and psychos, these gory getaways feature everything from island paradises full of monsters and mutants to nature breaks from the rat race that will be the death of you. So, pack your sunglasses and flip-flops, but don’t bother buying a return ticket, because you’re going on a Permanent Vacation.

Titles Include: Horrors of Malformed Men, Lake Michigan Monster, The Wind.

Also on July 7, subscribers are...

The Battles Without Honor and Humanity series is the gold standard when it comes to movies about the Yakuza, which - for people not in the know - might be most simply defined as Japan's equivalent of the mafia. Sometimes, the series is known as The Yakuza Papers, but honestly, Battles Without Honor and Humanity just sounds a lot cooler. There were a total of eight main films in the series, all somehow made between 1973 and 1976. Even more impressively, all eight were directed by Kinji Fukasaku, and each starred Bunta Sugawara.

Arrow Offers Classic and Cutting Edge Cult Cinema - July 2023 Lineup Includes Spaghetti Westerns, a Trip Through History, the Inspiration of Josh Ruben and More!: "London, UK - Arrow Video is excited to announce the July 2023 lineup of their subscription-based Arrow platform, available to subscribers in the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland.

July 7 starts the month in sun and fun with Permanent Vacation (UK/Ire/US/CA).

In desperate need of a vacay? Well, be careful who you book with, because the flicks trips in Permanent Vacation are dream holidays that you’ll never return from.

Featuring murderous mini-breaks and sun, sea, sand and psychos, these gory getaways feature everything from island paradises full of monsters and mutants to nature breaks from the rat race that will be the death of you. So, pack your sunglasses and flip-flops, but don’t bother buying a return ticket, because you...

The Film

When Battle Royale came out in 2000, I was 19 and just really getting into foreign language films. Like many of my generation of cinephiles, it was an early part of my DVD collection. While I enjoyed it though, I have to confess that I’ve not been back to it for over 15 years, and I never used it as a jumping off point to discover more of its director Kinji Fukasaku’s work. On this evidence, that was an error.

After a failed rebellion in which 37,000 Christians are massacred, their leader Amakusa Shiro (Kenji Sawada) returns from the dead, pledges his soul to the Devil and becomes a demon who can resurrect others to join him in his quest for vengeance. This is an interesting jumping off point for the film, because for much of the opening half hour, as Shiro gathers his band of demons (including swordmaster Miyamoto Musashi...

Sadao Nakajima passed away from pneumonia on 11th June, 2023. He was 88 years old. Active as a director until just four years before his passing, Nakajima left behind legacy of work that most directors would dream of. Alongside Kinji Fukasaku and Junya Sato, he is credited as being one of the main names to define the Yakuza genre, with some of his greatest works coming within that genre, showcasing a range of styles and narrative complexities while at it. Having joined Toei Studio in 1959, he worked primarily at Toei's Kyoto studio, despite running his contract out and going independent in 1967. In fact, the majority of the titles we list here are productions from after he left Toei as a contracted director and yet continued to work for the Studio as a freelancer, likely because of the freedom it provided him and his relationship with their existing roster of actors and crew,...

by Nathan Stuart

On June 11 2023, Sadao Nakajima sadly passed away in Kyoto after a bout of pneumonia at the age of 88. He leaves behind a rich and deep cinematic legacy, one that has rightly been praised in his home of Japan, but one that has never received its proper recognition in the West, much in part to his work being overshadowed, ironically, by that of his friend Kinji Fukasaku. Outside of niche circles of fans who have zealously consumed as much of his work as possible via bootlegs, not much has been said or written about Nakajima, despite his 1976 Jitsuroku classic ‘Okinawa Yakuza War' already having a cult following, even without a legitimate disc release.

Born in Togane City in 1934, he lost his father at the age of 10 to the Second World War and would go on to graduate from Tokyo Metropolitan Hibiya High School in 1954, before spending a further...

By Earl Jackson

In 1939, Sadaho Maeda was born in Fukuoka, the third of five children to an Imperial Army pilot and a retired track-and field runner. While still a toddler, the family moved to Chiba Prefecture where Sadaho grew up. Perhaps that location was the inspiration of the publicity people at Toei in 1960 to rename this “new face” – Shin'ichi Chiba. He became a teen favorite as a “funky hat” detective in a series directed by Kinji Fukasaku, and then gained another fan base with his pursuit of serious martial arts training. Chiba was already a powerhouse by the time the three “Street Fighter” films in 1974 introduced him to the world as Sonny Chiba.

If the world had granted him more time, Toru Murakawa's “Game Trilogy” in 1978-1979, might have done the same for Yusaku Matsuda. Although it was always already too late for Matsuda, we now have time to...

In the early ’90s, Japan’s Takeshi “Beat” Kitano was on a roll, with a superb string of nuanced crime movies that stood in stark contrast to the good-vs.-evil bullet operas that were coming out of Hong Kong at the time. Kitano’s darkly funny cynicism (who else could have made Violent Cop?) made him stand out by miles, but it soon became his weakness, as became evident in the lean period after the success of Zatoichi in 2013. The experimental, semi-autobiographical trilogy that followed — Takeshis’, Glory to the Filmmaker and Achilles and the Tortoise — seemed to offer little more than self-sabotage, the work of a frustrated artist trying to take a blowtorch to his populist image without much thought for the future.

The collateral damage was his international reputation, which took a hit to the extent that his next trilogy, the Outrage series, generally was received as the half-hearted work of a bored auteur.

Samurai Reincarnation [Makai TENSHŌ] (Masters of Cinema) Special Edition Blu-ray is available to Pre-order now from the Eureka Store http://bit.ly/42x5ua2

In the aftermath of a failed rebellion, Amakusa Shiro (Kenji Sawada) is crucified, but returns as a vengeance-filled demon with the power to resurrect the dead. Shiro uses his power to assemble a team of undead warriors—including legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi (Ken Ogata)—and the only one who can stop them is the wandering samurai, Yagyu Jubei (Sonny Chiba).

A spectacular chanbara fantasy epic from Kinji Fukasaku (Battle Royale), Samurai Reincarnation makes its UK debut from a stunning 2K restoration as part of the Masters of Cinema series.

Special Edition Blu-ray Features:*

Limited Edition Slipcase (First print run of 2000 copies) featuring artwork by Takato Yamamato | 1080p presentation on Blu-ray from a 2K restoration of the original film elements | Uncompressed original Japanese mono audio | Alternate English dubbed audio...

Emerging from the rubble of two war-ending weapons of mass destruction as well as its own barbarism, Japan was reduced to its knees. With a cascade of constitutional changes at the hands of their occupiers, as well as the liberation of so-called “Sangokujin” whom Japan had spent the century systematically oppressing and obliterating, the people looked on in punishment as their country underwent rapid reformation once again. It is against this backdrop Rikio Ishikawa (a soul-destroyingly evil performance from Tetsuya Watari), the son of a country humiliated beyond defeat, the product of the pillaging of a national identity, violently defies salvation as a modern-day Ryunosuke Tsukue in Kinji Fukasaku’s most abyssal picture of his ferociously graphic career; enter the “Graveyard of Honour”.

Following Ishikawa’s tumultuous descent into oblivion over the span of the Japanese Occupation, “Graveyard of Honour “endeavours to plunder the lowest depths of immorality, deliberately finding...

This month’s installment of Deep Cuts Rising features a variety of horror movies. Some selections reflect a specific day or event in February, and others were chosen at random.

Regardless of how they came to be here, or what they’re about, these past movies can generally be considered overlooked, forgotten or unknown.

From a killer bear to a man-eating demon, here are five hidden horror gems and deep cuts that you can check out in February 2023.

Trapped (1973)

Directed by Frank De Felitta.

In this offering from ABC Movie of the Week, James Brolin plays a divorced father looking for a certain gift for his daughter. Had he not tried to thwart a mugging, though, his character might have been able to deliver the gift on time. Instead, the protagonist is rendered unconscious until he wakes up alone in the mall. Well, not completely alone because the grounds are...

The Japanese entertainment industry has lost a truly marvelous talent. On January 15th, 2023, versatile character actor Noboru Mitani passed away at the age of 90. On the website Yahoo! Japan, Kyodo News reports the cause of death being “due to acute exacerbation of chronic heart failure”( Kyodo News 1). Mitani worked with an array of filmmakers, frequently appearing in the works of Kinji Fukasaku and Juzo Itami. He was also quite active in television and theatre. Tokusatsu fans may recognize him for his appearances in “Return of Ultraman,” “Ultraman Taro,” and “Space Sheriff Gavan,” while anime enthusiasts may remember him for voice acting in the series “Princess Tutu.” His wide range, colorful personality, and how real he could make his characters feel made him stand out as an actor. He also was often able to convey so much through his facial expressions alone, even in moments without dialogue.

Noboru Mitani and Hiroyuki Kawase...

Quentin Tarantino almost made a surreal cameo appearance in maligned sequel Battle Royale 2: Requiem. Tarantino has made no secret of his admiration for the original Battle Royale from director Kinji Fukasaku. The film saw a group of Japanese high school students being forced to play a life-or-death game on a remote island, with only one survivor allowed. The film was a disturbing, blood-soaked satire, and has become a cult favorite that has inspired everything from The Hunger Games movies to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. In a 2009 chat, Tarantino labeled Battle Royale his favorite movie that had emerged since he began his filmmaking career in the '90s.

Taking that praise a step further, he claims Battle Royale is the only movie he wished he had directed personally. Given how popular the original is, it might surprise some to learn a direct sequel even exists. Battle Royale 2 was released in 2003 and saw...

The beginning of the 1970s marked a critical period for the Japanese film industry, as it finally realized it had to come to terms with a changing audience that was more than willing to switch to foreign productions or the television set if their demands were not met. It was also the start of an incredibly creative period in mainstream cinema, with many directors suddenly concentrating on other genres or finally experiencing a kind of freedom they felt they had been denied before. With Kinji Fukasaku’s highly successful “Battles Without Honor and Humanity”-series becoming a new milestone within the Japanese gangster film, many wanted to have their piece of the success. Having collected experiences in many genres besides chanbara, which he still stayed somewhat faithful to in the coming decade, director Hideo Gosha turned to the yakuza genre too with features such as his 1974 effort “Violent City”, which even stars Bunta Sugawara,...

Produced in 1980, Kinji Fukasaku’s apocalyptic downer peers into the distant future of 1982 to imagine a virus wiping out the earth’s population. A number of civilians and military stationed in Antarctica survive—the plague can’t operate in cold temperatures. Fukasaku’s movie boasts a cast worthy of an Irwin Allen disaster movie, toplined by Sonny Chiba, Glenn Ford, and Chuck Conners. The American cut features a pessimistic finale while the Japanese version concludes on a more hopeful note.

The post Virus appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

The reality of the yakuza in Japan has changed significantly during the last decades, with their lives having nothing to do with what Kinji Fukasaku portrayed in the 70s. A number of the latest productions focus on this change and the current lives of the members of the “underworld”, with movies like the recent “Under the Open Sky” being one of the most prominent examples. Oudai Kojima also implements this approach, focusing, though, on the criminal practices of the current yakuza, through a rather dark approach.

Joint is screening at Camera Japan

After having served 2 years in prison, former yakuza Takeshi Ishigami spent two miserable years working on a construction site, building up funds before he returned to Tokyo with the help of Yasu, his best friend. He is determined to go straight and in order to do that, he decides to invest in a big data startup company. To raise the funds,...

After three features which focused on Japanese media, society and the cult surrounding his own persona, director Takeshi Kitano decided to return to the yakuza-genre with “Outrage”, which was the start of a trilogy of movies about the inner turmoil of a criminal syndicate. Given the commercial failure of works such as “Takeshis’” and “Achilles and the Tortoise”, this decision was perhaps also fueled by the idea of winning back the kind of audience that got to know the filmmaker through “Sonatine”, “Brother” or “Hana-Bi”. While this premise does not actually sound like “Outrage” might be Kitano’s passion project, the movie itself, along with its successors, is easily one of the best works of the director and, at the very least, another look at the connections of organized crime and society.

on Amazon by clicking on the image below

After a meeting at the headquarters of the Sanno-kai,...

Many international viewers probably know filmmaker Kinji Fukasaku for his terrific dystopian action-thriller “Battle Royale,” a movie that blends dark comedy with tragedy and kickstarted a narrative concept that would continue to be frequently utilized in other fictional works. Some may associate him with his campy sci-fi features like “The Green Slime.” Yet, early on, the director gave Japanese audiences viscerally outspoken and bold features. Look no further than his yakuza film series “Battles Without Honor and Humanity,” which tears apart Japan’s most operative crime organizations. The director was never afraid to speak his mind on a matter, even if he were to receive criticism as a result. Fukasaku’s mindset is openly expressed in his haunting anti-war masterpiece “Under the Flag of the Rising Sun.”

on Amazon

The film is based on a collection of war short stories by Shoji Yuki. Beyond the source of adaptation,...