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Get ready for Takashi Miike summer. Charli xcx is set to star in and produce the next film from the prolific Japanese horror director, Variety understands.

The film marks the second project the multi-hyphenate — whose sixth studio album, “Brat,” continues to be a phenomenon — is producing through her new Studio365 banner, joining upcoming A24 movie “The Moment.” Though plot details are being kept under wraps, Miike is known for his depictions of extreme violence, as seen in his 1999 cult classic “Audition” and 2001’s “Ichi the Killer.” Ross Evans, whose script “How to Save a Marriage” is being developed for Sony with Robert Pattinson attached to produce, is penning the screenplay. Yumiko Aoyagi is co-writing.

Since launching “Brat” in June of last year — which earned the pop star three Grammys and was widely regarded as the best album of 2024 — Charli has turned her attention toward acting and producing, lining up an impressive array of projects.

Over the years Amp has conducted many interviews with director Toshiaki Toyoda and we have also reviewed all of his features to this point. While anyone who has started the journey into his filmography will quickly become a fan, it is quite astounding there is a lack of critical or academical literature on Toyoda. With the majority of essays and books being dedicated to the works of such esteemed filmmakers like Hirokazu Koreeda or Kiyoshi Kurosawa, the fact there is so very little out there outside of a the reviews, interviews and some booklets (probably published by Third Window), it is about time we need to take a closer look at the filmography of Toshiaki Toyoda, one of the most important directors currently working in Japan. This list is certainly not an essay, not should it be considered the start of a longer work on Toyoda, it rather aims to...

If you think about the sorts of genres movies about samurai fall into, it’s understandable to think about epics (Seven Samurai), grim dramas (Harakiri), or maybe even Hollywood action movies (like The Last Samurai). Stories about samurai and samurai times can do a bit of everything when it comes to genre and tone, and that includes samurai movies sometimes also functioning as comedies.

The IMDb top-250 is a curious portrait of populist taste. The list is, it's worth remembering, culled only from user ratings on the IMDb website, and, judging by the films on the list, the average IMDb user seems to be a college-age white male with a taste for crime, guns, fantasy, and the ultra-masculine. The top movies on the list all seem to be the types of movies that young men would own posters for, proudly displayed on their dorm room walls. There are many unassailable classics, to be sure, and young teens could easily look to the list as a rudimentary introduction to the world of cinema, but the list seems ... skewed. There's not a lot of variety. It's not curated by a single critic, nor even a panel of critics. It's just a general consensus of the taste of the types of people who like to rate movies on IMDb.

Path of Exile 2’s developers are back to nerfing abilities just 2 days after the game’s launch, even after promising the stark opposite. Grinding Gear Games have been criticized in the past, countless times, for coming up with nerfs that make the gameplay imbalanced.

Ggg fails to stand up to its promises. Image Credit: Grinding Gear Games

Addressing this issue, it had promised players that Path of Exile 2 would not be inflicted with the same fate. However, the promises did not hold up for even 2 days as Ggg is already planning to nerf one ability, or rather an interaction, that has become too overpowered in its opinion.

Path of Exile 2’s Developers Tread on A Path of Broken Promises The Nerf is focused on fixing the gas cloud explosion. Image Credit: Grinding Gear Games

The future of Path of Exile 2 is looking grim at the moment. The developer feels that...

The Arpg genre is having what we might call a “midlife crisis” – and it’s getting spicy. While Diablo 4 players continue their exodus in search of greener pastures (or at least more engaging endgame content), two contenders are stepping into the ring with updates that might just make Sanctuary feel like yesterday’s news.

The genre will soon be locked in a three-way Mexican standoff. | Image Credit: Grinding Gear Games

In one corner stands Last Epoch, the plucky underdog that’s been steadily winning hearts throughout 2024 with its blend of classic Arpg mechanics and modern sensibilities. In the other, Path of Exile 2 looms large, ready to shake up the genre when it launches into early access this weekend.

And speaking of shaking things up—Ehg’s latest announcement for Last Epoch‘s Season 2 reads like a wishlist of quality-of-life improvements that even the most jaded Arpg veteran couldn’t ignore.

Harakiri contains a "highly realistic" fight scene, according to an expert. Directed by Masaki Kobayashi, the 1962 Japanese jidaigeki film follows a rnin who requests to perform seppuku, also called harakiri, at a feudal lord's manor and uses the moment to recount the circumstances that led him to seek death in front of an audience of samurai, set between 1619 and 1630 during the Edo period under the Tokugawa shogunate. The film's cast includes Tatsuya Nakadai, Rentar Mikuni, Shima Iwashita, Tetsur Tamba, Ichir Nakatani, Kei Sat, and Yoshio Inaba.

In an Insider video, a martial arts and katana instructor, Seki Nobuhide Sensei, rated the portrayal of samurai battles in movies and TV shows, including the scene in Harakiri in which the protagonist battles multiple opponents at once. Watch the portion of the video below, starting at the 20:36 minute mark:

Seki Nobuhide Sensei praised the scene's realism, highlighting the protagonist's strategic movements to...

Blake Lively has always had a fraught relationship with her Hollywood career arc. After establishing herself on the silver screen with The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants in 2005, Lively’s career began to chart a sine-wave across the years that followed. Besides a few well-received projects like The Shallows and A Simple Favor, Lively has had hard luck trying to strike big as the lead.

Blake Lively in It Ends With Us [Credit: Sony Pictures]

After failing to score a win with her last big feature number, The Rhythm Section, Blake Lively returns 4 years later to widespread criticism and mass outrage with the adaptation of It Ends With Us. Although set for an assured win due to its large number of BookTok-inspired followers, no one could have predicted the harrowing press tour that would derail the entire film’s reputation even before it launched in theaters.

Blake Lively Sets a Bad...

During the 30th Sarajevo Film Festival (Aug. 16 to 23), CineLink, the festival’s industry program, will present its work-in-progress showcase. This includes eight feature-length fiction and one documentary film in the production or post-production stages from Southeast Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

Among those competing are Alisa Kovalenko, who was in competition in Sarajevo last year for “We Will Not Fade Away,” which also screened at the Berlinale; Adrian Sitaru, named best director at Locarno with “Best Intentions“; Tarik Aktas, who took best emerging director at Locarno with “Dead Horse Nebula”; Ralitza Petrova, winner of the Golden Leopard for best film at Locarno with “Godless“; Maya Vitkova, who competed at Sundance with “Viktoria“; and Ana Urushadze, who took best first feature at Locarno for “Scary Mother.”

The projects will be presented to funders, sales agents, distributors, broadcasters and festival programmers with the aim of driving forward their completion and boosting their distribution chances.

Due to Akira Kurosawa and Masaki Kobayashi's directorial prowess within the samurai genre, crafting a list of the greatest samurai films of all time is essentially just assembling the best works by Kurosawa and Kobayashi. Nine of the 32 films Kurosawa directed were within the samurai genre and each of the nine is iconic enough to qualify as one of the genre's very best. Kobayashi's two seminal samurai movies, Harakiri and Samurai Rebellion, are also undeniable masterworks of the genre that arguably belong among the top five samurai movies ever made.

While Kurosawa and Kobayashi's samurai films are more well-known to Western audiences, the samurai genre has a plethora of other brilliant movies that are formative works of Japanese cinema. Auteurs such as Hiroshi Inagaki, Hideo Gosha, Kihachi Okamoto, and Kenji Misumi played an equally important role in the development of the samurai genre as Kurosawa and Kobayashi. Films such as The Sword of Doom,...

In Shogun's well-paced finale, Toranaga masterfully outmaneuvers the Regents to lead Japan into a new era of peace without shedding blood. Blackthorne's self-realization in Japan's culture leads to personal growth as he accepts his place in the country's larger story in Shogun's concluding episode. Shogun's finale expertly showcases the series as a strategic game of chess, hinting at more to come in Japan's future.

Warning: Spoilers for Shogun.Based on the novel of the same name by James Clavell, FX’s Shogun finally concluded this week with masterful execution and pacing. Following the literal explosive ending of the season’s penultimate episode, its finale was rather subdued, which wasn’t a bad thing. There was no epic battle to kick-start the impending civil war. Instead, the show relied on numerous character-driven moments in order to conclude its story and potentially set up the series for another season,...

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Shōgun episode 9.

Mariko's tragic family backstory is further revealed in Shgun episode 9, leading to a heartbreaking climax for her character. Lady Mariko's son, Toda Ryji, takes a stand against her decision to leave Osaka and commit seppuku, showing a shift in loyalty and family dynamics. Mariko's death in Shgun episode 9 highlights the sacrifices she made to regain the honor of her true family in a tragic ending.

One specific detail in Shōgun episode 9 "Crimson Sky" reaffirms just how tragic Lady Mariko's family backstory is. The penultimate episode of Shōgun featured a shocking Mariko twist that has set the stage for what should be an exceptional season finale. Despite Toranaga not appearing at all in Shōgun episode 9, his presence was surely felt through Mariko's actions as she challenged Lord Ishido's authority and reunited with her old friend Ochiba-no-kata in Osaka. The Shōgun finale will premiere on Tuesday,...

Warning: This article contains Spoilers for Shōgun episode 9.

Lady Mariko's sacrifice in Shgun episode 9 was the show's most shocking and tragic scene. Mariko's death was tragic, though expected, given her backstory and desire for death throughout the series. Mariko's death in episode 9 stayed faithful to the original novel.

Shōgun episode 9 ends with the death of Lady Mariko in a shocking twist that raises the stakes for the upcoming series finale. Even though he is Shōgun’s main character, Lord Toranaga was not in episode 9. Instead, the episode was told almost entirely from Lady Mariko’s perspective and even included a flashback from before she converted to Christianity. Lady Mariko’s backstory, combined with her feelings for the Anjin and her duty to Toranaga, led to the most emotional episode of Shōgun so far. Unfortunately, it concluded with Mariko’s death after she chose to sacrifice herself to complete her mission.

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Shōgun episode 8.

The following article contains discussion of suicide.

Shgun's depiction of seppuku in the show is somewhat exaggerated. The term "seppuku" likely wouldn't have been used by figures in the time period the show depicts. Seppuku is more commonly associated with major treason when a person was likely going to be executed anyway.

A historian analyzes the accuracy of Shōgun's depiction of seppuku. Loosely based on real events and serving as an adaptation of a novel by James Clavell, Shōgun follows Lord Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) and English sailor John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) as they become unlikely allies in a larger struggle for power in feudal Japan. The show doesn't shy away from depicting violence on screen, including seppuku, a form of ritual suicide in which a disgraced warrior will disembowel themselves before then being beheaded.

In a recent interview with Time, Princeton University professor Thomas...

We recently learned that five years after Dragged Across Concrete, S. Craig Zahler will soon announce his next feature. In the meantime, the director has unveiled his favorite music, books, and––most pertinent to this site––films he watched in the past year.

The 21-movie list includes not only his ten favorites of the year but revival screenings as well, including Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky’s Werckmeister Harmonies, Kelly Reichardt’s Wendy and Lucy, Masaki Kobayashi’s Harakiri, Gaspar Noé’s Irreversible, Nagisa Ôshima’s The Pleasures of the Flesh, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria, and William Friedkin’s The Exorcist.

When it comes to new releases, amongst the favorites of the Bone Tomahawk director were Sean Durkin’s The Iron Claw, Skinamarink, Godzilla Minus One, the Indian action-thriller Jawan, films by Martin Scorsese and Jonathan Glazer, and the latest in the Saw franchise.

Check out the list below.

Godzilla Minus One...

The samurai genre in Japanese cinema has given rise to incredible films that explore society and cultural landscapes. Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai is arguably one of the greatest films ever produced and has had a major influence on Western cinema. Other notable samurai films include Throne of Blood, Yojimbo, Harakiri, and Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance, each exploring different themes and showcasing expert storytelling.

Some of the very best moments in Japanese cinema come from the samurai genre, and there are plenty of incredible movies to check out in this category. Telling dramatic and action-packed tales of brave and noble warriors, these movies are often dark and daring examinations of the society and cultural landscape out of which they are born. Portraying solitary figures with extraordinary martial arts abilities, clans of talented swordsmen, and a variety of sub-genres, the samurai film has also had a major influence on Western cinema.

Japanese genre auteur Takashi Miike is notorious for taking his cinema to extreme limits, whether that’s in terms of violence or sexual depravity. And over a career that spans three decades, he’s directed some classics: “Audition,” “Ichi The Killer,” the “Dead Or Alive” trilogy, and “Hara-Kiri,” just to name a few. Now the prolific director has another film on the way, and it sounds like a perfect fit for him.

Continue reading ‘Lumberback The Monster’ Trailer: Takashi Miike’s Latest Pits A Psychopathic Lawyer Against A Masked Serial Killer at The Playlist.

Experience the richness of world cinema with these classic foreign language films. From intense drama to thrilling action, each one offers an unforgettable cinematic experience that will stay with you long after watching. These iconic movies break boundaries while teaching viewers more about diverse cultures, so grab some popcorn today.

Related: 10 Best TV Movies of All Time, Ranked by Viewers

Foreign films have been inaccurately labeled as arrogant. However, these movies offer many genres, including action flicks, comedies, musicals, and thrillers. This list of best foreign movies includes those from non-English speaking countries but no silent films. This is your cinematic passport to the world’s movie scene.

10 Best Foreign Movies, Ranked on IMDb The Lives of Others (2006) – 8.4 Oldboy (2003) – 8.4 The Best of Youth (2003) – 8.5 Cinema Paradiso (1988) – 8.5 The Intouchables (2011) – 8.5 Parasite (2019) – 8.5 Harakiri (1962) – 8.6 Life Is Beautiful (1997) – 8.6 City of God (2002) – 8.6 Spirited Away (2001) – 8.6 10 The Lives of Others (2006)

IMDb: 8.4/10 396K | Popularity: 1,156 | Top 250: #58 | Metascore: 89

The Lives of Others...

It's hard to argue with the sheer enjoyability of the "John Wick" films. In what feels like a short time, Keanu Reeves and stuntman-turned-director Chad Stahelski have built an original franchise that stands apart from the sea of tried-and-true superhero slugfests. It'd be easy to credit Reeves' titular rogue killer as the main selling point, but the "John Wick" films also benefit from Stahelski's own keen eye for both high-octane action and rich worldbuilding.

The world of "John Wick" is a world built on intricate rules. The films prove that even killers have a code, and show the fresh hell that can break loose when that code is broken. It's the theme that's driven the franchise from the very beginning — and, as Stahelski recently told Total Film for their 2023 Preview, it's one that he borrowed from one of his favorite genres of all time.

Every Man's Got A Code

"I'm...

Harakiri is a revolutionary samurai film, and one that stands today as one of the very best movies of the 1960s. It centers on a man named Tsugumo Hanshirō who visits a clan of samurai, stating he wishes to commit the act of harakiri (also known as seppuku) in their presence. It's initially unclear why, but as he explains the story of his life, it becomes clear why Hanshirō has been driven into despair, and it's eventually revealed that he has an ulterior motive for visiting the clan.

Revenge is a popular theme in movies, with Netflix's latest feature, Do Revenge, tackling the subgenre by blending characters' quests with a Mean Girls flair. But compared to other revenge movies, it took the vengeance exploits to the next level by showing far more deception between two new friends, leading to one of the most shocking plot twists that changed the tempo.

Audiences continue to clamor for revenge movies as these kinds of films promise them a wronged character who is ready to do what it takes to get a taste of sweet revenge. Some of the best revenge movies released in the 2010s have the most intriguing plots and characters, from an assassin who seeks revenge for his dead dog to a woman who plots her cheating husband's downfall.

Hara-Kiri: Death Of A Samurai (2011) - 7.3 Stream On Vudu, Tubi, Plex, & Freevee

The 1962 Masaki Kobayashi film Harakiri has been...

Masaki Kobayashi was a filmmaker who was never afraid to speak his mind on a matter. He was always open with his mindset, regularly criticizing systematic corruption and violation of human rights throughout the majority of his filmography. He didn’t often direct jidaigeki cinema, but when he did, the director generally delivered a stellar picture. His haunting masterpiece “Harakiri” gives a darker examination of the flawed aspects of the Bushido Code. Kobayashi would bring corruption and humanism to the forefront in his excellent film “Samurai Rebellion.”

on Amazon by clicking on the image below

The original Japanese title for the feature translates to “Rebellion: Receive the Wife,” which is fitting, considering what transpires within the story. The movie is based on Yasuhiko Takiguchi’s short story “Hairyozuma shimatsu.” The screenplay is written by acclaimed screenwriter Shinobu Hashimoto, who had previously collaborated with Masaki Kobayashi on his samurai movie “Harakiri.

Arrow Video floors us with yet another well-curated Japanese masterpiece. For practical purposes, this disc might represent the Western premiere of Tomu Uchida’s three-hour ‘crime and punishment’ saga. Unfolding like a novel and filmed with an unusually gritty visual scheme called ‘the Toei W106 method,’ the story’s timeline is split between 1947 and 1957. It has a strong postwar social statement to make, but the overriding theme is one of spiritual Karma, and the function of guilt in imperfect humans. Several of the actors are just unforgettable, especially Rentarô Mikuni, Junzaburô Ban, and Ken Takakura.

A Fugitive from the Past

Blu-ray

Arrow Video

1965 / B&w / 2:35 widescreen / 183 min. / Street Date September 27, 2022 / Kiga kaikyô, Straits of Hunger / Available from Amazon / 39.95

Starring: Rentarô Mikuni, Sachiko Hidari, Ken Takakura, Junzaburô Ban, Kôji Mitsui, Yoshi Katô, Susumu Fujita, Akiko Kazami, Rin’ichi Yamamoto, Tadashi Suganuma.

Cinematography: Hanjirô Nakazawa

Special Effects: Sadao Uemura

Art Director: Mikio Mori...

Masaki Kobayashi’s six-part adaptation of the book by Jumpei Gomikawa may be the most ambitious, most truthful film about the big-picture reality of war. Idealist Tatsuya Nakadai thinks he can avoid complicity in human evil by volunteering as a civilian to manage a work camp in occupied Manchuria, only to find that he’s expected to starve and torture Chinese slave laborers. Resistance leads to his conscription in a brutal boot camp, and his deployment on the Northern front as the Russians invade leads to an extended struggle to survive amid mounting horrors. There’s no escape: the ‘human condition’ is that barbarity is a given, a constant. It’s nine hours of suffering that can change one’s world view.

The Human Condition

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 480

1959-61 / B&w / 2:39 anamorphic widescreen / 575 min. / Ningen no jôken / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date June 8, 2021 / 59.95

Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai,...

A film studio since 1920, Japan’s Shochiku has a back catalogue filled with works by master directors including Ozu Yasujiro and Kinoshita Keisuke as well as 1960s New Wave leaders Oshima Nagisa and Shinoda Masahiro and studio stalwart Yamada Yoji, maker of the enduringly popular Tora-san series.

Shochiku has been digitally remastering its classics in 4K for some time now and is bringing to FilMart four of the most recently restored titles in this ongoing project.

At (almost) the same time, the Hong Kong International Film Festival is laying on a ten-film tribute to the studio as a main plank of its 45th edition. Titles include: “The Masseurs and a Woman” (1938); Mizoguchi Kenji’s 1939 “The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum”; Kinoshita’s “Twenty-Four Eyes” (1954); Ozu’ “Equinox Flower” (1958); Kobayashi Masaki’s 1962 “Harakiri”; “Love Affair at Akitsu Spa” (1962); Yamada classic “The Yellow Handkerchief” (1977); Berlinale-winning “Gonza The Spearman” (1986); Oshima’s final feature “Gohatto...

Masaki Kobayashi is one of the most internationally recognized Japanese directors of his era, with many of his films still receiving continued and undiminished critical acclaim. The ghost anthology “Kwaidan”, the samurai films “Samurai Rebellion” and “Harakiri” and the anti-war epic “The Human Condition” are some of his films to remain highly regarded. In 1956, Kobayashi tackled the businesslike nature of Japan’s sports industry in a film with an extremely provoking title: “I Will Buy You”.

Daisuke Kishimoto is a talent scout working for the professional baseball team Toyo Flowers. He is sharp, no-nonsense and relentless in his ways to acquire new players for the team. His latest target is a promising pitcher, but the assignment fails when he finds out that the promising talent is recovering from losing a finger in an accident at the factory he works in. Kishimoto’s character is revealed further when...

3 February 2021 (Hong Kong) – The 45th Hong Kong International Film Festival will mark the 100th anniversary of Shochiku Cinema with a retrospective programme, showcasing ten masterpieces from ten revered Japanese maestros, including Ozu Yasujiro, Shimizu Hiroshi, Imamura Shohei, and Oshima Nagisa.

Founded in 1920, Shochiku is one of Japan’s oldest and most successful studios. A media giant that prided itself first and foremost as a director’s studio, Shochiku offered creative freedom with which formative filmmakers crafted their signature styles to perfection. From Japan’s first sound film, first colour film, first Oscar-winning film to the world’s longest-running film series, Shochiku transformed the cinematic landscape, leading to Japanese cinema’s rising profile globally.

The ten classics in this selection reflect Shochiku’s remarkable achievements over a century. Shimizu and Ozu, two pillars at the studio renowned for their spontaneous style, are exemplified in The Masseurs and a Woman (1938) and the...

Another Decade with Takashi Miike is a series of essays on the 2010s films of the Japanese maverick, following Notebook's earlier survey of Miike's first decade of the 21st century.In mid-2011, Takashi Miike unveiled two films in characteristically quick succession. Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai, a remake of Masaki Kobayashi’s seminal Harakiri (1962), premiered in May at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was the first 3-D movie ever to screen in competition. Two months later at the New York Asian Film Festival came Ninja Kids!!!, a live-action adaptation of the long-running anime series Nintama Rantarō (itself an adaptation of the manga series Rakudai Ninja Rantarō). These two films are plainly different from one another: Hara-Kiri is a grim movie intended for grown-up audiences, while Ninja Kids!!! is a bright, goofy film aimed principally at young children. At the same time, the movies have a surprising amount in common,...

After much thought, and taking into consideration the health of our guests and viewers, Nihon Media announced that Japan Filmfest Hamburg cannot take place this year as a traditional film festival – and will be online instead. Under the motto ‘Breaking Free – From Japan with Love’, Nihon Media will collaborate with Videocity to stream its entire programme of 70+ films in around 40 blocks globally from 19th of August to the 2nd of September.

The 2020 film programme features 70 current productions, from full-length feature films to experimental short films, including many German, European, and international premieres. Most of the films are shown in the original Japanese language with English subtitles. One special highlight of our programme is the gangster-ballad originally planned as the opening film for the 21st Jffh, “Paradise Next” (2018) from director and film composer Yoshihiro Hanno (“Flowers of Shanghai”). An atmospheric road-movie about the travels of three lost souls living on the edges of society,...

Films that focus on the rather harsh practices of Bushido have been aplenty among the jidai-geki, but “Sword of Desperation” seems to move the concept a step further, in a rather captivating (if too similar with “Harakiri”) story that is based on the homonymous novel by Hideyuki Kirayama.

The script unfolds in two time frames, both focusing on Kanemi Sanzaemon, a captain of the powerful daimyo Tabu Ukyou. As the film starts, we witness him killing his lord’s concubine, Renko, in a seemingly unwarranted action that has him, however, suffering only a minor punishment, of one-year house arrest. The second period takes place in the past, in essence explaining the reasons for his actions, mostly deriving from the huge influence Renko had on Ukyou, and the repercussions her decisions had.to both his household and the people he ruled. At the same time, we witness Sanzaemon’s relationship with his wife,...

Though considered to be a predominantly Eastern film genre, Samurai films have left an indelible impact on Western filmmaking. Influencing famous directors such as Quentin Tarantino and George Lucas, the genre helped to establish some long-held pop culture products now considered to be pillars of entertainment in Europe and North America.

Related: The 10 Biggest Jump Scares In Japanese Horror Movies, Ranked

Unfortunately, few aside from dedicated film buffs return to these black-and-white classics, and that's a definite shame, as, despite their age, they represent some of the best storytelling ever committed to film. From Hara-Kiri to Seven Samurai, these are the best of the best of the genre according to Rotten Tomatoes.

Updated on March 23rd, 2022 by Tanner Fox: In the modern era, samurai films are typically construed to be tropey and played out. Much like Spaghetti Western films, many consider films featuring katana-wielding warriors in feudal Japan to...

After the completion of his “The Human Condition”-trilogy in 1961 with “A Soldier’s Prayer”, Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi expressed interest in doing a samurai film, a jidaigeki. In retrospect, a director whose theme has always been the relationship of the individual and the system, the time and age could not have been better for a closer focus on that subject within a more historical context. Considering the following years would have re-discover the genre as a means to explore repressive regimes, codes and how these influence society and the character of a person, “Harakiri” fits perfectly in this time of Japanese cinema. Even though Kobayashi’s approach respects the tradition of the genre, there is an undeniable link to the times, the increasing sense of frustration with an inhumane system, which, in the end, makes his film one of the classics within Japanese film.

The story...

Can (intense) violence be used to communicate a message about antiviolence? If Shinya Tsukamoto begun giving a reply to this question with “Fires on the Plain”, this time, he gives a definite one, and in the most stunning matter.

“Killing” is screening at Art Film Fest Košice

After 250 years of peace, the idle samurais hear again the bells of war in the mid 19th century coming from Edo, as the “negotiations” with the Americans start taking place. Mokunoshin Tsuzuki is another masterless samurai, who earns his living by working in the rice paddies of an isolated farm, while honing his skills by sparring with the family’s son, Ichisuke, who dreams of becoming a samurai, despite the fact the he was born a peasant. At the same time, the beginning of a subtle romance seems to take place between Tsuzuki and Yu, the family’s daughter despite the fact that...

“Dissent is forbidden.”

As part of ongoing series giving insights into the diversity of Japanese film, Japan Society introduces audiences to a fresh look at the Japanese New Wave Movement which is mostly associated with names like Masahiro Shinoda or Nagisa Oshima. Eitaro Morikawa’s “The Tragedy of Bushido”, as part of this year’s series, is special in many ways, for it is the debut feature of its director and also the first jidaigeki film within the movement. Deeply embedded in the atmosphere of the time, it is a film about the conflict between the young and the old, about a system which has come to consume the young in order to live on.

In the 17th century, the powerful Honda clan fears for its reputation. After two of its members tried to escape from committing ritual suicide, its elders fear the Shogunate might intervene in what is a...

Can (intense) violence be used to communicate a message about antiviolence? If Shinya Tsukamoto begun giving a reply to this question with “Fires on the Plain”, this time, he gives a definite one, and in the most stunning matter.

Killing is screening at Five Flavours Festival

After 250 years of peace, the idle samurais hear again the bells of war in the mid 19th century coming from Edo, as the “negotiations” with the Americans start taking place. Mokunoshin Tsuzuki is another masterless samurai, who earns his living by working in the rice paddies of an isolated farm, while honing his skills by sparring with the family’s son, Ichisuke, who dreams of becoming a samurai, despite the fact the he was born a peasant. At the same time, the beginning of a subtle romance seems to take place between Tsuzuki and Yu, the family’s daughter despite the fact that the...

Above: Tony Stella’s illustration for an alternative poster for Suspiria for Alphaville.One of my favorite working movie poster illustrators is the Italian-born, Berlin-based artist Tony Stella, a true connoisseur of cinema as well as a prodigious and prolific artist. I profiled Tony in this column a few years ago. Tony recently joined forces with the designer known as Midnight Marauder to start the boutique movie poster design agency Alphaville, and since I recently asked Mm for his ten favorite movie posters it was only fair that I ask Tony too, a task he took up with alacrity.So, without further ado, here are Tony Stella’s ten favorite movie posters of all-time, in ascending order, with his own comments. His choices take us on a tour through some of the best movie poster illustration of the past 50 years.10. Get Carter (1971)“The number ten spot was a toss-up between...

Both a landmark and a source of much controversy, “Hiroshima” is one of those films where the background is as significant as the picture itself. Let us take things from the beginning, by quoting Joseph Anderson and Donald Richie’s “The Japanese Film”. “In 1953, the Japan Teachers Union decided to go in with Kaneto Shindo and make a film version of the bestselling “Children of the Atom Bomb” (Genbaku no Ko) by Arata Osada. Shindo made a faithful film version, using the name of the book, and showed the aftermath of the bomb without any vicious polemic. (…) The Union was not at all satisfied, saying that he had “made [the story] into a tear-jerker and destroyed its political orintation.” They decided to back another version which would this time “genuinely to help to fight to preserve peace.” They found their man in Hideo Sekigawa, who turned out “Hiroshima”. (…) The picture was financially...

Shinobu Hashimoto, a prominent scriptwriter, director and producer, best known for his work with Akira Kurosawa, died in Tokyo Thursday from pneumonia. He was 100.

During the war years Hashimoto studied scriptwriting under Mansaku Itami, a writer and director who was the father of actor/director Juzo Itami.

A Hashimoto script based on the Ryunosuke Akutagawa short story “In a Grove” caught the attention of Akira Kurosawa, who adapted it for his 1950 film “Rashomon.” After the film won the Golden Lion at the 1951 Venice Film Festival Hashimoto quit his job as a company employee and devoted himself full-time to writing.

He worked on “Ikiru,” “Seven Samurai,” “Throne of Blood,” and other films for Kurosawa, concluding with the 1970 drama “Dodes’ka-den.” Hashimoto also scripted for other directors, including Masaki Kobayashi and Kihachi Okamoto.

In 1958 “I Want to Be a Shellfish,” a post-World War II drama he scripted for the Krt (now TBS) network,...

We finally got a glimpse of “Shogun World” in the latest episode of “Westworld,” and the idea to mash up the two universes isn’t just a coincidence. There’s a long history of Westerns borrowing from samurai cinema and the other way around, with Akira Kurosawa studying the work of John Ford, which in turn led to many of Kurosawa’s movies to be remade as Spaghetti Westerns. The cowboy and the samurai are each lone wanderers in a lawless world, so it makes sense that the themes would crossover. Here are 10 instances in which the West met the East.

“The Magnificent Seven” (1960) and “Seven Samurai” (1954)

Akira Kurosawa’s landmark film “Seven Samurai” was highly influential on modern action cinema, but its most direct descendant was John Sturges’s “The Magnificent Seven,” starring Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and Eli Wallach. The film is a remake but represents...

If you ask me, Hell is the ultimate horror setting. Sure, creepy castles and abandoned outposts are great and all, but a realm of eternal torment just strikes me as a tad more terrifying. And of the major cultural interpretations of Hell out there, none are quite as grisly as the hell of Japanese Buddhism: Jigoku. Sure, there’s a way out of it, but the torments inflicted upon the damned in Jigoku make the ones Dante wrote about seem fit for children’s birthday parties. Jigoku consists of sixteen separate hells (eight “hot” and eight “cold”), with eight great hells that consist of tortures ranging from being charred in massive frying pans to being eternally smashed into paste and revived by massive rocks. It’s a brutal, depressing place where hope is faint and mercy can wait billions of years away. Naturally, it makes for a great topic for a horror movie.

Each month, the fine folks at FilmStruck and the Criterion Collection spend countless hours crafting their channels to highlight the many different types of films that they have in their streaming library. This April will feature an exciting assortment of films, as noted below.

To sign up for a free two-week trial here.

Monday, April 3 The Chaos of Cool: A Tribute to Seijun Suzuki

In February, cinema lost an icon of excess, Seijun Suzuki, the Japanese master who took the art of the B movie to sublime new heights with his deliriously inventive approach to narrative and visual style. This series showcases seven of the New Wave renegade’s works from his career breakthrough in the sixties: Take Aim at the Police Van (1960), an off-kilter whodunit; Youth of the Beast (1963), an explosive yakuza thriller; Gate of Flesh (1964), a pulpy social critique; Story of a Prostitute (1965), a tragic romance; Tokyo Drifter...

Want a nine-hour dose of the truth of existence so harrowing that it will make you feel grateful no matter how humble your situation? Masaki Kobayshi's epic of the real cost of war boggles the mind with its creeping revelations of cosmic bleakness. Yet all the way through you know you're experiencing a truth far beyond slogans and sentiments. The Human Condition Region B Blu-ray Arrow Academy (UK) 1959-61 / B&W / 2:35 anamorphic widescreen / 574 min. / Ningen no jôken / Street Date September 19, 2016 / Available from Amazon UK £ 39.99 Starring Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Chikage Awashima, Ineko Arima, Keiji Sada, So Yamamura, Kunie Tanaka, Kei Sato, Chishu Ryu, Taketoshi Naito. Cinematography Yoshio Miyajima Art Direction Kazue Hirataka <Film Editor Keiichi Uraoka Original Music Chuji Kinoshita Written by Zenzo Matsuyama, Masaki Kobayashi from the novel by Jumpei Gomikawa Produced by Shigeru Wakatsuki Directed by Masaki Kobayashi

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

The first Blu-ray of perhaps...

David’s Quick Take for the tl;dr Media Consumer:

Kill! is an entertaining and unusual take on the samurai/swordplay genre that plays for laughs many of the conventional tropes and set-ups common in the classic films from that tradition. I was fascinated observing how many of the fighting techniques, interpersonal conflicts, man vs. world showdowns and dramatic battle scenes that impact viewers with awe-inspiring tension can become a showcase of hilarity with just a slight exaggeration of tone, body language or facial expression (or simply cranking the fans that stir up dust clouds an extra notch or two.) Barking dialog that would come across as solemn and severe in more straightforward, traditional chanbara epics conveys much of the same surface meaning in advancing the story along in Kill! but also ends up generating a nice side helping of mirth in the process. Though at least one review considers...

Above: 1964 Czech poster for Darkness in Daytime (Zoltán Fábri, Hungary, 1964).In the world of Czech movie posters there is an abundance of riches. The website (and Prague-based brick and mortar store) Terry Posters, tireless keepers of the flame of Czech poster design, offers a seemingly endless source of graphic delight. Scrolling through its pages, posters will jump out at me not for their title (a large portion of Czech posters having been made for Eastern Bloc films that are still unknown here) or the name of the designer, but simply because of their wholly unusual and striking design.One such recent discovery was this startling collage above, reminiscent of Eyes without a Face: a supremely simple but haunting design that wipes the floor with most contemporary horror movie posters. The necklace-like title treatment is a nice touch too.Checking the name of the designer, Jan Cihla, I realized he...

Samurai Rebellion (original title: Joi-uchi: Hairyo tsuma shimatsu)

Written by Shinobu Hashimoto

Directed Masaki Kobayashi

Japan, 1967

In 18th century Edo Japan, long-time friends Isaburo Sasahara (Toshiro Mufine) and Tatewaki Asano (Tatsuya Nakadai) of the Aisu clan joyfully anticipate a fast approaching annual festival, but all is not well. Isaburo’s son, Yogoro (Go Kato), needs to be wed soon, yet the perfect bride whose status would respect their family honour has yet to be found. This weighs on Isaburo’s wife, the severe Sugo (Michiko Otsuka), even more so than on Isaburo himself. Familial recognition and pride is at stake, two important factors put to the test when the Aisu clan lord, Masakata Matsudaira (Tatsuo Matsumura), decides that his former mistress, Ichi (Yoko Tsukasa), is to be given to them. Controversy stems from the fact that Ichi was actually dismissed from their lord’s court following a rather unorthodox and unexpected emotional outburst.

What makes a Ghost Story scary? This classic was almost too artistic for the Japanese. Masaki Kobayashi's four stories of terror work their spells through intensely beautiful images -- weirdly painted skies, strange mists -- and a Toru Takemitsu audio track that incorporates strange sounds as spooky musical punctuation. Viewers never forget the Woman of the Snow, or the faithful Hoichi the Earless. Finally restored to its full three-hour length. Kwaidan Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 90 1964 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 183 161, 125 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 20, 2015 / 39.95 Starring Michiyo Aratama, Rentaro Mikuni; Tatsuya Nakadai, Keiko Kishi; Katsuo Nakamura, Tetsurao Tanba, Takashi Shimura; Osamu Takizawa. Cinematography Yoshio Miyajima Film Editor Hisashi Sagara Art Direction Shigemasa Toda Set Decoration Dai Arakawa Costumes Masahiro Kato Original Music Toru Takemitsu Written by Yoko Mizuki from stories collected by Kiozumi Yakumo (Lafcadio Hearn) Produced by Shigeru Wakatsuki Directed by Masaki Kobayashi

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson...

Takashi Miike‘s The Happiness of the Katakuris begins with a woman probing a freshly delivered bowl of soup only to fish out a miniature angel/gargoyle/teletubby? whose presence seems to instigate the onscreen conversion of the world into claymation before tearing out the poor woman’s uvula and tossing it into the air to float away like a heart-shaped balloon. This is a film that, even in an oeuvre that includes works as disparate as gross out shocker Visitor Q and the kid friendly The Great Yokai War, is pure unpredictable insanity that baffles as much as it entertains. Essentially a horror comedy musical, Miike’s genre mashing farce is loosely based on Kim Jee-woon’s The Quiet Family, in which a family owns a remotely located bed and breakfast whose customers always happen to die during their stay, yet takes that simple premise to its outermost extremes in the silliest of ways.

Harakiri

Written by Shinobu Hashimoto and Yasuhiko Takiguchi

Directed by Masaki Kobayashi

Japan, 1962

In the early 17th century, the Iyi clan abides by the bushido code to the letter in all its facets, sepukku, the traditional samurai suicide ceremony by which a warrior disembowels himself before being decapitated, being no exception. It is on a bright sunny day that one Tsugumo Hanshirô (Tatsuya Nakadai) arrives at the Iyi estate, currently run by Saitô Kageyu (Rentarô Mikuni), to plead for space in order to perform a honourable act of seppuku. He claims that the regional peace has led to unemployment, and rather live like a dog, suicide as ordained by bushido seems preferable. Knowledgeable of the occurrences of bluff requests made by other ronin samurai that were merely looking for pittance, Saitô is suspicious of Hanshirô’s motives and begins to relate a recent story of another, younger former warrior (Akira Ishihama...

Apparently there’s no accounting for taste; The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 is leading the pack in Blu-Ray pre-sales this week, closely followed by Taken 2 and Skyfall. After a lengthy run, The Dark Knight Rises has fallen to number 12 on the bestselling Blu-Ray sales charts and it will be sorely missed (thankfully I already own the film and you should too).

This week, Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña star as two boys in blue in End of Watch, a classic samurai film gets a reboot, and a little-known Sherlock Holmes film finally arrives on Blu-Ray.

Ready for this week’s picks? Then read on.

End of Watch

Release Date: January 22nd, 2013

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Peña, Anna Kendrick, America Ferrera, Frank Grillo, and Natalie Martinez.

Director: David Ayer

An American thriller drama film written and directed by David Ayer ( who also wrote Training Day and The Fast and the Furious...

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Jan. 22, 2013

Price: DVD $26.95, Blu-ray $29.95

Studio: Tribeca Film/Cinedigm/New Video

Swords are swinging in Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai.

From prolific Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike (he’s completed seven features in the last three years, including 2010’s 13 Assassins) comes the 2011 martial arts action-drama film Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai, a remake of Masaki Kobayashi’s 1962 classic samurai film, Harakiri.

Hara-Kiri tells the story of Hanshirô (Ebizô Ichikawa), a samurai who arrives at the doorstep of his feudal lord and requests an honorable death by ritual suicide in his courtyard. The lord threatens him with the brutal tale of Motome (Eita), a desperate young ronin (a samurai with no lord or master) who made a similar request with ulterior motives, only to meet a grisly end. Undaunted, Hanshirô begins to tell his own story…

Miike’s movie arrives following its release on video-on-demand and digital platforms in July,...