Bullets 'n' Babes

Violence without a Cause (Japan, 1969) [DVD] – 3/5
Koji Wakamatsu’s angry social commentary on late 60’s Japan. Three penniless and woman-less university students rape random women, blaming the society for their own crimes. The 70-minute film is slow in places, but is also a provocative political statement and a fascinating portrayal of the era. Sex is sparse enough to keep regular pink film audiences at bay.

Shinjuku Mad (Japan, 1970) [DVD] – 4/5
A mesmerizing zeitgeist showcases Koji Wakamatsu in top form. A desperate father tries to track down the killers of his son in Tokyo. His only clue is “Shinjuku Mad”, who supposedly killed the young man for “betraying the city”. Wakamatsu and screenwriter Masao Adachi were both active participants in the late 60’s / early 70’s political turmoil. Wakamatsu’s earlier films sympathised with the student movement, but in Shinjuku Mad Wakamatsu takes a more critical stand. The film captures the spirit of era wonderfully and comes with a terrific soundtrack.

Death Powder (Japan, 1986) [VHS] – 3/5
Humans and mutants fight for a female humanoid locked in an underground lab. Shigeru Izumiya’s rarely seen film is a predecessor to the films of Shozin Fukui, but even less accessible to anyone except hard-core cyber punk aficionados. The one hour film is extremely hallucinatory and challenging, but also pulsing with that unique 1980’s Japanese ultra-underground spirit. Tetsuo and other Shinya Tsukamoto films look like Disney productions in comparison.

The Burning Buddha Man (Japan, 2013) [Cinema] – 4/5
A young girl enters the world of bizarre monsters and spiritualism in the year’s most unique cinematic experience. The film follows Beniko who discovers her parents have been killed by a group of terrorists who use teleport to steal Buddha statues; only half of the time the results are Cronenbergian man-statue mutants. Debut director Ujicha utilizes a technique known as gekimation, where hand-drawn cardboard sets and characters are moved in front of the camera. The style takes a while to get used to but works wonderfully. A moody soundtrack completes the fascinating film.

Petal Dance (Japan, 2013) [DVD] – 4.5/5
Hiroshi Ishikawa’s mesmerizing return to big screen after 8 years. The minimalist road movie is a sublime character film with breathtakingly beautiful gray cinematography and near perfect casting is near perfect. Aoi Miyazaki and Sakura Ando deliver one of the most naturally acted and written dialogue scenes ever filmed in the film’s standout 4 minute single take sequence. The only flaw is Yoko Kanno’s sparsely used but slightly pretentious score.

Secret Report from a Woman's Prison (Japan, 1968) [16mm] – 2.5/5
Akira Kato, better known as a Nikkatsu Roman Porno director of the 1970’s, helms the opening instalment to Daiei’s women’s prison series. The period film is a mediocre exploitation drama with little violence and only partial and off-focus nudity. The prison segment makes the main chunk of the film, followed by a revenge climax. Nicely shot in black and white, but ultimately forgettable despite some nostalgia values.

Decapitation Island (Japan, 1970) [35mm] – 3.5/5
Daiei soft-exploitation with a surprisingly strong screenplay. The historical women’s prison movie gets off to an instant good start with original setting. Instead of a seedy prison, the bad girls are dispatched to a small island where they can move relatively freely under the supervision of a handful of male guards. The film is relatively tame by exploitation standards, only featuring a small amount of violence and nudity, though a certain steamy punishment scene is a genre classic. Acting, story and cinematography are all above genre standards, making this a small discovery among less exploitative genre films.

Sukeban Mafia: Dirty Insult (Japan, 1980) [VoD] – 1.5/5
Nikkatsu’s sequel to Toshikaru Ikeda’s successful Sukeban Mafia is a quick cash-in void of any originality. The girl gang film focuses on sex scenes and routine brawls, with a wholly unconvincing cast of Nikkatsu pink stars trying to play tough. There is no comparison to Toei’s action packed films which frequently utilized real gangsters as consults and actors. What little excitement remains comes from nostalgia values and handful of entertaining scenes featuring good music or an army of high school girls. Unfortunately none of energy of director Saito’s earlier film Woman of the Afternoon: Incite (1979) can be found here.

Rape Ceremony (Japan, 1980) [VoD] – 4/5
Here is a terrific, intelligent film about two generations, hidden under a horrendous studio title that has no connection to the film. A group of young men systematically stalk and attack former biker gang members. It turns out the gang members were their idols until growing up and abandoning the wild life, hence betraying their expectations. The angry and insecure young men now take revenge at their former idols. Future mainstream and art house talent Kichitaro Negishi helms an original, stylish and thought provoking film that has the feel of an ATG production. Contractual rape and love scenes are relatively unobtrusive, and there is no rape ceremony to be found in the film.

Kenjū mushuku datsugoku no blues (Japan, 1965) [35mm] – 2.5/5
A young man is standing in the harbour at night. Another man in the shadows is blackmailing him to accept a gig. No deal, the young man says and shoots the gun out of his hand. A partly successful Nikkatsu b-actioner with Tetsuya Watari in one of his early leading roles. The screenplay is routine trash, but Watari’s passionate acting and some stylish scenes make it a good enough genre effort.

Assault (Japan, 1976) [VoD] – 3.5/5
Nikkatsu’s former action film director Yukihiro Sawada helms a violence study somewhat similar to Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs. A married couple is kidnapped by a gang of ruthless killers and kept captive until the husband takes a stand. Although a rough exploitation drama for the main chunk of it, the film features some stunningly powerful and melancholic moments, including a violent eight minute climax set against songs by Hako Yamasaki and Yusaku Matsuda. Unlike many other Nikkatsu films of the time, the film is character driven and does not romanticise violence and rape.

One Summer’s Experience: Sexy Virgin (Japan, 1976) [VoD] – 2/5
Director Koretsugu Kurahara was one of Nikkatsu’s many action film directors who got misplaced after the studio’s switch to roman porno. Here he helms a surreal thriller with the usual genre requisite sex scenes. A young man whose parents are constantly shagging meets a runaway girl who claims to be locked in mental hospital without reason. She convinces him to try and save her from institute. The film has an experimental feel to it, but it’s also a clumsy affair, especially in terms of music use, and director Kurahara does poor job placing the sex scenes the studio told him to throw in.

Female Delinquent: A Docu-Drama (Japan, 1977) [VoD] – 4/5
Director Toshiya Fujita is at his element here, helming a gritty true story of a 16 year old bad girl. After getting pregnant to a no-good man (rocker Yuya Uchida) the girl tries being a mom for a while until sex, drugs, and extortion businesses take over. Fujita is best known in the West for Lady Snowblood, but his real talent was in sharp social commentaries and youth films. Female Delinquent features Fujita in top form with a captivating story, energetic camerawork, wonderful rock music, and bone crunching hyper-realism. Acting is thoroughly great as well.

The Big Boss: 4/5

Not Bruce's best film, but definitely worth seeing again, for his first starring role, with some undeniable classic scenes amid the laughathon 'swingy-arm/swingy-leg' choreography. Very much a case of the 'old' (Han Ying Cheh) facing off against the 'new' (Bruce) imo.
Nora Miao is MUCH hotter than Maria Yi in this

I always thought Maria Yi was cute as buttons.

Oh she's cute, its just Nora is even cuter/hotter

CZ12 (2012-China-Hong Kong-France-Latvia) **

Not a disaster, but surely yet another disappointment from Jackie Chan.

Markgway wrote:CZ12 (2012-China-Hong Kong-France-Latvia) **

Not a disaster, but surely yet another disappointment from Jackie Chan.

Had one good fight. Kinda like Jackie suddenly realized what we're expecting from him.

Female Teacher: Twice Raped (Japan, 1983) [VoD] – 2/5
Nikkatsu’s popular Female Teacher series ended with this instalment after complaints from parents and schools. Studio veteran Shogoro Nishimura helms a sex melodrama where a shy female teacher falls for boy who beats her mom, and gets stalked by a school bully who wants to rape her more than once. The film is smut but in a rather nostalgic way – they certainly don’t make em like this anymore. However, Nishimura’s uninspired direction and typical overdosing of sex scenes work against the film. Soundtrack and acting provide occasional highlights, but as a whole the film is a tiresome effort mixing melodrama, sex, and only occasional roughness.

Oh! Takarazuka (Japan, 1982) [VoD] – 3/5
Charming young male teacher takes a job on a small island only to find out all his students are love struck high school girls. Pop-art director Koyu Ohara was the right man to helm this light hearted harem fantasy based on a manga. The film is remarkably comic book esque with cheerful characters, silly scenarios and almost non-stop soundtrack playing old rock and love songs. Even the potentially dark serial rape side plot gets turned into a joke. Weak screenplay is the main issue – the film is little more than a series of cuteness and comedy scenes with erotic flavour and plentiful skin. Female lead Jun Miho was the cutest actress ever to star in Nikkatsu Roman Porno films.

Hell of the College Girls (Japan, 2012) [Yubari Fanta] – 2/5
A misleadingly translated faux documentary / satire from Naoya Tashiro (the original title “College Girl Bizarre Club” describes the contents slightly better). The film is a collection of “true stories” that vary from killer lobsters to a silly parody on Japanese anti piracy campaign. The messy film earns some points of bizarreness, but is otherwise a tiresome effort. Splatter, too, appears to have been toned down for the sake of commercialism (at DVD rental markets).

Naked Sister (Japan, 2013) [Yubari Fanta] – 3/5
Up and coming splatter director Naoya Tashiro’s 20 minute nunsploitation film. The film opens with two naked women making love in the shower until one of them rips the other girl’s guts out! Obviously director Tashiro knows what he’s doing. The film then proceeds to a topless nun (Risa Kichise) crucifying a man. The well made, though unspectacular eroguro film is hurt by some self-ironic postmodernism towards the end, but not as badly as many other recent genre films.

Fudoh 2 (Japan, 1997) [DVD] – 2/5
The straight–to-video sequel to Miike’s original fails to realize its potential. Riki Fudoh takes a backseat in the film which focuses on a machine gun wielding high school girl gang. Enjo kousai, arcade gaming, and yakuza mass slaughtering would make for good entertainment were the technical execution better. Action scenes are underwhelming, the soundtrack is lame, and the Sonatine tribute embarrassing to say at least.

Demon Spies (Japan, 1974) [DVD] – 3.5/5
Another blood soaked ninja-movie released at the height of Toho’s exploitation chanbara wave. While a cheaper production that the Lone Wolf and Cub sries, or the Hanzo the Razor films (the final one of which served as the A-feature in the double bill that Demon Spies was released in) it’s very much a solid genre film. With loads of severed limbs, gratuitous nudity, and well handled action choreography, it delivers smutty b-movie goods in a technically competent package.

School Girl Complex (Japan, 2013) [Cinema] – 2.5/5
Yuki Aoyama’s hugely popular School Girl Complex photo book finally got turned into a movie. There is both irony and admiration to director Yuichi Onuma’s take on the franchise, which essentially turns the material upside down. Unlike Aoyama’s book, which drooled all over high school girls in expertly framed photos, Onuma goes for realistic coming of age drama where the protagonists have been made look less beautiful than the actresses playing them normally are. Unfortunately, the painful girl school romance isn’t all that exceptional despite solid acting, nor does it deal much with the “school girl complex” phenomena. Visual outlook, too, is rough. Still, it’s not a bad movie still, but feels like a missed opportunity.

High School Girl Fake Diary (Japan, 1980) [VoD] – 1/5
Renowned photographer Nobuyoshi Araki’s only directorial effort is a lame pinku comedy with nothing to write home about. The film doesn’t even stand out in terms of cinematography, and much less so content or storyline.

Dream Crimes (Japan, 1985) [VoD] – 1.5/5
Visually talented director Naosuke Kurosawa is lost with this messy neo-noir based on a Takashi Ishii screenplay. Both Kurosawa and Ishii were involved with some of the best Roman Porno films of the 80’s; however, here neither one of them gets to shine. The plot, which somewhat resembles Ishii’s own Black Angel films, follows a female assassin waiting for a chance to hit. Unfortunately the storyline is a mess, even unintentionally comical at times, and the actors not convincing enough to carry their roles. Even Kurosawa’s visual eye mostly missing.

Zombie Bride (Japan, 2013) [DVD] – 1.5/5
Former gore shocker Daisuke Yamanouchi is back from directing adult videos. Unfortunately the straight to video zombie film is an uninspired oddity that lacks gore and horror. The film follows two zombies (two ladies with pale face) living in the society among humans, talking about their lives, and riding bicycle. It all sounds more bizarre than it really is. On the positive side, the very limited gore effects are free of CGI. A couple of short sex scenes are included as well, including some featuring undead sex.

Zombie TV (Japan, 2013) [DVD] - 1.5/5
11 episode zombie omnibus by splatter mastro Yoshihiro Nishimura, rising talent Naoya Tashiro, and artist/animator Maelie Makuno. Unfortunately none of the episodes are very good. Most of the film is silly comedy, such as zombie idol (Maki Mizui), or two guys trying to touch a female zombie's breasts ("oppai are more important than life!"). Zombie make ups are nice, but gore scenes relatively few. Some fun ideas (e.g. how zombies learned to run) but as a whole it's like a tiresome late night TV program with little of the energy or technical skill usually associated to Nishimura works. It is not stated who directed which episode, but the Zombie vs. Cannibal match, which is the film's best part, is obviously by Nishimura.

Iron Monkey (HK, 1993) [DVD] - 4/5
Christmas viewing. A highly enjoyable wire-fu film with likable characters, charming old fashioned themes of honor and friendship between men (similar to 1960's Japanese old school yakuza films) and very stylish visual output. Action scenes are highly enjoyable as well, except from some fast motion (only distracting during the opening fight). A very nostalgic classic from the final years of great Hong Kong cinema.

I'm not sure if the yellow/orange tint on the HKL is intentional, but it looks great!

It's alarming it's 20 years old now! It's still my fave Hong Kong movie.

Haru and Aki in Nekoyado (Japan, 2012) [DVD] – 3/5
Director Yuichi Kondo always dreamed of making giant monster movies. Instead he ended up making films about teenage girls – accompanied by small special effects. Haru and Aki in Nekoyado is a rather charming if unremarkable 15 minute fantasy film of two girls, and two small teddy bears in love. Being a technically oriented filmmaker, Kondo delivers a nicely shot film with two very cute, photorealistic CGI teddy bears, and two very cute girls. It’s a harmless small film placing itself at the more pure and sweet end of idol filmmaking. Megumi Mizoguchi and Rika Hoshina of Itoh Company star, the former being quite natural in front of camera.

Summer of Angels (Japan, 2013) [DVD] – 2/5
Another idol fantasy film by director Yuichi Kondo, this time running 49 minutes. The film follows a schoolgirl angel who comes down to earth in search of a missing person. The film looks remarkably good for a low budget film, with beautiful colours and bright image. Unfortunately this is the only good thing that can be said about the poorly scripted and woodenly acted film. Megumi Mizoguchi and Rika Hoshina of Haru and Aki in Nekoyado star again, but this time in reversed order, which turns out to be a very bad call. The biggest offender, however, is the entire supporting cast. In addition, director Kondo’s attempts at poetic and playful visual storytelling are a mere clumsy shadow of the likes of Shunji Iwai / Noboru Shinoda (Hana and Alice).

In more detail:
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Seven Samurai (1954-Japan) ***

Markgway wrote:Seven Samurai (1954-Japan) ***

Comments, comments!!!!

I never wanted to love such a popular film as much as I do, but can't help it It's like visiting home - not entirely perfect, but just feels so damn nice and enjoyable that you don't want to part with it.

I'm not exactly sure which version I watched, but it was about 3.5hrs, which is very, very long. I thought the film was well-crafted and well-observed, but at that length I wouldn't watch it again. It took me a while to get to grips with Toshiro Mifune's performance, others I liked more, but I don't know the names of the actors. The battles were well-staged, muddy and realistic rather than stylised. I would recommend it, but only to patient viewers.

I've set Yojimbo to record tomorrow so expect comments on that soon.

I also think Mizune is the film's weakest link.

The bad thing about Yojimbo is that it may lower your enjoyment of A Fistful of Dollars. You wouldn't believe how much Leone copied from it (well, you will soon).

Seen High and Low (aka Heaven and Hell) or Ran? My second and third favorite Kurosawa films.

Yojimbo, Fistful of Dollars, and Last Man Standing all rip off Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest (which I've not read) so I'm not too worried about the similarities. Originality is overrated.

I haven't seen any other Kurosawa films, but there's a season on TV, so that might change soon.

Markgway wrote:Yojimbo, Fistful of Dollars, and Last Man Standing all rip off Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest (which I've not read) so I'm not too worried about the similarities. Originality is overrated.

Well, if my memory serves me correct Leone even took the camera angles from Kurosawa

But yeah, originality is overrated