Rashomon | 羅生門 (1950)
I dunno about Rashomon. One of Kurosawa’s definitive classics, you really have to be prepared to stick through the whole thing to get to the heart of the matter. Until then, you’re kind of wondering what the point of it all is. Which, after all, is the point of it all…. Maybe [...]
Um, well, I can definitely say that 1964’s Onibaba isn’t at all what I was expecting. And that’s a good thing to be sure. For 1964, this is a seriously twisted, frank, raw, provocative, and mesmerizing movie.
Set sometime in Japan’s war torn medieval period, we find an old woman (Nobuko Otawa) and her daughter-in-law (Jitsuko [...]
Ichi
Wow! What a movie! TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting System) brings a welcome update to the classic “Blind Swordsman Zatoichi” franchise with the aptly titled “Ichi.” And the bottom line?
I loved this movie. I loved nearly everything about it. It’s the perfect blend of samurai action, drama, comedy, story, soundtrack… you name it.
Rated 4/5 on Jan 20 [...]
Seven Samurai | 七人の侍 (1954)
There are epic movies. And then there are epics. The ones that the other so-called epic films look up to and say “someday I want to be just like you.”
Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai is one of the few in that latter category. It’s also one of the few films I’ve seen [...]
US Title: Cafe Lumière
Japanese Title: 珈琲時光 (rough trans: Coffee “Light Time? Time to Shine?” Guessing that its a representation of “Lumière”, from the French, “light.” See note below.)
Alright, so I’ll break away from the opening “horror” theme for a bit. Can’t go getting all typecast or anything.
Cafe Lumiere is not a particularly exciting movie, nor [...]
