Jeremy Clarke 37
The Relative Worlds
By Jeremy Clarke. Teenage romance, parallel worlds and dysfunctional families are the main ingredients of The Relative Worlds, Yuhei Sakuragi’s uneasy cross between a mawkish teenage romance boy and a sci-fi action picture in the James Cameron mould. The romantic, emotional parts are gentle and almost hesitant. The science fiction, fantasy and action parts are […]
Of Flesh and Blood
By Jeremy Clarke. In the West, Hirokazu Koreeda remains Japan’s highest-profile, living, live-action film director. Shoplifters (2018) picked up over eighty awards nominations this year including the Best Foreign-Language Picture Golden Globe and Oscar. A Blu-ray box set of four key films, each with a new commentary, plus some excellent extras and a useful book […]
Blue Spring
by Jeremy Clarke. Teenage high school movie Blue Spring (2001) centres on the leader of a violent boys’ gang in their final year at school. The nonchalant Kujo (Ryuhei Matsuda) has befriended Aoki (Hirofumi Arai in his debut role) since the latter first joined his class in their infancy: these days Aoki is Kujo’s number […]
Pokemon Detective Pikachu
by Jeremy Clarke. A young man is partnered with a Pikachu who has lost his memory and speaks English with the voice of actor Ryan Reynolds. Together, they investigate the mystery of the young man’s missing detective father. Pokémon Detective Pikachu is the latest big-screen addition to Japan’s hugely successful, worldwide Pokémon franchise and it […]
Ring Collection
by Jeremy Clarke. You watch a short, scary video on the VCR. Then your phone starts to ring… you have a week to show the video to someone else – or die! That’s the premise of Ring (1998), the horror film which took first Japan, then the world, by storm. It’s also the key title […]