Jeremy Clarke 29
The Life of Oharu
by Jeremy Clarke. Originally released to international acclaim in 1952, this live-action drama chronicles the slow decline over a lifetime of an imperial lady-in-waiting, step by horrible step, to the level of a street prostitute. It’s based on the novel The Life of an Amorous Woman by Ihara Saikaku, first published in 1686 and set […]
The Handmaiden
by Jeremy Clarke. Weighing in at a lengthy two and a half hours, this lavish, sexually-explicit, South Korean pot-boiler is based on Sarah Waters’ 2002 novel Fingersmith, but moves the location from Victorian England to Japanese colonial-era Korea.
Lone Wolf and Cub
By Jeremy Clarke. The Lone Wolf and Cub franchise began life as a manga in 1970 by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima. It proved hugely popular in Japan, where in 1972 the first four of six films appeared. Two more followed in 1973 and 1974. Criterion’s new three-disc Blu-ray release collects together all […]
Ghost in the Shell (2017)
by Jeremy Clarke. Major (Scarlett Johansson) is the first of her kind – rescued from a refugee boat many years ago and cyber-enhanced to be the perfect soldier. Only her mind remains; the rest of her is artificial, putting her in a unique position as society faces a new threat. Cyber warfare has evolved to […]
Age of Shadows
by Jeremy Clarke. The Age of Shadows opens with an unexpected Warner Bros. logo, confirming it as the Hollywood studio’s first Korean-language production. It was made in conjunction with director Kim Jee-woon’s own Grimm Pictures. His previous works include celebrated horror outing A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) and gangster movie A Bittersweet Life (2005), […]