Tag: cinema

May 17, 2022 · 0 comments

By Tom Wilmot. After her daughter, Bellflower (Moe Kamura), is kidnapped by the shady M. Pathé company, Madame Cherryblossom (Fujiko Fukamizu) reaches out to private investigator Uotsuka (Shiro Sano) for help. Along with his assistant Kobayashi (Koji Otake), and a whole load of boiled eggs, Uotsuka embarks on a seemingly endless hunt for the missing […]

May 5, 2022 · 0 comments

By Tom Wilmot. While misguided pre-conceptions have resulted in many Japanese films being flippantly and unjustly branded as ‘weird’ or ‘perverted’, I struggle to find two words more wholly appropriate to describe Funky Forest: The First Contact (2005) and The Warped Forest (2011). Released in the West for the first time by Third Window Films, this pair of outrageous […]

April 29, 2022 · 0 comments

By Tom Wilmot. After what has been a tough couple of years for the film industry, it’s uplifting to see an indie gem that proves the magic of filmmaking is well and truly alive. Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes is the brainchild of screenwriter Makoto Ueda and directed by first-time filmmaker Junta Yamaguchi, the film […]

April 4, 2022 · 0 comments

By Tom Wilmot. Unhinged, abrasive, chaotic, loud; these are some of the characteristics that many have come to associate with the work of cult-favourite filmmaker Shinya Tsukamoto. Throughout his 35-year long career, Tsukamoto has left his highly stylised and instantly recognisable thumbprint on all of his films, except one – Hiruko the Goblin (1991). Marking one of […]

March 17, 2022 · 0 comments

By Tom Wilmot. When was the last time you picked a movie to watch solely based on its title? This was the case when I saw that Arrow Video would be releasing Shinji Somai’s 1981 film, Sailor Suit and Machine Gun. The film is as strange as its title implies, although perhaps not in the […]