Tag: Japan

#335: When a Woman Ascends the Stairs

Posted in FilmsLeave a comment

6jkfcpwmunx5rkkg16tppf4s0kk#335 – When a Woman Ascends the Stairs, (女が階段を上る時), 1960, Mikio Naruse
jp

Keiko, whom everyone calls Mama, narrates her story: she’s a hostess on the Ginza, 30, a widow. She describes life’s vicious cycle: acting cheerful around drunks, dressing and living well to convey confidence, needing money for these expenses and for her demanding mother and brother, and knowing she’s growing older. She’s of an age when she must choose: to seek marriage (difficult given her tarnished occupation), to be a kept woman, or to borrow money to buy a bar of her own. Each route has dangers, including investors demanding a return on their loans. Keiko has a quiet dignity that attracts men, but are they what they seem? Does she actually have choices?

#338: My Neighbor Totoro

Posted in FilmsLeave a comment

zqko2cufcwzwdbpoztss9u83jep#338 – My Neighbor Totoro, (となりのトトロ), 1988, Hayao Miyazaki
jp

Two sisters move to the country with their father in order to be closer to their hospitalized mother, and discover the surrounding trees are inhabited by Totoros, magical spirits of the forest. When the youngest runs away from home, the older sister seeks help from the spirits to find her.

Jumbo Cactuar JUMBO CACTUAR APPROVED FILMJumbo Cactuar

#368: The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum

Posted in FilmsLeave a comment

m43ebvmybinc2rtcmuaag4iwszs#368 – The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum, (残菊物語), 1939, Kenji Mizoguchi
jp

In late 19th century Tokyo, Kikunosuke Onoue, the adopted son of a legendary actor, himself an actor specializing in female roles, discovers that he is only praised for his acting due to his status as his father’s heir. Devastated by this, he turns to Otoku, a servant of his family, for comfort, and they fall in love. Kikunosuke becomes determined to leave home and develop as an actor on his own merits, and Otoku faithfully follows him.

#385: Godzilla

Posted in FilmsLeave a comment

zffmman1x0nhqns4dmr6oqn4gks#385 – Godzilla, (ゴジラ), 1954, Ishirō Honda
jp

Japan is thrown into a panic after several ships explode and are sunk near Odo Island. An expedition to the island led by paleontologist Professor Kyohei Yemani soon discover something more devastating than imagined in the form of a 50 meter tall monster whom the natives call Gojira. Now the monster begins a rampage that threatens to destroy not only Japan, but the rest of the world as well.

Jumbo Cactuar JUMBO CACTUAR APPROVED FILMJumbo Cactuar

#394: Pale Flower

Posted in FilmsLeave a comment

zzp9d919hatmnnrrjgw8kf3wkuk#394 – Pale Flower, (乾いた花), 1964, Masahiro Shinoda
jp

Muraki, a hardboiled Yakuza gangster, has just been released from prison after serving a sentence for murder. Revisiting his old gambling haunts, he meets Saeko, a striking young upper-class woman who is out seeking thrills, and whose presence adds spice to the staid masculine underworld rituals. Muraki becomes her mentor while simultaneously coping with the shifts of power that have affected the gangs while he was interred. When he notices a rogue, drug-addicted young punk hanging around the gambling dens, he realizes that Saeko’s insatiable lust for intense pleasures may be leading her to self-destruction.

#397: The Thirteen Assassins

Posted in FilmsLeave a comment

ce1xg7t0z1xysitusvily9ye0y1#397 – The Thirteen Assassins, (十三人の刺客), 1963, Eiichi Kudo
jp

A sadistic Daimyo (feudal lord) rapes a woman and murders both her and her husband, but even when one of his own vassals commits suicide to bring attention to the crime, the matter is quickly hushed up. Not only will there be no punishment, but because the Daimyo is the Shogun’s younger brother, he will soon be appointed to a high political position from which he could wreak even more havoc. Convinced that the fate of the Shogunate hangs in the balance, a plot is hatched to assassinate the Daimyo. The two most brilliant strategic minds of their generation find themselves pitted against each other; one is tasked to defend a man he despises, and has a small army at his disposal. The other is given a suicide mission, and has 12 brave men. They are the 13 Assassins.

Jumbo Cactuar JUMBO CACTUAR APPROVED FILMJumbo Cactuar

#413: The Bad Sleep Well

Posted in FilmsLeave a comment

z0lhz121uaqa31rueu1monafb5w#413 – The Bad Sleep Well, (悪い奴ほどよく眠る), 1960, Akira Kurosawa
jp

In this loose adaptation of “Hamlet,” illegitimate son Kôichi Nishi climbs to a high position within a Japanese corporation and marries the crippled daughter of company vice president Iwabuchi. At the reception, the wedding cake is a replica of their corporate headquarters, but an aspect of the design reminds the party of the hushed-up death of Nishi’s father. It is then that Nishi unleashes his plan to avenge his father’s death.

Jumbo Cactuar JUMBO CACTUAR APPROVED FILMJumbo Cactuar