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Kinuyo Tanaka – Onna bakari no yoru aka Girl of Dark (1961)
In the late 1950’s prostitution was banned in Japan and if a woman was found exercising this profession they were sent to a reformatory. This is a story of one of these brave women Kuniko who is...
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Kiriô Urayama – Yumechiyo nikki AKA Yumechiyo’s Diary (1985)
Yumechiyo Nikki is the story of a woman who is suffering from leukemia, the result of exposure to the atomic blast when she was still unborn. In the last three years of her life, she returns home, a...
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Kinji Fukasaku – Kataku no hito AKA House on Fire (1986)
Adapted from the autobiographical story by Kazuo Dan which was published a few months before his death, House Of Fire tells story of a popular writer sharing his complicated life with his family, his...
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Kinji Fukasaku – Jakoman to Tetsu aka One-eyed Captain and Tetsu (1964)
Plot:In a village subsisting on its herring fishery, a one-eyed criminal named Jakoman terrorizes the inhabitants. One of them, the son of the head of one of the fish companies by the name of Tetsu,...
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Wilson Yip – Jue lai yip yue leung saan ang aka Juliet in love (2000)
Surprising drama about two nobodies who find an unlikely romance despite the imminent collapse of their respective worlds. Francis Ng is Jordan, a low level triad who finds himself strangely attracted...
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Edward Yang – Hai tan de yi tian AKA That Day on the Beach (1983)
Synopsis:Two friends who haven’t seen each other for thirteen years reunite. One is a successful concert pianist just back from a European tour and the other has just started a new business. Dennis...
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Yasuzô Masumura – Tsuma futari AKA Two Wives (1967)
Synopsis:After a random encounter at a bar, two couples collide. Two men, two women, embroiled in a love-and-hate drama that threatens to engulf them. The sexual anxiety between the interwoven couples...
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Masanobu Deme – Okita Sôji (1974)
Synopsis:This is the story of Okita Soji, one of the finest swordsmen in the Shinsengumi group, captain of the first troop and a very popular figure in history. From his early days and his lifelong...
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Yasushi Sasaki – Shin josei mondo AKA New Woman Question and Answer (1939)
Jie (Michiko Kuwano) attended a women’s university with the financial support of her geisha sister Oha (Hiroko Kawasaki) and became a lawyer. The aim. Michiko (Kuniko Miyake), one of the seven best...
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Eizo Sugawa – Kemonomichi aka Beast Alley (1965)
Review from The Montreal Gazette – Jan 10, 1970BEAST ALLEY – directed by Eizo Sugawa; original Japanese version with English subtitles; at the Art Cinema The only real beast in Beast Alley is a black...
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Sang Hu – Tai tai wan sui AKA Long Live the Wife (1947)
PlotA man who becomes wealthy starts to have an affair and though his wife knows of it, she says nothing. Soon, the affair starts to have consequences and his business falls apart while the man’s...
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Chih-Hung Kwei – Gui yan aka ghost eyes (1974)
Plot:Director Kuei Chih-Hung brings his vicious touch to a violent,sexy story with one clear moral: never accept contact lenses from a psycho ghost. Poor Chen Szu-Chia does just that, and pays for it...
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Mingmonkul Sonakul – I -San Special AKA Kuen pra chan tem doueng (2002)
SynopsisThe soundtrack to a radio soap opera set in a luxury hotel is acted out by characters who are riding a ramshackle bus from Bangkok to a small town in Thailand’s Northeast. When the bus stops,...
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Sabu AKA Hiroyuki Tanaka – Drive (2002)
synopsis:Kenichi Asakura is an uptight, hyper-square salesman. One day, three bank robberscommandeer his van. They are in hot pursuit of their fellow robber who has snatched themoney. Unfortunately...
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Sabu AKA Hiroyuki Tanaka – Hôrudo appu daun aka Hold up down (2005)
Quote:Directed by the Japanese king of kooky-cool, SABU, Hold Up Down has it all: bank robbers dressed in skin-tight Santa suits, the subway busker that looks like he is straight out of Woodstock, the...
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Kimio Yabuki & Fred Ladd – Nagagutsu o haita neko AKA The Wonderful World of...
Quote:Puss in Boots is one of the great slapstick cartoons, a freewheeling joyride that stays in your head and sticks to your bones. It’s probably the best animated comedy ever made in Japan (although...
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Kon Ichikawa – Anata to watashi no aikotoba: Sayônara, konnichiwa AKA...
There is little to nothing written in English about this film, and in fact of the entire Cinemateque Ontario Ichikawa Kon tome the only mention of Goodbye, Hello was in the extensive filmography. This...
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Ka-Fai Wai – He ping fan dian AKA Peace Hotel (1995)
Quote:Chow Yun Fat’s last film in the pre-Handover Hong Kong film industry before he went on to try his luck in Hollywood, Peace Hotel was directed by regular Johnnie To collaborator Wai Ka Fai,...
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Satsuo Yamamoto – Kinkanshoku AKA Annular Eclipse AKA Solar Eclipse (1975)
In the wake of Watergate, the scandal surrounding then Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka’s dealings with construction companies in Japan caused a similar political upheaval. Director Yamamoto chose as the...
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Hao Ning – Wu ren qu AKA No Man’s Land (2013)
Being shelved for four years over censorship issues sounds like a death knell for any film, and yet in the case of Ning Hao’s No Man’s Land, it may actually have been a considerable boon : indeed, the...
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