Japanese Top Ten

It's been a while since I've had a stab at gathering some films together based on nation of origin. This time, it's Japan. Enjoy (if you like anime and samurai).

10. Unagi [The Eel] (Shohei Imamura - 1997)

One of the first non-Kurosawa, Japanese films I'd seen, this perturbed me a bit but gave me a real insight into films from outside the English zone or Europe. Kouji Yakusho in the lead is a top craftsman too.

9. Zatoichi (Takeshi Kitano - 2003)

A first look at Takeshi Kitano, a stalwart of the industry in Japan. He plays the blind swordsman with understated relish and this would have been higher in the list were it not for a Bollywood-style dance number at the end. What the...

8. Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa - 1950)

Ah, Kurosawa-san, so glad you could make it. This is my third favourite of his but is still a stone-cold classic, with dozens of imitators and respect-payers since its release. Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura are mint as the bandit and wood-cutter respectively.

7. Honogurai Mizu no Soko Kara [Dark Water] (Hideo Nakata - 2002)

Look, I'll be honest. This film shit me scaredless. The creeps like never before. And sad! Flippin Nora this takes the biscuit. Watch it at your pre-warned peril.

6. Hana-bi [Fireworks] (Takeshi Kitano - 1997)

Another Kitano cracker. Cool and brutal tale of a cop at odds with the Yakuza. Bloody and bittersweet, like a good cocktail.

5. Kokaku Kidotai [Ghost in the Shell] (Mamoru Oshii - 1995)

Mind-bending, trend-setting anime that tweaks your nihilism just right. Inventive and dark. Brills.

4. Kozure Okami: Sanzu no Kawa no Ubaguruma [Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx] (Kenji Misumi - 1972)

Yes. Fantastic nonsense that seems to take itself quite seriously. I reckon this is the best of the series. And yes, that's a toddler 'cub' getting by with his old man 'Lone Wolf' in a fucked up, violent, manga-based Tokugawa era Japan.

3. Shichinin no Samurai [Seven Samurai] (Akira Kurosawa - 1954)

Kurosawa's oft-imitated masterpiece, though still pipped by another for me (see number 1). The climactic rain battle is superb, as is Mifune's dark comic relief.

2. Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi [Spirited Away] (Hayao Miyazaki - 2001)

All the weird you could ever hope for. Utterly brilliant story-telling with some of the oddest characters in film history - step forward, Kaonashi (No Face) and Kamaji (Boiler Geezer!). Magic stuff from Miyazaki.

1. Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa - 1961)

Mifune again, as the Ronin samurai, drifting into a town where the warlords haggle for his services and soon wish they hadn't. Sublime, witty and beautifully shot, this is a must-see. Kurosawa at his peak.

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Ghost Cat Anzu (Me & Kid)

Here's a nice surprise. I find Japanese anime to be hit and miss, and the first look at this boof-headed feline didn't promise too much, but Ghost Cat Anzu knocked the bails off. It riffs on the Ghibli theme of children being forced to grow up quicker than they should, with 11 year-old Karin (Noa Gotô) as our focus. Her dad's a bit of a scally and he does a runner while visiting his father at his temple home in a sleepy town, leaving Karin alone with kindly grandad and huge, anthropomorphic cat, Anzu, voiced by Mirai Moriyama. Karin wanders the town, waiting for dad to return and meeting various locals, while being casually monitored by Anzu. The pace is a little pedestrian but the shenanigans make up for this. Anzu is pulled over by the police and told he needs a license to ride a scooter, though he protests that he's not actually a human, so surely these rules don't apply. He works as a masseur but also takes a gig to scare birds away from the river, roping Karin...

Bird

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The Wolves Always Come at Night

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Audrey

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The Monk and the Gun

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Timestalker

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Merchant Ivory

Here's the first of a few films I'm planning to catch at the British Film Festival so I'll attempt to keep the reviews relatively brief. This a documentary directed by Stephen Soucy about the legendary filmmaking team, Merchant Ivory Productions. The formidable ensemble consisted of producer Ismail Merchant, director James Ivory, writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, and composer Richard Robbins. After meeting in 1961, Ivory and Merchant started a fruitful partnership, both professionally and romantically. The film shows us their somewhat ramshackle early films, made in India, moving on to marginally more assured productions in the US, and finally to the English period dramas they became known for in the 80s and onwards. Together, they made over 40 films, some absolute gems among them. A Room with a View , Howard's End , and The Remains of the Day are probably their best, though you could throw in Heat and Dust , Maurice , and The Golden Bowl as very strong examples of their...

Lee

Biopics are tough to get right. For every Lawrence of Arabia , there's a Diana , for every Raging Bull , there's an Ali . The film Lee shines some natural light of the life of renowned war photographer Lee Miller, played by Kate Winslet. She gives it full welly in this - physically and emotionally nude, with camouflage painted boobs, close-ups with no make-up, moles, wrinkles, rage and tears. It's very much the kind of 'brave' performance that the Academy loves to reward. The film starts with Miller crustily answering questions to a young man in 1977, and as she remembers things from her past, we head to flashback territory. It seems a fairly cack-handed framing device until we realise why it's happening. A modicum of research reveals that the film is a pretty accurate retelling of Miller's life - first her carefree bohemian days in pre-WW2 France (including her intro to future hubby, Roland Penrose, played by Alexander Skarsgård), then how she started with...

Gladiator II

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Sand Land (Me) (Kids)

Popped down to Palace cinema in the city for a packed screening of Sand Land , part of the Japanese Film Festival Australia . Created by Akira Toriyama (of Dragon Ball fame), this started as a manga book series in 2000. It seems this film was made slightly before, or at the same time as a TV series covering similar ground. That ground being a Mad Max style wasteland where the water supply is controlled and sold by a rotund King (Chafûrin). An old, local sherriff, Rao (Kazuhiro Yamaji), suspects there's a source of water in the desert a few days drive away and so decides to investigate. Knowing he'll need help, he approaches the gang of demons who live nearby. The demons chosen to accompany Rao are the keen Beelzebub (Mutsumi Tamura) and the less enthused Thief (Chô). The trio head off but are soon beset by issues, including enormous sand snakes, marauding punks and the King's military units. As their vehicles tyres were punctured by said punks, Rao commandeers a tank, set...

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