Japanese cult cinema thread

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HungFist
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Re: Japanese cult cinema thread

Post by HungFist »

If you're close to Tokyo, you have a chance to see 30 Teruo Ishii films theatrically. And if you're not close to Tokyo, then now is the time to start thinking how to change that.

Celebrating the release of the new documentary film Ishii Teruo: Eiga Tamashi, Cinema Vera will screen 30 of Ishii's movies June 31-September 3. The selection includes many of his early films (scifi, noir), seminal pinky violence works, and some 1990's movies.

A little bit disappointed with the selection to be honest (I was hoping for more unreleased 70's gems) but there's a lot of great stuff there. May drop by for a few days if I get a chance.

http://www.cinemavera.com/schedule.html

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Re: Japanese cult cinema thread

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Toei November is Akira Kobayashi month

唐獅子警察 (Karajishi keisatsu) (1974)
Director: Sadao Nakajima
Cast: Akira Kobayashi, Tsunehio Watase, Noboru Ando
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0322925/
- http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_dvd. ... sid=752639

日本暴力列島 京阪神殺しの軍団 (Nihon bôryôku rettô: Keihanshin koroshi no gundan) (1975)
Director: Kosaku Yamashita
Cast: Akira Kobayashi, Tatsuo Umemiya, Goro Ibuki, Mikio Narita
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0325901/
- http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_dvd. ... sid=752640

多羅尾伴内 鬼面村の惨劇 (Tarao Bannai: Kimen mura no sangeki) (1978)
Director: Kazuhiko Yamaguchi
Cast: Akira Kobayashi, Ichirô Zaitsu, Sanae Kitabayashi, Asao Uchida
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0358193/
- http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_dvd. ... sid=752641

Toei released Norifumi Suzuki's Tarao Bannai film a few years ago

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Re: Japanese cult cinema thread

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Toei December is a yakuza film month

Bôryoku kinmyaku (The Violent Money Network) (暴力金脈) (1975)
Director: Sadao Nakajima
Cast: Hiroki Matsukata, Tomisaburo Wakayama, Tatsuo Umemiya, Reiko Ike, Tetsuro Tamba
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0321567/

実録外伝 大阪電撃作戦 (Jitsuroku gaiden: Osaka dengeki sakusen) (1976)
Director: Sadao Nakajima
Cast: Hiroki Matsukata, Tsunehiko Watase, Tatsuo Umemiya, Akira Kobayashi, Tetsuro Tamba
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0322857/

日本の黒幕 (Nihon no kuromaku) (1979)
Director: Yasuo Furuhata
Cast: Shin Saburi, Masakazu Tamura, Tsutomu Kariba

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Re: Japanese cult cinema thread

Post by Marshall »

I don't know why I thought that THREE PRETTY DEVILS was coming out at the end of the month. Apparently it's out! I ordered it and one of the FURYO BANCHO movies with Yoko Mihara. Hazzah!
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Re: Japanese cult cinema thread

Post by HungFist »

yeah, Toei dvds usually come out at the end of the month but there are a few exeptions... August and December at least.

Please post your comments about Three Pretty Devils after you have watched it. I haven't bought it myself so I'm interested in any comments.
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Re: Japanese cult cinema thread

Post by Marshall »

Tried posting this earlier but I guess it didn't "take."

I won't get my DVDs for two or three weeks, so you have plenty of time to "scoop" me. I imagine 3PD will be pretty tame stuff, as it pre-dates even the DELINQUENT GIRL BOSS movies and came out around the time of STRAY CAT ROCK. Just hope it's not ALL talk as I know about twenty words of Japanese. Will post for sure--you can't shut me up about these films.
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Re: Japanese cult cinema thread

Post by gerira »

THREE PRETTY DEVILS is extremely tame. Not that I expected sth. over the top, but this is mainly about girlies hanging out and having fun, not really much to do with "girlgang", more like a "seishun eiga". But if you are after sth like that: Watch the much better WET SAND IN AUGUST by Fujita.
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Re: Japanese cult cinema thread

Post by Marshall »

I like girlies, particularly these ones. Would love to hear more about WSIA.

P.S. Just watched the WSIA trailer.
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Re: Japanese cult cinema thread

Post by Marshall »

HungFist wrote:経験 (Keikein) (1970)
Directed by: Ryuichi Takamori
Starring: Reiko Ohara, Hayato Tani, Tsunehiko Watase
http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1970/ct002590.htm
Soooo......

What is this?
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Re: Japanese cult cinema thread

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Toei January is a mystery theme (no, not mystery thrillers. I mean I don't know what the hell is the theme here

Naked Sun (Hadaka no taiyo) (裸の太陽) (1958)
Director: Miyoji Ieki
Cast: Shinjiro Ebara, Michiko Hoshi. Tatsuya Nakadai
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0235450/
- http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_dvd. ... sid=762749

Lake of Tears (Umi no koto) (湖の琴) (1966)
Director: Tomotaka Tasaka
Cast: Yoshiko Sakuma, Katsuo Nakamura, Ganjiro Nakamura
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0324357/
- http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_dvd. ... sid=762750

Theater of Life (Jinsei gekijo) (人生劇場) (1983)
Director: Kinji Fukasaku, Sadao Nakajima and Junya Satô
Cast: Hiroki Matsukata, Hideo Murota, Tomisaburo Wakayama, Toshiro Mifune
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085757/
- http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_dvd. ... sid=762751

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Toei February is a kick ass Sadao Nakajima month

Jeans Blues: No Future (Jinzu burusu: Asu naki furaiha) (ジーンズブルース 明日なき無頼派) (1974)
Director: Sadao Nakajima
Cast: Meiko Kaji, Tsunehiko Watase, Hideo Murota, Ryohei Uchida
- http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_dvd. ... sid=762776
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0322853/

Memoir of Japanese Assassins (Nihon ansatsu hiroku) (日本暗殺秘録) (1969)
Director: Sadao Nakajima
Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Sonny Chiba, Bunta Sugawara, Ken Takakura, Junko Fuji, Koji Tsuruta, Tatsumi Hijikata, Asao Koike, Teruo Yoshida <-- HOLY SHIT, LOOK AT THE CAST
- http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_dvd. ... sid=762775
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203739/

Kurutta yajû (狂った野獣) (1976)
Director: Sadao Nakajima
Cast: Tsunehiko Watase, Jun Hoshino, Hideo Murota
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0316143/
- http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_dvd. ... sid=762777

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Re: Japanese cult cinema thread

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An interesting interview with Bunta Sugawara
http://eigageijutsu.blogspot.com/2010/1 ... awara.html

He's a very modest guy. "Yakuza movies ended with me" :D
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Re: Japanese cult cinema thread

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In March Toei will finally release Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs (1974) and the two New Female Prisoner Scorpion films (1976-&1977). Zero Woman is already available from Discotek and HK Video, both somewhat flawed releases, and the New Female Prisoners can be found in Pathe's Sasori box set, but those are NTSC to PAL conversions.

Both New Female Prisoners are good films, though, especially the first one which is kinda standard genre film (in a good way) until the amazing ending. It's a loose remake of the original Meiko Kaji movie but not to the extent that you'd feel like watching the same movie again. The second film features an entirely new storyline. Both films feature strong cast with the edge going for the second film in which the evil warden is played by none other than Toei's No. 1 karate villain Masashi Ishibashi. Sasori is portrayed in these films by Yumi Takigawa and Yoko Natsuki respectively.

Toei is typically strong when it comes to colors and contrast, but sharpness (or the lack of it) has been their problem in the recent years. If they get these discs right, they could all be worthy upgrades.

Zero Woman: Red Hadcuffs (0課の女 赤い手錠) (1974)
Director: Yukio Noda
Cast: Miki Sugimoto, Hideo Murota, Tetsuro Tamba, Yoko Mihara
http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_dvd. ... sid=767895

New Female Prisoner Scorpion: #701 (Shin joshuu sasori: 701-go) (新女囚さそり 701号) (1976)
Director: Yutaka Kohira
Cast: Yumi Takigawa, Rinichi Yamamoto, Bunjaku Han
http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_dvd. ... sid=767896

New Female Prisoner Scorpion: Tokushu-bo X (Shin joshuu sasori: Tokushu-bo X) (新・女囚さそり 特殊房X) (1977)
Director: Yutaka Kohira
Cast: Yoko Natsuki, Masashi Ishibashi, Hiroshi Tachi, Takeo Chii
http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_dvd. ... sid=767897

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Re: Japanese cult cinema thread

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In April Toei will release three Junya Sato films

The Drifting Avenger (Koya no toseinin) (荒野の渡世人) (1968)
Director: Junya Sato
Cast: Ken Takakura, Ken Goodlet, Judith Roberts, Kevin Cooney
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0130639/
- http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_dvd. ... sid=769046
- http://www.weirdwildrealm.com/f-driftingavenger.html
- http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~kazu60/wwase1/toseigun.htm
- http://artoflife.cocolog-nifty.com/blog ... -b48d.html

Boryokudan sai buso (暴力団再武装) (1971)
Director: Junya Sato
Cast: Koji Tsuruta, Tomistaburo Wakayama, Tetsuro Tanba, Tsunehiko Watase
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0224676/
- http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_dvd. ... sid=769047

Chounouryoku-sha - Michi eno tabibito (超能力者 未知への旅人) (1994)
Director: Junya Sato
Cast: Tomokazu Miura, Mieko Harada, Tetsuro Tanba, Renji Ishibashi
- http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_dvd. ... sid=769048
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0225388/

The Drifting Avenger
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Re: Japanese cult cinema thread

Post by HungFist »

Big news. Guess who is the star of Toei's June release batch? A little guy named Teruo motherfucking Ishii.

ならず者 (Narazu-mono) (An Outlaw) (1964)
Director: Teruo Ishii
Cast: Ken Takakura, Tetsuro Tanba, Tôru Abe, Yoko Mihara
- http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_dvd. ... sid=779241
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058391/

緋ぢりめん博徒 (Hijirimen bakuto) (The Red Silk Gambler) (1972)
Director: Teruo Ishii
Cast: Hiroko Fuji, Eiko Nakamura, Reiko Ike, Bunta Sugawara
Based on the novel by Dan Oniroku
- http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_dvd. ... sid=779242
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0142367/

現代任侠史 (Gendai ninkyô-shi ) (1973)
Director: Teruo Ishii
Cast: Ken Takakura, Eiji Go, Meiko Kaji, Isao Natsuyagi, Mikio Narita, Noboru Ando, Asao Koike
- http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_dvd. ... sid=779243
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070100/

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Re: Japanese cult cinema thread

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Toei July is a pinky violence month

やさぐれ姐御伝 総括リンチ (Yasagure anego den: sōkatsu rinchi) (Female Yakuza Tale) (1973)
Director: Teruo Ishii
Cast: Reiko Ike, Meika Seri, Emi Jo, Ryohei Uchida, Tooru Abe

前科おんな 殺し節 (Zenka onna: koroshi-bushi) (Criminal Woman: Killing Melody) (1973)
Director: Atsushi Mihori
Cast: Reiko Ike, Miki Sugimoto, Yumiko Katayama, Shinzo Hotta, Takeo Chii

番格ロック (Bankaku rokku) (1973)
Director: Makoto Naito
Cast: Emiko Yamauchi, Naoya Makoto, Hideo Murota, Takashi Shikauchi and Yumiko Katayama

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Below is a bit more of Bankaku rock

番格ロック (Bankaku rokku) (1973)
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http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1973/cw002930.htm
http://www.walkerplus.com/movie/kinejun ... h&id=19979
http://blog.livedoor.jp/n_tko/archives/50829156.html
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/langberg/e/60e24c ... 93b92cf478
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Re: Japanese cult cinema thread

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Bankaku rokku looks very cool!
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Re: Japanese cult cinema thread

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Gaijin84 wrote:Bankaku rokku looks very cool!
Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe9ga0BYyEQ
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Re: Japanese cult cinema thread

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Toho is releasing more 1970's action films on dvd

March 18th

Yaju gari (野獣狩り) (1973)
Director: Eizo Sugawa
Cast: Junzaburou Ban, Hiroshi Fujioka, Yumi Nagasama
- http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_c.php?num_c=144554
- http://fab4.at.webry.info/200804/article_2.html

Ogon no paatonaa (黄金のパートナー) (1979)
Director: Kiyoshi Nishimura
Cast: Tomokaz Miura, Tatsuya Fuji, Misako Konno
- http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_c.php?num_c=146689
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0196809/

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Toho's official sub-sites for the releases:
http://www.toho-a-park.com/newaction/ya ... index.html
http://www.toho-a-park.com/newaction/ougon/index.html

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Yaju gari was previously featured on one of Hotwax's soundtrack collections, 野獣死すべし-復讐のメカニック、野獣狩り.

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April 22nd

Gokiburi deka (ゴキブリ刑事) (1973)
Director: Tsugunobu Kotani
Cast: Tetsuya Watari, Takeo Chii, Eiji Go, Mariko Kaga
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0322432/
- http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_c.php?num_c=144385
- http://www.h3.dion.ne.jp/~viva_42/gokiburi.html

Za gokiburi (ザ・ゴキブリ) (1973)
Director: Tsugunobu Kotani
Cast: Tetsuya Watari, Tetsuro Tanba, Michiko Honda
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0324645/
- http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_c.php?num_c=144573

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Toho's official sub-sites for these releases:
http://www.toho-a-park.com/newaction/deka/index.html
http://www.toho-a-park.com/newaction/go ... index.html

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Toho's New Action DVD series subsite:
http://www.toho-a-park.com/newaction/index.html
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Re: Japanese cult cinema thread

Post by Gaijin84 »

HungFist wrote:
Gaijin84 wrote:Bankaku rokku looks very cool!
Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe9ga0BYyEQ
Now it looks even cooler! :P
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Re: Japanese cult cinema thread

Post by Japanflix »

Thank you for all the great posters. A true feast for the eyes!
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Re: Japanese cult cinema thread

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Toei has announced their June Low Priced Batch

The first 6 Abashiri Prison films (all directed by Teruo Ishii)
Abashiri Prison (Abashiri bangaichi) (網走番外地) (1965)
Abashiri Prison 2 (Zoku Abashiri bangaichi) (続網走番外地) (1965)
Abashiri Prison 3 (Abashiri bangaichi: Boukyu hen) (網走番外地 望郷篇) (1965)
Abashiri Prison 4 (Abashiri bangaichi: Hokkai hen) 網走番外地 北海篇)
Abashiri Prison 5 (Abashiri bangaichi: Arano no taiketsu) (網走番外地 荒野の対決9 (1966)
Abashiri Prison 6 (Abashiri bangaichi:Nangoku no taiketsu) 網走番外地 南国の対決 (1966)

The Kyoudai jingi series (note: not in chronological order)
兄弟仁義 (1966) (Kosaku Yamashita)
兄弟仁義 関東三兄弟 (1966) (Kosaku Yamashita)
兄弟仁義 関東命知らず (1967) (Kosaku Yamashita)
兄弟仁義 続・関東三兄弟 (1967) (Kosaku Yamashita)
兄弟仁義 関東兄貴分 (1967) (Sadao Nakajima)
兄弟仁義 逆縁の盃 (1968) (Norifumi Suzuki)
新兄弟仁義 (Kiyoshi Saeki) (1970)
関東兄弟仁義 任侠 (1971) (Buichi Saito)

Ghost stories
Kaidan Oiwa No Borei (怪談 お岩の亡霊) (1961) (Tai Kato)
Snake Woman's Curse (Kaidan hebi onna) 怪談 蛇女 (1968) (Nobuo Nakagawa)
Kaibyo noroi no numa (怪猫 呪いの沼) (1968) (Yoshihiro Ishikawa)
Inugami no tatari (犬神の悪霊) (1977) (Shunya Ito)

Teruo Ishii pinky violence & female punishment flicks
History of the Shogun's Harem (Tokugawa onna keizu) (徳川女系図) (1968)
Joy of Torture, The (Tokugawa onna keibatsu-shi) (徳川女刑罰史) (1968)
Inferno of Torture (Tokugawa irezumi-shi: Seme jigoku) (徳川いれずみ師 責め地獄) (1969)
Love & Crime (Menji, taisho, showa ryoki onna hanzaishi) (明治・大正・昭和 猟奇女犯罪史) (1969)
Bohachi Bushido: Code of the Forgotten Eight (Porno Jidaigeki – Bohachi Bushido (ポルノ時代劇 忘八武士道) (1973)

Other pink and pinky violence films
Lustful Shogun and His 21 Mistresses (Ero shogun to 21 nin no aishin) (エロ将軍と二十一人の愛妾) (1972) (Norifumi Suzuki)
Tokugawa Sex Ban: Lustful Lord (Tokugawa sekkusu kinshi-rei: shikijô daimyô) (徳川セックス禁止令 色情大名) (1972) (Norifumi Suzuki)
Sex & Fury (Furyo anego den: Inoshika Ocho) (不良姐御伝 猪の鹿お蝶) (1973) (Norifumi Suzuki)
Story of a Nymphomaniac (Kôshoku: Genroku (maruhi) monogatari) (好色元禄(秘)物語) (1975) (Ikuo Sekimoto)
The General and His Decadent Society (Ooku ukiyoburo) (大奥浮世風呂) (1977) (Ikuo Sekimoto)
Dolls of the Shogun's Harem (Ooku jyuhakkei) (大奥十八景) (1986) (Norifumi Suzuki)

The Delinquent Girl Boss series (all directed by Kazuhiko Yamaguchi)
Delinquent Girl Boss: Blossoming Night Dreams (Zubeko bancho: yume wa yoru hiraku) (ずべ公番長 夢は夜ひらく) (1970)
Delinquent Girl Boss: Tokyo Drifters (Zubekô banchô: Tôkyô nagaremono) (ずべ公番長 東京流れ者) (1970)
Delinquent Girl Boss: Ballad of Yokohama Hoods (Zubekô banchô: Hamagure kazoe uta) (ずべ公番長 はまぐれ数え唄) (1971)
Delinquent Girl Boss: Worthless to Confess (Zubeko bancho: zange no neuchi mo nai) (ずべ公番長 ざんげの値打ちもない) (1971)

GMen '75 Collections
GMEN’75 BEST SELECT Vol.1
GMEN’75 BEST SELECT Vol.2
GMEN’75 BEST SELECT Vol.3
GMEN’75 BEST SELECT Vol.4

+ a handful of 90's and 2000's titles that I didn't bother to list

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I stole quite a few posters from this excellent site: http://www.videx.jp/

I'm glad Toei is low pricing only the first six Abashiri's this time. I have the first two, and will now try to pick up the next four. I couldn't possibly have afforded all of them at once. Also interested in Kyoudai jingi if I have any money left over. Thankfully I own a lot of the other titles already.
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Re: Japanese cult cinema thread

Post by Marshall »

Speaking of pinky horror, did anyone ever release Kazuhiko Yamaguchi's 1975 were-cat prostitute movie MYSTERIOUS CAT & TURKISH BATH? (I've seen the Japanese title listed as KAIBYO TURKO BURO, but I'm not sure that's even possible phonetically in Japanese.)

Edit: I guess it is.

http://movie.douban.com/subject/4123865
Last edited by Marshall on 25 Mar 2011, 08:27, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Japanese cult cinema thread

Post by HungFist »

Just taking a quick look, I don't think it's ever been released in home video format. Not on dvd for sure, but I don't think it ever came out on VHS either. It's a Toei film, so if it does come out on dvd some day, I won't miss it.
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Re: Japanese cult cinema thread

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Red Army/PFLP: Declaration of World War (Sekigun-P.F.L.P: Sekai sensô sengen) (1971)

“This is a news film for the construction of the world Red Army.”

Koji Wakamatsu and Masao Adachi were among the most important political filmmakers in Japan in the 1960’s. The duo regularly “disguised” their works as pink cinema, but that didn’t keep the audiences from finding them, not to mention a whole generation of future filmmakers who were inspired by their film radicalism.

Wakamatsu (Go, Go, Second Time Virgin, 1969) was on his way back from the Cannes Film Festival when his screenwriter partner and director Masao Adachi (Gushing Prayer, 1971) suggested they would do something different. Wakamatsu, somewhat tired of working in the pink genre by then, agreed. The two men found themselves in Palestine, shooting a “news film” of PFLP (The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) for the Japanese extreme leftist group The Red Army. Wakamatsu himself was closely connected to some members, and also directed a film (United Red Army, 2007) of the movement almost three decades later.

Red Army/PFLP: Declaration of World War is not a documentary in the purest sense, but more of a propaganda film. Its message, directly encouraging the Japanese“comrades” to violence and taking up arms, would be quite disturbing if not seen from today’s point of view – that is, 40 years after the film was made. But then again, the world hasn’t changed all that much since then. The film got Wakamatsu on USA’s black list – up till today, he’s never been allowed to set his foot on American soil. While beyond ridiculous today, it was a very understandable decision at the time of the film’s release.

As a movie, Red Army/PFLP isn’t all that special. The majority of the film consists of propaganda speeches, typically accompanied by images of the Palestinian countryside. Wakamatsu and Adachi have, however, also captured interesting material of PFLP fighters. The value of this footage is not to be underestimated. The film was intended for native Japanese speakers, although subtitled versions were also created for foreign markets. In this case, however, dubbing would have been preferable. In subtitled form the heavy monologue floods easily distract from visual offering.

DVD

The R2J is out of print but can still be found for reasonable prices from second had stores. Barebones disc, but there is a thick booklet included. I'd take a photo but I forgot it home. I'll try to remember to edit a photo in here some day.

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thelostdragon
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Re: Japanese cult cinema thread

Post by thelostdragon »

Interesting to see a Japanese filmmakers' interest in the topic of this part of the world.
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