What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

[HungFist]

Keep Your Chin Up (上を向いて歩こう) (1962) [TV] – 2.5/5
Mitsuo Hama and Kyu Sakamoto star as two youngsters who escape from reform school and go different ways. One dreams of a career in music while affiliating with gangsters, the other finds new home with an old man taking care of ex delinquents. This is a slightly underperforming Nikkatsu youth film. It’s got style, catchy music, and a great cast (Sayuri Yoshinaga is in it too), yet it comes out strangely unmoving. This should have been better, more engaging, and more dynamic.

Detective Bureau 2-3: A Man Weak to Money and Women (探偵事務所23　銭と女に弱い男) (Japan, 1963) [Streaming] – 3/5
A forgotten sequel to Seijun Suzuki's Detective Bureau 2-3. This was a lower budgeted production that had to settle for black and white film stock and a slightly less adventurous director, yet it's an entirely passable Nikkatsu action with plenty of style and a dynamite cast pitting Joe Shihido against deadly Hong Kong gunman Asao Koike! A solid genre film with lots of cool noir imagery, though a tad long and less energetic than its predecessor.

[HungFist]

Gorgeous Leopardess (華やかな女豹) (Japan, 1969) [Streaming] – 3/5
A slightly pretentious human drama set in the world of arts, following a Japanese woman (Ruriko Asaoka) returning from France to Tokyo where her sister (Chieko Matsubara) resides. The storyline with all its attempts at prestige feels fairly irrelevant; however the film is stylishly directed with some stand out moments of visual poetry and urban melancholy. Somewhat comparable to the many nigh ballad films of the era, but with a more sophisticated, less nocturnal feel. In retrospect, although it was still two years ahead, this feels like a dying breath for Nikkatsu prior to restructuring into the nation's largest soft core production line. The screenplay was, perhaps fittingly, penned by future Roman Porno poet Akira Kato, who would carry similar thematic to his own films.

For This We Fight (街から街へつむじ風) (Japan, 1961) [Streaming] – 3/5
Yujiro Ishihara fights both the yakuza and doctors to save a small hospital in this enjoyable programmer. There's nothing exceptional about it, but it's got a sense of fun, the kind that is missing in modern cinema. Case in point: charmingly handsome Ishihara sings a long duet at a colourful night club while gangsters gather around him, everyone keeping each other on an eye, everyone ready to make the first move… and Ishihara just keeps singing. That is cinema!

[HungFist]

The Dragon Lives Again (Hong Kong, 1977) [BD] – 2.5/5
There's no denying this film has one of the best premises in movie history: Bruce Lee wakes up in hell and has to fight his way out. Standing on his way are Zatoichi, One-Armed Swordsman, Emmanuelle, and many others. But the film is a bit of a disappointment. It has moments of genius (and a pool full of topless women), but it's too intentionally silly. There was no need to remind the viewer every three seconds that it’s a comedy – we know it. With a bit more poker face this could’ve been much funnier, and more outrageous.

Tandem (痴漢電車人妻篇　奥様は痴女) (Japan, 1994) [TV] – 3.5/5
Two troubled men travel through the Tokyo night on motorbike in Toshiki Sato and Masahiro Kobayashi's lyrical pink road movie. Both men are deeply flawed and toxic individuals with violent tendencies towards both women and men, but also pitiable losers. Never does the film approve their actions, but rather see them as humans despite of what they do. Nevertheless, viewers with "modern sensibilities” should probably steer clear of the film. This is another interesting work by the Sato / Kobayashi director & screenwriter duo, with Sato documenting the Heisei era cityscapes like and Kobayashi filling people's mouths with often amusing deadpan dialogue. There’s also a great soundtrack with folk songs sung by screenwriter Kobayashi himself – those are his old recordings from 70s under the pseudonym Hiroshi Hayashi! The film would be even better if not for the rather dull ending and being part of the Molester’s Train franchise (if only nominally: that franchise has produced hundreds of theatrical films, some of which, like this movie, were mainly utilizing the title for additional revenue rather than fully committing to groping in trains). Among Sato and Kobayashi's numerous and nearly always rewarding collaborations this film is one of the best known for having enjoyed international exposure via English subtitled releases.