Ren Osugi Movies
Japanese documentarian Hirokazu Kore-eda made his first dramatic feature with this austere drama, which recalls the visual and narrative style of Yasujiro Ozu. Yukimo (Makiko Esumi) is married to Ikuo (Tadanobu Asano), a happy and humble man who loves her very much. While Yukimo and Ikuo are content in their marriage and have a beautiful infant son named Yuichi, Yukimo is haunted by visions of death. She has a recurring nightmare in which her grandmother leaves her home to go to the village of her birth to die, as Yukimo weeps uncontrollably. Yukimo's sad obsession foreshadows a real tragedy in her life when she wakes one morning to discover that police are at her door -- Ikuo has died after apparently committing suicide along the nearby railroad tracks. Yukimo is shattered and spends several years in solitude, until she meets Tamio (Taketoshi Naito), a widowed fisherman who lives in a nearby village with his daughter. They fall in love, and Yukimo marries him and moves into his home. She begins to find happiness anew, until she returns to her old home for her brother's wedding, which brings back a flood of troubling memories. Maboroshi no Hikari (which translates as "Illusory Light") was a multiple award winner at the 1995 Venice International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Makiko Esumi, Tadanobu Asano, (more)
- 1994
Takeshi Kitano made an international name for himself for directing films of great emotional subtlety and technical innovation such as Hana-Bi and Sonatine. This film displays none of those traits. Directed under his comedian moniker "Beat Takeshi," Kitano displays the bawdy schtick that made him famous with this gleefully stupid tale about one man's attempt at getting laid. Asao (Dannkann) wakes up one morning from a dream in which he's seen as a hipster shagging a beautiful woman in the back of a really cool car. He immediately sets out to the local car dealership and asks the salesman which vehicle would be best suited for "car sex." Soon he exits the lot with a little sportster and promptly fails at picking up a cute girl he sees on the street. After a series of comic mishaps, ending finally with this car getting crushed by a truck, he goes to plan B -- to steal enough money to fly first class and test his seductive luck with the stewardesses. When robbing a bank fails, he takes up acting in a Zatoichi-like samurai film only to accidentally dump dung on every one of his fellow actors. Finally, after humiliating and exhausting himself trying to get the attention of the opposite sex, he tries to become invisible and embark on a career as a peeping tom. Improbably, he does, getting more than he bargained for. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dannkann, Shouji Kobayashi, (more)
- 1993
Acclaimed Japanese filmmaker, comedian, television star, author, and all-around renaissance man Takeshi "Beat" Kitano stars in this unconventional take on the crime drama. Kitano portrays Murakawa, a successful Yakuza officer who has grown weary of the violent life, so much so that he has even considered retirement. Thus, he is not pleased when he is asked to lead a team to help defuse a gang war in Okinawa but agrees when he is assured it will be an easy job. It proves anything but, however, and he soon finds himself in the middle of a complex, bloody conflict. Fearing that he has been set up, Murakawa withdraws to a nearby coastal town. The film takes a trademark Kitano turn at this point, moving away from the standard crime drama plot to focus on what amounts to a gangster's summer vacation, with the killers playing frisbee on the beach and taking dancing lessons. Murakawa even finds a summer romance, falling in love with a local girl who is impressed by his way with a gun. This sunny idyll cannot last forever, however, and soon the realities of the criminal life catch up with them. Seen as a prime example of Kitano's style, Sonatine features a combination of deadpan comedy and unexpectedly romantic lyricism, periodically interrupted by shockingly sudden bursts of violence. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Beat Takeshi Kitano, Tetsu Watanabe, (more)
Japanese horror icon Kiyoshi Kurosawa pays homage to the gruesome slasher flicks of the 1980s with the cutting tale of a young woman forced to do battle with a murderous security guard. It's Akiko's first day on the job at Department Twelve of the Akebono Corporation, and needless to say, her short-fused managers and callous co-workers do little to make her feel comfortable in her new work environment. Things quickly go from bad to worse, however, when Akiko finds herself trapped in the enormous building and forced to do battle with a psychotic security guard with a decidedly bloody approach to office security. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1983
Bawdy but not explicit, this lusty Japanese farce tells the tale of teenage Shinohara who longs to join the well-muscled ultra macho ranks of Makio Mitani's patriotic fighters, a corps of handsome hunks first seen training in a local gym during the opening credits. Shinohara is delighted when he is accepted for enlistment. Following his initiation ceremony, Shinohara is assigned to senior member Takizawa's unit for further instructions. That night the youth learns more than a few lessons, but not about fighting. Instead he finds the whole unit engaged in an all-night debauched bout of boozing and vigorous homosexual activity. In the daytime he undergoes real military training for an upcoming government coupe. The soldiers and leaders realize that they will most likely fail and seem to eagerly anticipate the hara kari that is to follow their attack. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
