Keiko Matsuzaka Movies
- 2007
A self-referential comedy that serves as prolific Japanese filmmaker Takeshi "Beat" Kitano's latest attempt at "creative destruction" (that process was set into motion with the release of 2005's Takeshis), Kantoku Banzai! follows an ageing filmmaker (Kitano) who is eager to revive his failing career. Realizing that he has taken to falling back on familiar clichés, the weary director experiments with producing everything from an Ozu-inspired home drama to an ultra-commercial J-horror film - all with varying degrees of failure. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Beat Takeshi Kitano, Toru Emori, (more)
- 2006
The material and spiritual sides of one man's life are reflected in a game that allowed him to become a hero in this historical drama from Chinese director Tian Zhuangzhuang. Wu Qingyuan (Chang Chen) was born to a wealthy family in China, and as a boy he revealed a remarkable talent for the centuries-old game known as Go. Wu's skill for the game was so great that in the 1920s he was given the opportunity to travel to Japan, where he would learn from the grand masters of Go and compete with champions from around the world. Wu spent most of the rest of his life in Japan, where his life was bordered on one side by Go and on the other by his study of Zen; however, Wu was also a Chinese man living in Japan during a time that the two nations were often in violent conflict, and he found himself viewing some of the most crucial and traumatic events of Japanese history through the eyes of an outsider. Wu Qingyuan received its American premiere at the 2006 New York Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chang Chen, Sylvia Chang, (more)
One of an amazing seven features directed in 2001 by Japan's prolific shock auteur Takashi Miike, The Happiness of the Katakuris is a gleefully morbid musical comedy about a family of oddballs who open an inn in the mountains. Unfortunately, through no fault of their own, none of their guests leave their rooms alive. In order to protect their business, the family resorts to burying the corpses in the backyard, but this only leads to a zombie problem. Meanwhile, the daughter falls in love with Richard, a mysterious British navy officer, who looks suspiciously Japanese but claims to be the nephew of Queen Elizabeth herself. Just when Richard bungles onto a clue that might lead him to uncover the string of disappearing guests, a nearby volcano begins rumbling to life. Propelled by musical numbers rife with movie and pop culture references, The Happiness of the Katakuris is a departure from Miike's famously gruesome thrillers. ~ Tom Vick, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kenji Sawada, Keiko Matsuzaka, (more)
Following up on his acclaimed and Cannes Grand Prix-winning Unagi, veteran iconoclast Shohei Imamura directs this gleefully ragged tale about one very dedicated, though defiantly eccentric, doctor during the waning days of the Second World War. Dr. Akagi (Akira Emoto) is a small-town physician who sports a prim white suit and straw hat as he runs at full gallop from one case to the next. His diagnosis is always the same no matter the symptom: hepatitis. Along the way, he enlists the help of a young lass named Sonoko (Kumiko Asou) whose mother is a prostitute. Before she leaves home, mom gives her this kernel of maternal wisdom: give your physical devotion away to only your true love, make everyone else pay. She decides that the lucky recipient will be Dr. Akagi. Unfortunately, he has little interest in anything other than finding a cure for hepatitis. One day he happens upon a bruised and battered Dutch soldier (Jacques Gamblin) who escaped from the local POW camp. Realizing that returning to the camp would spell death for the lanky escapee, the doctor hides him with the aid of drug-addled fellow doctor (Kotsuke Sera) and an alcoholic Buddhist priest (Juro Kara). In gratitude to Dr. Akagi's kind act, the Dutchman, a lens crafter in quieter times, helps to fashion him a microscope so that the doctor may look at the very hepatitis germ itself. This film was intended as Imamura's swansong, but in 2001 he came out of retirement to direct the surrealist romance Akai Hashi Noshitano Nurui Mizu. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Akira Emoto, Kumiko Aso, (more)
- 1990
Veteran director Kohei Oguri helms this stylized look at marital discord based on a book written by Toshio Shimao. The film centers on Toshio (Ittoku Kishibe), a struggling writer with a wandering eye, and his wife Miho (Keiko Matsuzaka), who is slowly being driven insane from jealousy. Designed as a series of set pieces, Miho rages at her husband who passively takes her abuse -- until he too explodes. Numerous screaming arguments and two suicide attempts later, they are still in the grips of despair. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keiko Matsuzaka, Ittoku Kishibe, (more)
- 1987
This nostalgic backward glance at the earliest days of Japanese talking pictures was originally titled Kinema no Tenchi. The year is 1933: Narimi Arimori plays a lovely young girl who is groomed for film stardom by director Ittoku Kishibe. Narimi's biggest obstacle is a lack of talent, but Kishibe sees to it that the girl is hired for minor roles so that she can glean experience. Her big break comes when she replaces the star of a major production. When time comes for a crucial emotional scene, Narimi finds she can't play her role convincingly and runs embarrassed from the set. At this point, the girl's father Kiyoshi Atsumi, himself a frustrated actor, tells his daughter a sad story concerning the truth of her parentage. Overcome with grief, Narima successfully pulls off her big dramatic scene and goes on to become a major Japanese star. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
This drama is based on the experiences of celebrated novelist Kazuo Dan. Kazuo Katsura (Ken Ogata) is a writer, with a wife and six children, who indulges in booze and extra-marital affairs. When he takes the flighty actress Keiko (Mieko Harada) as his mistress, Kazuo's long-suffering wife Yoriko (Ayumi Ishida) leaves him. The author must endure the situation he has set for himself as he suffers through arguments in between his sexual encounters. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Ogata, Ayumi Ishida, (more)
- 1986
The environment and the movie stars at a Japanese film studio in the early '30s are recreated in this drama that looks back on a distinctive period in cinematic history. Using celebrated director Yasujiro Ozu as a model, fictional director Ogata (Ittoku Kishibe) discovers a new female star quite by accident. Koharu Tanaka (Narimi Arimori) works selling candy at a studio theater when she is given a part as a bit player. After the studio's top leading lady is embroiled in a scandal, Koharu is suddenly thrust into the limelight when she replaces her in a film and gains instant fame and fortune. But the going is not always easy, and she soon seeks help from unexpected quarters. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Narimi Arimori, Kiyoshi Atsumi, (more)
- 1982
"Go" is a complex, brain-racking "game" of military strategy, somewhat resembling chess. Chinese Sun Dao-Lin is sent to Japan to study Go under master Rentaro Mikuni. Rising to national champion, Sun is coerced into swearing allegiance to Japan at the outbreak of World War II. Having lost his son in the war, Sun vows to have his revenge on Mikuni, thereby launching a 32-year-long game of Go. Beginning the game in the heat of anger in 1946, Sun has learned the value of forgiveness at game's end in 1978. Filmed in 1982, the vastly popular Go Masters (Mikan No Taikyoku) was the first-ever Chinese/Japanese co-production. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rentaro Mikuni
A has-been samurai movie star takes unfair advantage of the loyalty of one of his devoted fans in this Japanese comedy-drama. The star uses the fan's help to escape a number of sticky situations and eventually hatches a plan to use them as a double during a dangerous stunt. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Morio Kazama, Keizo Kanie, (more)
- 1979
In this courtroom drama, a murdered woman's former schoolteacher and various local merchants contribute vital evidence leading to the conviction of her murderer. As important as the mystery of the murder is the jockeying for position between the various lawyers and judges. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Toshiyuki Nagashima, Keiko Matsuzaka, (more)
- 1978
Goyokin director Hideo Gosha makes his triumphant return to the samurai genre with this plot twisting, nerve shredding tale of an enigmatic bandit chieftain who resorts to elaborate trickery to finance a furious revenge plot. Tatsuya Nakadai is a desperate man. Robbery and con games are his specialty, and he'll swindle anyone who gets in his way in order to accomplish his bitter goal. Meanwhile, on the other side of the law, determined shogunate policeman Shogoro Ichikawa realizes that in order to catch a thief he'll have to engage in some shady double dealings as well. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tatsuya Nakadai, Tetsuro Tanba, (more)
