Eiko Nagashima Movies
Following up on his acclaimed Helpless and Chimpura, Shinji Aoyama directs this bizarre reworking of a yakuza flick. Hiroki Sakai (Kosuke Toyohara) adjusts pins in pachinko machines for a living. It's a dull existence, but Sakai seems to have made his peace with it. One day he runs into his former co-worker, Mizuguchi (Ken Mitsuishi), a twitchy sort who managed a parlor before yakuza goons beat him up and robbed the place. Now he is obsessed with the thought of vengeance against his assailants. Soon afterwards, he runs into Rie (Yuna Natsuo) -- the daughter of his boss -- who has suddenly blossomed into voluptuous womanhood and who is eagerly hoping to improve her relationship with Sakai. Later, he finds himself the target of yakuza aggression when the gang's boss comes to believe that Sakai is the bearer of a coveted envelope. Though a sensible and retiring sort by nature, he realizes that the only way to end this unwanted adventure is to rescue his boss, Tsumura (Mickey Curtis), from the clutches of the yakuza. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
Shinji Aoyama (Two Punks) directed this Japanese cop drama about assistant police inspector Saga (Ryo Ishibashi), who is guarding a religious cult leader when the man is shot and killed. In pursuit of the hitman (Yu-rei Yanagi), Saga is also shot, and he's only half-conscious when his gun is stolen. At the hospital, his wife Rie (Eiko Nagashima) begins planning a divorce. Low on self-esteem, Saga resigns from the force. Saga's stolen gun is later determined to be a weapon used in a murder. Hypnosis sends Saga to terminal leukemia patient Shimano (Kazuma Suzuki), who's taking stolen morphine, and the trail then leads to Shimano's ex-lover Kimiko Endo (Kyoko Tohyama). Shown at the 1997 Turin Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ryo Ishibashi, Kazuma Suzuki, (more)
- 1994
Acclaimed director Tatsumi Kumashiro, who made a career out of elevating the high-budget, soft-core-porn genre Nikku Roman Porno into the realm of art, ended his career with this grisly sex-charged yakuza drama. After eight years in prison, middle-aged gangster Tanaka (Eiji Okuda) is out and looking for a little payback. Unfortunately, the mob boss and his smooth-talking underling Kurauchi (Hakuryu) are much more interested in making fast yen than drawing blood. An old battle-grizzled warrior, Tanaka feels utterly out of place in this new profit-minded ethos and instead sticks with what he does best -- horrible bloodcurdling violence. He can kill barehanded without breaking a sweat and, if the situation requires it, he can suture up his own wounds. When the boss, who both respects and fears his charge, quietly tries to push him aside in favor of Kurauchi for succession as gang leader, Tanaka decides to wage war against his rival. At the same time, Tanaka has a spy for the enemy gang brutally murdered, turns an innocent young lass into a junkie whore, and engages in kinky sex with his housewife mistress. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Eiji Okada, Eiko Nagashima, (more)
- 1972
This Japanese/Spanish co-produced, bizarre mish-mash of genres has hints of everything from The Beguiled to Eating Raoul. Director Jacinto Molina (using the pseudonym "Paul Naschy") plays a mercenary who double-crosses his partner/girlfriend Meiko and gets shot for his troubles. Falling unconscious, he is taken in by a wealthy doctor, Don Simon, who has two beautiful daughters, Alicia and Monica. His recuperation is slow, and in the meantime he is seduced by both daughters and apparently haunted by the ghost of their mother. Then there's a veterinarian who gets bludgeoned by an unseen stalker and eaten alive by pigs. It turns out that Naschy is being fattened up for slaughter by the family, whose members learned cannibalism from their servant Rachel's dad while living in Africa. The ghost turns out not to be a ghost at all, but Don Simon's third daughter, who went mad and would not join the family in their new tastes. She ends up shooting everyone, but not until Naschy has been bled and butchered. This is a very confusing film with some really silly moments, like the jungle drums on the soundtrack whenever there's a close-up of the black Rachel's rear end. It's certainly a change from Molina's usual self-pitying werewolf roles, but whether that's a good thing or not is left to the viewer to decide. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
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