The Japanese Cinema Thread

[Emilia]

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The Japane

se Cinem

a Thread

Hello! I was considering making several threads concerning Japanese films, but decided that I would be better to consolidate them into a general thread for Japanese cinema.
Without further ado...

What was the last Japanese film you watched? How much did you like it? What got you into Japanese film?

[Kura]

Gosh, I think the last Japanese film I watched was Akira. I really wanted to try watching Suicide Club.. but I dunno; I've heard mixed reviews. Anyone here watched it and would recommend it?

[Emilia]

Originally Posted by Kura

Gosh, I think the last Japanese film I watched was Akira. I really wanted to try watching Suicide Club.. but I dunno; I've heard mixed reviews. Anyone here watched it and would recommend it?

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Oh, Suicide Club is just fantastic! Its prequel, Noriko's Dinner Table, isn't quite as good, I'm afraid.

Has anyone seen Picnic by Shunji Iwai? I watched it recently and adored it.

[Scarf]

I've been out of the loop with Japanese movies recently. :/ I should change that. Can't remember what the last Japanese movie I saw was.

Hm, I think one of the first movies I saw (that wasn't a Sailor moon movie) was Ringu (and the sequel and prequel). I got into those ghost story-type movies for a while since they seemed genuinely scary without being gory. I hadn't really seen anything like that before. And then I got into Japanese things in general and started watching more.

[KriegStein]

Last japanese movie I watched was Ace Attourney. It was based (little loosely) on the first phoenix wright game.
The film that I saw before that was Hausu...or House. (made in 1977) An lsd horror movie... I dont kow even how to describe it... It was random...but sort of fun to watch...

[Elendil]

Last film I watched was Yojimbo, and I simply loved it. What got me into seeing it was basically my love for directors. I love watching what directors do on a general level, and seeing as I've mastered my personal analysis over most of the western directors I decided to head on to the Eastern Cinema. My god am I in love with Kurosawa's works. Kitano is definitely an interesting director, if a bit weird.

[LilJz1234]

Last Japanese movie I saw was the original 1954 Godzilla movie. Good thing they had the subtitle for it too

I mostly got into foreign films because they seem very good and it's different seeing a movie that's made out of North America.

[Scarf]

Originally Posted by LilJz1234

Last Japanese movie I saw was the original 1954 Godzilla movie. Good thing they had the subtitle for it too :P

I saw Godzilla (in original flavor - without Raymond Burr) a few years ago. I was surprised that it was actually pretty serious and straightforward (relatively) and not just a bunch of people in rubber suits. Then I saw the version where some American film company added in new scenes with Burr, redubbed and rewrote enough of the script to include his character, and it was a surprisingly good job all around. If you didn't know they were added in after the fact I don't think you'd ever notice.

[Ryoutarou]

The most recent one I saw was Space Battleship Yamato. Supposedly the most expensive Japanese production ever, it shows pretty well from time to time. It was a little long, but I loved all the set designs and the cast, it's definitely an anime to live action transition done right and manages to pack in essentially the first season of the show into one movie without feeling like a clip show.

Originally Posted by Scarf

I saw Godzilla (in original flavor - without Raymond Burr) a few years ago. I was surprised that it was actually pretty serious and straightforward (relatively) and not just a bunch of people in rubber suits. Then I saw the version where some American film company added in new scenes with Burr, redubbed and rewrote enough of the script to include his character, and it was a surprisingly good job all around. If you didn't know they were added in after the fact I don't think you'd ever notice.

I hear a lot of people say this when they watch the original film - some even go as far as just calling it boring. The first few Godzilla films were pretty straightforward about sending whatever message they wanted to send. The original was obviously about fear of nuclear weapons from a country that experience them power first hand. I'd say the first four films in the series are all films that are up to snuff. After that you see this weird progression in Godzilla from allegory to superhero and a lot of the suit work ends up looking very cheap. I mean, yeah, guy in a rubber suit, but there's a lot of craft that goes into those things. I enjoy the later films, well not all of them, because they're pretty fun. Though as nice as the early Heisei ones look, they're so boring. It's like it was suddenly decided that Godzilla films needed to be about totally unrelated human drama mixing with the Godzilla story that feels so divorced from that.

[Livewire]

Speaking of Kurasawa, anybody ever see Ran? A kid in one of my literature classes did his term project on it, and we watched the film in class, and I was blown away at just how amazing it was, and that it was a Shakespearean adaptation to boot. (With samurai's, what could be more cool than that)

[Elendil]

Originally Posted by Livewire

Speaking of Kurasawa, anybody ever see Ran? A kid in one of my literature classes did his term project on it, and we watched the film in class, and I was blown away at just how amazing it was, and that it was a Shakespearean adaptation to boot. (With samurai's, what could be more cool than that)

Its up there for me with 7 Samurai. I love it so much, and its one of the few movies I know by heart
.

[Mr Cat Dog]

Originally Posted by Livewire

Speaking of Kurasawa, anybody ever see Ran? A kid in one of my literature classes did his term project on it, and we watched the film in class, and I was blown away at just how amazing it was, and that it was a Shakespearean adaptation to boot. (With samurai's, what could be more cool than that)

I got Ran on Blu-Ray for Christmas but still haven't watched it yet. Part of it is because it's so friggin' long (which is a big turn-off for me when it comes to films) but another is that I'm not a massive Kurosawa fan. I'm not a Rashomon fan, I'm not a Seven Samurai fan, I'm DEFINITELY not an Ikiru fan. My favourite's probably another Shakespeare adaptation in Throne of Blood (aka Macbeth in Feudal Japan), but I'm not as enamoured of the guy as a lot of film buffs are.

My favourite Japanese filmmaker working today is Hirokazu Kore-eda. Still Walking is one of my favourite films of all time, and I Wish (which I saw two years ago at a film festival but came out on general release this year, I believe) is also really, really good. I'm a definite devotee of anything that guy will do. And of course there's Ghibli, of which I'll probably always see the newest one when it comes out.

In terms of older Japanese films, outside of Kurosawa - who I have these apparent issues with - I'm a big fan of a lot of the classics: Tokyo Story, The Ballad of Narayama, The Woman in the Dunes. I still need to see things like Ugetsu, but I imagine I will do in time.

[Scarf]

Originally Posted by Mr Cat Dog

The Ballad of Narayama

So I've seen this movie come up here and there as a big favorite of people and I couldn't ever understand why. I saw this movie in my Japanese class and thought it was... not very good. But now I'm looking into it and it seems there are two movies with this name and I don't know which one I saw. (It was a while ago.) I'm thinking I saw the '50s one and that everyone who likes it is referring to the '80s one.

[Mr Cat Dog]

Originally Posted by Scarf

So I've seen this movie come up here and there as a big favorite of people and I couldn't ever understand why. I saw this movie in my Japanese class and thought it was... not very good. But now I'm looking into it and it seems there are two movies with this name and I don't know which one I saw. (It was a while ago.) I'm thinking I saw the '50s one and that everyone who likes it is referring to the '80s one.

The '80s one is the one held in higher regard and is the one that I own myself. Never seen the '50s one, so I can't comment, but when people talk about Narayama most of them will be doing so about the '80s one.