Category Archives: Review: Films Set In Japan

Review: Films Set In Japan – ‘The Barbarian And The Geisha’ (1958)

Posted on June 14, 2012 by

‘You Only Live Twice‘ or ’Walk Don’t Run‘ may be the more famous of the older films set in Japan but I recently encountered one from nearly a decade before those. Of course I was very much aware of John Wayne … Continue reading →

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Review: Films Set In Japan – ‘Letters From Iwo Jima’ (2006)

Posted on June 4, 2012 by

I decided to watch this again a few days ago having just taught a student who this week is going to visit the island of Iwo-jima which is actually part of Tokyo albeit a long, long way south (750 km) … Continue reading →

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Review: Films Set In Japan – ‘Enter The Void’ (2009)

Posted on May 1, 2012 by

Starting off with a hard techno beat and flashing credits this arty-farty French directed film comes across as tediously excruciating with any real story replaced by indulgence for the sake of art. We see all the action through the eyes of … Continue reading →

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Review: Films Set In Japan – ‘The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift’ (2006)

Posted on March 25, 2012 by

As someone who can’t drive and has no interest in cars I had no interest in this franchise for many many years and just assumed it was dumbed-down, brain-dead, lad-popularist titilation designed for people…..well people like me who have a … Continue reading →

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Review: Films Set In Japan – ‘Gung Ho’ (1986)

Posted on March 12, 2012 by

Michael Keaton plays a cocky, obnoxious, arrogant and disrespectful American called Hunt Stephenson whose big car manufacturing company in Pennsylvania is on its knees and needs buying out by Japanese firm Assan Motors. He goes to Tokyo to convince their bosses to … Continue reading →

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Review: Films Set In Japan – ‘Stratosphere Girl’ (2004)

Posted on February 26, 2012 by

This modern art film is a short 84 minute story (always a good thing in my book!) about an 18 year old blonde girl called Angela who gets into a conversation with a Japanese DJ about going travelling to seek adventure … Continue reading →

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Review: Films Set In Japan – ‘Mr Baseball’ (1992)

Posted on January 25, 2012 by

As I was watching Brad Pitt in ‘Moneyball‘ on the way back to England recently I found it very hard to not keep comparing it to ‘Mr Baseball’ which as far as I’m concerned is the greatest baseball movie out … Continue reading →

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Review: Films Set In Japan – ‘The Ramen Girl’ (2008)

Posted on November 21, 2011 by

The late Brittany Murphy plays the overly common ‘fish out of water’ role in this one which follows the ‘The Karate Kid’ style format in terms of student respecting and doing all that the teacher requests beginning with taking pride … Continue reading →

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Review: Films Set In Japan – ‘The Grudge’ (2004)

Posted on October 28, 2011 by

With Halloween on the horizon I thought it would be topical to review a horror movie. ‘The Grudge’ is actually a re-make of ‘Ju-on’ but unlike most re-makes it is done by the same director Takashi Shimizu albeit with an American … Continue reading →

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Review: Films Set In Japan – ‘Kill Bill: Vol. 1′ (2003)

Posted on September 28, 2011 by

This stylised revenge film is centred around Uma Thurman’s character who is known as The Bride and having been left for dead at a church in El Paso by her ex-boyfriend Bill she wakes from her coma four years later … Continue reading →

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