Female Yakuza Tale - Inquisition and Torture (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)Directed by seasoned veteran of Japanese exploitation cinema Teruo ISHII, FEMALE YAKUZA TALE - INQUISITION AND TORTURE is the unrelated sequel to SEX AND FURY (also available on amazon), again starring beautiful and very sexy Reiko IKE as tough as nails female gambler Ocho. Set in Kobe ca. 1920, the story with various fractions of yakuza, revenge and double - crossing is a bit too overconvoluted for its own good. To cut a long story short, let`s just say you can expects LOTS of nudity, sex, violence and sleaze. Some examples of what you can expect here: there are some nasty yakuza who force women to smuggle drugs in their private parts (!) As incentive the poor drug addicted gals get their fix injected in their naked breasts (!) In one particularly sleazy scene our heroine is engaged in a card game with mean yakuza mobster Big Tiger, who foolishly accuses her of cheating and insists that Ocho strips naked (!) to prove she did not hide cards. On the condition that he cuts off some of his fingers in time honoured yakuza-tradition, should he be proven wrong, she drops her clothes (in the process clandestinely disposing of an incriminating card). Now it's time of the unfortunate yakuza to cut off his fingers, but his girl comes to his rescue and asks Ocho for a favour "from woman to woman": Making an obscene gesture with her hand, she begs Ocho to spare Big Tiger's middle finger. It's up to the viewer's dirty imagination, why she asks his finger be spared...
The showdown, involving sword- and gunplay, explosions, blood geysirs and about two dozen naked girls (!) is particularly over the top. As if this was not enough there is some downright silly slapstick and funny dialogue ("trashy boss" being my favorite) thrown in for good measure.
When all is said and done, FEMALE YAKUZA TALE - INQUISITION AND TORTURE is surely a pleasureable and entertaining way to spend an evening. The film is well-shot with stunning cinematography. Reiko IKE is great. However, I found the film still a bit disappointing. The story is convoluted and over blown. Personally, I found SEX AND FURY a far better film. Sure, there is more sex and violence in INQUISITION (though there is not a shortage of it in SEX AND FURY either), but SEX AND FURY has a better story and is overall a far more rewarding viewing experience.
Technically the DVD is great. The film is presented in its original widescreen aspect ratio, colours are nice and the print is pristine. There are also several interesting extra features. First of all the excellent trailer. Then there are picture galleries of promotional art and stills from the film. There are also excellently written production notes and bio- and filmographies of director Terou ISHII and star Reiko IKE.


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Female Yakuza Tale - Inquisition And Torture is an anarchistic apex in the career of Japanese cult director, Teruo Ishii, whose fifty year resume includes Horror of Malformed Men and Blind Beast Vs. Killer Dwarf. Notoriously lacking restraint, sexy 'pinky violence' star, Reiko Ike, returns in this gonzo sequel to Sex & Fury following the further exploits of Ocho, a thief and gambler running afoul of evil yakuza in Meiji Era Tokyo. Aided by a lone wolf adventurer (Ryohei Uchida), Ocho investigates a ruthless gang of cutthroats who are using indentured prostitutes as drug mules to smuggle heroin from China. Director Ishii throws everything but the kitchen sink into this mind-altering sexploitation action saga, all culminating in a bloody mobster massacre replete with sultry swordswomen. Full of intoxicating mayhem and uproarious kabuki-striptease antics, Female Yakuza Tale - Inquisition & Torture is freak-out filmmaking at its finest! Panik House is proud to present Female Yakuza Tale uncut, uncensored and totally restored from the original vault elements. Available for the first time anywhere on DVD! FEMALE YAKUZA TALE DVD Features- Audio Commentary with Chris D., American Cinematheque film programmer and author of the book Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film.- Director & Star Bios for Teruo Ishii and Reiko Ike, written by Chris D.- Original Theatrical Trailer.- Poster and Still Galleries- Production Notes- Special Insert Sticker - Optional English Subtitles - Brand New 16x9 transfer with completely re-mastered video and audio - Special Packaging – stunning transparent amaray and the first 10,000 units debut in a clear O-Sleeve

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Akira Kurosawa - 4 Samurai Classics (Seven Samurai / The Hidden Fortress / Yojimbo / Sanjuro) - Criterion Collection (1956) Review

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(More customer reviews)That's right, these ARE some of the greatest Japanese films ever made and are especially wonderful samurai movies!
By now you know abouth the movies that are included so let me make some technical reference to the DVDs.
In terms of picture quality, Seven Samurai has been restored to present the best presentation of the film to date. Yojimbo features a fine 2.35:1 non-anamorphic transfer of the film. Don't get me wrong, it is quite good, especially for a film of its age, but you won't be writing home about it. Sanjuro (my favorite of the bunch) is presented in a non-anamorphic 2.35:1 aspect ratio and starts off poor. The film looks worn for the first few minutes and shapes up after that. Overall, a very good transfer. Hidden Fortress has the best picture of the bunch, having been mastered from a pristine interpositive to a high definition transfer!
Sound on the disc is as follows: Seven Samurai features a restored mono track and is a improvement over the old video tape I used to watch! Yojimbo's sound isn't quite as good. There's a hiss throughout the Japanese 2.0 Mono track. To sum it up, it is fair. Sanjuro, happily, doesn't have the hiss present in the Yojimbo track. It is a pleasant Japanese 1.0 mono track. Hidden Fortress gives the viewer the choice of a 1.0 mono track or a 3.0 Dolby Digital track.
Extras? Seven Samurai features audio commentary by Japanese film historian Michael Jeck which offers insights into Kurosawa's work, the film and Japanese culture which combine to make a highly engaging commentary. Also included is a theatrical trailer. Yojimbo is pretty much a bare bones disc, including only the trailer and liner notes. Sanjuro has the same features as Yojimbo. Theatrical trailer and liner notes. Hidden Fortress includes a theatrical trailer and an eight minute interview with George Lucas who discusses Kurosawa's influence on him as a filmmaker.
In conclusion, these are excellent films with presentations that I'm sure are the best we will ever see for them. Don't hesitate to add these to your film library!

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Black Rain (1989) Review

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(More customer reviews)BLACK RAIN is the only movie of director Shohei Imamura that can be found in the DVD standard. It's a pity since this director is still one of the most interesting japanese directors even if he's now 72 years old. Winner of two Cannes Palmes d'Or ith THE EEL and THE BALLAD OF NARAYAMA, he isn't properly speaking a newcomer but his work deserves to be known by a wider audience.
The black rain is the name Japanese people have given to the rain that fell on Hiroshima right after the nuclear bombing of this island. Black and deadly. The movie, shot in black and white, tells the story of a couple of survivors and their struggle to stay alive and be part of the new japanese society born after the emperor's surrender.
One could say that BLACK RAIN's rythm is slow but I think it's a courageous choice of Shohei Imamura in order that we feel the fear of these people waiting their whole life for the first signs of the inevitable diseases provoked by radioactivity. In between, they try to survive like Yasuko, the heroin, whose search for a husband is pathetic.
Two scenes will stay in your memory. Firstly, the description of Hiroshima in comparison of which those horror movies Hollywood produces by the dozen seem, for the least, ridiculous. And this scene when Yasuko, filled with hope, waits for a shining rainbow, symbolizing life. You wait with her, with all your heart, until you remember that this film is shot in black and white. Simply magistral.
A scene access as sole extra-feature.
A DVD for your library.

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A Cannes Film Festival award winner, "Black Rain" is an unforgettable movie about humanity and survival after the 1945 atomic catastrophe that changed the world forever. Stunning photography vividly details the horror of ravaged Hiroshima, while its shocked survivors struggle with radiation sickness as they rebuild their shattered lives.

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The Hidden Fortress - Criterion Collection (1960) Review

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(More customer reviews)I have to confess my bias at the start: Akira Kurosawa is easily one of my two or three favorite directors. If forced to sit down and do a list of my 25 favorite films, SEVEN SAMURAI would be in a tie for first, and two or three others would join it on the list.
This was the first movie that Kurosawa made that was widescreen, and therefore the first that will derive maximum benefit from DVD. (Read through the early reviews of the DVD of SEVEN SAMURAI to see some of the confusion over this.) His use of the wider angle is magnificent, presenting the view with extraordinary vistas again and again. Kurosawa never seemed to struggle with the technical aspects of filmmaking, and would later make a similarly effortless transition to color.
This is one of Kurosawa's finest films. It is difficult to say that it is his best, since his very best films are among the greatest ever made. Suffice it to say, that the film bears in every way the mark of greatness. The camera work is flawless. Though black and white, the film is gorgeous to look at every moment. The acting is impeccable, with Mifune giving a somewhat difference performance in this one. If we are more accustomed to think of him as a more fiery character, as in RASHOMON or SEVEN SAMURAI or THRONE OF BLOOD, in this one he is magisterial and aristocratic.
I think the parallels to STAR WARS are rather overblown, and anyone coming to this film looking for tones of George Lucas rather than Akira Kurosawa just may find themselves disappointed. Yes, there is a princess, and yes, there are some very small plot parallels, and yes, there are two comic characters included to provide light entertainment and to move the plot along. But none of these are crucial elements of THE HIDDEN FORTRESS.
But I do think the STAR WARS references bring up a very interesting point about Kurosawa: more than anyother foreign filmmaker in history, Kurosawa is the one with the easist relationship with American culture. People who normally dislike foregin film can respond powerfully to his films. I once showed SEVEN SAMURAI to a group of high school boys. These kids were almost in a state of mutiny, because 1) the film was black and white and 2) it was subtitled. But by the end of the evening they were all entranced and had become fans of the film.
I think the reason they responded so easily was partly because Kurosawa was a cinematic genius, but also because he had absorbed so much of American culture and film technique in his films. Just as many American films have borrowed directly from his work, so he borrowed from American sources. Many of his films bear evidence of extensive exposure to film noir and American Westerns, and several of his plots are borrowed from American and Western sources. One example: much has been made of the fact that A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS was based on Kurosawa's YOJIMBO, but it is not as often noted that YOJIMBO was based on Dashiell Hammett's RED HARVEST, in which the Continental Op goes to the town of Personville (or, as a Brooklyn-accented character in the book pronounces it, Poisonville) and turns two warring criminal factions against each other.
But if you haven't seen this film, do so. Without any question one of Kurosawa's very finest films.

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A general and a princess must dodge enemy clans while smuggling the royal treasure out of hostile territory with two bumbling, conniving peasants at their sides; it's a spirited adventure that only Akira Kurosawa could create. Acknowledged as a primary influence on George Lucas' Star Wars, The Hidden Fortress delivers Kurosawa's inimitably deft blend of wry humor, breathtaking action and humanist compassion on an epic scale. The Criterion Collection is proud to present this landmark motion picture in a stunning, newly-restored Tohoscope edition.

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Oh My Zombie Mermaid (2004) Review

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(More customer reviews)With all the countless great cult, horror, demented and hyper-violent flicks coming out of Asia over the last decade, you see a title like 'Oh! My Zombie Mermaid' and think to yourself, "sign me up", right? Oh! My Zombie Mermaid-loving friends, how wrong we can be...
There's no horror, no camp, no dementia, no zombies, there's not really a mermaid either, what we've been suckered into here is a wrestling movie!!! WTF! I kid you not!
Here's the down-lo on this woefully misrepresented time-killer : Shishio (real life New Japan Pro-Wrestler) is having a house-warming party at his new digs when violence erupts thanks to a rival who crashes the fest and the mansion ends up in shambles. His wife Asami is injured in the melee and seeks medical treatment that is slowly turning her into a zombie mermaid (hint: you need to be dead to qualify as a zombie last time I looked, though the literature on such things is rather vague). Shishio needs to rebuild his palace and save his wife, so his manager suggests staging a death match between Shishio and all of his rivals on pay-per-view TV. Logical, right?
The rest of the flick is the wrestling match, where we find out his manager has double-crossed him on several levels and was behind infecting his wife - my apologies for the spoilers, but I'm riding with the assumption you weren't going to put yourself through this like I did...
Was it terrible? No. If you knew what you were sitting down to before you developed expectations based on the title, cover and details, you might actually enjoy this one; it's a decent family flick, believe it or not. But my universe is a drastically different one from most of you, so I was pissed...it's like a combination of 'Splash' and the WWF.
Oh, yeah, someone can tell the previous reviewer that he can come out from under the bed now, his fear of mermaids is unwarranted in this case...


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OH MY ZOMBIE MERMAID - DVD Movie

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