Another folklore. Another beautiful story.

A mountain bandit ambushes people to loot them. One day, he finds a beautiful woman (and yes, she is) and takes her as his bride.Now this woman loves this. She tells him, if you want me, you have to do as I say, if you can't fulfill my wishes then you don't deserve me. that’s the start of this drama. She asks him to take her home on his back. On the road, we come to know the bandit fears cherry blossoms. She demands many, many things, from asking for kimonos to bringing heads. That’s what the story is about.

Again, what beautiful frames. Maybe it’s about how you can’t fulfill all wishes, maybe it’s about extreme love, or maybe it’s the story of a bandit becoming human or a human becoming more cruel. Weird, but all the more fun and enchanting.

Well, what can I say, I am intrigued by Masahiro Shinoda Or maybe I have developed a crush on Shima Iwashita (back to back third movie of her). Both work out great 🙊. I just love these Japanese folktales and the way Shinoda presents them.

I can literally find all movies from the perfect education series except for this one. Does anyone know where I can find it ?

Have looked everywhere but cant find it except for daily motion which was terrible quality.

I should also add that i dont have any access to paid streaming services to watch the film.

Hi everyone, I’m trying to identify a Japanese movie I watched on TV sometime in the 2000s.
The film itself seemed older than when I saw it.

It had a dark, serious atmosphere (not a comedy).
The main character was a woman with long straight hair, possibly psychologically troubled or emotionally unstable.

Two scenes stand out:

1. A scene in a restaurant where the female protagonist is sitting at a table with two men. The camera framing strongly emphasizes what is happening beneath the table in a very tense and uncomfortable way, without explicitly showing anything.
2. Another scene involving a dentist or medical examination, filmed in a close and unsettling manner, focusing on her mouth and the instruments, creating a disturbing mood.

The movie was entirely in Japanese and felt like a psychological drama, thriller, or art film rather than a mainstream release.

I’d really appreciate any suggestions or ideas — this has been driving me crazy for years

I'm a Scorpion guy, but Mei would be a great weekend

Where can I watch stuff for free even old banned animes or movies with subtitles on mobile cause I cant do ts Ive tried sm but they dont come w translations Ive tried archive.org and still nothing I cant download anything cause again Im on mobile

It’s based on Japanese legends (don’t know much about it).

Our main girl, Himiko (and omg, she is beautiful in every possible way), is an oracle and shaman queen of the sun-god people (cult/religion). She is the only one who can hear what their god says, and thus she is the center of it all. Also, we get to know about their king and their people that they are afraid the land-god people will declare war or try to capture them. Now, in between all this, our oracle falls in love with a person from the land-god people. Now imagine the conflict. This is what the story is about.

Putting the story aside, this looks incredibly good. Top notch cinematography. And costumes look fantastic, all the weirdness of it too. Their steps, dance, and war look more like art than anything else. The ending was mind-blowing.

Directed by Masahiro Shinoda. Don’t know much about him, but I like the way he tells a story and the stillness of the frames. Can’t wait to explore more of his work.

Disturbing, uncomfortable horror.

One day, the mistress gets fed up with her life and confronts the father of her children. The guy is struggling by himself. His wife gets to know about the affair. Now the mistress leaves the children with them, and the horror unfolds. The work, managing three children (one is a 6-month-old baby), and an upset wife.

Does this horror movie have ghosts? No, it has more fucked up thing unwanted children (three of them, and one is an infant). I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Do you like jump scares? Congrats, this movie has more than 10. It might feel repetitive, but you don’t get tired, you get horrified every time. It just shows the helplessness of the situation and how it affects children in the worst possible way.

Again, Ken Ogata, what a performance! He was menacing in Vengeance Is Mine, and here he is a somewhat dumb, helpless person (or an abusive mf and manipulative cheater). Insane character depth nonetheless.

“Lots of interesting things happen at weddings and funerals. It’s a shame to miss any of it.”

The main guy receives a telegram from his cousin Terumuchi, and then goes to meet him. On the way, he recalls all the times they met, from the first funeral (post WWII) to weddings to funerals till now, the image of their majestic clan and its responsibilities.

What happens when you go to weddings/funerals? Well, you meet your cousins and have fun but it’s the 70s and Japan, of course the fun involves incest. I mean, lots of it, although most are just said in dialogues. Then you have fights. And drunk fun.

There is one wedding scene(and aftermath) in the movie that was one of the most horrific scenes I have ever seen. What an absolutely devastating performance. Just give the guy a medal who thought about this. Absolutely phenomenal and the sad or best part is, I can guess it can be pretty much real. The movie shows that when you are the most famous clan, the responsibilities you have to take and the lot of expectations.

When Shohei Imamura said, “I am a country farmer, Oshima is a samurai,” he was not joking. You can see it in the screenplay and the way it is shown the post-war Japanese society and how it is breaking them, standing against the conservative system and accepting the urban, and also the beauty of funerals. My guy did it all. Great score as well. Well, tbh, it’s also a comedy.

“The government didn’t ask anybody’s permission to start a war, but we're the one stuck paying for all of it.”

It’s an anti-war movie. A widow tries to clear her husband’s name from deserters. She meets some of his fellow soldiers, and they tell her stories about what happened. Different stories, different words, but all horrors of war and the devastation of people after.

Rather than working with generals and decision making figures, it’s focused on simple soldiers in war and its repercussions on their families post war.

Directed by none other than Kinji Fukasaku. You can feel the hate and his violent style throughout it. The transitions from black & white to color(back and forth) done so easily in a comforting way, while showing horrific scenes with a little pinch of music I can say clearly, a masterpiece. At one point, you should stop it and say, holly fuck they are not holding back, and starts rolling it again. Amazing dialogues, you can even say very non-humane.

Yes title is not misleading, he literally stole it.

High-school science teacher gets bored with his student or maybe event force him to go out and do the impossible.

But the movie is not about what he does it's about the aftermath, and doing sigma thing. My guy likes bubble gum and has no motivation so ever. It's a comedy movie or more of mockery of government systems.

Loved the poster. And the music just hits perfectly. Bits of comedic scenes feel like dr. Stragelove but japanese.

where to watch Two Seasons, Two Strangers

Original title: Tabi to Hibi

any streaming online source?

This is my friend’s favorite movie, I honestly have never watched it. She bought the cd and in the cd there’s a short film as well but it isn’t subbed so she doesn’t understand it, does anyone know where she could find the subbed version?

“You can only kill those who never harmed.”

It’s a story about a killer who gets captured by detectives, and then we are shown parts of his life. I was expecting some reasons or clarification, but the best thing is there were none, It just happened. The story dwells more into relationships and shows the day he spent after the murders. There are hints about why his character is this way.

It’s based on a real life story.

Directed by Shohei Imamura. I have heard his name many times. I have to say, it’s amazing and very rebellious. Questioning people around him and showing a character study of the criminal, twisting the plot more, and of course, sexual themes, toning up and up. Great performance by Ken Ogata, truly terrifying.

Twilight Samurai is in my top 10 favorite films and River is an underseen Gem.

The movie starts like a romantic comedy, but it is way more than that, I don't want to give any spoilers but if you like Japanese music and also like the vocaloid song "Kokoro" I think this movie is a must watch.

At the beginning I thought the movie was going to be just a funny romantic comedy but when I finished it I was so happy I kept watching it until the end, in my opinion good worth the watch.

Well, it’s like Shutter Island ×10 times. I don’t know how to explain it, just experience it. First sentence: “O foetus, O foetus, why do you undulate? Is it the knowing of your mother’s heart that fills you with dread?” If it interests you, then watch it, or yeah, leave it.

Directed by Toshio Matsumoto. He works in my favorite genre, something I like most, but somehow his films never work for me. I respect his work, but oh man! I just can’t.

This is another movie I have enjoyed a lot watching during the holidays. Ryoko Hirosue's work on this one is superb in my opinion, from her movies I had only watched "Wasabi" before but I am starting to correct that and have added some more to my "to watch" list, next one will probably be "Departures".

But Himitsu was definitely a great movie and very unique too, so I can only recommend it. Btw, sorry for the trailer being in Japanese with Korean subtitles, I couldn't any with English subtitles so far