A sprawling historical epic set during China’s Warring States period as one king oppresses another king and his people—there’s a sense of tragic grandiosity to the overwrought melodrama while this shorter restored version is still too long.
A man falls in love with the portrait of a lady but refuses to be romantically involved with the real person in this incredibly gorgeous Turkish film, though it does rely too much on repetition and fatalism to work.
Could have been a definitive samurai picture if it wasn’t too exposition heavy, but still quite a solid entry by Okamoto-Mifune.
A con-man who pretends to be an all-powerful spiritual guru is at the centre of Ray’s modest if stinging social commentary on the naivety of succumbing to blind faith.
Kurosawa’s final collab with Mifune yields a near masterpiece about humanity that is beautiful, poetic and enlightening.
Part of Ghatak’s ‘Partition’ trilogy, this rarely-seen film is a strong melodrama about suffering, loss and psychological turmoil as a man, his younger sister and an adopted orphan navigate the harsh socio-economic realities in postwar India.
Parajanov’s free-wheeling breakthrough film is a remarkable sensorial work that could hardly contain its dizzying energy—a showcase of a filmmaker at the height of his artistic expression.
There may not be much action, but this quite solid 12th instalment takes its time to give us well-developed characters in a narrative about strategic one-upmanship.
This easy-going if poor entry doesn’t quite contribute much to Zatoichi’s characterisation, nor does it have an involving premise.
This tenth instalment goes into darker territory with forced prostitution as one of its themes, but Zatoichi is in a serious mood to right wrongs with several well-choreographed fight scenes in store.
Eternality Tan 