The best parts of this decent Hollywood-style samurai epic are the heart-to-heart conversations between Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe, backed by a lush, emotional score by Hans Zimmer.
The theme of the ‘father figure’ dictates the narrative of this decent 9th instalment of the ‘Zatoichi’ series.
This 8th instalment is one of the series’ best—and different too—with director Kenji Misumi fashioning a slower-paced tale about Zatoichi’s longing for fatherhood.
Sion Sono’s deranged teenage romance about the perversities of sex and religion is wildly hilarious, controversial and satirical, and might be the briskest 4 hours you can spend in a movie.
The franchise’s 7th movie is its first true disappointment with a middling story, low stakes and a weak villain.
This sixth installment benefits from the wild, manic energy sustained by relatively new director Kazuo Ikehiro.
The enfant terrible of contemporary Japanese cinema gives the ‘Roman Porno’ series by Nikkatsu a cheeky middle finger with this ultra-bizarre, pretentiously-feministic meta-film.
Loads of explicit sex and misogyny wrapped in this study on sexual degradation and the politics of the (female) body, but wished it was more gripping.
It does feel overly-plotted, but this fifth ‘Zatoichi’ installment builds up to an all-out street gang war.
This fourth ‘Zatoichi’ movie sees loyalties put to the test and swordfighting action on a larger scale.
