The longest entry in the franchise, this excellent 20th instalment pits two Japanese swordfighting icons together as friend and foe, directed with assurance by Kihachi Okamoto.
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Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo (1970)
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Tag / Japan
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Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (2005)
A mid-2000s departure from his wuxia epics, Zhang’s largely restrained work about an aged Japanese father travelling to China to film a traditional mask opera for his estranged dying son ultimately teeters towards the emotionalism of the director’s earlier melodramas.
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Samaritan Zatoichi (1968)
This 19th installment is a rather straightforward if still serviceable affair, as the guilt-ridden blind swordsman protects a woman from nefarious harm.
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Wolf Children (2012)
This beautiful Japanese animated feature by Hosoda is endearing, but it may feel a bit too lengthy at times.
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Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (2021)
A triptych of warm-spirited stories forms Hamaguchi’s worldly treatment of the serendipitous, in what is a perceptive work about connections and human relationships.
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Belle (2021)
It may sometimes be a sensorial overload, but Hosoda’s invigorating reworking of the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ tale, now set in the virtual world of psychometric avatars, largely works and makes a point for the necessity of real human connection.
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True Mothers (2020)
Kawase’s naturalistic and graceful filmmaking is there for all to see, but she doesn’t quite pull off successfully an oddly-structured work about the sometimes fateful circumstances surrounding mothers and babies.
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Asako I & II (2018)
Excellent performances of nuance and subtlety aside, Hamaguchi’s work here is emotionally rich but its plot shifts remain unconvincingly executed.
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Ecstasy of the Angels (1972)
Wakamatsu mixes exploitative sex with subversive politics, but the film doesn’t really compel and is too long-winded.
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Cat Returns, The (2002)
Fantasy encroaches into reality in this slight if charming little anime from Studio Ghibli that might just finally make non-feline lovers realise why cats are to be fussed about.
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Eternality Tan 