High Noon (2014)

2014 | Japan | Basma Alsharif | ★★★★

Basma Alsharif's High Noon is a mesmerising experimental short film, composed of several dynamically shot landscape scenes looped together, overlaid over each other, and played back with varying levels of speed, direction, and opacity.

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"High Noon is the meeting between the Southern Californian landscape with that of the South-Eastern landscape of Onomichi Japan as an experience of the gravitational pull towards the center of the earth, with the knowledge that we are sometimes standing on the world upside down. We briefly glimpse each landscape as a dizzying series of loops that seem to repeat themselves endlessly." Vdrome

Sweating the Small Stuff (2017)

枝葉のこと

2017 | Japan | Ninomiya Ryutaro | ★★★★★

Writer-director-star Ninomiya Ryutaro's utterly engrossing Sweating the Small Stuff is a low-key, semi-autobiographical  slice-of-life drama about pain and regret, comprised of long, handheld, naturally lit takes of Ninomiya's enigmatic, booze-soaked wanderings.

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"Ryutaro Ninomiya, 27 years old, lives a fairly simple life. He works at an auto-repair shop, reads books and drinks a few beers. One day, he receives a phone call from Yusuke, his childhood friend whose mother, Ryuko, is dying from Hepatitis C. Despite knowing for a while that Ryuko was sick, Ryutaro hasn’t visited her, but today he decides to go." Festival Scope

See also:

Stotty's 2010s Favourites

Scabbard Samurai (2011)

さや侍

2011 | Japan | Matsumoto Hitoshi | ★★

Matsumoto Hitoshi's kooky but strangely sentimental Scabbard Samurai is a well-crafted period comedy, buoyed by imaginative comic set-pieces and charismatic performances, but fatally hamstrung by its dubious moral message and Shimizu Yasuaki's misconceived, horribly intrusive score.

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"Nomi Kanjuro (Takaaki Nomi) is a masterless samurai on the run after throwing away his sword for good. He has with him his headstrong 9-year-old daughter Tae (Sea Kumada). A bounty is soon placed on Nomi Kanjuro and 3 assassins go after the score. When Nomi Kanjuro is eventually captured and placed in front of the local feudal lord (Jun Kunimura) he is given a choice. A boy prince has been grieving ever since the death of his mother. Nobody has been able to make the boy smile. Nomi can attempt to make the boy smile within 30 days or he must commit seppuku (suicide)." TMDb

Symbol (2009)

しんぼる

2009 | Japan | Matsumoto Hitoshi | ★★★★

Matsumoto Hitoshi's hugely entertaining, utterly bonkers Symbol is a wild, abstruse Japanese comedy, featuring wacky, colourful imagery, unfathomably fun plotting, and a cartoonishly full-blooded central performance from the director himself.

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"In the central tale, a Japanese man wakes up alone in a brightly illuminated white room with no windows or doors. When he presses a mysteriously phallic protuberance that appears on one wall, a pink toothbrush materializes from nowhere, setting in motion a very strange series of events. And now for something completely different: TV comedian turned director Hitoshi Matsumoto and his hilarious, oddball, upside down approach to popular filmmaking. One man (Matsumoto!) is trapped in a room; another, a Mexican wrestler, starts his day. Only pure ingenuity could connect them together." Mubi

Where Chimneys Are Seen (1953)

煙突の見える場所

1953 | Japan | Gosho Heinosuke | ★★★★★

Gosho Heinosuke's masterful Where Chimneys Are Seen is a truly beautiful, profoundly moving, symbolically rich domestic drama, featuring gorgeous imagery and exquisite performances from Uehara Ken, Tanaka Kinuyo, Takamine Hideko, et al.

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"Gosho’s most celebrated film both in Japan and the West, Where Chimneys Are Seen is perhaps the most compelling example of his concern for, and insights into, the everyday lives of lower-middle-class people. Based on Rinzo Shiina’s novel of the absurd, the film depicts the lives of two couples against the backdrop of Tokyo’s growing industrialization during the 1950s." TMDb

See also:

Stotty's 1950s Favourites

Café Lumière (2003)

珈琲時光

2003 | Taiwan / Japan | Hou Hsiao-hsien | ★★★★★

Hou Hsiao-hsien's Café Lumière is a touching, beautifully drawn tribute to Ozu Yasujirō, produced to celebrate the centenary of the great Japanese master’s birth, featuring some gorgeous imagery and a tender central performance from Hitoto Yō.

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"Making her way through life by forming superficial relationships, Yoko (Japanese pop idol Yo Hitoto) keeps everyone at arm's length, whether it's her father (Nanji Kobayashi) and stepmother (Kimiko Yo) or Hajime (Tadanobu Asano), the owner of a small bookstore who could be the father of her unborn child. Yoko seems most at home when she's riding the train, speeding around the city with only her thoughts to entertain her." TMDb

See also:

Stotty's 2000s Favourites

Metropolis (2001)

メトロポリス

2001 | Japan | Rintaro | ★★★★

Based on Tezuka Osamu's 1949 manga of the same name, Rintaro's Metropolis is a visually stunning, hugely moving animated feature, replete with unforgettable imagery, mellifluous scoring, and a truly, indelibly spectacular climax.

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"In the industrial, tri-level world of Metropolis, Duke Red is a powerful leader with plans to unveil a highly advanced robot named Tima. But Duke Reds violent son Rock distrusts robots and intends to find and destroy Tima. Lost in the confusing labyrinth beneath Metropolis, Tima is beginning a friendship with the young nephew of a Japanese detective. But when Duke Red separates the two innocents, Tima's life – and the fate of the universe – is dangerously at stake." Eureka

Porco Rosso (1992)

紅の豚

1992 | Japan | Miyazaki Hayao | ★★★

Based on his 1989 manga The Age of the Flying Boat, Legendary Japanese film-maker Miyazaki Hayao's much-loved Porco Rosso is a colourful and mildly entertaining though slight and vaguely forgettable '30s-set animated fantasy.

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"Acclaimed Japanese animated feature from Studio Ghibli. Set in the 1930s, the film follows Porco Rosso (Shûichirô Moriyama), a talented fighter pilot who is turned into a pig by a magic spell. Adapting well to his porcine transformation, Porco sells himself out as a pilot for hire, until a big shot American flyer arrives, looking to make a name for himself by shooting down the Crimson Pig. With his feisty sidekick Fio (Akemi Okamura), Porco gets his battered plane back into shape for the big showdown." Studiocanal

Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011)

2011 | USA | David Gelb | ★★★★

American film-maker David Gelb's gently moving Japanese documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi is an engrossing, beautifully respectful portrait of a great artisan, Ono Jirō, packed with mouth-watering dishes, fascinating detail, and thoughtful philosophising.

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"Japanese documentary about Michelin three-star sushi restaurant Sukiyabashi Jiro, located in Chuo-ku, Tokyo, and its 85-year-old owner Jiro Ono. While Jiro works endlessly, committed to producing the perfect sushi, his son Yoshikazu prepares to take over his father's small but world famous restaurant." Thunderbird Releasing

Chicken Heart (2002)

衰男向前冲

2002 | Japan | Shimizu Hiroshi | ★★★★

Shimizu Hiroshi's hugely likeable Chicken Heart is a hilariously bizarre comedy starring Ikeuchi Hiroyuki, Imawano Kiyoshirō, and Matsuo Suzuki, featuring interesting visuals, notable performances, and a melancholically tender finale.

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"Former boxer Iwano, teamed up with Sada and Maru, who live in the same apartment building, makes his daily living as a punching bag for drunken businessmen in some corner of the amusement quarters. The three have continuously avoided putting themselves in a situation that could tie them down, especially Iwano, who is totally clueless about what he wants to do with his life. One day, they receive notice that their apartment building will be torn down. As a compensation for the eviction, their remaining rent is considered as settled. Having lost their place to live, the three each try to find their way." TMDb

The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (1987)

ゆきゆきて、神軍

1987 | Japan | Hara Kazuo | ★★★★★

Brilliant Japanese documentarian Hara Kazuo's The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On is a remarkable and immensely powerful if somewhat troubling and decidedly bonkers documentary, packed with incredible, emotive scenes.

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"This documentary was five years in the making, and revolves around 62-year-old Okuzaki Kenzo, a survivor of the battlefields of New Guinea in World War II who gained notoriety by slingshooting steel pinballs at Emperor Showa to protest against what he considered to be the ruler's war crimes. Setting out to conduct interviews with survivors and relatives, he finds the truth of the past to be elusive, achieving a breakthrough only when he confronts ex-Sergeant Yamada, who grudgingly admits the occurrence and instructional source of certain atrocities." TMDb

See also:

Stotty's 1980s Favourites

Mona Lisa (1973)

モナ・リザ

1973 | Japan | Matsumoto Toshio | ★★★

Japanese avant-garde film-maker Matsumoto Toshio's visually distinctive Mona Lisa is a mildly stimulating experimental short film, comprised of psychedelically manipulated images of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

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"The image of a Mona Lisa gets rhythmically manipulated in this experimental short." Mubi

Lost in Translation (2003)

2003 | USA / Japan | Sofia Coppola | ★★★★★

Sofia Coppola's ethereally lovely Lost in Translation is a bittersweet, sensuously photographed chaste romance, featuring a pair of heart-melting performances from Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray and an alluringly melancholy soundtrack.

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"Featuring superior performances from Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson as Bob and Charlotte, two Americans in Tokyo. Bob is a movie star in town to shoot a whiskey commercial, while Charlotte is a young wife tagging along with her workaholic photographer husband. Through their respective insomnias, the two cross paths one night in the luxury hotel bar and strike up a surprisingly intimate friendship. As the unlikely pair venture through Tokyo together, having often hilarious encounters with its citizens, they ultimately discover a new belief in life’s possibilities." Momentum Pictures

See also:

Stotty's 2000s Favourites

Like Someone in Love (2012)

ライク・サムワン・イン・ラブ

2012 | Japan / Iran | Abbas Kiarostami | ★★★★★

Starring Okuno Tadashi, Takanashi Rin, and Kase Ryō, Great Iranian film-maker Abbas Kiarostami’s brilliantly directed, Japan-set Like Someone in Love is a formally daring, thematically dense drama, featuring fine performances, beautiful visuals, and unpredictable scripting.

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"Like Someone in Love, named after Ella Fitzgerald's jazz standard, is a droll, elegant and playful film preoccupied with identities mistaken and assumed, laced with references to the films of Yasujiro Ozu. Akiko, a pretty and slightly distant sociology student works nights as a high-class escort. Instead of studying for her exams and meeting her grandmother, she reluctantly goes to the house of her latest client, retired sociology professor Takashi. The next morning, she allows him to give her a ride to university, crossing paths with her volatile boyfriend, Noriaki (Ryo Kase). The latter assumes that the kind old man is Akiko's grandfather, thus allowing an odd role-playing routine to begin, until, perhaps, the hoax is discovered." New Wave Films

See also:

Stotty's 2010s Favourites