[quote=
Ya'll's should also see Koki Mitani's All About Our House. Really nice, comforting, comedy-drama that a lot of other filmmakers seem to have forgotten how to make.[/quote]

Is this movie available with English subtitles and can it be purchased from somewhere?

I've heard about the Tora-san series of (48) movies, but I've never seen one, although I have seen a couple episodes of the manga.

It seems strange to me that a series of greater length than Zatoichi is so hard to find in the US. Maybe our cultural filter is set to "action"?

Anyway I'm interested in seeing some Tora-san but I'm not even sure where to look. Any suggestions?

If anyone has seen some of these movies, what did you think of them? Just curious.
[/b]

vibius wrote:

I've heard about the Tora-san series of (48) movies, but I've never seen one, although I have seen a couple episodes of the manga. It seems strange to me that a series of greater length than Zatoichi is so hard to find in the US. Maybe our cultural filter is set to "action"? Anyway I'm interested in seeing some Tora-san but I'm not even sure where to look. Any suggestions? If anyone has seen some of these movies, what did you think of them? Just curious. [/b]

I've never seen a Tora-san film either. Is it a samurai series?? *scratches head
*

just saw this movie called "Ai no corrida" (Realm Of The Senses) and let me tell you, this movie pulls no punches. All i can say is..."WOW!" You can check out the review here. Click on the pic. (BTW, if the pic is too graphic, let me know so i can take it out)

Quote:

A penetrating study of obsession and escape (from repression), Ai no Corrida offers more than just hard-core sex even as it's renowned for its explicit scenes. In the Japan of 1936, the population prepares for the coming war. Old traditions die hard though and the services of geisha girls are in as much demand as they ever were. Sada (Eiko Matsuda) is a new girl under the employ of brothel-keeper Toku (Aio Nakajima). This position is a matter of necessity, rather than choice, for Sada; she is lumbered with the need to pay off her bankrupt husband's debts. The work isn't too arduous though, even when an old beggar (Taiji Tonoyama) staggers by in search of a sexual favour. Sada first comes into contact with Toku's husband Kichi-zo (Tatsuya Fuji) when she takes umbrage at the label of prostitute, though she's already glimpsed Toku administering to Kichi-zo. Pretty soon he becomes a familiar figure, sneaking up and groping Sada while she's vainly trying to scrub the floor. His sexual appetite is legendary and it doesn't matter, to him, that they're both married. Hence, within a short space of time, Sada allows herself to be drawn into Kichi-zo's bedchamber (he is her master after all) where they engage in a bout of frivolous sex. At this instant their increasingly frequent bouts of love-making are free and easy; it's obvious that they connect beautifully (if their delicious orgasms are any guide). Gradually their relationship intensifies, each of them finding satisfaction only within their gymnastically physical clinches. Kichi-zo finds that he's somewhat jealous of her clients, even though the money they bring in is useful, so he makes an "honest" woman of Sada by marrying her. Now their relationship shifts to one of equals. Whenever Sada wants sex, which is often, she demands it. Occasionally she leads Kichi-zo around by his penis, such is her attachment to his instrument of pleasure. Similarly, Kichi-zo gets the best of both worlds by sleeping with his first wife when he feels like it and returning to Sada at other times. In hindsight, they could have guessed that such a set-up wouldn't work in the long run. Mention Ai no Corrida in general conversation and the standard riposte is that this is the film where the cast "do it" for real. While this is broadly true, it simultaneously misses the point and nails the movie dead-centre. Throughout Ai no Corrida there is barely a moment when sex of some sort isn't taking place, yet it is thoroughly integrated into the story rather than a gratuitous, exploitative add-on. Sada and Kichi-zo embark on a one-way trip of gratification because they can only hope to escape the harsh constraints of their lives by unleashing their fantasies. The society of the time initially gives the impression of being tolerant and permissive, since individuals can reach the heights of ecstasy in full view of their servants, friends and relatives. However, the reality is exactly the opposite. People are in fact so repressed that they'll barely comment on people having intercourse in front of them, instead pretending that it's just not happening. A vivid example of this is Sada's school-master client -- he adores her attentions but would have to commit suicide if their liaison became public knowledge. The quality that makes Ai no Corrida unsettling and disturbing is that it straddles the border between actors and lovers. Matsuda and Tonoyama get down to business without the faintest inhibition, engendering the scary thought that the whole film is real (which of course it is). With the artificial safety nets of simulated sex or low-budget porn production standards absent, events feel a little too close to home for comfort. To push the audience down this path, the lovers and the audience are encouraged to match their step; as the latter becomes numbed by the sheer repetition of the sex acts, the former continually raise the stakes. The viewers require ever more shocking situations in order to provoke a response, so sado-masochism and erotic asphyxiation enter the picture. Ironically, when the script dishes up food as a sex tool, the audience recoils in horror. The performances of Matsuda and Tonoyama are quite extraordinary, though not in the classical, Western sense. As their light-hearted dalliance mutates into something altogether darker, the subtle emotional nuances of the characters shift, adjusting to the new balance. Through actions and imagery, the establishment of Kichi-zo's penis as an object in its own right (with practically a mind of its own) takes place. Sada becomes inseparable from the penis, wishing to hold and caress it, reducing Kichi-zo's status even as the envelope of love tightens around them. Soon there is only space for the two of them (Kichi-zo can no longer have relations with Toku), then just one. Ai no Corrida is truly unique in its uncompromising portrayal of insatiable lusts, control and obsession. While the characters have sex constantly, continuing to talk, eat and play musical instruments as they do so, the film is both erotic and non-erotic. There is a certain titillation value in the early scenes but by the mid-point of the film, this has all but vanished (though a wry, situational humour remains). However, whichever way you approach Ai no Corrida it's obviously a novel piece of work. The sad thing is that the stigma of making such an open film becomes apparent when you realise that almost no similar films have appeared in over 2 decades.

_________________

Here's my Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=logo#/kwan1?ref=profile

is "ai no corrida" unconfortable to watch, it sounds extremely so from reading about 5 different reviewers about it.


postedit: ech, long dragging speech ahead warning

off but still on topic:

were j-movies fail big time in my opinion is
A)comedy when hilarityand not drama is the main genre:punching people in the back of head is not humorous to me and I hope it never wll be)
B)Horror/Gore - all countries fail in this category as it is by definition not realistic and the images will never happen. I feel like the director thinks we are ignorant.(Audition/Odishon is the only exception its an excellent movie though I should NOT recommend it)
C)Adult situation-type movies. I haven't seen the above movie but from the review in other links i think i would be just as unconfortable as in a and b (and hope never to become confortable). Miike is the worst at this latter category, Miike would be 100% genius if he stayed away from "adult situations". He has at least 4 extremely good movies in my mind (I can't vote for a #1 as they are all on a similar "extremely good" level - Ichi is the worst of his movies in my book for reasons a b and c even though it is at the top of most (*english-speaking*) reviewer's miike films.

but miike kitano and kurosawa. Ikiru and Ran are my favorite kurosawas Ran is a thunderous shakespeare movie - it feels like an active thunderstorm even after a year from last seeing it. (seen 2ce) I didn't like 7-samurai nor rashomon nor yojimbo (the "three classics" per most english-speaking people), though - they seem small next to the above two though they are definitely in the top 10 kurosawa movies.

postedit:ah enough of my opinion !

bmwracer wrote:

I've never seen a Tora-san film either. Is it a samurai series?? *scratches head *

Nope, it's a more modern drama/comedy about the life of a lovable bumbler named Tora-san. He leads a wandering existence, supporting himself with odd jobs like selling used books on the road. Even though he's a good guy, despite his carefree ways, he's destined not to win at love.

Here's an IMDB link for the main actor Kiyoshi Atsumi.

Actually the reason I want to see it is that it is NOT a samurai movie. I've seen plenty of those It seems like that's all that we get here in the US. It's probably also a series that is deeply ingrained in Japanese culture (I saw one Japanese TV show that had a segment about Ramen, and it went into great depths to explore the restaurant where this actor would go to eat ramen while working on his films).

(edit: here's an article at japantoday that describes Tora-san better.)

niko2x wrote:

just saw this movie called "Ai no corrida" (Realm Of The Senses) and let me tell you, this movie pulls no punches. All i can say is..."WOW!" You can check out the review here. Click on the pic. (BTW, if the pic is too graphic, let me know so i can take it out)

Man, isn't that a relatively old flick? In the Realm of the Senses was made in the late 70's/early 80's, I think, written by Nagisa Oshima... And it created quite a stir when released...

vibius wrote:

Nope, it's a more modern drama/comedy about the life of a lovable bumbler named Tora-san. He leads a wandering existence, supporting himself with odd jobs like selling used books on the road. Even though he's a good guy, despite his carefree ways, he's destined not to win at love. Here's an IMDB link for the main actor Kiyoshi Atsumi. Actually the reason I want to see it is that it is NOT a samurai movie. I've seen plenty of those It seems like that's all that we get here in the US. It's probably also a series that is deeply ingrained in Japanese culture (I saw one Japanese TV show that had a segment about Ramen, and it went into great depths to explore the restaurant where this actor would go to eat ramen while working on his films). (edit: here's an article at japantoday that describes Tora-san better.)

So desu ne... Thanks for the links. I'll check 'em out.

If you're interested in non-jidai-geki films, check out some of the excellent Criterion releases like Nora Inu (Stray Dog) and Tokyo Monogatari (Tokyo Story)...

bmwracer wrote:

check out some of the excellent Criterion releases like Nora Inu (Stray Dog) and Tokyo Monogatari (Tokyo Story)...

I just saw Kurosawa's Nora Inu, and I liked it, but it's not one of my favorites. Haven't seen Tokyo Monogatari yet.

I prefer non-violent movies, which is why I'm curious to find out about Tora-san. Also, it intrigues me that the Tora-san series of movies was so wildly popular in Japan, yet virtually unknown in the US.

vibius wrote:

I just saw Kurosawa's Nora Inu, and I liked it, but it's not one of my favorites. Haven't seen Tokyo Monogatari yet.

Tokyo Monogatari is an excellent film. Very subtle performances, almost bland if your looking for dynamics, but very honest and fascinating.

Ikiru is another excellent film.

Quote:

I prefer non-violent movies, which is why I'm curious to find out about Tora-san. Also, it intrigues me that the Tora-san series of movies was so wildly popular in Japan, yet virtually unknown in the US.

The lack of violence is probably why it hasn't gotten much exposure in the States: everyone wants and expects stuff like Kill Bill...

just finished watching Perfect Education

highly recommended to all Sukebe Club peeps

just wanna ask if the baldy guy in that movie is the same guy in GoodLuck
the baldy pilot

zchendevlemh wrote:

just finished watching Perfect Education highly recommended to all Sukebe Club peeps just wanna ask if the baldy guy in that movie is the same guy in GoodLuck the baldy pilot

Yes, he is Naoto Takenaka.

Still your sig with the whole declaration is very big!

gomen!! haven't found any replacement yet

That's a better size..but your previous "sukebe" declaration is far decent.

Anyhow..This is a wonderful thread...so back to Japanese movies, I recently re-watched "Sleepless Town" Kaneshiro Takeshi, Kippei Shiina and Yamomoto Mirai. It's a very dark movie but I really like it. I dunno whether it's considered as a Japanese movie since the director was not Japanese, hmm..one of those HK directors, I fogot his name, beside that there was also Eric Tsang as the main villain in the movie..oh well nobody was good, everyone was baddies.

i think i forgot to comment on this one

just finished watching Love Letter

at first i think it's another Il Mare type of story since there r 2 Miho Nakayama

then i was wrong oops...

the story was cool and the ending is great

but the downside is it is a slow phase type of movie

bmwracer wrote:

Man, isn't that a relatively old flick? In the Realm of the Senses was made in the late 70's/early 80's, I think, written by Nagisa Oshima... And it created quite a stir when released...

yeah dude. it was made in '76. You can imagine the uproar it made in the land of the rising pixelated pics. The thing is, the main leads were doing it FOR REAL in the movie!
_________________

Here's my Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=logo#/kwan1?ref=profile

Omg Niko2x,

R u trying to corrupt newbies like me with that pic LOL.
Anyway, I seen one of the recent films Nagisa Oshima directed called Taboo or Gohatto (a samurai film) on TV a while ago and fell in love with the main guy in the film Ryuhei Matsuda. Cannot believe he was about 16 when he played that role. Went crazy for him and went out and rented Collage of Our Life (aka Love Collage) and Nine Souls. Can't wait to get my hands on Aoi Haru (Blue Spring).

vibius wrote:

I've heard about the Tora-san series of (48) movies, but I've never seen one, although I have seen a couple episodes of the manga. It seems strange to me that a series of greater length than Zatoichi is so hard to find in the US. Maybe our cultural filter is set to "action"? Anyway I'm interested in seeing some Tora-san but I'm not even sure where to look. Any suggestions? If anyone has seen some of these movies, what did you think of them? Just curious. [/b]

The Tora-san movies were made from 1969 to 1996. They were very popular among middle-aged and older audiences. The character of Tora-san is an iconic figure, as instantly recognizable to Japanese as say, Sherlock Holmes or Tarzan would be to us. However, unlike the latter two characters, who were played by a lot of different actors over the years, only one actor (Kiyoshi Atsumi) played Tora-san in all 48 movies. The stories are very formulaic: Tora-san, an itinerant peddler, gets homesick and returns home to see his relatives (sister, brother-in-law, young nephew, aunt and uncle); they quarrel; he leaves in a huff; wandering the country he runs into a beautiful woman in distress; he helps her out and falls in love with her; however, by the end of the movie his love goes unrequited. Tora-san is like a bull in a china shop; although he has a good heart, he creates havoc wherever he goes. The movies are comedies with a lot of sentimentality thrown in. The first 7 or 8 in the series are available from yesasia.com; they come with Chinese and grammatically correct English subtitles but some of the discs are region 3 while others are region 1. All but a couple of the Tora-san movies were directed by Yoji Yamada, a very prolific director who is still active (his last movie was The Twilight Samurai). I enjoy the Tora-san movies but, as I mentioned earlier, it is a series which appeals mostly to middle-aged and older people.

niko2x wrote:

yeah dude. it was made in '76. You can imagine the uproar it made in the land of the rising pixelated pics. The thing is, the main leads were doing it FOR REAL in the movie!

Yow. That's REALLY getting into your work...

shin2 wrote:

The Tora-san movies were made from 1969 to 1996. They were very popular among middle-aged and older audiences. The character of Tora-san is an iconic figure, as instantly recognizable to Japanese as say, Sherlock Holmes or Tarzan would be to us. However, unlike the latter two characters, who were played by a lot of different actors over the years, only one actor (Kiyoshi Atsumi) played Tora-san in all 48 movies. The stories are very formulaic: Tora-san, an itinerant peddler, gets homesick and returns home to see his relatives (sister, brother-in-law, young nephew, aunt and uncle); they quarrel; he leaves in a huff; wandering the country he runs into a beautiful woman in distress; he helps her out and falls in love with her; however, by the end of the movie his love goes unrequited. Tora-san is like a bull in a china shop; although he has a good heart, he creates havoc wherever he goes. The movies are comedies with a lot of sentimentality thrown in. The first 7 or 8 in the series are available from yesasia.com; they come with Chinese and grammatically correct English subtitles but some of the discs are region 3 while others are region 1. All but a couple of the Tora-san movies were directed by Yoji Yamada, a very prolific director who is still active (his last movie was The Twilight Samurai). I enjoy the Tora-san movies but, as I mentioned earlier, it is a series which appeals mostly to middle-aged and older people.

Great info, Shin. Thanks!