Stray Dog (1949)

In Akira Kurosawa’s Stray Dog (1949; Nora inu), a young Toshiro Mifune plays a rookie detective named Murakami who feels shame and twists himself in knots over losing his newly acquired Colt pistol to a pick-pocket on a tram. This is both a film noir and a police procedural, which seems to have influences on […]

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983)

I remember some DJ night at The Bird when someone ended their set, or played as ‘closing up’ music, Ryuichi Sakamoto’s theme to Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983). I mean, what an all timer piece of music, so ethereal, plaintive, calming, just plain beautiful. And it is kind of bizarre that it is the title […]

Branded To Kill (1967)

Every hip movie about a hitman must have taken something from the Japanese cult classic Branded To Kill (1967; Koroshi no rakuin); for example, Jim Jarmusch lifted a drain-pipe kill from it for Ghost Dog: Way Of The Samurai. Directed by Seijun Suzuki and starring Joe Shishido, Branded To Kill is a dazzling, dark, funny […]

Shoplifters (2018)

Shoplifters (2018; Manbiki Kazoku) is the first that I’ve seen of writer-director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s many critically-acclaimed films. It’s about a struggling family that make ends meet by shoplifting and who take in a young girl from an abusive home. Observational, funny and warm, there were moments that just had me tearing up instantly. At first, […]

The Bad Sleep Well (1960)

Unboxing DVDs that I’ve had in storage for several years, I didn’t realise I had this copy of Akira Kurosawa’s The Bad Sleep Well (1960). So I finally watched it and it was excellent. Set in post-war Japan, it unravels the revenge plot set in motion by Nishi (Toshiro Mifune) who is climbing the ranks […]