Tag: Noir

  • The Bad Sleep Well (1960)

    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… Read.

  • The Fourth Man (1983)

    The Fourth Man (1983)

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    I realised I’d never seen any pre-Hollywood Paul Verhoeven Dutch movies so I sat down with The Fourth Man (1983), which is a pretty nutty erotic thriller in the post-Hitchcock mould. Better known to me as the go-to actor for European dodgy guys in American movies like No Mercy and The Fugitive, Jeroen Krabbé plays… Read.

  • Stormy Monday (1988)

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    Acquired this from Arrow Video on Blu-Ray a whim and I really dug it. Stormy Monday (1988) is only 95 minutes long but it moves slow, luxuriating in the neo-noir atmosphere it creates in Newcastle, England. Wet streets, neon signs and dime-store archetypes. Oh, and the quartet of lead actors are all looking incredibly foxy,… Read.

  • Doberman Cop (1977)

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    Aside from being referenced in True Romance and starring in Kill Bill Vol. 1, I’d not actually seen any Sonny Chiba films. So I took a chance on Doberman Cop (1977; Doberman Deka), which is based on a manga, and has Chiba playing a cop from Okinawa, trying to solve the murder of a young… Read.

  • Youth Of The Beast (1963)

    Youth Of The Beast (1963)

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    Always great when a film from an older decade feels contemporary in its energy. Youth Of The Beast (1963; Yajū no seishun) is very snappy and vibrant, a Yazuka gangster movie about a mysterious stranger Joe (Joe Shishido – who I only discovered now had cheek implants to help his career and thus his very… Read.