Haha yes lots of interesting vocab in the second one 
I think I was really focused on the subtitles during those part and didn’t hear at all how it is in Japanese, would be awesome with a transcript!
Glad you liked (some of) it!!
FYI I’ve seen several modern movies / series with this type of clothing for women, I think that’s a normal trend over there (especially for mamas / women past 30 let’s say)
Let’s just say… they did not use the word WK taught me - 金玉 - which seems to have gotten quite a lot of flak around here 
I knows, I knows 
But even the young girl in the first segment made some questionable choices 
(in the first half of the story cool, but in the second really, really not cool)
Lady in the second was a-okay in that regard. In the third segment Aya (the housewife) had much better taste than the visitor, I thought 
Let’s just say… I prefer kimonos and yukatas, which are far less revealing yet a whole lot more appealing 
Going off on yet another tangent here, but it’s soooo so hard to pick a favourite between Japanese kimonos and the Chinese dresses from the WW1-WW2 times
Only three from me this week, with shorter comments 
Slowed down with films a bit, in part because of allocating one hour (or so) to listening, in part because of catching up on TV shows (not Japanese).
まんじ / Swastika (Manji)
1964, Yasuzô Masumura
Bored housewife Sonoko meets lovely Mitsuko and becomes infatuated with her. Feelings are reciprocated, leading to (seemingly) mutual obsession… and deception and betrayal. A man makes up a love triangle, only to be replaced later by another.
zzz
A little disappointed by this one. Was hoping for a serious, honest take but it’s intentionally way over the top and acted in a very overt theatrical manner. A lot of what happens especially later on seemed quite illogical. In terms of Wakao-ness this rates quite high
However, I am now worried that most of her roles had - to varying degrees - deception, manipulation or downright evil at their core…
赤線地帯 / Street of Shame
1956, Kenji Mizoguchi
The lives of several prostitutes working at a brothel in Tokyo in the 1950s, each with their own backgrounds, dreams and motivations, as the Japanese goverment considers a ban on prostitution.
zzz
The original title “Red-light District” is a much better fit.
Another compassionate (if somewhat desperate) take from Mizoguchi on the plight of women, this time dealing with a significant and rather tricky feminist issue. It’s without a doubt an interesting look at the economical, cultural and social ramifications of prostitution. Good acting all around, with the highlight being - again, naturally? - Ayako Wakao. Here she once more schemes to come out on top…
戦場のメリークリスマス / Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
1983, Nagisa Ōshima
Island of Java, 1942. At a Japanese prison camp, strong personalities clash when two men from different backgrounds meet.
zzz
Has some good musings, but they are very few and very far between.
Didn’t like this at all 
I even fast-forwarded through Collier’s flashbacks because I didn’t care one bit. Maybe it’s because I’ve never liked Bowie, not as an actor nor as a singer.
Even though it’s based on a novel from a former POW (which explains the overall tone), apparently it was changed quite a bit… to put on display a lot of self-loathing from the director, I guess.
The synth-whatever music was also rather awful
Oh no, even the music you didn’t like 
Erm, that’s usually the case with 70s-80s films, regardless of country
Then again, I’m rewatching the original Indiana Jones trilogy this weekend and John WIlliams’ score is amazing
If you like Perfect Days, you would probably also like Under the Open Sky. Same style of movie and same main actor as well. Ditto for Shall We Dance (older movie).
I will add both of those to my mental “you should watch this” list…
(Reminds me that I have at most two weeks left before my eligibility for a free trial of Apple TV runs out - gotta get that done.)
Only two this week, what with the holidays and visiting family and whatnot
レンタネコ / Rent-a-cat
2012, Naoko Ogigami
Sayoko is a single woman who for some reason is a cat magnet, but not a people magnet. She runs a cat rental service for people to fill holes in their lives. She meets various characters this way.
zzz
A quirky drama under the guise of comedy, it’s essentially about loneliness and coping with it, but also about independence and finding one’s purpose in life. It’s pretty lighthearted so don’t expect any major musings on the meaning of life or some such, but still quite enjoyable.
Low on action and heavy on not overly difficult dialogue, can certainly make for good listening practice.
And, of course, it has lots of cats!
… and the other was an anime, so cheating a bit but…
東京ゴッドファーザーズ / Tokyo Godfathers
2003, Satoshi Kon
On Christmas Eve, three homeless people living on the streets of Tokyo discover an infant girl among the trash and go on a quest to find its parents.
zzz
As far as Japanese “festive season” titles go, this must be one of the best.
It makes for a very very nice holidays caper, with the action taking place between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day.
A bittersweet story with comedy, drama, and a little bit of tragedy from interesting characters and plenty of twists to the story. It goes a little crazy in the final act, but really it’s a fine fine mix overall.
Just lovely! 
Watched another movie directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi (who directed 偶然と想像 I talked about above). Same review as above haha. It’s ドライブ・マイ・カー, English title (if you can’t guess from the katakana):Drive My Car. It has won three awards and is based on one of Murakami’s short story.
Maybe I preferred 偶然と想像, but still, liked it.
It’s on the watchlist 
but I kinda expect to find it being overrated 
I also watched his more recent 悪は存在しない / Evil Does Not Exist at some point last year (this still feels awkward, too early ) but it didn’t do much for me
You don’t wanna know what I’ve started my year with, in terms of Japanese movies… a very “downer” (but good) trilogy (or a hexalogy, depeding how one takes it) 
I also hesitated to give it only 3 stars, but after reflection there were a lot of things that I liked in it so I would say 4/5 (it is quite long though, almost 3 hours).
Noted, I’d like to see it since I liked the other two!
Haha now I want to know!
Tomorrow or on Sunday morning as I need to “digest” the final part. But as a teaser, of sorts:
Part 1 = Schindler’s List (but without any real ‘feel good’ bits)
Part 2 = Full Metal Jacket (this one for sure took heavy inspiration from the Japanese film)
Part 3 = Saving Private Ryan, 1917, The Pianist, some others… (but in contrast to those, the Japanese one more or less ruined my Friday)
Wow good luck stomaching all that
Okay, so…
Before Harakiri and Samurai Rebellion, but after The Thick-walled Room (which dealt with the immediate aftermath of WW2), Masaki Kobayashi put out an almost 10h long WW2 epic adapted from a series of novels, but also coupled with his own experience as a soldier in the Japanese Imperial army.
Made after the US occupation (so without undue influence) it’s an honest look at the horrors of war in general, and those of the Japanese army in particular.
人間の條件 / The Human Condition
1959 to 1961, Masaki Kobayashi
This is packaged as a trilogy in the West with three separate sub-titles, but each part made up of two chapters on-screen in Japanese (without subheadings), so a hexalogy at its origin.
The following comments were written after watching each of the three Western parts.
In 1943, Kaji - a Japanese 28yo conscientious objector - is sent to work as labour supervisor in an iron mining camp in Manchuria. When he tries to put his ideas of more humane treatment into practice, he finds himself at odds with scheming officials, cruel foremen, and the military police.
zzz
The first part is a sort of a POW film, with the actual war raging off-screen. It may not have the smart storytelling device of Harakiri, but it still fully delivers its message.
Kaji tries to stick to his humanistic principles in a world where almost everyone (even prisoners and prostitutes) seem to be on the opposite side. He’s perhaps a little naive in his approach, and some might say too idealistic. He’ll end up doing (unwittingly) the bidding of the officials, although there are small victories to be had even if they mostly come off as “too little, too late”.
It’s commendable that, at least for this first part, there’s not just “black and white” (like say in LotR, since I’m rewatching that one in parallel - sorry!), with plenty “shades of grey” being presented, as the motivations of various characters are given - misguided they may be, but in their own worlds they (might?) make sense.
The acting is good throughout, with Tatsuya Nakadai and Sô Yamamura (as Okishima, Kaji’s reluctant assistant) being particularly excellent.
Direction, script and cinematography are also very good, with a couple of standout scenes like the exit of Chinese POWs from the train’s cattle cars and, of course, the execution of several prisoners - masterfully done, that one.
The ending here is not at all a happy one for Kaji and his wife Michiko - I’m looking forward to see where Kobayashi takes them next on this journey…
Loved it, despite the grim, harrowing subject matter.
Covering 1943 to 1945, Kaji is now a recruit in the Japanese Imperial army. In the first half he goes through basic training, in the second he has to train others himself, and finally go to war.
zzz
Who knew that Full Metal Jacket was a remake of this middle part of Kobayashi’s trilogy?
I jest, however the inspiration taken by Kubrick from this one is obvious, with far too many similarities between them.
Seen as “a Red”, Kaji tries to maintain his humanity and ideals while being subjected to the cruelty of the ‘veteran’ soldiers, those who put “the glory of the Empire” over their own or their families’ lives - all with the purpose of giving one momentary power over someone else even if that someone is a comrade in arms… so as to forget for a fleeting moment that the victimizer himself is nothing more than a small cog in the machine of war.
A war film this may be, but our hero Kaji isn’t the typical war hero: his ‘heroic’ deeds are limited to trying to show some kindness to his fellow trainees. He may still cling to his strict moral code but he’s no longer as naive as he was in the first film. Kaji’s grown a bit in the next two years shown here, and now understands that ‘doing the right thing’ is highly dependant on the situation.
Then there is one (relatively lengthy) combat scene at the end… really just a massacre. Rather than performing the usual expected heroic acts, Kaji just tries to survive and keep his recruits alive as well… and he’ll have to again chip away at his moral code. It’s a grim conclusion, perhaps even worse than that of the first film.
Like the first part, it’s not a cut-and-dry “black and white” approach but a little nuanced. The anti-war and anti-exteremism sentiment is all too evident (as it should be), but we do get some insight into what made the various other characters tick.
The cinematography - while still very good - was not quite as impressive as in the first film, I thought. However Nakadai puts in an even grander performance here, perhaps because of Kaji’s evolution over time.
One more to go, and I really really hope it’ll be a little more optimistic…
(and more of Kaji’s wife, please - she was quite integral to the first part but absent in the second save for one small episode)
Following the defeat of the Japanese by the Russians, Kaji’s war is far from being over. He goes on a perilous trek across Manchuria hoping to reach his wife Michiko, picking up various survivors along the way.
zzz
It’s going to be hard to “talk” about this final part of the trilogy without spoilers.
For better or worse, I think going into the final part blind like I did will achieve (the perhaps desired) full impact. It was not at all what I expected and hoped for…
The plan was for me to watch this in parallel to The Lord of The Rings and I’ve stuck with it for the first two days, but faltered on the third.
This final part in Kobayashi’s trilogy was emotionally draining… I just couldn’t muster the will to watch The Return of the King last evening. Maybe this evening, maybe not
IMDb trivia says that in Japan they hold a marathon screening of the full trilogy once each year, and each time it is sold out. I can certainly say I wouldn’t have been able to watch the whole 9 and a half hours in one day - it’s just too much to bear 
Anyway.
The third film has the best cinematography and the best script of the whole trilogy - in both respects it is a masterpiece.
Acting is again excellent, with surprising (to me) appearances from Chishû Ryû and especially Hideko Takamine in a brief but pivotal role - gotta say I would not have expected her to take on this one part…
spoilery part - not heavily so but unavoidable
Interesting bits right off the bat:
- the wife - Machiko - does not appear at all in the third part, she’s only ever present in Kaji’s mind.
- “humanity/humanism” is no longer uttered, in contrast to the first two parts.
The final film begins with a murder - out of necessity yes, but Kaji himself admits he has now become a murderer. And from this point forward, it’s just a downward spiral for Kaji, as we helplessly, desperately witness the breakdown and disappearance of his moral code, until the end of the film where he commits another murder - this time one that was not necessary, but there’s nothing left of his ideals… they’ve all been squeezed out of him by fate, by the Japanese, by the Chinese, by the Russians.
The only humanity left is in the form of his unfaltering (and perhaps unrealistic in its oversentimentality) love for Michiko… only for it to be ultimately both his liberation AND his doom.
Kaji goes from POW overseer where he spoke the language of the detainees and looked close to an elegant stylish Western young man, to being a POW in a Russian camp where he doesn’t know their language nor they his, and looking like a beggar or a madman in makeshift clothings out of sack rags.
Throughout the story, Kaji is often seen by others as a socialist and even called “a Red”. There are also plenty of indications that he believes the Russians to be morally above the imperialist Japanese… and then the third part dispels the magic of the “greener grass from the other side”. Nope, there’s no humanity or moral high ground there, either… just empty rethoric.
That portrait of Stalin wasn’t included by accident, in contrast to Kaji looking a little bit Lenin-like in that room…
There’s a scene late in the final film where Kaji is taken in front of the Russian camp wardens, his chance to make the moral arguments that have carried him throughout the war so far.
Yet he does not speak Russian, they do not speak Japanese, and the Japanese interpreter has zero interest in supporting Kaji.
The grand meeting becomes absolutely meaningless, and it’s only an echo of what we’ve been shown throughout the 9 hours before: Kaji’s moral pleas are not heard, and all that is left is pain, pain from enslavement, dehumanization, murder, rape, war…
And yet… when everything else is taken away, love is left and can be held on to.
Okay, so… is this the best film trilogy out there?
That’s not for me to say.
But it is, in my opinion, absolutely essential viewing.
Yes, it may be soul destroying… but throughout it all there’s Kaji’s enduring love for Michiko and I choose that to be my takeway from it: love is indeed the essence of the human condition.
Oh and snapshots from each, if anyone’s interested: here, here and here.
(they link to posts on an external forum)
Over at the other forum someone shared this list… just great, even more titles to add to the evergrowing watchlist
Haha sounds like a nice challenge. I have counted, I have seen 6 only from the list!
Hmmm I’m at 23 watched (and feeling a little smug about it because some of their picks are relatively ‘unknown’ ) with another 14 already on my watchlist.
But even if we take out the silent films and then a few I had heard of and don’t interest me, there are still some 40 I hadn’t even considered… and each of those that I’ll watch and like will bring along at least another 2-3-4 other suggestions from their directors or cast.
I finished 2024 with 215 watched and another 240+ on the watchlist, now this new list comes along.
Oh boy… when will this ever end?!?
But to continue chipping away at the watchlist, yesterday’s film:
乱れ雲 / Two in the Shadow (Scattered Clouds)
1967, Mikio Naruse
Yumiko’s husband dies in a car accident. Mishima, the man who ran him over, although cleared of any wrongdoing, feels guilty and sends the widow money regularly. She despises him for shattering her future.
Eventually the two develop feelings for each other.
zzz
Naruse’s final film, and his first (at least for me) in colour.
It’s reminiscent of Douglas Sirk melodramas (All That Heaven Allows, Magnificent Obsession come to mind), but where others tend to have their characters overcome obstacles and come out on top for variations on happy endings, Naruse goes in a different direction (as per, I suppose): how some people some times do not to move on from the shadows of guilt and grief, or find it very difficult to do so.
It is (流石?) another slow, quiet film without a clear-cut ending (far from a happy end, in any case) that is, nonetheless, filled with hope.
Although… there’s a late scene where Mishima sings a local song said to bring happiness to whoever hears it, yet that is the saddest, most moving bit in there…
The cinematography is okay, perhaps I expected a bit more with the lovely rural setting and this being in colour.
Acting is okay too, within the confines of the roles the two leads are given. Yôko Tsukasa (who I think is still alive?) is one of the most beautiful ladies out there.
Not Naruse’s best work, but still far from the worst way to end a lifetime in cinema with…
-some snaps here, external link-
The inflight entertainment included a couple of Japanese movies, so I watched Cowboy bebop, with English subtitles. I could have done without the gory bits, but otherwise I enjoyed the action scenes and quirky characters. It was fun to catch some familiar Japanese words now and there too
About the same here, and that includes the 2 Miyazaki movies. I recently watched the Boy and the heron too, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I had to refrain myself from whooping with joy whenever I managed to pick up some of the Japanese… was gently reminded that there’s only one Japanese language addict in our household 
Recently rewatched Godzilla Minus One and thought, well, better watch the original now.
So I watched Godzilla (1954) and thought it was excellent! Not a trace of monster goofiness, really a very serious movie about creating weapons of mass destruction and the bomb.
Then I thought, well, Criterion Channel is streaming all the 東宝 Godzilla movies, so I better watch them all… All 33 Japanese Godzilla movies…
Starting with Godzilla Raids Again (1955) for this sequel adventure, not a trace of the seriousness of the first movie, all rubber suit Godzilla vs Anguirus WWE showdown action and pretty much the loosest plot possible.
Only 30 more Japanese Godzilla movies left 