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Related Images is a column in which filmmakers invite readers behind the scenes, into their sketchbooks, or otherwise through the looking glass to learn more about their creative processes.Nans Laborde-Jourdàa’s Boléro is now showing exclusively on Mubi in many countries.Dawn. Photograph by Matt Hill.Boléro summons the spirits of my teenage years, spent in the Pyrenees, and the way we become ourselves in places that have little regard for our differences. Fran came into himself elsewhere, and as he returns, he yearns for reconciliation.I wanted to show François Chaignaud on screen, how powerful a performer she is. Each and every movement she makes portends a future earthquake. I wanted to convey not only her art, but also her vulnerability and subversive impact.I also wanted to show the landscapes in which I grew up, made of wildlife and concrete; show these dear faces, those of my family and my childhood friends.

Stars: Sayu Kubota, Yuzu Aoki, Mituru Fukikoshi, Akaji Maro, Shunsuke Tanaka, Hitomi Takahashi, Atsuko Maeda | Written by Ken’ichi Ugana, Hirobumi Watanabe | Directed by Ken’ichi Ugana

Love Will Tear Us Apart is the latest film from director Ken’ichi Ugana, who has made a name for himself on the festival circuit with films like Extraneous Matter and Visitors. His latest is a strange tale that takes one part It Follows and one part slasher movie.

The film follows Wakaba, a young girl whose father is an abusive alcoholic and whose mother is too timid to defend herself or Wakaba. But that doesn’t stop Wakaba from defending her fellow classmate Koki who is being bullied by other students at elementary school. However that defence, and subsequent friendship between the two, is ruined by the school bullies turning their attention to Wakaba. But that attention doesn’t last long as the...

Japanese cinema has been on a somewhat successful stalemate for years now, with the titles produced (at least the ones we manage to sea in the West out of the 600 the country produces every year) retaining the same, relatively high quality, even though no particular steps forward have been made for years now Regarding the state of the industry in 2023, you can read the very informative article by Mark Schilling, but the thing I have to mention is that, despite the issues, local movies definitely have four things working quite well for them, particularly this year. First of all, the big names deliver almost always, with Miyazaki, Hamaguchi and Koreeda proving the fact this year also. Second of all, the quality of anime remains high as always and thirdly, some efforts at different cinematic approaches continue to take place, even though they can almost exclusively be found in low budget and short films.

“The Love and Adventures of Kuroki Taro” is a weird film, even by Atg standards. It begins by showing Kuroki Taro and two other stuntmen in their line of work, even stating that “in this film, the stuntman is the star”. However, apart from these introductory scenes, the movie does not show any more behind the scenes footage in a film-about-film fashion, instead focusing on three different stories involving the titular character, and a side one, all of which are narrated by one of the initial characters, Juichi Ito. This last one is a rather personal one for Morisaki since he drew extensively from the war diary of his older brother Minato, who killed himself by harakiri the day after Japan's surrender.

Follow our coverage of Atg by clicking on the link below

The first story involves Kuroki playing games with the police, essentially making them chase him by acting...

Probably inspired by the success of “The Horse Thieves. Roads of Time” that brought together cast and crew from Kazakhstan and Japan, “Under The Turquoise Sky” attempts to do the same with Mongolia and Japan this time, in a movie that unfolds like an occasionally surreal road film.

“Under The Turquoise Sky” is screening at Japan Cuts

Takeshi is the spoiled grandson of Saburo, a Japanese mogul who is disappointed by his behavior, since the young man spends all his time on drinks and women. Arma is a Mongolian man who is caught trying to steal a horse that belongs to Saburo. Instead of punishment, however, the latter arranges for him to take his grandson to Mongolia in order to find a woman she was romantically involved with during his time in the Japanese army. Gradually, through the interaction with Arma and the experiences he stumbles upon while in Mongolia,...

Despite the fact that Kenichi Ugana usually follows genre paths in his filmmaking, his will to change styles is also evident throughout his body of work, which we have been covering since 2018 and “Good-Bye Silence”. His latest work, “Love Will Tear Us Apart” amusingly goes into slasher territory, in a movie that had its world premiere at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival and won the Grand Prix at the Portland Horror Film Festival.

“Love Will Tear Us Apart” review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative

The film begins in an elementary school, where we are introduced to Wakaba, a girl who has to face her father's aggressive behavior, along with her mother. Probably due to this, when she sees one of her classmates, Koki, being bullied in school, she decides to help him, in a decision, though, that ends up with both of them being bullied by two particular students,...

Philippe McKie was born in Montreal, Canada. He graduated with distinction from the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema

and moved to Tokyo in late 2010, only a few months before the great earthquake of 2011. While living in Japan, he has been steadily working towards establishing himself as a filmmaker, making a variety of short films, culminating in 2018 with “Breaker” and “Be My First” that collectively played in over a hundred film festivals and won over 70 awards. He also worked as a DJ and event organizer, playing in many of Tokyo’s most famous clubs, including Womb and Ageha. He also has experience working as a ‘fixer’ in Japan, doing everything from casting, location scouting, gear rental and booking crew for productions from around the world, including work for Apple, CNN, BBC, WWE, Channel-4 and more. “Dreams on Fire” is his feature film debut, for which he was also the writer, editor and art-director.

Using crime-filled Shibuya of the 90’s as his setting, Toshiaki Toyoda presents a true guerilla film, which frequently functions as a music video.

The film starts with a mysterious, almost catatonic young man named Arano, walking in the street and bumping everyone around him, in a more violent edition of The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony” music video. Eventually, he stumbles upon Kamijo, a young club-owner who struggles to stay away from the Yakuza, despite the fact that he is kind of a gangster himself. Through a series of violent episodes, Arano ends up in Kamijo’s group, as the latter appreciates his knack for violence. Their relationship though, is anything but smooth.

Toshiaki Toyoda presents a world where violence is the rule, where every man seems to be a gangster or on his way of becoming one. This world seems to be a perfect fit for Arano,...

Films shot in Japan by foreigners have given us a number of notable features during the recent years, with the works of Anshul Chauhan and Ian Thomas Ash being the first that come to mind. Philippe McKie, a Canadian who has been living and working in Japan for the past ten years in the fashion industry, as a DJ in Tokyo clubs, and as a filmmaker, has also come up with his own feature, focusing on the underground dance scene that seems to be rather vibrant nowadays in the country, in a film that managed to find distribution in Japan, even amidst the pandemic.

“Dreams on Fire” is screening at Fantasia International Film Festival

After watching a dance performance in the theater as a teenager, Yume has only one dream, to become a professional dancer in Tokyo. Against her father’s wishes (played in a rather ironic fashion by legendary...

Straying far away from the techno-industrial style of the two Tetsuo, Shinya Tsukamoto based this particular film on the homonymous Edogawa Rampo story that takes place in the Meiji era, in order to present a mystery/thriller/costume drama combination, which, once again though, thrives on visual and contextual deliriousness.

The film revolves around Yukio Daitokuji, a famous doctor who was decorated for his services during the war, and has now succeeded his father in the practice, amassing fame for both his past deeds and his present. Yukio seems to live a very happy life in the family mansion, with his parents and his beautiful wife, Rin. However, not everything is idyllic in his life. His parents disapprove of his wedding, since Rin is an amnesiac who Yukio found in the banks of a nearby river and took in, and no one knows anything about her past.

Tatsushi Omori – born in 1970 in Tokyo, made his directional debut with “The Whispering of the Gods” (2005). His following feature, “A Crowd of Three” (2010) was shown in the Berlin International Film Festival’s Forum section, and was officially selected at the Hong Kong International Film Festival. “The Ravine of Goodbye” (2013) won the Special Jury Prize at the Moscow International Film Festival.

“Taro the Fool” – following the outlaw movie tradition, “Taro the Fool” depicts three boys living outside the norms of society. Taro has never been to school. Running with a pair of fellow misfits, his carefree life begins moving in a deadly direction. Using vivid imagery, director Tatsushi Omori brings to life his original script, exploring child neglect and the social exclusion of people with disabilities in Japan.

Would you agree with the statement that human being is evil by nature and the goodness is merely a state when the evil temporarily does not exist?...

Over the past few months, we’ve added a weekly Friday feature rounding up the new releases coming to the big screen each week, courtesy of our Mr. Rob Keeling, giving you a taste of all the brilliant(/not so brilliant) films entering your local cinemas at the weekend.

It recently occurred to me to start up a similar weekly feature, instead rounding up all* the films making their way to the shelves of your local video stores (and of course, increasingly, supermarkets) at the start of each week.

There are so many brilliant films often released in close proximity to each other that sometimes it’s just not possible to see everything you want to see on the big screen, not to mention the fact that not all films are released in a nearby cinema (particularly if you live outside of London). I’m a big believer in the...

Awesome news for fans of these so-called Sushi Typhoon films. Well Go USA has released a press note saying they’ve acquired the distribution rights to release Mutant Girls Squad, Helldriver (review here), Karate-Robo Zaorgar, and more to DVD this Fall.

It looks like fans of crazy, bloody, Japanese films will be plenty excited.

Well Go USA has acquired DVD, Digital, VOD and Television rights for the North American market to Mutant Girls Squad, Helldriver, Yakuza Weapon, Deadball and Karate-Robo Zaborgar from Nikkatsu Corporation’s leading genre film label, The Sushi Typhoon. Launched in 2010, The Sushi Typhoon was created by Producer Yoshinori Chiba and aims to bring the best talent from Japanese cult cinema to worldwide audiences. Well Go plans to make its initial rollout on VOD, DVD and Blu-ray starting in fall 2011.

“We are very excited to have secured rights to these ‘neo action gore’ titles, a genre which...

Well Go USA are quickly becoming one of my favorite distribution companies, with releases such as Man From Nowehere and Ip Man 2 kicking all kinds of ass. Now they have picked up the rights to five Sushi Typhoon flicks. Helldriver, Deadball, Mutant Girl Squad, Yakuza Weapon and Karate-Robo Zaborgar will be coming to VOD, DVD and Blu-ray starting in the Fall this year.

Well Go USA Acquires North American Distribution Rights

To Five Films From The Sushi Typhoon Label

Mutant Girls Squad, Helldriver, Yakuza Weapon,

Deadball and Karate-Robo Zaborgar

Plano, Texas. (July 18, 2011) — Well Go USA has acquired DVD, Digital, VOD and Television rights for the North American market to Mutant Girls Squad, Helldriver, Yakuza Weapon,

Deadball and Karate-Robo Zaborgar from Nikkatsu Corporation’s leading genre film label, The Sushi Typhoon. Launched in 2010, The Sushi Typhoon was created by Producer Yoshinori Chiba and aims to bring the best talent from Japanese cult cinema to worldwide audiences.

Citing the growth potential and rabid fanbase, Well Go USA has nabbed the rights to five titles from Nikkatsu Corporation's Sushi Typhoon label. Well Go USA is now the proud owner of Mutant Girls Squad, Helldriver, Yakuza Weapon, Deadball and Karate-Robo Zaborgar. A thorough and descriptive list to say the least.

Varying from hilarious comedy to splatterific violence, the one common thread of all these films is going over-the-top for the sake of entertainment. And isn't that what we really want? Explode that head! Let's see some arterial spray! Bring it on! Stay tuned as Well Go will begin rolling out these titles beginning in the fall of 2011. You've been warned.

From the Press Release

Well Go USA has acquired DVD, Digital, VOD and Television rights for the North American market to Mutant Girls Squad, Helldriver, Yakuza Weapon, Deadball and Karate-Robo Zaborgar from Nikkatsu Corporation’s leading genre film label,...

by Colleen Wanglund, MoreHorror.com

The gleefully twisted folks at Sushi Typhoon have done it again. The latest action-packed, blood-soaked black comedy Yakuza Weapon (2011) comes courtesy of co-writers and co-directors Tak Sakaguchi and Yudai Yamaguchi.

Based on an adult manga by the late Ken Ishikawa, Yakuza Weapon stars Sakaguchi as Shozo Iwaki, an extremely hard to kill mercenary working in the jungles of South America for the last four years. Shozo has been informed of his father Kenzo’s (Akaji Maro) death by two special agents with their own motives. Kenzo was a yakuza boss who had been double-crossed and murdered by his second-in-command Kurawaki (Shingo Tsurumi).

Upon his return to Japan Shozo is greeted in a rather unique way by his girlfriend (Mei Kurowaka) who loves him but wants to put a serious hurtin’ on him. Shozo, who is bent on revenge, goes after Kurawaki in a spectacular fight...

Our good friends at the New York Asian Film Festival are nothing if not generous to Dread Central readers. To prove it, they're offering a pair of tickets each to screenings of Riki-Oh, Battle Royale, and Yakuza Weapon during the fest.

If you'll be in or around New York City from July 1st-14th, 2011, you won't want to miss out on a chance to win one of these pairs of tickets. Here are the dates/times - just click on the title to enter, and don't forget to include your name and contact info:

Battle Royale (Friday, July 8th at 9:15 Pm at Japan Society)

In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.

Riki-oh (Friday, July 8th at 12:00 midnight at Walter Reade Theatre at Film Society Lincoln Center)

A young man with...

Tak Sakaguchi, still probably best known for his iconic performance in Ryûhei Kitamura’s classic “Versus”, returns with “Yakuza Weapon”, an all-out slice of Japanese style hyperactive, ultra-violent madness. Co-directed by Sakaguchi and Yudai Yamaguchi, who previously worked together on the likes of “Battlefield Baseball” and “Cromartie High School”, the film is another Sushi Typhoon production, which should give a pretty good idea of the kind of craziness to be expected. Based on the manga by Ken Ishikawa, of “Cutie Honey” and “Getter Robot” fame, the film also features action choreography by “Versus” and “Death Trance” veteran Yuji Shimomura and special effects by the one and only Yoshihiro Nishimura, the lunatic genius behind “Tokyo Gore Police” and his own recent outing “Helldriver”. The film kicks off with Tak Sakaguchi as Shozo Iwaki, a yakuza working as a mercenary deep in the jungles of South America, being informed of the murder...

Here is the new trailer for the Japanese gorefest Yakuza Weapon, starring Tak Sakaguchi (The Versus) with a machine gun arm and a rocket launcher for a leg. There was an earlier reel leaked online with unfinished effects, but this is the official trailer.

The film is co-directed by Yudai Yamaguchi and Tak Sakaguchi, who between them have created crazy, action-filled comedies like Battlefield Baseball, Cromartie High School and Be A Man! Samurai School, and featuring action direction by Yuji Shimomura (Versus, Shinobi), special makeup effects by Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police, Helldriver) and based on an adult comic by Ken Ishikawa, who co-created Cutie Honey, Getter Robot and many other famous series.

Here’s the press release:

The team who brought you Versus have returned with another hard-edged battle royale featuring tough gangsters, deadly women and cybernetic penis implants! Working as a hard-to-kill mercenary in South America, ex-yakuza Shozo...

Ladies and gentlemen, Tak Sakaguchi has a machine gun arm. And a rocket launcher leg. The Versus star's latest effort is Yakuza Weapon, a film he stars in and co-directed with frequent collaborator Yudai Yamaguchi. Madness lurks within.The team who brought you Versus have returned with another hard-edged battle royale featuring tough gangsters, deadly women and cybernetic penis implants! Working as a hard-to-kill mercenary in South America, ex-yakuza Shozo Iwaki (Tak Sakaguchi) is informed of the death of his gang boss father, Kenzo (Akaji Maro). Returning home after four years, Shozo discovers that his fatherʼs number-one man, Kurawaki (Shingo Tsurumi), has double-crossed and assassinated Kenzo, leaving Shozo not only in charge of what little remains of the Iwaki Family, but also burning with the...

Japanese gorefests are easy items for yours truly to enjoy. I just sit back, remove what’s left of my brain from its bony coffin, and bask mindlessly in the blood-soaked shenanigans. The boys and girls over at Sushi Typhoon are well-versed in the ways of cheesy, over-the-top action, and their latest endeavor, ‘s “Yakuza Weapon”, appears to follow in the footsteps of those endeavors which have come before it. Below you’ll find a decidedly badass trailer, which, I think, you’ll probably enjoy. Assuming, of course, that you haven’t already consumed your daily allotment of cinematic cheese. Here’s the press release: The team who brought you Versus have returned with another hard-edged battle royale featuring tough gangsters, deadly women and cybernetic penis implants! Working as a hard-to-kill mercenary in South America, ex-yakuza Shozo Iwaki (Tak Sakaguchi) is informed of the death of his gang boss father,...

Most intriguing villain name in recent days? The naked human weapon, as played by Cay Izumi in Yudai Yamaguchi and Tak Sakaguchi's upcoming Yakuza Weapon.The team who brought you Versus have returned with another hard-edged battle royale featuring tough gangsters, deadly women and cybernetic penis implants! Working as a hard-to-kill mercenary in South America, ex-yakuza Shozo Iwaki (Tak Sakaguchi) is informed of the death of his gang boss father, Kenzo (Akaji Maro). Returning home after four years, Shozo discovers that his fatherʼs number-one man, Kurawaki (Shingo Tsurumi), has double-crossed and assassinated Kenzo, leaving Shozo not only in charge of what little remains of the Iwaki Family, but also burning with the desire for vengeance. After a titanic battle in which an entire building is...

I don’t care what anybody says — directors Tak Sakaguchi and Yudai Yamaguchi’s over-the-top actioner “Yakuza Weapon” has officially jumped to the top of my must-see list for 2011. It’s even somehow managed to surpass Quentin Dupieux’s “Rubber”, and that’s certainly no easy feat. Granted, all I have is this collection of images to go on, but I’ve a feeling this is something I need to see. Of course, the promise of a guy with a machine gun arm and a rocket launcher leg doesn’t hurt, either. Check out the press release: The team who brought you Versus have returned with another hard-edged battle royale featuring tough gangsters, deadly women and cybernetic penis implants! Working as a hard-to-kill mercenary in South America, ex-yakuza Shozo Iwaki (Tak Sakaguchi) is informed of the death of his gang boss father, Kenzo (Akaji Maro). Returning home after four years,...