Jigoku Hanazono (地獄の花園) is absolute trash, hilarious and unforgivable, and probably puzzling to anyone who isn’t deeply interested in girl-gang lore. It’s a movie tailored almost …
Oct 17, 2021 • Subscribe
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Office ladies go to war in Kazuaki Seki’s anarchic, Bakarhythm-scripted transposition of the yankee manga to the world of the OL
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Echoes of violence reverberate through a haunted hotel in Shunya Ito’s romantic ghost story.
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Jigoku-no-hanazono ~Office Royale~ (2021) review [Fantasia Film Festival]
“An absurd and crazy cocktail full of violence and funny twists and unexpected turns.”
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High and Low (天国と地獄, Akira Kurosawa, 1963)
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Kalanchoe (カランコエの花, Shun Nakagawa, 2017)
The truth is, most people genuinely mean well but they often make mistakes. They make them because they don’t think things through, fail to consider perspectives outside of…
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Casting Blossoms to the Sky (この空の花 長岡花火物語, Nobuhiko Obayashi, 2012)
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Samurai Wolf 2: Hell Cut (牙狼之介 地獄斬り, Hideo Gosha, 1967)
Kiba is again confronted with the duplicities of late Meiji society after being pulled into intrigue at a disused mine in Hideo Gosha’s striking chanbara.
Rampo Noir 乱歩地獄 (2005) Dirs: Suguru Takeuchi, Akio Jissoji, Hisyasu Sato, Atsushi Kaneko
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Jungle Block (地図のない町, Ko Nakahira, 1960)
A jaded doctor finds himself fixating on vengeance when the slum he lives in is targeted for redevelopment in Ko Nakahira’s searing noir.
Song of the Flower Basket (花籠の歌, Heinosuke Gosho, 1937)
The daughter of a tonkatsu shop finds herself with an overabundance of suitors in Heinosuke Gosho’s generally cheerful yet occasionally dark melodrama.
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Jigoku Sensei Nube (2025)
Plot: In Doumori, an imbalance of spiritual forces threatens to plunge the small city into complete chaos. Thankfully, for the students of Doumori Elementary School, new teacher and…
A Bullet Hole Underground (地下街の弾痕, Kazuo Mori, 1949)
A lovelorn policeman finds himself investigating the murder of an old flame’s husband in Kazuo Mori’s procedural drama.
Green Jail 緑の牢獄 Dir: Huang Yin-yu [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]
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The Nineteen-Year-Old’s Map (十九歳の地図, Mitsuo Yanagimachi, 1979)
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Bara no ki ni bara no hana saku / 薔薇の木にバラの花咲く / (‘Roses Bloom on the Rose Bush’, 1959)
Obscure Japanese Film #136 Ayako Wakao Rieko Sumi and Ayako Wakao Reiko (Ayako Wakao) is a senior university student majoring in English w...
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