Blog Archives

Kanikosen (2009)

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Posted on December 2, 2009 by Elizabeth Kerr

Given the current socio-economic climate in Japan and the industry’s ability to push a film from conception to release much quicker than their Hollywood counterparts, it’s no shock to discover that proletarian writer Kobayashi Takiji’s pre-Second World War agitprop novel has gained some new traction. Kanikosen – literally The Crab Cannery Boat – is the best-known work by the writer who died in police custody, and the story’s fundamental anti-capitalist diatribe has an eerie relevancy that’s difficult not to empathise … (read more)

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Neighbour No. 13 (2005)

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Posted on March 11, 2007 by Deni

Usually something that walks like a duck and quacks like a duck can pretty much be considered a duck. The same can be said for genre films. Neighbour No.13 walks and talks like a horror movie, but in this case I suspect it’s actually a psychological thriller in disguise. There’s just too much symbolism in it – right from the outset – to be a conventional horror flick, even a Japanese one, and lonely houses on hills with one door … (read more)

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