万引き家族 (Shoplifters) (2018)

Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Writer: Hirokazu Kore-eda
DOP: Kondo Ryutu
Cast: Lily Franky, Sakura Ando, Mayu Matsuoka
Language: Japanese

A family of small time crooks take in a child they find outside in the cold. While they intend to return her home next day, the evidence of abuses on her body changes their mind.

It is the most un-Japanese Japanese films I have seen from recent times. Ozu made movies with ordinary characters and normal storylines but in general Japanese films that I tend to watch are normally out there. Over the course of the film we learn the nature of actual relationships between the members of this family and it is done in such a non-judgemental manner that we are left in a moral quandary. Which family we are born into is not something that we can choose and the film works on that theme. This film is begging to be remade in Malayalam because worries about child snatching is very real on Malayalee WhatsApp universe and it has even led to instances of harassments on suspicion. The film would be a subversion of that since characters from this social strata are often portrayed in such a binary fashion in films here.

It won Palme d'Or at Cannes last year and collected around $72 million worldwide, much of it from Japan itself and China. I haven't seen other films from the director and am intending to catch up on those. The two child actors in it are excellent. We are often given a portrait of Japan with all its kinkiness without going much into how those people actually feel and this film is an exception.

Rating: 4.25/5

Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (2014)

Director: David Zellner
Writers:  David Zellner, Nathan Zellner
Cast:       Rinko Kikuchi, Nobuyuki Katsube, Shirley Venard
Language: Japanese, English

A jaded Japanese woman discovers a hidden copy of Coen Brothers' film Fargo on VHS, believing it to be a treasure map indicating the location of a large case of money.

Coen Brothers made their names known worldwide with Fargo, even though their films prior to that were also absolutely great. It is not a wild theory to think that they would have really buried a case (with fake bills probably) and left it there for some enterprising film fan to find it. In that film, it was Steve Buscemi's character who buries the case in the snow-laden landscape next to a fence, only for the marker that he left to be buried in the snow. You kind of know that the protagonist Japanese lady would discover it in the end, but the ending alludes that the last sequence is a dream/vision that she is having just before her death during the severe snow-storm. The presence of her rabbit, which she had abandoned in a subway train in Japan, makes the ending not even ambiguous. I would have preferred a real ending like that as a hopeful one wouldn't have been misplaced. They had a very cheery song during the end-credits anyway, maybe to trick some viewers.

Kumiko is kind of a social outcast who doesn't have any friends and is kind of unhinged. Her only hobby is finding treasures and that is how she stumbles upon the hidden VHS copy of Fargo. One can draw some existential interpretation of the movie and even some religious ones. People who take films too seriously, like me, could find it rather disturbingly close to home. It is basically a un-romanticized version of 'Amelie'. First half of the film is set in Japan and the second half in USA as she travels to 'The New World', looking for the treasure, like a Spanish Conquistador. There she meets some rural characters that could be described as stereotypical, but that can be excused because of the nature of the film, and also, stereotypes exist for a reason. 

It is very different and a great watch. It is an international film with names like Alexander Payne attached to it. The film is based on an Urban Legend related to the death of Takako Konishi, who died of hypothermia in outside Detroit Lakes, in Minnesota. The film made its debut at the Sundance film festival and has been received very positively. Would love to hear the reaction of Coens to it.

Rating: 4/5

極道大戦争 (Yakuza Apocalypse) (2015)

Director: Takashi Miike
Writer:    Yoshitaka Yamaguchi
Cast:       Yayan Ruhian, Riri Furanki, Hayato Ichihara
Language: Japanese

In the ruthless world of the yakuza, no one is more legendary than boss Kamiura. Rumored to be invincible, the truth is he is a vampire- a bloodsucking yakuza vampire boss! When he is assassinated by an International syndicate, he just manages to pass on his vampire traits to a young Yakuza, Kagayama, whom he had taken under his wings. As Kagayama struggles to come to terms with his new-found abilities, things go out of hand as more and more civilians are converted to vampires and the Yakuza start facing an existential crisis due to lack of civilians. If that is not crazy enough for you, enter the super-villain teletubby, which can make earth-quakes happen.

In Hollywood, it is common to have a genre getting revived all of a sudden and it becoming a sort of fad. This is exactly what happened to the vampire genre, which came after the Zombie fad. Most of these films turn out to be trite but you do get interesting films that can be considered as genre-benders when the fad is kind of fading. That happened to the Vampire genre with three great ones coming out in succession last year- Only Lovers Left Alive, What We Do in the Shadows and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. When you were just thinking the genre is kind of dead on its feet, here comes Takashi Miike with a film that mixes vampire genre with yakuza and an apocalypse. Just that he doesn't adhere to the vampire rules like not being able to handle the sun and things like that.

Generally Miike kind of go for very violent difficult to watch first halves which then transforms into comedies during the second half. This one is comedic from the get go and there aren't that many stomach-churningly violent scenes. Don't know whether it is a case of me being desensitized to it. The film is mad as hell, just read the synopsis to get an idea, and I interpreted the English speaking syndicate and the teletubby character as Miike making fun of juvenile Hollywood crap dominating Japanese box office. There is even a Darth Vader aspect to that character and the ending fist fight scene at the climax is also poking fun at Hollywood action films which generally go for over the top destructive explosions while filming action sequences, Man of Steel for eg. It is not really a fist fight, but just two guys finding out who can survive when they are just punching the other's face in a round robin basis. That is just as anit-climactic that you can possibly get. 

Overall, it is a great watch but might not be suitable for everyone. If you are familiar with Miike's work, you might be taken aback by its relative light-naturedness. I generally find his films to be in the very good category without being great but the genre films that he is churning out lately have been quite great. But I do think it is an acquired taste and you should be familiar with his work to enjoy the humor in Yakuza Apocalypse. 

Rating: 4/5