Kinji Fukasaku had a mad career, making all sorts of pictures, including loads of crazy yakuza flicks and a movie about teenagers killing each other. This is a rather bleak, but still wild and wooly crime drama. I reviewed the new Blu-ray from Radiance over at Cinema Sentries.
I often requests movies that I’ve never heard of before to review. I usually do look around at Letterbox reviews before I make a request just to get a general idea of whether or not folks whose opinion I appreciate enjoyed it or not. But it is always taking a plunge. I love it when the movie turns out to be better than expected.
The Inugami Family is terrific. It is very much like a Japanese take on an Agatha Christie story and almost certainly influenced Rian Johnson’s Knives Out series.
It is a murder mystery set in a grand old house filled with quirky family members and a disheveled detective trying to solve it all. I loved it. You can read my full review here.
The Double is an Italian movie that begins with a man getting shot in a parking lot. The rest of the film consists of flashbacks from the dying man’s life, trying to piece together how he got there. That’s an interesting idea. This is not a great movie. You can read all my thoughts over at Cinema Sentries.
Radiance Films has become one of my favorite Boutique Blu-ray companies. They typically put out films that I’ve never heard of, but when I watch them, I discover that they are actually quite good.
Usually. Of late, I’ve found their movies to be a bit disappointing. The Boxer is a Japanese take on Rocky, but more dour and a whole lot less fun. It isn’t bad, and definitely not as bad as the reviews on Letterboxd would have you believe, but it isn’t good either. I don’t know if that makes you want to read my review of it, but if it does, you can find it over at Cinema Sentries.
I’ve become a big fan of 1970s Italian crime thrillers. Italy was going through what they now call the Years of Lead back then, which was a period of high crime and political turmoil. Their films often reflect that in the best possible way. This film pushes the politics more than the crime or the thrills, which makes it just a little bit dull. But there is still some good stuff, as you can tell from my review.
One day I may stop singing the praises of Radiance Films, but today is not that day. I love, love, love the way they keep bringing to my attention films that I’d otherwise never hear of in nice sets, loaded with extras.
Solo is a terrific little French thriller about a couple of young revolutionaries in over their heads and how a jewel thief winds up lending them a hand. You can read my full review at Cinema Sentries.
I’ve talked about Radiance Films many times in these pages, mostly because I review a lot of their films. They put out international arthouse films that I’ve never heard of, but I always appreciate. Well, mostly. I had a hard time with this one. It is a punk rock film about a pretty horrible person. I appreciated some of the filmmaking but struggled to find anything else to enjoy about it. You can read my full review here.
Radiance Films continues to put out fantastic sets of really good, and rather obscure films from all over the universe. I seem to be watching a lot of their releases of 1970s-era Italian films, and I’m loving it.
Confessions of a Police Captain is a gritty tale of murder, corruption, and a man who wants to change things. Martin Balsam is a corrupt cop who does something bad, and Franco Nero is the prosecutor trying to make things right. It is a great film and this is a great release from Radiance. You can read my full review at Cinema Sentries.
I’m a big fan of Radiance Films. They put out really cool releases of relatively obscure films. My understanding is that one of the guys who used to run Arrow Video now runs Radiance, and that checks out. Arrow made a name for themselves by doing some very nice restorations of low-budget cult films and giving them loads of cool extras. Radiance is doing the same but with obscure arthouse European films.
I try to get as many of them as I can, and I’m never disappointed.
Iphigenia is based on a Greek legend about Agamemnon having to sacrifice his firstborn child in order to win the war with Troy. It is a really beautiful, wonderfully made film, and I’m so glad I watched it. You can read my full review at Cinema Sentries.
This Japanese drama is loosely based on a real guy who kept breaking out of jail only to be sent back shortly after (then he’d break out again.) In the film this becomes his entire identity. He cannot live in the hell that is prison, yet when he escapes he doesn’t know what to do with himself so he always gets caught and finds himself back in prison.
It is more of a character study than any type of thriller, but it is a good one. You can read my full review here.