House of Bamboo first published by Little White Lies, as the 118th entry in my Cinema Psychotronicum column Location is everything. In 1948, William Keighley made the monochrome The Street With No Name, a film noir full of infiltration and imposture, and set it on the Skid Row of a fictional ‘Center City’ (in fact…
This Transient Life (Mujô) first published by Little White Lies, as the 64th entry in my Cinema Psychotronicum column “Did you see Masao?” 21-year-old Yuri asks the house boy Iwashita near the beginning of Akio Jissôji’s This Transient Life (Mujô). “He’s in a rush these days,” Iwashita replies. “Today too.” It is clear, already, that…
Still travelling the UK now (see here for details), the Japan Foundation’s 2013 touring programme (Once Upon A Time In Japan) is focused on recent films that examine contemporary Japan through the prism of the past, whether personal or public. I have written a round-up of the festival for Film4.com, but am posting a fuller…