Japan action in 21st century

[Charlie Parker]

Is it me or has the production of grounded films like gangster/cop movies and the 'ol samurai chestnuts ground to a halt? Suppose its whatever the local market wants. Yakuza movies in the 90s was down to videos.

Even Miike is pretty dull these days, making scifi/fantasy efforts. Anything I can find these days is bizzare exploitation movies. Ichi was ok.

Has anyone seen anything good. There's a karate film Black Belt, anyone seen it?

[Phil]

Andrew reviewed it for the site and gave it a pretty high recommendation. Like most films, I have it kicking around somewhere at home but still not seen it

[ASaroch]

If you go into 'Black Belt' for a good action film, you might be a bit disappointed. It's quite slow and subtle - a bit like 'Hidden Blade' or 'Twilight Samurai'.

[Charlie Parker]

I did like those movies, think I'll check it out

[Yama]

Most of the commercial output over here seems to tailor for the drama/ rom-com audience at the moment. In terms of gritty gangster flicks they seem to be few and far between at the moment. Something like 20th Century Boy stood out purely because it was a break from the craporama that is commercial Japanese cinema and had a little bit of amibition. Don't take my word for it but the movie industry does sem to be floundering a bit.

The straight to dvd horror market is going very strong.

[ASaroch]

Most of the commercial output over here seems to tailor for the drama/ rom-com audience at the moment. In terms of gritty gangster flicks they seem to be few and far between at the moment. Something like 20th Century Boy stood out purely because it was a break from the craporama that is commercial Japanese cinema and had a little bit of amibition. Don't take my word for it but the movie industry does sem to be floundering a bit.

The straight to dvd horror market is going very strong.

That said, I really think Japanese cinema has that ability to be quietly affecting on an emotional level, even during the umpteenth rom-dram. And two of the very best films from anywhere over the past few years were 'Departures' and 'Nobody To Watch Over Me', not to mention 'Even So I Didn't Do It'.