Country: Japan

‘Samurai Warrior’ looks and feels cheap, and certainly shows no signs of any Miike-style magic. There’s also a real lack of meat in the story and the overall approach to structuring the film is a bad one.

Short but sharp samurai flick from an early on in his career Hideo Gosha, ‘Samurai Wolf’ still packs a punch despite its short running time and being almost 60 years old.

Slicker and swifter this time around, ‘Samurai Wolf II’ is still some dark, fight filled, chanbara entertainment but is perhaps unnecessarily complex and convoluted for its own good.

It’s rough around the edges to be sure, but there’s much to be savoured here; Kurosawa gets more out of this condensed 80 minutes than many filmmakers get from three hours or so.

The slightly absurdist Japanese style means that the film is very much an acquired taste, likely to baffle as many as it might amuse.

Not that I am expecting high art from what is a low budget Japanese action film but this film really is awful.

Masayuki Suo has constructed an often hilarious comedy mixed with a tender kernel that proves to be irresistible.

It’s gonna be a love it or loathe it kind of movie as it’s not the dark, vicious film I expected, although there are some disturbing scenes thrown in there.

For a director known for lurid excess, ‘Shield of Straw’ is a subtly haunting thriller with an ending that asks questions of everything that went before it.

Not sure what it wants to be, the latest Japanese production of their beloved property is not the triumphant return some had hoped.

Not the best of its kind and it drags a little too much with the running time, ‘Shogun’s Samurai’ is still a decent slice of Samurai drama from a time when they used to make them big.

As a work of cinema, ‘Shoplifters’ is as carefully considered, lovingly framed and beautifully measured as the very best the medium offers.