Off to Japan this weekend, so obviously there has been some movie watching prep…

Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)

Hayao Miyazaki directs Minami Takayama, Rei Sakuma and Kappei Yamaguchi in this Studio Ghibli animated fantasy where a young with moves to the big city with only her talking cat and starts a courier business.

Again I’m getting more in the groove with Ghibli’s twee-er efforts. This didn’t just feel quite so cute and ever so harmless this time. It actually struck quite a few chords about the transition from being a kid to becoming responsible adult. Didn’t soft serve the pains and obstacles of growing up. All the while it kept a delicate balance of adventure, drama and comedy. And a cute talking cat. Yeah!

8

Tokyo Story (1953)

Yasujirō Ozu directs Chishū Ryū, Chieko Higashiyama and Haruko Sugimura in this drama where an elderly couple go to visit their adult children in Tokyo only to be treated very poorly.

Far more sophisticated than Kiki’s Delivery Service but not a million miles from the same ultimate intent. Isolation, lifestyle, the overwhelming totality of the urban environment and complex relationships play a huge part in both Ozu’s and Miyazaki’s messages. I love the scenes where Dad goes out on the lash with his old neighbourhood buddies. A lot of this ran true. Slow beauty.

8

Dark Water (2002)

Hideo Nakata directs Hitomi Kuroki, Rio Kanno and Mirei Oguchi in this J-horror where a recently divorced mother tries to keep custody of her daughter in a cursed apartment complex that is wet, mouldy and possibly haunted.

Not quite the stamp of Ringu. More of a creepy chiller. Perhaps the soggiest film ever made with a compelling (Repulsion-esque) lead performance from Hitomi Kuroki.

7

High And Low (1963)

Akira Kurosawa directs Toshirō Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai and Kyōko Kagawa in this thriller where a shoe executive must decide whether to pay the ransom when a kidnapper snatches his chauffeur’s son by mistake.

Three very different acts. A Lumet style teleplay shot in wide, long takes as Mifune’s Kingo Gondo wrestles with whether to gamble his fortune to save his servant’s son. This mode ends when we follow “the drop” on a speeding train. Then a lengthy police procedural as every clue is rinsed to solve the crime. Then we descend into the hot and horrible underworld. Swarms of junkies, nightclub freakouts. The missing eyes of a desperate criminal. High And Low is still a brilliant thriller, class aware, my only criticism is the story moves away from the excellent Mifune in the second half. I doubt the Spike Lee / Denzel Washington rejoint will make the same misstep this year.

9

Cloud (2025)

Kiyoshi Kurosawa directs Masaki Suda, Kotone Furukawa and Daiken Okudaira in this mystery where an online reseller faces revenge from his customers and suppliers.

Kurosawa’s flicks are gleefully obtuse and untethered. I preferred the paranoid, mysterious first half. Slow burn. Very much a Lynchian neo noir with a snide eBay platform thrown in the mix. The second half is more fantastical and action orientated. The whole is definitely trying to say something deeper about rampant capitalism versus humanity. The self can be destroyed online and in person. But Cloud is a puzzle in itself.

6

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