November 26th, 2025 by Gerard Iribe
A swordsman, writer and artist who lived between 1584 and 1645, Miyamoto Musashi is a near-mythic figure in Japanese history and an icon of Japanese popular culture. The first film based on his life was produced in the silent period, followed by dozens more made over the next decades. In the early 1960s, Toei launched […]
March 6th, 2024 by Gerard Iribe
In Abashiri Prison, Takakura stars as Shinichi Tachibana, a yakuza sent to Abashiri as punishment for an attack on a rival gangster. He intends to serve his time as a model prisoner until he is shackled to the bullish Gonzo Gonda (Kōji Nanbara), unwittingly roped into an escape attempt orchestrated by Heizo Yoda (Tōru Abe) and forced to face […]
January 30th, 2023 by Gerard Iribe
Ken Takakura stars as a mad bomber who plants a device on a high-speed Japanese train, programmed to detonate if the train’s speed drops below 80 kilometers per hour. The trains conductor (Sonny Chiba) must keep the train moving whilst the police track the madman down. Most well-known for inspiring the 1994 Hollywood blockbuster Speed, The Bullet […]