J-Horror Quickies

Wow! I'm very busy tonight. These short reviews will have to do!

INUGAMI-(2001)-is a strange Japanese film from director Masato Harada. It's about a teacher from Tokyo who goes to work in an isolated country village where everyone believes the curse of "The Inugami" hangs over the women of a weird local family. Flashbacks involving incest, murder and the birth of a baby try and explain it and a violent blood rite (shot partially in black & white) caps the climax but much of the story is lost in Harada's overly stylish direction (well, something like that...)

SPELLBOUND-(2003)-Another well made film by Masato Harada (see above) set in the Japanese banking world. Federal investigators try to expose corruption while a female reporter has her own investigation going on. It also focuses on how it all effects the private lives of some of the people caught up in the whole thing. The acting is excellent but Tatsuya Nakadai (from Kurosaw's KAGEMUSHA) kind of steals the show. It's engaging but some might find the storyline (which is based on real events) not so interesting.
Director Harada spend a lot of time as a critic in L.A. before turning to movie making. His "cyber-punk" themed GUNHED which received a 1998 US released was largely changed by the distributer and credited to that very busy "late" director Alan Smithee.
ROUND 1-2003-Directed by Daiki Yamada is a Japanese/Korean co-production comedy/drama about Toppo, a failed Japanese actor who becomes a con-man. Parts involving The Yakuza are kind of violent.

ISOLA MULTIPLE PERSONALITY GIRL-2000-This Japanese horror tale seems to be inspired by RINGU. It uses a lot of similar effects and even has "found footage film" from an old (but fake) movie, a plot device used in several other Japanese films. A woman (Yoshino Kimura) who can read minds comes to help victims during the Kobe earthquake. She meets a strange young girl (played by Akira Kurosawa's granddaughter Yu) who now suffers psychotic episodes after participating in an outer body experience experiment go awry.

Very strange but not much else. I've read Takashi Miike has a cameo when one character (played by Susumu Terajima) commits suicide but I missed him. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I'd know what he looks like anyway! Directed by Toshiyuki Mizutani.

Thanks for reading!