Tokyo a la Mode. Web Magazine for Japanese Fashion and Urban Culture

Velvet Hustlers

By Bobby /Apr 25, 2008
Permalink

Velvet Hustlers & Weird Lovemakers: Japanese Sixties Action Films
Sponsored by The Japan Foundation
April 25 - 27, 2008
This series is an Egyptian Theatre exclusive!

Starting in the late 1950s through 1971, Nikkatsu Studios became known as the premier Japanese movie studio for sleek and elegant, gritty yet gorgeous-looking (and frequently surreal) crime-action films. We’ll be showing a stunning selection – a half-dozen of the best, including Toshio Masuda’s GANGSTER VIP and THE VELVET HUSTLER (both starring TOKYO DRIFTER and GRAVEYARD OF HONOR star Tetsuya Watari), Takashi Nomura’s starkly minimalist MY GUN IS MY PASSPORT (with BRANDED TO KILL star Joe Shishido), Koreyoshi Kurahara’s disturbing, jazz-and-delinquent-inflected “sun tribe opus,” THE WEIRD LOVEMAKERS, Kurahara’s trenchant, neo-realist-inspired tale of a racetrack tout, a whore and her mercenary gangster pimp, GLASS JOHNNY LOOKS LIKE A BEAST (again starring genre fave Joe Shishido) and Yasuharu Hasebe’s yakuza romp ROUGHNECK (with BLACK TIGHT KILLERS star Akira Kobayashi)! None of these films are available on DVD and all are nearly impossible to see here in America. Don’t miss these rare screenings, inspired by a film festival originally curated by Mark Schilling, author of the excellent handbook on Nikkatsu action movies, No Borders, No Limits! All films are in Japanese with English subtitles.

LINK: American Cinematheque