Rampo Noir

The film consisted of four segments adapted from the works of a Japanese mystery writer, Edogawa Rampo. They were mysterious forays into grotesque and erotic fantasy worlds.

Liked the beautiful Iceland scenery and the MTV-style images in "Mars Canal", the scientific analysis in "Mirror Hell", the pretty costumes worn by the actress in "Caterpillar" and the colorful set in "Crawling Bugs"! Felt that the stories were much more grotesque than erotic!

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Onibaba

The story is about how an old woman and her daughter-in-law survived in a war-torn 14th century Japan. The dynamics of their relationship changed when the old woman's son's friend returned from the front line.

The harsh environment that the protagonists lived in reminded me of "Woman in the Dunes" with the gigantic sand dunes replaced by tall bladed grass. Liked the portrayal of lust between the daughter-in-law and her husband's friend! Pitied the old woman though as she seemed to be punished for no reason at all!

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The Mirror

The story is about a young girl finding her way home from school when her mother did not turn up to fetch her.

Liked the scenes of ordinary Iranian life seen through the eyes of the little girl and the twist in the middle of the film! It was interesting to see how the microphone doubled as a tracking device! The energy and the resourcefulness of the little girl impressed me too!

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Dry Summer

The story is about how a dispute in the neighborhood started when a middle aged man tried to hoard water by building a dam to stop it from flowing to other people's land. He is an evil man who betrays his brother and lusts after his pretty sister-in-law.

Interesting story! The elder brother looked really evil with his moustache and the sister-in-law looked very pretty! Was a little bit shocked at the cow scene and I thought the snake-bite scene was beautifully shot!

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Up

The story is about how an old man flew his house to a far away land using lots of balloons where he had an adventure with a little kid, a bad guy and a few other animals.

Liked the montage sequence as it was touching and very effective in telling the old man's story prior to flying his house! The film reminds me a little bit of Gran Torino that is also about the relationships among an old man, his dog and a little kid.

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Partly Cloudy

This short film shows how difficult the task of the stork delivering babies can be. One particular stork gets especially difficult assignments!

Nice story! Liked the determination of the stork to do a good job!

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Buy A Suit

This film is specially screened before the upcoming Japanese Film Festival to commemorate the death of the director, Jun Ichikawa. The story is about a girl looking for her long lost brother who has chosen not to work. He survives by staying in a make shift shelter near a bridge and getting food from the garbage.

Liked the scenes that showed the ordinary people walking about in Tokyo! Didn't really like the lighting for the classmate reunion scene though as it was either too dark or too bright. The theme of the movie reminded me of the works by Wim Wenders such as "Alice in the Cities" and "Tokyo Ga".

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