Noticias

Kinji Fukasaku's last film was a production worthy of his lifetime achievements in the field, since “Battle Royale” caused much controversy; it was banned outright or deliberately excluded from distribution in several countries, but at the same time, it also influenced a great number of movies and many filmmakers, including Quentin Tarantino and “The Hunger Games”.

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At the beginning of the new millennium, unemployment has reached 15 percent, with 10 million people left without a job, while school violence has reached unprecedented levels. In order to control the youth, the desperate government votes in the ‘Battle Royale' law, which states that each year, students from a randomly chosen class will be transferred to a secluded island where they will have to fight to the death, to the last person standing.

The story, which is based upon the homonymous novel by Takami Koushun,...

Violence in cinema has always been a polarizing element, with film buffs frequently fighting about the dilemma of beauty versus violence, with the question essentially separating two of the larger groups of audiences, the art-house and the cult ones. The truth remains that violence has been used in different ways throughout the history of cinema, both to entertain in its simplest form (torture porn is one terms associated with this approach) and to present intricate comments by shocking. In this list, we have included movies that include both, while also highlighting that artfulness can also be found within violence, as much as mindless action. Considering that violence does not always equal action and with an effort to include as much diversity in its presentation as in the selection of the filmmakers included here (we failed miserably with Miike though), here are 40 of the most violent Asian movies ever to be shot.

Cinema Made In Italy, London

Though we don't get to see that much of it here, Italian cinema is still going strong. This renamed festival shows some of the depth, with new films at Ciné Lumière, and older stuff at the Italian Cultural Institute. The new movies cover some familiar Italian preoccupations: organised crime (boxing thriller Tatanka, from a story by Roberto "Gomorrah" Saviano), family (Kryptonite) and coming of age (Summer Of Giacomo). But there are also new angles on Italian culture, such as Li And The Poet, dealing with a Chinese immigrant in Venice, and sci-fi The Last Man On Earth. Many of the films on show are UK premieres, including Scialla!, and there are films selected by the Corriere della Sera's top critic, TV sporting dramas and a tribute to the late Sicilian documentarian Vittorio De Seta.

Ciné Lumière, SW7, Sat to Thu; Italian Cultural Institute, SW1, Thu to 30 Mar

Flatpack Film Festival,...