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Considering the link between spirit and body has been one of the main themes in his work, perhaps it was only a matter of time before the Japanese director would explore the world of sports. While “Tetsuo II: The Body Hammer” already dealt with the body being altered through outside forces, in this case post-industrial culture and modernity’s obsession with physical optimization, Tsukamoto’s next project would go in a different direction. However, keen observers will quickly notice many similarities between this film and “Tokyo Fist” which may not only serve as an extension of these issues, but also as a visual allegory for the fragility of our bodies, and their connection to our spirit.

Tokyo Fist is screening at Five Flavours

Another interesting parallel, which, for example, author Tom Mes points out, is how the story of “Tokyo Fist” mirrors its director’s biography too. Even though Shinya...

If you are a film fan and have been following this homepage, you are undoubtedly familiar with the works of Japanese auteur Shinya Tsukamoto. While it draws from several inspirations such as the Punk movement or even the works of classic painters, Tsukamoto never fails to be unique, even in his works which rarely ever are mentioned such as the “Nightmare Detective”-series or “Kotoko“. The director himself has often referred to his features as experiences which often make the viewer feel uncomfortable and/or disgusted. Whether you like his body of work or not, his films leave a lasting impression on the viewer and we are going to take a look at some of the elements that make it unique while also hopefully drawing attention to his some of his major works and those which sometimes fall under the radar.

False Idols and heroes

If there is one thing...

Shinya Tsukamoto’s Shadow of Fire begins as a troubling but measured film, but about a half-hour in something happens that shatters its quietude. Suddenly, a man who to this point has been impotent and deferential throws a small boy out a window and begins beating a woman. From the director best-known for Tetsuo: The Iron Man, and whose other films are often similarly stylish and sexually violent, that might not sound like much, but it is precisely the restraint of Shadow of Fire that makes the violence one of the more harrowing moments in Tsukamoto’s growing oeuvre.

Tsukamoto used to make movies at a swift pace: from his 1989 debut Tetsuo to 2011’s Kotoko, a dozen films. Since then, Shadow of Fire is just his third, all three of which are focused in some way on war, and each has taken longer to arrive than the one before. Whether...

We have an eclectic array of home media offerings coming out this week, led by the latest from Neil Marshall, The Reckoning. Shadow in the Cloud, featuring Chloë Grace Moretz, is also headed to Blu-ray and DVD this Tuesday, and if you missed the previous release of the Shinya Tsukamoto set from Arrow, they are releasing a standard Special Edition version of Solid Metal Nightmares as well.

Other Blu and DVD releases making their debut on April 6th include Doors, Sleepless, Dawn of the Beast, Lurking in the Woods, and Killer Karaoke.

The Reckoning

After losing her husband during the Great Plague, Grace Haverstock (Charlotte Kirk) is unjustly accused of being a witch and placed in the custody of England’s most ruthless witch-hunter, Judge Moorcroft (Sean Pertwee). Forced to endure physical and emotional torture while steadfastly maintaining her innocence, Grace must face her own inner demons as the Devil...

Arrow Video is excited to announce the July slate of titles on their subscription-based Arrow Video Channel, including acclaimed undead comedy Zombie for Sale and Gamera: The Complete Collection, all twelve films starring mankind’s greatest defender: a fire-breathing mutant turtle.

An infectiously funny slice of modern Korean cinema where Train to Busan, The Quiet Family and Warm Bodies collide to create Zombie for Sale, a memorable rom-zom-com from debut director Lee Min-jae. For the first time ever, fans can trace the decades-long evolution of Gamera, from the “friend of all children” in his more light-hearted earlier films, to the Guardian of the Universe in the groundbreaking 1990s reboot series, often hailed as three of the best kaiju films ever made.

Zombie for Sale and Gamera: The Complete Collection will be available July 1st on the Arrow Video Channel in the Us and the UK. Additional new titles available July 1st include Creepshow 2,...

Arrow Video is excited to announce the July slate of titles on their subscription-based Arrow Video Channel, including acclaimed undead comedy Zombie for Sale and Gamera: The Complete Collection, all twelve films starring mankind's greatest defender: a fire-breathing mutant turtle.

An infectiously funny slice of modern Korean cinema where Train to Busan, The Quiet Family and Warm Bodies collide to create Zombie For Sale, a memorable rom-zom-com from debut director Lee Min-jae. For the first time ever, fans can trace the decades-long evolution of Gamera, from the "friend of all children" in his more light-hearted earlier films, to the Guardian of the Universe in the groundbreaking 1990s reboot series, often hailed as three of the best kaiju films ever made.

Zombie for Sale and Gamera: The Complete Collection will be available July 1st on the Arrow Video Channel in the Us and the UK. Additional new titles available July 1st include Creepshow 2,...

After many of his films dealt with the relationship of the individual to the city as well as the consequences of violence for ourselves, it was quite understandable Japanese director Shinya Tsukamoto wanted a slight change in topic. Especially his previous project, “A Snake of June” (2002) has already hinted at the link of body and nature, how the urban landscape and technology have led to some kind of estrangement of mind and body. Perhaps considering he felt the topic worthwhile to explore further, Tsukamoto started to venture further into what he thought was the greatest taboo topic of modernity, the death of the body. In an interview about “Vital”, the film, which was the result of that research, the director states that within the modern landscape defined by urbanity and technology, we have learned to ignore or avoid the reality of death, resulting in the body losing its worth to many of us.

Renown for the celebrated “Tetsuo” films, Japanese auteur and cult favorite filmmaker Shin’ya Tsukamoto offers another bleak and harrowing tale with his effort ‘Kotoko.’ Reteaming with singer/songwriter/actress Cocco nearly a decade after their previous collaboration in ‘Vital,’ this new effort arrives as one of the director’s best films ever and offers plenty of engaging elements at its core.

The film screened at Five Flavours Asian Horror Night

Tormented by frightening visions, single mother Kotoko struggles to take care of herself and her newborn child, as she often sees hostile doubles of the people she meets. After her mental state deteriorates further to the point of frequently cutting herself with razors as a means of confirming that her body is still alive and hers, her baby is taken away and given to her sister to take care of it in the peaceful country home where she lives with her family.

‘Tetsuo’ was originally released in 1989.

Tokyo-based studio Nikkatsu Corporation has struck a deal with Japanese director Shinya Tsukamoto to handle international sales on nine of his cult library titles, including Tetsuo: The Iron Man, originally released in 1989.

One of the most famous examples of Japanese cyberpunk, the black-and-white sci-fi horror catapulted Tsukamoto into cult stardom both in Japan and internationally. Nikkatsu has also picked up the film’s sequel, Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (1992), which revisited the same theme of a man being slowly transformed into a metal weapon, but was made with a bigger budget and shot in colour.

Nikkatsu...

Internationally acclaimed Japanese director Shinya Tsukamoto (“Fires on the Plain” “Tetsuo The Iron Man” “Kotoko”) has completed production on his most recent project “Killing”. The film was produced by Tsukamoto’s “Kaiju Theater” and he serves as director, scriptwriter, cinematographer, and editor on the project.

After about 250 years of peace in Japan, samurai warriors in the mid-19th century were impoverished. Consequently, many left their masters to become wandering ronin.

Mokunoshin Tsuzuki is one such samurai. To maintain his swordsmanship skills, Mokunoshin spars daily with Ichisuke, a farmer’s son. Ichisuke’s sister Yu (Yu Aoi “Turtles are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers“, “Tokyo Ghoul) watches them train with a hint of disapproval although there’s an unspoken attraction between her and Mokunoshin. While farm life is peaceful, there is monumental turmoil in Japan. The Us Navy has sent Commodore Perry to Japan to insist that it trades with them. This in turn causes civil unrest.

Director: Shinya Tsukamoto. Review: Adam Wing. Mental instability takes a deadly turn in Shinya Tsukamoto’s Kotoko, the only Japanese film to win the Best Film Award in the Orrizonti of the Venice Film Festival. Tsukamoto is best known around the world for his first two entries in the Tetsuo series, with Tokyo Fist, Bullet Ballet and A Snake of June cementing his name in cult legend. His latest surreal nightmare is available in the UK this month courtesy of Third Window Films. Cocco – a well-known Japanese folk singer – performed the closing theme tune for his 2004 film, Vital. She takes centre stage in Kotoko, playing a young single mother with unrestrained reality issues. Cocco also provides the soundtrack for Kotoko, a move that might be considered self-indulgent by some, especially when you consider the amount of time she spends singing and dancing on screen. Tsukamoto’s latest comes with a fascinating concept,...

★★★★☆ From Shin'ya Tsukamoto, the visionary director of 1989's Tetsuo: The Iron Man, comes Kotoko (2011) - an uncompromising voyage into the troubled mind of a young mother that's profoundly unsettling and severely disturbing. Kotoko follows the story of a single mother (played with breathtaking luminosity by J-pop superstar Cocco) teetering on the edge of a metal breakdown since suffering from double vision, turning her everyday life into an unbearable series of encounters.

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It’s Monday, so we all know what that means! Yes, it’s time for another rundown of DVDs and Blu-ray’s hitting stores online and offline this week. It’s a jam-packed week, with plenty of movies waiting to take you money, so let us breakdown the new releases and highlight what you should – and shouldn’t – be buying from today, October 8th 2012.

Pick Of The Week

Nash Bridges: The First Season (DVD)

In the first season of this action-packed police drama, Don Johnson stars as Nash Bridges, the charming street-smart inspector for San Francisco’s elite Special nvestigations Unit. Always behind the wheel of his signature yellow ‘Cuda,’ Nash often goes undercover to track down the city s most vile criminals, from drug dealers and smugglers to the Russian mob. Never far behind is Nash’s loyal partner Joe Dominguez (Cheech Marin), a retired cop who’s...

Kotoko

Stars: Cocco, Shin’ya Tsukamoto | Written by Shinya Tsukamoto, Cocco | Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto

Films are interesting beasts, they entertain you, they pull out emotions from you and they make you care about the characters. I find from experience though that few films, especially ones that can be classed as “Hollywood films” are a true experience. Only a few really manage to pull you in and leave you feeling drained after watching them. Kotoko is arguably not just a film in itself but an experience and one that will probably leave you feeling a lot more uncomfortable than you really want to be.

Kotoko is about a woman with a strange illness that leaves her with double vision. This double vision creates two realities for her, and she struggles daily to understand what is real and what is not. Struggling to look after her son she finally loses her...

Japanese auteur and cult favourite Shinya Tsukamoto returns with “Kotoko”, combining the apocalyptic style of his classic “Tetsuo” films with the monstrous and terrifyingly intimate tale of a young single mother losing her mind in hallucinogenic and violent fashion. Taking on the difficult lead role is singer and songwriter Cocco, who previously worked with Tsukamoto back in 2004, providing the lead song for his morbidly beautiful “Vital”, and who here also co-scripted with the director as well as providing Art Direction and music. In addition to writing and directing, Tsukamoto also served as producer and editor, as well as playing one of the lead roles himself, adding a fascinatingly personal and artistic dimension to the film. Coco plays the titular Kotoko, a single mother who struggles to take care of herself and her new born child. Tormented by frightening visions and often seeing hostile doubles of the people she meets, she...

Kotoko

Review by Andrew McArthur of The People’s Movies

Stars: Cocco, Shin’ya Tsukamoto | Written by Cocco, Shin’ya Tsukamoto | Directed by Shin’ya Tsukamoto

Japanese director and actor, Shin’ya Tsukamoto, latest project sees him team up with folk rock artist, Cocco for disturbing horror drama, Kotoko. Tsukamoto’s film follows a woman, Kotoko, balancing life as a single mother, alongside her threatening mental problems. Gradually, the boundaries between what is real and what is simply a product of her dark imagination, begin to blur.

Shin’ya Tsukamoto is on top form visually, dragging us into Kotoko’s harrowing nightmare world filled with twisted double vision and hallucinations of the dangers that could affect her child. Kotoko’s disturbing apparitions are particularly difficult to watch – seeing the mentally unstable mother standing on a rooftop, slowly loosening her grip of her baby, is completely unsettling. This combined with Kotoko’s high pitched,...

After a successful run on the festival circuit - it was awarded in Venice - the first trailer has arrived for Shinya Tsukamoto's Kotoko, a film created by the cult icon specifically for it's star - pop singer Cocco. But I think it's safe to say this is some glamorous vanity project for the singer. The Toronto International Film Festival described the film this way:Kotoko (Cocco) holds a fragile grip on reality. A young mother, she fiercely protects her son from what she imagines are constant predatory threats. Even when her infant boy is in her arms, Kotoko envisions death around every corner. As fantasies overwhelm her, she is forced to give up her son and face her manic highs and terrifying bouts of...

If you’ve read this website for any length of time, then you probably know that I’m a certified Tsukamoto junkie, an unapologetic fanboy who blindly follows the director wherever he goes. Hell, I even enjoyed “Tetsuo: The Bullet Man”, a film that really isn’t that great when compared to the filmmaker’s other, more accomplished efforts. The guy’s latest flick, the emotionally-charged drama “Kotoko”, looks incredible, and has more in common with his more subdued pictures than the “Tetsuo” franchise. Still, a subdued Tsukamoto is much crazier than your typical cinematic endeavor. You’ll see what I’m rambling about in just a few seconds. But first, let’s investigate this synopsis: A single mother (Cocco) becomes afflicted with double vision. Taking care of her newborn baby becomes a nightmare as the mother also becomes paranoid. The only time the mother doesn’t see double is when she sings.

Following rounds 1 and 2, this one will take us right on through the countdown to Halloween and will surely be the most actively updated of the bunch. Best to begin, then, by grounding it in a classic, so we turn to David Kalat: "Frankenstein isn't a science fiction story about an arrogant scientist who intrudes on God's domain, it's a metaphor about our relationship to God." That's his argument, and I'll let him explain, but I want to pull back to a couple of earlier sentences in his piece. Mary Shelley's novel, "and the 1910 film version, treated the 'science' of Frankenstein as just so much folderol, a MacGuffin to introduce the artificial man into the story. Whale was so good at providing a reasonably convincing visualization of reviving the dead — no, more than that, a stunningly satisfying visualization of reviving the dead — it focused popular attention on that part of...

Kotoko

Directed by Shin’ya Tsukamoto

Written by Shin’ya Tsukamoto

2011, Japan

Festival veteran, Japanese Diy master, Shinya Tsukamoto has earned a devoted cult following for his unnerving explorations of the junction between body and technology, most notably as seen in his Tetsuo films. Kotoko serves as both a union of themes explored in his previous movies, while investing his lead with some psychological depth. Now the genre master delves beyond the flesh and into the mind, in this case that of a single mother suffering from Postpartum depression- a serious form of clinical depression which can affect women, typically after childbirth. Symptoms include fatigue, insomnia, reduced libido, bodily harm, anxiety, and irritability. It’s unclear when Kotoko’s illness began, but it appears to be getting increasingly worse as our protagonists explains in a voice over that, “she cuts herself not because she wants to die but to see...

#14. Kotoko Director: Shinya Tsukamoto Cast: Cocco, Shinya Tsukamoto Distributor: Rights Available Buzz: Can't say that I'm an unconditional fan of this cult Japanese filmmaker, but if I had to choose a side-dish of mayhem during the fest I'd go with this number which just like the Testuo film before it, is also en route to Venice. A mentor to several filmmakers, in a way this mimics that of Aronofsky's Black Swan - female protag is powerless unless performing. Shinya Tsukamoto employees Cocco - a non-actress professional singer for the gig. Should be a bloodcurling highlight outside of the Midnight Madness section. The Gist: The story of a single mother who suffers from double vision; caring for her baby is a nerve-wrecking task that eventually leads her to a nervous breakdown. She is suspected of being a child abuser when things get out of control and her baby is taken away.