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Fantasia 2012: ‘Smuggler’ Fails to Conceal its Influences

Smuggler aka  Sumagurâ: Omae no mirai o hakobe Written by Katsuhito Ishii, Masatoshi Yamaguchi and Kensuke Yamamoto, based on the manga Sumagurâ by Shôhei Manabe Directed by Katsuhito Ishii Japan 2011 Fantasia imdb The writers and director of Smuggler clearly watched Ichi the Killer a lot – A LOT – as kids. It’s all there: the yakuza setting, the gang war, the eccentric characters, the torture, the weird …

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After Dark 2011: ‘Redline’ is a surreal and incredible experience

Redline Directed by Takeshi Koike 2010, Japan, 102 minutes   Lots of people are saying that anime hit Redline is like taking acid. Frankly, that doesn’t quite do the film justice. Let’s do better. If Speed Racer and Heavy Metal had a child, but the child was exposed to a lot of drugs in utero, …

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