Midnight Eye. Best of 07.

The gentlemen behind Midnight Eye, "the latest and best in Japanese cinema," present their generously annotated lists of the "Best (and Worst) of 2007." Both Tom Mes and Jasper Sharp top their lists with Hitoshi Yazaki's Strawberry Shortcakes. Mes: "Incontestably the best Japanese film of the year. Everything about it seems calculated for the Sex and the City and shojo manga crowds, but the result is closer in spirit, integrity and perceptiveness to Ryuichi Hiroki's Vibrator and It's Only Talk." And it's reviewed in this issue by Paul Spicer.

Nicholas Rucka's list is alphabetical, while Jason Gray comments, "In my Top 10 for this year there seems to be a mini-theme of films that explore little seen sides of Japanese society. This might be the strongest 12 months since I started doing annual lists for Midnight Eye."

And now, it's your turn. The Readers Poll is open for votes.

More reviews:

• Paul Jackson places Paprika in the context of Satoshi Kon's career since Perfect Blue.

• Johannes Schönherr tells the story behind and of Identity, a "collaboration between porno auteur Matsuo and identity researcher [Tetsuaki] Matsue."

• Jasper Sharp on Yasuzo Masumura's A False Student (1960): "[D]espite a few dramatic missteps in the midsection that rob the powerful material of its full potential, it conjures up the same sense of competitiveness and the chaos of modern life as portrayed in his early classic Giants and Toys (1958)." Also, Tai Kato's By a Man's Face Shall You Know Him (1966).

Then Tom Mes recommends the "fully revised and redesigned edition" of Mark Schilling's No Borders, No Limits: Nikkatsu Action Cinema.

Posted by dwhudson at January 24, 2008 3:40 PM