An accomplished filmmaker whose work only got better with the years and who always brings something unique to the table. Harada's oeuvre is a downright must for everyone who fancies himself a fan of Japanese cinema.
Movies
A very mysterious and sensual look at a small, Japanese mountain town. Miki is a spinster whose life gets turned upside down when a young teacher is hired from outside the village. With a strong soundtrack and cinematography, some neat twists and a couple of baffling moments, Harada delivers something really special.
I was pleasantly surprised to find a very accomplished yet eclectic film hiding underneath the cover of ghosts and suicides.
It's been quite a long time since I watched a Yakuza flick with a little extra, I'm not surprised Harada is the one to make it happen. He's the type of director who can take any genre and infuse it with a sprinkle of originality, without necessarily deviating from core genre clichés. Hell Dogs is a very typical Yakuza film (complex, littered with characters, honor codes, and backstabbing), but the presentation is just a tad slicker, the score a little more distinctive and the action has that extra dash of energy. The performances are solid too, and while the film is a tad long, it never lost my attention.
A very solid drama. The title is pretty self-explanatory, Harada aims for a film that falls somewhere in between the work of Yamada and Koreeda and succeeds rather well. A strong cast, pretty cinematography and nice, subdued drama turn this into a quality production. Nothing you haven't seen before, but prime filler.
The ideal film to watch back to back with Anno's Love & Pop. In Bounce Ko Gals, Harada presents his take on Japanese Kogal/engo-kosei culture. Young school girls selling themselves to lechers were a big thing in the 90s, it's not surprising then that several directors took this as inspiration for their films. Lisa is a girl on her way to the US. She saved up some money, but right before her plane ticket expires she hopes to make a quick buck in Harajuku. During a video shoot she is robbed by the Yakuza, leaving her stranded with just the ticket. Raku and Jonko, two regulars, decide to help Lisa out and call in some favors to earn Lisa's money back. Harada proves himself a capable director. The film isn't as experimental as Anno's, but the overall quality is higher. The performances are strong, the camera work is vibrant, and the characters are an interesting bunch. Harada blends the culture exploration well with the narrative and delivers a warm, captivating, slight disturbing drama.Read all
A plot-driven but pleasantly directed crime/mystery that digs its claws deep into the Japanese justice system. Harada is a competent director and the cast does a fine job, but in the end the film doesn't really excite enough for a higher score. A little too dialogue-heavy for my taste, but certainly not a bad film.
An interesting take on the classic hostage thriller. Rather than focus on the criminals and the hostages, Harada singles out the administrative hell hole that opens up when local and national police corpses are forced to work together to defuse the situation. A bit long and a little scruffy in places, but Harada is a fine director and delivers an amusing film.
Harada is the ideal man to bring a somewhat stale and dry subject to life. This financial/political drama/thriller could've easily turned out to be a stuffy and unimaginative recount of true events, instead, we get a relatively riveting and captivating film that entertains from start to finish. It's far from his best work, but it is definitely worth seeking out. The capture of a high-ranking Yakuza criminal opens up a can of worms. He reveals a connection between the Yakuza and one of Japan's biggest banks. Once the cat is out of the bag, a large-scale investigation is launched. Kitano is one of the lead investigators, a righteous Pitbull who'll leave no stone unturned to find out the truth. Harada's direction is animated, and the cast is superb. It's still not quite enough to get it close to a personal favorite, but making a 2-hour financial thriller somewhat thrilling is already a pretty big feat in an of itself. Harada is one of those directors who deliver quality no matter the genre he works in, Spellbound is no exception.Read all
Masato Harada is a pretty big name (with an impressive oeuvre), the cast isn't anything to scoff at either. Just to say that I had high hopes for this film, but they never really materialized into something concrete. While this could've been a solid investigative thriller, it's really just an average newspaper drama. JAL 123 crashes and kills 520 people, the biggest single-plane crash ever recorded. Yuuki is heading the newspaper team that handles the crash, but he finds it difficult to make the right decisions. He struggles with his reporters, doesn't want to jump the gun on any unverified sources and doesn't have an easy time at home. The actors do a solid job, Harada tries to add a bit of flair to the film, but the crash remains well out of sight and most of the film is set in the offices of the paper. The sentiment doesn't translate that well and at almost two and a half hours long, the film's a bit long in the tooth. Not his best work.Read all
Early Harada. Not much to see here, except some very basic Yakuza/crime genre work. The gunslinging is a little boring, the acting is mediocre, the cinematography mostly functional and the plot as predictable as can be. No doubt the biggest Yakuza film fans will find something here, but otherwise this was a slight letdown.