Movies
A different kind of prison drama. There are no fighting inmates here, no smuggling, no rape, no protests. Instead, Sai serves a weird OCD-like prison utopia, where life is pretty good for the prisoners, even though they have to follow a plethora of rules, and they're obviously still robbed of their freedom. The result is a very agreeable drama with light comedy touches.
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There isn't much of a plot here, instead Doing Time is a slice of life about a tightly run prison facility. Performances are great, the mix of drama and comedy is on point, it's just that the presentation is a little dry. Doing Time used to be a personal favorite, a good 15 years later I found the film has a bit more trouble distinguishing itself from its peers. It's still a lovely little drama though.
A dark and grim police procedural. I almost skipped this one because of the long runtime (in combination with the focus on police work), but Sai turned this into an intriguing thriller. It's not for the faint of heart, and the film might be a little too ambitious, but that's still better than showing no ambition at all.
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It's always nice spotting familiar faces (Endo, Nishijima, and Kishibe were all there), the presentation was better than expected, and despite the longer runtime, the pacing was perfect. Add some pretty gruesome moments and a fitting finale, and you have a more than solid film. I'm surprised this one has remained under the radar in the West.
Not what I expected from Yoichi Sai, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Not that I dislike Sai's work, I just didn't know he used to make badass punk films in the vein of Sogo Ishii. The Glorious Asuka Gang is a sprawling genre flick that doesn't fully deliver on its punk premise, but certainly doesn't skimp on the entertainment value.
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Sai has a lot of fun with the punk elements. The sets look surprisingly accomplished, Asuka comes off as a female Akira, and the film is teeming with peculiar characters. It's nothing you haven't seen before and the true anarchic punk spirit is missing from this film, instead Sai offers lots of genre fun in a neat little package. A lovely find.
