Underplayed Gems

Pure Japanese (2022)

Pure Japanese poster
Directed by
Daishi Matsunaga
Genre
action film
Country
Japan
Runtime
1h 28m
Rating
7.4 of 10 from 29 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More films like thisWatch the trailer

or watch the trailer on YouTube

How it feels

A quirky sound effects guy with a hidden past rescues a high school girl from yakuza thugs. After her grandfather dies, she asks him to fight back and he unleashes long-suppressed violent urges.

broodingstylishunpredictableintensecatharticwryvisceral

What happens

Pure Japanese is a 2022 Japanese action film directed by Daishi Matsunaga and starring Dean Fujioka, Aju Makita and Tetsu Watanabe. It is also Fujioka's first created and produced film. The plot revolves around Daisuke Tateishi (played by Fujioka), an eccentric man with limited social skills and a devotion to Japanese culture who handles sound effects for ninja shows despite his exceptional physical abilities. One day, he rescues a high school girl named Ayumi (Makita), but she and her grandfather Ryuzo (Watanabe) are under threat of eviction from their home by the local yakuza. Following Ryuzo's death, Ayumi seeks Tateishi's help, and he releases the violent impulses he had kept sealed away due to past trauma. Pure Japanese emerged from Fujioka's decision to create and produce original video works after completing his role in the 2018 drama The Count of Monte Cristo: Great Revenge. Having engaged in entertainment activities overseas, he began to contemplate the question of "What defines Japanese people?" as he observed Japan from an objective standpoint. In response to this question, he formulated a hypothesis using the concepts of nihongo-bito (Japanese: 日本語人) and "Japanese language operating system (OS)", resulting in a script centered around themes of violence and religion. The shooting took place in September 2020 in the Nikko region of Tochigi Prefecture, as well as at the Nikko Edomura theme park. The film underwent multiple rounds of re-editing and script changes for the purpose of elevating it to a more multi-layered narrative. Pure Japanese was released in Japan on January 28, 2022, followed by a screening in the Nippon Visions section of the 22nd Nippon Connection Japanese Film Festival in Germany from May 24 to 29, 2022. It became available for streaming worldwide on Amazon Prime Video on July 17, 2022. The film garnered mixed reviews. The Japan Times remarked that it was "likely to be misunderstood". (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.