樱花劫 櫻花劫 (1992)

　　Set in an underground dungeon inhabited by bundled, ragged human beings, after the nuclear holocaust. The story follows the wanderings of a hero through the situations of survival. People wait for the Ark to arrive and rescue them while their habitat falls apart.　　Delving deep into the dusty and long abandonded vaults of b-cinema in search of lost gems always leaves me with a bittersweet taste. On one hand the discovery of unexpected gems where no one would think them possible is a rewarding experience. On the other hand though it makes one wonder how many of these remarkable low-budget oddities, personal love affairs of directors never quite famous and now all but forgotten, have almost forever slipped from memory?　　n any case what we have here is a little post-apocalyptic gem from Poland that is really better than it has any right to. The dystopian near future of O-BI, O-BA finds a group of survivors of the nuclear war that ravaged the Earth inhabiting an underworld concrete bunker and biding their time as they wait for the mysterious Ark, an air ship of some kind that will come and save them. The Ark proves to be an elaborate hoax, carefully designed to give hope to the malnourished and desperate denizens of the bunker, while in the meantime the dome that separates their miserable existence from the nuclear winter outside is slowly caving in.　　What first striked me about the movie is the design of the bunker and the depiction of the survivors. The survivors are gaunt, filthy and terrible-looking penitents, dressed in rags and aimlessly wandering the neon-lit halls of the bunker like automatons. The bunker is a rundown, seedy place, with bright neon lights peering from all sides like the eyes of malignant beasts.　　On one hand it is a slightly 80's depiction of the dystopian future but the movie never stoops down to MAD MAX cheese. Instead it combines biting political satire with the bleak outlook of a world with no future, black comedy with barbs on apathy, religion and power. The survivors, for example, are fed some kind of flour dropping from a tube that hovers in the air - later on we discover the food supervisor uses books and the Bible itself as filler for this meagre meal. There are many such short symbolic touches, perhaps not life-changing or faith-restoring, yet playful, clever and inspired.　　One thing is for sure; O-BI, O-BA is not your run-of-the-mill sci-fi schlock. It overcomes its modest budget with creativity and has genuine artistic aspirations both from a writing and directing perspective. My opinion is that it should have been filmed in black and white instead of colour though. The director uses atmospheric light and shadow to great effect and it would have registered even better in stark black and white. The blue-green neon on the other hand outstays its welcome after a while. Just a minor gripe in an otherwise solid b-movie with its heart set in all the right places.　　Imagine a less bleak THE ROAD (Cormac McCarthy) being injected with the satire and humour of DR.STRANGELOVE and you're getting there. See it if you can find it.

　　炎炎夏日，一辆辆黄色的校车载着热爱歌唱和舞蹈的青年男女来到了一处郊外的夏令营。孩子们兴致勃勃，渴望在这里尽情释放对音乐的热爱。今年年轻导演阿特·盖茨雄心勃勃，决定将十年没有排演过的经典名作《歌剧魅影》搬上舞台。这一消息，令在厨房帮厨的卡梅拉（艾莉·麦克唐纳 Allie MacDonald 饰）和巴迪（道格拉斯·史密斯 Douglas Smith 饰）深受触动。原来十年前，姐弟俩那身为著名歌剧演员的妈妈在《歌剧魅影》的演出后被人杀害。该事件让他们封闭了自己，可是卡梅拉无法抑制心底对歌唱的渴望，终于她鼓起勇气报名参加了女主角索菲娅的遴选。然而伴随着她走向阳光，十年前那个恐怖恶魔似乎也从沉寂中醒来……　　本片根据真实事件改编。

　　平安时代，百鬼夜行，封鬼仪式正在右大臣藤原安麻吕府邸进行。安麻吕之女日美子（深田恭子 饰）戎装登场，一箭命中靶心，引来全场惊叹。这位被喻为“连鬼都不敢接近”的公主，却令源博雅（伊藤英明 饰）暗自倾心。天现异象，京都骚动，魍魉横行。平安京已有四人遇害，民间出现驱鬼术士幻角（中井贵一 饰），日美子亦在异象后开始梦游。博雅为此替右大臣来请安倍晴明（野村万斋 饰）商谈。与此同时，宫廷供奉的出云三神器之一草薙剑也出现了异动。晴明受天皇所托，与博雅开始调查种种异况背后出云与大和的隐秘渊源。　　博雅和夜弹琵琶的神秘少年须佐（市原隼人 饰）相识为乐友，须佐负伤被日美子所救，三人在右大臣府邸相逢。同一时刻，右大臣主动找到晴明，坦白了十八年前天现异象时，大和攻打出云的事实……　　本片为电影《阴阳师》续作。

　　平静的湖畔小镇，疼爱儿子的单亲妈妈早织（安藤樱 饰）、为学生着想的爽直老师保利 （永山瑛太 饰）以及天真烂漫的孩子们本过着安稳的生活，却因为一次校园冲突，发酵酿成轩然大波，惹起社会与媒体的关注。当事态越见严重，竟在一个暴风雨的清晨，两个孩子双双失去了踪影……