This film is currently unavailable
For Love's Sake
Takashi Miike's awesome riff on Romeo and Juliet, done as a pop musical stuffed with golden oldies from the 60s.
Director: Takashi Miike
Overview
Takashi Miike does Romeo and Juliet as a 60s pop musical, and it’s as if West Side Story never happened. The storyline actually derives from a much-filmed manga, but Miike gives it the particle-accelerator treatment. The demure, well-born Ai (‘Love’) stumbles upon a street brawl and recognises the scar on one fighter’s forehead: Makoto (‘Sincerity’) is the guy who once saved her from a skiing accident; now a terse, embittered punk. She determines to redeem him by resurrecting his inner goodness. Phase One of her plan is to get her rich parents to pay for him to transfer to the upscale Aobadai High. But Makoto don’t wanna be redeemed...
You can only gasp in disbelief at Miike’s inventiveness: performances, design, choice of golden-oldie hits and fight choreography are all beyond ace. This is the kind of movie that hits you, and it feels like a kiss.
Related
Dancer in the Dark Dancer in the Dark
Drama 2000 141 mins Director: Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier’s unique and divisive dissection of the American Dream, featuring Björk as an immigrant worker finding escape in musical cinema.
Aventurera Aventurera
Drama 1950 102 mins Director: Alberto Gout
Deliriously entertaining Mexican melodrama about an innocent young woman tricked into prostitution.
Golden Eighties Golden Eighties
Musical 1986 99 mins Director: Chantal Akerman
Song, dance and romance charge this joyous hair-salon set musical, but Akerman’s take on 80s consumerism is anything but frothy.
The Wayward Cloud The Wayward Cloud
Comedy 2004 114 mins Director: Tsai Ming-liang
Ming-Liang Tsai's outrageous blend of sex, comedy, musical and drama is a daring, controversial and hilarious smorgasbord from one of Taiwan's most acclaimed directors.
Sweet Bean Sweet Bean
Drama 2015 113 mins Director: Naomi Kawase
A struggling street food vendor accepts help from an elderly lady with a sensational recipe up her sleeve, in Naomi Kawase's bittersweet drama of culinary redemption.
Nobody Knows Nobody Knows
Drama 2003 141 mins Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
Koreeda’s drama about four children left to fend for themselves is a heartbreaking study of childhood neglect.
Still Walking Still Walking
Drama 2008 115 mins Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
Koreeda’s subtle, moving account of the tensions within a family is his most Ozu-like film.
Departures Departures
Drama 2008 131 mins Director: Yôjirô Takita
A professional cellist gets a new job as an assistant mortician in this delightful and bittersweet drama, winner of the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar® in 2009.
The Mourning Forest The Mourning Forest
Drama 2007 97 mins Director: Naomi Kawase
A beautiful and contemplative portrait of grief from Cannes-winning filmmaker Naomi Kawase (Sweet Bean, Still the Water).
The Lust of Angels The Lust of Angels
Drama 2014 38 mins Director: Nagisa Isogai
After a schoolgirl is molested on the notorious 'groper train' in their town, a group a schoolgirls band together to emact revenge.
Audition Audition
Horror 1999 115 mins Director: Takashi Miike
Takashi Miike burst to prominence with this disturbing tale of a deadly young woman who turns the tables on her middle-aged suitor.
Mona Lisa Mona Lisa
Gangster 1986 100 mins Director: Neil Jordan
An ungainly cockney chauffeur navigates the seedy streets of London, gradually falling for the elegant and mysterious prostitute who is his passenger.
Showgirls Showgirls
Melodrama 1995 126 mins Director: Paul Verhoeven
Reviled upon its release, now reclaimed as a cult classic - one can only submit to the trash-tastic delights of Paul Verhoeven's erotic disasterpiece.
The Outrun The Outrun
Drama 2024 118 mins Director: Nora Fingscheidt
Saoirse Ronan gives a bracing performance as a young recovering alcoholic returning home to Orkney in this moving adaptation of Amy Liptrot’s memoir.
Birdy Birdy
Drama 1984 120 mins Director: Alan Parker
Alan Parker’s elliptical, ethereal adaptation of the acclaimed, ‘unfilmable’ novel by William Wharton, about a boy who dreams of flying.
The Florida Project The Florida Project
Drama 2017 112 mins Director: Sean Baker
Anora director Sean Baker's visionary portrait of life in America’s underbelly, featuring an Oscar-nominated turn from Willem Dafoe.
The Streetwalker The Streetwalker
Drama 1976 86 mins Director: Walerian Borowczyk
A salesman becomes obsessed by an icy prostitute against the backdrop of a hellish Paris, in this arthouse erotica from Walerian Borowczyk (The Beast)