Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £4.99 a month

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.
Musical 2012 134 mins
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
Musical

It Couldn't Happen Here It Couldn't Happen Here
Drama 1987 86 mins Director: Jack Bond
The pop-surrealist road movie starring the Pet Shop Boys, finally available for the first time in the digital era.

Leave It on the Floor Leave It on the Floor
Drama 2011 106 mins Director: Sheldon Larry
Sheldon Larry’s audacious, raunchy and big-hearted voguing musical, set in downtown LA.

The Tales of Beatrix Potter The Tales of Beatrix Potter
Musical 1971 90 mins Director: Reginald Mills
Beatrix Potter's most beloved characters spring to life in this live-action classic.

Tokyo Tribe Tokyo Tribe
Action and Adventure 2014 116 mins Director: Sion Sono
Sion Sono's unique brand of subversive cinema explodes onscreen once again with this ingenious hybrid of Yakuza gang action and hip-hop musical.

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.

A Hard Day's Night A Hard Day's Night
Musical 1964 88 mins Director: Richard Lester
The Beatles’ freewheeling film debut remains the pinnacle of rock-n-roll cinema; still deliriously entertaining 50 years on.
21st-century Japan

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.
Directed by Takashi Miike

Shinjuku Triad Society Shinjuku Triad Society
Gangster 1995 102 mins Director: Takashi Miike
Amid a war between Taiwanese Triads and Japanese Yakuza, a mixed-race cop hunts a psychotic criminal who traffics in children's organs.

Audition Audition
Horror 1999 115 mins Director: Takashi Miike
Takashi Miike burst to international prominence with this deeply disturbing tale of a deadly young woman who turns the tables on her middle-aged suitor.

The Happiness of the Katakuris The Happiness of the Katakuris
Comedy 2001 113 mins Director: Takashi Miike
The Sound of Music meets Dawn of the Dead in Takashi Miike's deranged mix of grotesque stop-motion animation, surreal musical numbers, and zombie melodrama.
New

The Street The Street
Documentary 2019 95 mins Director: Zed Nelson
The working-class community of Hoxton Street face the upheavals of gentrification, austerity and the eruption of Brexit, in this portrait of a rapidly changing London.

Madame Madame
Documentary 2019 93 mins Director: Stephane Riethauser
A grandmother and her grandson engage in an intimate conversation, exploring gender, sexuality and transmission of identity.

Adolescentes Adolescentes
Documentary 2019 130 mins Director: Sébastien Lifshitz
This captivating coming-of-age documentary follows best friends Anaïs and Emma for five years of teenagehood.

Camille Camille
Drama 2019 92 mins Director: Boris Lojkine
A poignant biopic of photojournalist Camille Lepage.

Felicità Felicità
Comedy 2020 82 mins Director: Bruno Merle
11 year old Tommy is desperate to make it for the first day of the school term, but with parents as eccentric hers, she knows she has the odds against her.

Kuessipan Kuessipan
Drama 2019 117 mins Director: Myriam Verreault
A powerful story of how life can test even the strongest of bonds, Mikuan and Shaniss, best of friends since childhood, find themselves drifting apart because of forces beyond their control.