Japanese Cinema: The Essential Handbook

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Summary: From The Author Of Asian Cult Cinema
Review: Althogh the author professes to be a lover of this kind of moviemaking, there are racist undertones. He continually makes fun of Asian men in his books and reduces the women to the level of objects. Also, you have to wonder about a man who has actually WATCHED most of those movies....

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Summary: If you liked ASIAN CULT CINEMA (which I did), then.......
Review: Being fairly uninformed about Japanese cinema (the vast cultural differences often make me shy away from it), I did not notice the errors (aside from the occasional typo) mentioned by other reviewers. Nor did I detect any racism or misogyny, as alleged by others.
This review guide, along with the critically-maligned ASIAN CULT CINEMA, also by Weisser, is just plain fun reading. It introduces the reader to many heretofore unheard-of films. The reviews are spirited, and the ever-popular 4-star rating system augments them. Whether one agrees with the stated opinions or not is of course entirely personal.
I must say though: Shame on the author for giving the masterpiece WOMAN IN THE DUNES (1964) only 3 and 1/2 stars.

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Summary: Maybe it's too essential
Review: First I apologize for my English. As a Reference book it can be good, but I don't think this is a "gap-filling" reference, as someone say. The listing is complete, but the critique is too short; I expected much more. There are some mistakes in text and lack of data (for instance, where is the review of "Tokyo Decadence" ?)

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Summary: Completist, but a little shallow
Review: For an introduction to the odder end of Japanese cinema this is pretty good. There are a lot of films covered, though the descriptions are somewhat sparse, and in certain cases downright misleading (ie 'Bounce Ko Gals' is described as "a respectable sex film"). Also a lot of typos and internal consistencies, and some startling omissions ('Kamikaze Taxi' and 'Tokyo Decadence' for exammple). This seems to be more of a catalogue for Weisser's own semi-legi 'Video Search of Miami' business. Also, it misses out on a lot of films which are covered in his other books, but once you've got one of these books, you're not going to want them all. The writing style is somewhat 'head-in-the-trough' and sensationalist. Similarly it is poorly laid out, though if all this sounds a little negative, it is the only conclusive coverage of Japanese cinema at its price range.

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Summary: Although it's not perfect - definitive a "MUST HAVE"
Review: Great enziclopedia for the movie-interested Japanophiles - but Tom has a strange taste and also his translations of the titles and of the directors are a bit funny!( but... you find nearly every film you 're looking for !) Never mind - definitive a MUST HAVE !

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Summary: 'Survey' would be a better title, sometimes inaccurate.
Review: There is _alot_ in this book that can (and will!) captivate you about Japanese cinema. While the Weissers, like most critics dwell a lot on their personal favorites, the bulk of the book is left with brief 2 and 3- paragraph summaries I found all too brief for the movie(s) in question.

Occasionally I also ran into outright errors.

Here's one of those that I would not expect in a 4th edition. Example: Entry for NIGHTHEAD: Actor Toyokawa Etsushi's name is misspelled, the summary and analysis are _totally_ wrong. NIGHTHEAD: The Trial was a sequel/conclusion to the TV series, NOT re-edited snippets as they say in the review. The brothers are NOT therapists, they are working with the research group that trained them and fighting a corporation that wants to enslave psychics, the girl is not retarded, et cetera). I would have to say that 10% of the book contains these 'drive by' reviews that have very little to do with the movie in question, or that contain significant translation/spelling errors. I have to wonder if this book really is a 4th edition, or if it is the fourth time that it went to press....

Second beef: If you pick up this book, and then obtain one of the Weissers' 'Japanese Cinema Encyclopedias,' be prepared for redundancy. Basically, the movie reviews found in _Essential_ copied and pasted verbatim. (I found this to be true in the JCE of Horror, Fantasy, and SF).

Errors (when present) and all.

To be fair though this book does cover a lot of ground, and for those of us who are either first timers or old hands, it is great for introducing movies that would perhaps remain unseen to the general (non-Japanese-speaking) public. However, in my humble opinion the title should have been 'A Survey of Japanese Cinema.' For the sheer volume of movies surveyed, this book is (probably) unique, and worth a look.