hazardes

so i decided to start a blog, and this is my first post. i've never had a blog before, and thinking about it i probably haven't written anything longer than a Mastodon thread since i left high school over 30 years ago, so please bear with me while i find my feet

to be honest i find this whole idea quite intimidating. will my writing be any good? will anyone read this? i figure i should just go for it, and the plan is to at least write something on a regular (weekly?) schedule to begin with, probably at the weekend

i'm going to start by writing about movies. i guess you could say i have unconventional taste in film, my current obsession is old Japanese yakuza movies from the 1960s and 1970s, specifically the films of director Kinji Fukasaku. there are a number of “boutique” blu-ray labels in the UK releasing a near constant supply of interesting films, and all their discs come with comprehensive extras, booklets full of essays, photo galleries. i am very into it

Fukasaku is largely unknown in the west, save from one film: Battle Royale (2000) what's sad about this is he had a 4 decade long directing career, and BR was his final film (he passed away while filming the sequel and it was completed by his son Kenta) for the majority of his career he worked under the Japanese studio system, mainly for TOEI, and to say he was a prolific film maker is a huge understatement, in the 1970s alone he directed twenty-five films

this won't be a chin-stroking blog about the history of cinema or culture, there are way better writers than me out there (some of them have degrees in this stuff!) but i know what i like and i will hopefully be able to at least string some coherent sentences together and maybe even convince you that these films are worth a look, i certainly think so. even if no-one ends up reading this at least i'll have a reason to watch all the films again