Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageUntama Giru (1989)
Director: Go Takamine
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Another paean to Okinawa's 'sacred indolence', this reunites the stars of Paradise View in a mythic/poetic social satire which plays like a fullscale orchestration of the themes and plotlines of the earlier film. The original Untama Giru was an Okinawan Robin Hood; the film's Giru (Kobayashi) is an exploited worker in 1969 who flees into the Untama forest after learning that his boss's adopted daughter is actually a crazed sow in human guise. While he teaches himself to levitate, the rest of the island debates what should become of Okinawa when the US (represented by John Sayles as a commissioner who gets off on blood transfusions from monkeys and pigs) hands it back to Japan. With the most unlikely barbershop quintet in film history serving as a chorus, this is doubtless the most spaced-out agit-prop ever filmed.Author: TR
Cast & crew
Director: Go Takamine
Producer: Junichi Ito, Natsuki Hariu
Cast: Kaoru Kobayashi, Jun Togawa, John Sayles, Chikako Aoyama, Susumu Taira, Edie full cast
Duration: 120 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Martin Provost discusses 'Séraphine'
Trevor Johnston talks to the director of 'Séraphine' about bringing a little known French painter back to life
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Stephen Poliakoff discusses 'Glorious 39'
Stephen Poliakoff’s ‘Glorious 39’ is his first film for cinema since ‘Food of Love’ in 1997. Dave Calhoun met him
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
Steven Soderbergh on 'The Informant!' and 'The Girlfriend Experience'
We talk to Steven Soderbergh about his two forthcoming films: one featuring a porn star, the other a chubby Matt Damon
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now