I think this blog is quite self-explanatory. Having been a fan of Sonny Chiba for quite a while, and getting to meet him in 2014 at the Sonny Chiba Film Festival in Tokyo (where he turned out to be a true gentleman: very friendly, very modest about himself, and genuinely appreciating his fans) inspired me to track down many more Chiba films which I had not seen before.
Now, with over 100 Chiba films under my belt, I still can’t say I feel one bit tired. If anything, I’ve only come to like him and his movies even more. Not all of them are great, but like a friend of mine once said, even a poor Chiba film has at least one good going for it: Chiba. His enjoyable performances (especially in the mid 60s when he was at his best as an actor) and groundbreaking action work (which earned him fans like Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan) have nearly always been the highlights of the films he appeared in.
This blog attempts to shed more light to his films, especially the lesser known ones, which cover a wide variety of genres from romantic youth films to detective noir and all kinds of action films. Though I lack time to write detailed reviews, and I won’t even attempt to write about every film I’ve seen, I hope to share valuable information especially about the lesser known films.
If the blog’s title sounds familiar, yes, you guessed it. This is a sister blog for Sketches of Cinema.
Sketches of Chiba 