We now return you to Kurosawa country, ending our marathon with 2003’s BRIGHT FUTURE and 2006’s RETRIBUTION. Another pairing of an existential thriller and an atmospheric, haunting horror movie; another apocalypse or two; another chance for Koji Yakusho to play a repressed n stressed detective.

But! Even if Noah and Eliza are less enthralled with these works after four, better-known Kurosawa bangers, it’s definitely not a case of the director scraping the bottom of the poisonous jellyfish barrel. Within these final two films there are technically dazzling, how-did-they-even-get-that shots; moving moments between fathers and sons and besties; and, as always with this guy, the wisdom that true horror lies within the mundane systems we’re already a part of.