Book Review: No Borders, No Limits

I found out about Mark Schilling's No Borders, No Limits: Nikkatsu Action Cinema through some late night browsing on Amazon.com. I did a bit of research on this title and found that I had never seen most of the movies it covered. What pushed me to buy it, however, was that the small handful of movies it covered that I had seen were ones that I loved and wanted to know more about (namely Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter and Tokyo Drifter). Utilizing some basic logical thinking I figured that if I loved those titles then surely I'd enjoy learning more about the genre they belonged to. And you know what? I was right.

The first thing that struck me about this book when I finally got it in my grimy little mitts was the physicality of it. The book is compact in size, with sturdy glossy pages packed with full page, full color reprints of retro Japanese movie posters and publicity photos. Even if the text had been a bust the book would still be an A+ in the design department. It's the perfect size to either carry around with you or to squeeze into that last coveted space on your bookshelf.

OK it's pretty, but does it have anything to say? While the scope of the book is limited by its slim page count (154 pages, many of which are packed with pics), it still works well as an introduction to the action films produced by Nikkatsu (Japan's oldest major film studio) from around the mid-1950's to the early 1970's. What made these pics unique, as Schilling explains in the book, is their mixture of Eastern and Western influences combined with a high dosage of cool. The book is split into four sections (not including the introduction and brief history lesson at the beginning), with each section further subdivided into specific actors, actresses, or directors. This layout makes it easy for the reader to jump to topics that interest them instead of reading from cover to cover. It also makes this a pretty solid and easy to use reference book to have on your shelf.

While it never gets super in-depth on any of the movies it covers, No Borders, No Limits is a great intro to a style of film that many Americans are probably unaware of. It's also an engaging and quick read that one could breeze through in a day or two. Its brevity leaves the reader with plenty of time to peruse the Internet for more information. Veteran viewers of Nikkatsu product who already know the history of the studio might not get a ton of new information from it, but they should still gain enjoyment from Schilling's interviews with actor Joe Shishido and director Toshio Masuda.

Recommended.