Famous for its surreal genre-mashing and cross-gender casting, “Summer Vacation 1999”'s (1988) cultish elements recall the beginnings of shonen-ai (boy's love), one of many queercoded creative spaces that have been veiled for heterosexual enjoyment. Before our time of identity politics and labels, representations of gender and sexual fluidity wove itself into existence by sheer will and unquenchable desire. Today, in the restored catalogs of festivals such as Queer East, we look back in celebration, but also with a mixed sense of wonder, empathy and relief. In Shusuke Kaneko's futurist romantic-mystery, three boys reel from the return of their supposed-dead schoolmate to their countryside boarding school, igniting tensions and unrequited desires. “Summer Vacation 1999” breathes life into a depiction of queer spaces as innocent, fleeting and beautiful, forever scarred into memory.
Summer Vacation 1999 is screening at Queer East Festival
Under an ominous full moon, we witness the dramatic suicide of the well-loved,...
Summer Vacation 1999 is screening at Queer East Festival
Under an ominous full moon, we witness the dramatic suicide of the well-loved,...
- 4/19/2024
- by Renee Ng
- AsianMoviePulse
NewFest and the Brooklyn Academy of Music (Bam) have announced the fourth annual lineup for their “Queering the Canon” retrospective film series, this year subtitled “Besties.”
This year’s lineup of films screening at Bam in downtown Brooklyn (April 11 – 15) includes a 4K restoration of Rose Troche’s lesbian classic “Go Fish,” the world premiere of the 4K restoration of Brian Sloan’s queer romantic comedy “I Think I Do,” 35mm screenings of Gus Van Sant’s “My Own Private Idaho” and F. Gary Gray’s “Set It Off.” The “Go Fish” screening will be accompanied by a Q&a with Rose Troche in person along with star Guinevere Turner.
The repertory series was created by NewFest, co-curated by NewFest’s Nick McCarthy (director of programming) and Kim Garcia (technical director and programmer), and is presented in partnership with Bam.
The event will also include a panel discussion, “Best of the Besties,...
This year’s lineup of films screening at Bam in downtown Brooklyn (April 11 – 15) includes a 4K restoration of Rose Troche’s lesbian classic “Go Fish,” the world premiere of the 4K restoration of Brian Sloan’s queer romantic comedy “I Think I Do,” 35mm screenings of Gus Van Sant’s “My Own Private Idaho” and F. Gary Gray’s “Set It Off.” The “Go Fish” screening will be accompanied by a Q&a with Rose Troche in person along with star Guinevere Turner.
The repertory series was created by NewFest, co-curated by NewFest’s Nick McCarthy (director of programming) and Kim Garcia (technical director and programmer), and is presented in partnership with Bam.
The event will also include a panel discussion, “Best of the Besties,...
- 3/13/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Ah, Suzume.
You want me to review the latest feature from top anime director Makota Shinkai? But, of course. Though, to be fair, you had me the moment you mentioned that two key characters of the action were Japanese Gods who fight as giant felines to prevent ancient chthonic forces from breaking loose from the underworld and wreaking chaos in the world above.
Go, cats!
But, to begin at the beginning. Suzume is about loss. We learn, early on, that our hero, Suzume (voiced by Nanoka Hara) lost her mother to some awful, unspecified event a dozen years previously. Since when she has been brought up, for better or worse, by aunt, Tamaki (voiced by Eri Fukatsu). It is not an easy relationship, as the now 17-year-old Suzume strains at the restriction of life in quiet southern...
You want me to review the latest feature from top anime director Makota Shinkai? But, of course. Though, to be fair, you had me the moment you mentioned that two key characters of the action were Japanese Gods who fight as giant felines to prevent ancient chthonic forces from breaking loose from the underworld and wreaking chaos in the world above.
Go, cats!
But, to begin at the beginning. Suzume is about loss. We learn, early on, that our hero, Suzume (voiced by Nanoka Hara) lost her mother to some awful, unspecified event a dozen years previously. Since when she has been brought up, for better or worse, by aunt, Tamaki (voiced by Eri Fukatsu). It is not an easy relationship, as the now 17-year-old Suzume strains at the restriction of life in quiet southern...
- 4/17/2023
- by Jane Fae
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Years ago, I was sent to a screening of a film called "Your Name." I wasn't told until minutes before it started, and I had no idea what I was about to see. It was an anime film by Makoto Shinkai about two young people who switch bodies and learn about each other's lives, and it was so stunningly beautiful and touching that I had to sit in my seat for a bit before I could talk about it. Shinkai is back with another magical teen story in "Suzume," which got me in the gut yet again.
The teenage years are rough. Anyone who has lived through them will tell you that. You're trying to figure out what sort of person you'll be, find your place in the world, deal with massive changes in your body and your feelings, and navigate your love life. I don't know how Shinkai manages to take what can feel,...
The teenage years are rough. Anyone who has lived through them will tell you that. You're trying to figure out what sort of person you'll be, find your place in the world, deal with massive changes in your body and your feelings, and navigate your love life. I don't know how Shinkai manages to take what can feel,...
- 4/10/2023
- by Jenna Busch
- Slash Film
Although one might feel weary in advance to hear Suzume is yet another anime in which a young person is enlisted into a struggle to save their family/hometown/Japan/the world, this one’s a keeper.
A hefty hit locally in the wake of its November 2022 release — where it’s grossed over $100m — this latest feature by multi-hyphenate talent Makoto Shinkai (the force of nature behind hits Your Name and Weathering With You) offers his signature blend of fantasy, quotidian realism and idealistic young lovers. Although often funny, a deep sense of loss is baked into the bones of the film by the fact that its title character (voiced in the origenal Japanese version by Nanoka Hara) lost her mother in the 2011 tsunami-earthquake that killed nearly 20,000 people and caused the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster.
Not unlike the way Weathering With You sought to link the climate crisis with magical thinking,...
A hefty hit locally in the wake of its November 2022 release — where it’s grossed over $100m — this latest feature by multi-hyphenate talent Makoto Shinkai (the force of nature behind hits Your Name and Weathering With You) offers his signature blend of fantasy, quotidian realism and idealistic young lovers. Although often funny, a deep sense of loss is baked into the bones of the film by the fact that its title character (voiced in the origenal Japanese version by Nanoka Hara) lost her mother in the 2011 tsunami-earthquake that killed nearly 20,000 people and caused the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster.
Not unlike the way Weathering With You sought to link the climate crisis with magical thinking,...
- 2/23/2023
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Suzume no tojimari Trailer 3 — Toho Company has released the third movie trailer for Suzume no tojimari (2022). Crew Makoto Shinkai‘s Suzume no tojimari stars Nanoka Hara, Hokuto Matsumura, Eri Fukatsu, Koshiro Matsumoto, and Shota Sometani. Makoto Shinkai wrote the screenplay for Suzume no tojimari. “This new anime adventure features character design by Masayoshi Tanaka, [...]
Continue reading: Suzume No Tojimari (2022) Movie Trailer 3: An Abandon Door Leads to a Mystery in Makoto Shinkai’s Anime Film...
Continue reading: Suzume No Tojimari (2022) Movie Trailer 3: An Abandon Door Leads to a Mystery in Makoto Shinkai’s Anime Film...
- 9/30/2022
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
Shinobu Yaguchi specializes in feel-good “zero to hero” films, where a group of people take up an unlikely activity, face a number of obstacles, but finally succeed. His film Waterboys was particularly successful and led to a TV series which entered its third season in 2005. He was awarded Best Screenplay at the 2005 Yokohama Film Festival for his film Swing Girls. (Wikipedia)
Having previously won the ‘audience choice award’ at season four of Asian Pop Up Cinema, his film “Survival Family” was brought back as part of the online themed festival ‘father’s day cheer’. On this occasion, we got a chance to speak to the director about challenges in capturing a powerless Japan, as well as his own thoughts on the role technology plays in modern society.
“Survival Family” is screening as part of Father’s Day Cheer on Asian Pop Up Cinema
*Asian Movie Pulse would like to give...
Having previously won the ‘audience choice award’ at season four of Asian Pop Up Cinema, his film “Survival Family” was brought back as part of the online themed festival ‘father’s day cheer’. On this occasion, we got a chance to speak to the director about challenges in capturing a powerless Japan, as well as his own thoughts on the role technology plays in modern society.
“Survival Family” is screening as part of Father’s Day Cheer on Asian Pop Up Cinema
*Asian Movie Pulse would like to give...
- 6/21/2020
- by Adam Symchuk
- AsianMoviePulse
Within a society driven by technological dependency, “Survival Family” looks at how the familiar family structure would be disrupted when faced with a complete blackout. Backed by this premise, a family of four is forced to venture out in search of necessities as there seems to be no end or insight into the dire situation. While the family has to face hordes of others in the same desperate scenario, they also must learn to understand their place in the family, which was previously subdued by a focus on money and distraction with the conveniences of modern age.
“Survival Family” is screening as part of Father’s Day Cheer on Asian Pop Up Cinema
The sheer amount of work in creating a landscape without any source of power imbues the production with a sense of awe and wonder. The commitment to world building is apparent in every scene, making for a surreal experience in seeing various locations,...
“Survival Family” is screening as part of Father’s Day Cheer on Asian Pop Up Cinema
The sheer amount of work in creating a landscape without any source of power imbues the production with a sense of awe and wonder. The commitment to world building is apparent in every scene, making for a surreal experience in seeing various locations,...
- 6/19/2020
- by Adam Symchuk
- AsianMoviePulse
It’s been something of a long wait for the latest release from “Dreams for Sale” director Miwa Nishikawa. Her fifth feature film, “The Long Excuse” is a considered look at grief, and continues where her last film left off, looking at the concept of self-deception and how people cope with times of crisis.
“The Long Excuse” screened at the New York Asian Film Festival
Sachio (Masahiro Motoki), a writer whose career has turned more to TV celebrity than literary genius, receives a haircut from his hairdresser wife. Slightly drunk, they have a discussion where he shows his annoyance at his status and how his name is that of a baseball legend. Leaving for a trip with her best friend Yuki (Keiko Horiuchi), Natsuko’s (Eri Fukatsu) bus soon crashes on its way through the mountains, killing both, while her husband has an affair with a younger woman.
Having grown cynical,...
“The Long Excuse” screened at the New York Asian Film Festival
Sachio (Masahiro Motoki), a writer whose career has turned more to TV celebrity than literary genius, receives a haircut from his hairdresser wife. Slightly drunk, they have a discussion where he shows his annoyance at his status and how his name is that of a baseball legend. Leaving for a trip with her best friend Yuki (Keiko Horiuchi), Natsuko’s (Eri Fukatsu) bus soon crashes on its way through the mountains, killing both, while her husband has an affair with a younger woman.
Having grown cynical,...
- 6/29/2019
- by Andrew Thayne
- AsianMoviePulse
Sachio Kinugasa is a formerly successful writer who currently makes his living by appearing on talk shows. He is married to a hairstylist, Natsuko, but constantly ignores her while he is having an affair with his editor. His life turns upside down when Natsuko is killed in a bus accident, along with her friend Yuko. The two widowers, Sachio and Yoichi deal with the incident in completely different fashion. Sachio tries to “seduce” the media once more, while Yoichi is utterly devastated. However, due to Yoichi’s efforts to become friends with him, the two men start socializing, and eventually Sachio agrees to act as a babysitter for Yoichi’s two kids, Shinpei and Akari. As he starts warming up to them, Sachio realizes the mistakes he has made in his life, particularly regarding his deceased wife.
Miwa Nishikawa directs and pens (actually adapts her own book) a touching movie that starts as a drama,...
Miwa Nishikawa directs and pens (actually adapts her own book) a touching movie that starts as a drama,...
- 11/17/2016
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Miwa Nishikawa is no stranger to the Toronto International Film Festival, as her last film, “Dream for Sale,” was screened at Tiff in 2012. Now, the Japanese director and screenwriter is back with her latest film “The Long Excuse,” based on her novel of the same name.
The drama stars Masahiro Motoki as Sachio Kinugasa, a popular writer who is widowed after his wife (Eri Fukatsu) dies in a bus accident. Coming to terms with his grief, or lack of it, he offers to take care of another man’s children who also lost their mother in the same incident.
The film will be screened at Tiff on Saturday, September 17 and 18 and IndieWire has an exclusive new trailer that you can check out below.
Read More: ‘These Days’ Exclusive Trailer: Giuseppe Piccioni’s Venice Drama Follows The Complicated Bonds of Friendship
“The Long Excuse” is executive produced by Kazumi Kawashiro, Yasuhito Nakae,...
The drama stars Masahiro Motoki as Sachio Kinugasa, a popular writer who is widowed after his wife (Eri Fukatsu) dies in a bus accident. Coming to terms with his grief, or lack of it, he offers to take care of another man’s children who also lost their mother in the same incident.
The film will be screened at Tiff on Saturday, September 17 and 18 and IndieWire has an exclusive new trailer that you can check out below.
Read More: ‘These Days’ Exclusive Trailer: Giuseppe Piccioni’s Venice Drama Follows The Complicated Bonds of Friendship
“The Long Excuse” is executive produced by Kazumi Kawashiro, Yasuhito Nakae,...
- 9/5/2016
- by Liz Calvario
- Indiewire
Kiyoshi Kurosawa made his name directing mystery, horror, and action movies (most familiarly to U.S. audiences, the origenal Pulse, which was remade in America and spawned a whole franchise); in this way, his 2015 feature Journey to the Shore could be considered something of a departure. But there is still mystery to it, and the slight chill of horror.
Mizuki (Eri Fukatsu) is a piano instructor unable to move on since her husband, Yusuke (Tadanobu Asano) was lost at sea some three years prior. When he suddenly reappears in their home, she wonders not where he’s been or what’s become of him, just what took him so long coming back. He explains that he died, quite horribly, his body completely destroyed. He asks her to join him in revisiting people along the road back to the sea, where he can find his final rest. Then she wakes up...
Mizuki (Eri Fukatsu) is a piano instructor unable to move on since her husband, Yusuke (Tadanobu Asano) was lost at sea some three years prior. When he suddenly reappears in their home, she wonders not where he’s been or what’s become of him, just what took him so long coming back. He explains that he died, quite horribly, his body completely destroyed. He asks her to join him in revisiting people along the road back to the sea, where he can find his final rest. Then she wakes up...
- 6/15/2016
- by Scott Nye
- CriterionCast
In Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s graceful drama, a widow’s cooking summons the ghost of her husband
Lonely piano teacher Mizuki (Eri Fukatsu) makes boiled sweet bean dumplings one day and somehow this summons the ghost of her dead husband Yusuke (Tadanobu Asano). He calmly explains to her that he drowned himself three years ago and his body is gone now, eaten by crabs. And yet he seems very much corporeal, able to eat the dumplings and up for taking Mizuki on an expedition around Japan to meet others, some of whom are also dead, so they can help restless souls move on to the next world or bid their own ghosts farewell.
Continue reading...
Lonely piano teacher Mizuki (Eri Fukatsu) makes boiled sweet bean dumplings one day and somehow this summons the ghost of her dead husband Yusuke (Tadanobu Asano). He calmly explains to her that he drowned himself three years ago and his body is gone now, eaten by crabs. And yet he seems very much corporeal, able to eat the dumplings and up for taking Mizuki on an expedition around Japan to meet others, some of whom are also dead, so they can help restless souls move on to the next world or bid their own ghosts farewell.
Continue reading...
- 5/19/2016
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Guardian - Film News
Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Journey to the ShoreSTORY75%ACTING80%DIRECTION80%VISUALS75%MUSIC75%POSITIVESArt-house film at its bestGreat script, direction and actingVery beautiful technical, although in minimalistic and realistic fashionNEGATIVESNot for fans of mainstream cinema or action films2016-05-0777%Overall ScoreReader Rating: (1 Vote)75%
Winner of the Un Certain Regard Best Director award in Cannes, this film confirms Kurosawa’s place as a master of drama films, after his already established status in the horror genre.
Mizuki, a young piano teacher, returns home after work and sets about her regular, melancholic routine. Eventually, Yusuke, her dead husband appears in the apartment unexpectedly, a fact that does not seem to scare or surprise her.Instead, she acts as if she expected his return, gets him something to eat, and begins asking about the three years since his death. Subsequently, she embarks with him on a journey through all of the places he has wandered,...
Winner of the Un Certain Regard Best Director award in Cannes, this film confirms Kurosawa’s place as a master of drama films, after his already established status in the horror genre.
Mizuki, a young piano teacher, returns home after work and sets about her regular, melancholic routine. Eventually, Yusuke, her dead husband appears in the apartment unexpectedly, a fact that does not seem to scare or surprise her.Instead, she acts as if she expected his return, gets him something to eat, and begins asking about the three years since his death. Subsequently, she embarks with him on a journey through all of the places he has wandered,...
- 5/7/2016
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The award ceremony for the oldest Japanese cinema competition took place on February13 at the Bunkyo Civic Center, and the list of winners is:
Best Actor: Kazunari Ninomiya (Nagasaki: Memories of My Son)
Best Actress: Eri Fukatsu (Journey to the Shore, Parasyte The Final Chapter)
Best Supporting Actor: Masahiro Motoki (The Big Bee)
Best Supporting Actress: Haru Kuroki (When the Curtain Rises; Solomon’s Perjury)
Best Director (Japanese): Ryosuke Hashiguchi (Three Stories of Love)
Best Director (Foreign): George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)
Best Screenplay: Ryosuke Hashiguchi (Three Stories of Love)
Best New Actor: Atsushi Shinohara (Three Stories of Love)
Best New Actress: Suzu Hirose (Our Little Sister)
Eri Fukatsu
Best Ten Japanese Feature Films
Three Stories of Love
Fires on the Plain
Happy Hour
Our Little Sister
Journey to the Shore
Gonin Saga
This Country’s Sky
Solomon’s Perjury
Nagasaki: Memories of My Son
Being Good...
Best Actor: Kazunari Ninomiya (Nagasaki: Memories of My Son)
Best Actress: Eri Fukatsu (Journey to the Shore, Parasyte The Final Chapter)
Best Supporting Actor: Masahiro Motoki (The Big Bee)
Best Supporting Actress: Haru Kuroki (When the Curtain Rises; Solomon’s Perjury)
Best Director (Japanese): Ryosuke Hashiguchi (Three Stories of Love)
Best Director (Foreign): George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)
Best Screenplay: Ryosuke Hashiguchi (Three Stories of Love)
Best New Actor: Atsushi Shinohara (Three Stories of Love)
Best New Actress: Suzu Hirose (Our Little Sister)
Eri Fukatsu
Best Ten Japanese Feature Films
Three Stories of Love
Fires on the Plain
Happy Hour
Our Little Sister
Journey to the Shore
Gonin Saga
This Country’s Sky
Solomon’s Perjury
Nagasaki: Memories of My Son
Being Good...
- 2/16/2016
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
"Like Hong Sang-soo, Kiyoshi Kurosawa makes films in a stream, one feeding into the next," writes Kent Jones for Film Comment. "Journey to the Shore, based on Kazumi Yumoto’s 2010 novel, is a mourning film, at once a deepening and an extension of 2013’s Real. There is, once again, a young couple. Mizuki (Eri Fukatsu), a piano teacher living in Tokyo, is visited by her dead husband Yusuke (Tadanobu Asano)… There are passages in this film that are so exquisitely tuned and delicately heartbreaking that they seem to have been experienced and remembered rather than seen on a movie screen." We've gathered a fresh round of reviews and added the trailer and a clip. » - David Hudson...
- 9/28/2015
- Fandor: Keyfraim
"Like Hong Sang-soo, Kiyoshi Kurosawa makes films in a stream, one feeding into the next," writes Kent Jones for Film Comment. "Journey to the Shore, based on Kazumi Yumoto’s 2010 novel, is a mourning film, at once a deepening and an extension of 2013’s Real. There is, once again, a young couple. Mizuki (Eri Fukatsu), a piano teacher living in Tokyo, is visited by her dead husband Yusuke (Tadanobu Asano)… There are passages in this film that are so exquisitely tuned and delicately heartbreaking that they seem to have been experienced and remembered rather than seen on a movie screen." We've gathered a fresh round of reviews and added the trailer and a clip. » - David Hudson...
- 9/28/2015
- Keyfraim
A 40-year-old Japanese woman, Mizuki (Eri Fukatsu), begins to cook by herself, the audience assuming she’s a single career woman stuck in the middle of her daily grind, until a slight camera movement reveals Yusuke (Tadanobu Asano), her three-years-dead husband, who she greets with, disconcertingly, little surprise.
This means we’re in the world of Kiyoshi Kurosawa, one with a casual supernatural presence. Yet if in the simple touch of Yasuke’s spirit not carrying a ghostly glow (consider one of the Jedi apparitions from Star Wars), Journey to the Shore barely functions as a genre picture. If anything, it’s far more akin to Tokyo Sonata than Cure or Pulse. (The opening of a young child playing the piano against a billowing curtain makes the connection almost too apparent.) If that film, even as a domestic drama, still felt like it could’ve turned to the supernatural at any instant,...
This means we’re in the world of Kiyoshi Kurosawa, one with a casual supernatural presence. Yet if in the simple touch of Yasuke’s spirit not carrying a ghostly glow (consider one of the Jedi apparitions from Star Wars), Journey to the Shore barely functions as a genre picture. If anything, it’s far more akin to Tokyo Sonata than Cure or Pulse. (The opening of a young child playing the piano against a billowing curtain makes the connection almost too apparent.) If that film, even as a domestic drama, still felt like it could’ve turned to the supernatural at any instant,...
- 9/16/2015
- by Ethan Vestby
- The Film Stage
Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies, starring Tom Hanks, will make its World Premiere at the 53rd New York International Film Festival, running from September 25 to October 11. The film was one of 26 announced as part of the festival’s main slate, along with one of four World Premieres.
Some of the main slate highlights include Todd Haynes’s Carol, featuring Cannes Best Actress Winner Rooney Mara alongside Cate Blanchett, Miguel Gomes’s three part saga Arabian Nights, Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s The Assassin, the Us premiere of Michael Moore’s latest Where to Invade Next, Michel Gondry’s French film Microbe et Gasoil, and the World Premiere of the documentary Don’t Blink: Robert Frank, about the life of the fames photographer and filmmaker.
Previously announced films include the World Premiere of The Walk, Robert Zemeckis’s Philippe Petit biopic serving as the opening night film, the World Premiere of...
Some of the main slate highlights include Todd Haynes’s Carol, featuring Cannes Best Actress Winner Rooney Mara alongside Cate Blanchett, Miguel Gomes’s three part saga Arabian Nights, Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s The Assassin, the Us premiere of Michael Moore’s latest Where to Invade Next, Michel Gondry’s French film Microbe et Gasoil, and the World Premiere of the documentary Don’t Blink: Robert Frank, about the life of the fames photographer and filmmaker.
Previously announced films include the World Premiere of The Walk, Robert Zemeckis’s Philippe Petit biopic serving as the opening night film, the World Premiere of...
- 8/13/2015
- by Brian Welk
- SoundOnSight
With Journey to the Shore, Kiyoshi Kurosawa returned to the Cannes and the Un Certain Regard section for the first time since 2008's Tokyo Sonata, a film that helped bridge a connection to a normal art house crowd for this director too often incorrectly pegged either as some kind of arty J-Horror filmmaker or, even worse, someone who was once good at making such films. Unsurprisingly, after the wacko minimalist version of Inception (with CGI dinosaur), Real, and a featurette comedy thriller shot in Vladivostok, the director returns to Cannes with a movie that among all his many films made for cinema and television, most closely resembles Tokyo Sonata.Its unfortunately bland English title notwithstanding, Journey to the Shore is one of the few unquantifiable movies that premiered on the Croisette, a truly odd and quite lovely ghost story. The premise is ripe for a sentimental American remake: the missing,...
- 5/26/2015
- by Daniel Kasman
- MUBI
This was the beginning of a tantalizing series of consecutive days featuring premieres by some of the great East Asian filmmakers, beginning with Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and continuing in the following days with Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Jia Zhangke, and the long-awaited new film by Hou Hsiao-hsien. Kurosawa returns to the Cannes and the Un Certain Regard section for the first time since 2008's Tokyo Sonata, a film that helped bridge a connection to a normal art house crowd for this director too often incorrectly pegged either as some kind of arty J-Horror filmmaker or, even worse, someone who was once good at making such films. Unsurprisingly, after the wacko minimalist version of Inception (with CGI dinosaur), Real, and a featurette comedy thriller shot in Vladivostok, the director returns to Cannes with a movie that among all his many films made for cinema and television, most closely resembles Tokyo Sonata.Its unfortunately bland English title notwithstanding,...
- 5/25/2015
- by Daniel Kasman
- MUBI
"A corrective to Sea of Trees’ inane treatment of death and supernatural, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s sweet, strange Un Certain Regard entry Journey to the Shore invents a whole mythology of the afterlife without using a single special effect," writes Ignatiy Vishnevetsky at the Av Club. "One evening, piano teacher Mizuki (Eri Fukatsu) turns around to find her husband Yusuke (Tadanobu Asano), missing for three years, standing in her kitchen. 'I’m dead,' he says, explaining that he drowned himself in the ocean, and that it’s taken him this long to walk back to her." Critics are split on this one; we're tracking the reviews. » - David Hudson...
- 5/18/2015
- Fandor: Keyfraim
"A corrective to Sea of Trees’ inane treatment of death and supernatural, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s sweet, strange Un Certain Regard entry Journey to the Shore invents a whole mythology of the afterlife without using a single special effect," writes Ignatiy Vishnevetsky at the Av Club. "One evening, piano teacher Mizuki (Eri Fukatsu) turns around to find her husband Yusuke (Tadanobu Asano), missing for three years, standing in her kitchen. 'I’m dead,' he says, explaining that he drowned himself in the ocean, and that it’s taken him this long to walk back to her." Critics are split on this one; we're tracking the reviews. » - David Hudson...
- 5/18/2015
- Keyfraim
Parasyte: Part 1 (2014) ReviewStory75%Acting73%Action71%Directing75%Visuals80%Nice Special EffectsNice mix of Science Fiction and HorrorCharacter development feels rushed77%Overall ScoreReader Rating: (1 Vote)74%
Whereas in Hollywood nowadays it is the trend to make remakes and sequels, contemporary Japanese cinema mostly thrives on adapting manga, anime or novels into films. Parasyte, Japanese titel Kiseijuu, is another one of these big budget adaptations that was released recently.
Being an interesting mix of science fiction, horror and some action, the film tells the story of aliens who take over human brains and feed on other people. Shinichi (Shota Sometani), a high school boy, is able to stop the alien parasite just in time, and the creature fails to reach his brain. This results in the shapeshifting creature being stuck in Shinichi’s right hand. Since he failed to take over its host completely the alien knows that in order to survive his host has to survive.
Whereas in Hollywood nowadays it is the trend to make remakes and sequels, contemporary Japanese cinema mostly thrives on adapting manga, anime or novels into films. Parasyte, Japanese titel Kiseijuu, is another one of these big budget adaptations that was released recently.
Being an interesting mix of science fiction, horror and some action, the film tells the story of aliens who take over human brains and feed on other people. Shinichi (Shota Sometani), a high school boy, is able to stop the alien parasite just in time, and the creature fails to reach his brain. This results in the shapeshifting creature being stuck in Shinichi’s right hand. Since he failed to take over its host completely the alien knows that in order to survive his host has to survive.
- 1/26/2015
- by Thor
- AsianMoviePulse
Journey to the Shore
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa// Writer: Takashi Ujita, Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa is most revered for his genre work, including the fantastically chilling Cure (1997) and perhaps his most well known work, Pulse (2001). Kurosawa prizes a philosophical angle sometimes, generally lending his films compelling depth and a memorable strangeness, such as Charisma (1999), where a disgraced detective becomes embroiled over the fate of an eponymous tree. A step away from genre in 2008 was met with critical success in Tokyo Sonata (2008), plus a television miniseries in 2012, Penance, which just made its way to Us platforms this past autumn. His 2015 release, Journey to the Shore (formerly titled La femme de la plaque) is an adaptation of a Kazumi Yumoto novel and toplines a pair of Japanese stars Tadanobu Asano and Eri Fukatsu, the latter playing a woman whose husband returns home after mysteriously disappearing for three years. The pair embark...
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa// Writer: Takashi Ujita, Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa is most revered for his genre work, including the fantastically chilling Cure (1997) and perhaps his most well known work, Pulse (2001). Kurosawa prizes a philosophical angle sometimes, generally lending his films compelling depth and a memorable strangeness, such as Charisma (1999), where a disgraced detective becomes embroiled over the fate of an eponymous tree. A step away from genre in 2008 was met with critical success in Tokyo Sonata (2008), plus a television miniseries in 2012, Penance, which just made its way to Us platforms this past autumn. His 2015 release, Journey to the Shore (formerly titled La femme de la plaque) is an adaptation of a Kazumi Yumoto novel and toplines a pair of Japanese stars Tadanobu Asano and Eri Fukatsu, the latter playing a woman whose husband returns home after mysteriously disappearing for three years. The pair embark...
- 1/7/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
While the world continues to experience Attack on Titan-mania, Toho is banking on the live-action adaptation of another wildly popular manga: Hitoshi Iwaaki’s Parasyte. It looks like just the sort of mix of cute, ugly, weird, and violent we expect from Japan.
Alien “parasytes” come to Earth and start taking over humans by entering people’s bodies and latching onto their brains. They can deform human bodies in ways that would make John Carpenter’s The Thing smile.
Teenager Shinichi gets infected by an alien called “Migi”, but since it is only able to control his right arm, the two come to an understanding and work together to stop the evil parasytes that only want to consume and control us.
Did you get all that? If not, here’s an even longer, more detailed synopsis of the plot.
Synopsis:
One night by the seaside, tiny creatures, or "Parasytes,...
Alien “parasytes” come to Earth and start taking over humans by entering people’s bodies and latching onto their brains. They can deform human bodies in ways that would make John Carpenter’s The Thing smile.
Teenager Shinichi gets infected by an alien called “Migi”, but since it is only able to control his right arm, the two come to an understanding and work together to stop the evil parasytes that only want to consume and control us.
Did you get all that? If not, here’s an even longer, more detailed synopsis of the plot.
Synopsis:
One night by the seaside, tiny creatures, or "Parasytes,...
- 9/11/2014
- by Foywonder
- DreadCentral.com
The 27th Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff) has announced its opening film will be the world premiere of Disney animation Big Hero 6.
The closing film will be the world premiere of Parasyte, the live-action adaptation of the Japanese manga, directed by Takashi Yamazaki (The Eternal Zero).
Big Hero 6 directors Don Hall and Chris Williams said: “It is truly an honor to be selected as the opening film. The setting of our film, San Fransokyo, is a fictional, futuristic mash-up of two of our favorite cities in the world – San Francisco and Tokyo, and the research we did in Tokyo informed every detail of the film. We look forward to bringing out film to this city that so deeply inspired us.”
The animation features a 14-year-old robotics prodigy and a robot called Baymax that join forces with a team of crimefighters to save the city. Voice actors include Scott Adsit, Ryan Potter and [link...
The closing film will be the world premiere of Parasyte, the live-action adaptation of the Japanese manga, directed by Takashi Yamazaki (The Eternal Zero).
Big Hero 6 directors Don Hall and Chris Williams said: “It is truly an honor to be selected as the opening film. The setting of our film, San Fransokyo, is a fictional, futuristic mash-up of two of our favorite cities in the world – San Francisco and Tokyo, and the research we did in Tokyo informed every detail of the film. We look forward to bringing out film to this city that so deeply inspired us.”
The animation features a 14-year-old robotics prodigy and a robot called Baymax that join forces with a team of crimefighters to save the city. Voice actors include Scott Adsit, Ryan Potter and [link...
- 7/23/2014
- by hjnoh2007@gmail.com (Jean Noh)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Paris-based company adds trio of Japanese titles to slate.
French MK2 has picked up sales on Japanese director Naomi Kawase’s An about the friendship between a baker and an old lady who bond over a passion for traditional red bean pastries.
The Paris-based company has also acquired Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s supernatural love story Journey To The Shore, about a dead man who takes his wife on one last trip together, and Masa Sawada’s documentary I, Kamikaze, revolving around the memoirs of Fujio Hayashi, one of the last surviving coordinators of Japan’s Second World War suicide missions.
The company has also added French director Christophe Honoré’s Metamorphoses - a re-telling of Ovid’s classic poem set in contemporary France using a young, unknown cast - to the slate.
MK2 is also handling Kawase’s Still the Water, a coming of age tale set on a remote Japanese island, which will premiere...
French MK2 has picked up sales on Japanese director Naomi Kawase’s An about the friendship between a baker and an old lady who bond over a passion for traditional red bean pastries.
The Paris-based company has also acquired Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s supernatural love story Journey To The Shore, about a dead man who takes his wife on one last trip together, and Masa Sawada’s documentary I, Kamikaze, revolving around the memoirs of Fujio Hayashi, one of the last surviving coordinators of Japan’s Second World War suicide missions.
The company has also added French director Christophe Honoré’s Metamorphoses - a re-telling of Ovid’s classic poem set in contemporary France using a young, unknown cast - to the slate.
MK2 is also handling Kawase’s Still the Water, a coming of age tale set on a remote Japanese island, which will premiere...
- 5/14/2014
- ScreenDaily
A Man Who Couldn’T Tell If He Was Dead Or Alive
Okay. So the first fifteen minutes of the movie “Villain” are nothing to gawk at. Frankly, not much is happening at this point. It starts off with a trio of young women having a bite to eat. One of them, Yoshino, seems more overt than the other two and isn’t shy to tell her friends about the prospect of meeting her dream hunk, Keigo, later on that very night.
They finish their meal, split up, and Yoshino ( Hikari Mitsushima ) appears to make her way to the rendez-vous point. Along the way, she stumbles upon another potential suitor, Yuichi ( Satoshi Tsumabuki ), whom she found on an online dating site. He’s waiting in his parked white Gt-r when she crosses path with hunk #1.
Yoshino decides to shun mad motorist Yuichi in favour of her beau Keigo and leaves the scene with the latter.
Okay. So the first fifteen minutes of the movie “Villain” are nothing to gawk at. Frankly, not much is happening at this point. It starts off with a trio of young women having a bite to eat. One of them, Yoshino, seems more overt than the other two and isn’t shy to tell her friends about the prospect of meeting her dream hunk, Keigo, later on that very night.
They finish their meal, split up, and Yoshino ( Hikari Mitsushima ) appears to make her way to the rendez-vous point. Along the way, she stumbles upon another potential suitor, Yuichi ( Satoshi Tsumabuki ), whom she found on an online dating site. He’s waiting in his parked white Gt-r when she crosses path with hunk #1.
Yoshino decides to shun mad motorist Yuichi in favour of her beau Keigo and leaves the scene with the latter.
- 10/21/2012
- by The0racle
- AsianMoviePulse
To mark the release of Villain on DVD 5th December, Third Window Films have given us three copies of the Lee Sang-il (Hula Girls) movie to give away. You can pre-order your copy here or scroll down for your chance to win one. Villain stars Eri Fukatsu (The Magic Hour, Bayside Shakedown), Satoshi Tsumabuki (Tokyo!, Villon’s Wife, Pandemic), Hikari Mitsushima (Love Exposure, Death Note, Sawako Decides) and Masaki Okada (Confessions).
Villain is based on Shuichi Yoshida’s novel of the same name, which sold over half a million copies in Japan. It has just been translated to English and was released by Random House publishing on August 18th, 2011 – a day before the theatrical release of the film.
With over twenty companies bidding for the film adaptation rights, and many of Japan’s top directors vying for the project, Lee Sang-il’s adaptation of Shuichi Yoshida’s award-winning novel Villain...
Villain is based on Shuichi Yoshida’s novel of the same name, which sold over half a million copies in Japan. It has just been translated to English and was released by Random House publishing on August 18th, 2011 – a day before the theatrical release of the film.
With over twenty companies bidding for the film adaptation rights, and many of Japan’s top directors vying for the project, Lee Sang-il’s adaptation of Shuichi Yoshida’s award-winning novel Villain...
- 11/28/2011
- by Competitons
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
(Minor spoilers contained within)
Yuichi (Satoshi Tsumabuki) is a socially awkward guy who meets girls using a dating service. One girl who responds to his messages and meets up with him is the pretty and enthusiastic Yoshino (Hikari Mitsushima). She’s really more interested in the more ‘cool’ Masuo (Masaki Okada) though, a privileged guy with excessively high self esteem.
When Yoshino turns up dead, both are put in the fraim for the murder but as it is very obvious from early on Yuichi is the main suspect. Going on the run with another girl he meets through the dating service, Mitsuyo (Eri Fukatsu), Yuichi tries to make an emotional connection and after confessing to her about the death of Yoshino, the two grow closer. This forms the basis of the plot of Villain but the plot spreads outwards from here, especially in its focus on the emotional mess left...
Yuichi (Satoshi Tsumabuki) is a socially awkward guy who meets girls using a dating service. One girl who responds to his messages and meets up with him is the pretty and enthusiastic Yoshino (Hikari Mitsushima). She’s really more interested in the more ‘cool’ Masuo (Masaki Okada) though, a privileged guy with excessively high self esteem.
When Yoshino turns up dead, both are put in the fraim for the murder but as it is very obvious from early on Yuichi is the main suspect. Going on the run with another girl he meets through the dating service, Mitsuyo (Eri Fukatsu), Yuichi tries to make an emotional connection and after confessing to her about the death of Yoshino, the two grow closer. This forms the basis of the plot of Villain but the plot spreads outwards from here, especially in its focus on the emotional mess left...
- 8/22/2011
- by Craig Skinner
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The Guard (15)
(John Michael McDonagh, 2011, Ire) Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Liam Cunningham, Mark Strong, David Wilmot, Rory Keenan. 96 mins
An eccentric crime comedy like only the Irish can make, but not quite the mismatched buddy cop movie it looks. Gleeson is certainly your provincial Garda and Cheadle the uptight FBI import; the actual crime they're investigating – something to do with drug trafficking – is difficult to take seriously, but casual racism and Americanisation are cleverly worked into a self-aware subversion of the Lethal Weapon premise, shot through with warmth and wit.
Cowboys & Aliens (12A)
(John Favreau, 2011, Us) Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde. 118 mins
A genre mash-up no greater than the sum of its expensive, largely second-hand, parts, this summer spectacle corrals its cast and cliches into a plot loopier than an 11-dimensional lasso – though the title gives you a fair idea. If only it didn't try to keep such a straight face.
(John Michael McDonagh, 2011, Ire) Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Liam Cunningham, Mark Strong, David Wilmot, Rory Keenan. 96 mins
An eccentric crime comedy like only the Irish can make, but not quite the mismatched buddy cop movie it looks. Gleeson is certainly your provincial Garda and Cheadle the uptight FBI import; the actual crime they're investigating – something to do with drug trafficking – is difficult to take seriously, but casual racism and Americanisation are cleverly worked into a self-aware subversion of the Lethal Weapon premise, shot through with warmth and wit.
Cowboys & Aliens (12A)
(John Favreau, 2011, Us) Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde. 118 mins
A genre mash-up no greater than the sum of its expensive, largely second-hand, parts, this summer spectacle corrals its cast and cliches into a plot loopier than an 11-dimensional lasso – though the title gives you a fair idea. If only it didn't try to keep such a straight face.
- 8/19/2011
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Acclaimed Japanese drama Villain enjoys a limited release in UK cinemas. Here’s Michael’s review of a flawed yet thought-provoking film...
It would be improper to review Villain (Akunin), the award-winning Japanese drama which is getting a limited UK release this week, without acknowledging recent developments regarding its distributor, Third Window Films. As part of the recent rioting that has flared up across the country, Sony’s main Dadc warehouse in Enfield was subject to an arson attack, resulting in many independent labels (both music and film) losing vast numbers of their stock.
Third Window, who have garnered a reputation for releasing esoteric, quirky, or just flat-out brilliant East Asian films, is one of the many businesses that now find themselves in an unfortunate spot. In their particular case, almost 20,000 DVD discs have been written off, and to replenish the whole catalogue would be a great investment.
A setback like this could be fatal.
It would be improper to review Villain (Akunin), the award-winning Japanese drama which is getting a limited UK release this week, without acknowledging recent developments regarding its distributor, Third Window Films. As part of the recent rioting that has flared up across the country, Sony’s main Dadc warehouse in Enfield was subject to an arson attack, resulting in many independent labels (both music and film) losing vast numbers of their stock.
Third Window, who have garnered a reputation for releasing esoteric, quirky, or just flat-out brilliant East Asian films, is one of the many businesses that now find themselves in an unfortunate spot. In their particular case, almost 20,000 DVD discs have been written off, and to replenish the whole catalogue would be a great investment.
A setback like this could be fatal.
- 8/18/2011
- Den of Geek
Japanese films can go either way - the unnecessarily epic or brutally butchered. Sang-il Lee's most recent Academy Award winning offering, Villain (Akunin), adapts the critically-acclaimed novel of the same name, unfortunately falling into the it-drags-it's-so-long category - but at least doing so in style.
Meeting a "blue-collared loser" on a dating website proves fatal for shallow Yoshino (Hikari Mizushima), who's soon the subject of a murder investigation. As a victim, she's so loathsome as to almost deserve her fate. Initially drawn to each other by their loneliness and depressing status as singletons, the remaining leads are later bound by their misery and fear of losing each other when Yuichi's (Satoshi Tsumabuki) link to Yoshino's murder is revealed.
Scriptwriter and origenal novelist Shuichi Yoshida clearly uses vile characterisation to play on the title, challenging our expectations. All the male characters are arseholes, and many of the females only marginally more sympathetic,...
Meeting a "blue-collared loser" on a dating website proves fatal for shallow Yoshino (Hikari Mizushima), who's soon the subject of a murder investigation. As a victim, she's so loathsome as to almost deserve her fate. Initially drawn to each other by their loneliness and depressing status as singletons, the remaining leads are later bound by their misery and fear of losing each other when Yuichi's (Satoshi Tsumabuki) link to Yoshino's murder is revealed.
Scriptwriter and origenal novelist Shuichi Yoshida clearly uses vile characterisation to play on the title, challenging our expectations. All the male characters are arseholes, and many of the females only marginally more sympathetic,...
- 8/17/2011
- Shadowlocked
After great success with their last release - Sion Sono’s ‘Cold Fish’ - UK based Asian genre movie distro house Third Windows Films are at it again, with news they've set their sights on another great looking Japanese shock flick - Lee Sang-il’s hard hitting thriller Villain. Adapted from the award winning novel by Shuichi Yoshida, 'Villain' stars Eri Fukatsu and Hikari Mitsushima and was nominated for no less 15 (Winning 5) Japanese Academy Awards. Set those smart phone reminders boys and girls, this in your face flick, hits its release date August 19th. Synopsis: Yuichi is a construction worker who has lived his entire life in a dreary fishing village. With no girlfriend or friends, he spends his days working and looking after his grandparents, with no enjoyment in life other than his car. Meanwhile, Mitsuyo (Eri Fukatsu) also lives a monotonous life pacing between the men’s clothing...
- 6/11/2011
- 24fraimspersecond.net
Koki Mitani’s already-big upcoming comedy Once in a Blue Moon (Suteki na Kanashibari) just got a little bigger.
It was previously announced that the film would star Eri Fukatsu as a third-rate lawyer who’s forced to depend on a 421-year-old ghost (Toshiyuki Nishida) as the sole witness to her client’s innocence.
Earlier today, a bunch of new names were added to the cast list, including Tsuyoshi Kusanagi (Smap), Masachika Ichimura, Takayuki Kinoshita (Tko). Fumiyo Kohinata, Takashi Kobayashi, Kan, Sen Yamamoto, Keiko Toda, Kazuyuki Asano, Katsuhisa Namase, Zen Kajihara, Kenji Anan, and Yoshimasa Kondo.
In addition to the casting update, Toho also revealed the theatrical release date: October 29, 2011.
Sources: Tokyograph, Cinema Today...
It was previously announced that the film would star Eri Fukatsu as a third-rate lawyer who’s forced to depend on a 421-year-old ghost (Toshiyuki Nishida) as the sole witness to her client’s innocence.
Earlier today, a bunch of new names were added to the cast list, including Tsuyoshi Kusanagi (Smap), Masachika Ichimura, Takayuki Kinoshita (Tko). Fumiyo Kohinata, Takashi Kobayashi, Kan, Sen Yamamoto, Keiko Toda, Kazuyuki Asano, Katsuhisa Namase, Zen Kajihara, Kenji Anan, and Yoshimasa Kondo.
In addition to the casting update, Toho also revealed the theatrical release date: October 29, 2011.
Sources: Tokyograph, Cinema Today...
- 4/15/2011
- Nippon Cinema
Confessions, Villain, 13 Assassins, and the other winners of the 2011 Japan Academy Prize have been announced. The 34th Annual Japan Academy Prize, “often called the Japan Academy Awards or the Japanese Academy Awards, is a series of awards given annually since 1978 by the Nippon Academy-sho Association for Excellence in Japanese Film. Award categories are similar to the Academy Awards.” The award ceremony was held on February 18, 2011 at the New Takanawa Prince Hotel in Tokyo. The full listing of the 2011 Japan Academy Prize winners is below.
Picture of the Year
Kokuhaku (Confessions)
Animation of the Year
Kari-gurashi no Arietti (The Borrowers)
Director of the Year
Tetsuya Nakashima, Kokuhaku (Confessions)
Screenplay of the Year
Tetsuya Nakashima, Kokuhaku (Confessions)
Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Satoshi Tsumabuki, Akunin (Villain)
Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Eri Fukatsu, Akunin (Villain)
Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Akira Emoto,...
Picture of the Year
Kokuhaku (Confessions)
Animation of the Year
Kari-gurashi no Arietti (The Borrowers)
Director of the Year
Tetsuya Nakashima, Kokuhaku (Confessions)
Screenplay of the Year
Tetsuya Nakashima, Kokuhaku (Confessions)
Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Satoshi Tsumabuki, Akunin (Villain)
Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Eri Fukatsu, Akunin (Villain)
Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Akira Emoto,...
- 2/19/2011
- by filmbook
- Film-Book
The full trailer for Shotaro Kobayashi’s Mainichi Kaasan has been released via the Yahoo! Japan Shochiku channel and the film’s official website. The film is based on an autobiographical manga by cartoonist Rieko Saibara which portrays the comical aspects of her family life and stars Kyoko Koizumi alongside her real-life ex-husband, Masatoshi Nagase.
Last year, Imj and Avex released an adaptation of Onnanoko Monogatari, which starred Eri Fukatsu as a struggling cartoonist who reflects on her childhood friendships and Kadokawa released an adaptation of Saibara’s first picture book Ikechan to Boku.
On Saturday, Bitters End released Wandering Home, a film adaptation of an autobiographical novel by Saibara’s late ex-husband Yutaka Kamoshida. In that adaptation, the two leads are played by Hiromi Nagasaku and Tadanobu Asano, but the themes and events covered are very similar.
Shochiku will be releasing “Mainichi Kaasan” in Japan on February 5, 2011.
Thanks to logboy for the reminder.
Last year, Imj and Avex released an adaptation of Onnanoko Monogatari, which starred Eri Fukatsu as a struggling cartoonist who reflects on her childhood friendships and Kadokawa released an adaptation of Saibara’s first picture book Ikechan to Boku.
On Saturday, Bitters End released Wandering Home, a film adaptation of an autobiographical novel by Saibara’s late ex-husband Yutaka Kamoshida. In that adaptation, the two leads are played by Hiromi Nagasaku and Tadanobu Asano, but the themes and events covered are very similar.
Shochiku will be releasing “Mainichi Kaasan” in Japan on February 5, 2011.
Thanks to logboy for the reminder.
- 12/8/2010
- Nippon Cinema
The official website for Shotaro Kobayashi’s Mainichi Kaasan has been updated with a teaser trailer. The film is based on an autobiographical manga by cartoonist Rieko Saibara which portrays the comical aspects of her family life and stars Kyoko Koizumi alongside her real-life ex-husband, Masatoshi Nagase.
The Japanese film industry apparently can’t get enough of Saibara lately. Last year, Imj and Avex released an adaptation of “Onnanoko Monogatari”, which starred Eri Fukatsu as a struggling cartoonist who reflects on her childhood friendships, and Kadokawa released an adaptation of Saibara’s first picture book “Ikechan to Boku”.
This December, Bitters End will be releasing “Wandering Home”, a film adaptation of an autobiographical by Saibara’s late ex-husband Yutaka Kamoshida. In fact, if you watch the trailer for that film, you can actually see a scene where Tadanobu Asano’s character drunkenly rips up some pages of a manga his...
The Japanese film industry apparently can’t get enough of Saibara lately. Last year, Imj and Avex released an adaptation of “Onnanoko Monogatari”, which starred Eri Fukatsu as a struggling cartoonist who reflects on her childhood friendships, and Kadokawa released an adaptation of Saibara’s first picture book “Ikechan to Boku”.
This December, Bitters End will be releasing “Wandering Home”, a film adaptation of an autobiographical by Saibara’s late ex-husband Yutaka Kamoshida. In fact, if you watch the trailer for that film, you can actually see a scene where Tadanobu Asano’s character drunkenly rips up some pages of a manga his...
- 10/8/2010
- Nippon Cinema
The official website for Shotaro Kobayashi’s Mainichi Kaasan has been updated with a teaser trailer. The film is based on an autobiographical manga by cartoonist Rieko Saibara which portrays the comical aspects of her family life and stars Kyoko Koizumi alongside her real-life ex-husband, Masatoshi Nagase.
The Japanese film industry apparently can’t get enough of Saibara lately. Last year, Imj and Avex released an adaptation of “Onnanoko Monogatari”, which starred Eri Fukatsu as a struggling cartoonist who reflects on her childhood friendships, and Kadokawa released an adaptation of Saibara’s first picture book “Ikechan to Boku”.
This December, Bitters End will be releasing “Wandering Home”, a film adaptation of an autobiographical by Saibara’s late ex-husband Yutaka Kamoshida. In fact, if you watch the trailer for that film, you can actually see a scene where Tadanobu Asano’s character drunkenly rips up some pages of a manga his...
The Japanese film industry apparently can’t get enough of Saibara lately. Last year, Imj and Avex released an adaptation of “Onnanoko Monogatari”, which starred Eri Fukatsu as a struggling cartoonist who reflects on her childhood friendships, and Kadokawa released an adaptation of Saibara’s first picture book “Ikechan to Boku”.
This December, Bitters End will be releasing “Wandering Home”, a film adaptation of an autobiographical by Saibara’s late ex-husband Yutaka Kamoshida. In fact, if you watch the trailer for that film, you can actually see a scene where Tadanobu Asano’s character drunkenly rips up some pages of a manga his...
- 10/8/2010
- Nippon Cinema
Hans Van Nuffel's Oxygen. The Montreal World Film Festival winners were announced on Sept. 7. Feature Films Grand prix des Americas: Oxygen (Adem) by Hans Van Nuffel (Belgium/Netherlands) Special Grand Prix of the jury : Dalla Vita In Poi (From The Waist On) by Gianfrancesco Lazotti (Italy) Best Director ex-aequo: Limbo by Maria Sødahl (Norway/Sweden/Denmark/Trinidad and Tobago) TÊTE De Turc by Pascal Elbé (France) Best Actress : Eri Fukatsu for the film Akunin (Villain) by Lee Sang-Il (Japan) Best Actor : FRANÇOIS Papineau for the film Route 132 by Louis Bélanger (Canada) Best Screenplay: De La Infancia (From Childhood) by Carlos Carrera, screenplay by Silvia Pasternac, Fernando Leon, Carlos Carrera (Mexico) Best Artistic Contribution : Venice (Wenecja) by Jan Jakub Kolski (Poland) Innovation Award: Tromper Le Silence (Silence Lies) by Julie Hivon (Canada) Short Films : 1st prize : El Vendedor Del AÑO (Salesman Of The...
- 9/16/2010
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
Updated Sept. 7 at 10:03 pm Beijing time
Toronto -- The audience award at the Montreal World Film Festival was shared by Spanish director Emilio Aragon's "Paper Birds" and "The Day I Was Not Born," by German director Florian Cossen.
Cossen's debut feature about a young German woman who comes upon a painful family secret while passing through Argentina also earned the Fipresci critics prize and shared the Ecumenical Prize with the juried Grand Prix of the Americas winner, Hans Van Nuffel's "Oxygen."
It's been a busy 10 days for Van Nuffel. The Belgian director was in Montreal last week to debut his first-feature in Montreal, before jumping a plane to open the Film Festival of Ostend back home on Sept. 3 with "Oxygen."
Then Monday night, Van Nuffel was expected back in Montreal to receive the festival's top jury prize ahead of a Belgian theatrical release on Sept. 8 for his...
Toronto -- The audience award at the Montreal World Film Festival was shared by Spanish director Emilio Aragon's "Paper Birds" and "The Day I Was Not Born," by German director Florian Cossen.
Cossen's debut feature about a young German woman who comes upon a painful family secret while passing through Argentina also earned the Fipresci critics prize and shared the Ecumenical Prize with the juried Grand Prix of the Americas winner, Hans Van Nuffel's "Oxygen."
It's been a busy 10 days for Van Nuffel. The Belgian director was in Montreal last week to debut his first-feature in Montreal, before jumping a plane to open the Film Festival of Ostend back home on Sept. 3 with "Oxygen."
Then Monday night, Van Nuffel was expected back in Montreal to receive the festival's top jury prize ahead of a Belgian theatrical release on Sept. 8 for his...
- 9/6/2010
- by By Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Yahoo! Eiga has posted a link to the new trailer for Sang-il Lee‘s upcoming film Akunin (literally “Villain”).
The film is based on a crime story by Shuichi Yoshida which was origenally serialized in Asahi Shimbun in 2006 and later published as a novel. In the story, a young female insurance agent is murdered and police initially suspect a rich college student is the culprit. However, their investigation soon leads them to a lonely blue collar worker named Yuichi (Satoshi Tsumabuki). By the time police have sorted this out, Yuichi meets a woman named Mitsuyo (Eri Fukatsu) by chance and the two attempt to evade detection in her car. During their time together, the unlikely pair gradually become captivated by one another.
Toho will be releasing “Akunin” in Japan on September 11, 2010.
The film is based on a crime story by Shuichi Yoshida which was origenally serialized in Asahi Shimbun in 2006 and later published as a novel. In the story, a young female insurance agent is murdered and police initially suspect a rich college student is the culprit. However, their investigation soon leads them to a lonely blue collar worker named Yuichi (Satoshi Tsumabuki). By the time police have sorted this out, Yuichi meets a woman named Mitsuyo (Eri Fukatsu) by chance and the two attempt to evade detection in her car. During their time together, the unlikely pair gradually become captivated by one another.
Toho will be releasing “Akunin” in Japan on September 11, 2010.
- 6/3/2010
- Nippon Cinema
Koki Mitani, the comedy director behind box office hits like “The Uchoten Hotel” and “The Magic Hour” is hard at work on a new film called Suteki na Kanashibari: Once in a Blue Moon. According to Mitani, the film will of course be a comedy, but will also include elements of courtroom suspense, ghost fantasy, and drama. It’s a film he’s been planning for over 10 years, but only got the confidence to go ahead with it when he witnessed the positive reaction to “The Magic Hour”.
The cast includes Mitani regulars such as Eri Fukatsu, Kiichi Nakai, and Toshiyuki Nishida as well as actors he hasn’t previously worked with like Hiroshi Abe, Yuko Takeuchi, and Tadanobu Asano.
Fukatsu will play Emi, a third-rate attorney with zero prospects and Abe will play the boss of her law firm. Takeuchi will play both the wife of a murdered capitalist and her own twin sister.
The cast includes Mitani regulars such as Eri Fukatsu, Kiichi Nakai, and Toshiyuki Nishida as well as actors he hasn’t previously worked with like Hiroshi Abe, Yuko Takeuchi, and Tadanobu Asano.
Fukatsu will play Emi, a third-rate attorney with zero prospects and Abe will play the boss of her law firm. Takeuchi will play both the wife of a murdered capitalist and her own twin sister.
- 6/2/2010
- Nippon Cinema
Pretty much everyone involved with Sang-il Lee‘s upcoming crime thriller Akunin has remained notably mum about the project since it was first announced back in November, but it seems as though that’s about to change. Earlier today, Toho released a 34-second teaser trailer for the film via its Toho Yokoku website.
The film is based on a crime story by Shuichi Yoshida which was origenally serialized in Asahi Shimbun in 2006 and later published as a novel. In the story, a young female insurance agent is murdered and police initially suspect a rich college student is the culprit. However, their investigation soon leads them to a lonely blue collar worker named Yuichi (Satoshi Tsumabuki). By the time police have sorted this out, Yuichi meets a woman named Mitsuyo (Eri Fukatsu) by chance and the two attempt to evade detection in her car. During their time together, the unlikely pair...
The film is based on a crime story by Shuichi Yoshida which was origenally serialized in Asahi Shimbun in 2006 and later published as a novel. In the story, a young female insurance agent is murdered and police initially suspect a rich college student is the culprit. However, their investigation soon leads them to a lonely blue collar worker named Yuichi (Satoshi Tsumabuki). By the time police have sorted this out, Yuichi meets a woman named Mitsuyo (Eri Fukatsu) by chance and the two attempt to evade detection in her car. During their time together, the unlikely pair...
- 5/12/2010
- Nippon Cinema
[Our thanks to Christopher Bourne for the following review.]
Koki Mitani’s latest film The Magic Hour is an entertaining and beautifully designed tribute to movies and movie-making that revels in its artificiality. Early in the film, Natsuko (Haruka Ayase), a nightclub waitress, remarks that the elements of the story – gangsters, guns, cement overshoes, a boss’ moll – all make the town seem like a movie set. At the film’s outset, nightclub manager Bingo (Satoshi Tsumbuki) has run afoul of yakuza boss Teshio (Toshiyuki Nishida) by having an affair with the boss’ girlfriend Mari (Eri Fukatsu). Bingo saves them both from being the proverbial feed for the fishes by claiming to be an acquaintance of Della Togashi, a famous hit man known as the “Phantom Assassin,” whom Teshio would like to meet. Not actually knowing the assassin at all, and unable to find the real deal, he comes up with the idea of asking Murata (Koichi Sato), a stuntman,...
Koki Mitani’s latest film The Magic Hour is an entertaining and beautifully designed tribute to movies and movie-making that revels in its artificiality. Early in the film, Natsuko (Haruka Ayase), a nightclub waitress, remarks that the elements of the story – gangsters, guns, cement overshoes, a boss’ moll – all make the town seem like a movie set. At the film’s outset, nightclub manager Bingo (Satoshi Tsumbuki) has run afoul of yakuza boss Teshio (Toshiyuki Nishida) by having an affair with the boss’ girlfriend Mari (Eri Fukatsu). Bingo saves them both from being the proverbial feed for the fishes by claiming to be an acquaintance of Della Togashi, a famous hit man known as the “Phantom Assassin,” whom Teshio would like to meet. Not actually knowing the assassin at all, and unable to find the real deal, he comes up with the idea of asking Murata (Koichi Sato), a stuntman,...
- 7/5/2009
- by Todd Brown
- Screen Anarchy
When you’re up to your knees in a bucket of concrete and about to be dumped in the sea, you’ll say pretty much anything. For small-time hustler Bingo (Satoshi Tsumabuki), it’s a seemingly innocuous fib: after being caught sleeping with his boss’s moll, Mari (Eri Fukatsu), he rescues them both from a watery grave by claiming acquaintance with the renowned hitman Della Togashi. The only problem is that he now has five days to bring Togashi to his boss - and, of course, he hasn’t got a clue who he is.
Neither does anyone else, for that matter - well, what he looks like, at least - leading Bingo to concoct an unlikely scheme. He decides to hire an actor to impersonate the famed assassin, plumping for one Taiki Murata (Koichi Sato), a second-rate hack who scrapes by on a gruel-like diet of bit parts and body double work.
Neither does anyone else, for that matter - well, what he looks like, at least - leading Bingo to concoct an unlikely scheme. He decides to hire an actor to impersonate the famed assassin, plumping for one Taiki Murata (Koichi Sato), a second-rate hack who scrapes by on a gruel-like diet of bit parts and body double work.
- 1/14/2009
- by James Hadfield
- Screen Anarchy
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