Tag - junichi-okada

 
 

JUNICHI OKADA

Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 11, 2023
‘Hard Days’: Cop thriller remake proves bigger isn't always better
Michihito Fujii’s take on the South Korean movie “A Hard Day” is more convoluted, more implausible and not nearly as much fun as it should be.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 15, 2022
'Hell Dogs': Mayhem with a touch of noir
Masato Harada's fast-paced film starring Junichi Okada as an undercover police officer in a yakuza gang delivers blood-spattering action scenes and a flurry of movie references.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 16, 2015
Japan through the lens of its film genres
As a new reporter for a movie trade magazine, I quickly learned that every film has its genre — even ones that don't play by genre rules. The industry slices genre-straddling films into discrete categories: action, comedy, sci-fi, etc. Call it crude, but this system serves a purpose: If you're a buyer looking for horror specifically, you can safely ignore anything labeled otherwise.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 1, 2014
Death-row samurai spills ink, not blood
Why have samurai movies become so middle-aged and sedate? Starting in the silent days and continuing through their 1950s peak, period films with top-knotted heroes typically featured a big one-against-many finale with flashing swords and the occasional firearm. Especially in the early days, both actors and audiences were skewed young.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2014
Debate still rages over Abe-endorsed WWII drama
Takashi Yamazaki's World War II drama "Eien no Zero (The Eternal Zero)," whose pilot hero joins the tokkōtai (kamikaze) suicide squadron in the closing days of the war, has soared to the box office heights since its Dec. 21 release. After ranking No. 1 in the charts for eight weeks in a row, the film now looks likely to finish its run with more than ¥8 billion, making it one of the 10 top-grossing Japanese films of all time.

Longform

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.
For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on