Tag - sosuke-ikematsu

 
 

SOSUKE IKEMATSU

Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 10, 2022
‘Just Remembering’: Bittersweet romance rings true
Daigo Matsui's romantic drama seems to draw inspiration from a segment from 'Night on Earth,' the 1991 cult classic by Jim Jarmusch and starring Winona Ryder.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 27, 2018
'Killing': A modern take on a samurai staple
Screening in competition at this year's Venice Film Festival, "Killing" is veteran provocateur Shinya Tsukamoto's first venture into the samurai genre. Made, like most of Tsukamoto's films, on a tiny budget and tight schedule, it does not attempt the scale of classics like "Seven Samurai" (1954) or "Yojimbo" (1961).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 10, 2017
A love story that's overly dense with prose
These days, Japanese films are based on everything from novels to game apps, but Yuya Ishii's "The Tokyo Night Sky Is Always the Densest Shade of Blue," which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival this year, is a rare feature inspired by a book of poetry. Its author, Tahi Saihate, is only 31 but has been publishing prolifically since 2004.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 7, 2016
The delicate notes of 'Someone's Xylophone'
Japanese directors now routinely do dozens of media interviews to publicize their new films, especially if they are on the indie end of the spectrum. The stars of said films also sit down with the press, if not as commonly, but though I have been writing about local film folk since 1991, an interview with a director (Yoichi Higashi) and an actress (Takako Tokiwa) together was a first. Here to talk about their new film "Someone's Xylophone" ("Dareka no Mokkin"), neither are newcomers in need of a helping hand.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 11, 2016
'After the Storm': Koreeda's tempestuous family affairs
Hirokazu Koreeda has a reputation abroad as the one director of his generation carrying on the humanist tradition of Japanese cinema's 1950s and '60s Golden Age. This is not totally off the mark — he often returns to that favorite Golden Age theme, family dissolution, but his take on it is quite different from that theme's most famous exponent, Yasujiro Ozu.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 23, 2016
Forever young: Riko Narumi gives up old roles
In 2000, Riko Narumi made her first appearance on TV at age 7. She has worked steadily in both television and film ever since, and has 24 entries in her filmography, ranging from the drama "Shindo"(2007), where she played a troubled teen piano prodigy, to quirky comedy "Seaside Motel" (2011), in which she became the pouty girlfriend of a degenerate gambler. Narumi, however, has become better known for her mature-for-their-age characters who gaze out at the world with skeptical, mysterious eyes.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 23, 2016
'A Cappella' conjures up the spirit of revolution in 1960s Japan
When I see Japanese films set in the late 1960s and early '70s, at the height of student protests, I always feel that something is off, while knowing that the "something off" is me.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 9, 2015
Schoolgirls with dubious impulses run wild in 'Our Huff and Puff Journey'
When I was living in a student sharehouse, a fellow resident proposed breaking into a nearby public pool for a midnight swim.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 29, 2014
Pale Moon: Bored bank teller embraces the root of all evil
American bank robber Willie Sutton, who allegedly made more than $2 million over a 40-year criminal career, once told a reporter that he robbed banks because "that's where the money is." In the usual heist movie, however — with Stanley Kubrick's "The Killing" (1956) serving as a template — the stolen dough soon proves to be a disastrous sort of fairy gold. Instead of rich, the crooks end up arrested or dead. Sutton himself spent more than half his adult life behind bars.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 15, 2013
When young creators answer the big city's siren call
Veteran scriptwriter and director Toshiyuki Morioka had more than a professional interest in making his new film "Jokyo Monogatari." Based on an autobiographical manga by Rieko Saibara, its story of an aspiring artist coming to Tokyo to learn her trade and make her fortune was his as well.

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores