Kaori Shoji - The Japan Times

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Kaori Shoji

Kaori Shoji writes about movies and movie-makers for the Film Page, plus takes a turn at the Bilingual Column. Biggest mistake of her career: taking the very dignified Nagisa Oshima to McDonald's for an iced coffee.

For Kaori Shoji's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Jun 9, 2004

A camp experience to remember

The summer Todd Graff turned 14, his parents saw an ad in The New York Times about a summer camp called Stage Door Manor. Unlike other camps, this one taught the kids to act and perform in musicals, and since Graff had always loved to sing, his parents (both musicians) encouraged him with enthusiasm.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Jun 9, 2004

I was a teenage thespian freak

Camp Rating: * * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Todd Graff Running time: 111 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] Being a teenager is difficult, but when you're a teenager aspiring to be a music star, that difficulty gets multiplied by 10. So goes the tune of "Camp," the directorial debut by actor/writer Todd Graff.

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Jun 3, 2004

Shall we meet at Sutaba, Tsutaya or the dog's tail?

Doing the machiawase (setting up a meeting place) is one of things that define Japanese relationships, especially relationships in Tokyo.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Jun 2, 2004

The unbearable heaviness of being

21 Grams Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarittu Running time: 125 minutes Language: English Opens June 5 [See Japan Times movie listings] "21 Grams" struts and shows off like a cowboy in a rodeo -- the director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarittu pulls out all the stops in demonstrating to the world exactly what he's capable of. Those who have seen his first work, "Amores Perros," know it all already: The way time turns elastic in his lens so that it stretches like hot rubber and then snaps back at the most unexpected moments; his knack for weaving innocuous objects into the fabric of tragedy; the way he seems to probe and touch on something raw and exposed, both in his characters and in the audience witnessing their agony, ecstasy and pain.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

May 26, 2004

Rob Reiner recycles himself

Alex and Emma Rating: * * (out of 5) Director: Rob Reiner Running time: 95 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] When Alex met Emma he was a destitute writer. His words had left him, he was being hounded by loan sharks and the plaster on his ceiling was crumbling away. Then the lovely Emma came into his life and at the end of the month he had a 350-page novel plus $250,000. Sounds a bit too much like a fairy tale, doesn't it, even for Hollywood? But this is based on a real-life episode of an actual writer -- Fyodor Dostoevsky to be exact.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST

May 25, 2004

The mane attraction

In 1979, Japan was in the Dark Ages. Dark that is, in terms of hair. No one dyed their hair any other color but black and when they reached for lighter tints, were considered a bit on the bizarre side.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

May 19, 2004

A crazy little film about love

Kitchen Stories Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Director: Bent Hamer Running time: 95 minutes Language: Norwegian, Swedish Opens May 22 [See Japan Times movie listings] In the early 1950s, the Swedish Home Research Institute dispatched a team of researchers to Norway to observe how middle-aged bachelors in a remote village behave in their kitchens. The bachelors' movements were to be observed, tracked and noted in minute detail. This study followed an earlier one in which the patterns of Swedish housewives had undergone the same scrutiny. Apparently, the average Swedish housewife covered a distance equal to that between Stockholm and Congo in one year, just to prepare three meals a day.

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

May 13, 2004

Lovable children of Edo -- where have you gone?

Being a Tokyoite doesn't have the same glamorous connotations as being a Parisian or New Yorker, but inside Japan, we've managed to rack up some notoriety. A Tokyo local, or Edokko (Child of Edo, as Tokyo was called before the 1868 Meiji Restoration) as many in the older generations still like to identify themselves, is proud of the Edokko katagi (Edo spirit), which is mostly defined by the sappari (urban cleanliness) of mind and manner. That is, Tokyoites are less prone to hold grudges, less extravagant about emotional display, and they'd rather suffer in silence than complain. The phrase "akirame ga ii (quick to resign oneself to fate)" describes a big part of the Edokko personality.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

May 12, 2004

Diving into feminine mystique

Swimming Pool Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Director: Francois Ozon Running time: 102 minutes Language: English Opens May 15 [See Japan Times movie listings] Extremely straight or very gay? For me, this has always been a burning question with regard to director Francois Ozon. His latest film is a murder-mystery called "Swimming Pool," in which the male gaze is quelled and replaced by the female, but their visions remain trained on the same stunning 19-year-old woman, who lounges by a swimming pool in an array of skimpy bikinis. The gaze travels up and down her figure, charged with fascination, envy and lust (emphasis on the lust).

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

May 5, 2004

Future through sepia-colored glasses

Immortel (ad vitam) Rating: * * 1/2(out of 5) Director: Enki Bilal Running time: 104 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] The future is not now, it's retro in "Immortel (ad vitam)" (released in Japan as "God Diva") -- the latest Euro sci-fi created by French comic-book artist Enki Bilal.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Apr 28, 2004

Between blue and gray, love finds a way

Cold Mountain Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Director: Anthony Minghella Running time: 152 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] Sixty-some years after Scarlett O'Hara clutched that handful of earth and swore she would never go hungry again, another Southern belle suffers at the hands of Civil War barbarities.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Apr 21, 2004

The director's stand-in

In many ways, Remy in "Les Invasions barbares" is director Denys Arcand's alter ego. Says the 63-year-old director, "I suppose he was a way of facing my life and my crimes, you know."

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Apr 21, 2004

The best gift a son could give

Les Invasions barbares Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Director: Denys Arcand Running time: 99 minutes Language: French Open April 24 [See Japan Times movie listings] In "Les Invasions barbares (Barbarian Invasions)," a dying father pulls his grown-up son to his chest and says, "When you have a son, make sure he turns out just like you." For the son, these words bring a sense of closure and something changes in his expression. He is liberated. For the first time in his life, he feels a love for his father that's unencumbered by bad family history and resentment. And he's compelled to tell his father quite simply, "I love you."

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Apr 15, 2004

One day, Japan's 'losing dogs' will howl in unison

There's a new phrase out there and it's making a lot of people self-conscious. "Makeinu (losing dog)," which once meant nothing more than the literal translation, now indicates that swelling segment of the Japanese population: single people over 30.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Apr 7, 2004

We love a woman in uniform

View From the Top Rating: * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Bruno Barreto Running time: 87 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] "View From the Top" should really be called "Airport! (Just Kidding)" or "Yikes at JFK" but after 9/11, jokes about flying -- however innocuous -- never make it past studio boardroom discussions.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Mar 31, 2004

Science advances with age

Something's Gotta Give Rating: * * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Nancy Meyers Running time: 128 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] I used to think that science-fiction meant aliens and giant meteors, but with each passing year I become convinced that sci-fi (at least in the movies) needs to be, if not redefined, then expanded. At the risk of offending Mr. Arthur C. Clarke and NASA, it seems there's more mystery and uncharted territory in the issue of old age and how it's depicted than anything Mars might have to offer. For something truly futuristic, look no further than "Something's Gotta Give."

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Mar 25, 2004

The bento -- a scrumptious expression of love

As the season of hanami (cherry-blossom viewing) comes upon us, it's timely to reflect on the single most important aspect of hanami -- the o-bento (boxed meal). I say this because I grew up in a family in which the creation of the hanami bento was so elaborately planned, heatedly discussed and lovingly executed that, to this day, I can't conjure the image of cherry blossoms without madly anticipating what the accompanying hanami bento will look like.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Mar 24, 2004

Room without a view

No Quarto de Vanda Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Director: Pedro Costa Running time: 178 minutes Language: Portuguese Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] Behold Vanda's face. Presumably, she's still in her early 20s but her skin already has the swarthy lifelessness of a junkie's, and her limbs are pathetically thin. Her long, dark hair is still beautiful but a visiting friend points out to her how oily it looks, urging her to wash it once in a while. Behold Vanda's tiny room, which holds little more than her single bed and a trash can. It's never quiet here: Her mother is constantly yelling from the other side of the wafer-thin wall, and street sounds pour in from the window. On top of that, all the buildings in Vanda's district are being demolished, which produces a perpetually grating cacophony.

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST

Mar 23, 2004

Taste: the final frontier

Now that Japanese food is like, totally in all over the globe, chances are that you (a Westerner) will not be grossed out by the smell of roasting sanma or the sight of dried eel kidney floating in clear soup.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Mar 17, 2004

He's gone and forgot it all again

Paycheck Rating: * * * (out of 5) Director: John Woo Running time: 118 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] In the world of sci-fi literary giant Philip K. Dick, memory is a commodity and a liability. Memory is what his characters try to protect -- or sell, as the case may be. Ultimately, memory is what the bad guys are after; it's the last bastion of individuality in a corporate-controlled, ultra high-tech society. (This is, perhaps, what keeps drawing filmmakers to Dick's material -- after all, what is moviemaking if not the act of committing the memories made of light, sound and dialogue to celluloid?)

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.

[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Things may look perfect to the outside world, but today's mom is fine with some imperfection at home.

How 'Reiwa moms' are reshaping motherhood in Japan

By Mai Yoshikawa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Vol. 35: Travel in time — and stay there

Vol. 35: Travel in time — and stay there

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