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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 12, 2010

'Broken Embraces'

Feminists like to gripe about the "male gaze," the way in which male-created art tends to objectify women, and y'know, every time I see some leering Michael Bay shot of Megan Fox's butt, I'll admit they have a point. But, on the other hand, where would cinema be without films like "In The Mood For Love,"...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 10, 2009

Kawasaki risen from the grit with plenty to offer

Back in December 1972, having just taken a job with a Japan Airlines subsidiary, I moved into the company's bachelors dormitory at Miyauchi 2-chome in Kawasaki's Nakahara Ward.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 28, 2008

Kurosawa's 'Rashomon' revisited

Akira Kurosawa's 1950 masterpiece "Rashomon" has undergone a makeover.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 16, 2008

Japan shines at Asia's top film festival

Acknowledged as the most important annual film event in Asia, Korea's Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF) opened its 13th edition on Oct. 2 under several clouds. The glittery opening ceremony, stuffed to the rafters with Korean celebrities, was more subdued this year owing to the same-day suicide...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 13, 2008

Preferring to show and not to tell

AKIRA KUROSAWA: Interviews, edited by Burt Cardullo. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2008, 196 pp., $20 (paper) Once, when I asked Akira Kurosawa about the meaning of one of his films he answered: "If I could have said it in words, I would have — then I wouldn't have needed to make the picture."...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 4, 2007

The camera and the truth

With his fake documentary purporting to show serving President George W. Bush's assassination, director Gabriel Range has made this year's most controversial movie
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 7, 2006

Film fest explores digital format

The 3rd Skip City International D-Cinema Festival takes place in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture, from July 15-23, and aims not only to unearth the next generation of filmmakers working in the digital format, but also to serve as a forum for discussion on the latest trends in digital cinema.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 26, 2006

One nation's icon carries a torch of conscience for all

On March 6, the Polish film and theater director Andrzej Wajda celebrated his 80th birthday. In fact, all of Poland celebrated it with him. I was in the country that week, and I have never before seen such total media interest in a cultural figure. Wajda is certainly Poland's "living national treasure."...
MULTIMEDIA
Oct 30, 2005

Speaking volumes

Kaori Shoji
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 22, 2004

Stop usif you'veheard thisone before

The Quiet American Rating: * * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Philip Noyce Running time: 101 minutes Language: English Now showing [See Japan Times movie listings] When Graham Greene penned his novel "The Quiet American" in 1954, he was set on capturing a particular point in time in late,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 2, 2004

He spins a top tale

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu made quite a splash with his 2000 debut, "Amores Perros," which put Mexican cinema back on the map. With his followup, "21 Grams," the former radio DJ and commercial director proves that was no fluke, fashioning a film that's every bit as intense and structurally innovative...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 10, 2003

Is it a film? Is it a play? No, it's cinetheatre

Ever had a dream that was so real it made you lose your grip on reality? One that turned into hallucinations the following day? One that drove you close to madness?
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2001

Simply, the best

This was a year in which the most memorable screen image belonged to reality, not cinema. Indeed, as many have noted, the spectacle of airline jets ramming into the World Trade Center towers was all too reminiscent of a Hollywood blockbuster's money shot -- and that may have been the point. Terrorists...
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2001

Eyes wide open

French auteurs rediscover the human condition French cinema has long been identified with auteur filmmaking of a certain kind. While the idea of a highly personal cinema shaped by obsessions and concerns of the director is a good one, for too long this has been used to justify overly intellectualized,...
CULTURE / Film
May 9, 2001

Crowd-pleasing in Udine

Given the media frenzy over "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," Western interest in Asian cinema may be news, but it's hardly new. Back in 1998, the organizers of Udine Incontri Cinema, a small film festival in a quiet Italian town near the Austrian and Slovenian border, shifted their focus to commercial...
JAPAN
Dec 17, 2000

Violent movie opens despite protest

A controversial Japanese movie that features a series of fights to the death between junior high school students opened Saturday at cinemas nationwide.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 10, 2000

Filmmaker lights a fire under corruption

Well known for kaiju (monster) films populated by giant luminaries such as Godzilla, Mothra and Rodan, Toho Inc. now brings us "Cross Fire," an sf thriller about a pyrokinetic office lady at odds with Japanese corruption. Adapted from a novel by best-selling author Miyuki Miyabe, the movie is directed...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Mar 29, 2000

Get Shorty

For many of us living in Japan, the Academy Awards ceremony serves as a reminder of where we are in the bigger scheme of things: behind the curve. We often haven't seen many of the nominated or winning films, some won't be here for another year, and others might not come at all. This is a distribution...
CULTURE / Books
Feb 16, 2000

The essence of Japanese film

FROM BOOK TO SCREEN: Modern Japanese Literature in Film. By Keiko I. McDonald. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2000, 326 pp., with b/w photos. $62.95 (cloth); $25.95 (paper) Keiko McDonald's 1994 "Japanese Classical Theater in Films" (Associated University Presses) has become an indispensable text. Anyone...
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1998

Namikiza theater shows its last film

The Namikiza theater in Tokyo's Ginza district closed its doors on nearly 45 years of film history Tuesday.
JAPAN
Sep 7, 1998

Kurosawa to receive special award

Film director Akira Kurosawa, who died Sunday, will posthumously receive the People's Honor Award in recognition of his lifetime work, the top government spokesman said Monday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 11, 2022

'By the Window' offers a cinematic lesson in taking your time

Director Rikiya Imaizumi throws convention aside to focus on complex characters that audiences can relate to in his new film, which won the Audience Award at the recent Tokyo International Film Festival.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 4, 2022

Foreign films, English titles and the dilemma distributors face

Leave as is? Translate? Change altogether? A movie's success doesn't depend entirely on what we call it, but it can have a big effect.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 7, 2022

‘Believers’ is explicit but has nothing to say

Hideo Jojo's cult caper is a kinky, flimsy throwback to the turn of the millennium when the Japanese public was still reeling from attacks by the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 3, 2022

Seven to see at this year’s Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia

The short film festival celebrates the briefest of screen gems. Festival winners not only get the respect of their peers but a shot at an Oscar as well.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 30, 2021

How Hans Zimmer conjured the otherworldly sounds of ‘Dune’

Composer Hans Zimmer worked with a far-flung “band” of collaborators who sung, scraped metal, invented instruments and more for the epic sci-fi film's score.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 12, 2021

‘It’s a Flickering Life’: A heartfelt ode to golden oldies spread thin

Veteran filmmaker Yoji Yamada's tribute to the film industry and the audiences who are keeping it alive is well-meaning but doesn't quite hit its mark.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 12, 2021

‘It's a Summer Film’: Movie worship with a time travel twist

Soushi Matsumoto dips into various genres with his feature debut about a teenage aspiring director who unknowingly casts a time-traveling fan of her work as the lead in her first film.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan