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Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Oct 10, 2013

Shakuhachi player finds the Zen in deer sounds

The shakuhachi reportedly came to Japan from ancient Egypt, and the instrument's pure tones have been used by Zen monks in meditation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 3, 2013

'R100'

The world premiere of Hitoshi Matsumoto's "R100" in the Toronto International Film Festival's Midnight Madness section must be frustrating for all those Japanese auteurs out there who got rejection letters from North America's most important festival.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 19, 2013

'Chronicle'

The found-footage thing: It can be addictive. Though as a movie ploy, it always stumps me how the characters would actually go into a dark woods in the middle of the night ("The Blair Witch Project") or move their family into a house where a gruesome murder had taken place ("Sinister"). So much of the...
CULTURE / Film
Sep 5, 2013

'The Wolverine' draws from other Hollywood hits set in Japan

Director James Mangold has claimed Japanese film influences on his Marvel comic adaptation "The Wolverine," including Akira Kurosawa's 1957 film "Kumonosu-jo (The Throne of Blood)." But the film, in which Hugh Jackman's immortal Wolverine character comes to Japan, falls in love with a local beauty and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 5, 2013

'Upside Down'

Here it is: the movie equivalent of a crazy, distracting, impossibly attractive lover. Everything about "Upside Down" is nutso preposterous but it draws you in and locks you in a warm embrace, declaring undying love and promising mystery and eternal longing forever more. If there was a way I could go...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2013

The dead get their day as zombies go mainstream

My first zombie movie was "Night of the Living Dead," viewed at a midnight screening at the old Harvard Square Cinema, attended by a small coterie of late-night freaks and stoners. With its relentless dread and entrail-chomping ghouls, it was a film beyond the pale of normal, daytime moviegoers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2013

'World War Z'

I recall watching "Quantum of Solace," the 007 movie directed by Marc Forster, and thinking, "This man should never have been put in charge of an action movie." A fine director of art-house fare such as "Finding Neverland" or "The Kite Runner," Forster handled his cherry chase scene — always a signature...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 25, 2013

Fox tackles history in 'Emperor'

Actor Matthew Fox saw his career take off in the 1990s with the role of Charlie Salinger in the American TV series "Party of Five," and he gained even more popularity as Jack Shephard, the central character in the innovative series "Lost." Now, though, his performance in the movie, "Emperor," in which...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 18, 2013

'Godzilla'

Director: Roland Emmerich
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 15, 2013

Clinton re-enters limelight, plans charitable work — for now

In her first major public appearance since stepping down as secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton embraced key pillars of President Barack Obama's domestic agenda Thursday and said she will strive to act as an envoy between businesses, nonprofit entities and the federal government.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 14, 2013

'The Great Gatsby'

Baz Luhrmann does justice to F. Scott Fitzgerald's most intriguing creation: Jay Gatsby, the man referred to in the book title as "The Great." As far as adaptations go, Luhrmann's version beats the 1974 version that starred Robert Redford and Mia Farrow hands down. That was a sorrowful, soulful tale...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 31, 2013

'Maniac'

Elijah Wood, best known for his work in the "Lord of the Rings" series and for having been around since babyhood, is perhaps looking to branch out as an actor. That would explain "Maniac," a remake of the 1980 slasher movie recognized among horror fans as the precursor to "The Silence of the Lambs."...
BUSINESS / NOTEBOOK
May 22, 2013

Pearl jewelry exhibition; evacuation simulation symposium; political decision-making seminar

EXHIBITIONS
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 26, 2013

Murakami's 'Jellyfish Eyes' blends kawaii and creepy into a postquake critique

In the West he's been referred to as 'the other Murakami.' To those in Japan, the difference is so prominent that very few would ever confuse artist-cum-filmmaker Takashi Murakami with novelist Haruki Murakami.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 5, 2013

Audiard's method: as slow and steady as the waves

My first impression of director Jacques Audiard is that he's almost as wired as the street-punk hero of his film "The Beat That My Heart Skipped," fidgeting in his chair, desperate for a smoke, jumping in mid-translation to clarify a point. Entering his sixth decade, Audiard shows no signs of slowing...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 29, 2013

'Daijobu 3kumi (Nobody's Perfect)'

Teaching kids is usually not thought of as a physically taxing job, but take it from one who has done it: It is, especially in Japanese schools, where one teacher may have to deal with 40 bundles of not-always-well-behaved energy. I spent much of my class time at a Tokyo boys' high school in the 1980s...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 29, 2013

'Crawlspace'

Good news for sci-fi/horror geeks with big and generous hearts who have nothing to do on a spring Sunday but to check out this "Alien"-meets-"28 Days Later"-meets-"Species"-and-they-decide-to-move-in-together-to-save-on-rent kind of movie. And not so good news for the rest of us.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 22, 2013

Tokyo Teyandei: The Story Teller's Apprentice

Rakugo, the ancient Japanese art of sit-down comedy, has inspired movies including Shinpei Hayashiya's "Rakugo Monogatari (Rakugo Story)" (2010) and Hideyuki Hirayama's "Shaberedomo Shaberedomo (Talk, Talk, Talk)" (2007), but Yuji Kanda's "Tokyo Teyandei: The Story Teller's Apprentice" (simply called...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 8, 2013

'Arekara (Since Then)'

It's rare indeed that I ever wished a new Japanese film were longer — and I am not the only one. "This could be shorter by (name your number) minutes" is such a cliche of Japanese film reviewing and commentary that I inwardly groan every time I read or hear it; and yet more often than not, it's right....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 1, 2013

'Jack Reacher'

Every time I witness the presence of Tom Cruise in Tokyo, I imagine the possibilities of him moving here as a permanent resident. He loves sushi (apparently a frequent customer at Sukiyabashi Jiro). He knows the streets of Ginza. He's clearly work addicted. Unlike in the U.S. no one here will ever direct...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 21, 2012

'Side By Side'

Technological progress comes at us so fast and furious, its claims so inflated, its cautions so ignored, that it's easy to be swept away by the sort of Wired-magazine techno-utopianism in which every leap forward is ipso facto a good thing. But the more mundane reality is simply that if something becomes...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 7, 2012

'Frankenweenie'

Director Tim Burton started out as an animator at Disney, and after working on such milquetoast projects as "The Fox and The Hound" and "The Black Cauldron" he was greenlighted to develop some of his own stuff. After a few animated shorts, he made his first live-action film at age 25 in 1984, "Frankenweenie."...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 2, 2012

'Kita no Kanariatachi (A Chorus of Angels)'

Sayuri Yoshinaga has appeared in more than 100 films since winning the hearts of millions in the 1960s playing spunky, pure-spirited teens for the Nikkatsu studio. Her legions of admirers, called "Sayurists," have remained steadfast over the decades, while she herself has overcome personal and professional...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 6, 2012

'United'

In "United," soccer is described as "beautiful" — a wondrous amalgam of a simple ball, freshly mown grass and men doing godlike things with their feet. Set in Manchester, England, in the 1950s, "United" pays full tribute to this beauty with loving attention to the details of the sport.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 22, 2012

'Attack the Block' / 'We Need to Talk About Kevin'

When unarmed teen Trayvon Martin was fatally shot in Florida by paranoid neighborhood-watch vigilante George Zimmerman in February, the usual flurry of American media debate ensued. One of the more heated tangents came when celebrity newscaster Geraldo Rivera stated — on Fox News, naturally — that...
CULTURE / Film
Jun 15, 2012

Shortcut to success: Four little films that could

Short films are often regarded as test runs for directors, but that doesn't mean they have to look shoddy. Here are a few examples of shorts that not only launched careers, but remain as good as anything their creators have made since:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 15, 2012

'Snow White & the Huntsman'

A classic Grimm Brothers fairy tale undergoes an intriguing overhaul in "Snow White & the Huntsman," a femme-centric, Gothic action thriller strewn with ravens' feathers and dripping with blood. Disney never put that sweet princess through such muck, but director Rupert Sanders has no qualms about...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 13, 2012

'Texas Killing Fields'

Having an iconic Hollywood filmmaker for a dad isn't always a cool thing. The dad in question: Michael Mann, the guy who brought us such notable gangster tales as "Public Enemies," produced the gritty, testosterone-infused "Heat" and has more than a dozen blockbusters to his name. Granted, Michael Mann...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 2, 2012

'Hugo'

'Hugo" is in 3-D, rated PG in the United States and features two 12-year-olds traipsing around a 1930s Parisian train station. All the ingredients for a cozy Disney picture, but in actual fact this is a Martin Scorsese movie, which picked up five Oscars at last weekend's Academy Awards.

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