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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 4, 2011

'Tokyo Tango': A fairy tale to keep you on your toes

When the mayor of a village is told by a frog king, who is fascinated by the elegance of swans gliding in the lake, that his villagers should wear toe shoes (ballet pointe shoes) all the time, he instructs everyone between the age of 8 months and 88 years to do so. Though at first this seems like a fun...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 15, 2011

'Under the Hawthorn Tree'

One of my girlfriends in high school had super-strict parents. Not only was she required to be home by the ungodly hour of 8 p.m. every night, she was allowed no boys in her life, and her dad even forbade her to smile and say "thank you" to the delivery guy. On the other hand, this girl recognized the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 24, 2011

'Biutiful'

Ninety percent of the time, it's too much to bear even for the audience, so imagine what those people up on the screen are going though. Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu revels in shoveling out far more than a fair share of atrocious luck and tremendous suffering to his characters, and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 18, 2011

'Somewhere'

Those who say that "Somewhere" is too slow and goes nowhere are probably missing the point. Sofia Coppola — the filmmaker behind this droll Hollywood fairy tale — loves the static state: She's a rare American woman who gives the impression of never having rushed anywhere her entire life....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Mar 6, 2011

Tadao Sato: 'Japan's single finest film critic'

Tadao Sato laughed an embarrassed laugh as he recalled that three years ago, in London, he had been referred to as a "legend." Though adding to his discomfort, I had to admit that in my university days I had thought of him in the same way. And I still do.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 4, 2011

'Chatroom'

Speaking strictly from a J-cinema fan/patriot point of view, "Chatroom" is a cause for celebration. It's set in London, stars some of the brightest young talent in the United Kingdom, centers around the timely topic of social networking — and the whole thing is directed by Japanese horror meister...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 4, 2011

Osaka film fest goes global

Osaka may be known to connoisseurs and gluttons alike as the "kitchen of Japan," however a film festival in the third-largest city of the nation is doing all it can to portray a different picture.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 2011

3-D hits disguise fears over cinemas' future

Japan saw box-office receipts soar to a new record in 2010 as multiplex theaters running 3-D blockbusters did brisk business, but industry officials and experts are worried about the future of the industry as small, distinctive cinemas continue to close.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jan 21, 2011

National Film Center holds French film fest

For many, new year is a time for reflection. A chance to look at the past with fond, albeit critical hindsight. A film festival in Tokyo is doing just that by ringing in 2011 with a retrospective look at French cinema from the last two decades.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 14, 2011

'Yoyochu: Sex to Yoyogi Tadashi no Sekai (Yoyochu in the Land of the Rising Sex)'

Japan's sex industry is huge, diverse and different. One oddity, at least to Western eyes, is the pinku eiga (pink film), a genre of soft porn made according to certain rules (the most important being the inclusion of a simulated sex scene every 10 minutes or so) and shown in specialized theaters. Pink...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 28, 2010

Kabuki going strong, 400 years on

The media frenzy over kabuki star Ichikawa Ebizo's drunken midnight brawl in Tokyo last month may be a testament to how, 400 years after its birth, the genre remains a highly popular form of entertainment integral to Japanese culture.
JAPAN / Media
Oct 17, 2010

Pusan festival delivers rich lineup of movies despite budget slump

Earlier this year, Kim Dong Ho announced that the 15th Pusan International Film Festival, which ran from Oct. 7 to 15, would be his final one as the event's director. Kim launched PIFF in 1986 and quickly made it the most important Asian film event of the annual calendar. As a farewell gesture, the traditional...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Oct 10, 2010

Creative battle for boost in regional tourism heads to Japan's big screen

In recent years, many regional governments in Japan have set up "film commissions" to help production crews shoot motion pictures and TV dramas in their neighborhoods, in the hopes of attracting tourists and revitalizing local communities.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 1, 2010

Kurosawa's creative canvas

Little-known fact: Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa meticulously painted more than 2,000 storyboards in his lifetime. Masterpieces in their own right, a selection of around 150 will be displayed at an exhibition in Ebisu, accompanied by screenings of his movies "The Quiet Duel," "Rashomon," "Ran" and...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 15, 2010

Pair of Lehman Tokyo alumni chasing their dreams in movies

Adam Garrett went into the credit crisis an equity quant trader for Lehman Brothers Holdings in Tokyo. He came out Guy Orlebar, director, film financier and producer of "Future Fighters," a sci-fi action movie starring "Kill Bill's" Gordon Liu.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 30, 2010

'Nihon no Ichiban Nagai Natsu (Japan's Longest Summer)'/'Ishii Teruo: Eiga Tamashi (Teruo Ishii: The Soul of Film)'

August is the season in Japan for a never-ending stream of films and TV programs about World War II. Quite naturally, from the Japanese perspective, most of this outpouring examines the war's closing days, particularly the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Some outsiders (including this one)...
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2010

Nagoya movie theater to show whaling film, 'Cove' as package

NAGOYA (Kyodo) A movie theater in Nagoya plans to screen a Japanese film about whaling coupled with "The Cove," a controversial Oscar-winning documentary about Japan's annual dolphin slaughter.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 2, 2010

Downed in her prime, a beacon of Japan's emerging new culture

The formative culture of a country is its subculture. Mainstream culture is about the present; subculture creates the future.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 11, 2009

In praise of films that refuse to follow formulas

After jostling through a metal detector, having my bag searched and my mobile confiscated by stern-faced blue meanies, I slump in my cinema seat, enduring head-exploding levels of volume from the coming attractions, and unwanted infrared scrutiny from guards patrolling for video-heads looking for their...
COMMENTARY
Sep 13, 2009

Political fancies at the Venice Film Festival

VENICE — Often great films tell great political stories. Or, at least they unfold against the backdrop of tumultuous political events. "Gone with a Wind" would never let us forget the American Civil War. "Casablanca" was set against the exodus of hundreds of people fleeing Nazi tyranny to the New...
CULTURE / Film
Sep 11, 2009

Keeping it plain, simple and brilliant

When one thinks of the grand old men of American cinema, directors who have spanned a few decades and continue to keep up the pace, there are but a handful of names to check.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 10, 2009

'Wallace & Gromit in 'A Matter of Loaf and Death''/'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'

It's summertime, and the livin' is easy; cicadas are chirping and skirts are riding high. And we all know what that means for the cinema: a wave of sequels and franchise movies to last us until there's a chill in the air once again. The "Transformers" sequel is already out there, proving that the fanboy...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Jun 7, 2009

Director Tran talks of moving from violence to Murakami's famed 'Norwegian Wood'

Born in Vietnam and raised in France from age 12, Tran Anh Hung made an indelible debut as a filmmaker in 1993 with "The Scent Of Green Papaya." A delicate, sensual film, where the patter of rain on garden leaves or the rustle of wind on mosquito netting was as prominent as its story of a servant girl...
COMMENTARY
May 5, 2009

Cannes set to sparkle in a depressing year

The Cannes Film Festival will unreel May 13, although the global recession has damped business at the picturesque French seaside resort renowned for its rich playboys and beautiful women.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2008

'Paris'/'Funny Games'

Director Cedric Klapisch's breakthrough film was 1996's "Chacun Cherche Son Chat" ("When The Cat's Away"), a documentary-like trifle about a lost cat that nevertheless seemed to say something essential about life in the anonymity of a big city. Klapisch set his film in Paris' 11th arrondisement, and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 21, 2008

'The Bank Job'

"The Bank Job" is one of those movies that somehow winds up being far, far better than it has any right to be.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 24, 2008

Closing weekend at TIFF to showcase Asia, ecology theme

One of the advantages of film festivals in Japan is the chance to see Japanese and Asian cinema with English subtitles. The 21st Tokyo International Film Festival may be ending this Sunday, but it still has such cinematic treats to offer.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 16, 2008

Muslim-Hindu relations explored in PIFF selections

In terms of box office, India has always been the best market for movies, though with its plethora of languages and regional tastes in entertainment, the country has been impervious to imports. In recent months, however, there have been deals struck between Hollywood and Bollywood that allow for movement...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 2, 2008

Explosive new anime packed with surprises

'I was looking to do something different, but at the same time if it was too unique, it could fail," says Masayuki Miyaji, director of PlayStation Network's new anime series "Xam'd: Lost Memories." "But then if it fails, that might even be more fun."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 26, 2008

'Tokyo Sonata'

Kiyoshi Kurosawa has long been filed under "horror director," though his take on the genre is anything but standard. The villain of "Cure," his deeply creepy 1997 breakout film, is not a maniac with a sharp-edged weapon but a blank-faced drifter who hypnotizes his victims into killing themselves.

Longform

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