NEWSWORTHY
Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Cannes submission tackles the difficulties of relationships
It has been more than two decades since Takeshi Kitano, Naomi Kawase, Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Hirokazu Kore-eda began collecting major festival invitations and prizes as the leaders of Japanese cinema's 1990s new wave. Since then younger directors have struggled to crack this "4K" establishment ...
'The Name': Ren Komai's performance raises a multilayered drama
What's in a name? On one level, it's how you identify yourself to yourself (as in dorky name, dorky self-image). On another, it's your social calling card, your link to family, going back generations (or not, if an ancestor decided to exchange one name ...
Juliette Binoche gets to see the 'real' Japan in 'Vision'
"It's so warm in here!" exclaims Juliette Binoche. "You know in (Michael) Haneke's film, I have a scene where I kind of suffocate and I think that I'm going to die? It feels like that! Do you think you can open the window?" The grande ...
'Shoplifters': Kore-eda's Palme d'Or winner is an eloquent look at the human condition
When a Japanese director wins the Palme d'Or — the highest award at the Cannes Film Festival, the film world's equivalent of soccer's World Cup — the response of the local media is to celebrate: Our side won. Making the victory sweeter for Hirokazu Kore-eda ...
'Eriko, Pretended': Fake tears fuel a tale of self-discovery
People who secretly fear they are phonies when in actuality they aren't are said to suffer from "imposter syndrome." The title heroine of Akiyo Fujimura's debut feature "Eriko, Pretended" has the opposite problem: She calls herself an actress but in 10 years has only ...
Weekend drama can be great for the kids
My two daughters rub the backs of their ears to retrieve some magic dust, which they then use to summon a pile of pizza and ice cream, before tucking into the newly created feast with arm-waving gusto. This sounds like the stuff of dreams for ...
Samurai drama to put unique spin on evolution of theater
Japanese audiences will soon join those in Holland as the only people in the world with access to a theater whose seating area rotates to face a ring of multiple stages. So when Kazuki Nakashima's acclaimed samurai drama "Dokurojo no Shichinin" ("Seven Souls in the ...
British envoy, Japan Times turn tide in NHK history drama
Japanese love watching historical dramas, and one of the most popular times portrayed is the final years of the Edo Period (1603-1868), when the nation went through dramatic change politically, diplomatically and socially with the fall of the shogunate. In many cases, such TV shows, ...
Fuji TV announces Japan-first lesbian drama, but attracts criticism for 'outdated' portrayal
Fuji Television has announced a drama series featuring a lesbian love story as its central theme — a first for Japan. But a prominent lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activist has slammed the show's promotional material for portraying an "out-of-date" image of same-sex couples. "Transit ...
Julianne Moore takes on a role that her peers would avoid in 'Still Alice'
Julianne Moore says she was surprised to learn that people in some parts of the world have mistaken "Still Alice," her film about Alzheimer's disease, as "science fiction" and even "horror-comedy." "In many places, Alzheimer's is an alien concept ... in places where few people ...
Julianne Moore shines as Alzheimer's patient in 'Still Alice'
Flashback to 1995 when a new actress named Julianne Moore was beginning to get noticed for her work in the Todd Haynes film "Safe," where she played an affluent Southern California suburbanite who becomes afflicted with a mysterious environmental illness. Some 20 years and ...
Dramatist brings citizens of all ages together
Public theaters across the country are holding significantly more community productions and workshops aimed at local residents who are looking to get involved in performance art. Undoubtedly that's in part thanks to the pioneering work of the nation's leading dramatist on the world stage, Yukio ...
