
Film / Reviews Aug 26, 2021
‘One Summer Story’: Moka Kamishiraishi lights up the screen
by Mark Schilling
Shuichi Okita injects his style of observational humor to this film adaptation of Retto Tajima's manga series.
‘One Summer Story’: Moka Kamishiraishi lights up the screen
Shuichi Okita injects his style of observational humor to this film adaptation of Retto Tajima's manga series.
‘Ora, Ora Be Goin’ Alone’: Grandma isn’t done living life to the fullest
Shuichi Okita’s film about a lonely elderly woman searching for meaning in her life presents old age with humor and pathos.
'Mori, the Artist's Habitat': A delightful dip into a creator's world
Fact-checking biopics is an easy game for critics to play since nearly all films about real people fudge facts or even outright lie to tell a story. I've played the game myself, but in the case of Shuichi Okita's delightful "Mori, the Artist's Habitat," ...
Kanji Furutachi: Reacting to Japan's film industry
Over the years I've heard many complaints about the bad acting in Japanese films, from the hammy emoting of over-indulged veterans to the amateurish turns of "idols" cast more for their agency connections than any perceptible talent. I've added to this chorus of negativity, ...
A new wave of Japanese filmmakers matches the old
Nearly two decades after the Japanese New Wave of the 1990s, the directors who led it, including Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Hirokazu Koreeda and Naomi Kawase, are still the local industry's most prominent faces abroad. But this year a new generation of filmmakers has finally started ...
Okita keeps every hair in place
Millions of Japanese have come from the countryside to find their fortunes in Tokyo, with most arriving in the postwar boom when jobs were everywhere and the future looked bright. But many, like the punk rocker hero of Shuichi Okita's offbeat, warm-hearted family comedy ...
Ecotherapy Getaway Holiday: Finding feminism on the way to a waterfall
Doesn't every kid imagine being lost in the woods? The mental outcome, of course, is always positive as you follow the first stream you find back to civilization and safety. But in reality, a little disorientation can be a scary thing, as I learned in ...
Mark Schilling's 2013 Top 10: Farewell to Ghibli's anime masters
Japanese films did quite well both commercially and critically in 2013, with Hayao Miyazaki's final feature animation, "Kaze Tachinu (The Wind Rises)," thumping the Hollywood competition at the local box office. But the industry's over-reliance on sure-thing manga, TV shows and novels for source ...