Film / Reviews Jan 16, 2020
'Last Letter': Love letter delivers sweetness and slush
by James Hadfield
Takako Matsu reunites with director Shunji Iwai to play a middle-aged woman who exchanges letters with her late sister's high school flame.
Film Jun 6, 2017
High infidelity: Ayumi Ito reprises her role in 'Hirugao'
by Matthew Hernon
A Japanese drama that instigated a nationwide debate about female infidelity and societal values, "Hirugao: Love Affairs in the Afternoon" has been made into a heart-wrenching movie that aims to have audiences reaching for the tissues. Set three years after the television series ended, the ...
Film Dec 21, 2016
A new wave of Japanese filmmakers matches the old
by Mark Schilling
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 ...
Film Oct 26, 2016
The digital age of relationships and filmmaking
by Kaori Shoji
Shunji Iwai has long stood on ambivalent terrain. To Western audiences he's known as a prolific and brilliant auteur, but without the overseas cachet of others such as Takeshi Kitano. To his fans in Japan, he's viewed as the spokesman for the socially conscious ...
Entertainment News Oct 25, 2016
Stars come out for Tokyo film festival opening
by Philip Brasor
The 29th Tokyo International Film Festival marked its opening Tuesday afternoon with a traditional red carpet ceremony that was heavy on Asian stars and filmmakers. With the festival abandoning its modern, eco-friendly "green carpet" this year, domestic stars dominated the promenade at the Roppongi Hills ...
Film Oct 19, 2016
Japan's eclectic collection of choice
by Mark Schilling
The Tokyo International Film Festival offers a great once-in-a-year opportunity to see new and classic Japanese films with English subtitles. The sheer quantity on offer — more than 50 titles in the main sections alone — can be overwhelming, though. Here are samples from ...
Film Nov 7, 2013
Money, censorship and the future of Asian cinema
by Giovanni Fazio
Flitting around Roppongi Hills during the week of the Tokyo International Film Festival, you get to meet and chat with any number of interesting people, but one of the better conversations I had was sitting down for coffee with Jacob Wong, curator of the ...