Tag - takayuki-yamada

 
 

TAKAYUKI YAMADA

Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jul 1, 2021
‘The Naked Director Season 2’: Netflix’s porn industry saga is skin deep
The second season of the streaming giantu2019s fictionalized biopic of Japanu2019s notorious adult-video director and entrepreneur offers another round of cheap thrills.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 3, 2021
‘Brothers in Brothel’: Come for the sex, stay for the family drama
Sex is a dirty family business in actor-turned-director Jiro Satou2019s vivid drama.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 7, 2021
‘Zokki’: Five stories, three directors, one goofy time
Actors Naoto Takenaka, Takayuki Yamada and Takumi Saitoh joined forces to direct a clever offbeat comedy containing interconnected stories based on Hiroyuki Ohashiu2019s manga.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 2, 2020
'Step': Parenthood drama that tugs at the heartstrings
By now there are many films about single fathers, but for me the eye-opener was 1979’s “Kramer vs. Kramer.” In it, Dustin Hoffman plays a workaholic adman who struggles to raise his young son after being abandoned by his wife (Meryl Streep), but resists giving up the boy when she returns to claim custody. At first a bumbler who can barely scramble eggs, Hoffman’s character becomes a model parent, a journey that is a source of laughter, tension and, for many male viewers (including this one), self-reflection.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Sep 12, 2019
With 'The Naked Director,' Japan scores a global Netflix hit
Netflix series 'The Naked Director' has been a runaway hit, with a second series announced shortly after the first began streaming. But not everyone is a fan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Aug 7, 2019
'The Naked Director': A story of naked ambition and dubious morals
Since it launched here in September 2015, Netflix has built a long list of Japanese programming, from the hit reality series "Terrace House" to the manzai (comic duo) drama "Hibana: Spark." Mostly, though, it's the sort of fare you can find on network TV or in your local multiplex.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 15, 2018
'Hard-Core': Of robots and socially marginalized men
Live-action manga adaptations — from weepy dramas about teenage love to goofy comedies set in fantasy worlds — usually reflect real life only at its extremes, whether it's the melodramatic or the idiotic.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 6, 2018
'50 First Kisses': Swipe left on this rom-com redo
An incorrigible playboy spots a young woman at a diner in Hawaii and is instantly smitten. After he plucks up the courage to talk to her, they hit it off and arrange to meet again at the same place the following day. But when he goes back, she treats him like a complete stranger. It turns out she has a form of amnesia that makes her forget everything that happened the previous day — but he sets out to woo her anyway. Sound familiar?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 7, 2015
'Bakuman' depicts a life-or-death quest for manga success
High school kids dream big dreams, and in Japan one of the biggest is to be a successful manga artist. The financial rewards for a hit manga published in a national magazine and sold in paperback editions are substantial. And the accompanying recognition and power — with adoring fans pleading for autographs and editors begging for your next masterpiece — must seem intoxicating to a would-be mangaka (manga artist) doodling in the margins of his biology textbook.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 28, 2014
Godfather of J-horror escapes from genre's grip
Hideo Nakata could be called the godfather of contemporary Japanese horror, but he would probably hate the label. Regardless, this 52-year-old director of such genre classics as "Ring," "Ring 2" and "Honogurai Mizu no Soko kara (Dark Water)" has made J-horror — a combination of present-day settings and technology (the death-dealing video tapes in "Ring") and age-old lore about vengeful spirits — into a global brand.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 29, 2014
Twice as nice: 'The Full Monty' and Peeping Tom
"I love the original 'Full Monty' movie, and I think Robert Carlyle is brilliant as the central character — a loser who overcomes the odds against him. In fact it's his portrayal that inspired me to tackle the role as my live-acting debut — though now I regret agreeing to it because on stage there's nowhere to hide (laughs)."

Longform

A statue of "Dragon Ball" character Goku stands outside the offices of Bandai Namco in Tokyo. The figure is now as recognizable as such characters as Mickey Mouse and Spider-Man.
Akira Toriyama's gift to the world