Film / Reviews Feb 20, 2020
'Shape of Red': A torrid but ultimately unsatisfying affair
by Mark Schilling
Kaho plays a frustrated housewife who engages in a passionate tryst with a former boyfriend in Yukiko Mishima's latest film.
Film Aug 28, 2019
Haruhiko Arai: Still pushing boundaries after 40 years in film
by Mark Schilling
In a four-decade career, Haruhiko Arai has become an acclaimed scriptwriter with credits that include "Vibrator" (2003), "It's Only Talk" (2005) and "Kabukicho Love Hotel" (2014), three of the best films by his frequent collaborator, the director Ryuichi Hiroki. Arai also edits and publishes "Eiga ...
Film / Reviews Aug 21, 2019
'It Feels So Good': An explicit escapade, artfully told
by James Hadfield
The average bride-to-be spends the final days before her wedding fretting about seating plans and whether she'll be able to squeeze into her dress, but Naoko (Kumi Takiuchi) decides it's a good time to hook up with an old flame instead. In the years since ...
Film Nov 7, 2018
Tasuku Emoto talks about directing, acting in English and sounding like Tom Cruise
by James Hadfield
This has been a busy year for Tasuku Emoto. Long accustomed to appearing in colorful supporting roles, the 31-year-old actor has found himself starring in three films in 2018. After playing real-life porn entrepreneur Akira Suei in "Dynamite Graffiti" and the slacker protagonist of "And ...
Film / Reviews Aug 29, 2018
'And Your Bird Can Sing': A vague take on the complexities of youth
by James Hadfield
The work of the late novelist Yasushi Sato, who took his own life in 1990, has been enjoying a minor cinematic renaissance over the past decade. Starting with Kazuyoshi Kumakiri's "Sketches of Kaitan City" in 2010, the author's stories have spawned four films to ...
TV | CHANNEL SURF Jul 22, 2016
'Lockheed Incident Document 40th Year Shocking Scoop'; 'Yassan'; Xflag
by Philip Brasor
Thanks mainly to a first-person "biography" written by former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, there is renewed interest in disgraced former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka. NHK is presenting a series of special programs, some of which are dramatizations, about the scandal that brought Tanaka down: ...