‘Noise’: A web of lies imbued with style and pathos
Ryuichi Hiroki’s film about three men entangled in a web of lies and murder to protect their island community is a departure from the director’s usual romantic dramas and indie fare.
‘The Sun Stands Still’: Race against time fails to pick up the pace
Eiichiro Hasumi’s big-budget thriller about globe-trotting spies is not quite Japan’s answer to the “Mission: Impossible” movies.
'Diner': Maybe find another place to eat
The aesthetic of photographer and director Mika Ninagawa is gaudy to the nth degree. She crowds blood-red roses into her frame like crammed commuters in a rush-hour train. When she makes it rain, her actors may as well be standing under Niagara Falls. This may ...
Ninagawa still exploring in eighth take on 'Hamlet'
Yukio Ninagawa's "cherry-blossom" staging of "Macbeth" at the Edinburgh Festival in 1985, with actors in that famously Scottish play sporting kimono rather than kilts, was a sensation due to its radical reimagining of so revered a work. Since then, the 79-year-old director's uniquely visual productions ...
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 ...
