Tag - wide-angle

 
 

WIDE ANGLE

Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Oct 19, 2017
Kyoto's ambience is key to making KIFF special
Film festivals don't take place in isolation: An interesting city makes for a more interesting festival, unless you are the sort of movie nerd who sees six films a day and lives on convenience store sandwiches.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Sep 7, 2017
Mizuko Yamaoka takes a different approach in documentary about people with disabilities
Disability presents different challenges for everyone but wheelchair users share a common dilemma: Their mode of locomotion stands out, while they often struggle with social isolation. That was my takeaway from "The Lost Coin," a 2016 short by Mizuko Yamaoka, a filmmaker who has been using a wheelchair...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Aug 31, 2017
What works for Japanese actresses in the West may not work at home
"The Shack" feels like a sugar-coated salve for wounds sustained from the flurry of recent news events. Directed by Stuart Hazeldine and starring Sam Worthington as a grieving dad, the big surprise in this religious fantasy story is the presence of Japanese actress Sumire Matsubara (who goes by just...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Aug 9, 2017
'Re:Born': 'Tak' Sakaguchi is back for some major action
Movie fight scenes, even ones that are acted by martial arts experts, rarely duplicate what actually transpires on a street or battlefield. After all, they're performed for entertainment, not as actual matters of life or death.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Aug 9, 2017
'A Quiet Passion': Cynthia Nixon portrays poet Emily Dickinson with true grace
It seems strange to say, but "A Quiet Passion," a biopic on American poet Emily Dickinson, feels tailored to Japan's sensitive side with its emphasis on inner calm and the dynamics of the family circle.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Aug 3, 2017
Wonder Woman doesn't need the kawaii treatment
If they did it to Cutie Honey and Fujiko Mine, they can do it to Wonder Woman. I’m talking about the kawaii treatment, which works like a kiss of death to bad-ass super-heroines in Japanese pop culture.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Jul 27, 2017
It's a bit out of the way, but Skip City festival makes up for the distance with great films and rare access
The location for the Skip City International D-Cinema Festival doesn't make it particularly easy for casual fans to pop in. The Skip City complex — which hosts studios for audiovisual production, as well as educational and entertainment facilities — is a fairly lengthy bus ride from Kawaguchi Station...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Jul 13, 2017
Meet the kawaii witches of the East
Despite being a fantastic go-to costume on Halloween, witches in the West have never had it easy. There were the Salem witch trials of the 1690s, and similar trials elsewhere in North America and Europe through the 17th century, which served as warnings to independent women that they could be persecuted...
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Jun 15, 2017
A scorched-earth fix to a celebrity scandal
Scandals can send a celebrity's career careening off a cliff. This is especially true in Japan, where minor violations of the social code can lead to major personal repercussions.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Jun 1, 2017
Dad-made 'bento' make a splash on the silver screen
Japanese movies tend to portray Japanese dads as male chauvinists who never step into the kitchen if they can help it and have little interest in raising their kids. Consider Yasujiro Ozu's timeless classic "Tokyo Story." Sure, Chishu Ryu played a kind and gentle patriarch — but did he once help the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
May 25, 2017
Hollywood's love storyboard
If you're the type who sticks around after a movie to read the credits, you'll know it takes more than one village to make a feature-length film. Ten or even 20 villages is more like it. Among the villagers are people with the title of "storyboard artist" and "film researcher," although, like many artisans...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Apr 27, 2017
Anime's Masaaki Yuasa directs a dream with 'Night Is Short, Walk On Girl'
Tomihiko Morimi's novel "Night Is Short, Walk On Girl" (Japanese title: "Yoru wa Mijikashi Aruke yo Otome") is set in the same universe as its predecessor, "The Tatami Galaxy" ("Yojohan Shinwa Taikei"), and is the latest to get the anime treatment by Masaaki Yuasa's Science Saru animation studios. This...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Apr 20, 2017
Japan, take pride in 'Your Name.'
Two weeks ago, the United States' box office saw a surprising animated feature take the top spot and generate large amounts of discussion — and memes — on social media.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Apr 13, 2017
Fashion's night at the museum
"The First Monday in May" opens April 15 at the Bunkamura Le Cinema Theater in Tokyo's trendy Shibuya Ward (the Japanese title is "Metto Gara, Doresu o Matotta Bijutsukan"). It's a documentary about a Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition titled "China: Through the Looking Glass" in 2015.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Apr 6, 2017
When the talent gets religious
"Ankoku Joshi" is a murder mystery involving six pretty JK (slang for joshi kosei, high school girls)" who all have something to hide. The film's title literally means "pitch black girls," which pretty much explains their characters' personalities in what soon becomes a grisly little tale directed by...
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Mar 29, 2017
'Trump: What’s The Deal?': you can finally find out
"Trump: What's The Deal," a documentary completed in 1991, was meant to be the first in a series on the celebrity businessmen who characterized the greed-is-good 1980s. It was never released as Donald Trump threatened to sue any broadcaster or distributor who handled it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Mar 22, 2017
Marty Gross and 'The Lovers' Exile'
At various times and places in his four-decade career, Canadian native Marty Gross has been a potter, art teacher, film director and a producer, with most of his personal and professional roads leading back to Japan.
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Mar 15, 2017
Looking back on the 'trial of the century'
Everywhere you look these days, it feels like it's just Trump, Trump and even more Trump. It's worth taking a moment to recall that 23 years ago many people were just as sick of O.J. Simpson when the amiable American football star-turned-TV/movie celebrity became the main suspect in the brutal murder...
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Mar 10, 2017
Fukada's filmmaking a breath of fresh air
Koji Fukada's black comedy "Hospitalite" ("Kantai") won best film in the Tokyo International Film Festival's Japanese Eyes section in 2010 and since then he has become accustomed to stepping up on stages to receive prizes for his work.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Mar 8, 2017
'Voyage of Time': Terence Malick's 40-year dream
Filmmaker Terrence Malick is renowned for quirky brilliance, but the director of "Thin Red Line" and "The Tree of Life" is also notorious for his steadfast refusal to have anything to do with the press. Not even online statements or a 10-second Skype session. He just doesn't do them.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji