Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow

J-Film Pow-Wow on a month long break -- See you March 1st!

2012-02-01T13:15:00.001-08:00

by Chris MaGee

There are probably more than a few of our regular readers who have been checking the blog and scratching their heads recently. Where have those guys gone? Where are the latest updates? Well, the good news is that we're still here, and in fact very busy at the moment, both with personal and professional duties. That especially goes for J-Film Pow-Wow editor and chief Chris MaGee. The bit of bad news is that this has kept us from our blogging duties, for which we sincerely apologize.

After deliberation amongst all of the crew we have decided to take a brief month long break from regular posts. THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE J-FILM POW-WOW! Far from it, so please don't worry about that. As those of you who have followed us since the beginning you'll know that we're one of the most regularly updated Japanese film blogs. Still, we're human, so please be patient while we tie up our extra-curricular duties and recharge our batteries. During this break we will be doing occasional news drops, so please check back!

One huge, and very good thing, that has been taking up time here at the J-Film Pow-Wow is Toronto's Shinsedai Cinema Festival. Chris has been very hard at work on the 4th edition of the festival, coming to The Revue Cinema between July 12th and 15th, and he will be continually tweeting and updating the festival's Facebook page, so please check him out there!

So, again, our apologies... but this isn't goodbye, it's just a see you in exactly one month!

REVIEW: Tokyo Drifter

2012-01-16T17:38:00.001-08:00

トーキョードリフター (Tokyo Dorifuta)

Released: 2011

Director:
Tetsuaki Matsue

Starring:
Kenta Maeda

Running time: 72 min.

Reviewed by Nicholas Vroman

“Tokyo Drifter” begins on a black screen with the briefest of announcements. "Latest news on the tsunami situation…” An ad jingle comes up alternating with street noise. A murky shot of a Japanese flag in the darkness gives way to an empty office building with all the lights on. A quick cut to black. A building with a sign – Olympus goes out of focus. Cut to black A long shot of a dark building flashing a couple lights. A train station’s light illuminates many commuters who once they exit find the exterior plunged into darkness. A darkened Toyota sign foregrounds a ribbon of red car taillights snaking away into the night.

The camera zooms in on a traffic island, a handful of folks bustling by, cars zipping by. The auto focus makes the image snap in and out of focus. The camera shakes as singer songwriter, Kenta Maeno, far away unpacks his guitar and begins singing.

The offhand editing is anything but. The shaky and soft images specifically reference the iconic images of the earthquake and tsunami of 3.11 – those awesome and horrifying lo-fi images taken from ketais and digital cameras. These are the aesthetic tools and motifs that make up Tetsue Matsuaki’s off-kilter love letter to Tokyo and the darkness it was thrust into after the great Tohoku earthquake. For months after the earthquake, businesses and public offices turned off neon lights and signs. Streetlights were turned off. Tokyo, famous for its illuminated nightscape was an eerily changed city.

A couple of years ago, Matsuaki and Maeno made the indie sensation, “Live Tape” – a single shot feature that followed Maeno singing and improvising on a long walk through Kichijoji, a hip neighborhood in western Tokyo. He revisits a similar trope in “Tokyo Drifter” with Maeno singing an album’s worth of material over one rainy night, this time in different neighborhoods around Tokyo. The new film, however, finds the director and his singing muse much more focused, even as Maeno drifts around different sites on his motorcycle a couple months after the disaster.

Maeno’s first song, sung on a dimly lit traffic island with passersby consciously ignoring him builds images of people traveling via a night bus - young lovers and old men, rain and snow and lonely stations. The bittersweet ideas of drifting travelers filled with hopes and broken dreams set the stage for Maeno’s own seemingly aimless travels through the darkened quarters of the city he both loves, but has a fair share of criticism for.

Next we see him in Ginza, in a dark alley, a Louis Vuitton store’s sign casting a ghostly glow in the background. He signs a questioning love song…

A woman's friendship's an enigma
A woman's friendship's what I need

… followed up with another song – a slacker’s remembrance of a sticky past summer. He hits the road singing:

Blue sky and the sun are calling
… these days of youth
Off we go staying young and fearless
Off we go on a journey
through these days of youth
When in tears of in joy
We'll stay friends as we journey on

We next find him sitting in front of a closed hair salon in Meidaimae, another hip area on the west side of town, singing a sad and beautiful song suggesting that the words love and loneliness are words that he longs to be gone. Maeno is a romantic at heart. He gets up and wanders down a dark shotnegai, again singing a reminiscence of a hot summer. Next we see him in front an anonymous apartment, still in darkness, where he sings another bittersweet love song. Through these songs he speaks of hot unbearable days, cockroaches and generally nasty stuff with a longing and appreciation for what life in Tokyo is really about.

Next we find him in Shibuya where he delivers a wickedly funny song of pure self-revulsion, “Fuck Me.” He wanders toward the famous crossing singing a set of songs loosely built around wistful impressions and celebrations of rainy nights and days, 120-yen coffee and the crass consumption that’s the essential metaphor for life in Tokyo. When he reaches the crossing the huge video monitors, neon lights and signs that usually keep the place in constant daylight are off. The Shibuya crossing is rarely seen like this.

He hits the road as the rain grows stronger singing the AKB 48 hit of last spring, “Heavy Rotation.”

I want you
I need you
I love you
My mind…
Love's on heavy rotation
Heavy rotation

Next he’s in front of a convenience store, its sign off. He’s silhouetted only by the interior neon. The rain pours down as he sings a couple more songs – one about the impossibility of knowing others’ lives and the other a tortured love song to Tokyo itself.

This worn down magnificent city
Tokyo
Dreams, hope and passion
Pathetic, but it's
Tokyo
Breaking up with your
First meeting you
I realized that I loved this city
This worn down city of youth
Tokyo
The lights go down
The young move out
Tokyo

The final scene finds Maeno at dawn on a dike by a river, the city in the background. He sings a rather heroic song binding ideas of the past and future, looking to “the new morning sunrise.” He tosses his pick away as the camera goes into a close up of his dirty fingers playing a circle of fifths. A blackout as the music continues and a studio mixed band fills in the final “Tokyo Drifter’ song (not the Hajime Kaburagi version). Shots of Maeno on his motorcycle continuing his journey give way to the credits.

“Tokyo Drifter,” Tetsuaki and Maeno’s paean to the darkness, to Tokyo as physical presence – in all it’s filth and glory - and a state of mind, boldly takes the defining national tragedy of 2011 and turns it on its head, finding a bit of light and hope from it all. As he told me, “The Tokyo now and the Tokyo then is different. In May everyone was on edge. They didn’t know what was happening. I prefer Tokyo then in May, rather than the Tokyo we’re in now.”

Read more by Nicholas Vroman at his blog

Stills and plot details of new Toshiaki Toyoda film "I'm Flash" appear online

2012-01-16T17:35:00.000-08:00

by Chris MaGee

Our first story from our friends at Twitch (via Ryuganji) today. Toshiaki Toyoda is one of my personal favorite filmmakers of all time, so I am always on the look out for news on the director of "9 Souls" and "Hanging Garden". Toyoda's recent activity has been a little contradictory of late though. For the longest time there was low level but consistent buzz that after his 2008 comeback film "Blood of Rebirth", which surprised many with its abstract pacing and minimal narrative, that Toyoda was working on a yakuza film partially set in Okinawa. Then, this past fall Toyoda released "Monsters Club", an art house film based on the writings of Ted Kaczynski, The Unabomber. So what happened to the yakuza film?

It now looks like Toyoda is finally putting the finishing touches on his long discussed yakuza drama, a film that reunites him with a favorite actor from his early films and an actor known to fans of such films as "Battle Royale" and "Death Note". Toyoda's "I'm Flash" (yes, that's the title) is being prepped for a September release in Japan, and a couple of stills featuring its two lead actors, Ryuhei Matsuda and Tatsuya Fujiwara, have been posted online. As many fans of Toyoda know Matsuda starred in two of Toyoda's defining films, 2001's "Blue Spring" and 2003's "9 Souls", so it's great to see him back in the fold for this project. In the film Fujiwara plays a popular religious cult leader who heads to an Okinawan island with his gangster bodyguard (Matsuda) to recuperate from a car accident. It's on the island that the bodyguard begins to suspect that his boss has been involved in something sinister. Interesting stuff, although maybe not the straight ahead gangster flick everyone might have been expecting. Still, it's Toyoda, so it'll definitely be worth a look. We'll be checking for more details on this as they surface.

Wakamtsu's "United Red Army" and "Caterpillar" come to DVD this week!

2012-01-16T17:34:00.001-08:00

by Chris MaGee

It's been a busy time behind the scenes at the J-Film Pow-Wow that last week or so, which has been difficult seeing that there has been a lot of great news coming down the pipe for fans of Japanese film. One especially good piece of news for folks who prefer art house fare is that not one, but two critically-acclaimed films by veteran indie director Koji Wakamastu are coming to DVD... this week!

Kino Lorber have announced that Wakamatsu's 2007 political docudrama "United Red Army" and his 2010 Edogawa Rampo adaptation "Caterpillar" (above) will be released tomorrow, January 17th on DVD and VOD. As many of you will remember, both films received a limited theatrical run last year (they screened here in Toronto last summer), but now Japanese cinephiles will be able to add these two contemporary classics to their personal collections.

Thanks to Crunchyroll for this great news.

"Sakuran" director Mika Ninagawa returns with manga adaptation "Helter Skelter"

2012-01-16T17:32:00.000-08:00

by Chris MaGee

Our second piece of news coming via Twitch today reveals what one filmmaker who has seemingly been M.I.A. in the past couple years is up to next. Many of you will remember 2007's "Sakuran" starring Anna Tsuchiya as a young woman rising through the ranks of geisha house. That film, based on a manga by Moyoco Anno, marked the directorial debut of fashion photographer Mika Ninagawa. With her photographic background (and a bit of good genes from her dad, prominent stage director Yuki Ninagawa) "Sakuran" ended up a gorgeous but a little slim account of fame and beauty in Japan's Edo Era. Since "Sakuran", though, Ninagawa went back to fashion photography, and many wondered if she'd make the leap to filmmaking again.

Now word has come that Ninagawa (above left) has cast actress/ model/ singer Erika Sawajiri (above right) in her sophomore film "Helter Skelter". Once again the film is based on a manga, bu artist Kyoko Okazaki, and again it deals with themes of fame and beauty. This time out though the drama takes place in a world Ninagawa knows very well -- that of high fashion. Sawajiri stars as Ririko, a hugely successful model who is hiding a terrible secret -- her astonishing beauty is not natural but is instead the result of extensive plastic surgery.

The film boasts a truly impressive supporting cast. Award-winning actress Shinobu Terajima stars as Ririko's manager, Nao Omori stars as prosecuting attorney, Yosuke Kubozuka stars as Ririko's boyfriend and Mieko Harada portrays the head of the plastic surgery clinic whicch created Ririko's gorgeous face and body.

Expect to see "Helter Skelter" hit Japanese theatres on July 14th.

REVIEW: Boys on the Run

2012-01-16T17:30:00.001-08:00

ボーイズ・オン・ザ・ラン (Boizu On Za Ran)

Released: 2010

Director:
Daisuke Miura

Starring:
Kazunobu Mineta
Mei Kurokawa
Ryuhei Matsuda
You
Kaoru Kobayashi

Running time: 114 min.

Reviewed by Eric Evans

Like the John Hughes teen angst films it echoes, "Boys on the Run" chronicles one desperate yet sincere outcast's struggle for romance. The film is an adaptation of Kengo Hanazawa's manga, with a screenplay co-written by Hanazawa and director Daisuke Miura. It is relentless in its emulation and subversion of escapist formula. "Boys" might be a realist's response to films like "Pretty In Pink" in that it hits many of the same narrative tropes one by one but without the Hollywood gloss. Grand gestures result not in a sweep of music and the lover running into your arms, but in abject public humiliation and violence. The film's great strength is in how it sets up and fulfills the story's major beats, but subverts the hero's (and audience's) expectations of each.

Girls can be scary. Just ask Tanishi (Kazunobu Mineta), a 29-yr-old virgin who muddles through his sales job at a small vending machine novelty toy company. Like most guys his age he's got a healthy interest in sex, but shyness and a lack of experience make interacting with women near impossible. Enter Uemura Chiharu, a pretty and demure young woman who works in the creative services department at his company. They lock eyes at an after-hours izakaya party and Tanishi dares to hope that, should the stars align just so, his nights of furiously masturbating to phone sex lines and internet porn might be over.

Amusing and emotionally resonant, "Boys on the Run" might be the feel-bad movie of 2010. It's boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy fights to win her back by making increasingly bad decisions dictated by the storylines of comics, TV shows and movies. All the lessons Tanishi has learned from a lifetime of reading manga and watching TV are revealed as escapist bullshit. In time the film abandons the pretense of having Tanishi follow movie clichés subconsciously and has him openly embrace his own hollowness: he rents "Taxi Driver" and publicly announces his Travis Bicklization with a mohawk hairdo. This final grand gesture will either validate Tanishi's actions thus far or result in sublime humiliating failure. That he's still willing to take such a risk after the preceding episodes is testament to both his foolish determination and his hopeless immaturity.

The ensemble cast is uniformly good; Mineta and Kurokawa hit the right balance as leads. In the film's first half Tanishi is intended as a cypher for the countless young men he represents and in the second half he's an idealized, vision-questing hero. Mineta manages to imbue both with both boyish sincerity and a nervous uncertainty that lets the viewer know he's not following his instincts, but doing the things that a lifetime spent ingesting manga and movies demands he do. Kurokawa's Uemura, the object of Tanishi's increasingly unwanted affection, gives a deceptively simple performance. As the story progresses she conveys an air of polite disinterest and revulsion while remaining a convincing romantic goal for the protagonist. In other words, she must be both unlikable yet likable without seeming capricious—no simple task. As their respective parent figures, You and Kaoru Kobayashi (as Shiho, the been-there, seen-that sex worker neighbor and Suzuki, the grizzled, alcoholic senpai who trains Tanishi to box, respectively) are excellent. That they are both broken-down people in dead-end careers is evident to the audience, but not their charges. It's also clear to all but the characters themselves that, had neither of them been involved, Tanishi and Uemura might have gotten together, or at very least their discomfort would have been minimized.

This lack of character self-awareness is key to the film. Tanishi is 29 yet lives at home and behaves like a teenager; Uemura, also in her 20s, has a cheap, sloppy studio apartment in the red light district and displays all the emotional maturity of a cheerleader. Shiho and Suzuki are mentors but have no answers. Shiho is an aging "sex bath" escort who advertises herself as a 25-yr-old, drawing snickers from even Tanishi; Suzuki openly drinks at work, assuring incredulous co-workers that beer "doesn't count" as drinking. This emotional immaturity goes all the way up to the top, as the CEOs of the two feuding novelty companies address on-the-job fighting, drinking, and other HR horrors with a schoolyard mentality of encouragement. At no point does anyone react to Tanishi's increasingly unhinged behavior with adult concern.

Of course a movie needs a bad guy and here it's Aoyama, Tanashi's slick, polished rival in novelty sales and Uemura's affections. Played with charm and a practiced, casual cruelty by Ryuhei Matsuda, he's not so much Tanashi's opposite as a variation, an illustration of how a similarly emotionally stunted boy can grow into a functional sociopath. He does exactly what is necessary to get what he wants from others—whether for amusement, sexual gratification, or business success—without the hinderance of conscience. Matsuda doesn't get the credit he deserves as a compelling and versatile actor: he's equally at home playing the tough guy as he is the tortured soul, and his presence here elevates a small yet pivotal role.

"Boys on the Run" really works, even as it induces a fair bit of cringing. Tonally, the movie is closer to the Larry David/Ricky Gervais theater of embarrassment than the feel-good Hughes rom-coms it resembles. It can be read as the Japanese indie film response to decades of Hollywood's simplification of the solutions to life's troubles, or as a particularly singular version (or perversion) of same. The title of the film is both a gag and a warning: these are not boys, and if they're running from anything, it's reality.

Rejoice, Toronto anime fans! Studio Ghibli retro comes to TIFF Bell Lightbox

2012-01-16T17:29:00.001-08:00

by Chris MaGee

The thing that made our recent mini-break from posting here on the blog all the more difficult was that we couldn't share our immediate joy regarding a very important announcement here in our hometown of Toronto. As many of you will remember, we posted about how a full retrospective of the films of Studio Ghibli at New York's IFC Center between December 16th to January 12th. At that time there was an indication that this retrospective, which included 35mm prints of such Ghibli classics as "My Neighbor Totoro", "Princess Mononoke", "Only Yesterday", "Porco Rosso" (above) and "The Cat Returns", would start touring around North America with a potential stop here in Toronto. Would it happen? It turns out it is!

The official site for the Toronto International Film Festival Group announced that "Spirited Away: The Films of Studio Ghibli" will be coming to the TIFF Bell Lightbox here in the city from March 10th to April 8th. 15 films from the animation studio founded by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata in 1984 will screen on the big screen, something that rarely happens here in Canada as new Ghibli releases only tend to get very limited theatrical runs before hitting DVD. Most likely this will be the case when Ghibli's "The Secret World of Arrietty" gets released in North America in February, but this retrospective will make whatever select screenings of "Arrietty" that take place become a appetizer for this full feast of Ghibli goodness.

Head to the TIFF Bell Lightbox website here for a full listing of the films in the programme, as well as details on purchasing tickets.

Japanese superstar Ken Watanabe narrates documentary on quake/ tsunami recovery

2012-01-16T17:28:00.001-08:00

by Chris MaGee

There are few Japanese actors with the kind of public profile as Ken Watanabe. He's continually appeared in major Hollywood blockbusters as "The Last Samurai", "Letters from Iwo Jima" and "Inception", while it is nearly impossible to escape his handsome profile on TV, in movies and on billboards at home in Japan. The 52-year-old actor has increasingly used this notoriety to talk about social causes close to his heart (in fact his English Twitter feed is dedicated to such social advocacy). Now there is word that Watanabe will be heading to Switzerland to discuss the one cause that Watanabe holds most dear: Japan's recovery from the March 11th Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

Jason Gray over at Screen Daily has reported that Watanabe will be heading to Davos, Switzerland next week to give a speech at The World Economic Forum. He will not only be speaking about the aftermath of this historic disaster, but he will also be premiering an as yet untitled documentary which he narrated about quake and tsunami recovery in the crippled Tohoku region. This premiere comes just short of two months before the documentary gets its official release on the first anniversary of the massive 9.0 quake.

As many of you already know, Watanabe has been active during the past 10 months increasing awareness about the aftermath of the quake and tsunami, as well as calling on his Japanese and Hollywood stars to spread hope to those affected by the disaster through his kizuna311 ("kizuna" meaning bond) website. A very worthy cause, and we wish Watanabe success on his trip to Switzerland.

REVIEW: Sleepy Eyes of Death 2: Sword of Adventure

2012-01-16T17:26:00.001-08:00

眠狂四郎勝負 (Nemuri Kyōshirō 2: Shōbu)

Released: 1964

Director:
Kenji Misumi

Starring:
Raizo Ichikawa
Koichi Aihara
San'emon Arashi
Shinjiro Asano
Okuzan Asao

Running time: 83 min.

Reviewed by Matthew Hardstaff

"Sleepy Eyes of Death 1: The Chinese Jade" laid the groundwork pretty well for the development of Nemuri Kyoshiro. They don’t spend much time establishing who Kyoshiro is, assuming the audience already knows from the tales on which the series is adapted from, or leaving it as a mystery, basing our entire knowledge of Kyoshiro on his actions. It spent its opening scenes separating itself from the then contemporary film series Shinobi No Mono, which also starred Kyoshiro himself, Raizo Ichikawa, by having him open the film slaughtering a group of ninja. And so what better way to start the sequel by immediately separating it from its predecessor. Part 1 ended with Kyoshiro’s love being killed, and him bitter and mad at the world. And so here, after being introduced to the busy urban scene, meeting the young boy Rentaro and the old financial assistant to the Shogun Akaza Gunbei, we catch a glimpse of a female pickpocket running through the crowd, plying her trade. Unfortunately for her, a crowd of people catches her, and in a second her flayed clothes fly into the air and a naked female thief darts off through the crowd. Nemuri Kyoshiro also leaves the crowd, wallet in hand, having plied his trade. This is not the Kyoshiro from the first film, this is a different man entirely, who will not only catch a female trickster, but also make her the laughing stock of her peers.

From there, we learn more about Rentaro and Akaza Gunbei. Rentaro is now living on the streets, his father dead after a ronin challenged him to a duel, killing him and taking over his dojo. Kyoshiro immediately perks up. Soon he finds himself dueling with the ronin and quickly dispatching him. From there his fate becomes intertwined with Akaza Gunbei. Gunbei has been put in charge of finding ways to cut costs for the Shogun, a task that doesn’t always bode well with people who in the end may loose out financially. One of these people is the Shoguns own daughter Takahime, the most beautiful of all his daughters. She lives off a stipend given to her by her father, a stipend Gunbei believes is wasteful. She obviously sees only one way to save herself from financial ruin, as she lounges in lavish luxury: kill Gunbei. Of course Kyoshiro finds himself not only standing between the two, but also a vessel of lust the hedonistic princess. But of course, this new Kyoshiro disdains the romantic notion of love, and will do everything in his pour to reject her and any other woman he meets.

This film is notably different as I already pointed out, but also in the same mold. The writer, Seiji Hoshikawa, wrote many films in this series, as well as Zatoichi, so he’s not only a seasoned pro at writing for a film series, but he also brings a subtle sense of continuity between films. On the surface it may appear that Kyoshiro is helping the boy Rentaro and the old man Akaza Gunbei because he wants to help fight injustice. However his actions speak differently. Take the duel with the ronin who killed Rentaro’s father. His interest is peaked after Gunbei tells him his father ran a dojo and speaks of the feats of martial prowess he achieved. Kyoshiro smells a fight. He also fights the ronin in the style of the deceased master, which is only possible if he studied the style, giving him another reason to defeat the ronin in a duel. And this is how much of the film plays out. Kyoshiro starts following the old man Gunbei around, always remaining in his vicinity, after he discovers people are out to get him, people with swords that like to duel. He could have easily acted as Gunbei's bodyguard, and helped evade the man from danger, but he prefers to hover around Gunbei until danger strikes, using him as bait. Where as the first film seems to intertwine Kyoshiro’s fate with that of dispatching death, here Kyoshiro tempts fate but putting himself directly in the path of violence and destruction, through the guise of good nature and the battle of injustice. His nihilistic nature is subtle, but it is brewing within him.

Director Kenji Misumi also sets the film apart visually though his usually stunning imagery and vicious yet stylistic staging of swordplay. In the first film the duels were more like a dance, there was more beauty not just in Raizo Mishawaka’s movements, but also in the visual composition and montage. Here Misumi has a slightly more aggressively visual style, which forms a wonderful symbiosis with Kyoshiro’s chosen path.

Kyoshiro the nihilist here we come!!

Read more by Matthew Hardstaff at his blog.

Weekly Trailers

2012-01-16T17:24:00.001-08:00

Zombie Ass - Noboru Iguchi (2011)

Danger! Noboru Iguchi, the man who brought us "The Machine Girl" and "RoboGeisha" returns with the tale of a battle between high school girls and zombies... and there's a lot of ass involved. Okay, there's more than just ass going on in the trailer for "Zombie Ass". There's exploding heads too! "Zombie Ass" is due for a Japanese theatrical release next month.

Tarao Bannai - Norifumi Suzuki (1978)

Famed early 70's exploitation director Norifumi Suzuki shifted gears in '78 to bring to screen the adventures of fictional detective Tarao Bannai. Lead actor Akira Kobayashi, famous for portraying tough guy gangsters is nearly unrecognizable as the titular sleuth.

Japanese Weekend Box Office, January 14th to January 15th

2012-01-16T17:23:00.001-08:00

1. Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol (Paramount)
2. Admiral Yamato* (Toei)
3. Magic Tree House* (GAGA)
4. Friends:Naki On The Monster Island* (Toho)
5. Inazuma Eleven Go: The Movie* (Toho)
6. Kaibutsu-kun:The Movie* (Toho)
7. Kamen Rider ~Kamen Rider Fourze & OOO Movie Taisen Megamax* (Toei)
8. Real Steel (Disney)
9. Tale Of Genji: A Thousand Year Enigma* (Toho)
10. Fright Night (Disney)

* Japanese film

Courtesy of Box Office Japan.

REVIEW: The Woodsman and the Rain

2012-01-09T10:44:00.000-08:00

キツツキと雨 (Kitsutsuki to Ame)

Released: 2011

Director:
Shuichi Okita

Starring:
Koji Yakusho
Shun Oguri
Kanji Furutachi
Asami Usuda
Tsutomu Yamazaki

Running time: 129 min.

Reviewed by Chris MaGee

There are two kinds of Japanese films that you never think would cross paths: the small town "gambatte" heart-warmer and the minimalist, downbeat indie comedy. One appeals to families heading to movie theatres and the other (in a lot of cases) is made to appeal to young, disaffected Japanese youth. They'd be cinematic oil and water, right? Well, at least most would think so, but one film that has managed to combine these polar opposite genres into a satisfying whole is "The Woodsman and the Rain". What makes this... well, minimalist "gambatte" indie heart-warmer... truly interesting is how it accomplishes this not just from behind the camera, but also by the combination of talent in front of the camera.

Katsu (Koji Yakuzho) is a 60-year-old lumberjack who spends his days at one with nature in the hills and mountains of rural Japan. It's a life that seems to suit this taciturn and pragmatic man. As he methodically (and with great respect) harvests lumber he doesn't need to talk or think about his late wife or his contentious relationship with his slacker son (Kengo Kora). Out in the forest life is uneventful... for the most part. One afternoon Katsu is stopped by a member of the producer of an indie zombie movie (Kanji Furutachi) and asked to refrain from chainsawing until they finish shooting. It's an unlikely event, but it forms the heart of the film.

Soon the producer is asking Katsu to drive them around the area as he, and a sulky, socially withdrawn young man named Koichi (Shun Oguri), scout locations for the film. Katsu really wants no part of this crazy endeavor, and he almost instantly takes a dislike to Koichi. It isn't until Katsu drives this limp young man to the train station one night that he not only learns the full plot of the film (a near future Japan in which all but 6,000 humans battle it out with zombies), but also that Koichi is no lowly crew member. He's the film's screenwriter and director! Soon Katsu is being enticed by the magic of moviemaking, but most importantly it's in 25-year-old Koichi that Katsu has a chance at reassessing his own relationship with his 20-something son. Soon both men are feeding each others lives and creativity, all the while battling zombies.

What director Shuichi Okita, the man who brought us 2009's gentle comedy "Chef of the South Polar", has done "The Woodsman and the Rain" is have one of Japan's most respected actors, Koji Yakusho, portray a character that is little seen on screens these days and contrast him with a character seen regularly in indie Japanese productions. Katsu is closer to the calloused-handed, steely-eyed alpha males portrayed by Ken Ogata and Kinya Kitaoji in films like Shinji Somai's "The Catch" and Mistuo Yanagimachi's "Himatsuri"; but Katsu still ends up being a classic Yakusho character. Like the leads in "Shall We Dance?" and "University of Laughs", Katsu is a man whose mind and heart are opened up by the most unlikely of creative outlets. With this Japanese film archetype alone Okita would have hit on his hands, but he places Katsu alongside Shun Oguri's shuffling and painfully introverted filmmaker. Koichi is a character that comes straight from the films like Yasutomo Chikuma's "Now, I..." or " Kohei Igarashi's Voice of the Rain that Comes at Night". It could have been a disaster, but it wasn't.

Watching "The Woodsman and the Rain" made me think of other great cinematic mash-ups that could have failed miserable, but didn't. Peter Bogdanovich's 1968 thriller "Targets" which pit an aging horror film actor (Boris Karloff) against a new kind of horror -- a Vietnam vet turned mass murderer (Tim O'Kelly), or John Wayne and James Stewart contrasted with the young Ron Howard in Don Siegel's western "The Shootist". "The Woodsman and the Rain" could have been just another feel-good formula film in which Yakusho's character teaches the young Koichi some valuable life lessons and everyone goes home happy. Everyone will go home happy from "The Woodsman and the Rain", but it will be because this is a film that gives us the best from old and new Japanese film and allows its unlikely leading duo to teach each other.

Actor Hideaki Nitani, 1930-2012

2012-01-09T10:42:00.000-08:00

by Chris MaGee

Sad news the weekend for fans of Nikkatsu action films of the 1960's. Actor Hideaki Nitani, best known for his supporting roles in such films as "Underworld Beauty" and "Tokyo Drifter" died of pneumonia on Saturday, January 7th at a Tokyo hospital. He was 81.

Born in 1930 in Kyoto, Nitani didn't start his career on the screen but on the airwaves. In 1954 he began work as an announcer for a Nagasaki-area radio station. It wasn't until two years later when Nikkatsu Studios began hiring new onscreen talent that Nitani went from announcer to actor. In 1954 Nikkatsu had finally begun to produce films again after having temporarily shuttering itself during the post-war U.S. Occupation. Joining Nitani during this hiring blitz were stars like Akira Kobayashi, Yujiro Ishihara and Jo Shishido. Nitani made his screen debut in 1956 in Takumi Furukawa's "The People of Okinawa". This would begin a string of roles, mostly as tough guys and gangsters, in the films of Seijun Suzuki, Yuzo Kawashima, Ko Nakahira, and Koreyoshi Kurahara, amongst others.

Nitani would begin to take roles on the small screen beginning in 1968 while still acting in Nikkatsu films; but once the studio shifted production entirely to it's famed Roman Porno line of erotic films in 1971 Nitani, as well as many of Nikkatsu's other stars, moved on. Nitani would find fame starring as veteran police detective Kyosuke Kumashiro in the hit TV Asahi series "Frontline Investigators (Tokuso Saizensen)" which ran from 1977 until 1985. Nitani would continue to act on television and the occasional film while being active with charitable organizations working to rebuild post-Khmer Rouge Cambodia. A stroke in 2003 forced Nitani into retirement.

Our sincere condolences go out to Nitani's family, friends and colleagues. We leave you with the trailer for one of Nitani's best known films, Seijun Suzuki's "Tokyo Drifter". Thanks to Don Brown and The Japan Times for the news of Nitani's death and the details of his life.

Miike, Tsukamoto, Koreeda and Kobayashi to screen at Rotterdam Film Festival

2012-01-09T10:40:00.000-08:00

by Chris MaGee

We're at the beginning of a new year, and that means one of the biggest (and most interesting) film festivals is on the calendar. The 41st International Film Festival Rotterdam has just announced its full Spectrum programme and there are a wealth of films by some of the biggest names in Japanese films on board.

Two films that we had the pleasure to see here at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall will be screening -- Shinya Tsukamoto's psychological horror film "Kotoko" and Hirokazu Koreeda's family drama "I Wish". Joining them will be the international premiere of Takashi Miike's video game adaptation "Ace Attorney" (above), as well as the latest film by art house favorite Masahiro Kobayashi, "Women on the Edge".

The 41st International Film Festival Rotterdam will run from January 25th to February 5th. You can check out the full Spectrum line-up here; and keep checking back as more Japanese titles are announced as part of this year's IFFR.

REVIEW: Chef of the South Pole

2012-01-09T10:38:00.000-08:00

南極料理人 (Omoshiro Nankyoku Ryurinin)

Released: 2009

Director:
Shuichi Okita

Starring:
Masato Sakai
Kosuke Toyohara
Katsuhisa Namase
Kitaro
Kengo Kora

Running time: 125 Min

Reviewed by Eric Evans

Imagine a Bizarro-world version of John Carpenter's "The Thing" without the shapeshifting alien monster. Now imagine that there is still a threat to the scientific team in Antarctica, but that threat is running out of ramen noodles and you're halfway to "The Chef of the South Pole", a character-rich comedy from first-time director Shuichi Okita (who co-wrote with former Navy chef Jun Nishimura, the film's titular character). The film describes the tour of duty of a young husband and father who, through no fault and certainly no desire of his own, finds himself cooking for a small scientific team in Antarctica. What kind of mischief can eight Japanese men get up to, living in close quarters for nearly 14 months? Alternately described in the press as an ensemble comedy and as a foodie film a la "Like Water For Chocolate", "Chef" is both of those things and sometimes more.

Nishimura (Masato Sakai) is a career Navy chef with a convivial home life. Wife Miyuki (Naomi Nishida) and daughter Yuka (Karin Ono) alternately tease and ignore him with loving familiarity. This quiet happiness is disrupted with a sudden yearlong assignment at Dome Fuji Station, an Antarctic outpost so remote and in a climate so unforgiving that not even penguins venture to visit. Here he prepares daily meals for the seven other team members, introduced through their idiosyncratic and increasingly peculiar behavior: surly scientist (Katsuhisa Namase), lighthearted doctor (Kosuke Toyohara), mercurial chief (Kitaro), lovelorn lab assistant (Kengo Kora), and so on. The men spend their days doing their work largely isolated from one another, but together at mealtimes; the dining table the only territory they all share. Eight men adjusting to life in isolated, cramped quarters leads to a number of annoyances that strain social convention to comic effect. Isolation can change you, the film posits, but the comforts of a lovingly prepared meal can provide a tether to reality. Of sorts.

During the first week of the 14-month term, team members are up bright and early, assembled in the main quarters for daily calisthenics before breakfast. (These morning exercises consist of the group halfheartedly following along to VHS tapes of three leotard-clad women doing light aerobics while grinning and leering at the screen. Typical conversation: "what color are they wearing today?") Their first meals together—mannered and civil—establish a benchmark against which we measure subsequent meals, wherein we watch them devolve into unkempt, shaggy, occasionally hostile eccentrics. How eccentric? One is found crouching in a feral squat on the kitchen floor gnawing at a brick of butter; another locks himself away in his room, pulling a weeklong hikikomori act when the ramen noodle supply expires. These behavioral changes are measured in alternately baffled and disgusted looks on Sakai's expressive face, the subtlety of which sells the laughs in no small part. This chef is patient, dedicated, and skilled, and cares deeply about his daily menu's quality and diversity. The same cannot be said about his patrons, whose taste and sometimes boorish behavior leave him quietly aghast. Discovery of a crate of frozen lobster creates team demand for lobster tempura, despite his gentle suggestion that there are better ways to enjoy the luxury; late-night noises coming from his pristine kitchen lead to his discovery of unauthorized fridge-raids and makeshift ramen parties. To any chef this might be disturbing, never mind the strict food and water rationing necessary at the bottom of the world. Chef Nishimura responds to these—indeed, most—episodes with a measured curiosity. How can he feed these men so that they are left happy and satisfied?

While no answer is forthcoming, the camera lovingly follows the chef's food preparation and presentation. The meals are much more elaborate and upscale than any sequestered scientist should expect. (Note to viewers: do not watch on an empty stomach.) The slight, tight smile on Sakai's face as he watches the group tuck into his meals is the only outward sign of his satisfaction. That the team isn't astonished by the food on display, better and better day after day, is part of the joke. Audiences will audibly gasp and smack their lips at the film's spreads, and the noodle making sequence is all but a how-to tutorial.

Okita's film doesn't have the steadiness of tone necessary to elevate "Chef" into greatness. There is silliness, yet none of the abandon a young Juzo Itami might have brought to the material. But there's still much to enjoy. The episodic structure and tonal shifts lend emotion and gravity to some scenes and render others lightweight and punchy, approximating the rhythm of that much time passing in eight lives. At just over 2 hours "Chef" feels slightly long but there are plenty of laughs, some immediate and some with a slow burn. The cast has no weak links but Sakai, Kitaro, and Toyohara invest their characters with warmth and personality. Some critics suggest that Sakai is the finest Japanese actor of his generation, and here he fascinates and amuses with his restraint. For every outburst-worthy trespass he conjures a new facial expression of quiet bewilderment. It's a choice that leaves the viewer guessing what will happen next, and as such "Chef" is less predictable than many comedies.

The real-life chef Nishimura wrote two autobiographical novels based on his experiences cooking at the South Pole, hinting that there was a good deal of truth to even the more outrageous sequences. It feels like there's a lot more story left untold; perhaps a TV series could be spun from the source material? In any case, for a film so observant of food it's more of a lightweight lunch than a gourmet meal, but the performances and dry laughs make it worth a look. "Chef" is appropriate for all audiences; it's been screened at embassy events as well as festivals. Smaller kids might be occasionally bored, but it's a fine film to show friends who aren't familiar with Japanese dry humor, or J-cinema outside of samurai classics and kaiju flicks.

"Chef of the South Pole" is being shown as part of the Northwest Film Center's annual "Japanese Currents" program alongside such other contemporary titles as "Haru's Journey" and "Caterpillar". It's a good example of the NW Film Center's commitment to introducing the Portland community to the diversity of modern Japanese film.

UK novelist takes on Richie and Schrader in new Ozu book "Noriko Smiling"

2012-01-09T10:36:00.001-08:00

by Chris MaGee

Many of you either were first exposed to the films of Yasujiro Ozu because of film historian Donald Richie and screenwriter/ director Paul Schrader, or you've subsequently tracked down their seminal books on the Japanese director - Richie's "Ozu" and Schrader's "Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer". These two volumes have shaped the way Westerners watch such films as "Tokyo Story", "Late Spring", "Floating Weeds" and many, many more. Now, though, UK novelist Adam Mars-Jones is taking on Richie and Schrader with a new book titled "Noriko Smiling".

Mars-Jones, author of such novels as "Pilcrow" and "Cedilla", is challenging the rarefied ideas around Ozu, one of the quintessential Japanese cinema masters. Taking Ozu's 1949 film "Late Spring" as a starting point Mars-Jones goes on to argue that Ozu wasn't as indifferent to history as many had thought, and that many tend to minimize the role of the post-war Occupation's policy of strict censorship on Ozu's later work.

The problem about taking on Richie and Schrader is that Mars-Jones doesn't seem to have a lot of experience writing about or researching Japanese film. As Leo Robson points out in his review in Guardian, Mars-Jones admits to not "...being an expert on Japanese film," and also saying "I don't pretend to be an expert on Japanese family structure." That might be something Mars-Jones should take a look into before taking on Yasujiro Ozu. Then again, we've yet to read his book. If anyone does, please let us know in the comments.

Weekly Trailers

2012-01-09T10:35:00.001-08:00

8000 Miles 3 - Yu Irie (2012)

Indie director Yu Irie returns to the series that has made him famous with his third "Saitama Rapper (8000 Miles" film. Things get serious for the hip hop crew as they must take the mic and do battle once again. Expect "8000 Miles 3" to hit Japanese theatres this spring.

Afraid to Die - Yasuzo Masumura (1960)

Famed Japanese novelist Yukio Mishima makes his acting debut as a leather clad street thug who takes on the yakuza and has to deal with a troubled relationship with his girlfriend in Yasuzo Masumura's "Afraid to Die".

REVIEW: The Most Beautiful

2012-01-09T10:32:00.000-08:00

一番美しく (Ichiban utsukushiku)

Released: 1944

Director:
Akira Kurosawa

Starring:
Takashi Shimura
Soji Kiyokawa
Ichiro Sugai
Takako Irie
Yoko Yaguchi

Running time: 85 min.

Reviewed by Marc Saint-Cyr

The second film Akira Kurosawa made in his long and eventful career was very much molded by forces beyond his personal ambitions in filmmaking. "The Most Beautiful" is essentially a World War II propaganda piece specifically designed to promote the strength of the Japanese nation and its dutiful citizens. By the time Kurosawa became attached to the project in 1943, Japan’s prospects in the war were becoming increasingly bleak, which likely explains the film’s morale-boosting themes and focus on factory workers’ courageous efforts rather than actual accomplishments in the battlefield or direct claims of military might. "The Most Beautiful" remains very much fixed on the human spirit and the value of working for a cause, making it a true Kurosawa film at its core despite its other ideological objectives.

The story takes place at a factory in Hiratsuke that manufactures precision lenses for binoculars, weapons and other war tools. Its chief, Goro Ishida (a very young Takashi Shimura) announces the start of a four-month period in which the production quotas for all workers will be at an increased level: 100% more for the men while only 50% more for the women. The female workers voice their discontentment with this arrangement, fiercely arguing that they can manage more responsibility. As they struggle to increase their productivity, they face various challenges. One woman, Suzumura (Asako Suzuki), becomes ill and is taken home against her wishes by her worrisome family while another, Yamaguchi (Shizuko Yamada), runs a fever each night but tries to keep it a secret so as to keep working at the factory. But out of all of them, the one who suffers the most is the group president, Tsuru Watanabe (Yoko Yaguchi, Kurosawa’s future wife). As she battles exhaustion and receives troubling news from abroad about her ailing mother, she pushes onwards with her work.

"The Most Beautiful" is a striking example of how films can be both shaped and altered by different historical contexts. When it was made, it was a clear call to action and duty for a nation locked in war. But one painful loss, an American occupation and several decades’ worth of events later, it is a fascinating time capsule of the Japan that once was. Beyond the obvious spectacle of the amassed workers lined up before their machines and practicing their march routines in formation, there are telling details that clearly show the omnipresent attention to the war effort. Everywhere throughout the factory can be seen banners and signs displaying such messages as “This too is a battlefield!” and orders to follow the examples of certain military units and the war dead. Every day in the workers’ lives is filled with ceremonies and pledges made in the name of Japan, from songs and salutes to the diligent efforts to keep productivity on the rise. After seeing such later, clearly anti-war films of his as "Ran," "Dreams" and "Rhapsody in August," the fact that Kurosawa once made something like "The Most Beautiful" is quite remarkable – even when one understands that its reflected beliefs don’t necessarily correspond with his own. Yet his portrayal of the women and their strong relationships with one another come across as the most sincere and universal facets of the film. Even when their efforts reach near-fanatical levels – most notably when Watanabe determinedly keeps working in the face of personal tragedy and physical discomfort – their touching displays of solidarity and perseverance illustrate an emphasis on teamwork and loyalty that would reappear later on in Kurosawa’s career in films like "Seven Samurai" and "Sanjuro."

"The Most Beautiful" also provides some telling signs of Kurosawa’s growth as a visual storyteller. The women’s progress and slumps in productivity are represented onscreen by an animated graph that reappears throughout the film. Their plain appearances, tiring routines and the various stations and machines where they toil are captured with a keen attention to gritty authenticity which Kurosawa partially evoked by having his actresses actually live at the factory where the film was shot and regularly carry out the tasks that are shown in the film. He regularly finds creative ways to explore and develop the story like revisiting a janitor character who comments on the women’s progress and using the supervisors’ walk through the plant to introduce new settings and characters (much like the scene in "Seven Samurai" in which the hired warriors explore the village while forming their plan). At certain points, there are noticeable bursts of dramatic editing such as a volleyball game that quickly cuts between close-ups of the women’s faces. A nighttime sequence that gives way to a small flashback to childhood memories in a snowy town helps keep intact the human side of the characters, portraying them as individuals with their own histories prior to the outbreak of the war. Yet the film never lets viewers forget the greater cause that is continually positioned higher than any one person’s needs. This message of selfless devotion to a greater goal would later be applied in more humanistic ways to subjects dearer to Kurosawa’s heart than the wartime nationalism that was still coursing through Japan when he made "The Most Beautiful."

Read more by Marc Saint-Cyr at his blog

Nicholas Vroman's Top Five Favorite Films of 2011

2012-01-05T22:38:00.000-08:00

Nicholas Vroman, our man in Tokyo, is in the enviable position of getting a look at theatrical releases and festival premieres that us other Pow-Wow contributors only dream of. Here are his top theatrical picks from Japan from 2011.

1. Saya Zamurai (dir. Hitoshi Matsumoto)

If you had any doubt, “Saya Zamurai” puts Hitoshi Matsumoto up there with the great comedic auteurs of all time. We’re talking Keaton, Chaplin, Tati and maybe Jerry Lewis. From his first film, “Dainipponjin” to “Symbol" to this one, he’s deconstructed comedy brilliant, if somewhat intellectually. The laughs were more in the mind than the belly. Here he lays the whole idea of comedy and its commerce bare with his hapless hero’s attempts to save his own life through an increasing spectacle of bad jokes – and brings it all around to a moving denouement. In “Saya Zamurai” Matsumoto digs deep into his finely honed comic mind and finds his heart.

2. I Wish (dir. Hirokazu Koreeda)

Hirokazu Koreeda’s joyful “Kiseki” (I Wish) was the perfect antidote to the downbeat mood that has gripped the nation after the great Touhoku earthquake, tsunami and ongoing nuclear crisis. It’s a family movie, and thus didn’t register so highly on most critics’ radars, but what a family movie it is. Kore-eda’s exploration of dreams and hopes isn’t filled with sugar-coated platitudes. The broken dreams and concessions of adults exist side by side with the impossible (and some possible) dreams of the kids who are the engines that drive the film. Maeda Maeda, the pint-sized manzai team who front the film are a joy to watch as they shake up themselves and those around them to at very least make them (and the viewers) recognize that it’s the doing that’s most important.

3. Household X (dir. Koki Yoshida)

“Household X,” Koki Yoshida’s austere an uncompromising exploration of a disintegrating family seems to tread on old ground, with its images of extreme urban alienation and stripped down drama – if one can call long passages of silence and non-communication “drama.” But looking at the motifs and images that bind the story – and the family – together shows a very assured director working with rigor and not a single unnecessary shot. Yoshida knows how to make the most mundane shot significant. “Tokyo Sonata” covered similar ground, but seems downright melodramatic and clichéd compared to “Household X.”

4. My Back Page (dir. Nobuhiro Yamashita)

Nobuhiro Yamashita brings out the best from stars Kenichi Matsuyama as a psychopathic charismatic radical leader and Satoshi Tsumabuki as a young reporter. The smartly directed duo get the rare opportunity to dig into the crazy times of social and political change with a cinematic chemistry that makes a beautiful emotional sense of the relationship between two complex men. “My Back Page” is a welcome addition to a recent spate of films dealing with the radical turmoil of 30 or so years ago. Coupling a bittersweet nostalgia with an unromantic looks at motivation, actions and consequences, it reveals and revels in an emotional honesty that says more than most history books.

5. Tokyo Drifter (dir. Tetsuaki Matsue)

As in “Live Tape,” Matsue Tetsuaki follows singer Kenta Maeno, this time over one rainy night in Tokyo. Maeno’s love/hate songs to Tokyo work like a concept album. Countered with the ugly, shaky and increasingly degraded look of the visuals (shot by “My Back Page” and “Saya Zamurai” cinematographer, Ryuto Kondo), Tetsuaki perversely explores images, sounds and expectations. As an analog and reference to the handheld ketai images that documented 3.11, the images of “Tokyo Drifter” counterpunch with a celebration of the darkness that engulfed Tokyo for a few months, daring to say, “these are the better times.” Tokyo Drifter’s an audacious and uneven film that brings up a wealth of questions in search of resolutions.

Matthew Hardstaff's Top 5 DVD Releases of 2011

2012-01-05T22:36:00.000-08:00

J-Film Pow-Wow contributing writer Matthew Hardstaff had a monumental 2011 with he and his girlfriend welcoming their first child. This might have kept him out of the movie theatre at times, but it didn't keep him away from the video store! Here are Matthew's favorite DVD releases of 2011.

Sleepy Eyes of Death Volume 2 (Animeigo)

The nihilistic badass samurai is back with 4 more films. Nemuri Kyoshiro quickly became one of my favourite samurai characters to grace the silver screen after my first viewing of the original boxed set. However it contained only the first 4 films of the series, and it wasn’t until the fourth film that the true bastard outlaw samurai’s form had truly taken shape. Now, with the next four films in the series, we are treated to the Nemuri Kyoshiro of Renzaburo Shibata’s serialized tales that we only received glimpses of. What these films lack in blood they make up for with perversion and nihilism. Plus, we’re treated to the late great Raizo Ichikawa, his blank, sleepy eyed stare and the hypnotic full moon cut! My favourite purchase of 2011! Now let’s hope they release the last 4 films featuring Ichikawa.

Kuroneko (Criterion)

If we learned anything from Kaneto Shindo’s "Onibaba", the man knows how to weave an engaging and haunting tale filled with feminist undertones, some spectacular black and white imagery, and boiling with an underlying eroticism. "Kuroneko" is no different, and in fact builds on the spectral eeriness and splendid cinematography, creating a brilliant cacophony of the macabre. Witness one of a handful of films that helped to establish what is now the typical genre trappings of J-horror.

Still Walking (Criterion)

During its festival run when I saw this at TIFF, this was one of two films that made me cry (the other being "JCVD"). Hirokazu Kore-eda’s beautiful, poignant tale explores how we inherit the small gestures, the tiny idiosyncrasies, from our parents, despite or in spite of ourselves. It’s touching and moving, and utterly remarkable because it’s able to tell more about human nature than most films with ten times the scale. Or maybe that’s why it works so well? Either way, this is another masterwork from Kore-eda, and my personal favourite of his.

Zebraman 2 (Funimation)

The first installment of "Zebraman" was hilariously entertaining and brilliant in its presentation of the tokusatsu genre. Here Takashi Miike turns the series up to 11, creating an utterly insane and madcap superhero film that takes no prisoners. Miike isn’t known for his subtlety, and this film is no different, but he has a knack for going so far over the top that it winds up in places you couldn’t even imagine. For a guy who became famous for making films that disturbed that hell out of people, he makes incredibly entertaining family films, which is a testament to his ability as a director. This film is a perfect example of his skill.

13 Assassins (Magnolia)

Speaking of Miike and his burgeoning ability to weave films of all genres whilst always turning it up to 11, 13 Assassins was one of my favourite films of 2010, and would be higher on the list if it wasn’t for the fact that this is the international cut of the film, and not the original version. Regardless, this is not your grand daddy’s samurai film. Whereas the original film criticized the feudal society as a whole, here Miike seems content to a more condensed version of the same theme, presenting the world of the samurai as a bloody, filthy, dirty mess, where men, once committed to an ideal, will follow through with it no matter how much it may end up morally opposing them. Men are blinded by their faith, and what follows is a blood bath like no other, where the only person that wins is the one who literally throws dirt in the face of his enemy. He deconstructs the samurai mythos with dirt and blood. And it’s beautiful.

J-pop group Momoiro Clover get themselves cast in another indie film

2012-01-05T22:34:00.000-08:00

by Chris MaGee

We don't normally spend a lot of time reporting on Japanese girl groups, boy groups or pop idols here on The J-Film Pow-Wow. Okay, we hardly ever mention them, but why would we? There are the occasional pop idols who make their way to the big screen in various forgettable films, but they're few and far between. There are the occasional idols that make interesting transitions from J-pop to film though, and few recent examples are as odd and interesting as girl group Momoiro Clover (above).

This sextet of cuties signed to the Stardust Productions talent agency found their way into Koji Shiraishi's 2010 horror mockumentary "Shirome". In that film Shiraishi, who also brought us the banned in the UK "Grotesque", scared the girls half to death with a ghost story about a vengeful white-eyed spirit. It turned out that everyone was in on the joke except for Momoiro Clover, so you'd think they would be wary about getting drawn into another film project. Not so...

Momoiro Clover are appearing in another film, and their appearance is even more incongruous than before. Momoiro Clover star as themselves in indie director Tetsuya Mariko's latest film "Ninifuni". The film, co-written with fellow indie filmmaker Yasutomo Chikuma, takes its inspiration from a real-life case of a young man who kills himself after being involved in a violent robbery. From this true life drama Mariko and Chikuma craft a minimal drama... but one that ends with a performance by Momoiro Clover. Not to give to much away, but the young man ends up on a beach where the girl group is shooting a music video. These girls really do get around the Japanese indie film scene!

"Ninifuni" will get a limited theatrical run at Tokyo's Eurospace theatre in February. Check out the trailer below. Thanks to Eiganavi.entermeitele.net for this.

Hyper box office earning "Bayside Shakedown" franchise to come to an end in 2012

2012-01-05T22:32:00.000-08:00

by Chris MaGee

There have been a lot of successful TV to movie spin-offs at the Japanese box office in the past decade or so. "Boys Over Flowers", "Rookies" and "Liar's Game" are all good examples, but there have been few TV to movie success stories like the "Bayside Shakedown" films. The behind-closed-doors police department adventures of Detective Shunsaku Aoshima began on FujiTV back in 1997, and now, 15 years later, they will conclude with "Bayside Shakedown: The Final", set to be released in Japanese theatres in September of this year.

According to this post at Tokyograph the details of the film, directed by Katsuyuki Motohiro, are being kept under wraps at the moment, but apparently the story takes place two years after the events of "Bayside Shakedown 3" and involve an investigation taking place around a three-day energy summit.

While the "Bayside Shakedown" films may not have earned themselves a place in Japanese film history as shining examples of cinema, but they have earned themselves a place in Japanese film history nonetheless. Over the feature film franchise's 14-year history "Bayside Shakedown" earned an astounding ¥42.79 billion and sell 31.27 million tickets. Toho has never hurt for box office revenue, but we can easily imagine that after this last pay day there will be more than a few studio executives wondering how they will ever replicate this kind of success.

The Criterion Collection to re-release... Hiroshi Inagaki's "Samurai Trilogy"?

2012-01-05T22:30:00.000-08:00

by Chris MaGee

Everyone loves a mystery, a guessing game, and there are few more beloved guessing games for cinephiles than what films will be added to the highly regarded Criterion Collection. For us Japanese film fans the guessing game is all the more fun, or vexing depending on your cinematic tastes. If we didn't already work ourselves up enough writing up lists of hopeful titles or Photoshopping faux Criterion DVD covers, The Criterion Collection themselves occasionally like to stir us up even more by posting enigmatic cartoon drawings hinting at future releases. Such was the case about a week ago when the above drawing was posted on The Criterion Collection's Facebook page.

Now, who are those three samurai up in the corner wielding... broad swords? Clubs? There has been a bit of confusion as The Criterion Collection has already announced a Bluray release of Hideo Gosha's 1964 chanbara classic "Three Outlaw Samurai", so who exactly are these top-knotted trio? Many folks think they have it figured out. Those aren't broad swords or clubs the samurai are wielding. They're boat paddles. This would refer to Hiroshi Inagaki's "Musashi Miyamoto" starring Toshiro Mifune, and the scene in which Miyamoto wins a duel with Sasaki Kojirō by using a carved boat oar. If this is true this would mean a reworked DVD release of Inagaki's "Samurai" trilogy, a Bluray release, or both.

Let's hope this is true, and to fuel our dreams here's the trailer from Inagaki's first film in his classic trilogy.

"The Secret World of Arrietty" to screen in New York City on January 21st

2012-01-05T22:29:00.001-08:00

by Chris MaGee

It was back in June that we reported on the English voice cast that the folks at Disney had assembled for the North American release of Hiromasa Yonebayashi's "The Borrower Arrietty". 18-year-old singer and actress Bridgit Mendler, Amy Poehler, Will Arnett, David Henrie and Carol Burnett have all lent their talents to what is now being called "The Secret World of Arrietty"; and now there's word that this new dub will get a special screening at the New York International Children’s Film Festival later this month.

The film, based on Mary Norton's 1952 children's novel "The Borrowers", tells the story of a tiny teenage girl named Arrietty whose family lives under the floor boards of an old manor house. The family survives on items borrowed from the world of humans, and young Arrietty ends up forging a friendship with a teenage boy living in the house. The New York International Children’s Film Festival will screen "The Secret World of Arrietty" on Saturday, January 21st at 1:00PM at the Symphony Space theatre.

I caught "Arrietty" in Frankfurt at the Nippon Connection Japanese Film Festival last year, and it was a truly sweet film, so it will be interesting to see how North American audiences react to it with a whole new voice cast. If you're in the New York City area head to the NYICFF website for ticket details; and then check out the trailer for "The Secret World of Arrietty" below. Thanks to Sci-Fi Japan for this news.

Japanese Weekend Box Office, December 31st to January 1st

2012-01-05T22:27:00.000-08:00

1. Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol (Paramount)
2. Admiral Yamamoto* (Toei)
3. Inazuma Eleven Go The Movie * (Toho)
4. Kamen Rider~Kamen Rider Fourze & OOO Movie Taisen Megamax * (Toei)
5. Friends:Naki On The Monster Island* (Toho)
6. Kaibutsu-kun:The Movie* (Toho)
7. Real Steel (Disney)
8. New Year's Eve (Warner)
9. K-on! Movie* (Shochiku)
10. Wild 7* (Warner)

* Japanese film

Courtesy of Box Office Japan.

Marc Saint-Cyr's Top Five Favorite Films of 2011

2012-01-01T08:38:00.000-08:00

He did a lot of globe trotting with Pow-Wow editor and Chief Chris MaGee during the past 12 months, so here's contributing writer Marc Saint-Cyr's top five theatrical releases of 2011!

1) Abraxas (dir. Naoki Kato)

Out of the many new Japanese films I saw this year, my mind is still littered with startlingly vivid memories of certain passages from Naoki Kato’s "Abraxas." Built around the premise of a Buddhist monk fiercely trying to sustain his passion for performing loud rock music, the film takes great care in the way it develops its characters and involves the audience in their personal struggles, crises and emotions. This is filmmaking with real depth, executed with the perfect degree of sureness and tact. From the wonderful community of characters surrounding Suneohair’s troubled protagonist to the priceless relationships he maintains with his wife and son to specific, unforgettable moments – the monk rocker’s emotional performances among them – there are plenty of rock-solid reasons why, several months after seeing it, "Abraxas" continues to stay with me. I can’t wait to see it again.

2) Midori-ko (dir. Keita Kurosaka)

I had the immense good fortune to see this film twice throughout 2011 – once at the Nippon Connection film festival in Frankfurt, then once more in Toronto in the summer at the Shinsedai Cinema Festival. Both times, I was treated to a one-of-a-kind joy of filmmaking that is all but designed to reveal more with multiple viewings. The entire film was hand-drawn by animator Keita Kurosaka, a task that took him over a decade to accomplish. The world he created is a shadowy, textured dreamscape chock full of bizarre creatures and contraptions, constantly treating viewers to fresh delights and horrors. Expertly deploying absurdist humor, whimsy, melancholy and freakish spectacle, Kurosaka proves himself worthy as not only a great visual artist, but a master storyteller as well.

3) I Wish (dir. Hirokazu Koreeda)

I’ll be honest: when I walked into Hirokazu Kore-eda’s "I Wish," I didn’t really have big expectations. To be more precise, I anticipated Kore-eda Lite: something that would be fairly well made, but mainly concerned with being cheery and amusing. In a sense, that’s what I got – but I also got so much more. With his story of two young brothers kept apart on opposite sides of Japan by their divorced parents, Kore-eda approaches the inner world of children with an inspiring allegiance to nuance and authenticity. He clearly understands the innocence and resilience they wield in both the brighter and darker points in their still-new lives as well as the inner strength that keeps them working towards their deepest wishes. Far from being the simple, family-friendly excursion one might initially anticipate, "I Wish" is good enough to be fairly placed among Kore-eda’s best-loved works – or the best-loved movies about childhood, for that matter.

4) KanZeOn (dir. Neil Cantwell & Tim Grabham)

Like "Midori-ko," "KanZeOn" turned out to be one of the most joyful surprises I discovered on the film festival circuit in 2011. Delving deep into the heart of Japanese culture, Buddhist traditions and musical creation, it is certainly not your typical documentary. Instead, directors Neil Cantwell and Tim Grabham aspire towards an incredibly transcendent cinematic experience, using imagery, music and sound to their fullest capacities in a fluid, shifting structure. The film not only sets out to inform viewers of the bonds between art, nature and spirituality (which it does mainly through interviews with Buddhist priest and DJ Akinobu Tatsumi, sho musician Eri Fujii and Noh master Akihiro Iitomi), but also to inspire an introspective consideration of such elusive subjects on the viewer’s part. In both goals, it succeeds brilliantly.

5) The Catcher on the Shore (dir. Ryugo Nakamura)

Never mind that Ryugo Nakamura, co-writer and director of The Catcher on the Shore (his debut feature), was only fourteen when he made it. Just considered outside of that context, it quite evidently bears a confident and natural filmmaking ability. Portraying a young boy’s visit to his grandparents and estranged father in Okinawa, the film chronicles his progress towards a greater understanding of life, death, nature and man in three distinctive acts. It smoothly shifts between broad comedy, restrained slice-of-life realism and calm contemplation with surprising skill, all of it blending together into a viewing experience far richer than what one might expect from the seemingly slight story material.

Bob Turnbull's Top 5 DVD Releases of 2011

2012-01-01T08:33:00.000-08:00

It was a pretty hectic year for a lot of us here at The J-Film Pow-Wow, Bob Turnbull included; but Bob wanted to weigh in on his top DVD releases of the past 12 months. Time to get our your credit cards and go shopping!

1. Cold Fish (Third Window Films)

As great as it was to finally see Sion Sono's "Love Exposure" hit Region 1 this past year, I'd had it in my hands since the early days of 2010 due to a Region 2 release. So my top DVD of the year goes to another Sono film - the daring and fearless "Cold Fish". It was fantastic to see it hit Region 1 during the same calendar year as other regions (J-Film Pow-Wow friends Third Window films released a spiffy 2-disc version this past year as well), but I was just happy it was in circulation - it's not a film that will be embraced by everyone, but I've rarely seen a movie pulse and progress in the way "Cold Fish" did. Just when you think Sono has pushed his story and his presentation to the edge, he pushes even harder and ends up taking you right over that edge. I was happy to make the plunge with him.

2. The Warped World of Koreyoshi Kurahara (Eclipse)

Given the precedents that have been set, I can't imagine a year in the near future when there won't be an Eclipse box set on this list. There's almost no end to the treasures that could be unearthed, but you get the feeling that they are more than happy to keep digging and digging and digging. Previous to this box I was only familiar with Kurahara's entry in a previous Eclipse box - the terrific "I Am Waiting" from the Nikkatsu Noir set. I took a leap of faith that an entire set focused on some of his work from the 1960s would be worth it. I was repaid straight out of the gate with "Intimidation" which was a 65 minute blast of energy and fun wrapped in a solid crime drama. Given the variety of moods and scope within this set, it's easy to see that Kurahara had a restless need to experiment and likely hated to stand still.

3. Branded To Kill / Tokyo Drifter (Criterion Collection)

Two of my favourite films from one of my favourite directors were re-released just before the end of the year in brand spanking new BluRay editions so that each carefully composed frame could be displayed in every shade of grey imaginable ("Branded To Kill") and in every hue your biggest box of crayons might contain ("Tokyo Drifter"). Though Seijun Suzuki has a raft of examples of his ability to take a B-movie script and distill it down to its essence in order to tell the story visually, these two are recognized as the prime pieces of evidence. They're both stylish, fun and bordering on lunacy. If you haven't had the chance to catch up with these classics previously, NOW is the time to do it. I'll wait.

4. Confessions (Third Window Films)

Third Window Films has quickly built up an impressive stable of titles, not the least of which is Tetsuya Nakashima's wonderfully intense "Confessions". The opening 30 minutes is essentially a perfect short film as a school teacher delivers a monologue to her mostly inattentive class detailing the death of her child and the blame she puts on two students. My initial feelings about the film were mixed, but it's grown in estimation since I first saw it at TIFF in 2010. If the rest of the film doesn't quite match that opening, it moves relentlessly towards more and more confessions from its characters and has wound up digging itself into my brain.

5. Still Walking (Criterion Collection)

What a joy it was revisiting this gem from Hirokazu Kore-eda. It wasn't easy picking between this and the gorgeously spooky "Kuroneko" (either way, Criterion was gonna get this spot...), but the loving portrait of the family in "Still Walking" and the oodles of humanity the film exudes give it the nudge. I believe this also made my 2010 list as I was anticipating it so much. My thirst has been quenched.

Chris MaGee's Top 5 Favorite Films of 2011

2011-12-22T18:20:00.000-08:00

Each year the J-Film Pow-Wow picks our top films from the previosu 12 months. This year is no different, so during the next few weeks keep checking back for lists of which films captured the imaginations of our contributors. We kick things off with Chris MaGee's top picks of 2011!

*Note: This has been a very busy year, both professionally and personally for the crew of the J-Film Pow-Wow. Both matthew Hardstaff and Bob Turnbull have had life impinge on marathon moviegoing sessions throughout the year, so they will be chiming in with their top DVD releases, so you can start racking up your credit cards as well as add to your must see list.

1. Kotoko (dir. Shinya Tsukamoto)

Director Shinya Tsukamoto has spent the last few years flirting with the mainstream. Sadly, efforts like "Tetsuo The Bullet Man" and the "Nightmare Detective" films felt more like a compromise than an artistic progression. What had happened to the Tsukamoto to frightened us with "Haze" or enticed us with "Vital"? Well, that Tsukamoto is back. Teaming up with his artistic muse, singer/ songwriter Cocco, Tsukamoto has produced a profoundly beautiful and disturbing portrait of one woman's struggle with mental illness. Self-mutilation, terrifying delusions and infanticide -- "Kotoko" is not an easy watch by any stretch, but it is a cinematic experience unlike any of us had this year, or in recent memory.

2. Wandering Home/ 酔いがさめたら、うちに帰ろう。 (dir. Yoichi Higashi)

Yoichi Higashi, the man who brought us the award-winning coming-of-age drama "Village of Dreams", had been absent from feature filmmaking for seven years, and many wondered when, or if, the 76-year-old director would step behind the camera again. "Wandering Home", the story of a fatal alcoholic and his struggle to get sober, finally broke Higashi's silence, and I for one am very happy. Tadanobu Asano, starring as real-life photojournalist Yutaka Kamoshida, delivers one of the best performances of his career; but besides some delerium tremens hallucinations there is no showy filmmaking here. "Wandering Home" is just a rock solid story about a very human struggle.

3. Milocrorze: A Love Story/ ミロクローゼ (dir. Yoshimasa Ishibashi)

For the past decade clips from TV Tokyo's late night comedy series "Vermilion Pleasure Night" have become viral sensations on Youtube. Now ten years later Yoshimasa Ishibashi, the man who brought us such zany clips as the One Point English Lesson and Oh Mikey!, delivers a full length feature film that further ups the zaniness ante. Interweaving three comic tales "Milocrorze: A Love Story" doesn't just win us over with laughs, but with wild creativity. Take a look at the opening sequence about a boy who covers the hole in his heart with a pot lid or the astounding slow motion sword battle to see what I mean. Still, the heart of "Milocroze" are the multiple performances by Takayuki Yamada. It's hard to think of any actor in Japan who could disappear into roles as diverse and strange as an abusive relationship councilor or a love starved samurai.

4. Ringing in Their Ears/ 劇場版　神聖かまってちゃん　ロックンロールは鳴り止まないっ (dir. Yu Irie)

Japan's indie film scene is crowded with lethargic features centering around depressed and unemployed youth. Given that Japan has been suffering through a crippling economic crisis and this trend makes absolute sense. (The traumatic events and aftermath of March 11th only added to this bleakness). Still, it sometimes makes a movie lover pine for a film with energy and optimism... and we're not talking about the sappy variety of optimism on display in Japan's multiplex movie houses. 2011 saw an honest and uplifting film come from the indie scene -- Yu Irie's "Ringing in Their Ears". A trio of fictional stories are woven around real life indie rockers Shinsei Kamattechan, and the film climaxes in an electric live performance by the band.

5. No Reply/ 返事はいらない (dir. Satoru Hirohara)

Last year 24-year-old director Satoru Hirohara burst on to the international scene with his feature film "Good Morning to the World!!" This story of an isolated teen seeking out the owner of a lost satchel showed a lot of promise and ended up winning Hirohara the Dragons and Tigers Award at the 29th Vancouver International Film Festival. Still, "Good Morning" resembled many indie films by young Japanese directors. The question is whether Hirohara could follow through with another film. With "No Reply" Hirohara doesn't just follow through but totally outstrips his first feature. The slow single take, mid-shot aesthetic of “Good Morning to the World!!” is injected with true heart and soul with Hirohara introducing us to a young couple struggling with all the responsibilities that the word "love" brings.

Director Yoshimitsu Morita, 1950 - 2011

2011-12-22T18:15:00.000-08:00

by Chris MaGee

Some truly sad and untimely news from the world of Japanese film this week. Yoshimitsu Morita, best known as the director of the 1983 classic domestic satire "The Family Game" and the erotic blockbuster "Shitsurakuen (Lost Paradise)" died this past Wednesday in Tokyo. The cause of death was reported as being acute liver failure. He was only 61.

Born in Shibuya, Tokyo in 1950, Morita studied at the Nihon University Graduate School of Arts as a Broadcasting student, but it was seeing the epic movies of David Lean, like 1965's "Doctor Zhivago", which convinced Morita that being a director was the path he wanted to pursue. He first began his career as a director making 8mm films like his 1978's "Live in Chigasaki". He would follow up this debut with his first 35mm film "Something Like It" in 1981, but he wouldn't gain acclaim at home and abroad until two years later when he would direct the the satirical domestic film "The Family Game", adapted from the novel by Yohei Honma. The film chronicled how the introduction of an outsider, a high school tutor portrayed by screen star Yusaku Matsuda, could knock the disconnected lives of a middle class Japanese family off balance, or back into balance depending on your point of view. "The Family Game" would be honoured with the Film of the Year Award from Kinema Junpo that year, and Film historian Donald Richie would call it "one of the most influential [films] of its decade], while New York Times film critic Vincent Canby described its climatic food fight sequence as a "grotesquely funny shambles".

Morita had problems following through with the tag of new cinematic genius though. His output after "The Family Game" veered from the award-winning 1985 drama "And Then", based on a novel by author Natsume Soseki, to disappointing horror fare like 1999's "Black House". Many would criticize Morita's decision to puruse a career as a journeyman director, shooting throwaway films with pop idols. In 1997, though, Morita enjoyed a huge hit in japan, especially with female audiences, with his erotic drama "Shitsurakuen (Lost Paradise)". Starring Koji Yakusho as a married man who has an affair with a married woman (Hitomi Kuroki), "Lost Paradise" would break attendance records, not only because of its melodramatic and tragic ending, but also for the amount of steamy sex scenes between its two stars. Recently Morita had enjoyed some renewed career success with the 2010 period drama "Abacus and Sword", which spent a number of weeks in the top ten at the Japanese box office. At the time of his death Morita had just finished production on his 28th film, "Take the 'A' Train", starring Ryuhei Matsuda and Eita.

Our deepest condolences go out to Morita-san's family, friends and colleagues during this time. We leave you with the trailer for Morita's defining masterpiece, "The Family Game". Thanks to Aaron Gerow and Mark Schilling for the details of Morita's remarkable life.

A look at Sachi Hamano's same-sex romance "Yuriko, Dasvidaniya"

2011-12-22T18:13:00.001-08:00

by Chris MaGee

Here's a story that slipped under our radar. It was in October of 2010 that we reported on how veteran pink film director Sachi Hamano was going to be bringing the life of Yuriko Miyamoto, one of Japan's most influential feminist thinkers, and her companion, Russian literary scholar Yoshiko Yuasa to the screen. Since then the film has been completed, but with so little fanfare that, well, we missed it!

Titled "Yuriko, Dasvidaniya", the film chronicles the struggles that the two women faced during 1920's Taisho Era Japan in order to love one another. The film stars Hitomi Toi as Yuriko Miyamoto, Nahana as Yoshiko Yuasa and Ren Osugi as Miyamoto's husband Shigeru Araki.

Hamano, who has been making films in Japan's pink eiga scene since the early 1970's, has touched on lesbian romance before in her best known film, 2001's "The Lily Festival". That film told the story of two elderly women who discover their feelings for each other after an aging playboy moves into their seniors' home.

The film enjoyed a limited theatrical release in Japan, beginning with a run at Tokyo's Eurospace in October. Here's hoping that we'll see "Yuriko, Dasvidaniya" hit the Western festival circuit during 2012. You can check out the film's trailer below.

Shinya Tsukaomoto's "Kotoko" comes to UK theatres and DVD care of Third Window Films

2011-12-22T18:11:00.000-08:00

by Chris MaGee

Sometimes writing the J-Film Pow-Wow blog is a little tricky, mostly because I can't always share the news that I've heard from friends and colleagues in the Japanese film industry. When someone tells me that certain things are confidential then that's something I take seriously. Thankfully, this week there was one less piece of news that I have to keep silent about.

UK distributor Third Window Films announced that is has acquired the UK theatrical and DVD rights for Shinya Tsukamoto's latest film "Kotoko". A dark psychological thriller starring Japanese singer/ songwriter Cocco, "Kotoko" has already screened in Toronto, Tokyo and Venice where it picked up the Orizzonti Award at the 68th La Biennale di Venezia.

So when can we expect "Kotoko" from Third Window Films? Third Window president Adam Torel says that he is planning theatrical screenings of the film in August and a DVD release in October. Fans with all region DVD players will be very, very happy to hear this news. I know that more than a few of us here at the Pow-Wow believe that this is one of Tsukamoto's best films.

Thanks to Twitch" and Third Window Films for this story.

Japan Foundation UK announces a touring programme of Japanese auteur films

2011-12-22T18:09:00.000-08:00

by Chris MaGee

The Japan Foundation London has done a lot to bring lesser known films to the attention of of the Bristish public through their annual touring programme. Each year they pull together a line-up of films around a specific theme; for example this past year they toured "Back to the Future: Japanese Cinema Since the Mid-90s", which focused on some of the best films from Japan from the past 15 years. Now, the Japan Foundation UK has announced its 2012 touring programme, "Whose Film is it Anyway? Contemporary Japanese Auteurs", a programme of work by filmmakers who write, direct, and often produce and edit, their own films.

Which films can UK audiences look forward to when the programme begins touring the country, starting with a run between February 3rd and February 16th at London's ICA? The programme stretches as far back as 1963 with Shohei Imamura's "The Insect Woman" and goes right up to today with Katsumi Sakaguchi's dark drama "Sleep" (above). In between film fans will be able to see everything from deeply felt relationship tales like Ryosuke Hashiguchi's film "All Around Us" to Takatsugu Naito's hilarious low-key comedy "The Dark Harbour".

Head to the Japan Foundation London's website here to see where in the UK audiences will be able to catch this great line-up of films.

Six Questions for... Takanori Tsujimoto

2011-12-19T15:01:00.000-08:00

During the past four years Japan has reasserted itself as a leader in splatter, gore films with a cabal of filmmakers and special effets wizards like Noboru Iguchi (The Machine Girl), Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police), Yuji Shimomura (Alien vs. Ninja) and Tak Sakaguchi (Yakuza Weapon). All of these directors have gathered under the auspices of Nikkatsu's genre wing Sushi Typhoon, and proudly wave the banner for cult exploitation cinema. Not all of this new batch of splatter/ action filmmakers fall into tyhe Sushi Typhoon group, although many have close ties with them. One of these filmmakers is Takanori Tusjimoto. Born in 1971 in Osaka Tsujimoto originally studied to be a dental technician, but his love for the films of Takashi Miike and Atsuhi Muroga he decided to make a radical career shift. He debuted as a director with his 1998 independent film "One Gun Story" and went on to collaborate with anime director Mamoru Oshii on his 2007 omnibus film "The Women of Fast Food" as well as the omnibus film "Kiru = Kill", for which Tsujimoto directed the segment "Two Guns". Most fans of Japanese splatter/ action films will know Tsujimoto for his two "Hard Revenge Milly" films, both starring actress Miki Mizuno. Most recently Tsujimoto's horror detective film "Red Tears" was selected as part of the line-up of the 24th Tokyo International Film Festival. We were happy to ask our six question survey to Tsujimoto this past fall. CM

1. What movie inspired you to become a film-maker? What was it about the movie that was inspiring?

“The Killer” by John Woo. I am fascinated by violent and beautiful gunfights.

2. Is there someone you always wanted to work with on a project, but have never had the chance?

Kenichi Matsuyama.

3. Please finish this statement: If I had not become a film-maker I would probably be a ________.

Dental Technician (my former work).

4. Which three people (besides film-makers) have had the biggest influence on you?
(only one response) Hirohiko Araki, cartoonist

5. What is your favorite book? Why is it your favorite?

“African game cartridges” by Makoto Fukami. It influenced the way I see action imagery.

6. What moment in your career has made you most proud so far?

When my films were played at overseas film festivals and were accepted by audiences.

Check out Takanori Tsujimoto's blog here.

Translation by Chikako Hirao Evans

Martin Scorsese finally moves ahead with his adaptation of Shusaku Endo's "Silence"

2011-12-19T15:00:00.001-08:00

by Chris MaGee

How long have the rumors of Martin Scorsese helming an adaptation of Shusaku Endo's novel "Silence" been floating around? Seems like forever, or at least since the beginning of 2009, which was when we started to post about this potential project for the award-winning "Taxi Driver" and "Goodfellas" director. (Read our previous coverage here.) Now, after nearly three years of waiting, it looks as if Scorsese is finally ready to to take on this historic tale of the martyrdom of Christians by the Tokugawa Shogunate in 17th-century Nagasaki.

According to Collider.com Scorsese, whose 3D family film "Hugo" is currently packing theatres, has been quoted as saying, “I’m hoping to do Endo’s book next, 'Silence'… Not hoping, we’re literally pulling all the elements together at this point.” Elements for this production have actually been slowly being pulled together for a while now. Back in 2009 producer Bennet Walsh and art director Dante Ferretti both made trips to Nagasaki to do research and location scouting for the film; plus two big name actors have long had their names attached to the film -- Benicio Del Toro and Daniel Day-Lewis. It was just this past week that Del Toro hosted a screening of Kaneto Shindo's 1960 film "The Naked Island" at Los Angeles' Silent Movie Theatre. Del Toro is an ardent fan of Shindo, as the clip of an interview between the two from last year (below) can attest. Of course, many of you will know that Shindo directed his own adaptation of Endo's novel in 1971. This would strongly indicate that Del Toro is still connected with Scorsese's "Silence". The question remains, though, is Day-Lewis also still on board? The infamously rigorous method actor is currently prepping to portray Abraham Lincoln for Steven Spielberg, and many are asking if he can switch gears so quickly from a historic president to a Jesuit priest in Nagasaki.

The big question for Japanese film fans is who will be cast in the Japanese roles for "Silence"? It's here that we move into pure speculation, although one name keeps popping up again and again -- Koji Yakusho. Besides the 55-year-old star of "Shall We Dance?" and "13 Assassins" though any of Japan's current crop of A-list stars could be in the running for roles in Scorsese's production. We will continue to monitor this developing story and bring you more on potential Japanese casting for Martin Scorsese's "Silence" as news comes out.

REVIEW: No Man's Zone

2011-12-19T14:58:00.001-08:00

無人地帯 (Mujinchitai)

Released: 2011

Director:
Toshifumi Fujiwara

Narrator:
Arsinée Khanjian

Running time: 102 min.

Reviewed by Nicholas Vroman

Toshifumi Fujiwara’s “No Man’s Zone” begins with the image of a tree standing alone amidst the rubble and detritus left by the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011. It’s still graceful in its battered and wind-beaten shape. It could be an exemplary example of bonsai. The camera slowly pans a full 360 degrees across the wasted landscape. Trash, detritus, the remains of buildings and boats move by as a woman’s voice (Arsinée Khanjian) speaks of the disaster, how the images of disaster are difficult to digest, yet how we as viewers’ become addicted to images of destruction. As the camera comes full circle to settle back on the tree she asks if we noticed the smokestacks of the Fukushima Nuclear Plan, as they passed by in the background. Like most every one in the audience at its Tokyo Filmex premier, I didn’t.

Thus begins Fujiwara’s Marker-esque exploration of the fact and the legacy of 3.11. His journey takes him within the 50 kilometer no man’s zone surrounding the crippled and leaking Fukushima Nuclear plant. The journey is not merely the usual disaster sightseeing trip, but a serious questioning of how it was and is being mediated, along with a healthy dose of asides and commentary, interviews with a handful of holdouts living with the zone and scenes of destruction countered with things like blooming cherry trees and flowers. For a film about one of the major disasters that ever hit Japan, it’s surprisingly beautiful.

Fujiwara takes on the role of the Stalker, leading us into the Zone. Tarkovsky was prescient! Whether this place will become the place where our desires will be fulfilled – only time will tell. Our darkest most troubled ones maybe. This may be where his insistence on his idea of our addiction to images of destruction lies. He offers up plenty. But he counters them with even more of images of spring reviving and taking back the landscape. And perhaps most importantly Fujiwara attempts to film the unfilmable.

First off there’s the officially unfilmable – going into the off-limits area to capture the wreckage, the empty streets, the cows and dogs and cats left behind, the last human holdouts of the towns of Ukedo and Iitate. This may be the easiest part. Scores of people have made the trip into the zone to rescue abandoned animals, take photos and film or just to gawk at the place.

Then there’s filming the invisible radiation. Truly unfilmable, the invisible particles that have traveled through the air and contaminated the soil and water have already left their long lasting mark. Fujiwara shows fields and forest, on the surface quite lovely, but now holding an invisible malignancy that requires an urgent but basically impossible effort to remove. His interviewees acknowledge this truth as they prepare for their forced evacuations from family homes.
And the last unfilmable thing is what will become of the Zone itself. As it becomes more an more apparent that the damage from the nuclear plant is uncontainable, the zone will certainly become a No Man’s Zone, left to lie fallow for generations. Fujiwara has made the effort to document this place in all its beauty and ruination because it may be one of the last times we will ever be able to see it, before it’s completely off-limits. The images of the film become the zone’s final legacy.

Fujiwara spends most of the duration of the film traveling from the small town of Ukedo to Iitate. Ukedo seems harder hit by the tsunami. As we travel down haunted and abandoned streets, a few sightings of cars with relief workers and police, images and stories of tragedies – a grandmother being swept out to sea – develop into a critique of how the tragedy was handled – how long it took to respond - and ultimately, a critique of how the whole thing was mediated. Fujiwara hopes to correct those impressions, not only by proffering a new set of images, but by questioning the meaning or unmeaning of the saturation of images proffered by the media.

His specific critique of how NHK mediated the event rings a little false in that NHK, with its vast resources, has actually done a better job than most indie filmmakers on documenting the destruction and reconstruction of Tohoku. One can and must question the ideology of a government news organization where (in Japan in particular) the coziness of the players public and private is appalling. But, there are a number of independent producers working for NHK who have been active in trying to fairly view and assess the legacy of 3.11.

Secondly, he manages to not illustrate his own movie with examples of the images that have offended him so. The viewer is left questioning, “What are these images that are so bad?”

And thirdly there are some iconic and auteur-less images from keitais and surveillance cameras that have been seared onto the world’s retina. The wall of the tsunami crossing the highway. The shot from a hill where we see the sluggish and forceful water swirling and sweeping up house after house. These two come to mind.

The recurring voice over of our addiction to images of destruction may also be more of a personal reflection on the part of Fujiwara. Endless loops of falling towers or tracking shots through kilometer after kilometer of leveled towns may be less about the viewers’’ addiction and more about the media’s role as a pusher. Are we addicted? Or are we ultimately beaten by images into being overwhelmed and ultimately inured to the meaning of these images?

“No Man’s Zone,” at least, represents a beginning. There are a number of lesser documentaries coming out now on 3.11 that even in their well-meaning shovel up endless clichés and hours of numbing footage of the disaster. Fujiwara questions it all. His answers, at times, may seem a bit too pat, but he’s going in the right direction. What are most powerful of No Man’s Land remain the images of nature’s healing and rebirth, even tainted by the invisible poison left by man. The final, somewhat mundane image of a tree takes on a new meaning in Fujiwara’s hands – something akin to hope, leavened with frightful knowledge and the weight of recent history.

Hayao Miyazaki classic breaks Twitter record

2011-12-19T14:56:00.000-08:00

by Chris MaGee

What are two things that are insanely popular in Japan? If you're thinking baseball and Kirin lager... well, you're not wrong, but... If you think Hayao Miyazaki films and Twitter then you're on the right track. What happens, though, if these two things come together, then what happens? Well, you break world records, that's what happens!

According to a post over at TheVerge.com a recent airing of Miyazaki's 1986 animated classic "Laputa: Castle in the Sky" on Japanese television prompted rabid fans to head to Twitter to tweet about that broadcast. Obviously all of Miyazaki's films have a huge following amongst the Japanese public, but "Laputa" has gained special cult status with fans simultaneously shouting out "Balse!" along Pazu and Sheeta, during their final face off with the film's villain, Muska. The coordination of this unified shout of "Balse!" saw a record breaking spike of 25,088 tweets per second on the popular micro-blogging site. This far outstrips the previous record of 9,000 tweets prompted by the announcement of Beyonce Knowles pregnancy.

Check out this Youtube video below to see the Twitter madness going on in tandem with the broadcast of "Laputa".

Weekly Trailers

2011-12-19T14:55:00.000-08:00

Rurouni Kenshin - Keishi Ohtomo (2012)

Based on the jidai-geki manga by Nobuhiro Watsuki, "Rurouni Kenshin" plunges us 150-years in the past, into a world where samurai still wield power. Starring Takeru Sato as Kenshin Himura, diretor Keishi Ohtomo's "Rurouni Kenshin" is set to open in Japan on August 25th.

Chi-n-pi-ra - Toru Kawashima (1984)

Veteran actor Kyohei Shibata stars in this tale of young punks entering the dangerous world of Japanese organized crime. Directed by Toru Kawashima, the man who brought us the 1983 yakuza classic "Ryuji".

REVIEW: Guilty of Romance

2011-12-19T14:52:00.000-08:00

恋の罪 (Koi no Tsumi)

Released: 2011

Director:
Sion Sono

Starring:
Miki Mizuno
Makoto Togashi
Megumi Kagurazaka
Kazuya Kojima
Kanji Tsuda

Running time: 112 min.

Reviewed by Chris MaGee

On March 19th, 1997 the body of a woman was found in cheap apartment in Shibuya's love hotel district of Maruyama-cho. Police indentified the woman as Yasuko Watanabe, a 39-year-old employee of the Tokyo Electric Power Company, as well a graduate of Tokyo's prestigious Keio University. What was such an upstanding citizen doing in a dumpy apartment in Maruyama-cho, and area that in the late 1990's had become a place were street hookers plied their trade. It turned out that Watanabe was in fact one of those street hookers. It wasn't financial necessity or drugs that led Watanabe to a life of prostitution though. Apparently this well-bred woman had turned to selling sex purely for the cheap thrills and a bit of pocket money. The sexual and psychological mystery of why an upstanding citizen would risk everything to be a hooker forms the basis of Sion Sono's "Guilty of Romance". Sono takes the TEPCO OL Murder Case and does with it was he has done in all his films since his critically-lauded 2008 4-hour psycho-religious epic "Love Exposure" -- he turns the emotional volume up to 11 and leaves it there. It's not good enough for Sono to have his wayward women, 29-year-old Izumi and 39-year-old Mitsuko, die at the hands of a Nepalese restaurant worker (which is how real-life victim Watanabe died). Instead we are given a tour of the dark side of female sexuality, although often not a very believable one.

Izumi (Megumi Kagurazaka) is the dutiful wife of popular novelist Yukio Kikuchi ( Kanji Tsuda). Dressed in a proper kimono in public and conservative cardigans at home Izumi has taken on the demeanor of a woman easily 15-years her senior - she arranges her husband's slippers, she buys him expensive French soaps, she sits quietly on the couch as he reads and leaves his bookstore signings early so as not to be in the way. Their relationship is cold, clinical and chaste, and obviously the beautiful Izumi is bored senseless. She confesses in her journal that before she turns 30 that she would like to do something, anything with her life. She takes steps towards this by taking a job in a grocery store handing out samples of sausages. She's a bit too timid to make the position work, but it's here that she meets Eri (Chika Uchida), a woman who runs a "modeling" agency. Yes, Eri's modeling agency does do some legit work, but the lion's share of its business is shooting porn. This begins the slippery sexual slope that eventually liberates Izumi and leads her to the seedy streets of Maruyama-cho.

It is here amongst the neon and the love hotels that Izumi encounters Mitsuko (Makoto Togashi), Sono's cinematic version of Yasuko Watanabe. Mitsuko is, like Watanabe, a professional from a good background. She is the daughter of a painter and holds a position as a professor of literature at a respect university. Underneath her prim, if sometimes intense, exterior is a nymphomaniac prostitute with a rock solid work ethic. Mitsuko will have sex with any man as long as she is paid for it, regardless of the sum. It's the principle that counts. She takes the already unbalanced Izumi as her apprentice and the two women begin to plumb the depths of their libidos in the back streets of Shibuya. All of this action takes place through flashback as Sono occasionally (maybe a little too occasionally) shows us Detective Kazuko Yoshida (Miki Mizuno) as she investigates the murder of an unidentified and horribly mutilated woman in Maruyama-cho. Headless, and limbless, torn in two with her upper and lower halves mixed and matched with mannequin parts Yoshida (and us in the audience) puzzles over who this woman was - Izumi or Mitsuko?

Once again Sion Sono, who has taken up the mantle of Japanese odd and extreme film king from the now mainstream Takashi Miike, brings his frantic creativity to a film that in no way shirks from its sexual foundations. In this respect "Guilty of Romance" is refreshing, given that Japan has in large part dampened sex in its contemporary cinema in favour of having respectable female spokespeople for commercial campaigns, TV panel shows and coy J-pop recordings. Sono's film, complete with full frontal nudity by its two leading ladies, is definitely a throwback to the kinky sexuality of films like Masaru Konuma's "Flower and Snake" or Takashi Ishii's "Angel Guts: Red Vertigo". It's no coincidence that both of these preceding films were produced by Nikkatsu, the same studio that now brings us Sono's film as well as a slew of blood and boob filled exploitation titles through its extreme genre wing Sushi Typhoon. Unlike many of Nikkatsu's Sushi Typhoon titles, "Guilty of Romance" has some serious psycho-sexual pretensions, but it doesn't always live up to them.

Without the mystery of which of our two anti-heroines may have ended up choped into bits there is little to propel the narrative of "Guilty of Romance" forward. "How low can they go?" and "How nude will they get?" only keeps the attention of the audience (a primarily male one, we can assume) for so long. Despite its attempts at some deep emotional and sexual surrealism "Guilty of Romance" is, at its heart, nothing more than another tired example of the classic patriarchal virgin/ whore duality that lurks in men's minds and that has seeded a whole subgenre or pink and ero-guro films in Japan. There are moments when "Guilty of Romance" manages to truly titillate and/ or make us squirm. A scene in which Izumi stands naked in front of a full length mirror and practices selling herself rather than mini sausage samples is equal parts campy comedy, disturbing character development and pure masturbatory fodder. Later on the appearance of Mitsuko's mother (Hisako Ohkata) gives Sono's films its most intense anbd truly surreal sequence during which this old, smiling woman delivers a shocking, bile-fueled indictment of her prostitute daughter in the most pleasing and dainty way possible. had Sono been able to deliver more of this kind of sickly subtlety throughout different points in "Guilty of Romance" he would have had a truly special film. Sadly, Sono has seemingly abandoned subtley after such rare entires into his filmography as "Hazard" and "Be Sure to Share". Now we have women set to rutting feverishly on screen and in one case screaming the word "Sex!" at the door of a potential horny client. We get it, Sono-san, ytou are a cinematic bad boy, one who gives us geysers of blood and buxom actresses urinating in front of school boys (as happens near the end of "Guilty of Romance"). You can definitely shock us... but what other tricks do you have up your sleeve? We know there's more, but this film wasn't all of it.

Makoto Shinkai creates a 30-second commercial for the Taisei Corporation

2011-12-19T14:50:00.000-08:00

by Chris MaGee

Animator Makoto Shinkai made more than a few headlines this past year with his latest feature length film "Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below". This magical tale of a girl on a quest to find a lost love and the source of mysterious radio broadcasts propelled the already popular 38-year-old anime master to even more acclaim. What happens when you go from cult director to mainstream sensation? The big corporate boys come knocking.

Shinkai, whose other films include "Voices from a Distant Star" and "5 Centimetres Per Second", was commissioned to create a commercial for the multinational construction company Taisei Corporation. The result is below, and regardless if it's a 90-minute film or a 30-second commercial the result is equally as stunning. Check it out!

Japanese Weekend Box Office, December 17th to December 18th

2011-12-19T14:49:00.000-08:00

1. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (Paramount)
2. Kamen Rider: Kamen Rider Fourze & OOO Movie Taisen Megamax* (Toei)
3. Kaibutsu-kun:The Movie* (Toho)
4. Friends:Naki On The Monster Island* (Toho)
5. K-on! Movie* (Shochiku)
6. Real Steel (Disney)
7. Tale Of Genji: A Thousand Year Enigma* (Toho)
8. The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (Toho Towa)
9. A Ghost Of A Chance* (Toho)
10. Crossroads* (Shochiku)

* Japanese film

Courtesy of Box Office Japan.

REVIEW: Sleepy Eyes of Death 5: Sword of Fire

2011-12-19T14:47:00.001-08:00

眠狂四郎炎情剣 (Nemuri Kyōshirō: Enjo-ken)

Released: 1965

Director:
Kenji Misumi

Starring:
Raizo Ichikawa
Tamao Nakamura
Sanae Nakahara
Ko Nishimura
Ryuzo Shimada

Rrunning time: 83 min.

Reviewed by Matthew Hardstaff

After taking a brief respite, skipping "Sleepy Eyes of Death 4", writer Seiji Hoshikawa returns to the incredible anti-hero samurai series to collaborate once more with the late great Kenji Misumi. For the fifth part in the series, "Sleepy Eyes of Death 5: Sword of Fire" (which I think is suppose to be more along the lines of "Sword of Passion", the fire between the loins), Nemuri Kyoshiro’s desire for women, or his desire to punish those women that are corrupt and black of heart, becomes the central theme.

Nemuri Kyoshiro finds himself embroiled in a scheme by a retainer of the Todo clan and a corrupt merchant (Ko Nishimura) to steal treasure accumulated by a band of pirates, treasure they were suppose to present to the Shogun, and in the process killing all that are able to tell the tale. How does he become embroiled in this scheme? Wandering through the Japanese countryside he comes across a rogue accosting a damsel in distress, Nui Higaki. Higaki, obviously outmatched, but filled with the suicidal desire to kill the rogue, begs Nemuri Kyoshiro for assistance, claiming this man killed her husband and she demands revenge. Kyoshiro reluctantly intervenes, after being promised anything he wants, and with this act, he finds him pulled into the pirate treasure cover-up. Of course, the bastardly plot by the corrupt and vile players is merely a means to an end, as the real treat is watching how all the players double and triple cross one another, and watching how Nemuri Kyoshiro slowly works them against each other, until he’s the last man left standing.

What really separates this film from the others in the series is here we’re presented with a Nemuri Kyoshiro that is known throughout Japan not only as a master ronin with the deadly full moon cut, but he’s also known as a man with an appetite for woman, as it is put so eloquently, ‘a master of irrigating green young fields’. Of course, he only gains pleasure from irrigating those green young fields when they’re vile and dirty, as he states ‘when I see a woman like you, it brings out my roguish side!’ In previous films his relationship with woman has been a part of the series but never a focal point, but this time it’s at the films core. Several woman play key roles in the plot to steal the pirate treasure, and the ones pure of heart he treats as angels, and will do anything to protect them, but if they are tainted, if they’re is evil in their heart, then he uses them as little more than sexual objects, and then quickly discards them, often killing them or setting into motion events that will lead to their demise. Perhaps this has to do with his Christian beginnings, as he treats the pure of heart as virgins who must forever remain chaste. A sexual deviant Nemuri Kyoshiro must be, as he appears to only gain pleasure from having his way with the vilest of women (and of course the prize he takes from Higaki at the beginning of the film is a night with her body).

Under the brilliant direction by Kenji Misumi, neophyte cinematographer Fujio Morita’s compositions shine, with some wonderful long takes, an expert use of the colour red and the usual Misumi style of a calculated and well crafted cinematic experience, filled with some terrific fight scenes that unfold with expert staging and choreography. The film helps to develop and flesh out the already nihilistic bad boy of the samurai world, and gives fans another spectacular foray into the world of "The Sleepy Eyes of Death" and the full moon cut!

Director Daihachi Yoshida returns with a film about high school class struggles

2011-12-14T18:48:00.000-08:00

by Chris MaGee

During the past half decade director Daihachi Yoshida has created a filmography filled with comedic characters who just aren't very nice people, or if they're nice then they are deeply damaged in some way. Just look at his feature debut, 2007's "Funuke, Show Some Love You Losers!" with it's psychotic would-be actress anti-heroine, or it's follow up, 2009's "The Wonderful World of Captain Kuhio", a film that centers around a playboy conman. Even 2010's "Permanent Nobara" features a lead character with some major reality vs. fantasy issues. What aspect of society could Yoshida take a swipe at next? How about of of the most fertile places for brutal power struggles and intimidation... high school?

According to Tokyograph Daihachi Yoshida is currently adapting RyoAsai's award-winning novel “Kirishima, Bukatsu Yamerutteyo” to the screen. The book, and now the film, tells of a high school in which there exists an unbreakable social caste system of the "upper" students" and the "lower" students. Well, unbreakable is a relative term, because the story follows the aftermath of one student named Kirishima who dares to move from the "upper" social circle to the "lower". In Yoshida's film this disturbance of the high school universe will be seen through the eyes of two boys - film student Ryoya, portrayed by Ryunosuke Kamiki (above), and baseball club member Hiroki (Masahiro Higashide).

A story of social strife in the halls of a high school from the man who brought us "Funuke"? Sounds perfect to us, but we'll have to wait until next year when "Kirishima, Bukatsu Yamerutteyo" is released in Japanese theatres. Thanks to Eiga.com for the above promo still.

Gakuryu Sogo Ishii returns with surreal "Ikiteru Mono Wa Inai No Ka"

2011-12-14T18:47:00.000-08:00

by Chris MaGee

I've been playing a bit of catch up since returning from Tokyo, trying to get news posted that may have been overlooked while Nicholas Vroman and I were in our Tokyo Filmex bubble. One story that got picked up over at our friends Wildgrounds was bout the return of one of Japan's biggest indie film icons.

You'll recall that at the very beginning of 2010 we reported on how "Burst City" and "Electric Dragon 80,000V" director Sogo Ishii had popped back into the spotlight by announcing that he would be changing his name to Gakuryu Ishii and that this new moniker would usher in a new stage in his filmmaking career. Nothing much followed that news though. Ishii kept teaching at Kobe Design University and that was it. Now, for the first time since his hour-long 2006 film "Mirrored Mind" Ishii has returned to the directors chair with a surreal social drama.

Titled "Ikiteru Mono Wa Inai No Ka (Are Any of You Alive?)" the film follows a group of disparate characters whose strange behaviour climaxes in... well, from the trailer below it looks like it could be the end of the world. Ishii based the film on a stage play by Shiro Maeda, and according to Wildgrounds post Ishii claims that he was inspired by Spanish surrealist filmmaker Luis Bunuel and his film "The Exterminating Angel" for "Ikiteru Mono Wa Inai No Ka".

There were actually preview screenings of the film going on in Tokyo when I was there, but sadly I wasn't able to catch one. here's hoping this film makes the rounds on the fest circuit in the next few months.

Waseda Univeristy hosts fascinating exhibit on the history of Nikkatsu's Mukojima Studio

2011-12-14T18:45:00.000-08:00

by Chris MaGee

This past fall New Yorkers got a chance to see some truly rare cinematic gems from the Nikkatsu vaults when "Velvet Bullets and Steel Kisses: Celebrating the Nikkatsu Centennial" retrospective was held at Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater. (read our report here). While the retrospective included films from the full century of Nikkatsu history as a movie studio, it was the earliest entries that had a lot of people excited. Films like Sadao Yamanaka's 1935 jidai-geki "The Pot Worth A Million Ryo" and Daisuke Ito's 1927 chanbara classic "A Diary of Chuji's Travels" rarely get seen in Japan and hardly ever get screened outside Japan; but what about more on the history of the very early days of Japan's oldest surviving movie studio?

According to a Facebook post by Yale professor Aaron Gerow, the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum at Waseda University is currently holding an exhibit on Nikkatsu's Mukojima Studio. This studio, in the east end of Tokyo, was built in 1912 and was in operation until its destruction in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. Many of the films shot at Mukojima were of popular shimpa, or "new school", stage plays. Although these plays portrayed melodramatic stories of modern Japan they, like traditional kabuki, still employed male actors to play female roles. Part of this exhibit will be free screenings of the 1916 silent film "Uikiyo".

For more details (in Japanese) on this fascinating exhibition which runs at the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum from December 3rd to March 25th click here.

IFC New York not only screening Ghibli films, they've also commissioned new posters!

2011-12-14T18:44:00.000-08:00

by Chris MaGee

It was just a couple days ago that we reported on New York's IFC Center and their upcoming retrospective of the films of Studio Ghibli. Now there is word that not only will "The Studio Ghilbli Collection: 1984 - 2008" not only be presenting such classics as "Princess Mononoke" and "Pom Poko" in 35mm prints, but that these films will also be getting new, specially commissioned theatrical posters for each screening. Case in point, Hayao Miyazaki's 1988 film "My Neighbor Totoro" has got a new poster designed by UK artist and designer Olly Moss. That's just a sneak peek above. To get a full look at the poster design, and to start dreaming about what other poster goodness this IFC retrospective will bring, head to Bad Ass Digest.

"The Studio Ghilbli Collection: 1984 - 2008" will run at New York's IFC Center from December 16th to January 12th. For more details visit the IFC Center website here.

Japanese Weekend Box Office, December 10th to December 11th

2011-12-14T18:43:00.000-08:00

1. Kamen Rider: Kamen Rider Fourze & OOO Movie Taisen Megamax* (Toei)
2. Kaibutsu-kun:The Movie* (Toho)
3. Real Steel (Disney)
4. K-on! Movie* (Shochiku)
5. Tale Of Genji: A Thousand Year Enigma* (Toho)
6. The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (Toho Towa)
7. A Ghost Of A Chance* (Toho)
8. Crossroads* (Shochiku)
9. Happy Feet 2 (Warner)
10. Kaiji 2* (Toho)

* Japanese film

Courtesy of Box Office Japan

REVIEW: Fish on Land

2011-12-11T20:13:00.001-08:00

セイジー陸の魚― (Seiji: Riku no Sakana)

Released: 2011

Director:
Yusuke Iseya

Starring:
Hidetoshi Nishijima
Mirai Moriyama
Nae Yuki
Hirofumi Arai
Kenichi Takito

Running time: 108 min.

Reviewed by Chris MaGee

Yusuke Iseya went from being a fashion model and the punk protégé of director Hirokazu Koreeda to becoming one of the most bankable movie stars in Japan. Watching his cocky, awkward and utterly charismatic debut performance in Koreeda's 1998 film "Afterlife" doesn't belie some of the tent pole studio productions that Iseya would get tied up in (see Kaz Kiriya's "Casshern" and Fumihiko Sori's "Tomorrow's Joe" as two many examples). Still, during this rise to superstardom the now 35-year-old actor has slowly been nurturing ambitions as a director in his own right. In 2003 Iseya teamed up with friend and screenwriter Takamasa Kameishi for his directorial debut, the youth drama "Kakuto". Now, eight year's later Iseya returns (once again with Kameishi penning the script) with his second feature outing, "Fish on Land". It's story of a young man's summer working at a roadside restaurant often feels like a half-remembered summer from years ago. Some moments come to mind with crystal clarity while others blur out of reach and all slip and repeat in our memory. Constructing a film around ephemeral memories isn't an easy task even for a seasoned director. For a sophomore feature filmmaker like Iseya it might be too daunting a task, but he has managed to impress with a beautiful visual evocation of Tomoki Tsujiuchi's source novel. Unfortunately the narrative thread of the film suffers and some of its characters get lost in the mix.

A po-faced salaryman, looks back on an eventful summer 20 years before. Japan's Bubble Economy has burst and our young protagonist, portrayed by decides to hit the open road on his bicycle for one last vacation before battling it out to find work during the recession. We're treated to lovely shots of rural Japan until this young man literally crashes into his destiny. He is nearly run over by a pompadoured tough guy (Hirofumi Arai) driving a truck, one of a group of locals who call a roadside diner/ bar dubbed House 475 home. Soon our young traveler is bussing tables and washing dishes, and most importantly observing the goings on of House 475, from the farewell concert of a bar band whose bass player (Kiyohiko Shibukawa) is heading off to work in an office through a blind old man (Masahiko Tsugawa) and his granddaughter to a lovelorn woman (Nae Yuki) obsessed by the manager of House 475. This would be Seiji (Hidetoshi Nishijima). Like our young traveler, Seiji rolled off the road and up to House 475 years before and made it his adopted home, but he doesn't seem comfortable with the other denizens of the place. There is a different energy in Seiji, a polarity that is the reverse of his environment.

The entire cast of "Fish on Land" are spot on with their performances; but Sadly, the one performance that leaves a little to be desired is that of the lead actor, Hidetoshi Nishijima as the titular fish on land. I don't think that this is necessarily Nishijima's fault, but that of the source novel or the screenplay. For a title character Seiji ends up being more of a mysterious presence than a person, someone who the other characters continually refer to in a semi-reverent tone, but when he does appear on screen he mainly mopes, stares fixedly into the middle distance and only occasionally bursts into a misanthropic rant. The best of these is blasted out at a pair of environmental activists who come to House 475 smiling and bearing animal rights pamphlets. A little more of this fire from Seiji would make his character's hyper-dramatic conclusion make sense. Instead he ends up being an unsatisfying Christ or Bodhisattva-like character who, as the other characters in the film say, "can't feel joy as long as there are people suffering around him."

Still, there are sequences in "Fish on Land" where the imagery and the sound and music combine perfectly. A scene in which Masahiko Tsugawa's blind grandfather has a picture collaged by his granddaughter with an accompanying audio tape is a brilliant bit of filmmaking, especially due to the fact that it shifts so suddenly from domestic whimsy to horrible tragedy. This horrible event, though, comes from so far out of left field that one almost feels that it fell into "Fish on Land" from an entirely other film. It's just another example of how the complex fast forward and rewind style of the narrative outpaces and scrambles the best parts of the film. It's obvious that Yusuke Iseya has some impressive filmmaking skill at his disposal. Combining this with yet another solid ensemble cast and, most importantly, a top notch script and he could easily launch himself into the same cinematic territory as his mentor Koreeda. The key to this progression though will be to keep things simple. Mood and complex narrative structures are great when done right, but even for the talented Iseya, there is something to the old adage of learning to walk before you can run.

NYC gets a Studio Ghibli Retrospective from Dec. 16 to Jan 12... but will Toronto follow?

2011-12-11T20:11:00.001-08:00

by Chris MaGee

2011 has seen more than a few amazing retrospectives take place at festivals and theatres worldwide. There was the monumental centenary retrospective of Nikkatsu films at the 49th annual New York Film Festival, a full programme of the early films of Sion Sono at the 12th Nippon Connection Japanese Film Festival in Frankfurt and the 12th Tokyo Filmex held a full retrospective of the films of little know director Shinji Somai. 2011 is ending with one more, do not miss retrospective, again in New York City.

The IFC Center will be hosting a 15 film retrospective of the films of Studio Ghibli from December 16th to January 12th. Presented by animation distributor GKIDS, "The Studio Ghilbli Collection: 1984 - 2008" is made up entirely of 35mm prints of such Ghibli classics as "My Neighbor Totoro", "Princess Mononoke", "Only Yesterday" and "The Cat Returns", many of them newly struck just for this event.

If you are feeling a little jealous of the wealth of films that New York has seen in the past 12 months don't despair. According to the report on ""The Studio Ghilbli Collection" posted at Sci-Fi Japan this week this retrospective will be touring North America during the first half of 2012. This includes proposed stops in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle... and Toronto! Yes, if we keep making our Christmas wishes we can look forward to settling in for a feast of Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, Yoshifumi Kondo and Hiroyuki Morita gems sometime next year. We'll keep you posted in the coming weeks and months on where and when this may happen.

Kumiko Aso and Yo Oizumi to play a pair of punk rockers in new film "Good Morning Everyone!"

2011-12-11T20:08:00.000-08:00

by Chris MaGee

I've mentioned again and again my love/ hate relationship with the subgenre of Let's-start-a-band films that have come out of Japan in the past decade. It seems that everyone loves a musical underdog story, be it a group forming for the first time or an old band returning to the stage to reclaim their former glory. There's a new film that's just finished shooting that falls into that latter category.

Toru Yamamato, best known for being the second unit director on such films as "Sakuran" and "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift", is currently in post-production on "Good Morning Everyone!" This adaptation of Toriko Yoshikawa's novel stars Kumiko Aso (above left) and Yo Oizumi (above right) as former bandmates in a punk group who are now raising their teenage daughter, even though Oizumi's character is not her blood father. Apparently Aso went through a month's worth of guitar lessons to play in scenes with Oizumi as the band's lead singer.

Call me a little more than suspicious, but I find the idea of Yo Oizumi and especially Kumiko Aso as members of a punk band to be a little hard to believe. I guess we'll have to wait until next year when "Good Morning Everyone" is slated for release in Japan.

Thanks to Tokyograph for this piece of news.

REVIEW: Matango: Attack of the Mushroom People

2011-12-11T20:06:00.001-08:00

マタンゴ (Matango)

Released: 1963

Director:
Ishiro Honda

Starring:
Akira Kubo
Kumi Mizuno
Hiroshi Koizumi
Kenji Sahara
Hiroshi Tachikawa

Running time: 89 min.

Reviewed by Marc Saint-Cyr

Seen today, "Matango: Attack of the Mushroom People" serves as a refreshing reminder of the pure fun of B-movie creature features. It contains not a pixel of CGI, and is in fact fairly economical in terms of the special effects it does use. Cleverly, it leaves a sizable amount of its out-there premise up to viewers’ imaginations while simply focusing on keeping the story rolling along at a good pace. It is all too fitting that this film was made by Ishiro Honda, whose classic "Gojira" (1954) pulls off the same tricky feat of making credible entertainment from a highly incredible premise.

After a brief opening sequence set in a Tokyo-based psychiatric ward where we meet Murai (Akira Kubo), a young professor and the lone survivor of a terrible disaster, the film jumps back in time to a sunny, carefree yacht trip. On board with Murai is the ship’s skipper, Sakuta (Hiroshi Koizumi); its owner, Kasai (Yoshio Tsuchiya); hired sailor Koyama (Kenji Sahara); rising singer Mami Sekiguchi (Kumi Mizuno); Yoshida (Hiroshi Tachikawa), a writer; and Akiko (Miki Yashiro), one of Murai’s students. The ship soon gets caught in a violent storm and is afterwards left severely damaged and off-course. It eventually reaches an island that, at first, appears to be completely deserted, yet the stranded vacationers start to think otherwise once they discover a derelict oceanography vessel on the beach. Puzzlingly, there are no corpses to be found on board – just ever-spreading layers of mould and a mysterious cargo of giant mushroom specimens. As the crewmembers struggle to find food and conserve their remaining supplies, they are increasingly driven apart by disagreements and selfish motives, all the while threatened by the strange beings that live in the island’s dense jungle.

Initially, one might expect Honda to primarily focus his main energies once more on using monsters as a means of disguised social commentary as he did in "Gojira." That view certainly has some credibility considering that the titular mushroom people – the hideously mutated shipwreck survivors, rendered so from eating the strange fungi – were thought to resemble survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, threatening the film’s release in Japan. Surely enough, at one point the ruined ship is said to be affiliated with nuclear testing, suggesting that Honda is yet again underlining the perils of meddling with science. But tellingly, most of the action unfolds amongst the seven members of the yachting party as they grow more fraught with frustration and hostility towards one another. Thus, in the spirit of "Lord of the Flies," humans and their inclinations towards greed, betrayal and violence are presented as far more dangerous and bestial than the moaning mushroom people, who in fact only appear in a handful of scenes and are given little in the way of actual character development.

Consequently, "Matango" can perhaps be best described as an adventurous survival drama with mildly silly doses of science fiction and horror thrown in for flavor. It contains some wonderfully creepy scenes of lurking dread and slow suspense as the mostly unseen creatures stalk the characters. But just as compelling to watch is the human drama that unfolds through secret alliances, hidden stashes of food and clashing egos that all gradually wear down the group’s sense of order and loyalty. These episodes unfold in wonderfully decorated sets for the abandoned ship, humid jungle and a grove filled with mushrooms of different shapes, sizes and colors while practical special effects like the model yacht batted around by waves and the grotesque costume and makeup effects for the mushroom creatures all exemplify the charm and fun of schlocky, old school–style studio filmmaking that no computer can replicate. Those looking for a good, pulpy movie night will get exactly that – and a little more in terms of solid character work and thematic depth – with "Matango: Attack of the Mushroom People."

Read more by Marc Saint-Cyr at his blog

Hitoshi Takekiyo's animated short "After School Midnight" goes feature length in 2012

2011-12-11T20:03:00.000-08:00

by Chris MaGee

I have to 100% honest and say that before reading this post at Anime News Network I was unaware of animator Hitoshi Takekiyo and his 2007 computer animated short film "After School Midnight". I had to do a quick Google search on this 7-minute comedy about an anatomical dummy who comes to life overnight at a high school, and I am so glad I could track it down. It's pretty funny stuff and beautifully put together as well (to take a look for yourself just click here). Now, four years after Takekiyo produced "After School Midnight " there is news that he will be expanding it into a a full length animated feature.

Apparently Takekiyo will be teaming up with manga artist Yōichi Komori, who will pen the script for a full version of "After School Midnight", and Japanese mini-theatre chain T-Joy will be screening the end result in its theatres next year. Will 7-minutes of zany anime be able to be stretched into a watchable feature film? With the creativity on display in the original short our vote is for "yes".

Weekly Trailers

2011-12-11T20:01:00.000-08:00

Between Today and Tomorrow - Junko Kobayashi (2011)

A documentary portrait of one of Japan's most respected modern dancers, Yasuyuki Shuto. "Between Today and Tomorrow" premiered this past fall at the 24th Tokyo International Film Festival.

The Last Samurai - Kenji Misumi (1977)

No, this is not the trailer for the Tom Cruise star vehicle from . This is a trailer for acclaimed jidaigeki and chanbara director Kenji Misumi's last film, 1977's "The Last Samurai" starring Ken Ogata, Hideki Takahashi, Masaomi Kondo and Keiko Matsuzaka.

Tokyo Filmex 2012 Report

2011-12-05T12:18:00.000-08:00

For our full report on this year's Tokyo Filmex (November 19th to 27th) we thought we would tag team things a little bit, with Chris MaGee and Nicholas Vroman giving their own perspectives on this annual showcase of international filmmaking.

Chris MaGee's Report

This is my second year attending Tokyo Filmex and I'm glad to have seen another batch of great films (both from Japan and elsewhere) programmed for audiences. There were also some interesting parallels between films in this year's programme, although not all the films were as successful as others. The Japanese premiere of Toshiaki Toyoda's "Monsters Club" shared settings with the opening film of this year's Filmex, Kim Ki-Duk's "Arirang". Both are set in ramshackle cabins on the outskirts of civilization, but Ki-Duk's utterly self indulgent cinematic portrait was no match for Toyoda's beautiful protest film. Audiences were better served to attend the screening of imprisoned Iranian director Jafar Panahi's "This Is Not a Film", which may superficially have shared a concept with "Arirang", but had a much deeper meaning. As Nichiolas mentioned below, this is the J-Film Pow-Wow, so I'll quit my meandering and focus on what Tokyo Filmex had to offer Japanese film fans.

Japanese, or Japan set films, proved to be some of the hottest tickets at this year's Filmex. The film that packed the lobby of the Yurakucho Mullion Building to capacity was Iranian director Amir Naderi's Tokyo-set "Cut" starring Hidetoshi Nishijima. Not only was this Japanese premiere sold out, but tickets were actually being scalped for as much as ¥40,000 (nearly $500!). This cut of "Cut" (excuse the pun) was edited down by approximately 12-minutes from the version screened here in Toronto in September, and the good news is that it didn't lose anything from the trimming. This new edit of "Cut" simply tightens the story of a man literally fighting it out in the name of pure cinema. One very interesting piece of information about the film came out during the post-screening Q&A when Naderi revealed that the lead character of Shuji was actually inspired by American indie film legend John Cassavetes. This was news to star Hidetoshi Nishijima, who had grown up idolizing the "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie" and "A Woman Under the Influence" director.

Another hot ticket for Japanese film lovers was the Japanese premiere of Shinya Tsukamoto's "Kotoko". With its Orrizonti Prize win at this year's Venice Film Festival the advance buzz on "Kotoko" was significant, and while it didn't disappoint audiences it did leave them more than a little shell shocked. As was the case with the screening of the film at the Toronto International Film Festival, Tsukamoto amped up the sound levels for the Filmex screening. The ear-splitting sobs and screams of singer/ songwriter turned actress Cocco in the title role didn't have people walking out of the theatre, as they did in Toronto, but a few got out of their seats and clung to the walls, unsure whether they could take the barrage of sounds and images. "Kotoko" is definitely not an easy watch, but there was an added level of discomfort to this screening as not only Tsukamoto, but Cocco were in attendance. When I first saw the film in Toronto I was blown away by Cocco's performance, but I was unaware that many of the issues that the main character deals with are also ones that Cocco has struggled with over the years, namely cutting and anorexia. This added bit of autobiography made some of us more than a little concerned, while others found that this expanded their understanding of this raw, sublime film.

The biggest treat for fans of Japanese film at this year's Filmex had to be its full retrospective of the films of director Shinji Somai. Somai, who died at the tragically young age of 53 in 2001, is a filmmaker who is known more outside Japan for writing on his films rather than screenings of them. If it weren't for bootleg Hong Kong copies of his 1981 film "Sailor Suit and Machine Gun" his films would probably be entirely unseen in the West. This retrospective went a long way in remedying this, although maybe not as far as it should have. Of the 13 films screened only 4 were screened with English subtitles, an unusual turn of events as Filmex is fanous for fully subtitled retrospectives. Japanese and foreign critics have long lobbied for Somai to be better known internationally, but without subtitles and with certain prints of films from the early 90's already looking faded and worn, it's easy to see why this hasn't happened up to this point. Still, films like "The Catch", "Typhoon Club" and "Moving" (above) were revelations to many. Here's hoping that we see some kind of DVD set released by the folks at The Criterion Collection or Masters of Cinema sooner than later.

In the end it was Tibetan director Pema Tseden's "Old Dog" that was awarded the top prize by the Filmex jury (made up of director Amir Naderi, film critic Philippe Azoury, film scholar Soowan Jung, director Makoto Shinozaki and President of the Nicholas Ray Foundation Susan Ray). Meanwhile a student jury made up of Ryoko Kochi, Naoya Yamaguchi and Matsumi Kaji honoured Yosuke Okuda's first major film production "Tokyo Playboy Club" with a special Student Jury Prize.

Nicholas Vroman's Report

Tokyo Filmex seems like a family affair. That is your family includes a who’s who of contemporary filmmakers and film artists, a legion of Tokyo film buffs and an international cast of film writers, bookers, translators, movers and shakers. It just feels cozy and inclusive. There’s a particular indulgence of viewing a smartly curated selection of films by Shozo Ichiyama. Even if you don’t like them all, they tend to all fit into a clever puzzle of themes, associations and leitmotifs, making the festival itself seem a seamless whole.

Another of the pleasures of the festival is that it brings comrades and collaborators from far and wide. I had the distinct pleasure of having Chris MaGee spend a few nights on my apartment floor and days tag-teaming it to catch films.

I saw a mess of international films – a few terrible ones, a few ma ma, several good ones and at least one brilliant one (Nick Ray’s 1972 “We Can’t Go Home Again”). But as this is the J-Film Pow-Wow, here’s a quick report on films Japanese.

The Catch

I know that Chris has already weighed in most eloquently on Shinji Shomai’s “The Catch,” but a few comments seem to be in order. From the opening scene that introduces Shomai’s wild camera pan/zoom/truck/crane technics, like most in the darkened house, my mouth was agape with an oh-my-god sort of awe. Several other set pieces throughout the film with the god-like camera floating over water, twisting and turning over the prows of boats, across quays and back again made me wonder if the film was more about impossible camera setups or the somewhat old-fashioned proletarian “Islands In the Stream” story of taciturn and shochu- fueled men men men against the sea. Perhaps I prefer my crazy camera work a little less tainted by plot. Give me Michael Snow most days (even though Snow does play with tainted plots). But there were times in “The Catch” where the figuring out of how the hell he did that shot overwhelmed the drunken drama that was being played out. The film’s ostensible documentary veracity, played against the increasingly melodramatic plotline, made for one of the more novel cinematic experiences of my life. I’m still in awe of and questioning the arcane and retrograde method of catching tuna – long lines drawn in by hand and when the behemoth is finally pulled to the edge of the boat, it being bludgeoned to death. Haven’t they every heard of winches? Or fishing poles? No wonder these guys are so messed up. The images and actions in “The Catch” seem to come from some sort of strange otherworld. Even John Huston’s stylized translation of “Moby Dick,” with Gregory Peck’s overwrought Ahab seems to have more connection with the things of this world than the seemingly more realistic world of “The Catch” which comes off like science fiction.

CUT

Of course, Emir Naderi’s “CUT” was the big ticket of the festival. Naderi, with his outsized and generous personality was the head of the festival jury and seemed to be everywhere at the festival, glad-handing and joking – a kind of crazy fun Iranian bachelor uncle you wish you had type. His film was getting the big hype for low-budget art house fodder (Note: I have been a small part of the hype machine with an article I wrote more than a year ago about a visit to the set of “CUT”). The brutal intensity of the film more than lived up to expectations. The lack of dramatic curvature, though, made the parable about the suffering of the artist-cinephile a bit of a slog. And in the penultimate scene where a countdown of 100 great films punctuate the seemingly endless beating one is left with more of an intellectual release rather than an emotional one. What twisted my mind and left me squirming more after the houselights went up was Naderi’s simultaneous critique and exploitation of the idea of violence as entertainment. The direct pleasure of men beating up another man versus the higher aesthetics of cinema art was laid on display for the audience to “enjoy” voyeuristically in a high art film that was laden with violence. It makes the mind boggle.

Monsters Club

A couple of buddies were put off by Monster’s Club opening scenes where our hero, a younger, richer and more fashionable Ted Kaczynski (as played by Eita) goes through his hermetic routines - which mainly include sending mail bombs to owners of media conglomerates - in his Hallmark perfect winter cabin. His voice over mouths anarcho-primitivist screeds. They felt that filmmaker Toshiaki Toyoda was in agreement with the sentiments voiced. He may well be, but between Eita’s incongruous (and great) haircut and his character’s acknowledged privileged I felt that he was more of a 3rd Generation type and his motives completely up to question. As his madness ensues he does become a monster, delivering his last payload to the crowded streets of Tokyo – bringing a metaphorical and literal winter with him. Monster’s Club was disturbing, visionary and uneven. The literalizing of his demons was a bit overdone, but the nod toward JLG had a particular resonance. The bigger reference to Kenji Miyazawa, children’s book author and poet may have been a bit too Japanese culture specific to translate beyond borders, but even without the cultural reference the final voice over poem throws the whole thing into a more enigmatic and resonant place. Toyoda’s mixing it up with performance artist Pyuupiru, musician KenKen and a host of others show a generosity of spirit that’s visible in the final result. It’s good to see Toyoda, after his abysmal stoner slog, “The Blood of Rebirth,” finding a bit of footing on a new rocky trail – exploring, taking chances and creating interesting new work.

KOTOKO

Most problematic was “KOTOKO.” (above) Like “CUT,” not only was the title all in caps, but gushers of blood stained the screen through most of the running time. In KOTOKO’s case the boundary between fiction and fact were completely upended. “KOTOKO” follows the story of a woman, played by Okinawan singer Cocco, going mad. The manifestations of her madness include hallucinating doppelgangers and non-existent personages along with self-mutilation (cutting in this case) and anorexia – something that the real life actress is known for. She appeared on stage before the screening with director Shinya Tsukamoto, a scary image of walking death, spaced out (on meds?) and nearly incoherent. It was a sad sight. Tsukamoto appears to be genuinely in love with her – not only visible from his appearance in the movie as her potential savior, but even in the Q and A afterwards, it was pretty obvious. KOTOKO’s story was developed from Cocco’s ideas and whether the film exists as some sort of insane therapy session masquerading as a movie or an uber-Polanski exploration into troubled behavior is up to question. It seems that both director and subject are in an extreme enabling stage. Despite the visceral and unrelenting affect of the film (Tsukemoto certainly knows how to put together a film) one wonders if it may be better for Cocco to get some professional help soon.

No Man's Zone

“No Man’s Zone” is Toshi Fujiwara’s documentary meditation on the disaster in Tohoku. If Cocco wears the marks of her self-mutilation on her forearms, Fujiwara wears his Markerisms on his sleeve. Even the voice over by Arsinée Khanjian sounded uncannily like Sandra Stewart, the voice on the English language version of “Sans Soleil.” There was coy set of questions and statements about what you were looking at. A Where’s Waldo “whoops you missed what you should have been looking at” turned with increasing gravity to “the thing you should be looking at – radiation – you can’t see.” For a film that’s about trifecta of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown, it’s surprisingly beautiful. The landscapes and still lives of the massive destruction of 3.11 give way to the revival of spring and nature reclaiming the devastated land. But the radiation has made the place a “No Man’s Zone.” Tarkovsky was prescient on this one! Fujiwara’s haunting images of empty and emptying towns serve as a document, a remembrance to our own follies. Where Marker builds his critique of images and documentary truth with trove of historical, and cinematic references and a lifetime of knowledge, Fujiwara tends to shorthand his seemingly pithy third person commentary, leaving the experience of No Man’s Land a bit of a didactic exercise. But as one of the first films that attempts to make some sense of the endless images of destruction and rapidly developing mediated myth of stoic and hardworking Japanese coming to terms with yet another disaster, at least “No Man’s Zone” is trying to look at things with fresh eyes with a certain anger and sadness that says, “Look at this and remember.”

Japanese Weekend Box Office, December 3rd to December 4th

2011-12-05T12:16:00.000-08:00

1. Kaibutsu-kun:The Movie* (Toho)
2. K-on! Movie* (Shochiku)
3. The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (Toho Towa)
4. A Ghost Of A Chance* (Toho)
5. Crossroads* (Shochiku)
6. Kaiji 2* (Toho)
7. Moneyball (SPE)
8. Life Back Then* (Shochiku)
9. Happy Feet 2 (Warner)
10. Suite Pretty Cure: Take Back! The Heart Binding Miracles Melody* (Toei)

* Japanese film

Courtesy of Box Office Japan.

Studio Ghibli Warns That Hayao Miyazaki's Next Film Won't Exactly Be Soothing Family Fare

2011-11-28T11:18:00.001-08:00

by Marc Saint-Cyr

The newest film from beloved anime director Hayao Miyazaki is always an event worth keeping track of, but it seems like this time there is more in the works than yet another innocent, family-friendly fantasia like "My Neighbor Totoro," "Spirited Away" or "Ponyo." According to a recent piece from the Anime News Network, Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki has recently described Miyazaki's next project as "not the sort of work everyone in the audience can relax and watch." The new film will be an autobiographical one, though whether it will be based on Miyazaki's life or someone else's still remains unclear. Either way, this almost certainly indicates that Miyazaki will be adopting a more realistic approach than those he has taken in the past. Also worth noting is the fact that the project is not directly inspired by the March 11th earthquake and tsunami, since Miyazaki had apparently predicted the current state of Japanese society while planning the film. Regardless, it is notable that he is taking this different route in his work for his first effort following the terrible events of this past spring, as if to try to create something more appropriate and serious in this new chapter of healing that Japan is currently facing. It will certainly be interesting to see what this fresh effort from Miyazaki will eventually look like.

Four Films by Edmund Yeo Shown Online as Part of Yxine Film Fest

2011-11-28T11:18:00.000-08:00

by Marc Saint-Cyr

Anyone who visits the Pow-Wow on a somewhat regular basis will probably have noticed our frequently-expressed enthusiasm for the work of Edmund Yeo, a Malaysian filmmaker who is based in Tokyo and has thus far produced an impressive number of moving, beautifully crafted short films. Yeo frequently travels to film festivals around the world to present his work, yet those who cannot attend such events don't have many other options for seeing them for themselves...until now, that is. The Yxine Film Festival is a Vietnam-based online festival which showcases short films from exciting upcoming filmmakers from around the world. This year, it is devoting part of its In Focus section to Yeo by showing four of his films: "Love Suicides" (2009), "Kingyo" (2009), "The White Flower" (2010) and "Inhalation" (2010). Yeo frequently moves between Malaysia and Japan to make his films, and has freely drawn from both cultures in terms of shooting locations, source material and other factors such as actors and production resources. Both "Love Suicides" and "Kingyo" are based on short stories by Japanese writer Yasunari Kawabata, with the latter shot in the Akihabara area of Tokyo. "The White Flower" was inspired by a Kawabata story, was partially shot in Tokyo and features a Japanese actor, Toru Inamura, appearing along with Chinese actress Zhu Dan and Thai actor Kong Pahurak (who recently served as a cinematographer on Yeo's latest effort, "Last Fragments of Winter").

It appears the festival will be wrapping up on December 12th, so make sure to squeeze in some time to catch these fantastic films before then (not to mention the considerable selection from other filmmakers featured on the site)!

Shinobu Yaguchi's "Robo-G" Gets a Trailer

2011-11-28T11:17:00.000-08:00

by Marc Saint-Cyr

This past summer, we first reported on the latest comedy in the works from Shinobu Yaguchi, the director known for such comedies as "Waterboys" (2001), "Swing Girls" (2004) and "Happy Flight" (2008). The new film, entitled "Robo-G," stars Gaku Hamada, Shogo Kawai and Junya Kawashima as a trio of bumbling cyberneticists whose new robot is destroyed before its presentation at a robotics convention, forcing them to try to pass off an old man in a robot costume (Mickey Curtis, AKA Shinjiro Igarashi) as their latest invention. Thanks to Twitch, we now have a trailer for this latest effort from Yaguchi which, to the familiar notes of Styx' "Mr. Roboto," presents a taste of what looks like will be a very wacky and entertaining work.

Check out the trailer to see for yourself:

TOKYO FILMEX '11 REVIEW: Tokyo Playboy Club

2011-11-27T16:34:00.001-08:00

東京プレイボーイクラブ (Tokyo Pureiboi Kurabu)

Released: 2011

Director:
Yosuke Okuda

Starring:
Nao Omori
Ken Mitsuishi
Asami Usuda
Yasushi Fuchikami
Sakichi Sato

Running time: 92 min.

Reviewed by Chris MaGee

In the back alleys of Shinjuku are thousands of bars, clubs and dives promising infinite pleasures. One of these, the Tokyo Playboy Club, offers "Boobies, Boobies... Fondle, Suck..." but behind this enticing sales pitch is a tiny corner of the city that is filled with violence, rage and the occasional laugh. The club's doorman Takahiro (Yasushi Fuchikami) is tasked with dragging drunk and horny men in off the street. The pay for this job is low and Takahiro is in need of much more serious cash. It turns out that Takahiro has gotten a girl pregnant, something that his live-in girlfriend Eriko (Asami Usuda) knows nothing about. What is Takahiro going to do? On a night when his boss Seikichi (Ken Mitsuishi) leaves the club in Takahiro's hands the young doorman takes off with all the money from the club's safe. Big mistake, especially because Seikichi has brought an old friend, Katsutoshi (Nao Omori) on to work security at the club. Katsutoshi is a bloodthirsty psychopath, so between him and the club's yakuza backers Takahiro, and his girlfriend Eriko, find themselves drawn into a fight for their lives. A plot worthy of any classic yakuza film, no? Yet 24-year-old director Yosuke Okuda, famous for his indie "Hot as Hell" series of films, manages to only deliver on some of the promise of this lean, mean plot.

Okuda has long been the B-boy wunderkind of Japan's indie scene, a young man who has synthesized violence and dark humour into his own ticket into a world of criminals, hard-done-by women and losers. I have to admit to not being a huge fan of Okuda's laughs and bloodshed formula, but you have to give credit where credit is due -- Okuda is doing something that most young Japanese filmmakers seem to feel is of secondary importance -- he's trying to entertain the audience. There is infinite energy in "Tokyo Playboy Club", a respectable amount of laughs (although many a little misplaced), and like Okuda's main influence, Quentin Tarantino, there is some very effective use of music during key scenes. That being said, "Tokyo Playboy Club"ends up suffering from many of the same pitfalls as the work of his peers in the Japanese indie film scene.

There is not a lot of effort on Okuda's part to satisfyingly take us from point A to point B with his characters, and so many questions are left unanswered. Why would Eriko agree to be sold into service at the Tokyo Playboy Club for Takahiro, an unfaithful and uncaring boyfriend? Exactly what kind of friendship or history does Seikichi share with the sociopathic Katsutoshi (although Nao Omori's compelling performance is the heart of the film)? Why does Takahiro get off scot free, and physically intact, after stealing the money from the club? Instead of tying up these loose ends Okuda, like a lot of young indie filmmakers, puts his energy into sometimes ingenious but ill-explained action.

One huge issue that is left unexplored is how obviously unsuccessful the Tokyo Playboy Club of the title is. We are treated to some truly funny banter amongst the trio of hostesses who work at the club, but we never see them with male clients. It appears that the Tokyo Playboy Club has absolutely no clients at all. Exploring this dead end club with an ensemble cast could have been truly interesting. Instead, the men who should be visiting these lovely ladies are off taking care of other concerns.

One of the most incongruous things about the male characters in "Tokyo Playboy Club" is their overbearing and infinite anger. Most times when Katsutoshi, Takahiro, Sekichi or any of the other main male characters in the film open their mouths it's to yell, growl and threaten. This being at heart a yakuza film this kind of alpha male posturing is par for the course, but again, we find ourselves wondering what has gotten everyone so damn angry. When we first meet Takahiro he's handing out leaflets in front of a hostess bar, and he goes on a rant to a young unemployed salaryman about the haves and have-nots of today's Tokyo. Had Okuda followed through and carried this thread of righteous anger through the rest of "Tokyo Playboy Club" a lot of the questions about the motivations of these characters may have been answered. Sadly this early promise gets lost in the recycled tropes of the yakuza eiga genre.

It doesn't seem that a top notch cast, crew and big budget that Yosuke Okuda has been able to make a smooth transition from indie filmmaking to a mainstream release. Maybe a few more years honing his filmmaking talent and channeling his obvious energy and anger will see Okuda take us on a truly satisfying cinematic journey. Until then, though, we'll just have to wait.

Tokyo Filmex '11 REVIEW: The Catch

2011-11-22T19:47:00.000-08:00

魚影の群れ (Gyoei no mure)

Released: 1983

Director:
Shinji Somai

Starring:
Ken Ogata
Masako Natsume
Kocihi Sato
Yukiyo Toake
Saburo Ishikura

Running time: 140 min.

Reviewed by Chris MaGee

The 12th annual Tokyo Filmex film fesstival (November 19 to 27) is currently holding a full retrospective of filmmaker Shinji Somai at Shochiku's Togeki Theatre in Higashi Ginza.

Tokiko (Masako Natsume) is a lovable and vibrant young woman, so much so that she can make a young man like Shunichi (Koichi Sato), who works in a café, dream of being fisherman. You see, Tokiko comes from a fishing family, or at least has a father, Fusajiro (Ken Ogata), who operates his own small tuna-fishing boat, the Toki-Maru #3. Tokiko's life is so tied in with the sea that if Shunichi loves her he must love the other. He must also learn to love the sea in order to win the approval of Fusajiro and this marks one of the central crisis of Shinji Somai's 1983 film "The Catch". While Shunichi loves the sea (ie: loves Tokiko) Fusajiro depends on it, and the sea has been a fickle, unforgiving and often dangerous taskmaster. If Fusajiro can hook and haul in a 140kg tuna that will fetch him ¥540,000 his life is paradise, but it's the hell wrestling these beasts from the deep that more often than not has made his life a living hell. Fusajiro can't even remember exactly when he began fishing. All he knows is that he's had his own boat since he was 23. The rest has been lost in the salt air and in umpteenth magnums of sake. So in order to enter Tokiko's life Shunichi, in essence, must become this disillusioned, ocean-weary man, a daunting proposition that will nearly take his life. Director Somai is tasked with taking us into this thankless and mysterious brotherhood of men who live off the sea.

Shinji Somai is not a filmmaker who is little known outside of Japan, aand when he is mentioned it is normally in conjunction with films like the high school drama "Typhoon Club" or the action film "Sailor Suit and Machine Gun", both that explore and expand upon the idea of youth. It's because of this reputation that many would be forgiven for thinking that "The Catch" would center around the familial and romantic life of Tokiko and that her father Fusajiro would be a charismatic supporting character. Not the case. "The Catch" is in fact split into three sections -- The First Summer, One Year Later and The End of Summer. Once Shunichi heads out to sea for a tragic fishing trip with Tokiko's father the film shifts gears and we discover that main protagonist of "The Catch" ends up being Fusajiro himself. Soon we're in gloriously anti-heroic territory, both both in terms of narrative and and in the construction of the film.

The one defining mood of "The Catch" is one of hard-drinking, calloused-handed machissmo. Along with Mutsuo Naganuma's showy cinematography which pitches, chops and flows dramatically like the sea itself, this alpha-maleness is probably the film's biggest strength, as well as some troublesome weaknesses. This is the realm of Ernest Hemingway and in some ways Werner Herzog. We're introduced into a world where men are men and life is uncomplicated by delicate emotion. We are also made witness to long documentary sequences in which it appears that screen legend Ken Ogata is actually hand fishing giant tuna, stabbing at them with hooks and tying them to the side of his boat. Fact and fiction begin to blur, but in a wonderfully watchable way. In many ways "The Catch" feels like an old, hard-done-by enka song come to life. It's also refreshing to see a mainstream Japanese film (albeit one from the early 80's) that is so unashamedly comfortable with its masculinity, so full of bravado. In an age of studio features almost exclusively geared to young female and family audiences male characters have become limited to talent agency-groomed pretty boys and nostalgic "oji-san" characters portrayed by once formidable actors. Still "The Catch" goes a long way in continuing the stereotypical screen violence against women that plagues so much male-centric Japanese filmmaking.

Watching "The Catch" makes us pine for the days when Japanese film had bone and muscle, as opposed to hairspray, twinkle and the occasional bloody transgression. There may be hints of the blue collar heroism of Ogata's lone fisherman in the work of some of Japan's independent filmmakers; although today we are more likely to have our protagonists be beaten down bohemian freeters as opposed to hard-bitten "shō ga nai" pragmatists. In that way "The Catch" may very well fall into the Japanese cinematic love for nostalgia, but when it is this forceful, unflinching and brave it is hard to complain.

Rin Takanashi is New Female Lead in Abbas Kiarostami's "The End"

2011-11-21T08:12:00.000-08:00

by Marc Saint-Cyr

Earlier this year, we reported that Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami was planning to cast actress Aoi Miyazaki in his new film "The End," which is set in Japan and revolves around a romantic relationship between a young college student and a man in his 60s. Now, however, it seems that Miyazaki is no longer attached to the project and Kiarostami has found a new leading lady: 22 year-old Rin Takanashi (above left), who has previously appeared in the television series "Samurai Sentai Shinkenger" and Gen Takahashi's 2007 film "Goth." She will be acting opposite Tadashi Okuno, who has been cast as her older love interest. Actors Ryo Kase ("Letters from Iwo Jima," "Outrage") and Denden ("Cut") have also been cast. "The End" is currently shooting until early December and planned to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2012 with a summer release in Japan to follow.

Many thanks to Tokyograph for story info.

New York's IFC Centre to Hold Studio Ghibli Retrospective; North American Screenings to Follow

2011-11-17T08:22:00.000-08:00

by Marc Saint-Cyr

A very special event for admirers of top-notch anime is set to arrive at the IFC Centre in New York this December. Studio Ghibli, one of the most beloved production companies in the Japanese animation industry, is the subject of a fresh retrospective that is being organized by the distributor GKIDS. Set to run at the IFC Centre from December 16th, 2011, to January 12th, 2012, the retrospective will consist of the fifteen films that came out of Studio Ghibli between 1984 and 2008 - the majority of which, of course, consisting of works from anime master Hayao Miyazaki. Beloved classics like "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind," My Neighbor Totoro," "Porco Rosso," "Princess Mononoke," and "Spirited Away" will be shown along with notable works from other filmmakers like Isao Takahata's "Only Yesterday," "Pom Poko" and "My Neighbors the Yamadas," Yoshifumi Kondo's "Whisper of the Heart" and Hiroyuki Morita's "The Cat Returns." Thankfully, those who can't make it to New York to see these films on the big screen will get other opportunities throughout early 2012, as the program will be touring around the U.S. and Canada to major cities like Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington and Toronto, among others. On top of that, keep an eye open for releases of more Studio Ghibli - some of which will be shown for the first time in the U.S. What better way to alleviate that weighty wintertime depression than a colorful dose of anime magic?

For the full list of titles and a detailed schedule, head over to Crunchyroll.com!

Hideo Gosha's Debut Film "Three Outlaw Samurai" to Receive the Criterion Treatment

2011-11-17T07:20:00.000-08:00

by Marc Saint-Cyr

Attention all classic chambara fans! This past Tuesday - the 15th, that special date in each month when the Criterion Collection announces their newest batch of titles to be released three months ahead - attentive DVD collectors will have been pleased to see that we will be getting more Japanese cinema from the much-worshipped disc label. This time around, Criterion is putting out the first feature film from Hideo Gosha, "Three Outlaw Samurai." The disc itself, which will be released in both Blu-ray and DVD formats on February 14th, 2012, seems to be a bare-bones affair, arriving with just a trailer and an essay by critic Bilge Ebiri as special features. But this is still a more than welcome release, if only for a chance to get a fresh look at this period revenge piece starring Tetsuro Tamba, Isamu Nagato and Mikijiro Hira as the three titular samurai. Heck, besides the restoration job that the Criterion staff are sure to give the film, this disc will be worth owning just for the exceptional cover art shown above.

For those inspired by this news to refresh their knowledge of Hideo Gosha's work, take a look at our reviews for such other films of his as "Sword of the Beast," "Goyokin," "The Wolves," and "The Geisha."

"Akira" Remake Update: Ezra Miller Out; Kristen Stewart (Possibly) In

2011-11-17T07:17:00.000-08:00

by Marc Saint-Cyr

The wheels of progress continue to turn on the Americanized remake of Katsuhiro Ohtomo's anime classic "Akira," with a fresh development emerging that will likely inspire more polarization amongst those keeping track of this project. Previously, it was reported that Ezra Miller, the young actor currently getting lots of attention with his role in Lynne Ramsay's big return to filmmaking, "We Need to Talk About Kevin," was in talks to join the cast of the new "Akira." However, in an exclusive report from Moviefone, Miller dispelled rumors by confirming that he would in fact NOT be appearing in the film. But it seems another actor may soon be joining the project: Kristen Stewart, the "Twilight" actress who is garnering much attention these days with the arrival of "Breaking Dawn: Part I" and the new trailer for her upcoming film "Snow White and the Huntsman" in theatres. She is apparently negotiating a place in the remake as the lead female character Jei. If this latest bit of casting were to go through, Stewart would be joining a cast that thus far consists of "Tetro"'s Alden Ehrenreich and may soon also include Gary Oldman and Helena Bonham Carter - though those last two big names are currently still unconfirmed rumors. The "Akira" remake will be directed by Jaume Collet-Serra ("Orphan," "Unknown") and is set to arrive sometime in 2013.

Many thanks to SciFi Mafia and Moviefone for the background info for this story.

REVIEW: The Seaside Motel

2011-11-14T08:29:00.000-08:00

シーサイドモーテル(The Seaside Motel)

Released: 2010

Director:
Kentaro Moriya

Starring:
Toma Ikuta
Kumiko Aso
Takayuki Yamada
Tetsuji Tamayama
Riko Narumi

Running time:103 min.

Reviewed by Chris MaGee

There are a lot of stories going on behind the doors of The Seaside Motel, a rundown establishment set miles out in the middle of nowhere. It's name makes you think of an idyllic coastal getaway, but in fact it's nowhere near the sea. The closest you get to sun and surf are the identical photos of a couple basking on a sunset beach that hang in every room. The Seaside Motel is the kind of place you stay at out of necessity and never choice, a place to hide, a place to disappear, a dead end place. Describing the setting like this you would think that Kentaro Moriya's film "The Seaside Motel" would be some kind of neo-noir exercise, and if it had been it may have been a better film. As it turned out "The Seaside Motel" is a film that continually pulls its punches and, while delivering some interesting performances, its attempts and goofball comedy mostly falls flat.

Who will you find if you check into The Seaside Motel? People like Kameda (Toma Ikuta), a traveling salesman who finds himself unable to sell his stock of cheap skin cream. In the midst of his self pity Candy (Kumiko Aso), a prostitute knocks on the door of his room. He didn't call her, but soon he finds himself falling in love. It turns out that it was the guest in the upstairs room, a grocery store manager named Ota (Arata Furuta), who called for Candy but he gave the escort service the wrong room number. Now Ota is trapped in his room wearing a blonde wig and a full face of make-up -- a device used by his Pachinko-playing wife to keep him from cheating while she is out gambling. Down the hall there is another ropmantic liaison going wrong. A lonely man named Ishizuka (Tetsuhiro Ikeda) has become obsessed with a ditsy bar hostess named Marine (Mami Yamasaki) and has brought her to The Seaside to have his way with her. The only thing is she refuses to bed Ishizuka in such rundown surroundings. Rounding out these damaged couples are Yosuke (Takayuki Yamada) and Rui (Riko Narumi). Rui thinks she and her beau are off to attend a local festival, but it turns out that Yosuke, a gambling addict, is running out on a series of dents owed to the yakuza. Soon the mobsters are busting down the door of their room and Yosuke is "persuaded" to pay back the money by a torturer named Pepe (Yoichi Nukumizu).

Describing the intersecting bare bones narratives of all these characters brings to the seedy and booze-soaked songscapes of early Tom Waits, the bent and faded snapshots of author Raymond Carver or, in their darker moments, the pulp misadventures of Raymond Chandler. The big problem is that Kentaro Moriya softens these rough edges, or avoids them all together and instead wraps the lives of these down-on-their-luck motel denizens in the bright colours and broad cartoon stylings of so many contemporary Japanese comedies. Easy laughs aren't allowed to simply be easy. Instead we feel that we are being forced to bust a gut by quick, gimmicky editing, almost circus-style set design and costumes and performances that are worthy of a Warner Brothers cartoon. Okay, this may not be entirely fair. Takayuki Yamada, an actor who can seem to take the most banal material and make it sing, shows his usual charisma and supreme comic timing. Also, actor Yoichi Nukumizu give his middle-aged torturer Pepe an added level of menace that perfectly compliments Yamada's performance. These two bright spots aren't enough to make us forgive the bland performances of Tetsuji Tamayama and Tokio Emoto as a pair of yakuza, and the seemingly interchangeable actresses whose job is to strut around and be sexy. Of course these women, all prostitutes, hostesses and adulterers, are never allowed to actually be sexual, nor is the violence on display allowed to chill us even a tiny bit. The perfect example of this is a scene involving a car crash in which we see that there is no stunt person (not even a mannequin!) in the car that gets smashed. Nothing bad can happen if we're trying to be funny, right?

I must make myself clear -- I have no problem with "The Seaside Motel" being a comedy. I do have a problem, though, with it trying to adapt the aesthetic of earlier and much more successful zany comedies like "Survive Style 5+" and "Kamikaze Girls" to a story, or stories as the case may be, which so clearer demands a different approach. It seems, in fact, that this kind of broad, comic book style of comedy is starting to outstay its welcome in Japan. This is especially true when you have directors like Yosuke Fujita and Daihachi Yoshida either dialing down the zaniness and upping the pathos or not being afraid to abandon the clowning to take audiences into much darker territory when necessary. I do understand that "The Seaside Motel" was based on a manga by Yukio Okada (a work I'm unfamiliar with), but this adaptation is an object lesson in departing from the source material.

I really wished that I had liked "The Seaside Motel" more. Actually, let me rephrase that. I know that I would have liked "The Seaside Motel" more had it been put in the hands of a different director. I'd think a hot young filmmaker like Yosuke Okuda could have brought the right balance of laughs, sexuality and menace to this film. Also, one could dream for a moment and wish this adaptation had fallen into the lap of a genius filmmaker like Jim Jarmusch who proved in 1989 with "Mystery Train" that an ensemble motel-set movie can be both quirky and compelling. Sadly neither of these filmmakers were around to help out with "The Seaside Motel". That being the case you may want to check in somewhere else.

A feast of new anime coming to the 10th Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema

2011-11-14T08:27:00.000-08:00

by Chris MaGee

We really are spoiled here in Ontario, the province we (well, most of us) here at the Pow-Wow call home here in Canada. Not only do we enjoy having the world-renowned Ottawa International Animation Festival on our doorstep, but we also have events like the Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema to enjoy as well. And we all know that where there is an animation festival there is also animation from japan to be had! This year's offering of the Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema, the festival's 10th, features two feature length films that fans of anime in Southern Ontario will not want to miss.

First up is Makoto Shinkai's latest feature "Children Who Chase Lost Voices From Deep Below" (above). As we've reported before Shinkai, the man who brought us such beautiful and melancholy films as "Voices from a Distant Star" and "5 Centimetres Per Second", is bringing us a story that lives up to his reputation as "the next Hayao Miyazaki". "Children Who Chase Lost Voices From Deep Below" follows a young girl who spends her time listening to a mysterious crystal radio set given to her by her father. One day she encounters a boy who leaves her life as quickly as he arrives. The girl sets out to not only find this boy, but the source of the radio broadcasts that she has been receiving. You can catch on Sunday, November 20th at 1:00PM.

Next is a film that is new to us here, Jun Shishido's "The Princess and the Pilot" (check out the trailer below). Produced by Madhouse, the same studio that brought us the recent hit "Summer Wars", "The Princess and the Pilot" is set in an alternative reality in which a pilot goes on a 12,000 mile air mission to save a young women, "as beautiful as five thousand beams of sunlight.” The mission is fraught with danger though, as a war is raging across the globe. "The Princess and the Pilot" will be screening on Saturday, November 19th at 6:30PM.

One thing anime fans in Toronto will be interested to hear is that this year's Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema is opening on Thursday, November 17th at 6:30PM with a film that recently screened at the 15th annual Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival -- "Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos".

You can check out all that the 10th annual Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema, running from November 17th to the 20th at the Chrysalids Theatre (137 Ontario Street North, Kitchener), by visiting their website here.

Powerful new documentary follows the "Ending Note" of a lifelong salesman

2011-11-14T08:26:00.000-08:00

by Chris MaGee

I have to admit that I am a huge fan of documentaries in general, and Japanese documentaries in particular. It seems that Japan has seen a recent crop of very talented documentary filmmakers, and their work is finding its way to film festivals throughout the West. One film that screened last month at the 47th annual Chicago International Film Festival that has been gaining a lot of critical attention is "Ending Note: Death of a Japanese Salesman".

The film follows first time filmmaker Mami Sunada's father through being diagnosed with terminal cancer. After 40 years as a sales representative Sunada's father must come to terms with the life he's led and the people he will be leaving behind. he does this by creating a video diary, something that has apparently become popular amongst aging Japanese in recent years. Very powerful material indeed. You can watch the trailer for "Ending Note: Death of a Japanese Salesman" below, as well as visit its official website here. Hopefully it will be making stops at more festivals in the very near future.

Weekly Trailers

2011-11-14T08:25:00.000-08:00

Phoenix Wright - Takashi Miike (2012)

Takashi Miike continues his run of remakes and screen adaptations with his take on popular video game "Phoenix Wright". In the near future it's the job of defense attorney Phoenix Wright to prove the innocence of his clients during whirlwind 3-day trials. "Phoenix Wright" is scheduled for release in the spring of 2012.

Take Aim at the Police Van - Seijun Suzuki (1960)

One of Seijun Suzuki's many program pictures for Nikkatsu, "Take Aim at the Police Van" tells the story of a prison guard who begins his own investigation into the identity of a sniper who shot two of his cons on route to prison.

REVIEW: I Hate But Love

2011-11-14T08:23:00.001-08:00

憎いあンちくしょう (Nikui an-chikushô)

Released: 1962

Director:
Koreyoshi Kurahara

Starring:
Yûjirô Ishihara
Ruriko Asaoka
Izumi Ashikawa
Asao Koike
Tamio Kawaji

Running time: 106 min.

Reviewed by Bob Turnbull

Who knew Koreyoshi Kurahara could make a rom-com? Well, OK, not your typical Hollywood romantic comedy, but a quick look at its plot and structure could easily lead you to believe the resulting film was being targeted at a multiplex crowd. That is, if you also assumed that mainstream fare had a crashing jazz score, in your face handheld cameras and a dynamic editing style that you could never really anticipate. And that it was acceptable to mostly abandon its initial rom-com feel half way through so it could turn into a road movie, bring in melodrama and tackle the subject of media manipulation while examining the idea of true love. Not your average date movie to be sure.

Kurahara's only colour feature included in Criterion's Eclipse Series box set ("The Warped World Of Koreyoshi Kurahara") is a great deal of fun for that first half as we get to know famous DJ and television host Daisaku and his manager Noriko (played by two of Japan's biggest stars at the time - Yujiro Ishihara and the gorgeous Ruriko Asaoko). She's scheduled just about every move of his life for the last two years and, even though they are attracted to each other, has laid down the rule that they will not have intimate physical contact in order to focus all their energies on his career. For Daisaku, this is beginning to be a distraction all of its own as he is getting burned out by the jam-packed itinerary of daily meetings and events while also wrestling with how women fit into his life. He's not in a very happy place and hates the thought of yet another late night of making club appearances when he'd rather just sleep. Noriko keeps him on schedule, though, as she is efficient, very confident and approaches challenges in a positive way. She even keeps track of their "relationship" via a whiteboard - incrementing each day how long it has lasted in different coloured markers. At the 730th day, she outlines the number in a heart to mark the two year anniversary and it's characteristics like this that make her pretty lovable during this first section. Daisaku's sad sack demeanor wears thin, but she delights in things like waking him in the morning and tricking him into a cold shower. Doris Day and Rock Hudson would slot quite nicely into this framework.

That style and pace stays clicking along and rarely lags on either the story or visual fronts. If it isn't laugh out loud funny, it's enjoyably silly and with Kurahara's shot selections and strong use of colour (focusing on the pop of different hues from objects like car seats, blouses and markers), it easily keeps you engaged. At the halfway mark, Daisaku ignores all advice and decides to help a young woman by driving a jeep to the remote area of Kyushu (900 miles away) so that the doctors can make use of it to help the injured and sick. The main doctor in Kyushu and the woman have fallen in love via their correspondence and Daisaku is fascinated by this version of "true love". The road movie idea can fit nicely into the broader realm of the light romantic comedy, but this is where Kurahara veers off route. As Daisaku's determination to finish the task of delivering the jeep on his own becomes stronger, so does Noriko's need to gain control of him and his career. As she chases after him in his Jaguar, it becomes less of a fun-filled excuse to bring the lovers together as it does a heightened melodrama used to explore aspects of how the media exploits the masses and how the concept of "love" is misunderstood.

It handles both of these in reasonably interesting ways, but it becomes difficult to stay as engaged with the characters during most of this journey. Noriko's frantic need to gain the upper hand on Daisaku and make sure that his career (and her well-being) does not suffer begins to wear down the good will she built up with the viewer initially. When she can't physically stop him, she starts to turn his trip into a media circus as if he had planned it that way. When that too fails to dissuade him, she starts to break down emotionally. Daisaku doesn't gain many points either - his single-minded focus on the trip is incredibly selfish as he ignores the impact it has on the many people who depend on him and isn't even doing it for those who will benefit. All he wants to get out of this is a deeper understanding of "humanism". Some of that is achieved by the end (with both couples coming to interesting conclusions about their relationships), but doesn't add much as it goes along. Were it not for the barbed attacks on Daisaku's media image, the effect the reporters and fans have in slowing down his progress (every day the jeep is not available in Kyushu means more people may die) and some very lovely scenery as they wind through a big chunk of Japan, the long journey would become somewhat tiresome. By its end, Kurahara has smashed some oddly disparate genres into an overall entertaining and even illuminating work. Though he loses some of the charm of the characters along the way, it's an interesting and well-crafted enterprise.

Read more from Bob Turnbull at his blog.

Japanese Weekend Box Office, November 12th to November 13th

2011-11-14T08:22:00.001-08:00

1. A Ghost Of A Chance* (Toho)
2. Kaiji 2* (Toho)
3. Moneyball (SPE)
4. The Three Muskateers (Gaga)
5. Suite Pretty Cure Take Back! The Heart Binding Miracles Melody* (Toei)
6. Immortals (Toho Towa)
7. Contagion (Warner)
8. Paranormal Activity 3 (Paramount)
9. Source Code (Disney)
10. 1911 (Toei)

* Japanese film

Courtesy of Box Office Japan.

Six Questions for... Go Shibata

2011-11-10T19:07:00.000-08:00

The past 15 years has seen some truly innovative work coming from the indie film scene in Japan, films that form a series of street level snapshots of a country dealing with serious social and economic decline. One things about these fearless visions is that many of their creators, first time directors and screenwriters, come and go, leaving us with wonderful individual films, but without satisfying bodies of work. One independent filmmaker who has bucked this trend is Go Shibata. Born in 1975 in Kanagawa Prefecture, Shibata was one of many of this generation of filmmakers who studied at Osaka University of the Arts Film Program. He brought to of his major artistic themes, damaged outsider characters and ear-splitting music and sound design, to his 1999 feature debut "NN-891102", the story of a young man trying to recreate the sound of the August 1945 bombing of Nagasaki. It would be several years before Shibata would bring audiences his best known film, 2004's "Late Bloomer", but this portrait of a serial killer afflicted with cerebral palsy has ensured Shibata a place in the top tier of contemporary Japanese filmmakers. In 2008 Shibata flirted with the mainstream when he directed "Punch the Blue Sky", the story of an indie rock band's attempt to make it big, but he returned to his roots with the astoundingly creative and confounding supernatural comedy/ drama "Doman Seman". Premiering at the 2010 Tokyo Filmex "Doman Seman" went on to win the Nippon Visions Award at this year's Nippon Connection Japanese Film Festival in Frankfurt, Germany. We were honoured to have Go Shibata answer our Six Questions for... survey. CM

1. What movie inspired you to become a film-maker? What was it about the movie that was inspiring?

“Eraserhead”. There is a foreboding feeling of “something” throughout the film. It is filled with this sense of the unknown. I am inspired by any of the scenes. It not only describes fear and anxiety, but it is also very dreamlike; the delusions are linked directly to the image. The way the film expresses itself goes beyond reality. The film is like a prose poem.

2. Is there someone you always wanted to work with on a project, but have never had the chance?

Mike Patton [lead singer of Faith No More, Mr. Bungle]

3. Please finish this statement: If I had not become a film-maker I would probably be a ________.

Writer.

4. Which three people (besides film-makers) have had the biggest influence on you?

Musician Ai Yamatsuka
Photographer Oliviero Toscani
Takeshi Kitano

5. What is your favorite book? Why is it your favorite?

“The Wheel Of Time: The Shamans Of Mexico Their Thoughts About Life Death And The Universe” by Carlos Castaneda. I have read this book so many times… well actually, I just look through the pages. It was like tarot cards. I think that I just look through pages when I need it. It was very helpful for my image training. I do not have a copy any more, but I will buy it again when I need it.

6. What moment in your career has made you most proud so far?

When I shot and edited Osoi Hito (Late Bloomer), including meeting Masakiyo Sumida. And also, when I received the dream digital award at the Hawaii Festival. This is a great memory in 2005.

Translation by Chikako Hirao Evans

The Japan Foundation Toronto brings four free films to The Royal Cinema in December

2011-11-10T19:06:00.001-08:00

by Chris MaGee

Looks like the folks at the Toronto office of The Japan Foundation have a Christmas present for all the Japanese film fans here in our hometown. From December 8th to 10th the Japan Foundation will be holding free screenings of four popular films at The Royal Cinema (608 College Street).

Like historical epics? Then you'll want to catch "Mt. Tsurugidake (The Summit: A Chronicle of Stones)" on Saturday, December 10th at 2:45PM, directed by Daisaku Kimura. This film tells the true-life story of the 1907 exploration of the 2,999 metre tall peak in Toyama Prefecture, and boats an all star cast including Tadanobu Asano, Aoi Miyazaki, Koji Yakusho, Ryuhei Matsuda and Teruyuki Kagawa.

Like your history with a little more of a nostalgic bent? Director Takashi Yamazaki has what you need with "Always Sunset on 3rd St. 2" on Saturday, December 10th at 6:00PM, the sequel to his blockbuster family-friendly drama. Set during the post-war 1950's the film follows the lives of the Suzuki family and their Tokyo neighbours, and stars Shin'ichi Hatori,Maki Horikita and Kazuki Koshimizu.

How about musical drama? Then you won't want to miss Koji Hagiuda's under-appreciated 2007 film "Shindo (Prodigy)" on Thursday, December 8th at 7:00PM. The film, about the lives of two teenage classical piano prodigies, features a pair of amazing performances by Ken'ichi Matsuyama and Riko Narumi.

Maybe you like you musical films with a few more laughs? Then you will absolutely not want to miss one of the best and most funny feel good comedies of the past decade, Nobuhiro Yamashita's "Linda, Linda, Linda on Friday, December 9th at 7:00PM. The film stars Korean actress Bae Doona as the leader of a group of high school girls who form a rock band and attempt to learn 80's pop punk group The Blue Hearts' hit song "Linda, Linda".

All you need to do to attend one or all of these films is simply head to the The Royal Cinema, walk in and enjoy. Remember, these are FREE SCREENINGS! For more details on this great event head to The Japan Foundation Toronto website here.

Koki Mitani's latest comedy "A Ghost of a Chance" rides high at the Japanese box office

2011-11-10T19:02:00.000-08:00

by Chris MaGee

A favorite film around the MaGee household is Koki Mitani's 1997 comedy "Welcome Back, Mr McDonald (Rajio no Jikan)". My girlfriend and I have seen this story of a live radio drama gone hilariously wrong dozens of times and it never fails to make us laugh out loud. Mitani is also responsible for one of the most insightful and universal comedies I've seen in year. In 2004 director Mamoru Hoshi adapted Mitani's stage Play "University of Laughs" to the screen with Koji Yakusho and Goro Inagaki as a censor and a playwright battling it out. This one comes very highly recommended. Why am I going on about my love for the wildly popular 50-year-old Mitani? Because it looks like this playwright, actor, screenwriter and director has become even more popular in his homeland... if that's possible.

Mitani's latest directorial effort, "Suteki na Kanashibari (A Ghost of a Chance)" continues his trademark screwball comedic stylings, but this time in a courtroom setting, and a haunted one at that. The film stars Eri Fukatsu (above left) as a defense lawyer whose client is accused of murdering his wife. He says he didn't do it, and he says he has a witness to prove it. The only thing is the witness is a 500-year-old ghost, played by Toshiyuki Nishida (above right).

"Suteki na Kanashibari" opened in Japanese theatres on October 29th and in only 12 days it has grossed nearly ¥1.6 billion , making it one of, if not the biggest box office hit in Japan this year. With 313,000 people flocking to theatres this past weekend alone to catch the film it looks like this hot comedy will be cooling down any time soon.

Thanks to Tokyograph for this news.

Japanese Weekend Box Office, November 5th to November 6th

2011-11-10T19:00:00.000-08:00

1. A Ghost Of A Chance* (Toho)
2. Kaiji 2* (Toho)
3. The Three Muskateers (Gaga)
4. Suite Pretty Cure Take Back! The Heart Binding Miracles Melody* (Toei)
5. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Fox)
6. Paranormal Activity 3 (Paramount)
7. 1911 (Toei)
8. Source Code (Disney)
9. Love Strikes! (Toho
10. Cowboys & Aliens (Paramount)

* Japanese film

Courtesy of Box Office Japan.

The Shinsedai Cinema Festival starts its 2012 online fundraising campaign

2011-11-06T20:12:00.000-08:00

by Chris MaGee

As you know from our spotty posting as of late, we at the J-Film Pow-Wow, along with author and film historian Jasper Sharp, have already been involved in some serious planning for the 4th annual Shinsedai Cinema Festival taking place at Toronto's Revue Cinema between July 12th and 15th of next year. As part of our prep work for this showcase of new independent film from Japan we have begun a 60-day online fundraising campaign via IndieGoGo, the world's largest global funding platform.

Running until January 3rd, film lovers like you will be able to help fund what The Toronto Star has called "one of the city's youngest and most original movie events". Our fundraising goal is $7,000, money that will go not only go towards guest relations costs (food, beverages, sightseeing, etc.) for the festival, but most importantly to pay for roundtrip airfare for our Japanese guests to come and personally present their films to a Toronto audience. For filmmakers, who in many have to support their filmmaking by working various jobs, this is a huge opportunity.

All we need are 350 film fans to donate $20 each. That's just the cost of one night out at the movies, or the purchase of a single DVD! Those of you who are in the position to donate more are invited to do so, and you will either be able enjoy special perks in exchange, such as free passes for our 2012 festival, or you can choose to receive a tax deductible receipt for the amount of your donation. Regardless of the amount you are able to give all backers of the 4th annual Shinsedai Cinema Festival will be given personal thanks as "Friends of the Festival" on our website and in our printed festival program.

So, please give and tell your friends about how they can give so that the 4th annual Shinsedai Cinema Festival will be the best festival we've had yet! Check out the fundraising campaign HERE.

The early films of Sion Sono to be compiled in DVD set by Pictures Dept.

2011-11-06T20:10:00.000-08:00

by Chris MaGee

It's often overlooked, due to his present status as King of Japanese Extreme Cinema, that bad boy director Sion Sono was once an influential and controversial underground poet and experimental filmmaker. Just this past spring audiences at the 11th annual Nippon Connection Japanese Film Festival in Frankfurt, Germany were reminded of this when its programmers pulled together a full retrospective of Sono's early 8mm films and features, including 1984's "I Am Sono Sion!!!" (above) and 1990's award-winning "Bicycle Sighs". But now there is news that these films will be available for home viewers to dip into in the very near future.

Japanese distributor Pictures Dept. has announced that all of Sono's early work from "I Am Sono Sion!!!" to 2001's crossover cult hit "Suicide Club" will be compiled into a DVD set to be dubbed "Sion Sono Early Works: Before Suicide". No specific date has been announced for a the release of the DVD set yet, or if it will feature English-subtitles. One thing that is safe to assume is that the set won't show up before these early Sono films get their second retrospective treatment at this year's Torino Film Festival, which runs from November 25th through December 3rd.

Thanks to Film Biz Asia for this very welcome news.

CORRECTION: Pow-Wow friends Marc Walkow and Don Brown both brought to our attention that Pictures Dept. does in fact hold the rights to these early Sion Sono films, but that they are not releasing a DVD set themselves. Instead they are looking for a company to release these films on DVD. Our apologies for this error.

REVIEW: Children of Soleil

2011-11-06T20:08:00.001-08:00

ソレイユのこどもたち (Soreiyu no Kodomotachi)

Released: 2011

Director:
Yoichiro Okutani

Running time: 107 min.

Reviewed by Nicholas Vroman

Among the New Asian Currents section of the 2011 Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival, Yoichiro Okutani’s “Children of Soleil” received a special mention award.

It’s the middle of the night. A harsh spotlight reveals a couple of mongrel dogs settling down for a uneasy night in and among detritus filled plastic crates and miscellaneous junk strew across the deck of a small boat. Rats also prowl amongst the old machine parts and marine cast-offs. The restless midnight camera soon reveals the subject of the film, Yasuo Takashima, also referred to as Ojichan (a diminutive form for “uncle”), prowling the quayside. An irascible and eccentric old alcoholic - nearly homeless – he lives on a boat. He’s an archetypical example of human jetsam, cast off, ignored and left unspoken about by Japanese society.

Much to the chagrin of the neighborhood, he’s moored his boat, along with several other stray boats he’s collected, illegally on one of the old canals that still run through the southern and eastern kus of Tokyo. With the massive amounts of junk he collects and the handful of stray dogs he keeps for company, he’s become a bit of a neighborhood nightmare with his ever-growing floating trash heap.

Director Yoichiro Okutani keeps in close proximity, following him on foraging runs. In one notable scene, Ojichan proudly shows off a plastic garbage bag full of fish – no doubt found in dumpster. He proceeds to gut the contents in the dark of night at a public water spigot in a small park. He deftly eviscerates them to make himono, air-drying his catch by the canal’s side. The viewer can almost imagine the stench.

When he does purchase something, it’s a gigantic bag of dog food.

He has a few interactions with other lonely old guys hanging out at the local pocket park. He also mugs to the camera with his frequent asides and commentaries about life on the canal. But by far his most loving, touching and sometimes disgusting moments of genuine contact with the living beings is with his dogs. In their presences he dotes on and babies them, cooing with childish delight at their every action. In one scene, the big old hound, Jackie, gets sick, defecating runny stool on newspapers strewn across the deck of the boat. Ojichan gleefully scoops up the soiled newspapers, nonchalantly throwing them overboard, all the while shooting out a stream of loving patter about how much poor Jackie stinks.

A bit of background seeps into the film as Ojichan takes the filmmaker on a canal cruise, pointing out the site of a small shipyard where he once worked, now a particularly faceless office/residential building. He tells stories of his old days on the water. We see police trying to evict him for his canal spot. We see him working on a boat engine. He appears a savvy smart repairman past his prime, getting a few odd jobs. The boat he fixes barely functions as he goes on a test run.

By the end of the film, Ojichan, coughing and sick is evicted from his moorages. The camera trucks through some reeds onto a muddy spit where a single boat stands on blocks. Guarding the cabin door is the faithful Jackie. Inside lies poor Ojichan, surround by a couple of other dogs. He complains that he’s’ too sick and tired to even get up. The camera pans in the cramped quarters to a cardboard box. Inside the box is another dog, Soleil, and her newly birthed litter, squirming to find the teats of their skin and bones mother. Ever the mother himself, we hear Ojichan’s voiceover expressing concern for the health of Soliel.

“Children of Soleil” falls into a contemporary humanist strain of documentary practices, most influenced by the groundbreaking work of Sato Makoto, Makoto’s best remembered for 1992 masterpiece “Living on the River Agano,” in which he and his crew lived with a community for several years, documenting their daily lives. Makoto opened up a new form of documentary – for Japanese filmmakers – that while not being explicitly politically committed, allowed for deep commentary on Japanese society through a sort of embeddedness. Looking at the Japanese documentaries highlighted at the Yamagata International Documentary film festival over the past years, one gets the impression that the Makoto style is the reigning way of making docs in Japan. What makes the good ones shine is the development of the narratives, identification with the subjects and their issues and most importantly, the questions raised by the documentary practices themselves. “Children of Soleil” covers all these areas – in spades.

Takashima-san, Okutani’s subject, supplies all the audience identification one needs. Sure, he’s a bit crazy and not particularly environmentally correct, but his lifestyle and independence offers a particular nostalgia and longing that may be belied by his poverty-stricken existence. His story develops with a passionate and non-judgmental eye.
Bigger questions come up - particularly, with the final scenes of old Ojichan suffering, perhaps near death. Where is the point where a documentary maker/journalist should intervene? Where’s the line where a documentary keeps its humanist eye or becomes exploitive of an otherwise trusting subject? What about Ojichan’s complicity in getting his life documented? What are the real motives of the maker and subject? Shouldn’t they be explored during the making of the film?

After a few days in Yamagata watching hours of human misery, as an audience member I began to think of the 3rd point of view – the viewers. From my (relatively) comfortable theater seat, I wondered if there’s a sort of perverse tourism on display. The somewhat exotic and old-fashioned lifestyle of living on the canals is certainly tempered by the genuine tragedy that Ojichan suffers. The viewer easily walks away to his/her middle-class life, perhaps touched by the story, but ultimately left with the feeling of smugness and superiority. A sort of “I’m-glad-I’m-not-in-that-position/situation” may lurk under the veneer of pathos.

I’ll be exploring these questions with Yoichiro Okutani next week and will give a full report on J-Film Pow-Wow over the coming weeks.

Read more by Nicholas Vroman at his blog

Koji Wakamatsu manages to bring us not one but two films for 2012

2011-11-06T20:06:00.000-08:00

by Chris MaGee

One veteran filmmaker whose career seems to be just as vital today as it was 40 years ago is Koji Wakamatsu. The 75-year-old "grandfather of pink films" enjoyed awards and critical acclaim for his two most recent productions, 2008's "United Red Army" and 2010's "Caterpillar". Both films were controversial looks back at Japan during the 20th century, the former being a dramatization of the far left United Red Army who terrorized Japan during the early 70's, and the latter an adaptation of Edogawa Rampo's short story about a war veteran who has been terribly disfigured in battle. For this film Wakamatsu shifted the period from Japan's Taisho Era to that of the Second Sino-Japanese War and WW2.

Back in May we reported on how Wakamatsu was going to be following up "United Red Army" and "Caterpillar" with a cinematic chronicle of the last days of author and right-wing activist Yukio Mishima. Titled "11.25 Jiketsu no Hi: Mishima Yukio to Wakamonotachi" the film stars Arata as Mishima (above) as he prepares for his attempted coup d'etat in November of 1970. That film is set to be released in Japan and on the international festival circuit in the spring. It seemd like Wakamatsu was tying up his recent films as a loose trilogy. Now, though, Wildgrounds is reporting that Koji Wakamatsu has another film in the works.

Either while he was shooting "11.25 Jiketsu no Hi: Mishima Yukio to Wakamonotachi" or afterwards Wakamatsu had the energy to bang out "Kaien Hotel Blue", a contemporary drama about an ex-con whose plans for revenge are complicated after he meets a young woman. Once again Arata stars, and this film is also slated for a 2012 release. You can check out the trailer for "Kaien Hotel Blue" below (although watch out -- one shot is NSFW). All we can say is that we wish we have half the energy of Koji Wakamatsu once we reach 75-years of age!

Ezra Miller and Alden Ehrenreich in talks to play leads in Warner Brothers' "Akira"

2011-11-06T20:04:00.000-08:00

by Chris MaGee

It was just a couple weeks back when word finally came down from the folks at Warner Borothers that their long percolating Hollywood live-action remake of Katsuhiro Otomo's anime classic "Akira" was going forward. Many of us were hoping that the previous departures of directors Ruairi Robinson and Albert Hughes from the project were signals that it would be shelved, but now with director Jaume Collet-Serra (House of Wax, Orphan, Unknown) on board it looks like "Akira" will be moving forward.

Japanese film and anime fans have dreaded this remake for years now. This incarnation of "Akira" will transplant the story of teen bikers Tetsuo and Takeda from the post-apocalyptic metropolis of New Tokyo to that of New Manhattan. There have been numerous actors attached to the roles of Tetsuo and Takeda, but all of them have seemed utterly inappropriate -- James Franco, Keanu Reeves, Andrew Garfield, etc. Now word has leaked over at Anime News Network and the Hollywood Reporter that two new names are now being seriously considered to play Tetsuo and Takeda.

18-year-old Ezra Miller (above left), who has been gaining critical acclaim for his role in Lynne Ramsay's psychological thriller "We Need To Talk About Kevin" is now attached to the role of Tetsuo, a young biker who develops catastrophic psychic powers. Meanwhile, 21-year-old Alden Ehrenreich (above right), star of Francis Ford Coppola's "Tetro", is in talks to play Takeda, who must save New Tokyo... or I guess we mean New Manhattan... from his friend's new found powers.

I guess the best thing that can be said about these two potential leads is that they're a little bit more age appropriate than previous stars who have been attached to "Akira". We're still not holding out a lot of hope for Warner Brothers' remake, but at least now we don;t have to worry that we'll see James Franco trying to act like a teenager.

REVIEW: Black Sun

2011-11-06T20:02:00.000-08:00

黒い太陽 (Kuroi taiyo)

Released: 1964

Director:
Koreyoshi Kurahara

Starring:
Tamio Kawaji
Chico Roland
Tatsuya Fuji
Shogen Shinda
Yuko Chishiro

Running time: 95 min.

Reviewed Bob Turnbull

"Black Sun" is an odd beast...While it has all of Koreyoshi Kurahara's typical chaotic energy and style and it reaches for a grander message about the disenfranchised, it struggles to keep its characters interesting and stretches some scenes to their breaking point. It focuses on two outcasts from society - a homeless thief and a black American G.I. - who are at odds with each other for the majority of the film due to language barriers and various misunderstandings. Akira tries to shelter Gil in his ramshackle abode (a half bombed out church where he squats) while Gil nurses a bullet wound to his leg. As their predicament worsens, their relationship grows not only more volatile, but closer as well. You could easily be forgiven for sensing a bit of a "The Defiant Ones" feel in spots as they begin to understand each other and realize they need to stop their in-fighting, but will you care anywhere near as much about these two characters as the ones from that classic 1958 film? It's doubtful.

When we meet Akira at the beginning of the film, he appears in a desolate junkyard of a field that could easily be a freshly bombed out city bulldozed to the ground. He steals some of the few possessions that belong to the bums who scavenge there and sells them off to get money to buy a jazz album. He's a huge fan of the music (his dog is even named after Thelonious Monk) and considers any black man to be his friend. On the way out of the store, he almost gets run over by a rich man and woman who barely even notice his presence. The woman crushes his album and when the man half absent-mindedly waves some money to pay for it, Akira becomes enraged. He demands that they apologize to the respected black man on the album cover (drummer Max Roach - performer of the film's music) and will not stand to be ignored by them. He has a highly emotional disposition that can be quick to anger, but is also typically bright and happy-go-lucky - especially as he listens to his beloved jazz music in a freshly stolen car. After driving by the scene of a murder, he realizes when he gets home that the suspect has hitched a ride in the back of his jalopy. Though the wounded G.I. brandishes his machine gun at Akira, all he can think about is that a black man stands before him and therefore he must be a great man too.

Gil has been accused of killing a fellow G.I., but the only additional piece of information we ever get about it is that the victim was white. No details as to whether there was prior intent or whether it was justified - just that Gil is desperate, in pain from the bullet in his leg and feels everyone is against him. Unfortunately - and this is a big problem - Gil is portrayed with zero subtlety and is all bluster, anguish and breathless statements. Since he speaks English, none of what he says is translated via subtitles and so it's very difficult to understand anything he says the entire film. As it turns out, most of what he says can be deciphered from context or it simply isn't relevant, but it's frankly still a very annoying aspect of the film and combined with Akira's constant highly melodramatic mood swings ("I love you!", "I hope the G.I.'s find you and kill you!"), it's a bit straining to spend any time with these characters at all. And there lies the problem - the film stays almost entirely with the two of them. There are excursions into the real world - Akira's favourite jazz bar, a few driving expeditions and a final, wonderfully filmed chase sequence - but there's a lot of time spent between just the two of them.

Granted there are valid points to be made here - both men have felt isolated from their environments and typically are judged quickly by others due to their outward appearances (even Akira assumes Gil can play and sing jazz music simply because he is black). Kurahara uses some flashbacks in Gil's head to bring these points to the fore while allowing the visuals to do the rest (the film is beautifully lensed). He brings such a dynamic feel to their world using handheld cameras, attaching them to moving vehicles and using a few timely freeze frames that there really does seem to be a high level of chaos in their lives. Particularly when the score crashes in with Roach's thundering drums and vocal/horn sounds that feel as cathartic for the musicians as they are for the listeners. A blues tune called "Six-bit Blues" plays several times and contains lyrics that Gil can certainly understand as he contemplates any form of escape: "Gimme six bits worth o'tickets, on a train that runs somewhere". Kurahara also uses the same names (and same actors) for his characters as the ones in "The Warped Ones", his 1960 film about rebellious youth with nothing to fear. Since Akira and Gil knew each other in the previous film, this obviously isn't a direct sequel, but it sure has that feeling sometimes due to the style and where Akira's life is currently headed (a direct line from the previous film). Even his prostitute friend Yuki feels like a perfect map to her character in "The Warped Ones" (again, played by the same actress). The jazz bar is the same set as their hangout from 4 years previous too, but it also is not the "same". Many of these touches add a great deal to the "world askew" feeling of the film, but even Kurahara's stylistic choices can't quite pull enough of an entertaining yarn out of this message movie. He certainly grabs your attention at times though.

Read more from Bob Turnbull at his blog.

Director of "Maiko Haaaan!!! and writer of "Hula Girls" team up for new film

2011-11-06T20:01:00.001-08:00

by Chris MaGee

I have to admit that I'm not a fan of Nobuo Mizuta's purposefully madcap 2007 comedy "Maiko Haaaan!!!" I do know, though, that there are a few of you out there who are (and we can agree to disagree on the film), so here's a news item that will definitely be of interest to you, especially if you're also a fan of Sang-Il Lee's feel good film "Hula Girls".

Mizuta (above left) is currently shooting a new film titled “Tsunahiichatta!” from a script written by Daisuke Habara, the man behind the screenplay for "Hula Girls". The story follows a civil servant in Oita city named Chiaki Nishikawa, portrayed by actress Mao Inoue (above right) who is asked to form a women's tug-o-war team, but due to a lack of candidates ends up on the team herself. Her teammates are being portrayed by Naomi Nishida, Naomi Watanabe, Yoko Asaji and screen veteran Keiko Matsuzaka, who will play Chiaki Nishikawa's mother.

Like the screenplay for "Hula Girls", "Tsunahiichatta!” is based on a true story. Oita City is home to tug-o-war champions, The Oita Cosmo Ladies; and Mizuta's film will be entirely filmed in Oita in order to promote the city. So, it looks like there will be more feel good laughs on the way when "Tsunahiichatta!” hits Japanese theatres next year.

Thanks to Tokyograph for this news.

Weekly Trailers

2011-11-06T19:59:00.000-08:00

Tokyo Playboy Club - Yosuke Okuda (2011)

Nao Omori stars as a man whose life gets very complicated very quickly after he wanders into a suburban Tokyo bar. "Tokyo Playboy Club" marks the feature film directorial debut of Yosuke Okuda, the award-winning director of the "Hot as Hell" films. "Tokyo Playboy Club" will debut at Tokyo Filmex this month.

Blind Beast - Yasuzo Masumura (1969)

Japanese New Wave director Yasuzo Masumura adapts Edogawa Rampo's classic story of a blind sculptor who kidnaps a young woman in order to make her his muse. Psychedelic sets, sadomasochism and a nasty case of Stockholm Syndrome ensues.

REVIEW: Lupin the 3rd: Missed by a Dollar

2011-11-06T19:57:00.000-08:00

ルパン三世1＄マネーウォーズ (Rupan Sansei: 1$ Manê Uôzu)

Released: 2000

Director:
Hideki Tonokatsu

Starring (voice talent):
Kanichi Kurita
Goro Naya
Kiyoshi Kobayashi
Makio Inoue
Eiko Masuyama

Running time: 91 min.

Reviewed by Marc Saint-Cyr

First aired on television in 2000, "Lupin the 3rd: Missed by a Dollar" is the most recent film I’ve seen thus far that features the popular character created by manga artist Monkey Punch (Kazuhiko Kato). The rascally thief and his band of accomplices have appeared in several animé films over the years, among the more notable ones being 1979’s "The Castle of Cagliostro," an early effort from Hayao Miyazaki. This particular outing offers the kind of antics that audiences have come to love and expect from the franchise, yet because of the more recent timeframe in which it was made, it contains some themes that possess an all-too-eerie relevance – yes, in a Lupin III outing - when viewed today.

The story kicks off with a large auction in the heart of New York where a seemingly trivial ring attracts unusually high bids. It eventually sells for $1000,001, thwarting a disguised Lupin’s attempts to claim it for himself with just one dollar. The ring supposedly points the way to yet another treasure: a prized brooch that has given good luck to various significant leaders over the years, including Napoleon, Lenin and Hitler. Along with his friends – the fedora-clad, revolver-packing Daisuke Jigen and the ever-serious samurai Goemon – Lupin sets out to find the brooch and winds up facing off against some formidable foes: the mysterious Cynthia, head of the massive Bank of the World, and her former KGB hit man and love interest Alex Nabikov. And every step of the way, there is Inspector Zenigata of Interpol, persistently continuing his long-running pursuit after the wily Lupin.

Perhaps more so than previous Lupin III adventures, "Missed by a Dollar" directs a fair amount of attention to the old-fashioned, wildly romantic nature of the master thief. At several points, he is reminded of how new and different the world has become – it is, after all, a whole new millennium now. Even though his familiar love interest, Fujiko – who appears here as a savvy businesswoman – warns him that the real way to make money is through the economy rather than burglary, Lupin proudly carries on with his ambitious schemes. During a heist, he proclaims, “Analog’s the way to go” to beat the digital world, and sure enough, he later expresses disappointment at the underwhelming convenience that technology grants him. Other elements of the story come across as strangely prophetic, one of them certainly being the focus on big corporations, the oil industry and the super wealthy – all sore subjects for today’s recession-weary viewers. Coupled with this is the film’s attention to war. Between the brooch’s influence on some of history’s most influential figures, the story of Cynthia’s father – a dictator who was overthrown by revolutionaries – and a plot designed to launch the world into mass conflict, one certainly can’t help but be reminded of the tumultuous recent events in the Middle East. The final chilling touch is the repeated appearance of the World Trade Center’s looming twin towers. All of these things charge Lupin’s cheery jaunts with a sad irony, which reaches its height with his triumphant statement that “the century of war is over.” About a year later, the terrible frailty of such a statement would be made all too clear.

Traditionally, Lupin III films act as highly entertaining and fun testaments to adventure for adventure’s sake. While the abovementioned points may make this sentiment seem a little too naïve for comfort these days, at the same time "Missed by a Dollar" provides a comforting dollop of innocent escapism. Fans of the classic characters certainly won’t be let down, as ample time is devoted to Lupin’s incurable womanizing habits, Goemon’s unmatched sword skills, Jigen’s fixation with his gun and Inspector Zenigata’s hilarious and frequently unsuccessful attempts to capture his ever-elusive quarry. With very good animation and such other delights as cars that transform into aircraft, fast-paced chases, Lupin’s marvelous array of disguises, a winding treasure hunt and a remarkably melancholy ending, "Missed by a Dollar" makes for a very satisfying Lupin III romp.

Read more by Marc Saint-Cyr at his blog

Los Angeles gears up for LA EigaFest

2011-11-03T06:20:00.001-07:00

by Chris MaGee

The J-Film Pow-Wow inbox has been getting flooded during our brief period of down time by fans of Japanese film in Los Angeles... and rightly so. The city is gearing up for a do not miss event -- The LA EigaFest, a celebration of Japanese film taking place between November 11th and 13th at LA's Chinese Theatres (6801 Hollywood Boulevard).

This 3-day event is bookended by two of the most talked about films on the international festival circuit, Yoshimasa Ishibashi's "Milocrorze: A Love Story" will open the festival (with star Takayuki Yamada in attendance) and LA EigFest will close with Takashi Miike's jidaigeki remake "Harakiri: The Death of a Samurai" (above). In between, though, the programmers of the festival have brought together some real treats of J-film fans. These include Yuya Ishii's latest quirky comedy "A Man with Style", Yoshihiro Nishimura's gorefest "Helldriver", Junji Sakamoto's drama "Someday" (The last film by veteran actor Yoshio Harada), Su-yeon Gu's gangster film "Hard Romantiker (starring Shota Matsuda) and Reiko Ohashi's indie favorite "Door to the Sea". The fest will also be holding a free screening of Hiroshi Nagashima's hour-long documentary "Remembrance of Tohoku Earthquake – Our Gratitude for Bonds of Friendship of the World".

Of course there will be more going on at LA EigaFest than we can outline in a short news item. Do yourself a favor and head to their official website here to get all the details... and if you're in Los Angeles then make sure to get out to see some great film!

The 24th Tokyo IFF wraps with two Japanese films picking up awards

2011-11-03T06:18:00.000-07:00

by Chris MaGee

An intense period of work on the 2012 Shisnedai Cinema Festival and some personal matters derailed the blog for a week, and during our very brief hiatus some big news came down from Tokyo. The 24th annual Tokyo International Film Festival wrapped up with an awards ceremony that saw two Japanese films being given honours.

In the Japanese Eyes program Keiichi Kobayashi's teen drama "About the Pink Sky" (above) picked up the top prize. In a plot that sounds a little like a variation on Satoru Hirohara's indie drama "Good Morning to the World!!", "About the Pink Sky" follows a high school girl who is trying to find the owner of a wallet full of money that she has found. Unlike Hirohara's film "About the Pink Sky" goes for a subtle art house feel by being shot entirely in black-and-white.

Meanwhile, in a Special Jury Prize was awarded to Shuichi Okita's heartwarming comedy "The Woodsman and the Rain". This story of a lumberjack who gets caught up in a young indie filmmakers zombie movie stars Koji Yakusho and Shun Oguri. Many of you will remember that director Shuichi Okita brought us another crowd-pleaser last year with "The Chef of the South Pole".

Our congratulations goes out to Kobayashi-san, Okita-san and all the winners at the 24th Tokyo International Film Festival. For a full list of who won what head to Tokyo IFF's official website here.

The stars and director of "Shall We Dance?" reunite for an untitled medical drama

2011-11-03T06:17:00.000-07:00

by Chris MaGee

One film that continues to capture the hearts and minds of Japanese film fans 15 years after its release. That would be Masayuki Suo's romantic comedy "Shall We Dance?" This film (above), about a Tokyo salaryman who escapes his dreary day-to-day existence by secretly taking ballroom dance lessons, became the highest grossing Japanese film to screen in North America in 1997. Much of the film's success is due to its lead stars, Koji Yakusho and actress Tamiyo Kusakari. While both have gone on to great success they have never appeared on screen together since Suo's landmark film. Well, now that's about to change.

According to Tokyograph the two stars will not only reunite with each other, but also with director Masayuki Suo for Suo's upcoming yet-to-be-titled medical drama based on the short story “Tsui no Shintaku” by author Tatsuki Saku. In the film Kusakari stars as a doctor who is faced with caring for a seriously ill patient, played by Yakusho, who insists that he not be given life support. Yakusho and Kusakari will be joined in Suo's film by Tadanobu Asano (as a doctor romantically involved with Kusakari's character) and Takao Osawa as a lawyer.

You may recall that Tamiyo Kusakari reunited with director Masayuki Suo last year in his dance film "Dancing Chaplin" (read our original report here), but this news of Yakusho joining the two for another project will definitely make this untitled project, set for release in Japan next year, one of 2012's biggest buzz films.

CORRECTION: A very special screening celebrating the remarkable life of Beate Sirota Gordon

2011-11-03T06:15:00.001-07:00

by Chris MaGee

Beate Sirota Gordon. If you haven't heard the name you are forgiven, but if you want to understand the Japan of today Sirota Gordon's is a name that you should become familiar with. Now a new documentary, which screens November 17th at the Japan Society New York, explores not only the life of Beate Sirota Gordon, a woman who shaped the ideological and political life of modern Japan.

Sirota Gordon (above circa the1940's), the daughter of pianist Leo Sirota who taught at Tokyo's Imperial Academy of Music during the early 20th century, was only 22-years-old when she was enlisted by U.S. General Douglas MacArthur to assist in drafting Japan's post-war constitution. It was Sirota Gordon who was responsible for drafting the clause that would give Japanese women equal rights, including the right to vote.

Now the life of this fascinating and important woman is the subject of a 93-minute documentary titled "The Sirota Family and the 20th Century" directed by filmmaker Tomoko Fujiwara. If you are lucky enough to be reading this in New York City then you not only have a chance to see the film on the 17th, but Beate Sirota Gordon, now 87, will be introducing Fujiwara's film personally and be in attendance at a post-screening reception. You can find out more details on this very special screening of "The Sirota Family and the 20th Century" at the Japan Society Film Program website.

Japanese Weekend Box Office, October 29th to October 30th

2011-11-03T06:13:00.000-07:00

1. A Ghost Of A Chance* (Toho)
2. The Three Muskateers (Gaga)
3. Suite Pretty Cure Take Back! The Heart Binding Miracles Melody* (Toei)
4. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Fox)
5. Source Code (Disney)
6. Love Strikes!* (Toho)
7. Cowboys & Aliens (Paramount)
8. My S. O. Has Depression* (Toei)
9. Hara-Kiri: Death Of A Samurai* (Shochiku)
10. Fast Five (Toho Towa)
* Japanese film

Courtesy of Box Office Japan.

Exclusive report from the 2011 Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival

2011-10-24T09:55:00.001-07:00

by Nicholas Vroman

Every two years, the town of Yamagata in the north of Honshu, for one week becomes the focal point for a slew of Japanese and international documentary filmmakers, students, doc fans, volunteers and acolytes to immerse themselves in films, discussion and drinking sessions - all centered around the current state of documentary production. In my opinion, it's the most interesting and important film fest in Japan. I hit the fest only for the last few days, missing the critical mass of the opening weekend, but still walking away with my head buzzing around the current state of documentary filmmaking in Japan - and the world.

Yamagata province is just over the mountains from Fukushima. The earthquake, tsunami and the ongoing nuclear disaster continues to preoccupy the national discourse. The festival programmers quickly pulled together a program, the Great East Japan Earthquake Recovery Support Screening Project. Symposia and a collection of 29 films became the focal point for discussions about how the disaster was mediated, the general quality of these inquiries and a larger look into the function of committed filmmakers in the national dialogue. Endless images of wasted landscapes commanded screens over the opening weekend. Many were earnest, but dull. One in particular, "311" by Mori Tatsuya, Watai Takeharu, Matsubayashi Yoju and Yasuoka Takahara, sparked weeklong conversations about documentary ethics. Naomi Kawase's "3.11 A Sense Of Home Films" had an international who's who of filmmakers weighing in with short meditations on the tragedy. Victor Erice completists, take note! By far the most well-received was Matsubayashi Yoju's "Fukushima:Memories of a Lost Landscape."

This was just the tip of the iceberg from a festival that has huge ambitions, a very let's-put-on-a-show feel and succeeds wildly. Among the sections of the festival are an International Competition (this year's judges included Atom Egoyan and Haile Gerima), New Asian Currents (Takahise Zeze and Mickey Chen were the judges), New Docs Japan (mainly well-meaning, but marginally crafted works) and some special focuses for this year. Islands / I Lands, NOW - Vista de Cuba was a monumental program on Cuban documentary. My Television focused on Japanese TV documentary from the 60s and 70s. A Reunion of Taiwan and Japanese Filmmakers;12 Years Later brought together young filmmakers who came to Yamagata for a program 12 years before and got them back together to see where they are now. Matsue Tetsuaki was part of that bunch. And there was whole lot more in the way of formal programs and events, but much of the action and chat takes place at on of the best watering holes in all of Japan, the Komian Bar, where every night after the final screening, basically everyone gets down to continue the discussion until well into the wee hours.

The festival The festival closed with a screening of "Regarding the Lives of Others," a bit of a hagiography of Tsuchimoto Noriaki, most famous for his series of films on Minamata. but the film channelled a palpable excitement following Noriaki and his generation's invention of committed documentary cinema. Having his longtime cameraman, the generous and slightly cranky Otsu Koshiro on hand for chat and comment only added to the screening.

Again, Yamagata pulled off another amazing festival. Next year, the program is replayed in Tokyo. And in two years, the 13th edition unveils itself. I can hardly wait.

"Vibrator" director Ryuichi Hiroki revisits the 2008 Akihabara Massacre in his new film "River"

2011-10-24T09:53:00.000-07:00

by Chris MaGee

On June 8th, 2008 25-year-old Tomohiro Kato drove his van into a crowd in Tokyo's Akihabara district, killing three people and seriously injuring two. He then jumped out of the truck and began randomly stabbing shocked pedestrians. Four were killed and eight were injured. It was found that Kato, the son of a successful businessman, had been dealing with debt and suicidal depression and had apparently snapped, posting threats against those in Akihabara on internet message boards. For his crimes he was convicted to death earlier this year. This incident became known in Japan as The Akihabara Massacre, and now director Ryuichi Hiroki is addressing the horrific event in his new film "River".

Hiroki, who brought us such films as "Vibrator" and "It's Only Talk" has cast actress Misako Renbutsu in "River" as the girlfriend of one of the young men killed in the Akihabara Massacre.
having spiralled into a deep depression after her boyfriend's death she eventually works up the courage to visit Akihabara. It's hear that she becomes involved in the lives of the people in Tokyo's famed "Electric Town". These people include Tomorowo Taguchi, who portrays the recruiter for a maid café, Nahana as a maid hading out flyers on the street and Mami Nakamura as a photographer.

"River" will be getting it's international premiere at this year's Tokyo Filmex, so check back with us here at the J-Film Pow-Wow during our coverage of this annual festival. Thanks to Tokyograph for the news on this.

REVIEW: Vengeance Can Wait

2011-10-24T09:50:00.000-07:00

乱暴と待機 (Ranbou to Taiki)

Released: 2010

Director:
Masanori Tominaga

Starring:
Takayuki Yamada
Minami
Eiko Koike
Tadanobu Asano

Running time: 97 min.

Reviewed by Chris MaGee

The ties that bind. What are these ties that hold relationships together? Some relationships are bound by sex, some by finances, and some by desirable social status. There are obligations to friends, family, children. Oh, and of course there is the ideal glue of any relationship -- love. But in the case of Nanase (Minami) and Yamane (Tadanobu Asano) the thing that binds their relationship together is revenge. You see,, the couple live in a poor suburb together as brother and sister, both sleeping in bunk beds. While Yamane lays in the top bunk dreaming of ways to get revenge on his partner, "sister", Nanase lays in the bottom bunk, meekly, even excitedly anticipating her just desserts. What exactly did Nanase do to have her boyfriend... we mean "brother"... declare an oath of vengeance against her? For most of the running time of Masanori Tominaga's black comedy "Vengeance Can Wait" we don't know (and for the purposes of this review I won't reveal the cause). All we do know is that Nanase and Yamane have secrets, and these secrets end up entangling another young couple -- Azusa (Eiko Koike) and Banjo (Takayuki Yamada). This other couple, bound for their own reasons of shaky finances and Azusa's pregnancy, move into the same rundown block of buildings, and we soon learn that they, or at least Azusa and Nanase and Yamane, share in this mysterious past. Soon Azusa is swearing her own vengeance against mousy Nanase while her unemployed husband Banjo becomes romantically involved with her. Quite the complicated mess, but one that is pulled off wonderfully by "The Pavillion Salamandre" and "Pandora's Box" director Tominaga.

Based on a play by playwright and stage director Yukiko Motoya, "Vengeance Can Wait" takes four people and inflates their petty and tragic past to the level of high comedy... or tragedy as the case may be. These two couples are always jockeying around each other, conversely hiding their true feelings and motivations or cruelly taking them out on each other, lampooning the tatemae (facade) and honne (true feelings) dichotomy of Japanese society. Nanase adopts a shrill cheeriness and is always hyper aware of not offending or troubling those around her. She even wears an over-sized track suit and glasses so as not to distract men around her by her obvious beauty. This strategy backfires when it comes to Banjo, who sees past Nanase's pathologically nervous and nerdy exterior and becomes infatuated with the woman beneath. Banjo comes from a household full of veiled hostility. Azusa, pregnant with Banjo's child, works long hours as a bar hostess while he spends his days unemployed, and what's worse, flubbing one job interview after another. These major issues remain unaddressed though, in fact all of Azusa's pent up anger gets vented on Nanase for her past and present transgressions with Azusa's boyfriends. The most convoluted and repressed of the bunch has to be Yamane, though. Working as a deliveryman he spends his off hours isolating himself by taping songs off the radio. Then there is his habit of going running, which is actually a lie. Instead of running he crawls into the attic of his house and spies, Edogawa Rampo-style, on the conflicts between Nanase, Banjo and Azusa.

Director Masanori Tominaga does an admirable job adapting Motoya's play to the screen, coating the cruelties of his characters with quirky humour. He's the right director for this kind of project. First appearing on the scene with his 2006 comedy "The Pavillion Salamandre", he would eventually leaven his zanier tendencies with the Osamu Dazai adaptation "Pandora's Box". "Vengeance Can Wait" is the perfect mix between these two films -- quirky enough for us to forgive the characters of their unpleasantness, but also playing it straight at times to make us squirm a little. Despite scenes of Azusa crashing bicycles through Nanase's plate-glass door and squeezing lemon into Yamane's eyes, and the uncomfortable couplings between Banjo and Nanase "Vengeance Can Wait" is till an easier cinematic ride than the other Yukiko Motoya adaptation we've been treated to in recent years -- 2007's "Funuke Show Me Some Love, You Losers!" directed by Daihachi Yoshida. In that film people's feelings and the ties that bind a family together are snapped, snipped and generally ravaged by its sociopathic anti-heroine. With "Vengeance Can Wait" the very things that would normally tear relationships apart end up being the things that keep them together.

If your sensibilities are too delicate for people behaving badly towards each other you might have a problem with the lives of Nanase, Yamane, Azusa and Banjo; but if you don't mind a screwball comedy with a little mystery and some very sharp fangs then "Vengeance Can Wait" is a perfect entertainment. With perfect comic timing from it's stars and director Tominaga balancing the mood the film is elevated from Jerry Springer-esque incestuous theatre to a clever satire of Japanese manners that can be enjoyed again and again.

Hiroshi Abe heads up cast of Japanese actors playing ancient Romans in "Thermae Romae"

2011-10-24T09:48:00.000-07:00

by Chris MaGee

The past few years have seen more and more Japanese films going overseas to shoot on location. This trend was kicked off with Hiroshi Nishitani's 2009 film "Amalfi: Rewards of the Goddess", shot on location along Italy's Amalfi Coast, and has since gone on to include Naoko Ogigami's "Toilet", shot here in Toronto, Takehiko Shinjo's "Paradise Kiss" manga adaptation
sot in part in New York City, and the upcoming Haruka Ayase star vehicle "Hotaru no Hikari " shot in Rome. There is another Japanese production taking place in Rome that is taking the foreign production trend to all new heights though.

According to Tokyograph Toho has gone the extra step of not only having Japanese actors appear in films shot overseas, but now Hiroshi Abe will be starring as an ancient Roman in Hideki Takeuchi's adaptation of Mari Yamazaki's manga "Thermae Romae". In the film Abe (above left) will star as Lucius, an ancient Roman architect of Roman bath houses who travels through time and space to modern day Tokyo. It's here that he gains inspiration from Japanese public baths, and gets involved with Mami, a female manga artist played by Aya Ueto. Joining Abe and Ueto in the film will be Masachika Ichimura (above center) as Emperor Hadrian, and Kazuki Kitamura (above right).

Sound more than a little far fetched? Yeah, it does to us as well, but we'll have to wait until next year when "Thermae Romae" gets released in Japan to see if Toho and Takeuchi can pull this off.

34th Starz Denver Film Festival brings a special programme of Japanese films to Colorado

2011-10-24T09:46:00.000-07:00

by Chris MaGee

Earlier this year the programmers of the Starz Denver Film Festival were hard at work putting together a mini programme of Japanese films under the title of "Focus on Japanese Cinema, Art, & Culture". Then, on March 3rd the Great Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami occurred and suddenly the future of the programme came into question. Due to the resulting tragedy the Denver Film Festival decided to cancel the programme, but now, over six months after the earthquake and tsunami, "Focus on Japanese Cinema, Art, & Culture" is being resurrected for Denver, Colorado movie audiences.

During the 34th Starz Denver Film Festival, running from November 2nd to 13th, classic and contemporary Japanese films ranging from Mamoru Oshii's "Ghost in the Shell" and Shohei Imamura's "Ballad of Narayama" to Koji Fukada’s "Hospitalité" and Minoru Kurimura's "Food and the Maiden" (above) will explore aspects of Japanese film and culture. You can check out the full list of films in "Focus on Japanese Cinema, Art, & Culture" (as well as the rest of the Starz Denver Film Festival" by clicking here.

REVIEW: Stereo Future

2011-10-24T09:43:00.000-07:00

Stereo Future

Released: 2001

Director:
Hiroyuki Nakano

Starring:
Masatoshi Nagase
Akiko Mono
Tamaki Ogawa
Kumiko Aso
Naoto Takenaka

Running time: 111 min.

Reviewed by Eric Evans

Like many directors who professionally came of age in the 1980s, Hiroyuki Nakano got his start in music video. That in itself is no indictment: David Fincher, Michel Gondry, and many other directors started with 3- or 4-minute promotional videos and have gone on to do substantial film work. However, in terms of his transition from music video to feature film, Nakano falls in closer to the Russell Mulcahy end of the scale, which is to say he has visual flair on a scene-by-scene basis but little idea of how to connect all the elements into a larger narrative.

And what a rich narrative "Stereo Future" offers. The story follows aspiring actor Keisuke (Masatoshi Nagase) who is just about too old to be an aspiring actor. He lucks into a speaking part in a b-grade jidai geki when the film's leading lady Mika (Kumiko Aso) takes a shine to him at his underwhelming audition. Meanwhile, his ex-girlfriend Eri (Akiko Monou)—still stinging from his wrongheaded accusation of her cheating—has taken a vow of silence. She does translation work for her telejournalist sister Kaoru (Tamaki Ogawa), who is making a TV series about the importance of nature and ecology. It's through this work the two sisters come to meet Danny (Daniel Ezralow), a charming western botanist speaking at a conference in Tokyo. Keisuke's experiences on the set of the film, Eri's encounters with Daniel, Mika's flirtations, and Kaoru's struggle to bring her eco-message to the masses intertwine for the film's two hours. And while there are scenes of genuine warmth, the whole isn't greater than the sum of the parts. This is the sort of multiple-protagonist story Yoshihiro Nakamura ("Fish Story"), Yosuke Fujita ("Fine, Totally Fine") or Kenji Uchida ("A Stranger of Mine") could make sing, but Nakano seems content to amuse here and there while piling gimmick atop gimmick.

For example. Early on we observe the filming of the jidai geki, with particular attention drawn to the petty favoritism of the hack director. He lavishes his star (Naoto Takenaka on hammy autopilot) with praise despite his awfulness and barks insults at the supporting players, most notably Keisuke. (The double implication being that he must boost his star's ego by blaming all bad takes on other cast members and a jealousy stemming from Mika's amorous attention being directed at a lesser light.) The director chooses ridiculous slow motion and circular dolly shots to showcase action sequences, which only serve to illustrate how lame the action is. Yet Nakano uses the same overly showy stylistic tropes to depict a fight sequence outside of the film within a film to the same sad effect. The sequence goes on much longer than it should; a shot that doesn't work for 15 seconds becomes intolerable at 60, and seems to last forever when it should convey movement and violence. This might be termed 'Ryuhei Kitamura disease'—a fascination with a technically accomplished yet thematically pointless type of shot that drags the plot to a standstill so the audience can 'oooh' and 'ahhh' at how clever the director is. Rather than use a style to separate the film within from the greater story, Nakano just thinks it looks neat so he uses it wherever he can make it fit.

The elements that work well work so well that you want everything to gel. Some scenes are simple interludes in which we get a peek inside a character's life. Keisuke learning how to die onscreen from an experienced stuntman and Kaoru and her editor fussing over who handles the controls during post-production both effortlessly convey a realness and humanity with little fuss. Nakano's cast of characters is rich with unmet promise. Danny is in every way a stereotypical gaijin, gregarious and flirty and forward, he dresses with a casual exuberance, he has longish unkempt hair, even a long aquiline nose, yet he manages to be somehow charming in a dead-end role; Kaoru seems to be feeling her way toward a new kind of eco-tainment but her storyline is abandoned shortly after Ren Osugi makes a weird cameo in pancake makeup; Keisuke's criminal friends hint at a rowdy past but only seem to show up for faux-Yakuza comic relief. It's as if Nakano the short filmmaker had multiple films in mind, then decided to combine them into a single longer piece. Some bits fit together well, others less so.

"Stereo Future" is too glossy to be experimental, yet too scrappy for the mainstream. It's another post-Tarantino film that confuses the mashing together of disparate styles with synthesizing multiple techniques to create something new. POV, split-screen, flashbacks, idyllic pastoral interludes, music-video chop edits, video verity interviews… This one has them all, employed in the telling of a story that almost certainly would have been better served by a more restrained approach. Nakano hides some fine performances and a sweet, personal story under a great deal of unnecessary flair. "Stereo Future" hints at something more, but as a whole is frustratingly uneven.

Japanese Weekend Box Office, October 22nd to October 23rd

2011-10-24T09:42:00.001-07:00

1. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Fox)
2. Cowboys and Aliens (Paramount)
3. Love Strikes!* (Toho)
4. My S. O. Has Depression* (Toei)
5. Fast Five (Toho Towa)
6. Hara-Kiri: Death Of A Samurai * (Shochiku)
7. Smuggler* (Warner)
8. Unfair: The Answer* (Toho)
9. Dog x Police: The K-9 Force* (Toho)
10. Captain America: The First Avenger (Paramount)

* Japanese film

Courtesy of Box Office Japan.

Post-apocalyptic anime "Ice" comes to UK DVD

2011-10-24T09:40:00.000-07:00

by Chris MaGee

Want to have your eyes dazzled? If you're reading this in the UK then you only have to wait until November 7th for that to happen. It's on that day that Makoto Kobayashi's 2007 futuristic anime feature "Ice" will make its way to UK Region 2 DVD. The film, which was produced by Hiroaki Inoue, the man behind Satoshi Kon's "Perfect Blue", and written by Yasushi Hirano, who penned "Vampire Hunter D" and "Ninja Scroll", takes us into familiar territory for anime films, a post apocalyptic Tokyo, but with a very original spin.

In 2012 the male population of the globe is wiped out in a mysterious plague. Following this catastrophic event a war breaks out, killing billions of the Earth's women. Now there are only 20,000 human females left on the planet, all of them collected into a divided queendom in the ruins of Shinjuku. Half of these 20,000 know that humanity is doomed, while the other half fight against their fate and try to stop the death of humans by utilizing science.

The voice cast for "Ice" employs some of the biggest female celebrities in Japan, namely the girls in idol super group AKB48. You can check out the trailer for "Ice" below, and if you're in the UK pick it up on DVD, courtesy of Cinema Monde, in just a couple weeks. Thanks to Sci-Fi Japan for this news.

REVIEW: Late Autumn

2011-10-24T09:38:00.000-07:00

秋日和 (Akibiyori)

Released: 1960

Director:
Yasujiro Ozu

Starring:
Setsuko Hara
Yoko Tsukasa
Mariko Okada
Keiji Sata
Shin Saburi

Running time: 128 min.

Reviewed by Marc Saint-Cyr

The main premise of 1960’s "Late Autumn" is one that Yasujiro Ozu employed many times throughout his career: a parent living comfortably with their twenty-something child expresses concern for their future and reluctantly pushes them to marry. This is the story for "Late Spring" (1949) and "An Autumn Afternoon" (1962), in both cases with Chishu Ryu as a father seeing off his daughter into a new life. However, "Late Autumn" adds an interesting twist: its central characters are a mother and daughter, with the former played by none other than the great Setsuko Hara. As one might expect, the scenario may be familiar, but the feminine dynamic between parent and child is refreshingly different. This, along with other details, shows how varied Ozu’s films can be even though he would focus on similar subjects time and time again.

Hara plays Akiko, an aging woman who, with her daughter Ayako (Yoko Tsukasa), is left in the wake of her husband’s recent death. A trio of friends – Mamiya (Shin Saburi), Taguchi (Nobuo Nakamura) and Hirayama (Ryuji Kita) – fondly recall their still-vital affections for Akiko and shift their attention to marriage prospects for the twenty-four year-old Ayako. They discuss and choose possible suitors for her, the most promising one being a young office worker named Goto (Keiji Sada). Yet on the heels of their stratagems come thoughts of how Akiko will cope all alone, prompting them (the hopeful Hirayama in particular) to consider seeing the widow married as well. In the midst of this, both mother and daughter voice their firm preferences to not marry. Yet the situation becomes more complicated as the three would-be matchmakers’ plans spawn frustrating rumors and Ayako gradually changes her attitude towards Goto.

Here, the familiar Ozu plot of the rush to arrange marriage for a proper-aged young woman emerges once more. Sometimes it can seem overly insistent, particularly to the daughter herself – why should she hurry and find a husband? Isn’t she still young and free to live her own life? But besides being a specific reflection of Japanese culture, this tendency also serves as a sign of concern for the young woman involved – those around her see this as a step she needs to take to move on with her life before it is too late – despite her concerns for the remaining parent. Ozu would illustrate the harmful consequences of doing otherwise more fully in "An Autumn Afternoon," but here the message is made clear enough. "Late Autumn" is carried along not only by the familial relationship, but also by the plots and speculations woven by the three men as they yearn for Akiko and discuss the romantic possibilities for both her and Ayako. This leads to a few disturbances, such as when Ayako expresses her disgust at the idea of her mother remarrying so soon before poor Akiko has even heard about any proposal. The fuss raised by the three meddlers prompts the spirited Yuriko (Mariko Okada), Ayako’s best friend, to reprimand them, clearing the way for a comic sequence in which she surprises the men with her sassy attitude.

That is just one of many moments arranged throughout "Late Autumn" that pleasantly linger on the facets of everyday life. One day, Ayako and Yuriko manage to find some solace from their office jobs by escaping to the roof and, significantly, waving to a newly wed friend on a passing train. The many outings to bars and restaurants, a refreshing hike through the countryside and, most poignant of all, the activities Akiko and Ayako quietly enjoy with one another give the film a nice flow that allows Ozu to develop settings, characters and their relationships with the skill for which he is so loved. Of course, the mostly light-hearted tone gives way to something sadder beneath the surface, mainly originating from Akiko’s lingering fondness for her deceased husband and, of course, the pain of letting Ayako go. This is Ozu in top form, brilliantly melding the joyful and solemn sides of life and tapping into the currents of the present whilst evoking whole lifetimes of memories.

Read more by Marc Saint-Cyr at his blog

Hollywood remake of "Akira" finally goes forward with Jaume Collet-Serra at the helm

2011-10-20T13:14:00.000-07:00

by Chris MaGee

I know what so many of you are saying right now... "Please, say it isn't so!" Well, it is so. After years of false starts and directors like Ruairi Robinson and Albert Hughes leaving or quitting the project, Warner Brothers and Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way Productions have announced that production on their live-action adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo's seminal 1988 sci-fi anime "Akira" will begin at the end of February.

We had hoped that due to the film being delayed so many times that it was an indicator that there just wasn't enough interest on the studio's part, or support on fans part, to see "Akira" get made... or re-made as the case may be. Now Warner Brothers has trimmed the budget down to an estimated $90 million and brought director Jaume Collet-Serra (above) on board to helm. Not heard of 37-year-old Collet-Serra? I have to admit that his name didn't set of bells of recognition either. Checking his IMDb page I can see why. Collet-Serra's previous directorial efforts include the 2005 horror remake "House of Wax" starring Paris Hilton (!), the 2009 horror film US/ Canadian/ German/ French co-produced horror film "Orphan" and the 2010 Liam Neeson thriller "Unknown". Besides that last entry Collet-Serra's filmography doesn't inspire much trust, especially in handling material like "Akira".

I guess we just have to roll over and take what Warner Brothers insists on producing in this case... but we certainly don't have to like it. Thanks to Twitch for bringing this news to us.