NIPPON CONNECTION ’12 REVIEW: About the Pink Sky

ももいろそらを (Momoiro sora o)

Released: 2011

Director: Keiichi Kobayashi

Starring: 
Ai Ikeda
Ena Koshino
Reiko Fujiwara

Running time: 113 min.

Reviewed by Marc Saint-Cyr

Keiichi Kobayashi’s debut feature “About the Pink Sky,” which won the Japanese Eyes section at the 2011 Tokyo International Film Festival, opens with one of those story devices that works so well for getting the main character moving along on a course towards different people, places and events. High school student Izumi (Ai Ikeda) finds a dropped wallet that contains ¥300,000 in cash and the owner’s I.D. After doing a little research, she discovers that the wallet’s young owner is the son of the head of the Horse Racing Association of Chiba – in other words, someone who enjoys a fairly privileged lifestyle. After freely loaning ¥200,000 of the loot to a middle-aged acquaintance facing trouble finding work, Izumi unwisely reveals her find to her two friends Hasumi (Ena Koshino) and Kaoru (Reiko Fujiwara). They all go to the wallet’s owner, Kouki Sato (Tsubasa Takayama), who notices the missing money’s absence, confronts Izumi about it and soon enlists her and her friends for an unusual project as a means of compensation.

            

This bare-bones description of the film’s premise doesn’t even begin to do justice to the actual viewing experience it offers. Kobayashi, who wrote, directed, edited and shot the film himself, chose a very specific style consisting of gorgeous, silvery monochrome and a soundtrack layered with background noise, yet devoid of music. But while in certain points such features might recall Robert Bresson or Michael Haneke, those severe masters of concentrated, sensory cinema, the unpredictable narrative trajectory and frequent flashes of casual, light-hearted humor create a different impression, constantly compelling the viewer to adjust expectations and eventually submit to its curious nature. Shot in various quiet urban locales with many long takes, “About the Pink Sky” provides a crisp yet slightly distorted snapshot of contemporary Japan. After a certain point, the near-total absence of adults becomes quite apparent, colliding with Kobayashi’s other stylistic choices to make the experience resemble a neat assortment of carefully edited memories of youth that still manage to reflect its aimlessness, comedy, drama, absurdity and vividness. Just as viewers go from scene to scene, Izumi goes from moment to moment in this compact segment of her young life, having no idea what the outcome of her impulsive decisions and dilemmas will be.

   

Which brings me to possibly the film’s finest quality: the extremely solid performances given by the cast of young, inexperienced actors. Ai Ikeda in particular is delightful as she gives a fantastically naturalistic characterization laced with great little mannerisms and subtleties. Whether viewers will actually like her Izumi will depend on whether they see her stubbornness, immaturity and whip-smart sass as obnoxious yet endearing or simply obnoxious. In any case, Ikeda puts great effort into her portrayal of the snarky teenager – at times, it seems, the ultimate snarky teenager – carefully making the most of her screen time. Whether whispering to herself in a sort of vocalized interior monologue, twisting her face into cheeky facial expressions or even, in one scene, discreetly pushing an unpaid bill towards an unsuspecting Sato without breaking their conversation, she always seems to be packing another little glimmer of personality into the film.

            

Throughout “About the Pink Sky,” Izumi maintains a hobby of reading newspaper stories and, with the bold slashes of a marker, coolly grading them based on her skeptical worldview. This is very much in keeping with her character as she frequently gives in to bouts of smugness, entitlement and indifference in response to the situations she comes across. One could see this behavior as her personal defense mechanism against a deceptive and imbalanced world – and indeed, over the course of the film there are many instances of seemingly simple or obscure appearances giving way to more complex and, occasionally, unfortunate truths. Gradually, we learn more about her friend Kaoru’s job in which she chats online with older men (she assures Izumi that the conversations haven’t yet veered into sexual territory) in order to lessen her family’s financial burdens, which are largely brought about by her mother’s taste for expensive designer brands. Izumi’s other friend, Hasumi, reveals herself to be quite vain, bossy and tragically susceptible to dreams of romance. But it is through Sato that Izumi matures the most; his job for the girls, which involves creating a homemade newspaper that only delivers good news, is all for a sick, hospitalized friend of his named Kazumi. In the face of such greater forces as illness, chance and genuine innocence, Izumi’s egotistical façade is all but bound to buckle, bringing about humorous, ironic and poignant results alike.

            

Surely, “About the Pink Sky” is an unusual coming-of-age film that will likely throw off some viewers with its lack of conventional dramatic structure or emphatic plot points. Yet the drifting approach to story, aesthetic beauty and admirable performances all add compelling degrees of realism and poetry to this wonderfully idiosyncratic effort. According to an interview with The Hollywood Reporter for his film’s appearance at Sundance, Kobayashi hopes to next make a project about an otaku couple, which should be a most interesting subject when presented from this director’s unique perspective.

Nippon Connection Coverage Ahead on the Pow-Wow - Stay Tuned!

by Marc Saint-Cyr

It is that time of year again: Pow-Wow editor-in-chief Chris MaGee and I will once more be shortly heading over to Frankfurt, Germany to catch one of the biggest Japanese film festivals out there: Nippon Connection. Celebrating its 12th year, the festival will be bringing a fantastic variety of new and exciting films from established directors (including Kaneto Shindo, Nobuhiko Obayashi, Takashi Miike, Toshiaki Toyoda and Shinya Tsukamoto) and emerging talents alike. The festival will be running from May 2nd to the 6th; during those days, I will be providing updates (with fresh photos) every one or two days right here to fill you in on the films I've caught and any other noteworthy observations on my festival experience. Additionally, I will be posting individual film reviews focusing on some of the intriguing selections featured in this year's Nippon Visions section, which consists of work from independent filmmakers and artists. Finally, stay tuned for after the festival ends, when I write up my summative festival report that will describe my overall experience of this year's Nippon Connection.

For those of you asking what Chris will be up to while I'm seeing to all this, I'm pleased to say that he will be quite busy fulfilling his own responsibilities - as a juror! Chris will be joined by filmmaker Yonghi Yang ("Our Homeland," "Sona, The Other Myself") and journalist and author Andreas Platthaus (F.A.Z.) on the jury for Nippon Visions, and with them, will determine which film will be worthy of the Nippon Visions Award, which will provide the honoured director with free subtitling for his or her next film courtesy of Tokyo's Japan Visualmedia Translation Academy (JVTA).

For us, Nippon Connection is always a special occasion for us to get a privileged look at the newest films coming out of Japan and catch up with far-flung friends who share our love and enthusiasm for Japanese cinema and culture in their own corners of the world. This year, we're more excited than ever about what this one-of-a-kind event has to offer, and hope you'll keep checking back here to follow our coverage!

Check Out the 2nd Block of Films Planned for the 2012 Shinsedai Cinema Festival!

by Marc Saint-Cyr

Recently, the Pow-Wow's editor-in-chief Chris MaGee has been hard at work preparing this year's Shinsedai Cinema Festival, which will be held in a new venue, Toronto's Revue Cinema, from July 12th to the 15th. Co-directed and co-programmed by Chris and Jasper Sharp, author of "Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema" and the recently released "Historical Dictionary of Japanese Cinema" and co-founder of Midnight Eye, the festival will be continuing its mission to bring rare and exciting new films from the current independent film scene in Japan to eager and curious North American audiences. This past Monday (April 16th), thanks in large part to the efforts of the festival's web manager Robert Harding, Shinsedai announced its second wave of films that will comprise the complete festival lineup (set to be revealed in its entirety sometime in May). Here's a look at the films featured in the announcement:

• End of the Night (Daisuke Miyazaki) - Helmed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa's assistant director on "Tokyo Sonata," this fusion of the Nikkatsu crime films of the 1960s and Takeshi Kitano's yakuza works, follows hitman Tamegoro as he raises a child claimed from one of his jobs as his own son, training him to take up his legacy of crime (pictured above).

• Zero Man vs. The Half-Virgin (Sakichi Sato) - From the writer of Takashi Miike's "Ichi the Killer" and "Gozu" comes an eccentric comedy about a policeman who is stricken with amnesia and begins seeing mysterious numbers on people's foreheads whenever he becomes aroused - perhaps indicating the number of sexual partners each person has had? This film is co-presented by the iconic Toronto DVD rental and sale shop Eyesore Cinema.

• The Naked Summer (Kenji Okabe) - This music documentary, shot by regular Hirokazu Kore-eda cinematographer Yutaka Yamazaki, follows butoh dancer Akaji Maro as he organizes his annual retreat in the countryside for dance professionals and amateurs alike, who will devote themselves to learning more about the fascinating dance form in preparation for a performance.

• From the Great White North: Yubari Fanta Special - Yasuhiro Togawa, director of Hokkaido's legendary Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival, assisted in the selection of three fascinating short films: Takuaki Tsunemoto's 'sexual martial arts' film "Hole and Pole," Yumehito Imanari's wrestling documentary "The Student Wrestler" and Kotaro Terauchi's marital comedy "Mrs. Akko and Her Husband."

• Battle Girls and Bondage: A Pink Film Double Bill - In what will be the first-ever theatrical screening of pink films in Toronto, Shinedai is proud to present, in collaboration with both L.A. distributor Pink Eiga and Toronto fetish clothier NorthBound Leather, a double-bill of Mototsugu Watanabe's "Sexy Battle Girls" and Osamu Sato's "New Tokyo Decadence: The Slave." Please note that this will be an 18+ age-restricted screening event.

As you can see, there is a pretty diverse selection of genres to viewers to choose from, illustrating the festival organizers' goal to bring many different facets of Japanese culture to the Revue this upcoming summer. With such films on the way plus the attendance of special guests and availability of Ontario Spring Water Sake from the festival's official beverage sponsor at the theatre bar, this is sure to be a very fun and memorable event.

The full announcement at the Shinsedai website can be visited here. Follow the Shinsedai Cinema Festival on Facebook and Twitter, and be sure to stay tuned for the final announcement that will reveal the festival's full lineup!

New Films from Kôji Wakamatsu and Takashi Miike Included in Cannes 2012 Lineup

by Marc Saint-Cyr

This past Thursday, April 19th, the main section lineups for the 65th Cannes Film Festival were finally revealed, sating film fans' curiosity about what new works would be appearing on the Croisette this year. While there is an abundance of treats for lovers of arthouse cinema from all over the world (new works from Anderson, Resnais, Loach, Mungiu, Reygadas, Vinterberg, Cronenberg, Haneke and more!) Japanese cinema has only a small handful of representatives...but what will be showing up looks quite special. Firstly, in the Un Certain Regard section there is "11.25 The Day He Chose His Own Fate," Kôji Wakamatsu's portrayal of the famous incident in 1970 in which renowned writer Yukio Mishima stormed the Ministry of Defense in Tokyo in a failed attempt to ignite a rebellion and committed seppuku. This film is the latest effort in what is turning out to be a very impressive late-career run for Wakamatsu, who has recently enjoyed acclaim for such works as 2007's "United Red Army," 2010's "Caterpillar" and this year's "Petrel Hotel Blue," which was recently featured in the Japan Society's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" series in New York. Meanwhile, the festival's Midnight Screening section will include Takashi Miike's newest film "The Legend of Love & Sincerity," based on a manga by Ikki Kajiwara. Those who are intrigued can check out the film's visually impressive trailer at the film's MUBI page.

While it seems that will be it for Japanese-directed films, it is also certainly worth mentioning that Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami's "Like Someone in Love," his new film set in Japan which we have been following, is part of the Competition lineup for the much-coveted Palme d'Or. The delightful teaser trailer, which was previously posted online only to be removed shortly after, can now be viewed once more - we've included it below:



Looking beyond Japanese cinema, it is nice to see other areas of Asian cinema included in this year's lineup. Among the honoured filmmakers of interest in that respect are South Korea's Hong Sang-soo ("In Another Country") and Im Sang-soo ("The Taste of Money"), India's Ashim Ahluwalia ("Miss Lovely"), China's Lou Ye ("Mystery"), Kazakhstan's Darezhan Omirbayev ("Student") and Thailand's Apichatpong Weerasethakul ("Mekong Hotel"). It certainly looks like this will be one of the more fascinating years at Cannes, and we eagerly look forward to following news and reports from the south of France once the festival (which will be held between May 16th and the 27th) gets underway.

Many thanks to the MUBI Notebook for its comprehensive roundup.

Cast of Takeshi Kitano's "Outrage Beyond" Announced

by Marc Saint-Cyr

PLEASE NOTE - the following story contains spoilers for Takeshi Kitano's "Outrage."


It appears that Takeshi Kitano is making good progress with the sequel to his 2010 return to the yakuza genre "Outrage." The film shoot, which began on April 2nd, is now apparently half-way finished, and the finished project, entitled "Outrage Beyond," is set to be released in Japan by Warner Bros. on October 6th, 2012. In a press conference that was held this past Tuesday (April 17th) in Chiba Prefecture, the main cast was revealed. Kitano, Tomokazu Miura, Ryo Kase and Fumiyo Kohinata, who all appeared in the previous film, will be returning, while new actors will include Toshiyuki Nishida, Yutaka Matsushige, Katsunori Takahashi, Kenta Kiritani and Hirofumi Arai. Perhaps the most interesting tidbit of information in this story is the re-appearance of Kitano in his role as the yakuza Otomo, since the character was assumed to be killed at the end of "Outrage." Producer Masayuki Mori cleared up some of the confusion by saying that Otomo in fact survived the film's brutal events, and that "Outrage Beyond" will see the return of the character, but will not be focused on his attempts to gain revenge. The new film's story will instead involve a clash between the Sanno-kai and Hanabishi-kai crime organizations, which control the Kanto and Kansai regions, respectively, while Otomo confronts the police's efforts to eradicate the yakuza. Taking into consideration many viewers' criticisms of the first film being too detached and hollow, it will be interesting to see if Kitano keeps up that trend or decides instead to throw some interesting curve balls, be it through more compelling plot developments or new formal techniques, with "Outrage Beyond."

Many thanks to Nippon Cinema for providing the details for this story.

North American Release Date and Trailer for Hirokazu Kore-eda's "I Wish" Unveiled

by Marc Saint-Cyr

Here is some news that is surely getting a lot of Japanese film fans very excited: Apple's trailer website recently posted a new, polished trailer for "I Wish" the latest film by Hirokazu Kore-eda, the master behind such beloved works as "After Life," "Nobody Knows," "Still Walking" and "Air Doll." The film's North American release will be handled by Magnolia Pictures, which will be putting the film in theatres on May 11th. Additionally, Toronto audiences will have the opportunity to see the film earlier than that when it screens at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre on the evening of April 26th. Having seen the film last year at the Toronto International Film Festival, I can fully state that this was a welcome treat certainly worthy of holding company with Kore-eda's past successes. This new trailer does a great job of highlighting the complex layers of emotions and detailed perspective on the bonds between parents and children that all make the film such a pleasurable experience. Hopefully, Kore-eda fans out there will take note and make this a priority when it comes out in select theatres in a few weeks time - it is certainly worth it. To read more about what some of us at the Pow-Wow thought of it, feel free to check out Nicholas Vroman's site review and my guest review for VCinema.

Readers can now watch the trailer in HD over at Apple and visit Magnolia's main page for the film.

New Trailer for Naoko Ogigami's Latest Film "Rent-a-Cat"

by Marc Saint-Cyr

One of the more accomplished filmmakers in the independent Japanese film scene today is Naoko Ogigami. With such films as "Kamome Diner," "Glasses" and "Toilet," she has developed a personal style distinguished by well-written contemporary characters, light-hearted humanism and a polished visual sensibility. Just a few days ago, the online community got a brand new trailer (included below) for her latest film, "Rent-a-Cat," which screened at the Berlin International Film Festival. The story revolves around Sayoko (Mikako Ichikawa), a lonely young woman who runs a business in which people can rent cats for a time to lighten their lives a little. Living on her own, she doesn't seem to handle connections beyond her feline companions very well, though the re-appearance of a person from her past soon enough shakes up her self-imposed isolation. Judging from the two-minute glimpse we are given, it certainly looks like Ogigami's recognizable charm, humor and sensitive characterizations will carry on strong with this fresh effort.

"Rent-a-Cat" will be released in Japan by Suurkiitos on May 12th. To read more about Ogigami's previous works, check out Eric Evans' profile of the filmmaker here.

Source: Nippon Cinema

UK Theatrical Release for "Mitsuko Delivers" set for May 11th

by Marc Saint-Cyr

Third Window Films has repeatedly proven to be an absolute gift for eager fans of independent Japanese cinema with its caringly prepared theatrical and DVD releases. Very shortly, the company will be adding yet another worthwhile event to the calendar when, on May 11th, the 2011 film "Mitsuko Delivers" receives a theatrical release within the UK. "Mitsuko" is one of the most recent efforts from Yuya Ishii, a filmmaker who has steadily been making a name for himself with such works as 2007's "Girl Sparks" and 2010's "To Walk Beside You" and "Sawako Decides." The new film stars Riisa Naka as the titular character who maintains an optimistic attitude as she returns to Japan from California following an ill-fated relationship with an American. Far along in her pregnancy and facing grim financial prospects, she encounters certain figures from her past including her parents' former landlord and a young man who has long harboured feelings for her.

Check out Third Window Films to see the trailer, poster and more details on "Mitsuko Delivers." Many thanks to SciFi Japan for highlighting this story.

Katsuhiro Otomo returns to manga... but this time looks to the past instead of the future

by Chris MaGee

Katsuhiro Otomo -- the name is synonymous with modern Japanese pop culture. His epic sci-fi manga-turned-anime film "Akira" almost single-handedly introduced Japanese animation to the world in 1988, defining the futuristic aesthetic of cyberpunk fiction and Hollywood blockbusters like "The Matrix". Despite his less than stellar animated follow-up, 2004's "Steamboy", Katsuhiro Otomo's place as a master of contemporary Japanese animation and manga remains intact; so when word comes down that the now 57-year-old artist and director is planning a new manga series, well, anime, manga and J-film fans get very, very excited.

Word started breaking about Otomo's new series after Shinchosha's Geijutsu Shincho magazine hit newsstands in Japan both with a newly drawn, one-off short manga story titled "DJ Teck no Morning Attack" (his first manga since 2006), but also an interview with Otomo in which he discussed a new short animated film he is producing tilted "Hi-no-Youjin (Combustible)"... and a coy little statement about a new manga series he was working on for ""a certain shonen magazine."

What could this new series be? Which "shonen magazine" was Otomo referring to? And would this new series further expand on Otomo's groundbreaking futuristic "Akira"? It turns out that the latter is not the case... not at all. Just recently Anime News Network came forward with details on Otomo's upcoming manga series, an ambitious venture that the artist plans to draw entirely on his own, and without any assistants or staff.

Instead of taking us boldly into the future, Otomo has opted instead to go back in time to the Meiji Era (1868-1912), a time that saw Japan emerge from 260 years of self-imposed isolation and begin a rapid push towards modernization to come up to speed with Western powers. Not the futuristic dreamworld that most of us are used to from Otomo, but a world in which Japan was stridently looking towards the future. Otomo said he had spent the last four years doing research in Kyoto for this new series, as well as reading books by Hirotaka Ichiyanagi and Mizuki Kondo such as "One Hundred Stories Set in the Bakumatsu and Meiji Eras". Finally, Otomo has revealed that this new series will appear in the pages of Shonen Sunday Magazine. No word yet on when this new manga adventure will begin, but seeing that fans have waited for years for this, we're sure they can wait just a little longer.

REVIEW: Post Card

一枚のハガキ (Ichimai no hagaki)

Released: 2010

Director:
Kaneto Shindo

Starring:
Shinobu Otake
Etsushi Toyokawa
Ren Osugi




Running time: 114 min.


Reviewed by Eric Evans

Kaneto Shindo's "Post Card" practically vibrates with robust theatricality and unexpected humor. Though it takes place in what appears to be a completely realistic setting, the performances—particularly Shinobu Otake's tormented Tomoko—are by turn sincere and studied, then passionate and over the top. The variance in tone and purposeful artificiality give the film a weird off-kilter quality not unlike more accessible work by David Lynch, but without the idiosyncratic weirdness (imagine Sidney Lumet filming "Mulholland Drive"). It's unlike anything else I've seen, and while it's not an especially pleasant or traditionally satisfying film, it's well worth seeking out.

Please note that the following contains spoilers.

Set in the latter half of World War Two, "Post Card" follows the tribulations of a woman and the family she married into. Tomoko and her husband Jouzukuri (a gentle Naomasa Musaka) are in love. They're borderline destitute, farming a small parcel of land they do not own and sharing a two-room house with his elderly parents. They sleep in the barn for privacy, in a two tatami mat area walled off from the straw and tools. When he is drafted into the military, it is treated as an honor by the town proper but is a horror to her and an immediate hardship to the household.

Now part of a unit and awaiting their deployment, Jouzu and friend Keita (Etsushi Toyokawa) sit down for a serious talk. Jouzu's assignment is almost certainly a death sentence, and he wants Keita to take a postcard Tomoko has written to him and, after the war, tell her that he received it and that it was meaningful to him. He can't respond to her himself, he explains, because anything he writes would at best be heavily censored by the military. Keita reluctantly agrees.

After Jouzu's death, his parents ask Tomoko to stay on in the home and care for them, and could she also marry their younger son so it's not improper? Though heartbroken she agrees, making the best of it. Subsequently the brother is drafted and killed leaving her a war widow twice over, an emotionally drained husk.

When Keita finally travels to Tomoko's village years later to deliver the message, they've both been through almost surreal hardships. These two broken people sit and share their stories, shown in flashback, and it's here that Otake's Tomoko has a passionate series of scenes. She wails, eyes bulging from her head, raging against the situation she's in—a situation dictated by traditional societal roles, giving her no options, and sitting across from a man who by sheer luck avoided the fate shared by both her husbands. Toyokawa doesn't try to match her passion but rather plays a quietly bitter variant of his usual stoic. Ren Osugi, no stranger to broad performances, plays a local man who wants Tomoko for his mistress and recognizes that Keita is a threat to that plan. Among many other important sequences, their eventual conflict is played mostly for laughs and relieves some of the tension built up through Tomoko's monologues.

It's difficult to say how "Post Card" became Japan's entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at this year's Academy Awards. Certainly the film has none of the warmth or broad appeal of 2009 winner "Departures", but it is an artful if idiosyncratic work about serious subjects. Credit the cast for buying into Shindo's vision and committing highly stylized performances to film. Otake is raw and primal; her demeanor switches from the flat, resolute filial duty of one defeated by fate to a manic fury over the hand she's been dealt. It's an operatic performance unfettered by restraint. But perhaps her voice had to be big, meant not to be that of a single widow expressing grief and frustration but rather the cry of a nation against a culture of senseless sacrifice. So, then, the other characters become representational: Toyokawa is the aimless everyman unsure of where he belongs in a post-WW2 society, Osugi the hardliner who can't let go of the rigid structure of the past, and so on.

The cast is too old; at 50, Toyokawa is the youngest primary player. Though men well into their 40s were being called into service, particularly toward the end of a war that began far easier than it ended, the parts in "Post Card" seem to be written for people with much more life in front of them. A flashback scene in which Tomoko and Jouzu discuss their plans to have children after the war should be touching but elicits disbelief. Shinobu Otake is feisty and girlish and the cast is game, but credulity is stretched a bit too far.

"Post Card" will not be your favorite Japanese film of 2011. In fact you may not enjoy it at all, but I'd recommend it; I would argue that it's an interesting and necessary film unfettered by commercial or critical influences. The basic story of these characters would inspire a very commercial love story. While those elements are present, they aren't exploited or even acknowledged in the traditional sense. There is scarcely more passion to Tomoko and Toyukawa's budding relationship than in her second marriage to her younger brother-in-law, and it's difficult to imagine the ending as either romantic or happy though it satisfies the basic tenets of each. Perhaps this ending is Shindo's cry of rage, bemoaning the path not taken by Japan. Opting out of society by living in a barn and toiling in your small patch of farmland is one response to the horror and sacrifice of war, but it's not exactly a solution to the impasse facing Japanese society in 1945. It's not even a suitable solution to Tomoko's specific problems. It might be Shindo's acknowledgement that such problems aren't solvable, a strangely hollow "ganbatte" making that point. Whether it's uplifting or utterly defeatist is up to the viewer.

Additional note: the subtitles are blatantly and (presumably) purposefully wrong in one significant way: though now her husband by marriage, Jouzu's younger brother Sanpei continues to address Tomoko as "Onaesan" (older sister) even as he makes love to her. This awkward formality adds a touch of humor to their relationship and further indicts the Japanese culture of the time. However, the English subtitle with every "Onaesan" was "darling"—neither literally nor figuratively correct. This choice robs these scenes of a degree of absurdity that Shindo, also the screenwriter, specifically intended. It's an unfortunate decision on the part of the studio.

"Post Card" was presented as part of the 35th Portland International Film Festival, one of over 100 films representing dozens of countries from around the world. For more information about the NW Film Center and PIFF, visit http://www.nwfilm.org/.

Animator Koji Yamamura teams up with Takeshi Kitano for opening of new TV show

by Chris MaGee

Comedian/ actor/ director Takeshi Kitano and animator Koji Yamamura -- these are two men that have a lot of fans around these parts. Obviously the former is someone who needs no introduction, but if you're hesitating a little on the second name then let us refresh your memory. Yamamura is the man behind the Oscar-nominated short film "Atama Yama (Mt. Head)" as well as the equally trippy "Franz Kafka's The Country Doctor". So, what do Kitano and Yamamura have in common? Well, the latter has just animated the opening sequence for the former's latest NHK TV show titled "Takeshi's Art Beat". Any of you who have spent time in Japan know that Kitano is one of, if not the most ubiquitous celebrities on the small screen, and this latest program follows Kitano as he explores one of his favorite subjects: contemporary art. (Kitano's a painter as well, you know!)

You can check out the opening for NHK's "Takeshi's Art Beat" by following this link and scrolling down to the flash video. Thanks to Catsuka for this fun bit of news.

Weekly Trailers

Ai to Makoto - Takashi Miike (2012)

Fans of "The Happiness of the Katakuris" rejoice! Takashi Miike has returned to the most unlikely genre of his wildly diverse cinematic career... the musical! Miike adapts Ikki Kajiwara's action/ romance manga "Ai to Makoto" to the screen with Satoshi Tsumabuki and Emi Takei as its all singing, all dancing pair of young lovers.




Nippon Era Irresponsibility - Kengo Furusawa (1962)

Legendary Japanese comedian Hitoshi Ueki stars as one of his most beloved characters, an irresponsible, devil-may-care salaryman, in Kengo Furusawa's comedy musical.

Overseas filming trend continues with Eriko Kitagawa's "Atarashii Kutsu wo Kawanakucha”

by Chris MaGee

We've discussed the trend of Japanese films shooting overseas before here on the J-Film Pow-Wow. It seems that recent films like "Amalfi: Rewards Of The Goddess" (shot on Italy's Amalfi Coast), "Paradise Kiss" (shot in part in New York City) and "Terumae Romae" (shot in Rome) have all captured the imaginations of Japanese audiences and have dollar signs dancing in the eyes of big studio producers. It now looks as if this trend will continue with a new film being produced by none other than Shunji Iwai.

Titled "Atarashii Kutsu wo Kawanakucha”, the film stars Miho Nakayama (above right) as a freelance writer living in Paris who falls in love with a young photographer, portrayed by Osamu Mukai (above left)... and you guessed right, the film is shooting entirely in the French capital. The script, penned by Eriko Kitagawa, is apparently based on her lead actresses own years spent living overseas in Paris. Kitagawa, last in the headlines for directing the youth drama "Halfway", will also be in the director's chair for "Atarashii Kutsu wo Kawanakucha”. Another similarity with "Halfway" is that Kitagawa's mentor, Shunji Iwai (Swallotail Butterfly, All About Lily Chou-Chou) will be assisting her behind the camera as the film's producer.

"Atarashii Kutsu wo Kawanakucha” is currently shooting in Paris and is scheduled for an October theatrical release in Japan. Thanks to Tokyograph for this news.

An amazing look at Japan's past -- Kendo combat circa 1897 captured on film

by Chris MaGee

Japan's cinematic history goes as far back as the genesis of motion picture technology. The first Lumiere Cinematograph (above) motion picture cameras were brought from Paris to Kyoto by sik dyestuffs importer/ exporter Katsutaro Inabata in 1897, but Inabata didn't just bring back this miraculous new technology with him to Japan. He also brought one of the Lumiere Brother's employees, François Girel, to Kyoto to act as cameraman and technician. Inabata and Girel would shoot the very first motion pictures in japanese history using these Cinematographs, and thanks to the eagle eye of one of our regular UK readers, Marc Evans, we can all witness one of these very first films. Marc shared this film (posted on Youtube) of a kendo practice in Kyoto circa 1897. It's absolutely fascinating stuff! Check it out!