5th Update, Monday 6:05 Pm Pt: Actuals have poured in from the studios with the weekend’s big bird Mockingjay — Part I whistling a fine $154.3 million. Worldwide, the third installment of Ya rebel Katniss Everdeen stands at $276.2M. The other major global player, Interstellar, came up slightly higher after Sunday was officially tallied with $71.1M vs a projected $70M. There were no major fluctuations on the rest of the films in the marketplace apart from the usual adjustments. Next week, we’ll see Penguins Of Madagascar expand beyond the Middle Kingdom as well as the Horrible Bosses 2 crew conspiring in several major markets. Also of note, Paddington will steam into the UK on the heels of strong reviews and a little bit of controversy to add heft to this fuzzy bear of a family film (see below the original posts for more).
Numbers have been updated below on the...
Numbers have been updated below on the...
- 11/25/2014
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline
Japan’s Toho is launching sales on Vibrator director Ryuichi Hiroki’s Strobe Edge, a live-action adaptation of the hit manga love story.
Currently in production, the film is set for a spring 2015 local release.
Starring Sota Fukushi and Kasumi Arimura, Strobe Edge is based on a 10-volume manga series that, according to Toho, has sold over 4.4 million copies as of June 2014. It tells the love story of two high school students, their romance and drama and their circle of friends.
Toho also has sci-fi action thriller Attack On Titan, a live-action feature also based on a highly popular manga series, which recently wrapped shooting.
Directed by Shinji Higuchi (The Sinking Of Japan), the film stars Haruma Miura, Kiko Mizuhara and Satomi Ishihara in a story about humans fighting mysterious humanoid creatures that eat people.
Currently in post-production, the film is due out in two parts next summer.
Toho’s autumn slate also includes films such as...
Currently in production, the film is set for a spring 2015 local release.
Starring Sota Fukushi and Kasumi Arimura, Strobe Edge is based on a 10-volume manga series that, according to Toho, has sold over 4.4 million copies as of June 2014. It tells the love story of two high school students, their romance and drama and their circle of friends.
Toho also has sci-fi action thriller Attack On Titan, a live-action feature also based on a highly popular manga series, which recently wrapped shooting.
Directed by Shinji Higuchi (The Sinking Of Japan), the film stars Haruma Miura, Kiko Mizuhara and Satomi Ishihara in a story about humans fighting mysterious humanoid creatures that eat people.
Currently in post-production, the film is due out in two parts next summer.
Toho’s autumn slate also includes films such as...
- 10/5/2014
- by hjnoh2007@gmail.com (Jean Noh)
- ScreenDaily
The 27th Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff) has announced its Special Screenings line-up of high-profile films from Japan and abroad.
Aside from previously announced opening and closing films - Big Hero 6 and Parasyte - world premieres in Special Screenings include Mamoru Oshii’s Japan-Canada coproduction Garm Wars The Last Druid, a “hybrid animation fusing pioneer CG and live-action technologies”.
Also, Isshin Inudo’s romance Miracle: Devil Claus’ Love And Magic, Sebastian Masuda’s The Nutcracker 3D and Kiyotaka Taguchi’s The Next Generation - Patlabor - Episode 10, a live action version of Mobile Police Patlabor with special footage to screen with commentary from general director Oshii.
The line-up will also include a look at footage from upcoming Tim Burton feature Big Eyes, starring Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz. It opens in the Us on Dec 25.
The festival will run Oct 23-31.
Special Screenings
Title/country/director, Wp - World Premiere
Big Hero 6 (Us) Don Hall, [link...
Aside from previously announced opening and closing films - Big Hero 6 and Parasyte - world premieres in Special Screenings include Mamoru Oshii’s Japan-Canada coproduction Garm Wars The Last Druid, a “hybrid animation fusing pioneer CG and live-action technologies”.
Also, Isshin Inudo’s romance Miracle: Devil Claus’ Love And Magic, Sebastian Masuda’s The Nutcracker 3D and Kiyotaka Taguchi’s The Next Generation - Patlabor - Episode 10, a live action version of Mobile Police Patlabor with special footage to screen with commentary from general director Oshii.
The line-up will also include a look at footage from upcoming Tim Burton feature Big Eyes, starring Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz. It opens in the Us on Dec 25.
The festival will run Oct 23-31.
Special Screenings
Title/country/director, Wp - World Premiere
Big Hero 6 (Us) Don Hall, [link...
- 9/19/2014
- by hjnoh2007@gmail.com (Jean Noh)
- ScreenDaily
As expected, promotion for The Floating Castle has essentially been reset and a new 32-second teaser trailer has been released, a year and a half after the original TV spot and teaser came out.
For those who haven’t been following the saga, Nobō no Shiro is a historical epic that was originally presented as a Kido Prize-winning film treatment way back in 2003, then adapted to a successful novel and manga adaptation after that. It took forever to develop as an actual movie simply due to the daunting size and scope of the project. It finally got off the ground when blockbuster-friendly directors Isshin Inudo and Shinji Higuchi were attached in 2010.
Unfortunately, a big part of the movie involves the depiction of a large-scale water attack, which is the main reason it was shelved after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
Anyway, “The Floating Castle” is now on schedule for a November 2, 2012 release.
For those who haven’t been following the saga, Nobō no Shiro is a historical epic that was originally presented as a Kido Prize-winning film treatment way back in 2003, then adapted to a successful novel and manga adaptation after that. It took forever to develop as an actual movie simply due to the daunting size and scope of the project. It finally got off the ground when blockbuster-friendly directors Isshin Inudo and Shinji Higuchi were attached in 2010.
Unfortunately, a big part of the movie involves the depiction of a large-scale water attack, which is the main reason it was shelved after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
Anyway, “The Floating Castle” is now on schedule for a November 2, 2012 release.
- 6/8/2012
- Nippon Cinema
The upcoming film adaptation of Ryo Wada’s debut 2007 novel, “Nobō no Shiro” (English title: The Floating Castle), was originally supposed to be released in Japan on September 17, 2011, but was delayed after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Today a new date was announced: November 2, 2012.
Additionally, it’s been revealed that the rock band Elephant Kashimashi will be providing the film’s theme, a brand new song made in time for the 30th anniversary of their forming.
“The Floating Castle” will mark the first starring film role for Mansai Nomura since 2003’s Onmyoji 2. He’ll be portraying historical figure Narita Nagachika, the beloved keeper of Oshi Castle who led 500 guards to defend against 20,000 invading troops sent by the powerful daimyo Toyotomi Hideyoshi in an attempt to unify Japan under one rule.
The plot is actually the main reason the it was pushed back. It was felt that releasing a film...
Additionally, it’s been revealed that the rock band Elephant Kashimashi will be providing the film’s theme, a brand new song made in time for the 30th anniversary of their forming.
“The Floating Castle” will mark the first starring film role for Mansai Nomura since 2003’s Onmyoji 2. He’ll be portraying historical figure Narita Nagachika, the beloved keeper of Oshi Castle who led 500 guards to defend against 20,000 invading troops sent by the powerful daimyo Toyotomi Hideyoshi in an attempt to unify Japan under one rule.
The plot is actually the main reason the it was pushed back. It was felt that releasing a film...
- 5/8/2012
- Nippon Cinema
The Asmik Ace channel on Yahoo! Eiga has been updated with a new 30-second teaser for the upcoming adaptation of Ryo Wada’s debut 2007 novel, Nobou no Shiro.
The film is a historical drama co-directed by Isshin Inudo and Shinji Higuchi. Set in the late Sengoku (Warring States) period, it tells the story of a popular military leader named Narita Nagachika (Mansai Nomura) who’s nicknamed “Nobou-sama” by the people—an abbreviation of the unflattering moniker he earned early in life for being clumsy and unskilled at everything he tried, “Deku no Bou” (good-for-nothing, blockhead).
Narita’s army of 500 men manages to defend Oshi Castle against 40-to-1 odds the powerful daimyo Toyotomi Hideyoshi sends his massive army there in an attempt to unify Japan under one rule.
The story was first presented as a film treatment and won the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan’s 29th annual Kido Prize...
The film is a historical drama co-directed by Isshin Inudo and Shinji Higuchi. Set in the late Sengoku (Warring States) period, it tells the story of a popular military leader named Narita Nagachika (Mansai Nomura) who’s nicknamed “Nobou-sama” by the people—an abbreviation of the unflattering moniker he earned early in life for being clumsy and unskilled at everything he tried, “Deku no Bou” (good-for-nothing, blockhead).
Narita’s army of 500 men manages to defend Oshi Castle against 40-to-1 odds the powerful daimyo Toyotomi Hideyoshi sends his massive army there in an attempt to unify Japan under one rule.
The story was first presented as a film treatment and won the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan’s 29th annual Kido Prize...
- 1/5/2011
- Nippon Cinema
A 15-second TV spot has been released for the upcoming adaptation of Ryo Wada’s debut 2007 novel, Nobo no Shiro.
The film is a historical drama co-directed by Isshin Inudo and Shinji Higuchi. Set in the late Sengoku (Warring States) period, it tells the story of a popular military leader named Narita Nagachika whose army of 500 men manages to defend Oshi Castle against 20,000 troops sent by the powerful daimyo Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
The story was first presented as a film treatment and won the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan’s 29th annual Kido Prize in 2003. The eventual novelization was nominated for a Naoki Prize and came in second place for the annual Honya Taisho (Bookstore) award. In 2008, Akira Hanasaki illustrated a manga adaptation for Shogakukan’s Big Comic Spirits.
Toho and Asmik Ace Entertainment will be releasing “Nobo no Shiro” in Japan sometime in 2011.
via @cinemaasia...
The film is a historical drama co-directed by Isshin Inudo and Shinji Higuchi. Set in the late Sengoku (Warring States) period, it tells the story of a popular military leader named Narita Nagachika whose army of 500 men manages to defend Oshi Castle against 20,000 troops sent by the powerful daimyo Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
The story was first presented as a film treatment and won the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan’s 29th annual Kido Prize in 2003. The eventual novelization was nominated for a Naoki Prize and came in second place for the annual Honya Taisho (Bookstore) award. In 2008, Akira Hanasaki illustrated a manga adaptation for Shogakukan’s Big Comic Spirits.
Toho and Asmik Ace Entertainment will be releasing “Nobo no Shiro” in Japan sometime in 2011.
via @cinemaasia...
- 10/7/2010
- Nippon Cinema
A 15-second TV spot has been released for the upcoming adaptation of Ryo Wada’s debut 2007 novel, Nobo no Shiro.
The film is a historical drama co-directed by Isshin Inudo and Shinji Higuchi. Set in the late Sengoku (Warring States) period, it tells the story of a popular military leader named Narita Nagachika whose army of 500 men manages to defend Oshi Castle against 20,000 troops sent by the powerful daimyo Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
The story was first presented as a film treatment and won the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan’s 29th annual Kido Prize in 2003. The eventual novelization was nominated for a Naoki Prize and came in second place for the annual Honya Taisho (Bookstore) award. In 2008, Akira Hanasaki illustrated a manga adaptation for Shogakukan’s Big Comic Spirits.
Toho and Asmik Ace Entertainment will be releasing “Nobo no Shiro” in Japan sometime in 2011.
via @cinemaasia...
The film is a historical drama co-directed by Isshin Inudo and Shinji Higuchi. Set in the late Sengoku (Warring States) period, it tells the story of a popular military leader named Narita Nagachika whose army of 500 men manages to defend Oshi Castle against 20,000 troops sent by the powerful daimyo Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
The story was first presented as a film treatment and won the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan’s 29th annual Kido Prize in 2003. The eventual novelization was nominated for a Naoki Prize and came in second place for the annual Honya Taisho (Bookstore) award. In 2008, Akira Hanasaki illustrated a manga adaptation for Shogakukan’s Big Comic Spirits.
Toho and Asmik Ace Entertainment will be releasing “Nobo no Shiro” in Japan sometime in 2011.
via @cinemaasia...
- 10/7/2010
- Nippon Cinema
I remember watching the 1961 black and white version of Zero Focus a long time ago thinking, 'this needs an update.' The Hitchcockian premise was very intriguing: a man disappears during his business trip leaving his young wife distressed and confused. She travels to the snow country up north to find the missing husband and digs up some ugly past while dead bodies turning up around her. But it was visually bland and lacked any kind of suspense. So it was a nice surprise to see the remake on this year's Japan Cuts line-up.
The film is an epic. It begins with stock footage of the destroyed post-war Japan, then seamlessly moves into the economic-boom era of the 50s with impeccable periodic detail. Director Isshin Inudo here crafted a sumptuous picture of the bygone era Japan seldom seen in contemporary films.
The year is 1957. A naïve, young wife Teiko (Ryoko Hirosue...
The film is an epic. It begins with stock footage of the destroyed post-war Japan, then seamlessly moves into the economic-boom era of the 50s with impeccable periodic detail. Director Isshin Inudo here crafted a sumptuous picture of the bygone era Japan seldom seen in contemporary films.
The year is 1957. A naïve, young wife Teiko (Ryoko Hirosue...
- 7/11/2010
- Screen Anarchy
Ken Watanabe in The Sun That Doesn’t Set (Shizumanu Taiyo) Setsurô Wakamatsu’s The Sun That Doesn’t Set, inspired by the 1985 airplane crash that killed 520 people in what remains Japan’s worst airline disaster, is one of five films in the running for the Japanese Academy’s Best Picture award. (See partial list of nominees below.) The film’s star, Ken Watanabe, received a best actor nomination. The other four Best Picture nominees are: Isshin Inudou’s Zero Focus, a murder mystery set in postwar Japan Daisaku Kimura’s Mt. Tsurugidake, about a group of men who set out to climb the unconquered peak in the early 1900s Miwa Nishikawa’s Dear Doctor, in which a village doctor (best actor nominee Tsurube Shofukutei) is exposed as a con artist [...]...
- 12/24/2009
- by Irene Young
- Alt Film Guide
2007 Shanghai International Film FestivalSHANGHAI -- "Tokyo Tower: Mom, Me & Sometimes Dad" directed by Joji Matsuoka, the Japanese mother/son weepie that packed theaters and boosted tissue sales, finds a less tearful counterpart in "Bizan", directed by Isshin Inudou, a mother/daughter drama, also released domestically in May to coincide with Mother's Day. While the former panders both to maternal fantasies of the prodigal-son-made-good and male audiences with a mother complex, the latter handles subtle female emotions with elegant poise and heart-breaking tenderness.
While "Tokyo Tower" may attract more worldwide attention through plaudits in Japan and male lead Odagiri Joe's international fame, "Bizan" appeals more narrowly to a more mature, particularly female audience, especially in Asian countries with high emphasis on family values. Captured by fluid, top-notch camerawork, the spectacle of Awa odori, Japan's biggest traditional festival where thousands clad in traditional costumes and props take to the streets in a heart-pounding dance, may attract a specific audience interested in Japanese folk culture.
Sakiko (Nanako Matsushima), who works for a travel corporation in Tokyo, is recalled to her hometown Tokushima, when her mother, Tatsuko (Nobuko Miyamoto), is suddenly hospitalized. Old tensions resurface, then she receives a double shock. Not only does she learn that Tatsuko has only a few months to live, she discovers that her father, whom she has never met and thought to be long dead, is alive.
As she embarks on a trip to find him, his old love letters become her guide in retracing footsteps of her parents' romantic rendezvous. At the annual Awa odori summer dance festival, Sakiko fulfills her mother's last wish.
In tone and spirit, "Bizan" recalls another classic Asian mother/daughter drama, "Song of the Exile" (1990) by Ann Hui. Both are about women who become cultural or social exiles by uprooting themselves to settle in the hometown of their lost loves. Both deal with the rift between two generations, and their reconciliation through unlocking family secrets and understanding, literally, where the mother comes from.
However, while Hui does not go beyond genre conventions of making the protagonists speak daggers to each other, Inudou (who co-wrote the script with Yukiko Yamamuro from a novel by Masashi Sada) exercises restraint where emotional outpour is expected. Tatsuko diffuses tension and evades unwanted questions with beautifully enunciated lines from her beloved bunraku (puppet) plays. When Sakiko meets her father, they avert their eyes and exchange niceties with agonizing formality.
Like other strong, elderly characters that people Inudo Isshin films, such as "Across a Gold Prairie", "Shinibana" and "La Maison de Himiko", Tatsuko is played with commanding power by Miyamoto. Impeccably coiffed and ramrod straight in her kimono, she conveys a full register of emotions even with a face caked in an inch of white powder. Recently returning to the big screen after several years' absence, Matsushima ("Ring", "Murder of the Inugami Clan") also turns in a natural and nuanced performance.
BIZAN
Toho/Bizan Seisaku Iinkai
Credits:
Director: Isshin Inudo
Writers: Isshin Inudo, Yukiko Yamamuro
Based on the novel by: Masashi Sada
Producer: Endo Manabu
Director of photography: Takahiro Tsutai
Production designer: Yukiharu Seshimo
Music: Michiru Oshima
Editor: Soichi Ueno
Cast:
Sakiko: Nanako Matsushima
Tatsuko: Nobuko Miyamoto
Daisuke: Takao Osawa
Running time -- 120 minutes
No MPAA rating...
While "Tokyo Tower" may attract more worldwide attention through plaudits in Japan and male lead Odagiri Joe's international fame, "Bizan" appeals more narrowly to a more mature, particularly female audience, especially in Asian countries with high emphasis on family values. Captured by fluid, top-notch camerawork, the spectacle of Awa odori, Japan's biggest traditional festival where thousands clad in traditional costumes and props take to the streets in a heart-pounding dance, may attract a specific audience interested in Japanese folk culture.
Sakiko (Nanako Matsushima), who works for a travel corporation in Tokyo, is recalled to her hometown Tokushima, when her mother, Tatsuko (Nobuko Miyamoto), is suddenly hospitalized. Old tensions resurface, then she receives a double shock. Not only does she learn that Tatsuko has only a few months to live, she discovers that her father, whom she has never met and thought to be long dead, is alive.
As she embarks on a trip to find him, his old love letters become her guide in retracing footsteps of her parents' romantic rendezvous. At the annual Awa odori summer dance festival, Sakiko fulfills her mother's last wish.
In tone and spirit, "Bizan" recalls another classic Asian mother/daughter drama, "Song of the Exile" (1990) by Ann Hui. Both are about women who become cultural or social exiles by uprooting themselves to settle in the hometown of their lost loves. Both deal with the rift between two generations, and their reconciliation through unlocking family secrets and understanding, literally, where the mother comes from.
However, while Hui does not go beyond genre conventions of making the protagonists speak daggers to each other, Inudou (who co-wrote the script with Yukiko Yamamuro from a novel by Masashi Sada) exercises restraint where emotional outpour is expected. Tatsuko diffuses tension and evades unwanted questions with beautifully enunciated lines from her beloved bunraku (puppet) plays. When Sakiko meets her father, they avert their eyes and exchange niceties with agonizing formality.
Like other strong, elderly characters that people Inudo Isshin films, such as "Across a Gold Prairie", "Shinibana" and "La Maison de Himiko", Tatsuko is played with commanding power by Miyamoto. Impeccably coiffed and ramrod straight in her kimono, she conveys a full register of emotions even with a face caked in an inch of white powder. Recently returning to the big screen after several years' absence, Matsushima ("Ring", "Murder of the Inugami Clan") also turns in a natural and nuanced performance.
BIZAN
Toho/Bizan Seisaku Iinkai
Credits:
Director: Isshin Inudo
Writers: Isshin Inudo, Yukiko Yamamuro
Based on the novel by: Masashi Sada
Producer: Endo Manabu
Director of photography: Takahiro Tsutai
Production designer: Yukiharu Seshimo
Music: Michiru Oshima
Editor: Soichi Ueno
Cast:
Sakiko: Nanako Matsushima
Tatsuko: Nobuko Miyamoto
Daisuke: Takao Osawa
Running time -- 120 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 6/18/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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