“Keep your cool!” yells the ageing, secretly ailing trainer Jin to his young protégé Shogo during boxing matches. But that's easier said than done. Everyone in One Last Bloom carries the emotional baggage of dysfunctional family backgrounds, missed opportunities and the strange peril attached to any second chance.
One Last Bloom of course brings to mind the dilemmas and dynamics of Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby (2004) and the Rocky series, with breathtaking choreography of the sparring and a story that builds towards the final, title bout. The film holds firm to its particular naturalistic, anti-sensationalist and engaging depiction of fighting and the preparation it takes alike.
The prolific director Takahisa Zeze has forged a career spanning ‘pink porno' (his Tokyo X Erotica was enthusiastically greeted by the IFFR audiences in 2002) and highly successful mainstream fare. For him, whatever the genre, the goal is always the same: to engage the...
One Last Bloom of course brings to mind the dilemmas and dynamics of Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby (2004) and the Rocky series, with breathtaking choreography of the sparring and a story that builds towards the final, title bout. The film holds firm to its particular naturalistic, anti-sensationalist and engaging depiction of fighting and the preparation it takes alike.
The prolific director Takahisa Zeze has forged a career spanning ‘pink porno' (his Tokyo X Erotica was enthusiastically greeted by the IFFR audiences in 2002) and highly successful mainstream fare. For him, whatever the genre, the goal is always the same: to engage the...
- 1/10/2024
- by Don Anelli
- AsianMoviePulse
The actor is known for Taiwan box office hit ‘Marry My Dead Body’.
Hsu Kuang-han, the star of Taiwan box office hit Marry My Dead Body, will next be seen in romantic drama 18x2 by acclaimed Japanese director Michihito Fujii.
The actor, also known as Greg Han, will play opposite Japanese actress Kaya Kiyohara in the romance, which is in post-production. A first look at the two actors in the film can be seen above.
It is produced by Taiwan’s Jumpboys Films and Japan’s Babel Label, founded by director Fujii.
Happinet Phantom Studios will release the film in...
Hsu Kuang-han, the star of Taiwan box office hit Marry My Dead Body, will next be seen in romantic drama 18x2 by acclaimed Japanese director Michihito Fujii.
The actor, also known as Greg Han, will play opposite Japanese actress Kaya Kiyohara in the romance, which is in post-production. A first look at the two actors in the film can be seen above.
It is produced by Taiwan’s Jumpboys Films and Japan’s Babel Label, founded by director Fujii.
Happinet Phantom Studios will release the film in...
- 10/7/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: In a world where the space for specialist and non English-language cinema is shrinking in cinemas, it’s encouraging to see that Tokyo-based Gaga Corporation is committed to bringing a diverse range of theatrical releases to Japanese audiences.
Launched in 1986, the company is one of Japan’s longest established buyers, releasing between 20-25 films a year, with its president and CEO Tom Yoda a familiar face on the international festival and markets circuit. The company is also an active producer of Japanese films, with recent titles including Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Monster, which is screening as a Special Presentation in Toronto, following its Best Screenplay award in Cannes.
As Japan was moving out of the pandemic, the company says it was pleased with the box office results for acquisitions such as Todd Field’s Tar, French filmmaker Claude Zidi Jr’s opera-themed Tenor and multiple Oscar winner Everything Everywhere All At Once,...
Launched in 1986, the company is one of Japan’s longest established buyers, releasing between 20-25 films a year, with its president and CEO Tom Yoda a familiar face on the international festival and markets circuit. The company is also an active producer of Japanese films, with recent titles including Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Monster, which is screening as a Special Presentation in Toronto, following its Best Screenplay award in Cannes.
As Japan was moving out of the pandemic, the company says it was pleased with the box office results for acquisitions such as Todd Field’s Tar, French filmmaker Claude Zidi Jr’s opera-themed Tenor and multiple Oscar winner Everything Everywhere All At Once,...
- 9/6/2023
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
A struggling young boxer Shogo is stunned by an elderly guy Jin's sharp counterpunch during a street fight, and asks him to be his trainer. Jin, as it turns out, used to be a promising boxer who retired without realizing his dream to become a world champion. Jin tries to persuades Shogo not to risk his life when Shogo severely injures his eye right before the championship match; however, the young man's firm determination reminds Jin of his own dream. Jin also puts his life on the line for Shogo's world title match that could be their last bout together. (Source: Japanese Film Database)
Directed by Takahisa Zeze (Fragments of The Last Will) with cast members including Koichi Sato (The Sun Stands Still) and Ryusei Yokohama (Usogui), this movie will premiere in Japan on August 25, 2023.
Directed by Takahisa Zeze (Fragments of The Last Will) with cast members including Koichi Sato (The Sun Stands Still) and Ryusei Yokohama (Usogui), this movie will premiere in Japan on August 25, 2023.
- 6/14/2023
- by Suzie Cho
- AsianMoviePulse
One of the prestigious national cinema awards in Japan presented by the Association of Tokyo Film Journalists, the 65th edition of the Blue Ribbon Awards announced its winners on February 24, 2023. The nominees are selected from movies released in 2022 within the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. Leading with 6 nominations, A Man by Kei Ishikawa, wins Best Film while Plan 75 by Chie Hayakawa picks up Best Director and Best Actress for Chieko Baisho. The full list of winners is described below.
Best Film
A Man
Kingdom 2: To Distant Lands
Small, Slow But Steady
Missing
Silent Parade
Dr Coto’s Clinic
Plan 75
Motherhood
Fragments of the Last Will
Wandering
A Man Best Director
Kei Ishikawa – A Man
Shinzo Katayama – Missing
Takahisa Zeze – Tombi: Father and Son; Fragments of the Last Will
Chie Hayakawa – Plan 75
Ryuichi Hiroki – 2 Women, Motherhood; Phases of the Moon
Best Actor
Sadao Abe – Lesson in Murder; I am...
Best Film
A Man
Kingdom 2: To Distant Lands
Small, Slow But Steady
Missing
Silent Parade
Dr Coto’s Clinic
Plan 75
Motherhood
Fragments of the Last Will
Wandering
A Man Best Director
Kei Ishikawa – A Man
Shinzo Katayama – Missing
Takahisa Zeze – Tombi: Father and Son; Fragments of the Last Will
Chie Hayakawa – Plan 75
Ryuichi Hiroki – 2 Women, Motherhood; Phases of the Moon
Best Actor
Sadao Abe – Lesson in Murder; I am...
- 2/28/2023
- by Suzie Cho
- AsianMoviePulse
Audiences at the opening of the Tokyo International Film Festival had a chance to glimpse Nakajima Kento stretching his acting range in “Fragments of the Last Will” (aka “From Siberia With Love”), Takahisa Zeze’s melodrama about coming home from the front after WWII.
Nakajima, a J-Pop star with a major fan following, is committing himself to making acting a greater part of his career going forward. With youthful looks and good English-language skills he stands a strong chance of attracting international attention next.
His apprenticeship in entertainment was, typical of the Japanese industry, long and arduous. It involved a stint at Johnny’s Jr music act B.I. Shadow and four years of multi-disciplinary training within the all-powerful Johnny & Associates talent agency, before being unleashed as part the of the idol group Sexy Zone.
The agency training obstacle course is designed to weed out the weak while also developing a range of music,...
Nakajima, a J-Pop star with a major fan following, is committing himself to making acting a greater part of his career going forward. With youthful looks and good English-language skills he stands a strong chance of attracting international attention next.
His apprenticeship in entertainment was, typical of the Japanese industry, long and arduous. It involved a stint at Johnny’s Jr music act B.I. Shadow and four years of multi-disciplinary training within the all-powerful Johnny & Associates talent agency, before being unleashed as part the of the idol group Sexy Zone.
The agency training obstacle course is designed to weed out the weak while also developing a range of music,...
- 12/23/2022
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Safe to say there isn’t another country bar Japan where a handful of top directors, including celebrated auteurs and an Oscar winner, learned their craft in adult films. Or perhaps even anywhere else in the world where that is imaginable.
But when cinemagoing plunged in parallel with the penetration of television sets into homes in the 1960s, it was so-called Pink Eiga that kept large parts of the movie industry afloat for decades, nurturing a generation of directors, scriptwriters and other filmmaking crew.
Usually between 60 and 70 minutes long, shot on 35mm and released in theaters, often on triple bills, the low-budget productions gave directors a lot of freedom provided they delivered the prescribed number of sex scenes.
In 1964, with the eyes of the world on Japan as it reemerged onto the world stage after World War Two as host of Tokyo Olympics,...
Safe to say there isn’t another country bar Japan where a handful of top directors, including celebrated auteurs and an Oscar winner, learned their craft in adult films. Or perhaps even anywhere else in the world where that is imaginable.
But when cinemagoing plunged in parallel with the penetration of television sets into homes in the 1960s, it was so-called Pink Eiga that kept large parts of the movie industry afloat for decades, nurturing a generation of directors, scriptwriters and other filmmaking crew.
Usually between 60 and 70 minutes long, shot on 35mm and released in theaters, often on triple bills, the low-budget productions gave directors a lot of freedom provided they delivered the prescribed number of sex scenes.
In 1964, with the eyes of the world on Japan as it reemerged onto the world stage after World War Two as host of Tokyo Olympics,...
- 10/28/2022
- by Gavin J Blair
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Click here to read the full article.
Opening this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival is Takahisa Zeze’s war drama Fragments of the Last Will, a tragic but hopeful story from a little-known chapter of Russo-Japanese history.
Based on the true story of Hatao Yamamoto (Kazunari Ninomiya), one of more than half a million Japanese soldiers taken to the Soviet Union after World War Two, the film tells of his battle to keep hope alive and keep his promise to his wife (Keiko Kitagawa) waiting for his return.
Taken to labor camps after surrendering to the Soviet Army in China, the soldiers, and some civilians, were put to work for years in Siberia and across Stalin’s empire in contravention of multiple international treaties and conventions. Some were not allowed to return home for more than a decade. Estimates of the number who died range from the tens to...
Opening this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival is Takahisa Zeze’s war drama Fragments of the Last Will, a tragic but hopeful story from a little-known chapter of Russo-Japanese history.
Based on the true story of Hatao Yamamoto (Kazunari Ninomiya), one of more than half a million Japanese soldiers taken to the Soviet Union after World War Two, the film tells of his battle to keep hope alive and keep his promise to his wife (Keiko Kitagawa) waiting for his return.
Taken to labor camps after surrendering to the Soviet Army in China, the soldiers, and some civilians, were put to work for years in Siberia and across Stalin’s empire in contravention of multiple international treaties and conventions. Some were not allowed to return home for more than a decade. Estimates of the number who died range from the tens to...
- 10/26/2022
- by Gavin J Blair
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Click here to read the full article.
In a welcome return to normalcy, the Tokyo International Film Festival rolled out the full red carpet, all 541 feet of it, for the first time since 2019, once again welcoming guests from around the globe to a new venue for its opening ceremony on a brisk autumn evening in the Japanese capital.
The Covid-19 pandemic had kept international visitors away for the last few editions, but the opening of the 35th Tokyo festival felt like old times. More than one hundred overseas guests are joining the proceedings this year — some paying their own way to Tokyo as sky-high airline ticket prices drained the event’s budget — up from just eight at the 2021 edition.
The red carpet, which clocked in at almost two hours, snaked its way from Toho’s famed Godzilla statue in front of Hibiya Midtown to the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater. Once a fixture of Roppongi,...
In a welcome return to normalcy, the Tokyo International Film Festival rolled out the full red carpet, all 541 feet of it, for the first time since 2019, once again welcoming guests from around the globe to a new venue for its opening ceremony on a brisk autumn evening in the Japanese capital.
The Covid-19 pandemic had kept international visitors away for the last few editions, but the opening of the 35th Tokyo festival felt like old times. More than one hundred overseas guests are joining the proceedings this year — some paying their own way to Tokyo as sky-high airline ticket prices drained the event’s budget — up from just eight at the 2021 edition.
The red carpet, which clocked in at almost two hours, snaked its way from Toho’s famed Godzilla statue in front of Hibiya Midtown to the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater. Once a fixture of Roppongi,...
- 10/24/2022
- by Gavin J Blair and Abid Rahman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
‘Fragments Of The Last Will’ opened 35th edition.
The 35th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) has launched with its first full-scale red carpet in three years.
At the Takarazuka Theatre in the festival’s new main area of Hibiya-Yurakucho-Ginza, relocated last year from Roppongi, international competition jury president and US director Julie Taymor spoke from the red carpet: “It’s an incredible time now that – since Covid – you’re able to have many more international guests, which is so critical at a time in the world which is so divisive.”
TIFF was only able to host eight foreign guests last year,...
The 35th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) has launched with its first full-scale red carpet in three years.
At the Takarazuka Theatre in the festival’s new main area of Hibiya-Yurakucho-Ginza, relocated last year from Roppongi, international competition jury president and US director Julie Taymor spoke from the red carpet: “It’s an incredible time now that – since Covid – you’re able to have many more international guests, which is so critical at a time in the world which is so divisive.”
TIFF was only able to host eight foreign guests last year,...
- 10/24/2022
- by Jean Noh
- ScreenDaily
Tokyo International Film Festival’s 35th edition will include titles from Bui Thac Chuyen, Olivia Wilde and Hiroki Ryuichi.
The 35th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) today unveiled its line-up for its first full-scale physical edition since the pandemic started, with 15 international competition titles including its first from Vietnam - Bui Thac Chuyen’s Glorious Ashes.
Set to make its world premiere at TIFF, the film was a recipient of the Asean Co-production Fund (Acof) launched by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (Fdcp) and the Southeast Asia co-production grant (Scpg) established by the Singapore Film Commission (Sfc), as...
The 35th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) today unveiled its line-up for its first full-scale physical edition since the pandemic started, with 15 international competition titles including its first from Vietnam - Bui Thac Chuyen’s Glorious Ashes.
Set to make its world premiere at TIFF, the film was a recipient of the Asean Co-production Fund (Acof) launched by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (Fdcp) and the Southeast Asia co-production grant (Scpg) established by the Singapore Film Commission (Sfc), as...
- 9/21/2022
- by Jean Noh
- ScreenDaily
Click here to read the full article.
Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) will open with a full red carpet for the first time in three years as the event looks to bounce back from two relatively subdued editions held during the pandemic.
Fest chairman Hiroyasu Ando said at a line-up press conference that he expected around 100 overseas guests and participants to attend. A very limited number of visitors made the trip for the last two events.
Japan’s government has kept tighter restrictions on its borders for longer than most other countries and a daily limit of 50,000 inbound travellers currently remains in place. Further loosening is expected by the time the fest unspools, with a parliamentary discussion on border controls set for tomorrow.
TIFF will also revive the Kurosawa Akira Award, given to filmmakers for contributions to global cinema, after a hiatus of 14 years. Previous recipients include Steven Spielberg, Yamada Yoji and Chen Kaige.
Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) will open with a full red carpet for the first time in three years as the event looks to bounce back from two relatively subdued editions held during the pandemic.
Fest chairman Hiroyasu Ando said at a line-up press conference that he expected around 100 overseas guests and participants to attend. A very limited number of visitors made the trip for the last two events.
Japan’s government has kept tighter restrictions on its borders for longer than most other countries and a daily limit of 50,000 inbound travellers currently remains in place. Further loosening is expected by the time the fest unspools, with a parliamentary discussion on border controls set for tomorrow.
TIFF will also revive the Kurosawa Akira Award, given to filmmakers for contributions to global cinema, after a hiatus of 14 years. Previous recipients include Steven Spielberg, Yamada Yoji and Chen Kaige.
- 9/21/2022
- by Gavin Blair
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Click here to read the full article.
The 35th Tokyo International Film Festival has named acclaimed stage and film director Julie Taymor as the president of its main competition jury. Taymor will be the festival’s third consecutive female jury chief, following French screen icon Isabelle Huppert in 2021 and Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi in 2019 (the festival didn’t hold a competition in 2020 due to the pandemic).
Taymor is perhaps best known on an international basis as the director of the wildly successful stage musical version of The Lion King, which has played continuously for 25 years in over 100 cities in 20 countries. As a filmmaker, she has directed the Anthony Hopkins Shakespeare adaptation Titus (1999), the Oscar-nominated biopic Frida (2002), the Beatles jukebox romantic drama Across the Universe (2007); and the recent Gloria Steinem film, The Glorias (2020).
Tokyo’s festival chairman Hiroyasu Ando highlighted Taymor’s connections to Japan when unveiling her appointment.
“Ms. Taymor...
The 35th Tokyo International Film Festival has named acclaimed stage and film director Julie Taymor as the president of its main competition jury. Taymor will be the festival’s third consecutive female jury chief, following French screen icon Isabelle Huppert in 2021 and Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi in 2019 (the festival didn’t hold a competition in 2020 due to the pandemic).
Taymor is perhaps best known on an international basis as the director of the wildly successful stage musical version of The Lion King, which has played continuously for 25 years in over 100 cities in 20 countries. As a filmmaker, she has directed the Anthony Hopkins Shakespeare adaptation Titus (1999), the Oscar-nominated biopic Frida (2002), the Beatles jukebox romantic drama Across the Universe (2007); and the recent Gloria Steinem film, The Glorias (2020).
Tokyo’s festival chairman Hiroyasu Ando highlighted Taymor’s connections to Japan when unveiling her appointment.
“Ms. Taymor...
- 9/16/2022
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Festival will also host tributes to Taiwan’s Tsai Ming-liang and late director Shinji Aoyama.
US director Julie Taymor is to preside over the international competition jury of Tokyo International Film Festival, which has also announced plans to revive the Akira Kurosawa Award and host tribute screenings to Taiwan’s Tsai Ming-liang and late Japanese director Shinji Aoyama.
The festival has unveiled highlights of its 35th edition, which will run October 24 to November 2, ahead of the announcement of its full line up on September 21.
Taymor is known for directing features such as Frida, Titus, Across The Universe and The Glorias...
US director Julie Taymor is to preside over the international competition jury of Tokyo International Film Festival, which has also announced plans to revive the Akira Kurosawa Award and host tribute screenings to Taiwan’s Tsai Ming-liang and late Japanese director Shinji Aoyama.
The festival has unveiled highlights of its 35th edition, which will run October 24 to November 2, ahead of the announcement of its full line up on September 21.
Taymor is known for directing features such as Frida, Titus, Across The Universe and The Glorias...
- 9/16/2022
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
The 35th edition of the festival is set to take place in-person from October 2 to November 2.
Takahisa Zeze’s Japanese prisoner of war drama Fragments Of The Last Will is set to world premiere as the opening film of the Tokyo International Film Festival, which runs October 24 to November 2.
The festival will close with Oliver Hermanus’s UK drama Living, starring Bill Nighy, an adaptation of Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 Japanese drama Ikiru with a revised screenplay by Kazuo Ishiguro, whose credits include Remains Of The Day and Never Let Me Go.
Fragments Of The Last Will is based on the true story of Hatao Yamamoto,...
Takahisa Zeze’s Japanese prisoner of war drama Fragments Of The Last Will is set to world premiere as the opening film of the Tokyo International Film Festival, which runs October 24 to November 2.
The festival will close with Oliver Hermanus’s UK drama Living, starring Bill Nighy, an adaptation of Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 Japanese drama Ikiru with a revised screenplay by Kazuo Ishiguro, whose credits include Remains Of The Day and Never Let Me Go.
Fragments Of The Last Will is based on the true story of Hatao Yamamoto,...
- 9/12/2022
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Click here to read the full article.
Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) will open on Oct. 24 with Takahisa Zeze’s postwar drama Fragments of the Last Will, while Oliver Bill Hermanus’s Living, a reinterpretation of an Akira Kurosawa classic, will bring proceedings to a close on Nov. 2.
Takahisa’s film, based on real events, tells the story of a Japanese prisoner of war played by who battles to keep hope alive for himself and his fellow inmates in a Siberian gulag after his nation’s defeat in 1945. Fragments of the Last Will stars Kazunari Ninomiya, former member of boyband Arashi.
Living is set in Britain in 1952, the same year Kurosawa’s Ikiru, on which it is based, was released. Bill Nighy plays a staid bureaucrat who is inspired to change his life after receiving shocking news.
“Living is the story of an ordinary man, reduced by years of oppressive...
Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) will open on Oct. 24 with Takahisa Zeze’s postwar drama Fragments of the Last Will, while Oliver Bill Hermanus’s Living, a reinterpretation of an Akira Kurosawa classic, will bring proceedings to a close on Nov. 2.
Takahisa’s film, based on real events, tells the story of a Japanese prisoner of war played by who battles to keep hope alive for himself and his fellow inmates in a Siberian gulag after his nation’s defeat in 1945. Fragments of the Last Will stars Kazunari Ninomiya, former member of boyband Arashi.
Living is set in Britain in 1952, the same year Kurosawa’s Ikiru, on which it is based, was released. Bill Nighy plays a staid bureaucrat who is inspired to change his life after receiving shocking news.
“Living is the story of an ordinary man, reduced by years of oppressive...
- 9/12/2022
- by Gavin Blair
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
translation by Lukasz Mankowski
Takahisa Zeze is a Japanese film director and screenwriter first known for his soft-core pornographic pink films of the 1990s. Along with fellow directors, Kazuhiro Sano, Toshiki Sato, and Hisayasu Sato, he is known as one of the “Four Heavenly Kings of Pink”. Eventually, he moves away from the particular industry, directing movies such as “Heaven Story” which took the Fipresci and Netpac award in Berlin, and “The Chrysanthemum and the Guillotine”.
On the occasion of “In the Wake” screening at Toronto Japanese Film Festival, we speak with him about adapting Shichiri Nakayama’s novel, the Fukushima disaster and its connection with social welfare, the main characters and the casting, his past and present in cinema, and his latest project
“In the Wake” screened at Toronto Japanese Film Festival
Why did you decide to adapt Shichiri Nakayama’s novel “Mamorarenakatta Monotachi e”?
It all starts with...
Takahisa Zeze is a Japanese film director and screenwriter first known for his soft-core pornographic pink films of the 1990s. Along with fellow directors, Kazuhiro Sano, Toshiki Sato, and Hisayasu Sato, he is known as one of the “Four Heavenly Kings of Pink”. Eventually, he moves away from the particular industry, directing movies such as “Heaven Story” which took the Fipresci and Netpac award in Berlin, and “The Chrysanthemum and the Guillotine”.
On the occasion of “In the Wake” screening at Toronto Japanese Film Festival, we speak with him about adapting Shichiri Nakayama’s novel, the Fukushima disaster and its connection with social welfare, the main characters and the casting, his past and present in cinema, and his latest project
“In the Wake” screened at Toronto Japanese Film Festival
Why did you decide to adapt Shichiri Nakayama’s novel “Mamorarenakatta Monotachi e”?
It all starts with...
- 7/17/2022
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
As we mentioned many times before, Takahisa Zeze has moved as far away from his pinku film past as possible during the last years, with his latest works essentially being mainstream, at least in Japanese movie industry terms. As such, a film about the aftermath of the 2011, which have been releasing aplenty after a “healing” decade has passed, was bound to come from the veteran filmmaker, who, once more, does not disappoint.
“In the Wake” is screening at Toronto Japanese Film Festival
The story is based on Shichiri Narayama’s novel “Mamorarenakatta Monotachi e”, begins in 2011, nine years after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, and focuses on two brutal murders of men working for Social Welfare, who were found tied up and starved to death. Prefectural investigator Tomashino, who has lost his family in the tsunami and carries the burden in the most evident way possible, works with young detective Hasuda to investigate the murders,...
“In the Wake” is screening at Toronto Japanese Film Festival
The story is based on Shichiri Narayama’s novel “Mamorarenakatta Monotachi e”, begins in 2011, nine years after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, and focuses on two brutal murders of men working for Social Welfare, who were found tied up and starved to death. Prefectural investigator Tomashino, who has lost his family in the tsunami and carries the burden in the most evident way possible, works with young detective Hasuda to investigate the murders,...
- 6/10/2022
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The concept of motherhood, and particularly the questions of if all women should be able to be one, and what is the impact of parenthood in the shaping of children, is one that has been presented repeatedly in Japanese cinema, with films like “Sunk Into the Womb” giving some of the darkest answers to these questions. Takahisa Zeze also examines the concept in “Tomorrow’s Dinner Table”, in an adaptation of the homonymous novel by Michiko Yazuki.
“Tomorrow’s Dinner Table” is screening as part of the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme
Rumiko is a freelance writer, married to freelance photographer Yutaka. Her blog is quite popular, as her “ramblings” about her constantly fighting children (the older boy seems to be perpetually angry while the youngest cannot stop crying) resonate with a number of mothers, although she also has to face another issue, since her husband does not seem to...
“Tomorrow’s Dinner Table” is screening as part of the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme
Rumiko is a freelance writer, married to freelance photographer Yutaka. Her blog is quite popular, as her “ramblings” about her constantly fighting children (the older boy seems to be perpetually angry while the youngest cannot stop crying) resonate with a number of mothers, although she also has to face another issue, since her husband does not seem to...
- 2/7/2022
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Emi Saito gained experience as an assistant director under numerous prominent filmmakers such as Takahisa Zeze, Masayuki Suo, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and Yukiko Mishima. “One Night, Two Threads” is the first time for her sitting in the chair of the director.
One Night, Two Threads is screening at Skip City International D-Cinema Festival
The film begins with Yujin, a woman in her 30s, roaming the bright-lighted, busy streets, being, however, completely lost in her own thoughts. Eventually, she decides to enter a small tavern, where she orders a tea, before she changes her order to a beer, to the amusement of another woman sitting in the bar, though in a psychological status completely different than Yujin’s. Soon, the two of them start talking, and although the second, who is revealed to be Aki, a copywriter, is almost too direct in her questions, Yujin seems to enjoy the company. Soon, Yujin starts sharing things about herself,...
One Night, Two Threads is screening at Skip City International D-Cinema Festival
The film begins with Yujin, a woman in her 30s, roaming the bright-lighted, busy streets, being, however, completely lost in her own thoughts. Eventually, she decides to enter a small tavern, where she orders a tea, before she changes her order to a beer, to the amusement of another woman sitting in the bar, though in a psychological status completely different than Yujin’s. Soon, the two of them start talking, and although the second, who is revealed to be Aki, a copywriter, is almost too direct in her questions, Yujin seems to enjoy the company. Soon, Yujin starts sharing things about herself,...
- 10/2/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Immigrating into another country or simply moving from one place to the other is mostly connected with the idea of starting new, of finding a new home and eventually even becoming the person you always wanted to be. While some of these ideals may sound far-fetched and a bit corny, the concept of another country representing the “promised land”, which is a phrase usually associated with the USA, becomes more universal, especially perhaps in a globalized world where every move may be considered an opportunity. The fact these promises can be fatal is one of the themes Japanese director and writer Takahisa Zeze has explored in many of his features, such as “Moon Child”, “Raigyo” and “Heaven’s Story”. In his feature “The Promised Land”, which was already finished in 2019, Zeze, who write the script based on a novel by Shuichi Yoshida, deals with the concept of the “promised land” and its darker undertones,...
- 6/4/2021
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Fine entertainment, food for thought, five world premieres and at least a touch of Japanese wackiness and warmth – this is what awaits the audience with around 80 current Japanese short and feature-length films of the 21st Nippon Connection Film Festival. After weeks of hoping and worrying, it is now certain that unfortunately the pandemic will not allow in-theater screenings in 2021 either. The largest festival for Japanese cinema worldwide will once again be held exclusively online from June 1 to 6, 2021.
All films are available online for six days throughout Germany and in some cases outside of Germany. Face-to-face talks with the filmmakers are moving into the digital realm to spark a direct exchange. For everyone whose yearning for Japan is stronger than ever, there is also Nippon Culture: the digital supporting program with over 40 interactive workshops, talks, extraordinary performances and concerts. For the first time, the Nippon Click & Collect Kiosk at the usual...
All films are available online for six days throughout Germany and in some cases outside of Germany. Face-to-face talks with the filmmakers are moving into the digital realm to spark a direct exchange. For everyone whose yearning for Japan is stronger than ever, there is also Nippon Culture: the digital supporting program with over 40 interactive workshops, talks, extraordinary performances and concerts. For the first time, the Nippon Click & Collect Kiosk at the usual...
- 5/16/2021
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Takahisa Zeze has secured a place in the history of (pink) cinema as one of The Four Heavenly Kings but also for a number of productions that highlight the levels of quality the films of the category can reach. “No Good Men” does not exactly reinvent the genre, but definitely stands on one of the top levels.
No Good Men is available from Pink Eiga By Using the code AMPFriend, you get a 25% price-off on all products of the website including subscription
The story focuses on Kumiko, a young woman who works at a travel agency, and retains an affair with her married boss. Kumiko is just searching for love, but all she finds in a megalopolis where alienation is the rule, is sex, to the point that she equalizes one with the other, as we watch satisfying her need for human warmth through a number of random men. A...
No Good Men is available from Pink Eiga By Using the code AMPFriend, you get a 25% price-off on all products of the website including subscription
The story focuses on Kumiko, a young woman who works at a travel agency, and retains an affair with her married boss. Kumiko is just searching for love, but all she finds in a megalopolis where alienation is the rule, is sex, to the point that she equalizes one with the other, as we watch satisfying her need for human warmth through a number of random men. A...
- 4/10/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Book Review: Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Cinema (2008) by Jasper Sharp
Allow me to begin this review with a personal note. Among the plethora of books about (Asian) cinema I have read, this one is definitely one of the better ones, if not the best. The combination of research and context (just mentioning all the topics Jasper Sharp examines here would fill a small book), the quality of personal comments, the language, and the overall illustration of the Fab Press edition, which is filled with film stills, posters etc, including a rather impressive middle section as much as great front and back covers, are all top-notch, to the point that one would have to dig really deep to find any flaw in the book. Let us take things from the beginning though.
The book begins ideally, as Sharp starts his narration by dealing with the history of nudity on film, the differences between art and pornography, the differences between Western and Japanese pornography,...
The book begins ideally, as Sharp starts his narration by dealing with the history of nudity on film, the differences between art and pornography, the differences between Western and Japanese pornography,...
- 4/6/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Yohta Kawase was born on December 28, 1969 in Kawasaki, Japan. He started his career as assistant director to Shozin Fukui in the 90s, but soon turned into acting. Currently, he has more than 150 films under his belt, most of which belong to the pinku genre. His latest works include “Blank 13” by Takumi Saitoh, “Demolition Girl” by Genta Matsugami and “A Balance” by Yujiro Harumoto, which premiered at the latest Berlinale.
We speak with him about his prolific career, acting in pink films, Takahisa Zeze, Yutaka Ikejima and Daisuke Goto, the latest generation of Japanese directors, his latest work, “Rageaholic” and many other topics.
Translated from Japanese by Lukasz Mankowski
You started your career in pinku films and you have won many awards for your performances. How did that come about and how was your experience of acting in those films? Was it difficult acting in all those sex scenes?
I actually...
We speak with him about his prolific career, acting in pink films, Takahisa Zeze, Yutaka Ikejima and Daisuke Goto, the latest generation of Japanese directors, his latest work, “Rageaholic” and many other topics.
Translated from Japanese by Lukasz Mankowski
You started your career in pinku films and you have won many awards for your performances. How did that come about and how was your experience of acting in those films? Was it difficult acting in all those sex scenes?
I actually...
- 4/4/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
As I have mentioned many times before, and despite popular (but quite misinformed) opinion, the pinku film has always been much more that an effort to titillate through soft-porn, since a number of filmmakers saw the freedom the medium granted them as an opportunity for utter creative freedom. One of the directors whose work is a testament to the fact is Takahisa Zeze, who proves the fact once more in this particular film, that is an erotic comedy as much as a family drama. The film won the Silver Prize at the Pink Grand Prix ceremony in 1999.
Anarchy in [Ja] Panty is available from Pink Eiga By Using the code AMPFriend, you get a 25% price-off on all products of the website including subscription
The narrative is split in two arcs, which eventually intermingle, each one representing the two aforementioned categories. The first one revolves around three middle-aged friends, who definitely fit...
Anarchy in [Ja] Panty is available from Pink Eiga By Using the code AMPFriend, you get a 25% price-off on all products of the website including subscription
The narrative is split in two arcs, which eventually intermingle, each one representing the two aforementioned categories. The first one revolves around three middle-aged friends, who definitely fit...
- 3/15/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Masato Hara made “The First Emperor” on 8mm and 16mm films in 1973 and made a major impact on Japanese film industry. Even today he impresses numerous filmmakers with his creations. Unfortunately, the fire burned his house and filmography including the legendary film “The First Emperor”…. But, with the help of crowdfunding and Kyoto City, his team reprinted and remastered “The First Emperor”! Witness the resurrected remastered version and the film left unburned by the fire!
[Streaming Dates]
January 2021: 30th, 31st
March 2021: 13th, 14th
[Streaming Program Details]
For program details and payments, please check Masato Hara’s official English website.
https://sites.google.com/site/haramasatoxmovie/home
“The First Emperor” will be streaming with English Subtitles.
“The First Emperor” (Hatsukuni Shirasumera Mikoto)
In 1971, Hara Masato started shooting his 16mm film, “The First Emperor”, based on an old Japanese book about history and myths that is known as the “Kojiki”(‘Record of Ancient Matters’). He did not finish the film.
[Streaming Dates]
January 2021: 30th, 31st
March 2021: 13th, 14th
[Streaming Program Details]
For program details and payments, please check Masato Hara’s official English website.
https://sites.google.com/site/haramasatoxmovie/home
“The First Emperor” will be streaming with English Subtitles.
“The First Emperor” (Hatsukuni Shirasumera Mikoto)
In 1971, Hara Masato started shooting his 16mm film, “The First Emperor”, based on an old Japanese book about history and myths that is known as the “Kojiki”(‘Record of Ancient Matters’). He did not finish the film.
- 1/21/2021
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
The Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre’s unprecedented 9th annual Toronto Japanese Film Festival will be held online from Saturday, October 3 to Thursday, October 22 and features 22 films using the SHIFT72 festival platform. For the first time, Tjff is expanding its reach beyond Toronto to audiences across all of Canada, maintaining the festival’s sense of community while promoting friendship, understanding, and exchange between the Japanese and broader Canadian community. The festival has grown into one of the largest film events of its kind in the world and is recognized by the Japanese film industry as a vital conduit for bringing Japanese film to international audiences.
Tjff 2020 also presents major award winners for their Canadian premieres: Mitsuhito Fujii’s The Journalist which won the Japanese Academy Awards for Best Film, Best Actor (Tori Matsuzaka) and Best Actress (Eun-kyung Shim); Hirohiko Arai’s intense erotic odyssey It Feels So Good (Kinema Junpo Awards...
Tjff 2020 also presents major award winners for their Canadian premieres: Mitsuhito Fujii’s The Journalist which won the Japanese Academy Awards for Best Film, Best Actor (Tori Matsuzaka) and Best Actress (Eun-kyung Shim); Hirohiko Arai’s intense erotic odyssey It Feels So Good (Kinema Junpo Awards...
- 9/14/2020
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Yutaka Ikejima was born on March 30, 1948. He studied Literature at Waseda University. He first entered the entertainment business in the late 1970s as an actor with Shuji Terayama’s theatrical group Tenjō Sajiki. His film debut was in the 1981 Genji Nakamura pink film Semi Documentary: Housewife Prostitution Team aka Document Porno: Married Woman Prostitution Techniques. In contrast to his stage career, in his screen work, Ikejima has stayed in the erotic genres.Between 1981 and 1988 he appeared in over 500 softcore pink films, working for such directors as Hisayasu Satō, Yōjirō Takita and Ryūichi Hiroki. Ikejima appeared in Satō’s gay-themed “Temptation of the Mask” (1987), a film significant for joining three of the “Four Devils” or “Four Heavenly Kings of Pink” in one work. Though most-awarded and recognized as a director, Ikejima has continued acting to the present day.
He began his directorial career in 1988, at first working mainly in AVs (adult...
He began his directorial career in 1988, at first working mainly in AVs (adult...
- 5/12/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
translation by Lukasz Mankowski
Shinji Imaoka was born in Osaka in 1965. He attended Yokohama City University, but dropped out in 1990 in order to pursue a film career.He entered the film industry as an assistant director at pink film pioneer Satoru Kobayashi’s Shishi Productions.There he worked principally under Hisayasu Satō, and also with such directors as Takahisa Zeze and Mototsugu Watanabe.In December 1994 he worked as assistant director to the esteemed Nikkatsu Roman Porno director Tatsumi Kumashiro on his last film, Immoral: Indecent Relations Imaoka’s directorial debut film was Sex Party of the Beasts: Come Together. In 2000, the Tokyo Athénée Français gave Imaoka a career retrospective tribute which broke the institution’s record for attendance. Other notable titles include “Lunchbox” and “Underwater Love”. “Reiko and the Dolphin” is his latest movie
On the occasion of “Reiko and the Dolphin” screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival, we speak...
Shinji Imaoka was born in Osaka in 1965. He attended Yokohama City University, but dropped out in 1990 in order to pursue a film career.He entered the film industry as an assistant director at pink film pioneer Satoru Kobayashi’s Shishi Productions.There he worked principally under Hisayasu Satō, and also with such directors as Takahisa Zeze and Mototsugu Watanabe.In December 1994 he worked as assistant director to the esteemed Nikkatsu Roman Porno director Tatsumi Kumashiro on his last film, Immoral: Indecent Relations Imaoka’s directorial debut film was Sex Party of the Beasts: Come Together. In 2000, the Tokyo Athénée Français gave Imaoka a career retrospective tribute which broke the institution’s record for attendance. Other notable titles include “Lunchbox” and “Underwater Love”. “Reiko and the Dolphin” is his latest movie
On the occasion of “Reiko and the Dolphin” screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival, we speak...
- 3/23/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
From April 10 to April 25 2020 Japan Society will present its new series which follows the topic of sports within the landscape of Japanese cinema.
“Like cinema, sports have been integral to the development of modern Japan since the late 19th century when the country opened its borders to the West. Intersecting these two major cultural forces is the multifaceted and ubiquitous sports film, a fluid genre that offers fascinating insight into issues related to Japanese national identity, gender roles and the clash between tradition and modernity. Organized in anticipation of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games, this series celebrates the Japanese sports film in its myriad iterations—covering a wide range of athletic disciplines and filmmaking styles, from wartime Japan to the present—including classics, documentaries, anime and commercial crowd-pleasers.”
Screenings:
“Sumo Do, Sumo Don’t” by Masayuki Suo
“Sanshiro Sugata” by Akira Kurosawa
“I Will Buy You” by Masaki Kobayashi
“The Sword...
“Like cinema, sports have been integral to the development of modern Japan since the late 19th century when the country opened its borders to the West. Intersecting these two major cultural forces is the multifaceted and ubiquitous sports film, a fluid genre that offers fascinating insight into issues related to Japanese national identity, gender roles and the clash between tradition and modernity. Organized in anticipation of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games, this series celebrates the Japanese sports film in its myriad iterations—covering a wide range of athletic disciplines and filmmaking styles, from wartime Japan to the present—including classics, documentaries, anime and commercial crowd-pleasers.”
Screenings:
“Sumo Do, Sumo Don’t” by Masayuki Suo
“Sanshiro Sugata” by Akira Kurosawa
“I Will Buy You” by Masaki Kobayashi
“The Sword...
- 2/14/2020
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Takahisa Zeze's The Chrysanthemum and the Guillotine, which is receiving an exclusive global online premiere on Mubi, is showing from November 19 – December 18, 2019 in Mubi's Luminaries series.Above: Heaven's StoryOne of the carefully hidden programming delights of Venice '19 was a showcase of current Japanese films—industry-only thus not in the general schedule. Among the new releases screened there was (The Promised Land), by Takahisa Zeze—a name a friend remembered fondly from decades ago when Zeze's early pink eiga-masterpieces like when Zeze's early pink eiga-masterpieces like Waisetsu bōsō shūdan: Kemono, Kōkyū Soap Technique 4: Monzetsu higi, Honban Les: Hazukashii taii, or Sukebe tenkomori toured the Western festival circuit as the latest in avant-garde entertainment. As she had the necessary kind of festival badge, this friend was able to enter the screening. A little over two hours later, she exited with glowing eyes wondering: “Why on earth...
- 11/29/2019
- MUBI
The film about the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power-plant meltdown is in post.
Endeavor Content has picked up world rights, excluding Asia, to Japanese studio Kadokawa’s Fukushima 50 and will present the film to buyers at Afm.
Directed by Setsuro Wakamatsu and starring Koichi Sato and Ken Watanabe, the film tells the story of the courageous workers who remained on site to stabilise the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant during its meltdown following the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami.
Currently in post-production, the film is based on Ryusho Kadota’s book On The Brink: The Inside Story Of Fukushima Daiichi. Kadokawa will...
Endeavor Content has picked up world rights, excluding Asia, to Japanese studio Kadokawa’s Fukushima 50 and will present the film to buyers at Afm.
Directed by Setsuro Wakamatsu and starring Koichi Sato and Ken Watanabe, the film tells the story of the courageous workers who remained on site to stabilise the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant during its meltdown following the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami.
Currently in post-production, the film is based on Ryusho Kadota’s book On The Brink: The Inside Story Of Fukushima Daiichi. Kadokawa will...
- 11/6/2019
- by 89¦Liz Shackleton¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Kiyohiko Shibukawa started his career as a model under the name “Kee” but eventually changed it in 2006. Since 1998 he has worked with many directors like Takashi Miike (“Ichi the Killer”), Sion Sono (“Love & Peace”) and Toshiaki Toyoda. In this year’s Nippon Connection the actor is featured in five productions.
We sat down with the actor to talk about his career, the changes in the Japanese film industry and his work on Toyoda’s latest film “The Planetist”.
Since 1998, when you started acting, you have played in more than 120 titles in TV and cinema, with 15 of them only in 2018. Don’t you ever feel exhausted, and how difficult is jumping from one role to another?
Of course, keeping up this pace is kind of exhausting in a way. With regards to last year, the amount of productions happened through sheer coincidence because some of them were shot long before and...
We sat down with the actor to talk about his career, the changes in the Japanese film industry and his work on Toyoda’s latest film “The Planetist”.
Since 1998, when you started acting, you have played in more than 120 titles in TV and cinema, with 15 of them only in 2018. Don’t you ever feel exhausted, and how difficult is jumping from one role to another?
Of course, keeping up this pace is kind of exhausting in a way. With regards to last year, the amount of productions happened through sheer coincidence because some of them were shot long before and...
- 6/3/2019
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Ken Watanabe and Koichi Sato star in the film.
Japanese studio Kadokawa Corp is arriving in Cannes with a busy slate headed by action drama Fukushima 50, starring Ken Watanabe and Koichi Sato, and also including new titles from Takahisa Zeze, Koji Fukada and Michihito Fujii.
Directed by Setsuro Wakamatsu (The Unbroken), Fukushima 50 tells the story of the courageous group of workers who remained on site to stabilise the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant during its meltdown following the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami.
Based on Ryusho Kadota’s book On The Brink: The Inside Story of Fukushima Daiichi, the...
Japanese studio Kadokawa Corp is arriving in Cannes with a busy slate headed by action drama Fukushima 50, starring Ken Watanabe and Koichi Sato, and also including new titles from Takahisa Zeze, Koji Fukada and Michihito Fujii.
Directed by Setsuro Wakamatsu (The Unbroken), Fukushima 50 tells the story of the courageous group of workers who remained on site to stabilise the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant during its meltdown following the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami.
Based on Ryusho Kadota’s book On The Brink: The Inside Story of Fukushima Daiichi, the...
- 5/14/2019
- by Liz Shackleton
- ScreenDaily
Takeo Kikuchi joined the Film School of Tokyo after graduating from Meiji Univeristy. While there, he met Takahisa Zeze, and started working as assistant director for him. Since then, he worked on more films in that capacity, with directors like Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Yang Yong-hi, among many others. In 2015 he shot his first film, “Dear Deer” which was screened in festivals all over the world and won the Nippon Visions Jury Award in Frankfurt. His second film, “Hello, Goodbye” was completed in 2016.
We speak with him about his career, his many collaborations, his films, the Japanese movie industry, and man more topics.
“Hello, Goodbye” screened at Japan Film Fest
Can you tell us a bit about how you ended up working in the film industry?
After graduating from university, I went to The Film School Of Tokyo. There, I met Mr. Takahisa Zeze who invited me to work with him as an assistant director.
We speak with him about his career, his many collaborations, his films, the Japanese movie industry, and man more topics.
“Hello, Goodbye” screened at Japan Film Fest
Can you tell us a bit about how you ended up working in the film industry?
After graduating from university, I went to The Film School Of Tokyo. There, I met Mr. Takahisa Zeze who invited me to work with him as an assistant director.
- 5/9/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
From May 28 to June 2, 2019 the nineteenth edition of the Nippon Connection Film Festival will take place in Frankfurt am Main. As the biggest festival for Japanese cinema worldwide, it offers an exciting insight into the current state of the Japanese film scene with more than 100 short and feature length films from all genres. Numerous filmmakers and artists from Japan will be present to introduce their works and establish a lively exchange with the German audience. A diverse cultural program including workshops, lectures, and concerts gives visitors the chance to explore the multifaceted culture of Japan. The main venues are at the Künstlerhaus Mousonturm and the Theater Willy Praml in der Naxoshalle.
Still from “And Your Bird Can Sing
Film Highlights
At the Nippon Connection Film Festival, numerous outstanding productions from Japan will be screened, most of them having their German premieres. Shinsuke Sato is considered a specialist for successful manga adaptations.
Still from “And Your Bird Can Sing
Film Highlights
At the Nippon Connection Film Festival, numerous outstanding productions from Japan will be screened, most of them having their German premieres. Shinsuke Sato is considered a specialist for successful manga adaptations.
- 4/2/2019
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
“People Still Call It Love” Passion, Affection and Destruction in Japanese Cinema
UK – 2 February to 28 March 2019
Belfast – Bristol – Chester – Colchester – Derby – Dundee – Edinburgh – Exeter – Halifax – Inverness – Kendal – Leicester – Lewes – London – Manchester – Newcastle upon Tyne – Nottingham – Sheffield – Stirling
Love, in all its semblances and dimensions, is a state so universally experienced by humankind that it has provided a perpetual source of inspiration in the long history of global cinema. Japanese cinema is no different. Love and the associated feelings of passion, affection, and destruction, in equal measure have all been channelled into a pivotal driving force behind the rise of many Japanese filmmakers, crystallising in timeless works which form part of the nation’s artistic repertoire.
The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2019 features thoughtfully selected works, all focusing on this theme in one way or another. As the conventional binaries defining what it means to love continually give way to new understandings of this sweeping emotion,...
UK – 2 February to 28 March 2019
Belfast – Bristol – Chester – Colchester – Derby – Dundee – Edinburgh – Exeter – Halifax – Inverness – Kendal – Leicester – Lewes – London – Manchester – Newcastle upon Tyne – Nottingham – Sheffield – Stirling
Love, in all its semblances and dimensions, is a state so universally experienced by humankind that it has provided a perpetual source of inspiration in the long history of global cinema. Japanese cinema is no different. Love and the associated feelings of passion, affection, and destruction, in equal measure have all been channelled into a pivotal driving force behind the rise of many Japanese filmmakers, crystallising in timeless works which form part of the nation’s artistic repertoire.
The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2019 features thoughtfully selected works, all focusing on this theme in one way or another. As the conventional binaries defining what it means to love continually give way to new understandings of this sweeping emotion,...
- 12/21/2018
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
The second film from Takahisa Zeze for 2018, after “My Friend A” is a humongous production of 189 minutes, based on two actual “stories” and a rather unusual film for the Japanese veteran, who, in the latest years, seems to indulge in a diversity he was not able to explore during his youth. At times, I thought that his effort was similar to the one of another great director who started his career in pinku films and eventually shot a 3-hour political film, Koji Wakamatsu, whose “The Red Army” shares some similarities in style with the present film, although his approach was much more documentary-like.
The story uses the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake as its base, before it extends into two arcs, which eventually overlap.
The first one deals with women’s sumo, a sport which was initiated in the early 18th century and was popular in rural areas until the 1960’s. The...
The story uses the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake as its base, before it extends into two arcs, which eventually overlap.
The first one deals with women’s sumo, a sport which was initiated in the early 18th century and was popular in rural areas until the 1960’s. The...
- 12/12/2018
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Market will start using two new screening venues and remain in Sunshine City for at least the next two years.
Tiffcom organisers have announced plans to expand into two new screening venues in Ikebukuro from 2019 as the Tokyo district gears up to become “an international city of arts and culture”.
From next year, the market will start holding screenings at a new 12-screen, 2,500-seat complex, Grand Cinema Sunshine, expected to be Tokyo’s biggest cinema when it opens in July 2019, as well as the Hareza Ikebukuro complex, which will have a soft opening in October 2019.
Hareza Ikebukuro will comprise three interconnected buildings,...
Tiffcom organisers have announced plans to expand into two new screening venues in Ikebukuro from 2019 as the Tokyo district gears up to become “an international city of arts and culture”.
From next year, the market will start holding screenings at a new 12-screen, 2,500-seat complex, Grand Cinema Sunshine, expected to be Tokyo’s biggest cinema when it opens in July 2019, as well as the Hareza Ikebukuro complex, which will have a soft opening in October 2019.
Hareza Ikebukuro will comprise three interconnected buildings,...
- 10/24/2018
- by Liz Shackleton
- ScreenDaily
Romantic drama is directed by Akiko Oku, whose last film won the audience award at Tiff 2017.
Japan’s Free Stone Productions has sold romantic comedy Marriage Hunting Beauty to China’s Lemon Tree Media and CatchPlay for Taiwan.
Based on a popular web comic, the film is directed by Akiko Oku whose last film, Tremble All You Want, won the audience award at last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff).
Mei Kurokawa heads the cast of the film, playing a web designer in her 30s, who tries online dating to find a husband, but finds herself torn between an...
Japan’s Free Stone Productions has sold romantic comedy Marriage Hunting Beauty to China’s Lemon Tree Media and CatchPlay for Taiwan.
Based on a popular web comic, the film is directed by Akiko Oku whose last film, Tremble All You Want, won the audience award at last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff).
Mei Kurokawa heads the cast of the film, playing a web designer in her 30s, who tries online dating to find a husband, but finds herself torn between an...
- 10/23/2018
- by Liz Shackleton
- ScreenDaily
The fractured narrative technique has given us a number of great Japanese films during the years, with “Rage” and “Noise“, being the first that come to mind. Takahisa Zeze, who has long since refrained from his pinku past, presents a film that uses this narrative technique in a production that combines exploitation, thriller, and social commentary.
The script is based on the novel “Yuuzai” by Gaku Yakumaru and revolves around two men, who find themselves working together in a small factory. The first one is Junichi Masuda, an ex-journalist who has given up on his work after an incident with one of his articles and is also tormented by his actions as a school kid, involving the suicide of one of his classmates. The second is Hideto Suzuki, a man who tries to be alone as much as possible, and is also tormented by his actions as a school kid.
The script is based on the novel “Yuuzai” by Gaku Yakumaru and revolves around two men, who find themselves working together in a small factory. The first one is Junichi Masuda, an ex-journalist who has given up on his work after an incident with one of his articles and is also tormented by his actions as a school kid, involving the suicide of one of his classmates. The second is Hideto Suzuki, a man who tries to be alone as much as possible, and is also tormented by his actions as a school kid.
- 9/12/2018
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Veteran Japanese director Takahisa Zeze (“Raigyo” “A Gap In The Skin”) has completed production on “My Friend A”. The film is an adaptation of the novel by Gaku Yakumaru, this will be the first time the author’s work has been adapted into a feature-length film. The film stars a well-seasoned cast including, Toma Ikuta (“The Mole Song” “Grasshopper”) and Eita (“9 Souls” “The Foreign Duck…“).
The film has been released previously and is awaiting a domestic release. A trailer for the film has been released.
Synopsis
Masuda (Toma Ikuta) hoped to become a journalist, but he did not achieve his dream. Instead, he begins to work at a small factory. There, Masuda meets co-worker Suzuki (Eita). Suzuki doesn’t like to talk with anyone around him and he doesn’t talk about his past with anyone. Masuda suspects Suzuki might be the convicted killer responsible for a series of child murders 17 years ago.
The film has been released previously and is awaiting a domestic release. A trailer for the film has been released.
Synopsis
Masuda (Toma Ikuta) hoped to become a journalist, but he did not achieve his dream. Instead, he begins to work at a small factory. There, Masuda meets co-worker Suzuki (Eita). Suzuki doesn’t like to talk with anyone around him and he doesn’t talk about his past with anyone. Masuda suspects Suzuki might be the convicted killer responsible for a series of child murders 17 years ago.
- 8/4/2018
- by Adam Symchuk
- AsianMoviePulse
Exclusive: Japanese sales outfit scores deal on historical sumo drama.
Japan’s Free Stone Productions has sold historical drama The Chrysanthemum And The Guillotine, directed by Takahisa Zeze (Heaven’s Story), to China (Bright East Films).
Based on a little-known Japanese story around the time of the Great Kanto Earthquake, which destroyed Tokyo in 1923, The Chrysanthemum And The Guillotine explores a romance between a professional lady sumo wrestler and a young anarchist dreaming of a classless society.
The film won the $15,000 Bright East Films award at last year’s Asian Project Market at the Busan International Film Festival. Bright East Films subsequently decided to buy all rights for China.
“This is a great kickstart for Japanese films, to have this attention from the China market. It means if the content is strong enough, we can sell titles even when they are not yet completed,” said Miyuki Takamatsu, CEO at Free Stone Productions.
Now in post-production...
Japan’s Free Stone Productions has sold historical drama The Chrysanthemum And The Guillotine, directed by Takahisa Zeze (Heaven’s Story), to China (Bright East Films).
Based on a little-known Japanese story around the time of the Great Kanto Earthquake, which destroyed Tokyo in 1923, The Chrysanthemum And The Guillotine explores a romance between a professional lady sumo wrestler and a young anarchist dreaming of a classless society.
The film won the $15,000 Bright East Films award at last year’s Asian Project Market at the Busan International Film Festival. Bright East Films subsequently decided to buy all rights for China.
“This is a great kickstart for Japanese films, to have this attention from the China market. It means if the content is strong enough, we can sell titles even when they are not yet completed,” said Miyuki Takamatsu, CEO at Free Stone Productions.
Now in post-production...
- 3/14/2017
- by hjnoh2007@gmail.com (Jean Noh)
- ScreenDaily
The 29th ceremony took place on December, 28 at the New Otani Hotel, in Tokyo and the list of winners is:
Best Film: 64: Part 1 (Takahisa Zeze)
Best Director: Makoto Shinkai (Your Anme)
Best Actor: Koichi Sato (64: Part 1)
Best Actress: Rie Miyazawa (Her Love Boils Bathwater )
Best Supporting Actor: Satoshi Tsumabuki (Rage, Museum)
Best Supporting Actress: Aoi Miyazaki (Rage, If Cats Disappeared from the World)
Best International Film: Spotlight (Tom McCarthy)
New Face Award: Kasumi Arimura (Nanimono, Natsumi’s Firefly)
Yujiro Ishihara Award: Dangerous Cops: Final 5 Days (Toru Murakawa)
Toru Murakawa Kasumi Arimura Rie Miyazawa...
Best Film: 64: Part 1 (Takahisa Zeze)
Best Director: Makoto Shinkai (Your Anme)
Best Actor: Koichi Sato (64: Part 1)
Best Actress: Rie Miyazawa (Her Love Boils Bathwater )
Best Supporting Actor: Satoshi Tsumabuki (Rage, Museum)
Best Supporting Actress: Aoi Miyazaki (Rage, If Cats Disappeared from the World)
Best International Film: Spotlight (Tom McCarthy)
New Face Award: Kasumi Arimura (Nanimono, Natsumi’s Firefly)
Yujiro Ishihara Award: Dangerous Cops: Final 5 Days (Toru Murakawa)
Toru Murakawa Kasumi Arimura Rie Miyazawa...
- 1/8/2017
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Japan Cuts 2015 opens in New York today and runs through July 19. We've got the trailer and we're collecting review of the new restorations of Eiichi Yamamoto's Belladonna of Sadness (1973) and Nagisa Oshima’s Cruel Story of Youth (1961); Shingo Wakagi's Asleep and Masaharu Take's 100 Yen Love, both starring Sakura Ando; Juichiro Yamasaki's Sanchu Uprising: Voices at Dawn; Takahisa Zeze's Strayer's Chronicle; Yuya Ishii's The Vancouver Asahi; two collections of experimental films—and more. » - David Hudson...
- 7/9/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
Japan Cuts 2015 opens in New York today and runs through July 19. We've got the trailer and we're collecting review of the new restorations of Eiichi Yamamoto's Belladonna of Sadness (1973) and Nagisa Oshima’s Cruel Story of Youth (1961); Shingo Wakagi's Asleep and Masaharu Take's 100 Yen Love, both starring Sakura Ando; Juichiro Yamasaki's Sanchu Uprising: Voices at Dawn; Takahisa Zeze's Strayer's Chronicle; Yuya Ishii's The Vancouver Asahi; two collections of experimental films—and more. » - David Hudson...
- 7/9/2015
- Keyframe
Montreal’s genre film festival to showcase 135 features and almost 300 shorts across its three-week run from July 14-Aug 4.Scroll down for line-up
Fantasia International Film Festival has unveiled its full line-up for its upcoming 19th edition which kicks off next Tuesday [July 14].
Over its three-week run, the Montreal-based genre film festival will showcase 135 features, including 22 world, 13 international premieres and 21 North American premieres, and almost 300 short films.
Shinji Higuchi’s Attack on Titan will receive its Canadian premiere as the closing film of this year’s edition on Aug 4. The live-action film is based on Hajime Isyama’s steampunk fantasy war opera manga series.
Additional highlights of the final wave of titles include the world premieres of Malik Bader’s thriller Cash Only and Ken Ochiai’s Ninja the Monster, as well as the Canadian premiere of Jonathan Milott & Cary Murnion’s horror comedy Cooties starring Elijah Wood.
A trio of Sion Sono films will also be shown at this...
Fantasia International Film Festival has unveiled its full line-up for its upcoming 19th edition which kicks off next Tuesday [July 14].
Over its three-week run, the Montreal-based genre film festival will showcase 135 features, including 22 world, 13 international premieres and 21 North American premieres, and almost 300 short films.
Shinji Higuchi’s Attack on Titan will receive its Canadian premiere as the closing film of this year’s edition on Aug 4. The live-action film is based on Hajime Isyama’s steampunk fantasy war opera manga series.
Additional highlights of the final wave of titles include the world premieres of Malik Bader’s thriller Cash Only and Ken Ochiai’s Ninja the Monster, as well as the Canadian premiere of Jonathan Milott & Cary Murnion’s horror comedy Cooties starring Elijah Wood.
A trio of Sion Sono films will also be shown at this...
- 7/7/2015
- by ian.sandwell@screendaily.com (Ian Sandwell)
- ScreenDaily
The 19th Annual Fantasia Film Festival is only a week away, beginning July 14 and running through August 4. And as promised for today, they’ve revealed their full line-up of films screening at 2015’s festival in Montreal.
This year’s line-up boasts 22 World Premieres, 13 International Premieres, and 21 North American Premieres. Both Marvel’s Ant-Man and the animated Miss Hokusai were previously announced, but now they’ve added the much anticipated Attack on Titan movie as their closing night film. Other highlights include the Sundance darlings Cooties, starring Elijah Wood and Rainn Wilson, Cop Car, starring Kevin Bacon and directed by the upcoming Spider-man director Jon Watts, and a trio of films from horror auteur Sion Sono.
See the full line-up announcement of films below via Fantasia’s Facebook page, and be sure to check out their website at fantasiafestival.com for additional information.
****
Fantasia 2015:
36 Countries, 135 Features, and Nearly 300 Short Films
- Including 22 World Premieres,...
This year’s line-up boasts 22 World Premieres, 13 International Premieres, and 21 North American Premieres. Both Marvel’s Ant-Man and the animated Miss Hokusai were previously announced, but now they’ve added the much anticipated Attack on Titan movie as their closing night film. Other highlights include the Sundance darlings Cooties, starring Elijah Wood and Rainn Wilson, Cop Car, starring Kevin Bacon and directed by the upcoming Spider-man director Jon Watts, and a trio of films from horror auteur Sion Sono.
See the full line-up announcement of films below via Fantasia’s Facebook page, and be sure to check out their website at fantasiafestival.com for additional information.
****
Fantasia 2015:
36 Countries, 135 Features, and Nearly 300 Short Films
- Including 22 World Premieres,...
- 7/7/2015
- by Brian Welk
- SoundOnSight
Exclusive: Japan’s Nippon TV has pre-sold Heaven’s Story director Takahisa Zeze’s sci-fi thriller Strayer’s Chronicle to Nk Contents for South Korea.
Starring Masaki Okada (Life Back Then) and Shota Sometani (Himizu), the film features the struggles of two sets of genetically manipulated children who grow up with extraordinary powers that could either save or destroy the world.
Warner Brothers Japan has the film set for theatrical release locally in June 27.
Nippon TV has also picked up romantic comedy Heroine Shikkaku (aka No Longer Heroine), based on the popular manga series by Momoko Koda.
Starring Mirei Kiritani (Ace Attorney), Kenta Yamazaki (L・Dk) and Kentaro Sakaguchi (Umimachi Diaries), the high school lesbian love triangle film is directed by Tsutomu Hanabusa (Handsome Suit, Sadako 3D).
The company also has Initiation Love, directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi (Memories of Tomorrow), starring Shota Matsuda (Boys Over Flowers) and Atsuko Maeda (Tamako in Moratorium).
The film, in post-production...
Starring Masaki Okada (Life Back Then) and Shota Sometani (Himizu), the film features the struggles of two sets of genetically manipulated children who grow up with extraordinary powers that could either save or destroy the world.
Warner Brothers Japan has the film set for theatrical release locally in June 27.
Nippon TV has also picked up romantic comedy Heroine Shikkaku (aka No Longer Heroine), based on the popular manga series by Momoko Koda.
Starring Mirei Kiritani (Ace Attorney), Kenta Yamazaki (L・Dk) and Kentaro Sakaguchi (Umimachi Diaries), the high school lesbian love triangle film is directed by Tsutomu Hanabusa (Handsome Suit, Sadako 3D).
The company also has Initiation Love, directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi (Memories of Tomorrow), starring Shota Matsuda (Boys Over Flowers) and Atsuko Maeda (Tamako in Moratorium).
The film, in post-production...
- 3/24/2015
- by hjnoh2007@gmail.com (Jean Noh)
- ScreenDaily
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