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July 27, 2024
 

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Giovanni Fazio

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Giovanni Fazio
Giovanni Fazio has been The Japan Times' resident film crank since 1993. When not at the movies, he is busy recording and playing live with his band Makyo and running the independent electronica label Dakini Records.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 5, 2014
'Pompeii'
Perhaps it's a mistake to expect anything more from Paul W.S. Anderson — the director of the never-ending "Resident Evil" series and generic fare such as "Alien vs. Predator" — but I was hoping for something more than a shameless rip-off of "Gladiator" with a volcanic eruption tacked onto...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 5, 2014
'Filth'
Director: Jon S. Baird
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 28, 2014
'Inside Llewyn Davis'
The Coen Brothers are exceptional among American filmmakers for having had a long and prosperous career without ever significantly watering down or altering their sensibility along the way. You could draw a line from their indie debut "Blood Simple" through to Oscar-winners "Fargo" and "No Country For...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 28, 2014
'X-Men: Days of Future Past'
The new “X-Men” plays like “The Terminator” crossed with “American Hustle” via “12 Monkeys.” Given that the series has spawned six films over 14 years, non-fans may need to do some homework to catch up before viewing.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 28, 2014
The Wolf of Wall Street
Director: Martin Scorsese
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 22, 2014
'Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom'
The Great Man theory of history has long been a controversial one: is history shaped by exceptional men who enact change through sheer force of will, or is it the result of larger forces, like class, economics and technological progress?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 22, 2014
'Last Vegas'
"Last Vegas" is about as clever as the pun of its title. It's a geriatric riff on "The Hangover" that features four Oscar-winning actors playing to type. Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline play old neighborhood buddies from New York City who get together for a stag party...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 22, 2014
'The Killing of a Chinese Bookie'
Director: John Cassavetes Language: English
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 15, 2014
'Disconnect'
...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 15, 2014
'Post Tenebras Lux'
If you wanted to make a parody of the modern art film, you'd have a hard time making it more ridiculous than Carlos Reygadas' glacially paced, obtuse, festival-focused film "Post Tenebras Lux," which somehow won him Best Director at Cannes in 2012.
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
May 15, 2014
'Only God Forgives'
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 8, 2014
'My Little Princess (Violetta)'
...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 8, 2014
'We Are What We Are'
The set design and cinematography are certainly more artfully composed than in your average knockoff, and director Jim Mickle has assembled a potent cast, including Hal Hartley regular Bill Sage and some bright new talent in the form of Ambyr Childers from "The Master" and Julia Garner from "Martha Marcy...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 8, 2014
'Seven Psychopaths'
Director: Martin McDonagh
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 1, 2014
'Withnail & I'
Kichijoji's storied Baus Theater will be closing its doors on June 10, but it is going out with a bang, reviving a bunch of its most popular hits from the past three decades, including "El Topo," "Sid & Nancy," "Picnic" and "Dark Star." The closing spot goes to "Withnail & I," the cult British...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 1, 2014
'A2-B-C'
Too much of the conversation on the Fukushima No.1 nuclear accident is driven by ideologues — sensationalist bloggers predicting the extermination of mankind on the one hand and, on the other, nuclear industry shills insisting plutonium inhalation is just like eating bananas — when what is really...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 1, 2014
'The Piano (Piano Lesson)'
Director: Jane Campion
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 24, 2014
'The Day of the Siege: September Eleven 1683'
Putting "September Eleven" in the title of your film pretty much assures that viewers are going to be thinking of one thing. Yet director Renzo Martinelli's historical epic is not about the al-Qaida terror attacks of 2001, but the siege of Vienna in 1683, where the Holy Roman Empire and its catholic...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 24, 2014
'Dark Blood'
River Phoenix could be called the Heath Ledger of his generation: young, blonde, handsome, intense; both rose to fame as straight actors in gay roles (Phoenix in "My Own Private Idaho," Ledger in "Brokeback Mountain") and both died from accidental overdoses, just as their careers were taking off.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 24, 2014
'Gravity (Zero Gravity)'
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Japan's population continues to fall even as foreign resident count rises
The number of residents in Tokyo as of Jan. 1 rose by 0.03% from a year before, data shows, marking a year-on-year increase for the first time in three years, while the country's other 46 prefectures saw their populations continue to decline.
Ahead of the Olympics, Japan is still talking about the gymnast who won't be there
Japan's Shoko Miyata withdrew from the gymnastics team herself over her drinking and smoking, although it had already appeared as though the association was prepared to send her home from the team’s training camp in Monaco.
Japan’s minimum wage set for record ¥50 hike in major boost
Demonstrators rally to demand a big hike in minimum wages in Tokyo last week.
One dead, three missing as heavy rain batters Tohoku
Camera footage shows the Mogami River bursting its banks in Tozawa, Yamagata Prefecture, on Friday morning.
Brazil issues apology for persecuting Japan immigrants during WWII
Enea Almeida (right), chair of the Brazilian amnesty commission, shakes hands with the representative for Japanese immigrants on Thursday in Brasilia.
When did summer in Japan stop being fun?
Summer in Japan is now consistently brutal enough to drive you indoors and keep you there until autumn.
Japan’s minimum wage set for record ¥50 hike in major boost
Demonstrators rally to demand a big hike in minimum wages in Tokyo last week.
Japan loses top spot on strongest passport list to Singapore
Japan had the strongest passport for six years running from 2018, before being dethroned by Singapore on the 2024 list.
Why Japan's mysterious stash of classified funds escapes scrutiny
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (right) during a meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Japan eyes gold — and the future — as Olympic men's soccer campaign begins
Japan midfielder Yu Hirakawa controls the ball during a match against the United States in Kansas City, Kansas, on June 11.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals
By Alex K.T. Martin

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