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July 17, 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
Apr 9, 2010
'Alice in Wonderland'
One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small, but the ones that Tim Burton gives you don't do anything at all. Go see "Alice."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 2, 2010
'District 9'
In the immortal words of fictional rock stars Spinal Tap, it's such a fine line between stupid and clever. Further proof of this dictum comes this month from sci-fi flick "District 9," a South-African production featuring the talents of New Zealand's WETA digital effects studio and produced by Peter...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 12, 2010
'Bruno'
After the success of "Borat," people wondered what comedian Sacha Baron Cohen could do next. His comedy derived from launching his over-the-top Kazakh character into situations where people weren't in on the joke, yet a blockbuster hit obviously makes it harder to find willing dupes.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 12, 2010
Klaus Schulze
When people talk about the godfathers of techno and ambient music, the names Brian Eno and Kraftwerk come up frequently, but you could also make a strong case for German space-music pioneer Klaus Schulze. A musician with impeccable krautrock credentials, Schulze played drums for Tangerine Dream and Ash...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 5, 2010
'The Hurt Locker'
There's a moment near the end of "The Hurt Locker," Kathryn Bigelow's masterful look at life and death on Baghdad's mean streets, where one American sergeant — a cool, tough professional on mission after mission — finally breaks down and loses it after yet another close brush with death....
CULTURE / Film
Feb 19, 2010
An ace in arcane animation
Stop-motion animation is an arcane art with an ever- diminishing number of practitioners, but director Henry Selick has taken it to an insane level of finesse and sophistication. Selick worked his way up the ranks, doing storyboards and character animation at Disney before moving into the director's...
CULTURE / Film
Feb 19, 2010
'Coraline'
One of the things everyone seems to enjoy about "Avatar" — both the people who love the film, and those who are lukewarm about it — is that sense of really being able to sink into that glistening, glowing world of Pandora. James Cameron's film is perhaps the first to so exploit 3-D's potential...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 12, 2010
'Broken Embraces'
Feminists like to gripe about the "male gaze," the way in which male-created art tends to objectify women, and y'know, every time I see some leering Michael Bay shot of Megan Fox's butt, I'll admit they have a point. But, on the other hand, where would cinema be without films like "In The Mood For Love,"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 5, 2010
'Surveillance'/'Paranormal Activity'
You've got to hand it to Jennifer Chambers Lynch: The daughter of cinematic visionary David Lynch is nothing if not persistent.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 29, 2010
'The Lovely Bones'
Director Peter Jackson's latest, "The Lovely Bones," has been out in the United States for a while now, and the critics have been pretty merciless. It relies too much on special effects, it lacks key elements of the novel it's based on (Alice Sebold's best seller), some of the performances fail to connect...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 22, 2010
'Surrogates'/'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus'
"Surrogates," the new Bruce Willis sci-fi flick directed by Jonathan Rostow, sketches out a brave new world where the plasticky digital-airbrush aesthetic of Photoshop and Ayumi Hamasaki album covers has triumphed over the imperfections of the meat body; humans lie in "Stim-chairs" all day plugged into...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 15, 2010
'Blue Gold: World Water Wars'/'A Perfect Getaway'
In 1855, the Suquamish Chief Seattle was asked to sell his land to the United States government. The chief was puzzled by the request: "The president in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? The land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 8, 2010
' Where the Wild Things Are'
My parents bought me plenty of books as a child, and thinking back on it now, a lot of them — "Gerald McBoing Boing," "Harold and the Purple Crayon" or "A Wrinkle In Time" — were pretty strange. (That might explain a few things.) But one book I never got was Maurice Sendak's "Where The Wild...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 25, 2009
' The Young Victoria'
"The Young Victoria" may be about a queen who lived some two centuries ago, but the film displays a very modern sense of schadenfreude. Whether it's Britney or Michael, Tiger or Amy, the only thing we love more than ogling the celebrity lifestyle is evidence that they are more messed-up and dysfunctional...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 18, 2009
'Public Enemies'
Director Michael Mann's films are often about cops or criminals, and it doesn't really matter which, because in Mann's world, they're just flip sides of the same coin: hardboiled, driven, type-A personalities like James Caan in "Thief" (1981), Tom Cruise in "Collateral" (2004), or both Al Pacino and...
JAPAN / Media
Dec 13, 2009
Johnny is hottest of the lot
Movie press conferences in Japan are often pretty inane affairs, with vague questions about on-set "happenings" and zany ones along the lines of, "If you had superpowers like your character, what would you use them for?" Uh, world peace maybe?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 11, 2009
In praise of films that refuse to follow formulas
After jostling through a metal detector, having my bag searched and my mobile confiscated by stern-faced blue meanies, I slump in my cinema seat, enduring head-exploding levels of volume from the coming attractions, and unwanted infrared scrutiny from guards patrolling for video-heads looking for their...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 11, 2009
'Capitalism: A Love Story'
While watching "The Young Victoria" the other day, a film about England's 19th century queen, the thought struck me: Perhaps these odes to feudal aristocracies — films like "Marie Antoinette" or "The Duchess" — are so popular because they seem so familiar; just replace the lords and ladies...
CULTURE / Film
Dec 4, 2009
Delivering a touch of Miyazaki, shot of 'Oz'
Bob Petersen, like so many of Pixar's talents, comes across like everyone's favorite uncle.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 4, 2009
'Up'
Carl Fredricksen, the 70-something protagonist of Pixar's "Up," is a squat, short-tempered geezer, a virtual knot of rage on legs.
Who needs AI when you have Hatsune Miku?
Over the first six months of 2024, a handful of songs using Vocaloid singer Hatsune Miku’s voice have enjoyed widespread attention, underlining a global interest in the character and the technology she represents.
Yen’s woes seem too big for even a BOJ hike this month to solve
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
China’s economic growth comes in worse than expected
Pedestrians in the Wangfujing shopping area in Beijing on July 11, 2024. China's economic growth in the second quarter was lower than forecast, adding pressure on Chinese leaders to lift confidence at the Chinese Communist Party's third plenum this week.
Kansai airports to increase takeoff and landing slots ahead of Osaka Expo
Kansai International Airport in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture. The upper limit on the number of takeoff and landing slots at the airport as well as Kobe Airport in Hyogo Prefecture will be raised in spring next year ahead of the 2025 World Exposition in Osaka.
Shooter came within inches of killing Trump, but left few clues as to why
An aerial view shows the stage where Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump had been standing during an assassination attempt the day before, and the roof of a nearby building where a gunman was shot dead by law enforcement, in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
After Trump shooting, U.S. presidential race might take a violent turn
United States Secret Service Counter Snipers stand guard on a rooftop during a campaign rally for U.S. President Donald Trump in Avoca, Pennsylvania, in 2020.
No AC this summer? No problem (for me).
Think air conditioning is a requirement for a Tokyo summer? Think again.
She’s paying ¥1 million to help behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics
Mai Tarumi, who previously volunteered at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has a travel budget of ¥1 million for her trip to volunteer at the Paris Games.

Podcast

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.
Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Longform

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
By Tomoko Otake

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Exploring Japanese culturevia Tohoku’s festivals
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