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July 16, 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
Mar 13, 2014
Side Effects
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 6, 2014
'Gloria'
All the lonely people, where do they all come from?" Lennon and McCartney posed the question, and "Gloria" provides an answer. Gloria, played by Paulina Garcia, is a 50-something divorcee whose children have grown up and moved out; she lives by herself in Santiago, Chile, with the occasional company...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 6, 2014
'Indignados'
Tony Gatlif's movies have always been about music, rhythm, movement and the rush of travel as much as any particular story, and his latest, "Indignados," takes that to an extreme. Inspired by the best-selling screed of former French resistance fighter and concentration-camp survivor Stephane Hessel "Indignez-vous!...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 27, 2014
The truth, like porn, can be seen from many angles
"Lovelace" is a biopic on the 1970s porn superstar Linda Lovelace (real name: Linda Boreman), who rose to fame in "Deep Throat," the low-budget hardcore sex comedy that went on to gross something like $600 million. Its story is based almost entirely on "Ordeal," Boreman's 1980 account of her career...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 27, 2014
'Lovelace'
"Lovelace" is a film that comes bifurcated, with a big red line down the middle separating its two acts into "The Dream" and "The Bummer."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 27, 2014
Cockfighter
Director: Monte Hellman
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Feb 27, 2014
'Walking Dead' explores a world of gore and order
When it comes to crack TV, AMC's massively addictive series "The Walking Dead" reigns supreme. The shorthand description would be "zombie-apocalypse survival thriller," and that's true enough, but it goes deeper too. If you take away law, religion and society — what's left? Can such things as compassion...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2014
'Nebraska'
Nebraska" is a film about very little indeed. An old man on the cusp of senility, Woody Grant, gets a piece of junk mail telling him that he's the lucky sweepstakes winner of $1 million. His wife, his two sons, his friends all tell him that it's just a scam, but he's intent on traveling from his Montana...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2014
'Kick-Ass 2'
They say that if you put 100 monkeys in a room full of typewriters for long enough, you'd eventually get some Shakespeare. But put 100 fanboys in the same room for an eternity and the results would probably still look a whole lot like "Kick-Ass 2." Jailbait Lolita in Catwoman fetish outfit? Check. High...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2014
'End of Watch'
Director: David Ayer
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 13, 2014
'Jeune & Jolie'
François Ozon's "Jeune & Jolie" ("Young & Beautiful") is a mystery — not in the sense of whodunit, but why.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 13, 2014
'The Poker House'
Lori Petty's career pretty much defines the term "flash in the pan"; she went from rising young star in 1991's "Point Break" to bona fide box-office draw in 1992's "A League of Their Own" to game over in the unloved "Tank Girl" (1995). Petty has been active since then in a low-profile sort of way, but...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 13, 2014
'Top of the Lake'
Director: Jane Campion, Garth Davis
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Feb 8, 2014
Jonah Hill: 'I like to understand people's lives'
I'm excited that 'Wolf' is a film that is as aggressive and unapologetic as it is, and is being received as well as it is.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 6, 2014
'Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit'
...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 6, 2014
'Killers'
Japanese-Indonesian co-production "Killers" starts off all too predictably for a torture-porn film. We get about a minute's worth of a nude young woman shagging an unseen male, then once she's been sufficiently eroticized, we see her tied to a chair, suffocating inside a plastic bag as a masked sadist...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 6, 2014
'Compliance'
Director: Craig Zobel
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 30, 2014
'The Wolf of Wall Street'
I'm working on a screenplay which, as they say in the industry, is "inspired by true events". It's about an actor — let's call him Leo — who at a very early stage in his career co-stars with his idol — let's call him Bobby — who's the most intense and driven actor of his generation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 30, 2014
'The East'
"The East" is your basic deep undercover cop thriller, but with a provocatively contemporary setup: In the lead role is Brit Marling, whose character isn't actually a cop, but a private-sector spy named Sarah who's been sent to infiltrate the mysterious "eco-terrorist" anarchist cell known as The East....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 30, 2014
'We Are Legion'
Director: Brian Knappenberger
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.
Bloodied Trump survives assassination attempt at political rally
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is surrounded and evacuated by Secret Service agents at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. Trump was rushed off stage at the rally after shots rang out.
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.
Yen’s woes seem too big for even a BOJ hike this month to solve
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
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.
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.
How to tweak your diet when temperatures spike
Most people think of hydration as a strictly liquid-based concept, but eating foods with high water content is an essential part of making it through a Japanese summer unscathed.

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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