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November 22, 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
May 16, 2008
'The Bucket List'
One of the fuzzier concepts floating around the cloud of pop psychology that has descended upon America in the last decade —like some wizard's curse of stupefaction — is that of "closure." A term lifted from Gestalt psychology by way of grief counseling, its popular meaning has become merely the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 15, 2008
Julie madly, deeply
It's always interesting to meet someone you've seen on the screen so many times. You always wonder: Are they like their movie image? I know, I know — actors are just playing a role, that's not really them up on the screen.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 9, 2008
'Charlie Wilson's War'
It's hard to imagine a political film, let alone one that deals with events that lead directly to 9/11, as being all that funny. "Charlie Wilson's War" pulls it off though, and manages to make covertly arming the Afghani mujahedeen seem like a zany lark. Until, of course, the last reel.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 2, 2008
'10,000 B.C.'
The 1966 film "One Million Years B.C." was one of those classic naff B-movies from Hammer Films in the '60s. Rerun endlessly on both Saturday afternoon and late-night TV over the next couple of decades, the film had something for both demographics: excellent dinosaur animation by Ray Harryhausen (unsurpassed...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 25, 2008
'There Will Be Blood'
It's 1898, somewhere in Southern California. A grit-encrusted silver miner works in his pit, scrabbling for a find. In wordless scenes, in the middle of nowhere — set to a queasy sweep of strings — we see this man fight with nature to get at her resources, sinews bulging as he hacks away with a pick,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 18, 2008
'Paranoid Park'/'You, the Living'
Spree killer, rock star, average teenage skater. Director Gus Van Sant sees all three in much the same light: emotionless, affectless, blank. Numb characters for a numb generation? Or is Van Sant's penchant for an aesthetic — an aloof, arty minimalism — blinding him to things like personality, expression,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 11, 2008
'Michael Clayton'/'Lions for Lambs'
America's rightwing bloviators like to go on about "liberal Hollywood." They have half a point, but they neglect to notice that for every "Erin Brockovich" or "JFK," there's a "300" or "Top Gun." It's just that the rightwing viewpoint tends to be subsumed as flag-waving patriotism or military superiority...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 4, 2008
'Curse of the Golden Flower'
Having established himself in the 1990s as one of China's leading directors, Zhang Yimou spent the past decade making two types of film: small, contemporary and supremely sentimental ones such as "The Road Home" and "Happy Times," or big, lavish, action-packed period-epics like "Hero" and "House of Flying...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 28, 2008
'Things We Lost in the Fire'
How easily we are numbed by routine. We wake up each morning expecting the world to be much like it always is, barely aware that one day we will awake to find that someone so close, so needed, in our lives is no longer there.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 21, 2008
'My Blueberry Nights'
What in the world has happened to Wong Kar-wai? The freshest, most effortlessly cool man in cinema since the mid-1990s, Wong seems to be floundering at the moment. For a director whose style once seemed all about being free, off-the-cuff, jammed out, and playful, his most recent flicks show every sign...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 14, 2008
'No Country for Old Men'
Joel and Ethan Coen have proven themselves skilled at three types of films over the years: thrillers ("Fargo"), comedies ("The Big Lebowski"), and just plain weird ("Barber"). Often the lines between the three are blurred: "The Big Lebowski" has a noirish detective story holding together the jokes, while...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 7, 2008
'Jumper'
"Jumper" is one of those films that feels like it was a marketing strategy before it was a script. Or maybe it was one of those films where they had a cool new special effect and just needed to throw together something resembling a story to showcase it in. Or maybe it was both: create one shot of star...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 29, 2008
'Breach'
It's a joy to see an actor who once seemed nothing more than a bimbo, a pretty face, mature into a real actor of far greater range.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 22, 2008
'Elizabeth: The Golden Age'
Our challenge this week is thus: Is it possible for a director to make a historical film and not have it wind up either: A) totally boring like "The Sun," Aleksandr Sokurov's film about Emperor Hirohito, or B) completely over-the-top and ludicrous like "300"?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 15, 2008
'Fast Food Nation'
Once upon a time, the spread of freedom and democracy was measured in the spread of hamburger franchises. Beaming network correspondents would report from places like Moscow or Beijing on how formerly gray and monolithic communist societies had opened their doors to the Golden Arches. This, truly, was...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 8, 2008
'The Kite Runner'
Horror movies, especially those of the J-Horror kind, often try to scare us with vengeful ghosts. The real ghosts in our lives, though, aren't those who crawl out of TV screens but the ones who haunt our memories. These ghosts exist as regrets, and trying to exorcise them can be a long and painful process....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 1, 2008
'Lust, Caution'
All movies require some suspension of disbelief, but some need a lot more than others. I had an easier time swallowing "Beowulf" than director Ang Lee's latest, "Lust, Caution." "Beowulf" trades in fantasy so you make the leap; "Lust, Caution" seeks to explore real human emotions and rings hopelessly...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 25, 2008
'Bee Movie'
"Bee Movie," the latest animated feature from DreamWorks Animation, is about as funny as its title. B-movie, get it? It's a rather weak pun, more so considering there already was an ironically titled "B-Movie" made in 2004.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 18, 2008
'Earth'
The nature documentary has long been a staple of the small screen, whether its NHK or the BBC, but in recent years more and more have been showing up in the cinemas.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 11, 2008
'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford'
The story of Western outlaw Jesse James gets rewritten for every generation — indeed it was being rewritten even while he lived. As the former confederate guerrilla-turned-bandit embarked on a spree of bank and train robberies in the 1870s, gunning down unarmed bystanders repeatedly, James was also...
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Putin says
Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an airstrike in Dnipro on Thursday.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
'Tokyo Swindlers': Get deep into the minds of real estate con artists
In Ko Shinjo's "Tokyo Swindlers," a group of con artists manipulates real estate giants into falsified deals within the highly competitive, quick market.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.

Podcast

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

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

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