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November 26, 2024
 

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Kaori Shoji
Kaori Shoji writes about movies and movie-makers for the Film Page, plus takes a turn at the Bilingual Column. Biggest mistake of her career: taking the very dignified Nagisa Oshima to McDonald's for an iced coffee.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 19, 2015
What's worth getting excited about in 2015?
A general sentiment of self-restraint, bukkadaka (物価高, the high cost of living) and enyasu (円安, the weak yen) culminated in an Oshōgatsuyasumi (お正月休み, New Year's holiday) where more people stayed put and fewer traveled to exotic overseas destinations.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 15, 2015
Taken 3
Luc Besson and his protege, Olivier Megaton, have probably burned more fossil fuel and blown up more vehicles between them than a post-bankruptcy Detroit. In an age when many filmmakers are trying to go green, you'd think there would be a quota on car chases and vehicle explosions in every flick, but...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 14, 2015
Frederick Wiseman in communion with an art musuem
One of the most distinctive and unique documentarians of our time, Frederick Wiseman, 85, is famed for two things: an utter disdain of explanatory narration and an exhaustive fascination with his subjects. Since 1967 — when he produced and directed "Titicut Follies," a documentary about a Massachusetts...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 14, 2015
The Judge: 'works better if you're a well-to-do, over-40 male'
There is a point in a woman's life — specifically, mine — when surprises in movies and in dates are just not all that welcome anymore. Which is why "The Judge" is a vehicle to like — very, very much. Robert Downey Jr. faces off with Robert Duvall in a patriarchal, angst-ridden mystery thriller...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 14, 2015
The November Man: 'Pierce Brosnan's James Bond sheen is fading'
In case you haven't noticed, government agents are getting older: Liam Neeson in the "Taken" series is about to throw in the towel and even Matt Damon (nee Jason Bourne) is moving to another studio to freshen up his image. Now, Pierce Brosnan — whose James Bond sheen is fading — stars in "The November...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 14, 2015
The Love Punch
Director: Joel Hopkins Language: English
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 7, 2015
Passion and prejudice in 1930s Ireland
"Jimmy's Hall" is a glimpse into Ireland in 1932 when the country was in a relative lull between wars, turmoil and strife. Director Ken Loach has consistently worked to bring the lives of the United Kingdom's working class to cinema screens. "Jimmy's Hall" is his second foray into Ireland following "The...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 7, 2015
Trash: 'inside Rio de Janeiro's rotten core'
'Trash" takes on greed and garbage — two issues that are linked to crucial global problems of climate change and poverty. These issues are really all part of one big family of troubles, but if one of these factors can be destroyed, chances are it might not be so hard to stomp out the others.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 7, 2015
Scandal: Season 2
Language: English
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 1, 2015
Samba: 'chemistry between an immigrant and his caseworker'
In "Samba" the French writer-director duo of Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano try to rekindle the magic and phenomenal box-office success of their 2011 film "The Intouchables," with the same leading man burdened by the same kind of problems against the same backdrop of a Paris unkind to African immigrants....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 1, 2015
White Collar
Language: English
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 24, 2014
Our critics in the crossfire
The Japan Times' three film writers got together before Christmas to discuss their top picks of movies released this year. Unusually, this year both Giovanni Fazio and Kaori Shoji agreed on their No. 1, choosing "The Broken Circle Breakdown." Mark Schilling picked Mipo Oh's "Soko Nomi Nite Hikari Kagayaku"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 24, 2014
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (Japan title: TinTin Noboken: Unicorn go no Himitsu)
Director: Steven Spielberg Language: English
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 24, 2014
Top 10 films of 2014: the year of the brilliant bad girls
This was the year of the bad girl, in a manner of speaking. The best movies featured women who went outside the cinematic box of how women should behave and did all sorts of interesting and/or inexplicable things. As for men, their stories were locked into classic modes of masculinity, and in this sense,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 17, 2014
Maps to the Stars: 'Paranoia born of colossal self-obsession'
Can celebrities be numbingly boring? As far as "Maps to the Stars" is concerned the answer is a big fat "Yes," but in the hands of David Cronenberg ("A Dangerous Method," "Eastern Promises") you hardly notice. Ennui and varying degrees of hysteria define this Hollywood fable where everyone is a monster,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 17, 2014
Disney's 'Big Hero 6' reassembles Japan without the 'cultural cringe'
So we've all heard that it's hard to be a woman in Japan, but being a Japanese geek comes with its own troubles. For some, it's a life lived in front of glowing screens, a dateless existence spent in a six-mat tatami room with posters of idol group AKB48 plastered on the walls. But here's Disney's "Big...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 17, 2014
Elena: 'A face permanently set in lines of disappointment'
A Russian friend once defined the Russian temperament with one word: "heavy." That certainly holds for the characters in "Elena," an excellent tale of a Russian family struggling to navigate a world defined by Western capitalism and the supposed magical powers afforded by digital technology. A cold,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 17, 2014
3 Days to Kill (Last Mission)
Director: McG Language: English, French, German (subtitled in English)
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 10, 2014
A vision of love through money and migration
At first glance, Singaporean filmmaker Anthony Chen's "Ilo Ilo" is a familiar tale. A family in Singapore hire a Filipina maid to care for their irate 10-year-old son, an Asian brat extraordinaire. Eventually the boy bonds with the maid, and the two become closer to each other than their real families,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 10, 2014
1,000 Times Good Night: 'Should war and violence be a photo opportunity?'
Aperson can be greedy about a whole lot of things, but Rebecca (excellently played by Juliette Binoche) in "1,000 Times Good Night" is greedy about work.
Taiwan stuns Samurai Japan to capture Premier12 title
Japan starter Shosei Togo reacts after allowing a three-run home run against Taiwan in the fifth inning of the Premier12 final on Sunday.
Japan and U.S. to form missile plan in case of Taiwan emergency
A U.S. Marine Corps M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and a Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force Type 12 Surface-to-Ship Missile (12SSM) system are put on display at a symposium at a base in Kisarazu, Japan, in June 2022.
Preparations for Osaka Expo well underway amid lack of excitement
The Grand Ring, a symbol of the 2025 World Exposition in Osaka
Ishiba shelves proposal for liaison offices with North Korea amid rising tensions
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks on Saturday in Tokyo at a rally that was held by a group of families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea decades ago to demand the immediate return of all abductees.
'Kohaku' still matters for J-pop bragging rights
Emerging Gen Z J-pop group ME:I will perform on this year's "Kohaku Uta Gassen," national broadcaster NHK’s New Year's Eve spectacle.
How Japan can exit the fossil fuel subsidies it can’t seem to quit
A man walks past a gasoline station in Tokyo on Thursday.
An iconic 32-foot doughnut might give Randy’s an edge in Japan
Randy's Donuts in Inglewood, California. Replicas of the giant doughnut sculpture will be installed, where possible, at shops in Japan.
Tokyo’s newest three-star chef wants ‘harmony across every detail’
British-born Daniel Calvert earned his third Michelin star last month — a stunning achievement considering his restaurant, Sezanne, has only been open for just over three years.
133-year-old Kyushu railway station remains to be partially preserved
The remains of the original Moji Station in Kitakyushu
After Shohei Ohtani bump, Iwate ironware maker sees brighter future
Kaito Kikuchi's decision to send superstar Shohei Ohtani one of his company's traditional ironware tea kettles has paid off with a surge of interest from general consumers.

Podcast

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

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat
By Greg Dvorak

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