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November 23, 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
CULTURE / Film
Jun 12, 2014
'Child's Pose'
In "King Lear," Shakespeare wrote that a thankless child is sharper than a serpent's tooth. In that vein, Cornelia (Luminita Gheorghiu) feels the pain of the serpent's bite throughout"Child's Pose," a film by Romanian director Calin Peter Netzer.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 12, 2014
'The Host'
At the heart of this sci-fi thriller is a long, probing look at the relationship between a girl and ... herself. "The Host" combines real romance with a philosophical approach to the familiar premise of Earth being invaded by aliens. Most of the time, it works. Other times, the hormonal confusion and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 12, 2014
'Last Passenger (Original title: Panic Train)'
Director: Omid Nooshin
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 6, 2014
The unspoken disease that can destroy families
Of the 17,500 cases of uterine cancer reported yearly in Japan, nearly half are cervical cancer, usually triggered by a virus spread by sexual intercourse. Because of this, sufferers often conceal the fact from friends and families and continue working at their jobs as if nothing is wrong — until pain...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 5, 2014
The pleasures of driving like an absolute maniac
"Need for Speed" is an ode to the automobile and not the green, hybrid kind either. The vehicles in this movie are sleek, sexy, gas-guzzling, carbon-spewing planet-destroyers, and director Scott Waugh revels in shooting them from every conceivable angle (plus a few you never even thought possible). In...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 5, 2014
'Balancing Act'
It's a sad, anxious world when a hard-working dad has no choice but to sleep in his car and eat at a soup kitchen. Such is the fate of 40-year-old Giulio (Valerio Mastandrea), whose act of infidelity (sex with a colleague in the archives room of the Rome city office where he works) causes a deep, irreparable...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 5, 2014
'Hummingbird'
What would British action movies be without Jason Statham? As quiet as a wake for an old man with no friends. Thankfully, Statham is still at the top of his game, even if his new movie, "Hummingbird," is a bit of a muddle.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 5, 2014
'Ender's Game'
Director: Gavin Hood
Japan Times
CULTURE
May 31, 2014
Essential summer festivals 2014
A summer without festivals simply wouldn’t be a proper summer in Japan, so now that the humidity has returned, it’s time to slop on an extra layer of sunscreen and line up some outdoor activities.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 28, 2014
'Adore'
Sometimes the Japanese title for a foreign film manages to grasp the very essence of the story and display it with the deft, loving care of a jeweler placing a necklace in a glass case. The Japanese title for "Adore" (previously known as "Two Mothers") is "Utsukushi e no Hokai," which roughly translates...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 28, 2014
'One Minute More'
Taiwan has a thriving movie industry that often tips its hat to Japanese culture. For Japanese viewers, the references to AKB48, Tokyo and Japanese food make us feel that much closer to Taiwanese cinema. And now there’s “One Minute More,” based on “Ippunkan Dake,” a best-selling novel by...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 28, 2014
'Jo' (Keiji jo Pari Hanzaisosahan)
Director: Rene Balcer
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 22, 2014
'Sake Bomb'
On the one hand, I'm prepared to love this movie. Junya Sakino, director of "Sake Bomb," gets it, as they say. He is one of a growing breed of Japanese filmmakers who studied in the U.S. and are now working there. "Sake Bomb" — a film about a nice, unassuming Japanese guy who travels to America looking...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 22, 2014
'The Bay'
Found footage becomes a different animal under the direction of a major-league director like Barry Levinson ("Rain Man" and "Diner"). "The Bay" is plenty scary but this isn't your usual found footage horror fare; it's a faux documentary carrying a very real eco-message.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 22, 2014
'Red 2 (Japan title: Red Returns)'
Director: Dean Parisot
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 15, 2014
Time to get over the 'shock' of aging actresses
"Americans can be strange about aging," said French actress Jeanne Moreau, in a brief interview she gave me back in 2005. She was then at the tail end of her 70s and had just co-starred with French heartthrob Melvil Poupaud in "Le Temps Qui Reste," as his sympathetic but alluring grandmother. As the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 15, 2014
'Winter's Tale'
There's something Shakespearean about "Winter's Tale." Perhaps it's the way everyone talks in British or Irish accents, faked or genuine; or how the emotions seem to fester in the depths of a hot caldron; or the grandiose gestures and sweeping statements that are often delivered out of context and leave...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 15, 2014
'After the Dark'
Rather than a gem, John Huddles' "After the Dark" (original titled "The Philosophers") is a diamond in the rough — but there's more rough here than diamond. Still, the premise is intriguing, and so is the setting: an international school in Jakarta on the final day of class.
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
May 15, 2014
'Walking With Dinosaurs 3D'
Directors: Barry Cook, Neil Nightingale
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 11, 2014
On drinking, May and battling the blues
According to T.S. Eliot, April is the cruelest month. But in Japan May ushers in some pretty heavy blues, too. The dual combination of haru no megumi (春の恵み, spring blessings) and haru no utsu (春の鬱, spring depression) makes for a challenging 31 days.
Tokyo Metro’s overseas efforts begin in earnest with London deal
Tokyo Metro will soon have a role in the running of London's Elizabeth Line, a major train route serving the U.K.’s capital city and environs.
Man charged with murder allegedly made victim date other men for money
A car carrying suspect Ryotaro Masuda, who was indicted for allegedly beating his 25-year-old girlfriend to death, leaves the Shibuya Police Station in Tokyo on Thursday.
Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Putin says
Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an airstrike in Dnipro on Thursday.
Ex-yokozuna Kitanofuji dies at 82
Yokozuna Kitanofuji enters the ring during the May 1970 grand sumo tournament in Tokyo.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
Shohei Ohtani wins National League MVP award
Shohei Ohtani celebrates after hitting a three-run home run against the Padres during the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles last month.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
Around a quarter of Japan married couples in their 20s met through dating apps
A survey released by an organization promoting “Good Couples Day” shows that 24% of couples in their 20s met their marriage partner through a dating app.
'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.

Podcast

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