Kaori Shoji - The Japan Times

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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

Jul 18, 2013

'Une Estonienne a Paris'

Jeanne Moreau was a French superstar back in the day, but decades later, the now-octogenarian's on-screen presence continues to be defined by a haze of ennui and ambivalence that she wraps around herself like a delicate shawl. Moreau's appearance in "Une Estonienne a Paris" showcases her charms to full...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Jul 18, 2013

'Pleasantville (Color of Heart)'

Director: Gary Ross

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Jul 11, 2013

Black comedy gets under the skin of a murderer

Jack Black, whose career was built on getting deep inside the skin of his characters, arguably reaches the pinnacle of his performances as Bernie Tiede in "Bernie" — based on actual events that happened in small-town Texas 17 years ago.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Jul 11, 2013

Based on real-life events in Carthage, Texas, "Bernie" showcases Jack Black's uncanny powers of observation, and director Richard Linklater's ability to lay on the cynicism so thick you hardly notice it. Black visited with the title character, Bernie Tiede, in prison to study his mannerisms, speech...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Jul 11, 2013

'The Berlin File'

When you think about the impact the Cold War had on spy films, it seems downright wrong that movies about North and South Korea are hardly ever made and when they are, they rarely reach multiplexes in the West. "The Berlin File" tackles the North/South monster and comes out tops — it's a sound,...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Jul 11, 2013

'Les Uns des Les Autres (Ai to Kanashimi no Bolero)'

Director: Claude Lelouch

Japan Times

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Jul 7, 2013

The aidoru industry seeks big bucks in numbers

They say that Japan is suffering from a major shōshika (少子化, plummeting birth rate) syndrome, but a cursory glance at the entertainment industry reveals a singular fact: The young people of this country are well and thriving, and huddled together in mass aidoru gurūpu (アイドルグループ,...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Jul 4, 2013

The always charming Keri Russell ("Waitress") pairs up with mild-mannered Josh Hamilton ("The Bourne Identity") as a couple thrown head first into a swamp made up of various story components from the "The X-Files" — and left floundering in the muck.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Jul 4, 2013

'A Good Day to Die Hard (Die Hard: Last Day)'

Director: John Moore

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Jun 28, 2013

Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki adventure still inspires

In 1947, Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl was a 33-year-old anthropologist and marine biologist who had recently finished a stint fighting in World War II (he served in the Free Norwegian Forces).

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Jun 28, 2013

It's hard to resist the retro charms of this old-fashioned adventure/thriller. Step aside, Indiana Jones — you got some fierce competition going on in "Kon-Tiki," the true-to-life tale of Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl and his epic, 8,000-km sea voyage from the Peruvian Coast to Polynesia.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Jun 28, 2013

'Fringe: The Complete Fifth Season'

Director: Various

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Jun 21, 2013

How top lowbrow U.S. humor translates in Japan

Somewhere in the history of American cinema, someone (maybe John Waters?) decided that gross and profane and funny could all sit on the same park bench and start up a friendship. That was way back in the 1970s.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Jun 21, 2013

'The Numbers Station'

The CIA needs a major public-image overhaul. Last year's "Argo" and "Zero Dark Thirty" did much to salvage and then revamp what had essentially become Hollywood's go-to institution for portraying bad, bad stuff such as conspiracy, betrayal and government BS. Ultimately though, those two movies —...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Jun 21, 2013

Director: Taylor Hackford

Japan Times

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Jun 17, 2013

Thoughts of rice and Japanese men

If you're like me or the men in my life, you probably broke down and wept for joy on June 4, when Japanese midfielder Keisuke Honda scored the goal that bagged Japan's slot in the FIFA World Cup next year. At such sports events, one or another of my brothers turn up at my place, hauling their boozy,...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Jun 14, 2013

'The Great Gatsby'

Baz Luhrmann does justice to F. Scott Fitzgerald's most intriguing creation: Jay Gatsby, the man referred to in the book title as "The Great." As far as adaptations go, Luhrmann's version beats the 1974 version that starred Robert Redford and Mia Farrow hands down. That was a sorrowful, soulful tale...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Jun 14, 2013

Director: Various

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Jun 7, 2013

'To Rome With Love'

Woody Allen rarely laughs, least of all at his own jokes. But in his latest, "To Rome With Love," in which he acts as well as directs, he breaks down from time to time to suppress a giggle and the movie gets an almost imperceptible lift. If Allen is laughing (kind of) then it's surely OK for the audience...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Jun 7, 2013

'Shui Hu Zhuan' (Japan title: Suikoden)

Director: Zhou Xiaolin

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

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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