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

Apr 19, 2013

Maggie Smith, who projects elderly matron authority like none other, plays Jean, who remains a haughty diva even though she hasn't sung a note in years. She's the latest addition to stately retirement home Beecham House, which Hoffman draws as a sort of upscale, mahogony- and martini-fueled artists'...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Apr 19, 2013

Lincoln" naysayers on the film's release in the United States mainly commented on two things: the historical error committed by Steven Spielberg when in a climactic scene the director showed a Connecticut congressman voting against the abolition of slavery; and that everyone's teeth, including those...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Apr 19, 2013

Trouble With the Curve (Japan title: Jinsei no Tokutoseki)

Director: Robert Lorenz

Japan Times

CULTURE

Apr 12, 2013

Tokyo Disneyland turns 30!

Tokyo Disneyland (or "TDL" as it's known to the Japanese) turns 30 on April 15, but like George Clooney, or heck, even the famed Mouse himself, age hasn't withered it a bit.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Apr 12, 2013

'The Angels' Share'

Seventy-six year old Ken Loach can be described as the UK's leftist conscience, always parked somewhere in the corner of the welfare state.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Apr 12, 2013

'En Kongelig Affære (Japan title: Roiyaru Afea: Ai to Yokubou no Oukyu'

Dr. Struensee (Mads Mikkelsen), an enlightened German intellectual, is hired to coach Christian on the basics of managing a kingdom, being a husband and other useful skills. Christian turns to putty in the hands of the learned doctor — but so does Caroline. Soon the pair are in the throes of a...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Apr 12, 2013

'Stolen (Japan title: Getto Bakku)'

Director: Simon West

Japan Times

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Apr 8, 2013

The life and times of the destitute girl

I was one of those suckers who thought that the seifu (u653fu5e9c, government) might get it right this time.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Apr 5, 2013

A more suitable title to this would be: "Hitch and Alma: The love story." But as Alma — the wife of cinema giant Alfred Hitchcock — complains in this fictional and wildly entertaining account of Hitchcock's private life, no one pays her any attention because "all they can see is the great and glorious...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Apr 5, 2013

Oranges and Sunshine (Japan title: Orenji to Taiyo)

Director: Jim Loach

Japan Times

JAPAN / Media

Mar 31, 2013

Men with 'yellow fever' get a taste of their own medicine

There's no need for serious digging; just scrape the surface of history and there are plenty of examples of Caucasian men who showed the symptoms of a phenomenon known as 'yellow fever.'

JAPAN / Media

Mar 31, 2013

Online documentary series explores why 'They're All So Beautiful'

"They're All So Beautiful" is a six-part Web series/forum focused specifically on the attraction that Asian women hold for Caucasian men, and director Debbie Lum interviews men in the throes of "yellow fever" — whether they like to admit to the term or not.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Mar 29, 2013

Documenting the Vogels as they give the gift of art

As far as art collectors Herb and Dorothy Vogel were concerned, Megumi Sasaki was more than a filmmaker who turned their lives into an award-winning documentary ("Herb & Dorothy," 2009): She's a close friend and a daughter. Having never had (or apparently even desired) children, the Vogels were by...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Mar 29, 2013

'Herb & Dorothy 50×50'

This is the followup to "Herb & Dorothy" from 2008, in which New York-based documentary filmmaker Megumi Sasaki wowed the world when she introduced Manhattan art-collector couple Herb and Dorothy Vogel. For some reason, it took a full two years for that film to make it to Japanese theaters, and during...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Mar 29, 2013

Director: David Koepp

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Mar 29, 2013

Good news for sci-fi/horror geeks with big and generous hearts who have nothing to do on a spring Sunday but to check out this "Alien"-meets-"28 Days Later"-meets-"Species"-and-they-decide-to-move-in-together-to-save-on-rent kind of movie. And not so good news for the rest of us.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Mar 22, 2013

Richard Gere was offered the role of Gordon Gekko in "Wall Street" and turned it down, a decision he "always regretted" as he said at a Tokyo press conference some years ago. Now he's landed a role to vindicate that regret, in slow-burning thriller "Arbitrage," which stars Gere as Wall Street hedge-fund...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Mar 22, 2013

Directors: Oliver Nakache, Eric Toledano

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Mar 22, 2013

Miffy the Movie

Since her auspicious Japan debut in 1963, Miffy (or Usako-chan to her Japanese fans) has enjoyed a constant and stable popularity, if less sensational than her homegrown counterpart Hello Kitty.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Mar 15, 2013

Tracing the secret success of an unsung hero

At first glance it seems as though filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul came out of nowhere, made documentary "Searching for Sugar Man" on his home computer, then floated onto the red carpet to be awarded an Oscar.

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Exploring Japanese culturevia Tohoku’s festivals

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