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July 16, 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
Jul 11, 2008
'Hot Fuzz'
Hercule Poirot once proclaimed that "the police in England are only adequate, but the English detective is a thing of marvel!" Sherlock Holmes would have agreed, having put up with the uninspired adequacy of Scotland Yard for most of his career. But no more: The English police or rather "the fuzz in...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 4, 2008
No room for the boys
Celine Sciamma could be a French Lisa Loeb, her straight hair and glasses offsets keen, intelligent eyes.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 4, 2008
'Naissance des pieuvres'
Karl Marx once divided the world into the haves and have-nots, but in the world of teenagers one of the main divides — less significant but nonetheless painful — is that of the pretty and unpretty.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 27, 2008
'One California Day'
All over California people move encased in metal and chrome, going from house to office in their cars. It's a contradiction of California living that, despite the beautiful weather and spacious streets, no one is outside.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 20, 2008
'Eastern Promises'
Filmmaker David Cronenberg continues to be obsessed by the human body, and all the things people do to it, in the brilliantly staged "Eastern Promises."
CULTURE / Film
Jun 13, 2008
A skilled scrutinizer of perversity
Tom Kalin is best known for his 1992 feature debut "Swoon," a stylish but keenly observed thriller about a gay couple who, in the 1920s, murdered a child. His latest film, "Savage Grace," is also about a relationship defined by perversity.
CULTURE / Film
Jun 13, 2008
'Savage Grace'
There's much that's grotesque about "Savage Grace," but director Tom Kalin and writer Howard A. Rodman deliberately candy-wrap the unseemliness in decorous crepe paper — with the result that the poisonous goo leaks from the edges with a creepily gothic effect. Savage Grace Rating: (3 out...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 10, 2008
Investigating the linguistic allure of hard-boiled detectives
In Japan as elsewhere, there's an enormous demand for detective fiction, especially in the realm of terebi dorama (TV serials) (テレビドラマ). A well-made keiji-mono (police detective story) (刑事モノ) always soars to the top of the ratings list, partly because viewers can never seem to get...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 6, 2008
'27 Dresses'
One hesitates to say, but there's something slightly creepy about a superorganized, superefficient planner of other people's weddings who still lugs around a bulging filofax to sort out her many matrimonial tasks. Unlike a long-ago J-Lo (see "The Wedding Planner"), she doesn't do this for a living, either....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 30, 2008
'The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian'
What's the use of a fairyland in which trees don't dance, animals don't talk and one's once majestic castle has fallen into ruins? Returning to the world of Narnia, the Pevensie brothers, Peter (William Moseley) and Edmund (Skandar Keynes), look thoroughly petulant if not downright pissed off, in the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 23, 2008
'The Hottest State'
Let me tell you what's wrong with most chick flicks: They're hard on real chicks.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 23, 2008
In pursuit of the authentic
Ethan Hawke makes no bones about his literary career: his well-received first novel, "The Hottest State," was written with the movie in mind.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 16, 2008
Fight vs. apartheid through foreign eyes
Danish director Bille August never had personal ties to South Africa, but he remembers what a "powerful force" Nelson Mandela was throughout the 1980s.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 16, 2008
'Goodbye Bafana'
A good politician — as opposed to a dramatic revolutionary — is hard to find, but Nelson Mandela could safely be called one of the best living examples of that rare and precious category.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 13, 2008
Hopes of silence in Tokyo undergo brutal assault
The concept of chinmoku wa kin (silence is golden) isn't a Tokyo thing. Like a lot of other nifty modernities, such as buttered pancakes and the subway system, it was imported into Japan and adopted into city living when the country opened up to the West in the late 19th century.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 9, 2008
'Mr. Brooks'
The serial-killer genre that gave us characters as diversely memorable as Dr. Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) and "Serial Mom" (Kathleen Turner), had been on the wane. Murder-as-entertainment was no longer a novelty — in terms of body count, any franchise horror movie could up the numbers in a fraction...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 2, 2008
'P2'
In late-1980s America, there was a rash of crimes that occurred in parking lots or were instigated from parked cars. Women and children were told to stay away from parked vehicles that looked suspicious and warned against going near parking lots after dark.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 25, 2008
'I'm Not There'
A bio-pic is difficult to get right, but a bio-pic of a living musical legend — in this case Bob Dylan — seems too daunting to contemplate.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 18, 2008
'Factory Girl'
"In the future, everyone can be famous for 15 minutes" is one of Andy Warhol's choice aphorisms. When he said that in the late 1960s, the point had already been proven with a vengeance by Edie Sedgwick: Warhol's one-time muse, collaborator and platonic lover (with Warhol, such a thing was possible).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 11, 2008
'Atonement'
The hype on "Atonement" is that it's a story about guilt, passion and sex: a crowd-pleasing triumvirate. Though the story does bank on these factors, it's really an emotional experiment and a literary conceit designed to intrigue the intellect rather than titillate the senses. You shouldn't really expect...
Who needs AI when you have Hatsune Miku?
Over the first six months of 2024, a handful of songs using Vocaloid singer Hatsune Miku’s voice have enjoyed widespread attention, underlining a global interest in the character and the technology she represents.
Bloodied Trump survives assassination attempt at political rally
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is surrounded and evacuated by Secret Service agents at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. Trump was rushed off stage at the rally after shots rang out.
Shooter came within inches of killing Trump, but left few clues as to why
An aerial view shows the stage where Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump had been standing during an assassination attempt the day before, and the roof of a nearby building where a gunman was shot dead by law enforcement, in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
Yen’s woes seem too big for even a BOJ hike this month to solve
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
After Trump shooting, U.S. presidential race might take a violent turn
United States Secret Service Counter Snipers stand guard on a rooftop during a campaign rally for U.S. President Donald Trump in Avoca, Pennsylvania, in 2020.
No AC this summer? No problem (for me).
Think air conditioning is a requirement for a Tokyo summer? Think again.
She’s paying ¥1 million to help behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics
Mai Tarumi, who previously volunteered at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has a travel budget of ¥1 million for her trip to volunteer at the Paris Games.

Podcast

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

Longform

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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Exploring Japanese culturevia Tohoku’s festivals
Exploring Japanese culturevia Tohoku’s festivals

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