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November 23, 2024
 

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Mark Schilling
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Sep 7, 2017
Mizuko Yamaoka takes a different approach in documentary about people with disabilities
Disability presents different challenges for everyone but wheelchair users share a common dilemma: Their mode of locomotion stands out, while they often struggle with social isolation. That was my takeaway from "The Lost Coin," a 2016 short by Mizuko Yamaoka, a filmmaker who has been using a wheelchair...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 7, 2017
Filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda: 'I wanted to do something different'
Hirokazu Koreeda is best known for intimate family dramas that overseas critics often compare to the work of Yasujiro Ozu (1903-63), the genre's unquestioned master. Koreeda rejects these comparisons, however, and says he feels more of a cinematic kinship to Mikio Naruse (1905-69), one of Ozu's contemporaries....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 6, 2017
'The Third Murder': Director Hirokazu Koreeda triumphs with a trial drama that keeps the focus on character
Murder mysteries are popular film and television fodder in Japan, but most revolve around puzzle plots that hold as much real-world probability as the cases of Sherlock Holmes.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 30, 2017
Dear Etranger: When the family drama gets real
Despite a career spanning nearly three decades, Yukiko Mishima hasn't appeared on many lists of up-and-coming Japanese female directors, mine included. One reason: She had a relatively late start, not releasing her first feature, a drama based on the Junichiro Tanizaki story "The Tatooer," until 2009....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 24, 2017
'Sekigahara': A bold attempt to portray one of Japan's most decisive battles
The Battle of Sekigahara was fought on Oct. 21, 1600, and changed the course of Japanese history. Tokugawa Ieyasu and his Army of the East won an overwhelming victory over the Army of the West led by Ishida Mitsunari, resulting in the political unification of the country and the rule of the Tokugawa...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 24, 2017
Takehiro Hira embodies the samurai spirit in 'Sekigahara'
In Japan children of famous actors often follow in their parent's footsteps as if it were part of some foreordained destiny. There are many examples of this in kabuki, where acting families can trace their lineages back generations, but it happens quite a lot in the supposedly more modern world of film,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 23, 2017
'Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom?': Will Japan fall in love with another pair of animated teens?
Last summer, "Your Name.," Makoto Shinkai's anime about gender-swapping high school lovers, began its triumphant march into the box-office record books. Not surprisingly, this summer has seen the arrival of more teen romances, but "Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom?" stands out...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 16, 2017
'Meatball Machine Kodoku': Proud to be a bloody mess
In a career spanning three decades, Yoshihiro Nishimura has done about every job on the credit crawl — from gaffer to director. He is best known, however, as a mad master of effects and makeup, spewing blood sprays that achieve a certain demented grandeur and building fantastic creatures that resemble...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Aug 9, 2017
'Re:Born': 'Tak' Sakaguchi is back for some major action
Movie fight scenes, even ones that are acted by martial arts experts, rarely duplicate what actually transpires on a street or battlefield. After all, they're performed for entertainment, not as actual matters of life or death.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 2, 2017
Takeshi Fukunaga draws on his own past for film on the Liberian immigrant experience
Takeshi Fukunaga first came to international attention at the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival, where his debut feature, "Out of My Hand," premiered. He is only now bringing the film to his homeland, and at a preview screening at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (FCCJ) last week an audience...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 2, 2017
'Out of My Hand': Documentary-like elements add to realistic portrayal of immigrants
Japanese directors have made films in many different settings, but it's safe to say Takeshi Fukunaga is the first of his countrymen to direct a narrative feature set partly in Liberia, a small African country not too long ago embroiled in a bloody civil war. In fact, "Out of My Hand" is only the second...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Jul 27, 2017
It's a bit out of the way, but Skip City festival makes up for the distance with great films and rare access
The location for the Skip City International D-Cinema Festival doesn't make it particularly easy for casual fans to pop in. The Skip City complex — which hosts studios for audiovisual production, as well as educational and entertainment facilities — is a fairly lengthy bus ride from Kawaguchi Station...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 26, 2017
'Tokyo Ghoul' will have you wondering who the real monsters are
A "ghoul" was originally a creature in Arabic folklore that feasts on the flesh of the living or the dead, depending on the tale. The corpse-munching version became more popular in the West, but not in Japan, if Kentaro Hagiwara's hair-raising "Tokyo Ghoul" is any indication.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 19, 2017
Director Ryuichi Hiroki discusses 'Side Job.' and the changing feelings Fukushima evokes
Interviews with Japanese directors tend to be straightforward PR exercises. The subjects may be friendly, but they are also disinclined to deviate from their script, especially if they are on their umpteenth media interview of the day.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 19, 2017
'Side Job.' presents an authentic portrayal of life in Fukushima after disaster
The Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 and its aftermath have been the focus of many films, both fiction and nonfiction. However, most of them have been by filmmakers who've come from outside Fukushima Prefecture, where the disaster hit hardest.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 12, 2017
'Alley Cat': Hideo Sakaki delivers a fresh take on the buddy movie
In Japanese films, a lot of what used to be considered extreme is now routine. Geysers of blood and flying body parts may still thrill fanboys, but to me that sort of play violence has become about as exciting as the spin cycle.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 5, 2017
Gross-out gags make 'Gintama' a miss
Some actors have a knack for picking good material. And some, like Shun Oguri, drift from stinker to stinker: "Museum," "Terra Formars," "Galaxy Turnpike," "Lupin the Third."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 28, 2017
Issey Ogata finds wonderland in Riga in 'Magic Kimono'
Issey Ogata has built his career on virtuoso one-man theater shows in which he changes characters, from drunken salaryman to female fishmonger, as easily as other actors change clothes, while amusing audiences and winning critical accolades with sui generis portrayals that dig down to universal human...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 28, 2017
'Marriage': Dean Fujioka evokes sympathy for the con man
Marriage scammers in the movies may be masters of deception, but their motives are usually clear enough. In Charlie Chaplin's "Monsieur Verdoux" (1947) the title character weds and murders widows to support his family. In Miwa Nishikawa's "Dreams for Sale" (2012), a husband and wife resort to serial...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 21, 2017
Don't follow this scary Pied Piper to the cinema
Released in 2003, Takashi Shimizu's "Ju-on: The Grudge" and "Ju-on: The Grudge 2" both had a simple premise — vengeful ghosts turn an ordinary suburban house into a death trap — but the scares, such as a kohl-eyed dead boy with a terrifying grip, were fresh and effective.
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

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

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

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