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November 22, 2024
 

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Mark Schilling
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 4, 2011
'Tsumetai Nettaigyo (Cold Fish)'
Sion Sono is a self-confessed chameleon, who can switch effortlessly from the laugh-a-minute black comedy of 2008's "Ai no Mukidashi (Love Exposure)" to the heartfelt medical melodrama of 2009's "Chanto Tsutaeru (Be Sure to Share)" and the splatter shock of his latest, "Tsumetai Nettaigyo (Cold Fish)."...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 28, 2011
'Byakuyako (Into the White Night)'
Mysteries are hot in the Japanese movie business now, but they have long been hard sells abroad. This may seem strange, since the mystery genre in Japan, from novels to films, has been heavily influenced by foreign models — starting with the genre's father, Edgar Allen Poe.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 26, 2011
Yakuza movie lines without honor or humanity
Japanese movies, like their Hollywood counterparts, have produced plenty of 名台詞 (meiserifu, famous lines) over the years, in just about every genre. But when I was researching a book on ヤクザ映画 (yakuza eiga, Japanese gangster movies), I realized that this particular genre had generated...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 21, 2011
'Gantz'
Films about murder games of various sorts have become a popular Japanese-movie subgenre, beginning with the ultra-violent Kinji Fukasaku hit "Battle Royale" (2000) and continuing with the even more successful "Death Note" trio of films (2006-2008) — though the "game" in the latter was more of a battle...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 14, 2011
'Yoyochu: Sex to Yoyogi Tadashi no Sekai (Yoyochu in the Land of the Rising Sex)'
Japan's sex industry is huge, diverse and different. One oddity, at least to Western eyes, is the pinku eiga (pink film), a genre of soft porn made according to certain rules (the most important being the inclusion of a simulated sex scene every 10 minutes or so) and shown in specialized theaters. Pink...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 7, 2011
'Sabi Otoko Sabi Onna (Groovy Guys, Groovy Girls)'
Japanese omnibus films — collections of similarly themed shorts — were more common a decade or two ago than now. They've always been risky box-office bets, and film distributors want a surer thing in today's fiercely competitive market.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 31, 2010
2010 top movies: best moments in a mixed 12 months for Japanese cinema
This was the best of years and the worst of years for Japanese films. On one hand, dire TV-network-produced blockbusters continued to fill multiplexes. On the other, makers of indie films, both big names and small, struggled for funding and distribution, as the mini-theater (art-house) sector continued...
CULTURE / Film
Dec 24, 2010
'Bakamono (Fools)'
Age-inappropriate romance, on screen or off, stirs up passionate reactions. Cougars — an American term for middle-aged women who actively seek out younger lovers — find both supporters (who see them as adventurous and sexy) and slammers (who deride them as deluded and shameless). I like a saying...
CULTURE / Film
Dec 17, 2010
'Saigo no Chushingura (The Last Ronin)'
It's long been a rather cynical maxim of the Japanese movie business that, when all else fails, you can always put butts on seats with a revival of "Chushingura."
CULTURE / Film
Dec 10, 2010
'Norwegian Wood (Noruwei no Mori)'
"Love hurts" is a staple message of popular culture everywhere, from blues songs about cheating lovers to tear-jerking Japanese melodramas about teenage couples eternally separated by terminal disease. But "Love can drive you crazy" is one uncomfortable truth mainstream movies, from Hollywood and Japan...
CULTURE / Film
Dec 3, 2010
'Yoi Ga Sametara Uchi Ni Kaero (Wandering Home)'
Yoichi Higashi has accumulated a long list of honors in a four-decade career, including a Silver Bear at the 1996 Berlin Film Festival for his childhood drama "E no Naka no Boku no Mura (Village of Dreams)." But compared with certain other Japanese directors of his generation, his overseas profile is...
CULTURE / Film
Dec 3, 2010
Higashi gets melodramatic (but not too much)
Born in Wakayama Prefecture in 1934, Yoichi Higashi graduated from Waseda University's Department of Literature in 1958 and entered Iwanami Film Production, a documentary and educational film company. After making his feature debut with "Okinawa Retto (Okinawa Archipelago)" in 1969, he won the Directors...
JAPAN / Media
Nov 28, 2010
Nicholas Bornoff, Japan Times writer and author of 'Pink Samurai,' dies aged 61
Nicolas Bornoff, who died of cancer in London on Oct. 30, was my predecessor as a film critic at The Japan Times, starting in the late 1970s and continuing for nine years. His style, in contrast to fellow reviewer Andy Adams' slangy journalese, aimed for the elevated and authoritative, which made me,...
CULTURE / Film
Nov 26, 2010
'Space Battleship Yamato'
The "Space Battleship Yamato" franchise, known abroad under such titles as "Star Blazers" and "Space Cruiser Yamato," began life in 1974 as a TV cartoon space opera, then generated a hit animated film in 1977. Two more TV series and four more films followed, concluding the saga with the 1983 feature...
CULTURE / Film
Nov 19, 2010
'Yukizuri no Machi (Strangers in the City)'
Japanese films targeted at adult men, particularly those made by Toei, often have a dark, heavy, turbulent quality. Japanese has a wonderful, hard-to-translate word for it — dorodoro. Think of slogging across a muddy field at 3 a.m. in the driving rain; or being a middle-aged guy with a troubled past,...
CULTURE / Film
Nov 12, 2010
'Ghost — Mo Ichido Dakishimetai (Ghost: In Your Arms Again)'/'Paranormal Activity Dainisho: Tokyo Night (Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night)'
Hollywood has been remaking Japanese films for decades, but now Hollywood studios — as part of a worldwide strategy to boost box office in overseas markets — are starting to remake their own films for Japan, with Japanese talent.
JAPAN / Media
Nov 7, 2010
Japanese films at TIFF fail to thrill, with some notable exceptions
The Tokyo International Film Festival tries to accommodate the many critics, journalists and other freeloaders who want to see and report on its films, while squeezing as many paying customers into its screenings as possible. So folks in the former group are encouraged to attend special media-only screenings...
CULTURE / Film
Nov 5, 2010
'Genpin'/'Umareru (To Be Born)'
The pain of childbirth, Genesis says, is God's punishment for the original sin of womankind — if only Eve hadn't given Adam that apple! But in Japan, traditionalists contend, it's to be embraced, not lamented, since the deeper the agony, the deeper the motherly love. So hold the epidurals, please,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 29, 2010
'Raiou (The Lightning Tree)'
When Ryuichi Hiroki had a big hit last year with "Yomei 1-kagetsu no Hanayome (April Bride)," a drama about a young woman's struggle with terminal breast cancer, I was glad for him. In a directing career of two decades, he had never enjoyed this sort of commercial success and, unlike the hacks who serve...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 22, 2010
'Wakiyaku Monogatari (Cast Me if You Can)'
When I hear rants from foreigners about the badness of Japanese acting, I don't rise to the defense of the hammy emoting or smarmy mugging I've seen on the screen here, of which there's been plenty. But I do run through the long list in my head of the Japanese actors, from stars to supporting players,...
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
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.
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.
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.
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.

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