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Mark Schilling
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 5, 2018
'jam': Comedy with a touch of 'Misery'
The films of Sabu — the pseudonym of actor-turned-director Hiroyuki Tanaka — are typically about guys on the move, be it as a troubled soul on a journey ("Blessing Bell") or a crook on the run ("Unlucky Monkey"). The object is usually laughs, though Sabu has also forayed into the serious ("The Crab...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 27, 2018
'Killing': A modern take on a samurai staple
Screening in competition at this year's Venice Film Festival, "Killing" is veteran provocateur Shinya Tsukamoto's first venture into the samurai genre. Made, like most of Tsukamoto's films, on a tiny budget and tight schedule, it does not attempt the scale of classics like "Seven Samurai" (1954) or "Yojimbo"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 21, 2018
'Gangoose': A modern take on old-school heists
Heist movies play to everyone's dream of easy money, earned by criminal smarts and daring. But a convention of the genre, going back to Stanley Kubrick's 1956 film "The Killing" and beyond, is that the big score is also a big trap for the heroes. They over-reach, under-estimate or otherwise screw up,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 20, 2018
Bruce Nachbar brings Hollywood know-how to Japanese filmmaking
The Japanese film industry may be the second-biggest in Asia, but to Hollywood it is still an island unto itself, its inner workings little understood. And the knowledge gap goes the both ways too; Japanese filmmakers may mine Hollywood for ideas and inspiration, but few try to make films — let alone...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 15, 2018
'Hard-Core': Of robots and socially marginalized men
Live-action manga adaptations — from weepy dramas about teenage love to goofy comedies set in fantasy worlds — usually reflect real life only at its extremes, whether it's the melodramatic or the idiotic.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Nov 8, 2018
The Japanese films that made a splash at TIFF
Every year people from the film industry — buyers, programmers and critics — descend on the Tokyo International Film Festival to see what this country has to offer, and every year they usually find at least one gem among the selections in the Japanese Cinema Splash section for indie films.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 7, 2018
'Lying to Mom': A film about suicide that isn't as heavy as you'd expect
The Japanese suicide rate has fallen for eight straight years, to 21,321 in 2017, but this number is still high compared to other advanced countries, and is course of no consolation to the families of those who take their own lives.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 31, 2018
'Love At Least': There's a shadow looming over this tale of romance
Mental illness takes many forms, but depression is among the most baffling to family and friends, since the afflicted may be physically healthy and verbally coherent but barely stir from bed for weeks or months at a time.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 30, 2018
The ghosts that have been haunting cinema-goers in Japan for over a century
Twenty years ago, people packed theaters to watch a couple of Japanese teenagers view a strange videotape and soon after receive an ominous phone call with a cryptic message: "Seven days."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 24, 2018
'Ten Years Japan': Chilling and sharp, these five shorts are a must-see for fans of 'Black Mirror'
In 2015, a dystopian omnibus film by five young directors from Hong Kong titled "Ten Years" became an indie hit. Envisioning the deteriorating state of the city in a decade's time, the film enraged Chinese authorities — and inspired "Ten Years" versions in Taiwan, Thailand and Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 24, 2018
Junji Sakamoto points his camera at small-town Japan in 'Another World'
Born in Osaka in 1958, Junji Sakamoto belongs to a generation of Japanese directors who carved out independent paths in the industry, outside the then-defunct studio system. His feature debut, the 1989 boxing film "Knockout," won a shelf of domestic prizes, including the Blue Ribbon Award for best film....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 18, 2018
Your guide to our Japanese film picks at this year's Tokyo International Film Festival
The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) offers fans a rare chance to see dozens of new and classic Japanese films with English subtitles on the big screen. Among my own picks for the event's 31st edition:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 18, 2018
The meteoric rise of Mayu Matsuoka
As a film critic, I occasionally come across something on the screen that sets off fireworks in my brain. It happened with Sakura Ando's explosive performance as a desperate boxer in "100 Yen Love" and with the funny, surprising and moving zombie comedy "One Cut of the Dead." And last year it also happened...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 17, 2018
Akio Fujimoto trades drama for authenticity in film about the refugee experience
Akio Fujimoto's "Passage of Life," a drama about the struggles of a Myanmar family in Japan and the troubled return of a mother and her children to Yangon, premiered at last year's Tokyo International Film Festival before continuing on to win honors and acclaim at more than a dozen festivals around the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 17, 2018
'Passage of Life': A family drama that treats refugees with respect
Hollywood films about the immigrant experience are common enough (see "The Godfather" and other classic gangster movies for examples), while Japanese films on the same topic are rare, save for those about Zainichi (ethnic Koreans) in Japan. (Among the best is Zainichi director Yoichi Sai's "Blood and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 10, 2018
'Every Day a Good Day': The wonder of tea with Kirin Kiki
I attended my first tea ceremony decades ago, as part of a company orientation. Kneeling on the floor, I sat in the formal seiza position, stumbled through the motions and sipped the thick green tea. Just as the pain in my legs was reaching a crescendo, I bowed to my host and hobbled out. I had next...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Oct 4, 2018
Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia's mini party is worth a little look
Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia, which selects a qualifying short film for the Academy Awards every year, will present its Autumn Screening from Oct. 5 to 12 at two locations in Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Oct 3, 2018
'Dare to Stop Us': Japanese cinema's bad boy as seen by one of the women who worked with him
In the 1960s Koji Wakamatsu was Japanese cinema's enfant terrible: A real-life outlaw — he once joined a yakuza gang and served time in prison — he made pioneering "pink" (softcore porn) films such as "The Embryo Hunts in Secret" (1966) and "Go, Go, Second Time Virgin" (1969), whose extreme sex and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 3, 2018
'You Are the Apple of My Eye': A missed chance at romance isn't a bad thing
"You Are the Apple of My Eye," a teen romance by writer and director Giddens Ko in 2011, became a hit not only in his native Taiwan but across Asia. Seeing it at the Udine Far East Film Festival, I was struck by the raunchiness of the humor, starting with a classroom masturbation contest, and the originality...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 26, 2018
'My Dad is a Heel Wrestler': A body-slamming celebration of a spandex brotherhood
Movies about pro-wrestling seldom star actual pro wrestlers. Instead we get Mickey Rourke ("The Wrestler") or Ryuta Sato ("Gachi Boy: Wrestling with a Memory"). But the ascent to Hollywood stardom of Dwayne Johnson, who wrestled professionally as "The Rock," has inspired New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Japan's...
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.

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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