Mark Schilling - The Japan Times

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Mark Schilling

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Jan 2, 2019

'Astral Abnormal Suzuki-san': YouTube comedy series makes it to the big screen

What is the future of films in Japan? Bigger spectacles backed by media conglomerates? Maybe at the top end of the industry. At the lower end, though, indie filmmakers have to find other ways to draw audiences and finance films. Crowdfunding helps some get made, while ceaseless and creative PR on social...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Dec 28, 2018

'It Comes': The bogeyman cometh in Tetsuya Nakashima's horror debut

Tetsuya Nakashima has been filming the darker sides of human nature for more than two decades, the most commercially and critically successful example being his 2010 murder mystery, "Confessions."

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film

Dec 19, 2018

As two rule breakers gave the Japanese film world hope in 2018, elsewhere eyes turned to China

The Japanese movie business is something like a restaurant where new cooks and waiters arrive as old ones retire or die, but the menu remains much the same, decade after decade.

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...

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.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

An ongoing shortage of rice has resulted in rising prices for Japan's main food staple.

Why Japan is running out of rice — and farmers to grow it

By Alex K.T. Martin

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