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James Hadfield
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 11, 2021
‘The Sun Stands Still’: Race against time fails to pick up the pace
Eiichiro Hasumi's big-budget thriller about globe-trotting spies is not quite Japan's answer to the “Mission: Impossible” movies.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 25, 2021
Director Kentaro brings an auteur’s touch to a soulful road movie
The 'Under the Turquoise Sky' director mixes realism, fantasy and comedy in his visually stirring feature debut about a Japanese man who goes on a journey of self-discovery in Mongolia.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 25, 2021
‘Heisei no Oto’: A sonic trip to the golden age of CDs
Osaka record store owners Eiji Taniguchi and Norio Sato have unearthed some musical treasures from 1989-96 for this bright and buoyant compilation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 17, 2021
‘The Murders of Oiso’: A whodunnit in search of a crime
Takuya Misawa's stylish and enigmatic murder mystery centers on a quartet of friends thrown into disarray after a sudden death in their town.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 10, 2021
‘In Those Days’: Say hello to the fanboy life of days gone by
Rikiya Imaizumi's bittersweet comedy-drama delves into the fan culture that flourished during the heyday of idol collective Hello! Project in the early 2000s.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 3, 2021
‘The Cinderella Addiction’: Can stepmothers get their happily ever after?
Ryohei Watanabe's tragicomedy about the dark side of parenting is fitfully stylish, but gets a little too twisted for its own good.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 20, 2021
‘I Fell in Love Like a Flower Bouquet’: Millennial romance with a Gen X heart
Kasumi Arimura and Masaki Suda star in an entertaining but inauthentic portrait of 2010s romance, penned by veteran TV screenwriter Yuji Sakamoto.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 13, 2021
‘Woman of the Photographs’: An existentialist fable for the Instagram age
Takeshi Kushida's debut feature playfully riffs on Kobo Abe's novel, “The Woman in the Dunes,” in a surrealist fable about the pitfalls of image retouching.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 9, 2020
‘Silent Tokyo’: All is not calm this Christmas Eve
In Takafumi Hatano's blockbuster action thriller, a peace-loving terrorist threatens to blow up Tokyo, throwing the capital's citizens into a panic.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 3, 2020
‘Alice in Borderland’: Deadly journey through the looking glass leaves little impression
Netflix's sci-fi suspense series about a young man forced to go through a series of twisted challenges takes place in a cityscape that looks all too familiar in 2020.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 25, 2020
‘Tezuka’s Barbara’: A dazzlingly dull descent into madness
Macoto Tezka's adaptation of his father's racy 1970s manga is visually intoxicating, but liable to leave viewers with a hangover.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 18, 2020
‘Me & My Brother’s Mistress’: Sneaky siblings will surprise you
When we first see Yoko (Nanami Kasamatsu), the stone-faced heroine of “Me & My Brother’s Mistress,” she’s looking right into the camera lens. Then she raises a camera of her own and starts taking photos, capturing her older brother, Kenji (Satoshi Iwago), emerging from a love hotel with someone...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 11, 2020
‘Sakura’: A family held together by dogged devotion
Hitoshi Yazaki turns Kana Nishino's novel about a family overcoming tragedy with the help of their dog into an amiable but wildly uneven drama.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 5, 2020
‘Georama Boy, Panorama Girl’: Not your typical teen romance
Natsuki Seta's playful adaptation of a manga by Kyoko Okazaki avoids the more conventional plot points of 'seishun eiga' (youth films).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 28, 2020
‘Dancing in Her Dreams’: Falling under the seductive spell of a bygone era
Hideyuki Tokigawa's film romanticizes the heyday of Hiroshima's strip theaters and the dancers who brought late-night fantasies to life.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 22, 2020
Veteran Koji Yakusho brings his movie star clout to the Tokyo International Film Festival
This year's TIFF ambassador discusses the festival experience, the effects of COVID-19 on the film industry, and discovering his inner Marie Kondo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 21, 2020
‘True Mothers’: An intimate look at two sides of adoption
Naomi Kawase's drama tackles child adoption and teenage pregnancy with seriousness and compassion, while drawing a stand-out performance from Aju Makita.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 16, 2020
In ‘True Mothers,’ Naomi Kawase examines what makes a family
Naomi Kawase draws on personal experience in her new film, an intimate look at adoption that blurs the line between documentary and fiction.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 30, 2020
‘All the Things We Never Said’: Life is bleak, so find a friend to lean on
Yuya Ishii draws some raw performances from his cast in a low-budget, self-produced drama about alienation and unraveling relationships.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 17, 2020
‘The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese’: Looking for love in the wrong places
Isao Yukisada's gay romance offers refreshing scenes of domestic intimacy, but can't resolve the underlying problems of its manga source material.

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