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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2008

'Paris'/'Funny Games'

Director Cedric Klapisch's breakthrough film was 1996's "Chacun Cherche Son Chat" ("When The Cat's Away"), a documentary-like trifle about a lost cat that nevertheless seemed to say something essential about life in the anonymity of a big city. Klapisch set his film in Paris' 11th arrondisement, and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 21, 2008

'The Bank Job'

"The Bank Job" is one of those movies that somehow winds up being far, far better than it has any right to be.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 24, 2008

Closing weekend at TIFF to showcase Asia, ecology theme

One of the advantages of film festivals in Japan is the chance to see Japanese and Asian cinema with English subtitles. The 21st Tokyo International Film Festival may be ending this Sunday, but it still has such cinematic treats to offer.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 16, 2008

Muslim-Hindu relations explored in PIFF selections

In terms of box office, India has always been the best market for movies, though with its plethora of languages and regional tastes in entertainment, the country has been impervious to imports. In recent months, however, there have been deals struck between Hollywood and Bollywood that allow for movement...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 2, 2008

Explosive new anime packed with surprises

'I was looking to do something different, but at the same time if it was too unique, it could fail," says Masayuki Miyaji, director of PlayStation Network's new anime series "Xam'd: Lost Memories." "But then if it fails, that might even be more fun."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 26, 2008

'Tokyo Sonata'

Kiyoshi Kurosawa has long been filed under "horror director," though his take on the genre is anything but standard. The villain of "Cure," his deeply creepy 1997 breakout film, is not a maniac with a sharp-edged weapon but a blank-faced drifter who hypnotizes his victims into killing themselves.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 25, 2008

'Summer Palace'

Director Lou Ye's third film, "Summer Palace," breaks not one but two serious taboos in Chinese cinema. Not only does he include passionate sex scenes and nudity — a first in mainland Chinese cinema — he also dares to set his story of star-crossed lovers amid the democracy protests of 1989, which...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 24, 2008

Fab Four flick offers a taste of revolution

It's easy to be skeptical about the idea of a movie-musical based on the music of The Beatles. After all, we've been there before with 1978's "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," the Robert Stigwood-produced travesty that took the most twee aspects of The Beatles' oeuvre, cast The Bee Gees and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 15, 2008

Butoh — Omnivorous and best not defined

In a small studio in Kichijoji, a director is telling three dancers that their heads are potatoes rolling around on a plate. And their three bald pates, poking up through a single piece of cardboard that holds them together, certainly have the appearance of earthy spuds, wobbling uncertainly across the...
COMMENTARY
May 12, 2008

Neglect of sex education threatens Indians

MADRAS,, India — India is a land of strange contradictions. It is where the "Kama Sutra" was written centuries ago. It is also where some of world's most renowned erotic sculptures are found in sacred Hindu temples. Yet, kissing is frowned upon in cinema, and any form of man-woman intimacy is discouraged...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 21, 2008

'Jellyfish'

War and its implications are the first things one tends to associate with Israeli cinema, perhaps because those kind of films are the ones that make it to the film festivals and get international releases (most notable are the works of director Amos Gitai).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 20, 2008

The final days of revolutionary struggle in Japan

The West sees the turbulent era of the late 1960s and early '70s principally through the lens of its own protesters and radicals, with America's war in Vietnam the focal point of activist anger. If it thinks about East Asia in this period at all, it is usually the China of Mao and the Red Guards, who...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 22, 2008

He's a family (and ladies') man

Lajos Koltai has worked as a cinematographer with some of cinema's foremost directors, including Istvan Szabo ("Being Julia") and Luis Mandoki ("White Palace"). He was behind the camera when Jodie Foster directed "Home For the Holidays," but it wasn't until 2005 when Koltai debuted as director with "Fateless,"...
CULTURE / Books
Feb 10, 2008

Risk-taking 'Cure' for J-Horror

THE FILMS OF KIYOSHI KUROSAWA: Master of Fear, by Jerry White. Berkeley, CA: Stonebridge Press, 2007, $19.95 (paper) Kiyoshi Kurosawa has been an international cult favorite since the release of "Cure," his breakthrough film, in 1997. Telling the strange tale of a blanked-out young man who hypnotizes...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 8, 2008

'Mister Lonely'

Intentionally or not, Harmony Korine built his reputation on being the enfant terrible of American art-house cinema, the impish prankster whose art seemed to draw on charm rather than hardened professionalism. This put him in a different league to that other film-buff-turned-indies wunderkind, Quentin...
COMMENTARY
Dec 31, 2007

Censorship serves to flag our own limits

LOS ANGELES — It appears that many mainland Chinese moviegoers are traipsing over to Hong Kong in droves to view the uncensored version of Ang Lee's latest blockbuster, "Lust, Caution." With their feet, in effect, they are voting for lust — and as if wishing for official Beijing caution to be gone...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 30, 2007

Sophistication from improvisation

Kitano Takeshi. London: British Film Institute, 2007, 272 pp., with photos. £16.99 (paper) This is a brilliant book on a mercurial subject. Takeshi Kitano is an actor and film director, ubiquitous on television as well, who has become a media event. His persona has splintered and he stands Janus-faced...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 18, 2007

'Fur'

There's a scene in "Fur" where photographer Diane Arbus, played by Nicole Kidman, is having sex with her husband, Alan (Ty Burrell), during a turbulent period in their marriage. His frustrations come to the fore, and he slams her head into the sofa, forcefully pinning her as he takes her from behind....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 19, 2007

'Babel' role simply 'had to be me'

Rinko Kikuchi reveals how she clung to movies like a lifeline during her tumultuous teenage years, and now she views acting as her way of returning the favor -- while director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu says she was robbed of an Oscar
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 13, 2007

'Dresden'

German movies are making headway into mainstream international cinema ("Perfume" and "Head On" leap to the mind), opening up a new window from which to view stories of love, obsession, history and war. "Dresden" takes all these themes and weaves them into one episode: the bombing of Dresden during World...
CULTURE / Film
Feb 16, 2007

Conquering the audience

Hungarian filmmaker Istvan Szabo has the distinction of being the only person from his country to receive an Oscar (for his 1981 work "Mephisto").
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 2, 2007

Early works by Kitano, Kurosawa trace current J-film boom

Last year witnessed a boom in the Japanese film industry, with nearly 30 local films taking more than 1 billion yen at the box office. The trend doesn't look likely to end soon, either, with two much talked about films -- "Soredemo Boku wa Yattenai," directed by Masayuki Suo (who drew international attention...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 18, 2007

In the presence of 'Emperor' Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa's assistant for almost four decades, Teruyo Nogami discusses the master filmmaker's genius, and his weaknesses
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 4, 2007

NHK to unveil next-generation 3-D technology by next year

NHK, Japan's giant public broadcaster, has become a world leader in 3-D technology, in partnership with the private sector. NHK researchers have been developing 3-D systems since 1990 and NHK Technical Services, an NHK group company, has made more than 300 3-D programs to date, from live sports shows...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 26, 2006

Dealing with death the Japanese ways

There is a quiet revolution taking place in the attitudes and practices concerning death and burial in Japan -- striking changes that shed light not only on how Japanese people today view death, but also life and the relationships that underpin it. So this week and next, I will explore contemporary issues...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 10, 2006

Cannibalism, hot-spring trysts

Donald Richie knows a thing or two about Japanese film. A prolific author, critic and Japan resident for almost 60 years, he has written authoritative works on two of Japan's best-known directors, Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu. But lesser known are his own experimental short films, five of which will...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 3, 2006

34 titles from Asia, Europe

Tokyo FILMeX returns for the seventh time from Nov. 17-26 to present 34 titles, including the latest in contemporary world cinema, at four venues.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 20, 2006

An intro to Tokyo's film fest

The Tokyo International Film Festival, Japan's biggest, glitziest film fest, opens Saturday, Oct. 21, and runs for nine days at Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills in Roppongi, Bunkamura in Shibuya and other venues around the city. The selection is huge, beginning with the four main sections: the Competition,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 17, 2006

Film's future is now

T here's new competition for actors aiming to make it big in Hollywood: Thanks to computer graphics, stars from the past are about to rise from the dead to play in new feature films as if they had never passed away.

Longform

A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake