Tag - film

 
 

FILM

Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 26, 2014
Yokudo: Lingering but confused gaze of indie director
Major film festivals, with their hurry-hurry schedules, are places to polish your sound bites, not launch into nuanced disquisitions. People want your opinion in 25 words or less. When someone asked me what I thought of Kiki Sugino's "Yokudo (Taksu)" after a screening at last month's Busan International...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 19, 2014
Filmex brings art and brutality to Tokyo cinemas
Now in its 15th edition, Tokyo Filmex is Japan's leading art-over-commerce festival, offering a lineup packed with films screened earlier this year at major festivals around the world, while disdaining the glitz and glamour of the recently ended Tokyo International Film Festival. The Filmex guest list,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 19, 2014
Hurt-till-you-laugh approach to making comedies
When Yosuke Fujita's debut feature "Zenzen Daijobu (Fine, Totally Fine)" started making the international festival rounds in 2008, it charmed nearly everyone who saw it.
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 18, 2014
Many of China's TV shows, films are rubbish, top government official says
Many of the television shows, movies and publications produced in China each year are rubbish, and the solution is to banish decadent themes and concentrate on uplifting social values instead, a senior government minister has said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 13, 2014
Film fest fans can get a fix at any number of events this month
The Tokyo International Film Festival may be finished, but movie buffs still have a lot of choices for festivals this month.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 13, 2014
Singing to quite a different tune
In the sense that "The Sound of Music" is not considered a reliable source for lessons about Nazism or that "My Fair Lady" is a profound analysis of class struggle, musicals do not generally spring to mind when considering the great achievements of French cinema. However, the National Film Center exhibition...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 5, 2014
Parasyte: Gory invasion of the cannibal body snatchers
The closing film of this year's Tokyo International Film Festival, Takashi Yamazaki's "Kiseiju: Part 1 (Parasyte: Part 1)," arrives in theaters with a lot of hype. Based on Hitoshi Iwaaki's best-selling manga about the stealth invasion of Earth by alien parasites, the film is the first of a two-part...
WORLD
Nov 2, 2014
J.K. Rowling reveals the inspiration for Harry Potter's enemy Umbridge
J.K. Rowling has revealed that the much-hated character Dolores Umbridge from her "Harry Potter" books is based on a teacher to whom she took an instant dislike — but whose name she has not disclosed.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 29, 2014
Pale Moon: Bored bank teller embraces the root of all evil
American bank robber Willie Sutton, who allegedly made more than $2 million over a 40-year criminal career, once told a reporter that he robbed banks because "that's where the money is." In the usual heist movie, however — with Stanley Kubrick's "The Killing" (1956) serving as a template — the stolen...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 29, 2014
Takeshi Kitano blasts domestic film industry
Rather than seeking bloody vengeance, Takeshi Kitano, director of yakuza films "Violent Cop," "Outrage" and "Beyond Outrage," expressed his frustrations with the domestic film industry with pointed comments at a recent talk event in Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 27, 2014
Scenes from Tokyo International Film Festival 2014
The made-in-Japan anime moves into the spotlight for the 27th Tokyo International Film Festival. Accordingly Ultraman and Doraeman and other less famous characters dropped by the festival on opening day to take part in the red carpet event.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 22, 2014
Vision of anime's future at Tokyo International Film Festival
The Tokyo International Film Festival, running through Oct. 31, is no longer Asia's biggest or most important festival — that honor is now claimed by the recently held rival Busan film festival. But its 27th edition — the first to reflect the full influence of TIFF's current director-general, Yasushi...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 22, 2014
TIFF Critic's Picks: Films from countries famed for unrest and oppression
According to TIFF's visual programming director Yoshihiko Yatabe, the semiofficial theme for this year's festival is "People on the Edge." They may be pursued, stuck in a rut, in dire trouble or just plain confused, but their stories are some of the most compelling at this years festival. These films...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 22, 2014
TIFF Critic's Picks: Japanese directors to watch
Despite TIFF's anime focus this year, its lineup of live-action Japanese films is as wide ranging as ever, with one glaring exception: Classic Japanese movies are almost nowhere on the program, and only one Japanese film, Daisuke Yoshida's "Kami no Tsuki (Pale Moon)," is being shown in the competition....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 18, 2014
Hideaki Anno: emotional deconstructionist
With dozens of the renowned filmmaker's works scheduled to be screened at the Tokyo International Film Festival over the next two weeks, we speak to the man behind the 'Evangelion' sci-fi franchise about his apocalyptic influences and prod him on the question that is on every fan's lips
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Oct 17, 2014
BIFF 2014 plays down unavoidable controversies
The biggest event of the year for South Korea's film industry is the opening night of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), which marked its 19th year Oct. 2 to 11. Whether or not they have films screening at the festival, almost all the major Korean movie stars show up and strut the red carpet...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Oct 17, 2014
Documentary puts survivors' accounts of Isewan Typhoon on film
A Japanese documentary on the 1959 Typhoon Vera, titled "Sorezore no Isewan Taifu" ("Each Person's Isewan Typhoon"), will begin screening on Saturday in three prefectures in the Tokai region.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 16, 2014
Tokyo International Film Festival contender 'Pale Moon' gets to the root of all evil
The bad news? Japan has only one entry in the Competition section at this year's Tokyo International Film Festival. The good news? The submission, Daihachi Yoshida's "Pale Moon," is a major contender for the $50,000 Tokyo Grand Prix.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 15, 2014
Two men and a tot make a half-decent film
When indie directors take a more commercial turn, the usual explanation is the bigger paycheck, but it's not always so simple. Yuya Ishii's shift from the raucous films of his early career to the more genteel, mainstream 2013 film "Fune wo Amu (The Great Passage)" raised not only his standard of living...

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