Baltasar Kormákur is back directing — but this time it’s not a survival drama, it’s a romance.
The “Adrift” and “Everest” filmmaker directs Focus Features’ “Touch,” based on the bestselling novel by Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson. The film tells a romantic and thrilling story that spans several decades and continents, with one widower trying to find his first love who disappeared 50 years ago.
Director Kormákur co-wrote the screenplay with novelist Ólafsson. The original Icelandic novel was published by Ecco/Harper Collins in the U.S. in August 2022. The film was shot in Iceland and Japan.
The ensemble cast is led by Egill Ólafsson, Kōki, Pálmi Kormákur, Masahiro Motoki, Yoko Narahashi, Meg Kubota, and Tatsuya Tagawa, with Charles Nishikawa, Sigurður Ingvarsson, Benedikt Erlingsson, Kieran Buckeridge, Ruth Sheen, María Ellingsen, and Masatoshi Nakamura also starring.
Writer/director Kormákur produces along with Agnes Johansen and Mike Goodridge. Kormákur most recently directed 2022’s “Beast...
The “Adrift” and “Everest” filmmaker directs Focus Features’ “Touch,” based on the bestselling novel by Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson. The film tells a romantic and thrilling story that spans several decades and continents, with one widower trying to find his first love who disappeared 50 years ago.
Director Kormákur co-wrote the screenplay with novelist Ólafsson. The original Icelandic novel was published by Ecco/Harper Collins in the U.S. in August 2022. The film was shot in Iceland and Japan.
The ensemble cast is led by Egill Ólafsson, Kōki, Pálmi Kormákur, Masahiro Motoki, Yoko Narahashi, Meg Kubota, and Tatsuya Tagawa, with Charles Nishikawa, Sigurður Ingvarsson, Benedikt Erlingsson, Kieran Buckeridge, Ruth Sheen, María Ellingsen, and Masatoshi Nakamura also starring.
Writer/director Kormákur produces along with Agnes Johansen and Mike Goodridge. Kormákur most recently directed 2022’s “Beast...
- 4/24/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
"I'm not going back." Focus Features has revealed the first trailer for a movie titled Touch, the latest from Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur. After making action movies like Contraband, The Deep, 2 Guns, and Everest, Kormákur has returned to his homeland of Iceland to make more intimate movies again. This one is a passionate love story "years & miles in the making." Adapted from the best-selling novel by Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson, Touch is a romantic and thrilling story that spans several decades and continents. Touch follows one widower's emotional journey to find his first love who disappeared 50 years ago, before his time runs out. Starring Egill Ólafsson as old Kristófer, with Palmi Kormakur as young Kristófer, plus Kōki, Masahiro Motoki, Sigurdur Ingvarsson, and Yoko Narahashi. His first love is a Japanese woman he met while in London, but her father takes her away and he loses contact with her for 50 years.
- 4/24/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Exclusive: Focus Features we hear has set a July 12, 2024 limited theatrical release date for Baltasar Kormákur’s romantic-drama Touch.
Universal Pictures International is handling international distribution sans Iceland.
The movie is based on Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson’s bestselling Icelandic novel published by Ecco/Harper Collins in the U.S in August 2022. The movie follows one widower’s emotional journey to find his first love who disappeared 50 years ago before his time runs out. The story spans several decades and continents. Ólafsson and Kormákur co-wrote the movie.
Rvk Studios’ Kormákur and Agnes Johansen produced Touch alongside Good Chaos’ Mike Goodridge.
Touch stars Egill Ólafsson, Kōki, Pálmi Kormákur, Masahiro Motoki, Yoko Narahashi, Meg Kubota, Tatsuya Tagawa, Charles Nishikawa, Sigurður Ingvarsson, Starkaður Pétursson, Benedikt Erlingsson, Kieran Buckeridge, Ruth Sheen, María Ellingsen and Masatoshi Nakamura.
Focus Features’ 2024 lineup includes Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke’s Drive-Away Dolls, the Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black,...
Universal Pictures International is handling international distribution sans Iceland.
The movie is based on Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson’s bestselling Icelandic novel published by Ecco/Harper Collins in the U.S in August 2022. The movie follows one widower’s emotional journey to find his first love who disappeared 50 years ago before his time runs out. The story spans several decades and continents. Ólafsson and Kormákur co-wrote the movie.
Rvk Studios’ Kormákur and Agnes Johansen produced Touch alongside Good Chaos’ Mike Goodridge.
Touch stars Egill Ólafsson, Kōki, Pálmi Kormákur, Masahiro Motoki, Yoko Narahashi, Meg Kubota, Tatsuya Tagawa, Charles Nishikawa, Sigurður Ingvarsson, Starkaður Pétursson, Benedikt Erlingsson, Kieran Buckeridge, Ruth Sheen, María Ellingsen and Masatoshi Nakamura.
Focus Features’ 2024 lineup includes Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke’s Drive-Away Dolls, the Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black,...
- 12/14/2023
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Focus Features has boarded Beast and Everest filmmaker Baltasar Kormákur’s romantic drama Touch, which begins principal photography Sunday in London. Focus will release domestically, with Universal Pictures International handling overseas distribution (excluding Iceland).
Touch is based on the bestselling Icelandic novel by Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson, which was published in the U.S. in August this year. Ólaffson co-wrote the script with Kormákur.
Related Story Focus Features Acquires Willem Dafoe Thriller 'Inside', Sets Q1 2023 Release Related Story Film Festival Heat Brightens Arthouse Outlook; 'Honk For Jesus', 'Gigi & Nate', François Ozon's 'Peter Von Kant' Make Holiday Weekend Debut – Specialty Preview Related Story 'Armageddon Time' Director James Gray Reveals Real-Life Tragic Circumstances Of A Key Character In His Autobiographical Film – Telluride Q&a
The story spans several decades and continents as it follows one widower’s emotional journey to find his first love...
Touch is based on the bestselling Icelandic novel by Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson, which was published in the U.S. in August this year. Ólaffson co-wrote the script with Kormákur.
Related Story Focus Features Acquires Willem Dafoe Thriller 'Inside', Sets Q1 2023 Release Related Story Film Festival Heat Brightens Arthouse Outlook; 'Honk For Jesus', 'Gigi & Nate', François Ozon's 'Peter Von Kant' Make Holiday Weekend Debut – Specialty Preview Related Story 'Armageddon Time' Director James Gray Reveals Real-Life Tragic Circumstances Of A Key Character In His Autobiographical Film – Telluride Q&a
The story spans several decades and continents as it follows one widower’s emotional journey to find his first love...
- 10/6/2022
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Hybrid is probably the word to best suit Michael Arias’ “Tekkonkinkreet”. Based on Taito Matsumoto’s manga “Black & White”, it is the story of Yin and Yang brothers Kuro (“Black”) and Shiro (“White”) as they battle to save their home from adults, greedy bad guys and inner demons.
Tekkonkinkreet is screening at Japan Society
Treasure Town is an island in the middle of the city – a lawless neighborhood that nobody runs, but everybody claims. Children run the streets, to the annoyance of the yakuza; while the police holds little real power. But this is the chaotic order in place. That is until Hebi and his evil empire want to raze Treasure Town to the ground and build an amusement park in the name of profit. This evil force unites the inhabitants against this outsider as they gradually realize the plans in place, and it’s up to out two young heroes to fight back.
Tekkonkinkreet is screening at Japan Society
Treasure Town is an island in the middle of the city – a lawless neighborhood that nobody runs, but everybody claims. Children run the streets, to the annoyance of the yakuza; while the police holds little real power. But this is the chaotic order in place. That is until Hebi and his evil empire want to raze Treasure Town to the ground and build an amusement park in the name of profit. This evil force unites the inhabitants against this outsider as they gradually realize the plans in place, and it’s up to out two young heroes to fight back.
- 8/28/2022
- by Andrew Thayne
- AsianMoviePulse
Masayuki Suo is a director not afraid to touch on cultural taboos in his work, most notably with 1996’s breakthrough “Shall We Dance?”. There, he tackled a foreign influence in ballroom dancing, and its lack of acceptance as a respectable activity for a middle-aged salaryman. His earlier “Sumo Do, Sumo Don’t”, however, looks at a more traditional Japanese activity, but how a younger generation embrace the foreign and see the past as taboo.
“Youth” is screening at Japan Society
Shuhei (Masahiro Motoki) is a slacker student, confident that he has no need to go to class or make any efforts, as his family connections have already landed him a job on graduation. There’s just one problem with this: he actually has to graduate. As such, he feels it’s about time he met with his professor, Anayama (Akira Emoto).
Anayama is something of a sumo wrestling buff; a lean man,...
“Youth” is screening at Japan Society
Shuhei (Masahiro Motoki) is a slacker student, confident that he has no need to go to class or make any efforts, as his family connections have already landed him a job on graduation. There’s just one problem with this: he actually has to graduate. As such, he feels it’s about time he met with his professor, Anayama (Akira Emoto).
Anayama is something of a sumo wrestling buff; a lean man,...
- 4/5/2020
- by Andrew Thayne
- AsianMoviePulse
Straying far away from the techno-industrial style of the two Tetsuo, Shinya Tsukamoto based this particular film on the homonymous Edogawa Rampo story that takes place in the Meiji era, in order to present a mystery/thriller/costume drama combination, which, once again though, thrives on visual and contextual deliriousness.
The film revolves around Yukio Daitokuji, a famous doctor who was decorated for his services during the war, and has now succeeded his father in the practice, amassing fame for both his past deeds and his present. Yukio seems to live a very happy life in the family mansion, with his parents and his beautiful wife, Rin. However, not everything is idyllic in his life. His parents disapprove of his wedding, since Rin is an amnesiac who Yukio found in the banks of a nearby river and took in, and no one knows anything about her past.
The film revolves around Yukio Daitokuji, a famous doctor who was decorated for his services during the war, and has now succeeded his father in the practice, amassing fame for both his past deeds and his present. Yukio seems to live a very happy life in the family mansion, with his parents and his beautiful wife, Rin. However, not everything is idyllic in his life. His parents disapprove of his wedding, since Rin is an amnesiac who Yukio found in the banks of a nearby river and took in, and no one knows anything about her past.
- 1/30/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
To celebrate the release of the international series ‘Giri/Haji’ to BBC Two in October we are honoured to share nine exclusive first look images from the show.
The eight-part series, directed by Julian Farino, is said to be a soulful thriller that explores the butterfly effect of one murder upon two very different worlds.
The Story
The new series follows Kenzo (Takehiro Hira) a middle-aged Tokyo detective and family man, who travels to London in search of his younger brother, Yuto (Yosuke Kubozuka). The siblings, once devoted and now estranged, are driven to opposite sides of the world by the spiralling consequences of one violent, split-second decision. Fukuhara (Masahiro Motoki), a notorious Japanese gang-lord and feared Yakuza, hears of his nephew’s murder in London – and the ramifications of the crime erupt across the globe. As a result, Kenzo’s family’s honour and the fragile peace between the...
The eight-part series, directed by Julian Farino, is said to be a soulful thriller that explores the butterfly effect of one murder upon two very different worlds.
The Story
The new series follows Kenzo (Takehiro Hira) a middle-aged Tokyo detective and family man, who travels to London in search of his younger brother, Yuto (Yosuke Kubozuka). The siblings, once devoted and now estranged, are driven to opposite sides of the world by the spiralling consequences of one violent, split-second decision. Fukuhara (Masahiro Motoki), a notorious Japanese gang-lord and feared Yakuza, hears of his nephew’s murder in London – and the ramifications of the crime erupt across the globe. As a result, Kenzo’s family’s honour and the fragile peace between the...
- 9/6/2019
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
It’s been something of a long wait for the latest release from “Dreams for Sale” director Miwa Nishikawa. Her fifth feature film, “The Long Excuse” is a considered look at grief, and continues where her last film left off, looking at the concept of self-deception and how people cope with times of crisis.
“The Long Excuse” screened at the New York Asian Film Festival
Sachio (Masahiro Motoki), a writer whose career has turned more to TV celebrity than literary genius, receives a haircut from his hairdresser wife. Slightly drunk, they have a discussion where he shows his annoyance at his status and how his name is that of a baseball legend. Leaving for a trip with her best friend Yuki (Keiko Horiuchi), Natsuko’s (Eri Fukatsu) bus soon crashes on its way through the mountains, killing both, while her husband has an affair with a younger woman.
Having grown cynical,...
“The Long Excuse” screened at the New York Asian Film Festival
Sachio (Masahiro Motoki), a writer whose career has turned more to TV celebrity than literary genius, receives a haircut from his hairdresser wife. Slightly drunk, they have a discussion where he shows his annoyance at his status and how his name is that of a baseball legend. Leaving for a trip with her best friend Yuki (Keiko Horiuchi), Natsuko’s (Eri Fukatsu) bus soon crashes on its way through the mountains, killing both, while her husband has an affair with a younger woman.
Having grown cynical,...
- 6/29/2019
- by Andrew Thayne
- AsianMoviePulse
A rather unusual flick by Takashi Miike. No detached Body parts, no gory violence. Instead, we get to see a modern fairytail about the downside of globalization.
Wada, played by Masahiro Motoki, works for an energy company. One day he unwillingly replaces a colleague on a business trip to a Chinese jade mine. On his heels is the yakuza Ujiie (Renji Ishibashi), whose boss is also interested in the jade mine. In the beginning separated then together, both of them are going on a journey into the untouched parts of the Chinese jungle, only accompanied by a local guide.
Due to an accident, the guide is temporarily unconscious and the group is lost until locals rescue them and take them to the village next to the jade mine. Once there, they learn about the peculiarity of the villagers. According to an old legend, the people have the ability to fly.
Wada, played by Masahiro Motoki, works for an energy company. One day he unwillingly replaces a colleague on a business trip to a Chinese jade mine. On his heels is the yakuza Ujiie (Renji Ishibashi), whose boss is also interested in the jade mine. In the beginning separated then together, both of them are going on a journey into the untouched parts of the Chinese jungle, only accompanied by a local guide.
Due to an accident, the guide is temporarily unconscious and the group is lost until locals rescue them and take them to the village next to the jade mine. Once there, they learn about the peculiarity of the villagers. According to an old legend, the people have the ability to fly.
- 10/12/2018
- by Alexander Knoth
- AsianMoviePulse
The BBC and Netflix have unveiled the international cast and a first-look image of their ambitious bilingual drama “Giri/Haji,” which has begun filming in London. An acclaimed Japanese lineup, led by Takehiro Hira and Yosuke Kubozuka, is joined by Emmy-winning British actress Kelly Macdonald, British actor Charlie Creed-Miles and U.S. actor Justin Long.
The eight-part thriller, whose title translates as “Duty/Shame,” is shot in both Japanese and English and will be subtitled. Set between London and Tokyo across multiple time frames, the show explores the ripple effects of one murder on two cities. The shoot will move to Tokyo later this year.
“Giri/Haji” is created and written by BAFTA nominee Joe Barton and directed by BAFTA-winner and Emmy nominee Julian Farino. The Japanese cast also includes Masahiro Motoki, Yuko Nakamura, Aoi Okuyama, Mitsuko Oka, Togo Igawa, Katsuya and Yoshiki Minato. British actors Will Sharpe and Tony Pitts also star.
The eight-part thriller, whose title translates as “Duty/Shame,” is shot in both Japanese and English and will be subtitled. Set between London and Tokyo across multiple time frames, the show explores the ripple effects of one murder on two cities. The shoot will move to Tokyo later this year.
“Giri/Haji” is created and written by BAFTA nominee Joe Barton and directed by BAFTA-winner and Emmy nominee Julian Farino. The Japanese cast also includes Masahiro Motoki, Yuko Nakamura, Aoi Okuyama, Mitsuko Oka, Togo Igawa, Katsuya and Yoshiki Minato. British actors Will Sharpe and Tony Pitts also star.
- 8/21/2018
- by Robert Mitchell
- Variety Film + TV
This great recent Japanese epic is all but unknown here — and is the kind of adult historical show that we seem incapable of these days. The intense diplomatic storm at the end of WW2 with an Army command willing to sacrifice the nation in a national suicide pact, is given an exciting, thoughtful treatment
The Emperor in August
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
2015 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 136 min. / Street Date August 15, 2017 / Nihon no ichiban nagai hi ketteiban / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: Koji Yakusho, Masahiro Motoki, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Shin’ichi Tsutsumi, Tori Matsuzaka, Kikuo Kaneuchi, Misuzu Kanno, Katsumi Kiba.
Cinematography: Takahide Shibanushi
Film Editor: Eugene Harada
Original Music: Harumi Fuki
Based on the novel by Kacutoshi Hando
Produced by Hirotaki Aragaki, Nozumi Enoki
Written and Directed by Masato Harada
How does Twilight Time do it? Every time they offer a foreign title I’ve never heard of, it comes up a winner.
The Emperor in August
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
2015 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 136 min. / Street Date August 15, 2017 / Nihon no ichiban nagai hi ketteiban / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: Koji Yakusho, Masahiro Motoki, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Shin’ichi Tsutsumi, Tori Matsuzaka, Kikuo Kaneuchi, Misuzu Kanno, Katsumi Kiba.
Cinematography: Takahide Shibanushi
Film Editor: Eugene Harada
Original Music: Harumi Fuki
Based on the novel by Kacutoshi Hando
Produced by Hirotaki Aragaki, Nozumi Enoki
Written and Directed by Masato Harada
How does Twilight Time do it? Every time they offer a foreign title I’ve never heard of, it comes up a winner.
- 9/9/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Sachio Kinugasa is a formerly successful writer who currently makes his living by appearing on talk shows. He is married to a hairstylist, Natsuko, but constantly ignores her while he is having an affair with his editor. His life turns upside down when Natsuko is killed in a bus accident, along with her friend Yuko. The two widowers, Sachio and Yoichi deal with the incident in completely different fashion. Sachio tries to “seduce” the media once more, while Yoichi is utterly devastated. However, due to Yoichi’s efforts to become friends with him, the two men start socializing, and eventually Sachio agrees to act as a babysitter for Yoichi’s two kids, Shinpei and Akari. As he starts warming up to them, Sachio realizes the mistakes he has made in his life, particularly regarding his deceased wife.
Miwa Nishikawa directs and pens (actually adapts her own book) a touching movie that starts as a drama,...
Miwa Nishikawa directs and pens (actually adapts her own book) a touching movie that starts as a drama,...
- 11/17/2016
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Exclusive: Fifth film from Hirokazu Koreeda protégé stars Masahiro Motoki.
Paris-based Elle Driver has snapped up international sales on Japanese director Miwa Nishikawa’s heart-warming drama The Long Excuse ahead of its world premiere in Toronto’s Special Presentations strand.
Popular Japanese actor Masahiro Matoki - best known internationally for his performance in the 2008 Oscar-winning film Departures - plays Sachio Kinugasa, a popular writer coming to terms with the death of his wife in a bus crash alongside a friend.
Sachio had long checked out of his loveless marriage and was with another woman at the moment of his wife’s death so he has to fake his grief to keep up appearances.
The true implications of his loss are brought into sharp relief, however, when Sachio meets the devastated husband of his wife’s friend and offers to look after their children so the latter - a truck-driver - can go back to work.
It is the...
Paris-based Elle Driver has snapped up international sales on Japanese director Miwa Nishikawa’s heart-warming drama The Long Excuse ahead of its world premiere in Toronto’s Special Presentations strand.
Popular Japanese actor Masahiro Matoki - best known internationally for his performance in the 2008 Oscar-winning film Departures - plays Sachio Kinugasa, a popular writer coming to terms with the death of his wife in a bus crash alongside a friend.
Sachio had long checked out of his loveless marriage and was with another woman at the moment of his wife’s death so he has to fake his grief to keep up appearances.
The true implications of his loss are brought into sharp relief, however, when Sachio meets the devastated husband of his wife’s friend and offers to look after their children so the latter - a truck-driver - can go back to work.
It is the...
- 9/6/2016
- ScreenDaily
Miwa Nishikawa is no stranger to the Toronto International Film Festival, as her last film, “Dream for Sale,” was screened at Tiff in 2012. Now, the Japanese director and screenwriter is back with her latest film “The Long Excuse,” based on her novel of the same name.
The drama stars Masahiro Motoki as Sachio Kinugasa, a popular writer who is widowed after his wife (Eri Fukatsu) dies in a bus accident. Coming to terms with his grief, or lack of it, he offers to take care of another man’s children who also lost their mother in the same incident.
The film will be screened at Tiff on Saturday, September 17 and 18 and IndieWire has an exclusive new trailer that you can check out below.
Read More: ‘These Days’ Exclusive Trailer: Giuseppe Piccioni’s Venice Drama Follows The Complicated Bonds of Friendship
“The Long Excuse” is executive produced by Kazumi Kawashiro, Yasuhito Nakae,...
The drama stars Masahiro Motoki as Sachio Kinugasa, a popular writer who is widowed after his wife (Eri Fukatsu) dies in a bus accident. Coming to terms with his grief, or lack of it, he offers to take care of another man’s children who also lost their mother in the same incident.
The film will be screened at Tiff on Saturday, September 17 and 18 and IndieWire has an exclusive new trailer that you can check out below.
Read More: ‘These Days’ Exclusive Trailer: Giuseppe Piccioni’s Venice Drama Follows The Complicated Bonds of Friendship
“The Long Excuse” is executive produced by Kazumi Kawashiro, Yasuhito Nakae,...
- 9/5/2016
- by Liz Calvario
- Indiewire
The Blue Ribbon Awards are film-specific prizes awarded solely by movie critics and writers in Tokyo, Japan.
The awards were established in 1950 by The Association of Tokyo Film Journalists which is composed of film correspondents from seven Tokyo-based sports newspapers. In 1961, the six major Japanese newspapers (Yomiuri Shinbun, Asahi Shinbun, Mainichi Shinbun, Sankei Shimbun, Tokyo Shimbun andNihon Keizai Shinbun) as well as the Japanese Associated Press withdrew their support for the Blue Ribbon Awards and established the Association of Japanese Film Journalists Awards, (which were held a mere six times). In 1967, the awards were cancelled as a result of the Black Mist Scandal, a baseball bribing case. In 1975, the awards were revived, and have continued until the present day. The annual award ceremony is held in a variety of places in Tokyo every February.
Although the award is not acclaimed highly on an international level, due to their long history and the rigorous screening process,...
The awards were established in 1950 by The Association of Tokyo Film Journalists which is composed of film correspondents from seven Tokyo-based sports newspapers. In 1961, the six major Japanese newspapers (Yomiuri Shinbun, Asahi Shinbun, Mainichi Shinbun, Sankei Shimbun, Tokyo Shimbun andNihon Keizai Shinbun) as well as the Japanese Associated Press withdrew their support for the Blue Ribbon Awards and established the Association of Japanese Film Journalists Awards, (which were held a mere six times). In 1967, the awards were cancelled as a result of the Black Mist Scandal, a baseball bribing case. In 1975, the awards were revived, and have continued until the present day. The annual award ceremony is held in a variety of places in Tokyo every February.
Although the award is not acclaimed highly on an international level, due to their long history and the rigorous screening process,...
- 3/26/2016
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The ceremony took place in the Grand Prince Hotel on the 4th of March and the winners were:
Best Picture: Our Little Sister (Hirokazu Koreeda)
Best Animated Film: The Boy and The beast (Mamoru Hosoda)
Best Director: Hirokazu Koreeda (Our Little Sister)
Best Actor: Kazunari Ninomiiya (Living with my Mother)
Best Actress: Sakura Ando (100 Yen Love)
Best Supporting Actor: Masahiro Motoki (The Emperor in August, Japan’s Longest Stay)
Best Supporting Actress: Haru Kuroki (Living with my Mother) Best Screenplay: Shin Adachi (100 Yen Love)
Best Cinematography: Mikiya Takimoto (Our Little Sister)
Best Lighting Direction: Norikiyo Fujii (Our Little Sister)
Best Music: Sakanaction (Bakuman)
Best Art Direction: Hidefumi Hanatani (125 Years Memory)
Best Sound Recording: Nobuhiko Matsukage (125 Years Memory)
Best Film Editing: Yasuyuki Ozeki (Bakuman)
Best Foreign Language Film: American Sniper
Newcomer of the Year: Kasumi Arimura (Flying Colors), Tao Tsuchiya (Orange), Ryosuke Yamada, (Assassination Classroom), Yojiro Noda (Pieta in the Toilet...
Best Picture: Our Little Sister (Hirokazu Koreeda)
Best Animated Film: The Boy and The beast (Mamoru Hosoda)
Best Director: Hirokazu Koreeda (Our Little Sister)
Best Actor: Kazunari Ninomiiya (Living with my Mother)
Best Actress: Sakura Ando (100 Yen Love)
Best Supporting Actor: Masahiro Motoki (The Emperor in August, Japan’s Longest Stay)
Best Supporting Actress: Haru Kuroki (Living with my Mother) Best Screenplay: Shin Adachi (100 Yen Love)
Best Cinematography: Mikiya Takimoto (Our Little Sister)
Best Lighting Direction: Norikiyo Fujii (Our Little Sister)
Best Music: Sakanaction (Bakuman)
Best Art Direction: Hidefumi Hanatani (125 Years Memory)
Best Sound Recording: Nobuhiko Matsukage (125 Years Memory)
Best Film Editing: Yasuyuki Ozeki (Bakuman)
Best Foreign Language Film: American Sniper
Newcomer of the Year: Kasumi Arimura (Flying Colors), Tao Tsuchiya (Orange), Ryosuke Yamada, (Assassination Classroom), Yojiro Noda (Pieta in the Toilet...
- 3/4/2016
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The award ceremony for the oldest Japanese cinema competition took place on February13 at the Bunkyo Civic Center, and the list of winners is:
Best Actor: Kazunari Ninomiya (Nagasaki: Memories of My Son)
Best Actress: Eri Fukatsu (Journey to the Shore, Parasyte The Final Chapter)
Best Supporting Actor: Masahiro Motoki (The Big Bee)
Best Supporting Actress: Haru Kuroki (When the Curtain Rises; Solomon’s Perjury)
Best Director (Japanese): Ryosuke Hashiguchi (Three Stories of Love)
Best Director (Foreign): George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)
Best Screenplay: Ryosuke Hashiguchi (Three Stories of Love)
Best New Actor: Atsushi Shinohara (Three Stories of Love)
Best New Actress: Suzu Hirose (Our Little Sister)
Eri Fukatsu
Best Ten Japanese Feature Films
Three Stories of Love
Fires on the Plain
Happy Hour
Our Little Sister
Journey to the Shore
Gonin Saga
This Country’s Sky
Solomon’s Perjury
Nagasaki: Memories of My Son
Being Good...
Best Actor: Kazunari Ninomiya (Nagasaki: Memories of My Son)
Best Actress: Eri Fukatsu (Journey to the Shore, Parasyte The Final Chapter)
Best Supporting Actor: Masahiro Motoki (The Big Bee)
Best Supporting Actress: Haru Kuroki (When the Curtain Rises; Solomon’s Perjury)
Best Director (Japanese): Ryosuke Hashiguchi (Three Stories of Love)
Best Director (Foreign): George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)
Best Screenplay: Ryosuke Hashiguchi (Three Stories of Love)
Best New Actor: Atsushi Shinohara (Three Stories of Love)
Best New Actress: Suzu Hirose (Our Little Sister)
Eri Fukatsu
Best Ten Japanese Feature Films
Three Stories of Love
Fires on the Plain
Happy Hour
Our Little Sister
Journey to the Shore
Gonin Saga
This Country’s Sky
Solomon’s Perjury
Nagasaki: Memories of My Son
Being Good...
- 2/16/2016
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The 28th ceremony took place at the New Otani Hotel, in Tokyo and the list of winners is:
Best Film: Solomon’s Perjury (Izuru Narashima)
Best Director: Masato Harada (The Emperor in August, Kakekomi)
Best Actor: Kengo Kora (TheMourner, Being Good)
Best Actress: Haruka Ayase (Our Little Sister)
Best Supporting Actor: Masahiro Motoki (The Emperor in August, The Big Bee)
Best Supporting Actress: Masami Nagasawa (Our Little Sister)
Best International Film: Whiplash (Damien Chazelle)
New Face Award: Suzu Hirose (Our Little Sister)
Fan Award: Joker Game (Yu Irie)
Yujiro Ishihara Award: The Emperor in August
Achievement Award: Yukichi Shinada (film critic)
Kengo Kora
Masami Nagasawa
the winners...
Best Film: Solomon’s Perjury (Izuru Narashima)
Best Director: Masato Harada (The Emperor in August, Kakekomi)
Best Actor: Kengo Kora (TheMourner, Being Good)
Best Actress: Haruka Ayase (Our Little Sister)
Best Supporting Actor: Masahiro Motoki (The Emperor in August, The Big Bee)
Best Supporting Actress: Masami Nagasawa (Our Little Sister)
Best International Film: Whiplash (Damien Chazelle)
New Face Award: Suzu Hirose (Our Little Sister)
Fan Award: Joker Game (Yu Irie)
Yujiro Ishihara Award: The Emperor in August
Achievement Award: Yukichi Shinada (film critic)
Kengo Kora
Masami Nagasawa
the winners...
- 12/29/2015
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
You've heard that they're making a live action American version of Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira (1988), right? That's the sci-fi cartoon that really opened the Anime floodgates here in the States. I have a faint memory of seeing the movie in the theater when it arrived in the States -- I think 1990? -- and that memory involves two things: my jaw was mostly open throughout from the epic violent craziness, and my best friend at the time who I went to every movie with (hi Kevan!) turned to me during the climactic battle when Tetsuo transforms hideously into this blob like creature and said something silly like "quivering mounds of blubbery goo" in a dramatic but silly voice. We started giggling and a rather, um, large patron in front of us turned around to give us hateful looks. Embarrassing! But we were just reacting to the visuals on screen, I promise.
For...
For...
- 3/22/2011
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Alan Parker’s Pink Floyd The Wall (top); Dziga Vertov’s Man with a Movie Camera (middle); Masahiro Motoki in Yojiro Takita’s Oscar-winning Departures (bottom) The 2010 edition of Ebertfest, Roger Ebert’s film festival of overlooked (and not-so-overlooked) movies, kicked off at 7 p.m. this evening with a screening of Alan Parker’s (not-at-all) overlooked Pink Floyd The Wall. (I’m no fan of the film; I was told that to you need to be on acid to appreciate its artistry. I have no intention of ever taking up that suggestion.) Ebertfest 2010 highlights include Roy Andersson’s totally overlooked (in the United States, at least) You, the Living, which consists of dozens of vignettes featuring average people and their oftentimes comic/bizarre problems; Lee Isaac Chung’s Rwanda-set [...]...
- 4/22/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Departures
Many viewers would be touched by the tale of an aspiring cellist, who accidentally becomes a mortician (an undertaker or a funeral director, to some) when he loses his dream job with a symphony orchestra. Many would even be stupefied by the ingenuity of the filmmakers to pick up a seemingly unique subject such as “encoffinment” as a subject for a feature film. Many others would be in awe of the Asian traditions that respect the dead, the elderly, and the institution of marriage until (and beyond!) “death do us part”. Many others would be equally intrigued by the Asian traditions that consider associating any profession relating to the dead as being somewhat demeaning and not worthy of public stature.
Director Yojiro Takita’s film is loosely based on Aoki Shinmon’s autobiographical book The Coffin Man, which was subsequently adapted for the screen by the scriptwriter Kundo Koyama.
Many viewers would be touched by the tale of an aspiring cellist, who accidentally becomes a mortician (an undertaker or a funeral director, to some) when he loses his dream job with a symphony orchestra. Many would even be stupefied by the ingenuity of the filmmakers to pick up a seemingly unique subject such as “encoffinment” as a subject for a feature film. Many others would be in awe of the Asian traditions that respect the dead, the elderly, and the institution of marriage until (and beyond!) “death do us part”. Many others would be equally intrigued by the Asian traditions that consider associating any profession relating to the dead as being somewhat demeaning and not worthy of public stature.
Director Yojiro Takita’s film is loosely based on Aoki Shinmon’s autobiographical book The Coffin Man, which was subsequently adapted for the screen by the scriptwriter Kundo Koyama.
- 4/17/2010
- by Jugu Abraham
- DearCinema.com
By Christopher Stipp
The Archives, Right Here
I was able to sit down for a couple of years and pump out a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight” right Here for free.
Check out my new column, This Week In Trailers, at SlashFilm.com and follow me on Twitter under the name: Stipp
Departures DVD - Review
The fact that this film beat out Waltz with Bashir and The Class at last year’s Academy Awards should be an indication of how good Departures really is. Not saying it should be a sticker on its box cover but it is a compelling fact on top of the one that this is really that good.
For those who need the CliffsNotes version of the story it is thus: A talented musician/father, Daigo (Masahiro Motoki), takes solace in his music as a professional cellist.
The Archives, Right Here
I was able to sit down for a couple of years and pump out a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight” right Here for free.
Check out my new column, This Week In Trailers, at SlashFilm.com and follow me on Twitter under the name: Stipp
Departures DVD - Review
The fact that this film beat out Waltz with Bashir and The Class at last year’s Academy Awards should be an indication of how good Departures really is. Not saying it should be a sticker on its box cover but it is a compelling fact on top of the one that this is really that good.
For those who need the CliffsNotes version of the story it is thus: A talented musician/father, Daigo (Masahiro Motoki), takes solace in his music as a professional cellist.
- 1/15/2010
- by Christopher Stipp
Winner of the Best Foreign Language Film at last year's Oscars this off-shore indie sleeper is an achingly beautiful portrait of tender reconciliation from a culture where openly venting one's emotions is just not something that you do. Ten years in the making this gentle, drifting drama - the brainchild of it's leading man Masahiro Motoki - dares to question the value of its nation's ultra-conservative social approach and the chokehold people are expected to maintain on their feelings for the sake of appearance. Simply put, life's too short.
Crushed by the disbanding of his Tokyo opera and indebted over his expensive new instrument, disillusioned cellist Diago (Motoki) returns to his provincial home town with his adoring wife Mika (Hirosue) to live in the house his mother left him. Besieged by bad memories Diago finds himself haunted by gradually dissolving memories of the father who skipped out when he was still an infant.
Crushed by the disbanding of his Tokyo opera and indebted over his expensive new instrument, disillusioned cellist Diago (Motoki) returns to his provincial home town with his adoring wife Mika (Hirosue) to live in the house his mother left him. Besieged by bad memories Diago finds himself haunted by gradually dissolving memories of the father who skipped out when he was still an infant.
- 1/14/2010
- by Neil Pedley
- JustPressPlay.net
2010 is in full swing and some really great movies are hitting store shelves this week for the first time and for the first time on Blu-ray. This week’s releases include Moon, Halloween II, Cliffhanger, Kathy Griffin: She’ll Cut a Bitch, I Can Do Bad All By Myself and the Blu-ray release of The Hurt Locker (pictured above).
Check out this week’s releases:
Movies
Amreeka ~ Yussuf Abu-Warda, Hiam Abbass, Alia Shawkat (DVD)
Big Fan ~ Patton Oswalt, Michael Rapaport, Matt Servitto (DVD and Blu-ray)
Cliffhanger ~ Sylvester Stallone (Blu-ray)
Departures ~ Masahiro Motoki, Ryoko Hirosue (DVD)
8 1/2 (The Criterion Collection) ~ Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimée, Claudia Cardinale (Blu-ray)
Halloween II (Unrated Director’s Cut) ~ Scout Taylor-Compton, Malcolm McDowell, Sheri Moon Zombie (DVD and Blu-ray)
I Can Do Bad All By Myself ~ Tyler Perry, Taraji P. Henson (DVD and Blu-ray)
In the Loop ~ James Gandolfini (DVD and Blu-ray)
The Hurt Locker ~ Ralph Fiennes,...
Check out this week’s releases:
Movies
Amreeka ~ Yussuf Abu-Warda, Hiam Abbass, Alia Shawkat (DVD)
Big Fan ~ Patton Oswalt, Michael Rapaport, Matt Servitto (DVD and Blu-ray)
Cliffhanger ~ Sylvester Stallone (Blu-ray)
Departures ~ Masahiro Motoki, Ryoko Hirosue (DVD)
8 1/2 (The Criterion Collection) ~ Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimée, Claudia Cardinale (Blu-ray)
Halloween II (Unrated Director’s Cut) ~ Scout Taylor-Compton, Malcolm McDowell, Sheri Moon Zombie (DVD and Blu-ray)
I Can Do Bad All By Myself ~ Tyler Perry, Taraji P. Henson (DVD and Blu-ray)
In the Loop ~ James Gandolfini (DVD and Blu-ray)
The Hurt Locker ~ Ralph Fiennes,...
- 1/12/2010
- by Joe Gillis
- The Flickcast
The Box (12A)
(Richard Kelly, 2009, Us) Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella. 116 mins
Will Kelly ever make another movie as good as Donnie Darko? There are signs here that he might, but he hasn't this time. The Twilight Zone plot – press the button on this box and you'll get $1m, but someone will die – opens up more moral/conspiracy/sci-fi elements than the film can handle. Still, too much is better than not enough, especially when it's as smoothly sinister, visually sophisticated and borderline bonkers as this.
Me And Orson Welles (12A)
(Richard Linklater, 2008, Us/UK) Zac Efron, Claire Danes. 114 mins
Efron graduates from High School backstage to Welles's 1930s theatre troupe in this sweet coming-of-age flick, holding his own against Christian McKay's rakish, bombastic Welles – even when they fall for the same girl.
Cracks (15)
(Jordan Scott, 2009, UK) Eva Green, Juno Temple. 104 mins
Set within the confines of a posh girls' boarding school,...
(Richard Kelly, 2009, Us) Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella. 116 mins
Will Kelly ever make another movie as good as Donnie Darko? There are signs here that he might, but he hasn't this time. The Twilight Zone plot – press the button on this box and you'll get $1m, but someone will die – opens up more moral/conspiracy/sci-fi elements than the film can handle. Still, too much is better than not enough, especially when it's as smoothly sinister, visually sophisticated and borderline bonkers as this.
Me And Orson Welles (12A)
(Richard Linklater, 2008, Us/UK) Zac Efron, Claire Danes. 114 mins
Efron graduates from High School backstage to Welles's 1930s theatre troupe in this sweet coming-of-age flick, holding his own against Christian McKay's rakish, bombastic Welles – even when they fall for the same girl.
Cracks (15)
(Jordan Scott, 2009, UK) Eva Green, Juno Temple. 104 mins
Set within the confines of a posh girls' boarding school,...
- 12/5/2009
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Yôjirô Takita's bitter-sweet tale of the Japanese funeral trade plays a bit like a formal service itself
Yôjirô Takita's bitter-sweet tale of the Japanese funeral trade plays a bit like a formal service itself. At the start there is some uncertain shuffling, a few inappropriate giggles; the odd spasm of embarrassment. Then the mood settles and the soberness of the ritual takes hold.
Masahiro Motoki (a former boy-band singer) plays the down-on-his-luck cellist who accepts a job administering to "the departures" in his hometown, tenderly washing and shaving the corpses on their last stop before the incinerator.
This was a surprise winner of this year's foreign film Oscar, which prompted some to joke that here, at last, was a movie the decrepit Academy voters could really relate to. Fortunately, Takita's wry, insightful handling ensures that it speaks to the rest of us as well.
Rating: 3/5
World cinemaDramaXan Brooks
guardian.
Yôjirô Takita's bitter-sweet tale of the Japanese funeral trade plays a bit like a formal service itself. At the start there is some uncertain shuffling, a few inappropriate giggles; the odd spasm of embarrassment. Then the mood settles and the soberness of the ritual takes hold.
Masahiro Motoki (a former boy-band singer) plays the down-on-his-luck cellist who accepts a job administering to "the departures" in his hometown, tenderly washing and shaving the corpses on their last stop before the incinerator.
This was a surprise winner of this year's foreign film Oscar, which prompted some to joke that here, at last, was a movie the decrepit Academy voters could really relate to. Fortunately, Takita's wry, insightful handling ensures that it speaks to the rest of us as well.
Rating: 3/5
World cinemaDramaXan Brooks
guardian.
- 12/4/2009
- by Xan Brooks
- The Guardian - Film News
Here’s the new poster (click to enlarge) & trailer for the movie which won the Best Foreign Language film at the 2009 Academy Awards. It’s called Depeartures (Okuribito), stars Masahiro Motoki, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ryoko Hirosue, Kazuko Yoshiyuki and is directed by Yôjirô Takita.
It’s being released in UK cinemas 4th December and you can check out the synopsis and trailer below.
A delightful and sensitive journey into the heartland of Japan and an astonishingly beautiful look at a sacred part of Japan’s cultural heritage, Departures tells the story of Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Matoki), a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved who now finds himself without a job. Daigo decides to move back to his old hometown with his wife to look for work and start over. He answers a classified ad entitled “Departures” thinking it is an advertisement for a travel agency only to...
It’s being released in UK cinemas 4th December and you can check out the synopsis and trailer below.
A delightful and sensitive journey into the heartland of Japan and an astonishingly beautiful look at a sacred part of Japan’s cultural heritage, Departures tells the story of Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Matoki), a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved who now finds himself without a job. Daigo decides to move back to his old hometown with his wife to look for work and start over. He answers a classified ad entitled “Departures” thinking it is an advertisement for a travel agency only to...
- 12/1/2009
- by David Sztypuljak
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
A Japanese film about a Buddhist mortician is set to be an unlikely commercial success
There aren't many films about the Japanese art of corpse beautification. Still fewer made by a director who previously specialised in soft-core porn and starring an ex-boy band heart-throb. But Departures (Okuribito), which opens in Britain on Friday, is all these things. It won this year's best foreign language Oscar, beating two critically feted films, Waltz with Bashir and The Class.
But why? The film, after all, is hardly a Saturday night no-brainer. Loosely adapted from Aoki Simmons's autobiography Coffinman: The Journal of a Buddhist Mortician, it's about a redundant cellist who finds meaning in his life when he gets a job ceremonially washing bodies, preparing them for entry into the next life. Even in Japan, where films about death and funerals are not uncommon (see Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece Ikiru), the role of the...
There aren't many films about the Japanese art of corpse beautification. Still fewer made by a director who previously specialised in soft-core porn and starring an ex-boy band heart-throb. But Departures (Okuribito), which opens in Britain on Friday, is all these things. It won this year's best foreign language Oscar, beating two critically feted films, Waltz with Bashir and The Class.
But why? The film, after all, is hardly a Saturday night no-brainer. Loosely adapted from Aoki Simmons's autobiography Coffinman: The Journal of a Buddhist Mortician, it's about a redundant cellist who finds meaning in his life when he gets a job ceremonially washing bodies, preparing them for entry into the next life. Even in Japan, where films about death and funerals are not uncommon (see Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece Ikiru), the role of the...
- 11/30/2009
- by Stuart Jeffries
- The Guardian - Film News
(And another film with no Twitch review. Allow me to put that right.)
The Longest Night in Shanghai could have been a disaster. It's a formula rom-com at heart, yet another riff on Pygmalion where a glossy pan-Asian cast is headed up by two lonely beautiful people who only need one fleeting meet-cute to establish they're meant for each other. It's helmed by an arthouse director, Zhang Yibai, coming off a shaky second picture (Curiosity Kills the Cat) in which the more predictable genre elements he tried to introduce killed a great deal of the atmosphere stone dead almost before it even got started.
But it's not a disaster. It's far from a perfect film; it's too long, and its multiple plot threads vary wildly in quality, but the sumptuous production values, stellar cast and gorgeous soundtrack paper over the (very) rough spots to leave the viewer with one of the quietest,...
The Longest Night in Shanghai could have been a disaster. It's a formula rom-com at heart, yet another riff on Pygmalion where a glossy pan-Asian cast is headed up by two lonely beautiful people who only need one fleeting meet-cute to establish they're meant for each other. It's helmed by an arthouse director, Zhang Yibai, coming off a shaky second picture (Curiosity Kills the Cat) in which the more predictable genre elements he tried to introduce killed a great deal of the atmosphere stone dead almost before it even got started.
But it's not a disaster. It's far from a perfect film; it's too long, and its multiple plot threads vary wildly in quality, but the sumptuous production values, stellar cast and gorgeous soundtrack paper over the (very) rough spots to leave the viewer with one of the quietest,...
- 11/25/2009
- Screen Anarchy
(Screened as part of the 23rd Leeds International Film Festival which ran from 4th-22nd November 2009. Didn't see a Twitch review for this at all, so here we are.)
The biggest problem with Yōjirō Takita's Departures is probably how utterly predictable it is. After all, this is a film where the main character jumping (wrongly) to conclusions leads him to a life-changing epiphany he never expected, yet it's so ruthlessly put together nothing ever surprises. Nearly every pivotal moment is exactly what it seems.
Masahiro Motoki (The Bird People In China) plays Daigo Kobayashi, a cellist for a small orchestra who's just moved back to his home town after being made redundant. Struggling to find a job outside the big city, Daigo comes across a tiny classified ad for help wanted - the wording's a little ambiguous, but it seems to be something to do with travelling. Holiday bookings, perhaps?...
The biggest problem with Yōjirō Takita's Departures is probably how utterly predictable it is. After all, this is a film where the main character jumping (wrongly) to conclusions leads him to a life-changing epiphany he never expected, yet it's so ruthlessly put together nothing ever surprises. Nearly every pivotal moment is exactly what it seems.
Masahiro Motoki (The Bird People In China) plays Daigo Kobayashi, a cellist for a small orchestra who's just moved back to his home town after being made redundant. Struggling to find a job outside the big city, Daigo comes across a tiny classified ad for help wanted - the wording's a little ambiguous, but it seems to be something to do with travelling. Holiday bookings, perhaps?...
- 11/25/2009
- Screen Anarchy
By Austin Lugar
for MovieSet.com
{Ed Note: ‘Departures‘ is also known by the Japanese title ‘Okuribito’}
Like most film nerds, I watched the Oscars with a lot of anticipation and predictions. So when the Best Foreign Film category came along, I was hoping The Class was going to beat out Waltz With Bashir because, as I mentioned, I’m a nerd. Yet Departures went home with the golden statue, which left all of America saying, “What in the world is Departures?” It only played at the Hawaii Film Festival in 2008, which qualified it for the Oscars and is only now starting to trickle to theatres across the country.
Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) and Shokichi Hirata (Takashi Sasano) in 'Departures.'
So now that I’ve seen it, I can safely say: Yes, it deserves the prize. There are a lot of movies about death, but there aren’t many...
for MovieSet.com
{Ed Note: ‘Departures‘ is also known by the Japanese title ‘Okuribito’}
Like most film nerds, I watched the Oscars with a lot of anticipation and predictions. So when the Best Foreign Film category came along, I was hoping The Class was going to beat out Waltz With Bashir because, as I mentioned, I’m a nerd. Yet Departures went home with the golden statue, which left all of America saying, “What in the world is Departures?” It only played at the Hawaii Film Festival in 2008, which qualified it for the Oscars and is only now starting to trickle to theatres across the country.
Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) and Shokichi Hirata (Takashi Sasano) in 'Departures.'
So now that I’ve seen it, I can safely say: Yes, it deserves the prize. There are a lot of movies about death, but there aren’t many...
- 9/1/2009
- by Austin Lugar
- MovieSet.com
An unemployed cellist finds his true calling as a corpse cosmetician in the moving new Japanese film Departures. A smash hit in Japan, Departures, a film about death, life, and forgiveness, was an upset winner for best foreign film at this year’s Oscar ceremony and it’s easy to see why this sentimental art-house crowd pleaser won over the political favorite Waltz With Bashirs and the more challenging The Class. Departures is a well-acted and smartly directed drama that manages to be emotional without feeling manipulative. It is slightly overlong and slow paced and, despite the Oscar, I doubt that it will find much mainstream cross-over appeal. With Departures, director Yojiro Takita has created an engrossing film that is sweet, sad and funny, a portrait of a young man coming to terms with abandonment by his father and learning about himself through the process of his employment.
Daigo Kobayashi...
Daigo Kobayashi...
- 7/17/2009
- by Tom
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Departures (Okuribito)
Directed by: Yojiro Takita
Cast: Masahiro Motoki, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ryoko Hirosue
Running Time: 2 hrs 10 mins
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: July 3, 2009
Plot: Daigo Kobayashi (Motoki) loses his job as a professional cellist. In debt and disappointed, he moves with his wife, Mika (Hirosue), to the home that his deceased mother left him. There he takes a job as an “encoffineer,” ritually preparing bodies for burial. But his work is looked down upon by his family and friends.
Who’s It For? Fans of well-crafted films. Especially if they don’t mind subtitles.
Expectations: Departures won the Best Foreign Film Oscar back in February, so I was hoping for a really great film.
Scorecard (0-10)
Actors:
Masahiro Motoki as Daigo Kobayashi: Daigo’s in the middle of a crisis. The orchestra he worked so hard to join is being disbanded due to lack of funds and he is in debt after purchasing a professional cello.
Directed by: Yojiro Takita
Cast: Masahiro Motoki, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ryoko Hirosue
Running Time: 2 hrs 10 mins
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: July 3, 2009
Plot: Daigo Kobayashi (Motoki) loses his job as a professional cellist. In debt and disappointed, he moves with his wife, Mika (Hirosue), to the home that his deceased mother left him. There he takes a job as an “encoffineer,” ritually preparing bodies for burial. But his work is looked down upon by his family and friends.
Who’s It For? Fans of well-crafted films. Especially if they don’t mind subtitles.
Expectations: Departures won the Best Foreign Film Oscar back in February, so I was hoping for a really great film.
Scorecard (0-10)
Actors:
Masahiro Motoki as Daigo Kobayashi: Daigo’s in the middle of a crisis. The orchestra he worked so hard to join is being disbanded due to lack of funds and he is in debt after purchasing a professional cello.
- 7/5/2009
- by Megan Lehar
- The Scorecard Review
Release Date: May 29 (limited)Director: Yojiro Takita
Writer: Kundo Koyama
Cinematographer: Takeshi Hamada
Starring: Masahiro Motoki, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ryoko Hirosue, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Kimiko Yo Studio/Run Time: Regent Releasing, 130 mins.
Affable but unfocused hit from Japan
On its face, the odd, clunky Japanese dramedy Departures pitches itself as a classic story of reinvention and renewal. It follows a young cellist (Masahiro Motoki) who is let go and lacks the talent to move to a different orchestra. He answers a newspaper ad and finds a job with a peculiar old man who prepares corpses for burial, a sticky profession he hides from his wife but quietly grows to like.
Writer: Kundo Koyama
Cinematographer: Takeshi Hamada
Starring: Masahiro Motoki, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ryoko Hirosue, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Kimiko Yo Studio/Run Time: Regent Releasing, 130 mins.
Affable but unfocused hit from Japan
On its face, the odd, clunky Japanese dramedy Departures pitches itself as a classic story of reinvention and renewal. It follows a young cellist (Masahiro Motoki) who is let go and lacks the talent to move to a different orchestra. He answers a newspaper ad and finds a job with a peculiar old man who prepares corpses for burial, a sticky profession he hides from his wife but quietly grows to like.
- 6/1/2009
- Pastemagazine.com
eath begets beauty in Departures, a moving new film that teaches us, and its reluctant hero Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki), all about the fine art of encoffination: the delicate ritual preparation of a corpse for cremation, a last rite performed with the utmost discretion and quiet showmanship in front of the assembled family and funeral guests, before the coffin is plunged into the flames.
- 5/29/2009
- Movie City News
The greatest mystery of this year's Oscar ceremony was why the tear-jerker "Departures" won the foreign-language award.
Of the five nominees, "Departures" is definitely the weakest. It isn't a bad movie, but then again it isn't a great one. Call it a case of sap over substance.
Directed by Yojiro Takita, who got his start making erotic, soft-core flicks, "Departures" follows a classical cellist (Masahiro Motoki) who moves back to his hometown with his pert wife (Ryoko Hirosue) after his Tokyo orchestra goes under for lack of an audience.
He answers an ad for...
Of the five nominees, "Departures" is definitely the weakest. It isn't a bad movie, but then again it isn't a great one. Call it a case of sap over substance.
Directed by Yojiro Takita, who got his start making erotic, soft-core flicks, "Departures" follows a classical cellist (Masahiro Motoki) who moves back to his hometown with his pert wife (Ryoko Hirosue) after his Tokyo orchestra goes under for lack of an audience.
He answers an ad for...
- 5/29/2009
- by By V.A. MUSETTO
- NYPost.com
When Departures won the Oscar in February as best foreign-language film, no one was more surprised than director Yojiro Takita. But then, Departures was a surprise hit in its native Japan. The story of a cellist who loses his job and finds a new calling preparing bodies for burial, the film is an engrossingly soulful story of the many forms artistry takes and the way empathy and affection can give depth and meaning to the grieving process. As Takita and Masahiro Motoki, the film's star (and the driving force behind getting the picture made), said in a recent interview in New York (conducted through a translator), Departures has always been "the little movie that could." Q: Departures depicts a process called encoffining, in which the main character of the film washes and prepares the corpse for the coffin, in a ritual performed...
- 5/28/2009
- by Marshall Fine
- Huffington Post
Films from Japan have rarely gotten the attention they deserve in the United States, even blockbuster horror films like the original "Grudge" and "Ring" movies, which were barely able to find an audience in theaters here before Hollywood got their hands on them. That is why it was quite exciting when Yojiro Takita's Departures surprised many by winning the Foreign Language Oscar earlier this year, showing that despite the vast cultural differences, Hollywood was finally starting to pay attention and understand that there was a lot of quality filmmaking coming out of the Land of the Rising Sun. Departures stars former pop singer Masahiro Motoki as Tokyo concert cellist Daigo Kobayashi, who returns home to his small village after his orchestra disbands....
- 5/26/2009
- Comingsoon.net
With Cannes now wrapped up, this week finds everyone on the move as a trio of Indian workers go to Michigan, Sam Raimi goes home and Karl Fredricksen and his yappy companion go, well, up.
Download this in audio form (MP3: 07:59 minutes, 11 Mb) Subscribe to the In Theaters podcast: [Xml] [iTunes]
"Departures"
Best known as the unknown film that won the Best Foreign Language Oscar, Japanese director Yojiro Takita's tonally eccentric story of guilt and self-realization finally gets a chance to prove its bonafides. Crushed by the dismantling of his Tokyo-based orchestra, newly unemployed cellist Daigo Kobyashi (Masahiro Motoki) returns to his sleepy hometown to work performing burial rituals at a funeral home, a job that slowly transitions from a necessity to a duty to a calling. In Japanese with subtitles.
Opens in limited release.
"Drag Me To Hell"
The first film from Ghost House Pictures to actually be directed by the boss,...
Download this in audio form (MP3: 07:59 minutes, 11 Mb) Subscribe to the In Theaters podcast: [Xml] [iTunes]
"Departures"
Best known as the unknown film that won the Best Foreign Language Oscar, Japanese director Yojiro Takita's tonally eccentric story of guilt and self-realization finally gets a chance to prove its bonafides. Crushed by the dismantling of his Tokyo-based orchestra, newly unemployed cellist Daigo Kobyashi (Masahiro Motoki) returns to his sleepy hometown to work performing burial rituals at a funeral home, a job that slowly transitions from a necessity to a duty to a calling. In Japanese with subtitles.
Opens in limited release.
"Drag Me To Hell"
The first film from Ghost House Pictures to actually be directed by the boss,...
- 5/25/2009
- by Neil Pedley
- ifc.com
We're all for getting out in the summertime, but there might not be anything more refreshing than cooling off in a movie theater... or seeing a movie in the comfort of your air-conditioned home on demand, on DVD, or online... or better yet catching a classic on the big screen at a nearby repertory theater. With literally hundreds of films to choose from this summer, we humbly present this guide to the season's most exciting offerings.
May 1
"Eldorado"
The Cast: Bouli Lanners, Fabrice Adde, Philippe Nahon, Didier Toupy, Franise Chichy
Director: Bouli Lanners
Fest Cred: Cannes, Warsaw, Glasgow, Palm Springs,
The Gist: When Elie (Adde), a hapless young thief attempts to rob Yvan (Lanners), a 40-year-old car dealer, the two form a unlikely friendship that leads to a road trip across Belgium in this slight comedy that won the Best European Film at the Director's Fortnight at Cannes last year.
May 1
"Eldorado"
The Cast: Bouli Lanners, Fabrice Adde, Philippe Nahon, Didier Toupy, Franise Chichy
Director: Bouli Lanners
Fest Cred: Cannes, Warsaw, Glasgow, Palm Springs,
The Gist: When Elie (Adde), a hapless young thief attempts to rob Yvan (Lanners), a 40-year-old car dealer, the two form a unlikely friendship that leads to a road trip across Belgium in this slight comedy that won the Best European Film at the Director's Fortnight at Cannes last year.
- 5/6/2009
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
Departures took most prognosticators by surprise when it beat out the already released, much hyped competition of Waltz with Bashir and The Class to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at this year’s Oscars. After seeing the movie, however, it’s not hard to fathom how the upset happened. As directed by Yôjirô Takita, this is a sumptuous, richly composed drama that considers big, broad emotional issues with a sweeping cinematic canvas. It is, in other words, exactly the sort of movie Academy voters tend to love. The same cannot be said for an abstractly animated, psychological depiction of the burdens of war or a verité rendering of life in a French classroom over the course of a school year. That’s not to take anything away from the high levels of craft Takita pours into every frame of his film. Had the movie been more widely seen prior to the awards it...
- 5/5/2009
- by Robert Levin
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
I've been doing some Q&A and panel coverage for Tribeca so if you're interested, read and click on.
Last night I caught Okuribito (Departures) [Q & A] which you'll undoubtedly remember won the Foreign Film Oscar in February. Though it's hard to believe, this marked Japan's first competitive win in the category (though they had a few honoraries early on). Had I seen this film prior to Oscar night, I would have known that Japan's wait would be over. It's more traditional and accessible than The Class (my silver medalist for 2008) and the Academy loves traditional and accessible especially when they're paired with tears. Departures plucks the heartstrings practically as well as its leading man Masahiro Motoki pretends he's plucking his beloved cello strings. [previous post feat. Motoki]
I also caught Englishman in New York [Q & A] which is a non-sequel/sequel to The Naked Civil Servant in that it also stars John Hurt as Quentin Crisp. This...
Last night I caught Okuribito (Departures) [Q & A] which you'll undoubtedly remember won the Foreign Film Oscar in February. Though it's hard to believe, this marked Japan's first competitive win in the category (though they had a few honoraries early on). Had I seen this film prior to Oscar night, I would have known that Japan's wait would be over. It's more traditional and accessible than The Class (my silver medalist for 2008) and the Academy loves traditional and accessible especially when they're paired with tears. Departures plucks the heartstrings practically as well as its leading man Masahiro Motoki pretends he's plucking his beloved cello strings. [previous post feat. Motoki]
I also caught Englishman in New York [Q & A] which is a non-sequel/sequel to The Naked Civil Servant in that it also stars John Hurt as Quentin Crisp. This...
- 4/30/2009
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Tribeca provided a flashback to Oscar night on Tuesday as director Yôjirô Takita (fun fact: he started his career in 'pink films,' i.e., porn) and star Masahiro Motoki both approached the microphone to speak to an appreciative crowd. This time they weren't accepting Departures' Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film but, as Takita noted, thrilled to be holding their first stateside Q and A. The award-winning movie, opening in limited release on May 29, is about a cello player who loses his orchestra job and leaves the city for his hometown. After a comical misunderstanding during a job search, he discovers an affinity for an unusual line of work, preparing dead bodies for 'departure.' The film's unique topic sparked curiosity in the audience. Why the cello, for example? It could have been any instrument given the plot. 'It was the screenwriters idea to make him a cello player...
- 4/29/2009
- TribecaFilm.com
The movie studio executives play God around this time every year. Don’t listen to mother nature … summer starts May 1. The blockbusters are upon us, and it looks like May might just be The big month of movies this year. Sure, we have to wait for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, but we’ve already been waiting for that last one for a while now. And it looks like each week we will have a new box office winner … my hunch is Wolverine will have the biggest opening weekend, but when it’s all said and done, Star Trek will be box office king. Let’s get to the films.
May 1 Movie of the Week
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
The Stars: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Will I Am, Ryan Reynolds, Taylor Kitsch
The Plot:...
May 1 Movie of the Week
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
The Stars: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Will I Am, Ryan Reynolds, Taylor Kitsch
The Plot:...
- 4/27/2009
- by Jeff Bayer
- The Scorecard Review
See eight clips as well as the trailer in various formats for the Regent Releasing Academy Award®-winning drama "Departures," starring Masahiro Motoki, Ryoko Hirosue, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Kimiko Yo and Takashi Sasano. The film opens in limited areas on May 29th. See the gallery here. Trailers in other formats What's "Departures" all about? Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film, Departures is a delightful journey into the heartland of Japan as well an astonishingly beautiful look at a sacred part of Japan’s cultural heritage. “Departures” follows Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki), a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved and who is suddenly left without a job. Daigo decides to move back to his old hometown with his wife to look for work and start over. He answers a classified ad entitled “Departures” thinking it is an advertisement for a travel agency only to...
- 4/9/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
See eight clips as well as the trailer in various formats for the Regent Releasing Academy Award®-winning drama "Departures," starring Masahiro Motoki, Ryoko Hirosue, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Kimiko Yo and Takashi Sasano. The film opens in limited areas on May 29th. Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film, Departures is a delightful journey into the heartland of Japan as well an astonishingly beautiful look at a sacred part of Japan’s cultural heritage. “Departures” follows Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki), a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved and who is suddenly left without a job. Daigo decides to move back to his old hometown with his wife to look for work and start over...
- 4/9/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
See eight clips as well as the trailer in various formats for the Regent Releasing Academy Award®-winning drama "Departures," starring Masahiro Motoki, Ryoko Hirosue, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Kimiko Yo and Takashi Sasano. The film opens in limited areas on May 29th. Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film, Departures is a delightful journey into the heartland of Japan as well an astonishingly beautiful look at a sacred part of Japan’s cultural heritage. “Departures” follows Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki), a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved and who is suddenly left without a job. Daigo decides to move back to his old hometown with his wife to look for work and start over...
- 4/9/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Does winning an Oscar make you more beautiful? Or do you already have to be sexy to win? A chicken and egg mystery for you to solve in the comments. Maybe all one needs to be beauteous is the right photographer and airbrushing? (Now it's a chicken / egg / omelette mystery)
Clockwise from left: Kate Winslet in Elle, Dustin Lance Black in Vogue,
Masahiro Motoki in White Room, Sean Penn in tie and Penélope Cruz
in only a bedsheet. Mmmm.
I'm asking because I'm still detoxing from all the collective beauty on Sunday.
And yes, I'm cheating a bit to include Masahiro Motoki who is not an Oscar winner. But he is the star of Oscar winning foreign film Departures and he was on stage next to the Oscar. And he did win the Japanese Best Actor Oscar for the performance. That said he doesn't really need the help of the beauty-by-statue-association,...
Clockwise from left: Kate Winslet in Elle, Dustin Lance Black in Vogue,
Masahiro Motoki in White Room, Sean Penn in tie and Penélope Cruz
in only a bedsheet. Mmmm.
I'm asking because I'm still detoxing from all the collective beauty on Sunday.
And yes, I'm cheating a bit to include Masahiro Motoki who is not an Oscar winner. But he is the star of Oscar winning foreign film Departures and he was on stage next to the Oscar. And he did win the Japanese Best Actor Oscar for the performance. That said he doesn't really need the help of the beauty-by-statue-association,...
- 2/25/2009
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Japanese drama Departures dominated the 2009 Japan Academy Awards, taking home 10 prizes - a day before the movie became a surprise Oscar winner.
The film, about a young man who gets a job in a mortuary, also scooped a Best Actor honour for Masahiro Motoki and Best Actress trophy for Kimiko Yo at the 32nd annual ceremony in Tokyo, Japan.
Immediately after the prizegiving, filmmaker Yojiro Takita and stars Motoki and Ryoko Hirosue flew to Los Angeles to compete at Sunday's Oscars, where Departures beat hotly-tipped Israeli movie Waltz With Bashir to land the Best Foreign Language Film title.
The movie has scooped more than 60 statuettes during Japan's current award season and taken more than $33 million (£22.6 million) at the domestic box office.
The film, about a young man who gets a job in a mortuary, also scooped a Best Actor honour for Masahiro Motoki and Best Actress trophy for Kimiko Yo at the 32nd annual ceremony in Tokyo, Japan.
Immediately after the prizegiving, filmmaker Yojiro Takita and stars Motoki and Ryoko Hirosue flew to Los Angeles to compete at Sunday's Oscars, where Departures beat hotly-tipped Israeli movie Waltz With Bashir to land the Best Foreign Language Film title.
The movie has scooped more than 60 statuettes during Japan's current award season and taken more than $33 million (£22.6 million) at the domestic box office.
- 2/23/2009
- WENN
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