Revolution+1.On July 8, 2022, Shinzo Abe, who had been the longest-serving prime minister of Japan in its postwar years, was shot and killed in broad daylight in a country with barely any civilian access to firearms. The suspect was immediately arrested, and commentators from all over the world began to speculate about the killer’s motive. After a few days, the police revealed that the 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami, who had built his own gun and tracked Abe’s movements, had not originally planned to kill Abe. In fact, the most high-profile political assassination in decades was carried out by a man who cared little for politics. Legendary Japanese filmmaker Masao Adachi, sensing a story sure to be misconstrued by the press, immediately began production on a biopic—not of Abe, but of Yamagami. At the North American premiere of the film, Revolution+1 (2023), last July, he said that this quick turnaround was not intended to garner controversy,...
- 3/11/2024
- MUBI
Having been an assistant director to Masahiro Shinoda and Kiriro Urayama for several years, Kohei Oguri would join the ranks of these acclaimed filmmakers with works such as “Sting of Death” and “Muddy River”. The latter especially is noteworthy for several reasons, not only because it was the Japanese Oscar entry of 1981 but also since it won the Silver Prize at Moscow International Film Festival in the same year. Leaving aside the awards it achieved, “Muddy River” is a fascinating and quite captivating debut, which thematically and aesthetically feels like a feature that could have been made in the 1960s. Based on a novel by writer Teru Miyamoto, it is on the surface a story about friendship and family, but if you take a deeper look, it is at the same time an insightful depiction of Japan after the war, the poverty of many people and the perspectives of the younger generation.
- 2/22/2024
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Juro Kara is a Japanese avant-garde playwright, theatre director, author, actor, and songwriter. He was at the forefront of the Angura (“underground”) theatre movement in Japan, while as an actor, he cooperated with some of the biggest names of the Japanese movie industry, including Shohei Imamura, Masahiro Shinoda, Shuji Terayama, Toshio Matsumoto and Koji Wakamatsu. As a director, however, he only came up with one title, co-produced by Atg “Sea of Genkai”, an unusual type of yakuza film that focuses intently on the treatment of Korean women in the hands of the Japanese.
Follow our coverage of Atg by clicking on the link below
The movie begins with a young man causing a ruckus on a high traffic street, until an older man takes him under his wing. The young man is named Taguchi and seems to have no one in his life, which is why he almost immediately becomes...
Follow our coverage of Atg by clicking on the link below
The movie begins with a young man causing a ruckus on a high traffic street, until an older man takes him under his wing. The young man is named Taguchi and seems to have no one in his life, which is why he almost immediately becomes...
- 9/11/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2023 Venice Film Festival. Netflix releases the film in limited theaters on Friday, October 27, with a streaming release to follow on Friday, November 10.
Like the “Jeanne Dielman” of assassin movies, “The Killer” centers on how the self-started glitches in one character’s routine cause their carefully ordered world to fall slowly off its axis. David Fincher’s sleek if small genre exercise plants us into the orbital sockets of an unnamed killer-for-hire, played by Michael Fassbender, whose self-deceptions catch up to him amid a contract job gone just about an inch wrong in Paris.
There are few surprises in this straight-line thriller, well-executed within a millimeter of its life as ever by the “Gone Girl” and “Social Network” director. Here, the perfectionist, you-might-say-control-freak director punches up a nimbly sketched screenplay by “Seven” scribe Andrew Kevin Walker that evokes no sympathy for its protagonist,...
Like the “Jeanne Dielman” of assassin movies, “The Killer” centers on how the self-started glitches in one character’s routine cause their carefully ordered world to fall slowly off its axis. David Fincher’s sleek if small genre exercise plants us into the orbital sockets of an unnamed killer-for-hire, played by Michael Fassbender, whose self-deceptions catch up to him amid a contract job gone just about an inch wrong in Paris.
There are few surprises in this straight-line thriller, well-executed within a millimeter of its life as ever by the “Gone Girl” and “Social Network” director. Here, the perfectionist, you-might-say-control-freak director punches up a nimbly sketched screenplay by “Seven” scribe Andrew Kevin Walker that evokes no sympathy for its protagonist,...
- 9/3/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Nominated for the Palme d'Or in 1974, “Himiko” is one of the most renowned titles of both Atg and Masahiro Shinoda, perhaps for the way it manages to channel both “Horrors of Malformed Men” and Kurosawa's colored works, although the latter actually succeeded the film.
Follow our coverage of Art Theatre Guild by clicking on the image below
The story follows the myth of the Sun Goddess, Himiko, who is the earliest Japanese historical figure documented in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean history, although her existence, identity, and location have been the source of endless debate. Nevertheless, the consensus talks about a queen-shaman who was ruling Yamatai, the Kingdom of the Sun before Japan became a specific, separate entity. In the film, she is a shaman who speaks for the Sun God, being revered in the society she lives in but also constrained by the will of her people for her to be a sacred entity.
Follow our coverage of Art Theatre Guild by clicking on the image below
The story follows the myth of the Sun Goddess, Himiko, who is the earliest Japanese historical figure documented in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean history, although her existence, identity, and location have been the source of endless debate. Nevertheless, the consensus talks about a queen-shaman who was ruling Yamatai, the Kingdom of the Sun before Japan became a specific, separate entity. In the film, she is a shaman who speaks for the Sun God, being revered in the society she lives in but also constrained by the will of her people for her to be a sacred entity.
- 8/26/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Graduating as Ozu’s assistant with his debut feature-length at Shochiku in 1960, Masahiro Shinoda (b. 1931) saw the dawn of the Japanese New Wave and rose to prominence alongside the likes of Nagisa Oshima, Yasuzo Masumura, Koreyoshi Kurahara, and Shohei Imamura among a whole host of others. Though he would spend most of his career reinterpreting and reimagining whole genres including the yakuza film and jidaigeki, the films across his four-decade-long career would predominantly be united by a re-examination of Japanese historical, societal, and national identity, complete with a focus on alienation, mythologies, and religious and moral turmoil. Frequently coupled with composer Toru Takemitsu, cinematographers Masao Kosugi and Tatsuo Suzuki, and actress Shima Iwashita (whom he would go on to marry), Shinoda’s films grapple with man’s perturbing darkness and its effect on the personal and national conscience. Like most of his Nūberu Bāgu compatriots, Shinoda frequently negated cinematic and narrative traditions,...
- 2/22/2023
- by JC Cansdale-Cook
- AsianMoviePulse
Film director Yoshida Kiju (formerly Yoshida Yoshishige) died on Thursday of pneumonia at age 89, Japanese media sources have revealed.
Together with Oshima Nagisa and Shinoda Masahiro, Yoshida was part of the Shochiku-backed Nouvelle Vague of the late 1950s and early 1960s that had a major impact on Japanese cinema both then and in succeeding decades.
A graduate of the elite University of Tokyo, where he studied French literature, Yoshida joined the Shochiku studio in 1955 and served as assistant director to Ozu Yasujiro and Kinoshita Keisuke.
In 1960 he made his directorial debut with the youth drama “Good-for-Nothing.” This and his following films “Blood Is Dry” (1960) and “Bitter End of a Sweet Night,” with their unsparing depictions of contemporary social ills, marked Yoshida, together with fellow Shochiku up-and-comers Oshima and Shinoda, as rebels against studio convention. The trio came to be grouped under the label Shochiku Nouvelle Vague, a nod to...
Together with Oshima Nagisa and Shinoda Masahiro, Yoshida was part of the Shochiku-backed Nouvelle Vague of the late 1950s and early 1960s that had a major impact on Japanese cinema both then and in succeeding decades.
A graduate of the elite University of Tokyo, where he studied French literature, Yoshida joined the Shochiku studio in 1955 and served as assistant director to Ozu Yasujiro and Kinoshita Keisuke.
In 1960 he made his directorial debut with the youth drama “Good-for-Nothing.” This and his following films “Blood Is Dry” (1960) and “Bitter End of a Sweet Night,” with their unsparing depictions of contemporary social ills, marked Yoshida, together with fellow Shochiku up-and-comers Oshima and Shinoda, as rebels against studio convention. The trio came to be grouped under the label Shochiku Nouvelle Vague, a nod to...
- 12/9/2022
- by Mark Schilling
- Variety Film + TV
The 28th edition of the L-Etrange began this week and South Korea is definitely in the house this year. Lee Sang-yong's The Roundup, starring action studd Don Lee/Ma Dong-seok, kicked off the festival this past Tuesday. The festival will conclude its near two-week run with a closing night screening of sci-fi actioner Alienoid, from Choi Dong-hoon. Other South Korean films include Hong-sun Kim’s trapped on a boat action flick Project Wolf Hunting, Hunt (Lee Jung-jae), Hot Blooded (Cheon Myoung-kwan), Spiritwalker (Yoon Jae-geun). These last four films are in the international competition, vying for the coveted Canal+ grand prize, acquisition by French premium Pay-tv Canal+ for future broadcast. There are a number of interesting retrospective programs at this year's festival. There are tribute programs devoted to Japanese director, Masahiro Shinoda, Filipino director Mike de...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 9/8/2022
- Screen Anarchy
In this hour-long mix devoted to musician Tôru Takemitsu’s soundtrack oeuvre, the Japanese master’s varied body of scoring sounds and collaborations is in full effect, offering a spectrum of different emotions and genres.Takemitsu was a pivotal figure in modern classical music and much of his work continues to influence the contemporary canon today. Early in his career the composer was exposed to Western sounds while working a job for the US Armed Forces, and many of his groundbreaking compositions synthesized Western and Eastern sensibilities. Membership in the avant-garde Jikken Kōbō (an experimental music workshop formed in Japan’s postwar 1950s) led to an interest in and passion for the work of John Cage and concepts such as musique concrète, which can be heard throughout Takemitsu’s singular sound. Additionally, images of Japanese gardens, water, and the poems of Emily Dickinson inspired the tonalities of Takemitsu’s sound,...
- 6/22/2022
- MUBI
Very rarely has the world of Yakuza been portrayed in such cinematic glory, as in the then 33-year-old Masahiro Shinoda’s break out film, which was based on an original story by Shintaro Ishihara, leading figure of the Sun Tribe generation and scenarist of “Crazed Fruit”. Surprisingly, at least when looked in retrospective, the film was not successful from the beginning, since the script writer of the film, Ataru Baba, did not like Shinoda’s approach at all, while the extensive gambling scenes “Pale Flower” featured caused trouble for Shochiku with the censorship board, forcing them to shelve the movie for a number of months. Now, however, and thanks to another excellent release by Criterion, we can enjoy one of Shinoda’s greatest works (if not the best).
“Pale Flower” is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival
Muraki, a hardboiled yakuza, has just been released from prison after serving...
“Pale Flower” is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival
Muraki, a hardboiled yakuza, has just been released from prison after serving...
- 4/22/2022
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Masahiro Shinoda’s 1969 screen adaptation of Chikamatsu Monzaemon’s 1721 puppet play “The Love Suicides at Amijima” is a heavily stylized melodrama set in 18th-century Japan. As a director associated with the Japanese New Wave, Shinoda introduces some experimental touches to the film but for the most part “Double Suicide” is a relatively faithful adaptation of the classic source material.
on Amazon
Married paper mill owner Jihei (Kichiemon Nakamura) is madly in love with the beautiful courtesan Koharu (Shima Iwashita) and has promised to free her from her contract with the brothel she is forced to work at. However, he lacks the financial means to do so and in their desperation, the two decide to commit suicide together. Their lives are further complicated when Jihei’s brother, Magoemon (Yusuke Takita), shows up at Koharu’s brothel disguised as a samurai and learns of her and Jihei’s plans.
on Amazon
Married paper mill owner Jihei (Kichiemon Nakamura) is madly in love with the beautiful courtesan Koharu (Shima Iwashita) and has promised to free her from her contract with the brothel she is forced to work at. However, he lacks the financial means to do so and in their desperation, the two decide to commit suicide together. Their lives are further complicated when Jihei’s brother, Magoemon (Yusuke Takita), shows up at Koharu’s brothel disguised as a samurai and learns of her and Jihei’s plans.
- 4/19/2022
- by Fred Barrett
- AsianMoviePulse
Perhaps best known to Western audiences for his films “Death by Hanging”, the erotic “In the Realm of the Senses” as well as the war film “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” which stars David Bowie, Nagisa Oshima’s 1969 drama “Boy” is maybe the Japanese director’s most approachable and straightforward work.
In 1966, a family of con artists are desperately trying to make ends meet. The father, Takeo (Fumio Watanabe), is a diabetic war veteran who routinely abuses his spouse, Takeko (Akiko Koyama), and his son Toshio (Tetsuo Abe), the child from a previous marriage. To earn money, he makes Takeko throw herself into traffic and fake injuries in hopes of extorting money from hapless drivers. When she becomes pregnant, however, he recruits Toshio to assume her role. Things go well at first until the boy is eventually caught, forcing the family to pack up and hurriedly move across the country.
Faced...
In 1966, a family of con artists are desperately trying to make ends meet. The father, Takeo (Fumio Watanabe), is a diabetic war veteran who routinely abuses his spouse, Takeko (Akiko Koyama), and his son Toshio (Tetsuo Abe), the child from a previous marriage. To earn money, he makes Takeko throw herself into traffic and fake injuries in hopes of extorting money from hapless drivers. When she becomes pregnant, however, he recruits Toshio to assume her role. Things go well at first until the boy is eventually caught, forcing the family to pack up and hurriedly move across the country.
Faced...
- 4/18/2022
- by Fred Barrett
- AsianMoviePulse
Above: 2021 UK quad poster for 4K restoration of The 400 Blows. Design by The Posterhouse.50,000 Movie Poster of the Day fans can’t be wrong. Yes, just this week my Movie Poster of the Day Instagram—a feed that was a spin-off from this column—surpassed 50,000 followers, which is a little ways off Cristiano Ronaldo’s 411 million and still a tenth of the half a million that Movie Poster of the Day used to have on Tumblr, though I never quite believed those numbers. But I put a lot of faith in my Movie Poster of the Day followers and so every six months I like to collect and rank the most “liked” posters that I have posted in the previous 26 weeks as some sort of bellwether of popular taste.The 400 Blows poster above racked up 3,168 likes earlier this year, making it the third most-liked poster I’ve ever posted (for...
- 3/11/2022
- MUBI
Criterion is releasing two masterpieces of Asian cinema this March, Ann Hui’s “Boat People” and Masahiro Shinoda’s “Pale Flower” and on the occasion, we are offering 2 of our readers in the UK the chance to win one of the two titles. All you have to do is comment to this post with your name and city of residence. The draw will take place on March 11.
Masahiro Shinoda directs a title that thrives on one of the most impressive noir atmospheres ever to be presented on film. To achieve this level, Shinoda implements all kinds of cinematic aspects, particularly during the gambling scenes, which emerge as the most impressive in the movie. The Ozu-esque visual approach (Shinoda worked as his assistant after all) is enriched with a number of panoramic shots and an approach towards the introductions of each character through the view of the rest of the people on each scene,...
Masahiro Shinoda directs a title that thrives on one of the most impressive noir atmospheres ever to be presented on film. To achieve this level, Shinoda implements all kinds of cinematic aspects, particularly during the gambling scenes, which emerge as the most impressive in the movie. The Ozu-esque visual approach (Shinoda worked as his assistant after all) is enriched with a number of panoramic shots and an approach towards the introductions of each character through the view of the rest of the people on each scene,...
- 3/1/2022
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
by Earl Jackson
In 1969, Masahiro Shinoda released “Double Suicide”, his version of Chikamatsu Monzaemon’s bunraku (puppet) play, “The Love Suicides Amajima” [心中天網島]. The film was striking in its use of the black-hooded puppeteers, the kuroko, to move the actors and change the deliberately artificial sets. The film was a hit with the international art film crowd in that it proved that Japanese avant-garde narrative cinema was not limited to Hiroshi Teshigahara’s adaptations of Kobo Abe novels. In later years, it would serve as a viewer-friendly introduction to the New Wave because, unlike the more difficult works of Kiju Yoshida or Nagisa Oshima, “Double Suicide” -to repurpose Gertrude Stein’s judgment of James Joyce – was the experimental film that anyone could understand.
In 2021, Ryusuke Hamaguchi takes up the challenge of integrating classical theater with contemporary cinema again, in his use of Chekov’s “Uncle Vanya” in his film “Drive My Car”. At first glance,...
In 1969, Masahiro Shinoda released “Double Suicide”, his version of Chikamatsu Monzaemon’s bunraku (puppet) play, “The Love Suicides Amajima” [心中天網島]. The film was striking in its use of the black-hooded puppeteers, the kuroko, to move the actors and change the deliberately artificial sets. The film was a hit with the international art film crowd in that it proved that Japanese avant-garde narrative cinema was not limited to Hiroshi Teshigahara’s adaptations of Kobo Abe novels. In later years, it would serve as a viewer-friendly introduction to the New Wave because, unlike the more difficult works of Kiju Yoshida or Nagisa Oshima, “Double Suicide” -to repurpose Gertrude Stein’s judgment of James Joyce – was the experimental film that anyone could understand.
In 2021, Ryusuke Hamaguchi takes up the challenge of integrating classical theater with contemporary cinema again, in his use of Chekov’s “Uncle Vanya” in his film “Drive My Car”. At first glance,...
- 2/26/2022
- by Guest Writer
- AsianMoviePulse
Forum adds 10 more titles; Classics includes Godard, Pasolini, Russell.
New films from Jonathan Perel and Max Linz are among 17 new titles added to the Forum section at the 2022 Berlinale; while the Classics section has programmed seven digitally restored titles ahead of next month’s festival.
Argentinian filmmaker Jonathan Perel will participate with the world premiere of documentary Camouflage, about a writer who embodies a man with an obsession with Argentina’s biggest military unit.
Perel’s previous films include Berlinale 2020 title Corporate Responsibility.
German director Linz is in the festival with the world premiere of his new film L’Etat Et Moi,...
New films from Jonathan Perel and Max Linz are among 17 new titles added to the Forum section at the 2022 Berlinale; while the Classics section has programmed seven digitally restored titles ahead of next month’s festival.
Argentinian filmmaker Jonathan Perel will participate with the world premiere of documentary Camouflage, about a writer who embodies a man with an obsession with Argentina’s biggest military unit.
Perel’s previous films include Berlinale 2020 title Corporate Responsibility.
German director Linz is in the festival with the world premiere of his new film L’Etat Et Moi,...
- 1/17/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
In the 15 years since his debut feature, Yu Irie has continued to thrive in the Japanese film industry’s indie scene. The sleeper hit that was “8000 Miles” saw the director win a couple of awards that have helped him bolster his filmography over the past decade. Having notably helmed the Tatsuya Fujiwara starring “Memoirs of a Murderer” in 2017 and worked sporadically in television, Irie brings to New York Asian Film Festival his seventeenth feature film, “Ninja Girl”.
The film, both written and directed by Irie, is a wicked black comedy, satire that asks the question, what would a ninja look like in the modern-day? While the answers often lead to hilarious results, Irie’s message is deeper than one might first think, as the film also tackles prevalent issues such as immigration and government corruption. The director took the time to discuss the film with us and let us in...
The film, both written and directed by Irie, is a wicked black comedy, satire that asks the question, what would a ninja look like in the modern-day? While the answers often lead to hilarious results, Irie’s message is deeper than one might first think, as the film also tackles prevalent issues such as immigration and government corruption. The director took the time to discuss the film with us and let us in...
- 8/19/2021
- by Tom Wilmot
- AsianMoviePulse
Cannes Classics
Mark Cousins‘ documentary “The Storms Of Jeremy Thomas,” following the legendary “The Last Emperor” and “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” producer’s annual drive to Cannes, will be the pre-opener at the Cannes Classics selection this year.
Restored titles this year include “Friendship’s Death” by Peter Wollen, starring Tilda Swinton; “F For Fake” by Orson Welles; “Mulholland Drive” by David Lynch (2001 U.S.); “I Know Where I’m Going!” by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger; and “The Double Life Of Véronique by Krzysztof Kieślowski”.
The section will also celebrate the work of actor/director Bill Duke with a screening of “The Killing Floor” (1985); Japanese actor and filmmaker Kinuyo Tanaka’s “Tsuki Wa Noborinu”; Spanish actor and filmmaker Ana Marisca’s “El Camino” from 1964; French maven Marcel Camus’ “Orfeu Negro” and Italian master Roberto Rossellini’s “Francesco, Giullare Di Dio”.
Oscar Micheaux, the first African-American director in the history of U.
Mark Cousins‘ documentary “The Storms Of Jeremy Thomas,” following the legendary “The Last Emperor” and “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” producer’s annual drive to Cannes, will be the pre-opener at the Cannes Classics selection this year.
Restored titles this year include “Friendship’s Death” by Peter Wollen, starring Tilda Swinton; “F For Fake” by Orson Welles; “Mulholland Drive” by David Lynch (2001 U.S.); “I Know Where I’m Going!” by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger; and “The Double Life Of Véronique by Krzysztof Kieślowski”.
The section will also celebrate the work of actor/director Bill Duke with a screening of “The Killing Floor” (1985); Japanese actor and filmmaker Kinuyo Tanaka’s “Tsuki Wa Noborinu”; Spanish actor and filmmaker Ana Marisca’s “El Camino” from 1964; French maven Marcel Camus’ “Orfeu Negro” and Italian master Roberto Rossellini’s “Francesco, Giullare Di Dio”.
Oscar Micheaux, the first African-American director in the history of U.
- 6/24/2021
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
The Cannes Film Festival has unveiled the lineup for its 2021 Cannes Classics section. Made up of a selection of restored prints, the roster also includes new documentaries that explore the history of cinema. Among the offerings is Mark Cousins’ pre-opening doc, The Storms Of Jeremy Thomas, which covers a yearly drive with the British producer from London to Cannes. Cousins and Thomas will be in town for the presentation. (Scroll down for the full Cannes Classics list.)
Restored titles include David Lynch’s 2001 Mulholland Drive; 1945’s I Know Where I’m Going! by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger; Krzysztof Kieślowski’s 1991 drama The Double Life Of Véronique; Orson Welles’ F For Fake from 1973; and Friendship’s Death by Peter Wollen which features Tilda Swinton’s first role.
Among the special events are a tribute to director and actor Bill Duke who will present his 1985 The Killing Floor which premiered at Critics...
Restored titles include David Lynch’s 2001 Mulholland Drive; 1945’s I Know Where I’m Going! by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger; Krzysztof Kieślowski’s 1991 drama The Double Life Of Véronique; Orson Welles’ F For Fake from 1973; and Friendship’s Death by Peter Wollen which features Tilda Swinton’s first role.
Among the special events are a tribute to director and actor Bill Duke who will present his 1985 The Killing Floor which premiered at Critics...
- 6/23/2021
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Tilda Swinton to attend restored screening of Peter Wollen’s 1987 UK film Friendship’s Death.
Two documentaries from Mark Cousins and restored films from Kinuyo Tanaka, Oscar Micheaux, and Orson Welles will screen in Cannes Classics, announced on Wednesday (June 23).
Cousins’ The Story Of Film: A New Generation and The Storms Of Jeremy Thomas, a profile of the celebrated British producer, are among a documentary line-up that incudes Buñuel, Un Cineasta Surrealista from Javier Espada, and All About Yves Montand by Yves Jeuland.
The roster of restored narrative films includes David Lynch’s 2001 Mulholland Drive, Japanese actor-filmmaker Kinuyo Tanaka’s (pictured) The Moon Has Risen,...
Two documentaries from Mark Cousins and restored films from Kinuyo Tanaka, Oscar Micheaux, and Orson Welles will screen in Cannes Classics, announced on Wednesday (June 23).
Cousins’ The Story Of Film: A New Generation and The Storms Of Jeremy Thomas, a profile of the celebrated British producer, are among a documentary line-up that incudes Buñuel, Un Cineasta Surrealista from Javier Espada, and All About Yves Montand by Yves Jeuland.
The roster of restored narrative films includes David Lynch’s 2001 Mulholland Drive, Japanese actor-filmmaker Kinuyo Tanaka’s (pictured) The Moon Has Risen,...
- 6/23/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Yes, sure, all the new films are exciting and sure to dominate discourse from here to January, but every year (i.e. when a pandemic doesn’t kneecap them) the Cannes Film Festival provides an equal-if-not-greater service: Cannes Classics, their mix of favorite and soon-to-be-discovered films from yesteryear.
2021’s lineup is representative of that variety, offering as it does Orson Welles and David Lynch alongside an early Raoul Peck feature (restored by Scorsese’s World Cinema Project), Tilda Swinton’s screen debut, a lesser-seen Masahiro Shinoda, and (frankly!) names that don’t ring a bell.
Take a look at the list below, with hope that these will make their way to American shores.
A Tribute To Bill Duke
The director, actor and producer, in Competition at Cannes with A Rage in Harlem in 1991, returns to the Croisette with his first film as director, presented at the Semaine de la critique...
2021’s lineup is representative of that variety, offering as it does Orson Welles and David Lynch alongside an early Raoul Peck feature (restored by Scorsese’s World Cinema Project), Tilda Swinton’s screen debut, a lesser-seen Masahiro Shinoda, and (frankly!) names that don’t ring a bell.
Take a look at the list below, with hope that these will make their way to American shores.
A Tribute To Bill Duke
The director, actor and producer, in Competition at Cannes with A Rage in Harlem in 1991, returns to the Croisette with his first film as director, presented at the Semaine de la critique...
- 6/23/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Very rarely has the world of Yakuza been portrayed in such cinematic glory, as in the then 33-year-old Masahiro Shinoda’s break out film, which was based on an original story by Shintaro Ishihara, leading figure of the Sun Tribe generation and scenarist of “Crazed Fruit”. Surprisingly, at least when looked in retrospective, the film was not successful from the beginning, since the script writer of the film, Ataru Baba, did not like Shinoda’s approach at all, while the extensive gambling scenes “Pale Flower” featured caused trouble for Shochiku with the censorship board, forcing them to shelve the movie for a number of months. Now, however, and thanks to another excellent release by Criterion, we can enjoy one of Shinoda’s greatest works (if not the best).
Muraki, a hardboiled yakuza, has just been released from prison after serving a three years sentence for murdering a man from an opposing gang.
Muraki, a hardboiled yakuza, has just been released from prison after serving a three years sentence for murdering a man from an opposing gang.
- 3/24/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Sharaku was a famous woodprint artist, of whom little is actually known. He worked for less than a year and produced some 140 prints, before he vanished from history, unidentified. Among those intrigued by the Sharaku mystery was the comedian Frankie Sakai, who wrote a book about him and spend nearly three decades to get someone to make the film. Eventually, he managed to get Masahiro Shinoda to direct and a producer willing to spend money, but the result was, unfortunately, marred by the chaotic script of pop writer Hiroko Minagawa (source: nytimes.com). Let us take things from the beginning though.
The story takes place in Edo in 1791, when the new government turned hard against all kinds of art, banning erotic works and all kinds of frivolity, including the one supposedly exhibited from Kabuki theatre. During that time, Tonbo, a kabuki stuntman of sorts, suffers an accident on a scene...
The story takes place in Edo in 1791, when the new government turned hard against all kinds of art, banning erotic works and all kinds of frivolity, including the one supposedly exhibited from Kabuki theatre. During that time, Tonbo, a kabuki stuntman of sorts, suffers an accident on a scene...
- 2/27/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
An important event of the 19th New Horizons festival will be Poland’s first retrospective of works by Terayama Shūji (1935-1983), one of the most prominent avant-garde reformers of Japanese cinema and theater.
Selected filmography:
Short films
1964 Ori / Kanshū (The Cage / Klatka / Więzień w klatce)
1971 Tomato Kecchappu Kōtei (Emperor Tomato Ketchup / Cesarz Tomato Ketchiup)
1974 Chōfuku-ki (Butterfly Dress Pledge / Motyl)
1974 Seishōnen no tame no eiga nyūmon (The young people’s guide to film / Wstęp dla młodzieży do wiedzy o filmie)
1974 Rōra (Laura / Laura)
1975 Shinpan (The Trial / Proces)
1975 Hōsō-tan (A Tale of Smallpox / Opowieść o ospie)
1977 Marudororu no uta (Les Chants de Maldoror / Pieśni Maldorora)
1979 Kusa meikyū (Grass Labyrinth / Labirynt Traw)
Features films
1971 Sho o suteyo machi e deyō (Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets / Rzućmy książki, wyjdźmy na ulice!)
1974 Den’en ni shisu (Pastoral: To Die in the Country <aka Pastoral Hide and Seek> / Wiejska ciuciubabka)
1977 Bokusā (Boxer / Bokser)
1981 Shanhai Ijin Shōkan (Fruits of Passion...
Selected filmography:
Short films
1964 Ori / Kanshū (The Cage / Klatka / Więzień w klatce)
1971 Tomato Kecchappu Kōtei (Emperor Tomato Ketchup / Cesarz Tomato Ketchiup)
1974 Chōfuku-ki (Butterfly Dress Pledge / Motyl)
1974 Seishōnen no tame no eiga nyūmon (The young people’s guide to film / Wstęp dla młodzieży do wiedzy o filmie)
1974 Rōra (Laura / Laura)
1975 Shinpan (The Trial / Proces)
1975 Hōsō-tan (A Tale of Smallpox / Opowieść o ospie)
1977 Marudororu no uta (Les Chants de Maldoror / Pieśni Maldorora)
1979 Kusa meikyū (Grass Labyrinth / Labirynt Traw)
Features films
1971 Sho o suteyo machi e deyō (Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets / Rzućmy książki, wyjdźmy na ulice!)
1974 Den’en ni shisu (Pastoral: To Die in the Country <aka Pastoral Hide and Seek> / Wiejska ciuciubabka)
1977 Bokusā (Boxer / Bokser)
1981 Shanhai Ijin Shōkan (Fruits of Passion...
- 7/20/2019
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
I am a very organized person, who likes to work in a structured way. When it comes to analyzing movies, it is the same for me. The filmography of Yoshihige (or Kiju) Yoshida is new terrain and I like to start from the beginning. Before watching any of his films, I knew that he did quite a racket with “Eros + Massacre” (1969) and “Heroic Purgatory” (1970), both sufficiently discussed by many scholars. But before venture on these so-called classics, I prefer to begin at the roots of Yoshida’s work, which brings me to his debut film “Good for Nothing” (1960).
But first, who is Yoshihige Yoshida? Graduated from Tokyo University he joined one of the big Japanese film studios, Shochiku, in 1955. After five years as assistant director, he got the chance to direct his first movie, “Good for Nothing”. 1960, the year of its release, was a critical year for the studios. The...
But first, who is Yoshihige Yoshida? Graduated from Tokyo University he joined one of the big Japanese film studios, Shochiku, in 1955. After five years as assistant director, he got the chance to direct his first movie, “Good for Nothing”. 1960, the year of its release, was a critical year for the studios. The...
- 3/23/2019
- by Alexander Knoth
- AsianMoviePulse
“Dissent is forbidden.”
As part of ongoing series giving insights into the diversity of Japanese film, Japan Society introduces audiences to a fresh look at the Japanese New Wave Movement which is mostly associated with names like Masahiro Shinoda or Nagisa Oshima. Eitaro Morikawa’s “The Tragedy of Bushido”, as part of this year’s series, is special in many ways, for it is the debut feature of its director and also the first jidaigeki film within the movement. Deeply embedded in the atmosphere of the time, it is a film about the conflict between the young and the old, about a system which has come to consume the young in order to live on.
In the 17th century, the powerful Honda clan fears for its reputation. After two of its members tried to escape from committing ritual suicide, its elders fear the Shogunate might intervene in what is a...
As part of ongoing series giving insights into the diversity of Japanese film, Japan Society introduces audiences to a fresh look at the Japanese New Wave Movement which is mostly associated with names like Masahiro Shinoda or Nagisa Oshima. Eitaro Morikawa’s “The Tragedy of Bushido”, as part of this year’s series, is special in many ways, for it is the debut feature of its director and also the first jidaigeki film within the movement. Deeply embedded in the atmosphere of the time, it is a film about the conflict between the young and the old, about a system which has come to consume the young in order to live on.
In the 17th century, the powerful Honda clan fears for its reputation. After two of its members tried to escape from committing ritual suicide, its elders fear the Shogunate might intervene in what is a...
- 3/19/2019
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Stars: Masayuki Mori, Eitaro Ozawa, Kinuyo Tanaka, Mitsuko Mito, Machiko Kyō | Written by Matsutarō Kawaguchi, Yoshikata Yoda | Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
Kenji Mizoguchi was one part of the Holy Trinity of directors – alongside Akira Kurosawa and Yasujirō Ozu – spearheading the Golden Age of Japanese cinema in the 1950s. Released in 1953, Ugetsu is based on the book by Ueda Akinari, written in the 18th century (one of two known works by the author). Mizoguchi states upfront that he’s “refreshing the fantasies” of Akinari, which is a nice way of putting it.
The story opens in the village of Nakanogō in Omi Province, sometime in the 16th century. Genjūrō (Masayuki Mori) and Tōbei (Eitaro Ozawa) are best pals. Genjūrō is a potter; Tōbei is a clutz who dreams of being a samurai. One day the village is attacked by soldiers. Genjūrō and Tōbei flee with their wives, Miyagi (Kinuyo Tanaka) and...
Kenji Mizoguchi was one part of the Holy Trinity of directors – alongside Akira Kurosawa and Yasujirō Ozu – spearheading the Golden Age of Japanese cinema in the 1950s. Released in 1953, Ugetsu is based on the book by Ueda Akinari, written in the 18th century (one of two known works by the author). Mizoguchi states upfront that he’s “refreshing the fantasies” of Akinari, which is a nice way of putting it.
The story opens in the village of Nakanogō in Omi Province, sometime in the 16th century. Genjūrō (Masayuki Mori) and Tōbei (Eitaro Ozawa) are best pals. Genjūrō is a potter; Tōbei is a clutz who dreams of being a samurai. One day the village is attacked by soldiers. Genjūrō and Tōbei flee with their wives, Miyagi (Kinuyo Tanaka) and...
- 3/5/2019
- by Rupert Harvey
- Nerdly
Film series sheds new light on dynamic movement in Japanese cinema with a selection of overlooked titles, including newly subtitled 35mm prints
New York, NY (February 27, 2019) – With its inception in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Japanese New Wave ushered in a postwar generation of politically engaged and artistically adventurous filmmakers that radically transformed the country’s cinema in theory and practice. Looking beyond internationally lauded figures such as Nagisa Oshima and Masahiro Shinoda, The Other Japanese New Wave: Radical Films from 1958-61 aims to reexamine this dynamic moment in Japanese film history with the introduction of work by lesser-known studio directors, auteurs, documentarists and student filmmakers, including newly subtitled rarities imported from Japan never-before-seen in the U.S.
The series launches on April 5 with Kiju Yoshida’s debut feature Good-for-Nothing, introduced by series curator Go Hirasawa. A key figure in the birth of the New Wave at Shochiku,...
New York, NY (February 27, 2019) – With its inception in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Japanese New Wave ushered in a postwar generation of politically engaged and artistically adventurous filmmakers that radically transformed the country’s cinema in theory and practice. Looking beyond internationally lauded figures such as Nagisa Oshima and Masahiro Shinoda, The Other Japanese New Wave: Radical Films from 1958-61 aims to reexamine this dynamic moment in Japanese film history with the introduction of work by lesser-known studio directors, auteurs, documentarists and student filmmakers, including newly subtitled rarities imported from Japan never-before-seen in the U.S.
The series launches on April 5 with Kiju Yoshida’s debut feature Good-for-Nothing, introduced by series curator Go Hirasawa. A key figure in the birth of the New Wave at Shochiku,...
- 3/1/2019
- by Ina Karpinska
- AsianMoviePulse
Playing like the tortured precursor to Masahiro Shinoda’s similarly tragic tale of stymied romance with 1969’s Double Suicide is the great Kenji Mizoguchi’s late period masterwork A Story of Chikamatsu (which is also known by the much more befitting title The Crucified Lovers). So, it’s no surprise to learn they’re based on works from the same author, playwright Monzaemon Chikamatsu, often credited as the “Japanese Shakespeare.” Social and political injustices trail a pair of doomed lovers brought together in a rather fateful turn of events, their simmering desires only unleashed into full bloom as they become fugitives in the crosshairs of both the Edo period’s crushingly conservative law enforcement and the selfishness of a cuckolded businessman whose extermination of his apprentice is the only way to save his social reputation.…...
- 12/11/2018
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
“Demon Pond” is a retelling of the classic Kabuki play sharing the same name. The story has been adapted to the screen once before by critically acclaimed director Masahiro Shinoda. This retelling, features a revised story by Keishi Nagagatsku. The play was recorded during a sold-out live performance, to be broadcasted on TV at a later date.
A storyteller who goes on a journey to master his craft soon finds himself involved in a fantastic tale of his own. With a bell protecting a town from the wrath of the gods who wish to flood the it, the young man finds himself the new protector after the previous caretaker dies in his arms. At first resolving only to ring the bell once, then move on, he soon falls in love with the young woman who watches over the nearby shrine and begins to believe the myth surrounding the mysterious bell.
A storyteller who goes on a journey to master his craft soon finds himself involved in a fantastic tale of his own. With a bell protecting a town from the wrath of the gods who wish to flood the it, the young man finds himself the new protector after the previous caretaker dies in his arms. At first resolving only to ring the bell once, then move on, he soon falls in love with the young woman who watches over the nearby shrine and begins to believe the myth surrounding the mysterious bell.
- 12/5/2018
- by Adam Symchuk
- AsianMoviePulse
Award-winning Japanese filmmaker Naomi Kawase has been appointed to helm the official film of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. The selection was made by the International Olympic Committee in collaboration with the Organizing Committee of the Games who review proposals from the host nation’s top filmmaking talent. Kawase was chosen after close consultation among Tokyo 2020, Japanese film experts, international film experts and the Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage who guides the production on behalf of the Ioc.
Kawase, who is a regular at the Cannes Film Festival, is the fifth woman to direct an Official Film, following the works of Caroline Rowland (London 2012), Gu Jun (Beijing 2008), Mai Zetterling (for one of the segments of the film Munich 1972) and Leni Riefenstahl (Berlin 1936).
She will also build on a legacy of more than 100 years of Olympic Film, including documentaries created for past Olympic Games that were held in Japan: Tokyo 1964 (Kon Ichikawa...
Kawase, who is a regular at the Cannes Film Festival, is the fifth woman to direct an Official Film, following the works of Caroline Rowland (London 2012), Gu Jun (Beijing 2008), Mai Zetterling (for one of the segments of the film Munich 1972) and Leni Riefenstahl (Berlin 1936).
She will also build on a legacy of more than 100 years of Olympic Film, including documentaries created for past Olympic Games that were held in Japan: Tokyo 1964 (Kon Ichikawa...
- 10/23/2018
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
After revealing our Sunday line-up in our last newsletter, we’re now happy to share with you the exciting news that tickets are on sale for our Saturday 22 September screenings showing at Close-Up Film Centre!
Jaeff is delighted to present an exclusive screening of Ogawa Shinsuke’s Forest of Oppression with an extended introduction by specialist Ricardo Matos Cabo who will be showing rare footage of the student movements in 1960s Japan.
The late evening slot will see Nagisa Oshima’s wild Diary of a Shinjuku Thief paired with Desktop Treasure, an experimental short by emerging filmmaker Ummmi.
Saturday 22 September 2018 – 6pm
“Forest of Oppression” with extended introduction + video clips – Japan 1967 Dir Ogawa Shinsuke, Documentary, 105.min. Digital presentation
Shinsuke Ogawa’s astonishing documentary takes the audience behind the barricades and into the heat of running battles with riot police in this chronicle of the student occupation movement in 1967 Japan at the Takasaki City University of Economics.
Jaeff is delighted to present an exclusive screening of Ogawa Shinsuke’s Forest of Oppression with an extended introduction by specialist Ricardo Matos Cabo who will be showing rare footage of the student movements in 1960s Japan.
The late evening slot will see Nagisa Oshima’s wild Diary of a Shinjuku Thief paired with Desktop Treasure, an experimental short by emerging filmmaker Ummmi.
Saturday 22 September 2018 – 6pm
“Forest of Oppression” with extended introduction + video clips – Japan 1967 Dir Ogawa Shinsuke, Documentary, 105.min. Digital presentation
Shinsuke Ogawa’s astonishing documentary takes the audience behind the barricades and into the heat of running battles with riot police in this chronicle of the student occupation movement in 1967 Japan at the Takasaki City University of Economics.
- 7/26/2018
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Criterion Reflections is David Blakeslee’s ongoing project to watch all of the films included in the Criterion Collection in chronological order of their original release. Each episode features panel conversations and 1:1 interviews offering insights on movies that premiered in a particular season of a year in the past, which were destined to eventually bear the Criterion imprint. In this episode, David is joined by Jordan Essoe, Trevor Berrett, Keith Enright, John Laubinger, and Robert Taylor to discuss five titles from the Spring of 1969: Ingmar Bergman’s The Rite, Louis Malle’s Calcutta, Dennis Hopper’s Easy Rider, Masahiro Shinoda’s Double Suicide and John Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy.
Episode Time Markers: Introduction: 0:00:00 – 0:11:00 The Rite: 0:11:01 – 0:45:20 Calcutta: 0:45:21 – 1:02:12 Easy Rider: 1:02:13 – 2:00:17 Double Suicide: 2:00:18 – 2:33:06 Midnight Cowboy: 2:33:...
Episode Time Markers: Introduction: 0:00:00 – 0:11:00 The Rite: 0:11:01 – 0:45:20 Calcutta: 0:45:21 – 1:02:12 Easy Rider: 1:02:13 – 2:00:17 Double Suicide: 2:00:18 – 2:33:06 Midnight Cowboy: 2:33:...
- 10/11/2017
- by David Blakeslee
- CriterionCast
Ugetsu
Blu-ray
Criterion
1953 / B&W / 1:33 / Street Date June 6, 2017
Starring: Mitsuko Mito, Masayuki Mori, Kikue Mouri, Sakae Ozawa, Kinuyo Tanaka
Cinematography: Kazuo Miyagawa
Film Editor: Mitsuzô Miyata
Written by Matsutarô Kawaguchi, Yoshikata Yoda
Produced by Masaichi Nagata
Music: Fumio Hayasaka, Tamekichi Mochizuki, Ichirô Saitô
Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
In 1941 Orson Welles was busy giving the film industry a hot foot with Citizen Kane, a bullet-train of a movie whose rhythms sprang from the ever accelerating hustle and bustle of contemporary American life. That same year one of Japan’s greatest filmmakers, Kenji Mizoguchi, was taking his sweet time with a four hour samurai epic set 240 years in the past, The 47 Ronin.
The story of a band of loyal soldiers seeking revenge on a corrupt landowner, The 47 Ronin plays out in a precisely measured, ceremonial style, its 241 minutes leading up to the moment when the fierce band of brothers...
Blu-ray
Criterion
1953 / B&W / 1:33 / Street Date June 6, 2017
Starring: Mitsuko Mito, Masayuki Mori, Kikue Mouri, Sakae Ozawa, Kinuyo Tanaka
Cinematography: Kazuo Miyagawa
Film Editor: Mitsuzô Miyata
Written by Matsutarô Kawaguchi, Yoshikata Yoda
Produced by Masaichi Nagata
Music: Fumio Hayasaka, Tamekichi Mochizuki, Ichirô Saitô
Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
In 1941 Orson Welles was busy giving the film industry a hot foot with Citizen Kane, a bullet-train of a movie whose rhythms sprang from the ever accelerating hustle and bustle of contemporary American life. That same year one of Japan’s greatest filmmakers, Kenji Mizoguchi, was taking his sweet time with a four hour samurai epic set 240 years in the past, The 47 Ronin.
The story of a band of loyal soldiers seeking revenge on a corrupt landowner, The 47 Ronin plays out in a precisely measured, ceremonial style, its 241 minutes leading up to the moment when the fierce band of brothers...
- 7/1/2017
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Anytime I watch Mizoguchi’s work…really any of it, but especially from this later period of his career – which includes The Crucified Lovers, Sansho the Bailiff, The Life of Oharu, and The Woman in the Rumor – I really am put face to face with how relatively little we gladly settle for in much of the rest of cinema. It’s not that there’s anything necessarily wrong with all those other movies. Many of them I value a good deal more than I do Mizoguchi. But in Mizoguchi, as one often does in Bergman, you’re granted a rare combination of imagination, audacity, and mastery that few films even attempt and very, very, very few manage to pull off. You can too often pick apart some tonal shift, some acting choice, some extraneous scene or shot or just something that doesn’t fit. In Mizoguchi’s best work, everything fits.
- 6/29/2017
- by Scott Nye
- CriterionCast
In the course of the 1960s some of Japan’s most creative and prominent film directors grew frustrated with the mainstream studios restricting their artistic freedom. This led to the emergence of the Art Theatre Guild (Atg).
The Atg quickly pulled in New Wave directors such as Nagisa Oshima, Shohei Imamura, Masahiro Shinoda, and many more. Here they could freely develop their visions as they saw fit, no matter how experimental. Another one of these directors was Akio Jissoji who, in 1970, proceeded to direct one of the Atg’s most significant and haunting masterpieces.
“This Transient Life” centers itself around Masao, a rebellious young man who refuses to work or go to college. He lives with his parents and has a close relationship with his sister Yuri. A relationship that gets a little too close early in the film, and (d)evolves into an incestuous affair. They keep this a secret,...
The Atg quickly pulled in New Wave directors such as Nagisa Oshima, Shohei Imamura, Masahiro Shinoda, and many more. Here they could freely develop their visions as they saw fit, no matter how experimental. Another one of these directors was Akio Jissoji who, in 1970, proceeded to direct one of the Atg’s most significant and haunting masterpieces.
“This Transient Life” centers itself around Masao, a rebellious young man who refuses to work or go to college. He lives with his parents and has a close relationship with his sister Yuri. A relationship that gets a little too close early in the film, and (d)evolves into an incestuous affair. They keep this a secret,...
- 2/27/2017
- by Nick Sint Nicolaas
- AsianMoviePulse
“I make movies that make no sense,” Seijun Suzuki would often say, and he wasn’t being modest. The prolific director, who died earlier this month at the age of 93, was the Jackson Pollock of Japanese cinema, an irrepressibly creative artist who painted with gobs of color and geysers of fake blood in order to defy the strictures of narrative and remind viewers that movies are more than the stories they tell.
His hyper-stylized gangster sagas, which had a way of turning the most basic B-picture plots into unfettered symphonies for the senses, were born out of a rabid intolerance for boredom; audiences never knew what was going to happen next, and sometimes it’s tempting to suspect that Suzuki didn’t either. Few directors ever did more to fundamentally demolish our understanding of what film could be, and even fewer did so while working under the auspices of a major production studio.
His hyper-stylized gangster sagas, which had a way of turning the most basic B-picture plots into unfettered symphonies for the senses, were born out of a rabid intolerance for boredom; audiences never knew what was going to happen next, and sometimes it’s tempting to suspect that Suzuki didn’t either. Few directors ever did more to fundamentally demolish our understanding of what film could be, and even fewer did so while working under the auspices of a major production studio.
- 2/22/2017
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
“About three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani (which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’)”—Matthew 27:46Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield), a Jesuit priest ministering in a 17th century Japan hostile to Christians, craves the sound of this voice, pining for a confirmation of his convictions: something—anything—to demonstrate that God, too, has not forsaken him. Accompanied by Garrpe (Adam Driver), a fellow priest, he enters Japan looking for his former mentor, Father Ferreira (Liam Neeson), who according to rumor apostatized at the hands of the Japanese authorities. Because the Japanese closed off their borders to “Christian” nations like England, Portugal and Spain, Garrpe and Rodrigues travel illegally from Macao to Japan, led by an enigmatic drunkard, Kichijiro (Yôsuke Kubozuka). Shortly after their arrival, the priests bear witness to excruciating acts of torture perpetrated against the local Japanese Christians.
- 1/12/2017
- MUBI
This drama about two Christian priests’ quest to find their mentor in 17th-century Japan is sometimes hard work, but is full of conviction
After the debauchery of The Wolf of Wall Street, Martin Scorsese turns to the asceticism of Shūsaku Endō’s 1966 historical novel about the persecution of Christians in 17th-century Japan. Portuguese priests Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Garupe (Adam Driver) are “an army of two”, embarking upon a Conradian mission to “the ends of the Earth” where Christians are forced to renounce their faith on pain of torture and death. “We find our original nature in Japan,” declares Ferreira (Liam Neeson), a Jesuit missionary who has reportedly gone native, turning his back on the cross and living as a Japanese with wife and family to match. Yet the young padres, proud and impetuous, refuse to believe that their former mentor has abandoned their God, or that Christianity cannot take...
After the debauchery of The Wolf of Wall Street, Martin Scorsese turns to the asceticism of Shūsaku Endō’s 1966 historical novel about the persecution of Christians in 17th-century Japan. Portuguese priests Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Garupe (Adam Driver) are “an army of two”, embarking upon a Conradian mission to “the ends of the Earth” where Christians are forced to renounce their faith on pain of torture and death. “We find our original nature in Japan,” declares Ferreira (Liam Neeson), a Jesuit missionary who has reportedly gone native, turning his back on the cross and living as a Japanese with wife and family to match. Yet the young padres, proud and impetuous, refuse to believe that their former mentor has abandoned their God, or that Christianity cannot take...
- 1/1/2017
- by Mark Kermode, Observer film critic
- The Guardian - Film News
“Silence” opens in mist, and that pervasive haziness quickly comes to serve as a visual metaphor for the unresolvable spiritual crisis at the heart of Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of Shusaku Endo’s 1966 novel, which was previously brought to the screen – in even more austere form – by Japanese filmmaker Masahiro Shinoda in 1971. A passion project the Catholic director has sought to make for the better part of three decades, Scorsese’s religious epic is consumed with the question of God’s muteness in the face of hardship – and, considering that lack of feedback, how man can truly know whether he or she is acting in accordance with His will.
Continue reading Martin Scorsese’s ‘Silence’ Is A Beautiful Passion Project For The Devoted Only [Review] at The Playlist.
Continue reading Martin Scorsese’s ‘Silence’ Is A Beautiful Passion Project For The Devoted Only [Review] at The Playlist.
- 12/16/2016
- by Nick Schager
- The Playlist
Beyond pouty gangsters, Catholic guilt is the most reliable theme in Martin Scorsese’s movies. From its overt expression in “The Last Temptation of Christ” to the undercurrents in “The Departed,” Scorsese’s filmography embraces the notion of a spiritual code governing the lives of deeply conflicted men. “Silence,” a gorgeous and reverential treatment of 17th-century Jesuit priests facing persecution in feudal Japan, epitomizes this side of the Scorsese coin while dulling its edges. A slow-burn tale filled with beautiful imagery and understated performances, its elegance yields one of Scorsese’s most subtle efforts.
By no means a masterwork, “Silence” nevertheless displays the first-rate craftsmanship. However, it’s a surprisingly subdued approach to a story filled with vicious struggles involving men wandering the wilderness at their wits’ end, avoiding perils such as torture by boiling water and decapitation. (Even so, it’s less violent than the 1971 version; both are adapted from Shusaku Endo’s book.
By no means a masterwork, “Silence” nevertheless displays the first-rate craftsmanship. However, it’s a surprisingly subdued approach to a story filled with vicious struggles involving men wandering the wilderness at their wits’ end, avoiding perils such as torture by boiling water and decapitation. (Even so, it’s less violent than the 1971 version; both are adapted from Shusaku Endo’s book.
- 12/10/2016
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Editor’s Note: This article is presented in partnership with FilmStruck. Developed and managed by Turner Classic Movies (TCM) in collaboration with the Criterion Collection, FilmStruck features the largest streaming library of contemporary and classic arthouse, indie, foreign and cult films as well as extensive bonus content, filmmaker interviews and rare footage. Learn more here.
Masahiro Shinoda has never cracked the top tier of Japanese auteurs and he’s never enjoyed the fame of Akira Kurosawa, the critical reverence of Yasujiro Ozu, or the historical significance of Kenji Mizoguchi, but time has revealed the filmmaker to be one of the most vital directors of the 20th century. From the frenetic pop energy of the Japanese New Wave to the more meditative, historically focused features that became de rigueur towards the turn of the millennium, the versatile Shinoda was a mainstay in his country’s national cinema from his wild debut...
Masahiro Shinoda has never cracked the top tier of Japanese auteurs and he’s never enjoyed the fame of Akira Kurosawa, the critical reverence of Yasujiro Ozu, or the historical significance of Kenji Mizoguchi, but time has revealed the filmmaker to be one of the most vital directors of the 20th century. From the frenetic pop energy of the Japanese New Wave to the more meditative, historically focused features that became de rigueur towards the turn of the millennium, the versatile Shinoda was a mainstay in his country’s national cinema from his wild debut...
- 12/2/2016
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
“Silence” isn’t in theaters until Christmas Day, but you can now stream the score to Martin Scorsese’s latest film. Kim Allen Kluge & Kathryn Kluge have hardly composed a conventional soundtrack, however, melding birdsong and other ambient noise into the kind of textural soundscape that blends into the background. Listen here.
Read More: Martin Scorsese Will Meet The Pope Before ‘Silence’ World Premiere At The Vatican
Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver and Liam Neeson star in the religious drama as a trio of Jesuit priests who travel from Portugal to Japan to spread the good word — not that everyone is ready to hear it. Scorsese has wanted to make the film, an adaptation of Shūsaku Endō’s 1966 novel of the same name, for nearly 30 years; it was previously adapted by Masahiro Shinoda in 1971. Here’s the tracklist:
Read More: ‘Silence’ Trailer: Martin Scorsese’s 28-Year-Old Passion Project Looks Like A...
Read More: Martin Scorsese Will Meet The Pope Before ‘Silence’ World Premiere At The Vatican
Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver and Liam Neeson star in the religious drama as a trio of Jesuit priests who travel from Portugal to Japan to spread the good word — not that everyone is ready to hear it. Scorsese has wanted to make the film, an adaptation of Shūsaku Endō’s 1966 novel of the same name, for nearly 30 years; it was previously adapted by Masahiro Shinoda in 1971. Here’s the tracklist:
Read More: ‘Silence’ Trailer: Martin Scorsese’s 28-Year-Old Passion Project Looks Like A...
- 12/1/2016
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
Almost 30 years after Martin Scorsese first contemplated adapting Masahiro Shinoda’s 1966 novel Silence for the screen, the trailer for the highly anticipated passion project has finally arrived.
Just weeks ahead its theatrical debut, fans are getting their first look at the film, which is already garnering Oscar buzz.
Silence follows two 17th-century Jesuit missionaries, played by Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver, who travel to Japan in search of their missing mentor, played by Liam Neeson, in the time of Kakure Kirishitan (“Hidden Christians”) — a period when Christianity was outlawed and their presence was forbidden.
The trailer is also the first...
Just weeks ahead its theatrical debut, fans are getting their first look at the film, which is already garnering Oscar buzz.
Silence follows two 17th-century Jesuit missionaries, played by Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver, who travel to Japan in search of their missing mentor, played by Liam Neeson, in the time of Kakure Kirishitan (“Hidden Christians”) — a period when Christianity was outlawed and their presence was forbidden.
The trailer is also the first...
- 11/23/2016
- by Stephanie Petit
- PEOPLE.com
This year’s holiday season is full to bursting with new movies, from the expected awards contenders to a number of festival favorites and some true-blue feel-good offerings to round out the pack, and we’re pleased to offer up 22 of the coming weeks’ best bets for film fans of all stripes. Whether you’re looking to beef up on your Oscar contenders, take the whole family to see something they all can enjoy or you just want to lose yourself in the magic of the movies, the rest of 2016 has something for you.
Take our advice, there’s no better place to spend the season than at the movie theater, so start here.
“Allied” (November 23)
Robert Zemeckis has had an interesting relationship with on-screen history. “Forrest Gump” reimagined decades worth of Americana and “The Walk” turned a grace note of New York history and crafted a spectacle. “Allied” finds him in historical thriller mode,...
Take our advice, there’s no better place to spend the season than at the movie theater, so start here.
“Allied” (November 23)
Robert Zemeckis has had an interesting relationship with on-screen history. “Forrest Gump” reimagined decades worth of Americana and “The Walk” turned a grace note of New York history and crafted a spectacle. “Allied” finds him in historical thriller mode,...
- 11/21/2016
- by Kate Erbland, Eric Kohn, David Ehrlich, Steve Greene, Graham Winfrey, Zack Sharf and Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Despite being one of the most anticipated films of the year, “Silence” didn’t have an official release date until this morning. It’s now been confirmed that Martin Scorsese’s period drama will go into limited release on December 23, just in time to qualify for award season, before expanding in January. The celebrated filmmaker’s adaptation of Shūsaku Endō’s novel of the same name concerns two Jesuit priests in the 1670s who travel from Portugal to Japan, where their proselytizing isn’t well received.
Read More: Martin Scorsese’s ‘Silence’ Aiming For November Release
Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver and Liam Neeson star in the movie, which some had speculated might not be seen until next year’s edition of the Cannes Film Festival. Budgeted at $51 million and running a full 195 minutes, “Silence” is Scorsese’s first film since 2013’s “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
Read More: Everyone, Including Martin Scorsese,...
Read More: Martin Scorsese’s ‘Silence’ Aiming For November Release
Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver and Liam Neeson star in the movie, which some had speculated might not be seen until next year’s edition of the Cannes Film Festival. Budgeted at $51 million and running a full 195 minutes, “Silence” is Scorsese’s first film since 2013’s “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
Read More: Everyone, Including Martin Scorsese,...
- 9/26/2016
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
David’s Quick Take for the tl;dr Media Consumer:
Kill! is an entertaining and unusual take on the samurai/swordplay genre that plays for laughs many of the conventional tropes and set-ups common in the classic films from that tradition. I was fascinated observing how many of the fighting techniques, interpersonal conflicts, man vs. world showdowns and dramatic battle scenes that impact viewers with awe-inspiring tension can become a showcase of hilarity with just a slight exaggeration of tone, body language or facial expression (or simply cranking the fans that stir up dust clouds an extra notch or two.) Barking dialog that would come across as solemn and severe in more straightforward, traditional chanbara epics conveys much of the same surface meaning in advancing the story along in Kill! but also ends up generating a nice side helping of mirth in the process. Though at least one review considers...
Kill! is an entertaining and unusual take on the samurai/swordplay genre that plays for laughs many of the conventional tropes and set-ups common in the classic films from that tradition. I was fascinated observing how many of the fighting techniques, interpersonal conflicts, man vs. world showdowns and dramatic battle scenes that impact viewers with awe-inspiring tension can become a showcase of hilarity with just a slight exaggeration of tone, body language or facial expression (or simply cranking the fans that stir up dust clouds an extra notch or two.) Barking dialog that would come across as solemn and severe in more straightforward, traditional chanbara epics conveys much of the same surface meaning in advancing the story along in Kill! but also ends up generating a nice side helping of mirth in the process. Though at least one review considers...
- 6/5/2016
- by David Blakeslee
- CriterionCast
Rushes collects news, articles, images, videos and more for a weekly roundup of essential items from the world of film.NEWSLiam Neeson in Martin Scorsese's SilenceWe're still waiting for Martin Scorsese's new film set in 17th century Japan, Silence (an adaptation of the same book Masahiro Shinoda's 1971 film is based on), but things may be moving quickly for his next project, the long-in-gestation The Irishman, set to star Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci. We'll believe it when we see it, but we sure want to see it!Cannes begins! If this week's Rushes seems a bit threadbare, it's because we've arrive at the Cannes Film Festival and can't think of anything else. Stay tuned on the Notebook for our festival coverage.Recommended VIEWINGOur very favorite video essayist, Tag Gallagher, has made a new one for Sight & Sound on Raoul Walsh's classic noir western,...
- 5/11/2016
- MUBI
What makes a Ghost Story scary? This classic was almost too artistic for the Japanese. Masaki Kobayashi's four stories of terror work their spells through intensely beautiful images -- weirdly painted skies, strange mists -- and a Toru Takemitsu audio track that incorporates strange sounds as spooky musical punctuation. Viewers never forget the Woman of the Snow, or the faithful Hoichi the Earless. Finally restored to its full three-hour length. Kwaidan Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 90 1964 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 183 161, 125 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 20, 2015 / 39.95 Starring Michiyo Aratama, Rentaro Mikuni; Tatsuya Nakadai, Keiko Kishi; Katsuo Nakamura, Tetsurao Tanba, Takashi Shimura; Osamu Takizawa. Cinematography Yoshio Miyajima Film Editor Hisashi Sagara Art Direction Shigemasa Toda Set Decoration Dai Arakawa Costumes Masahiro Kato Original Music Toru Takemitsu Written by Yoko Mizuki from stories collected by Kiozumi Yakumo (Lafcadio Hearn) Produced by Shigeru Wakatsuki Directed by Masaki Kobayashi
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson...
- 10/20/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
There are many names that come to mind when one looks back at the Japanese New Wave era: Nagisa Oshima, Koreyoshi Kurahara, Shohei Imamura, Masahiro Shinoda, and many, many more. The movement truly began with the adaptation of Shintaro Ishihara’s novel Crazed Fruit, released with the same name by director Ko Nakahira in his 1956 film. The film would kickoff a movement, a collective stream of films that juxtaposed a time in Japanese history where the traditional society of Japan clashed with the coming of a more contemporary way of living. The American occupation ended in 1952, bringing forth a difficult period for the Japanese individual and the struggle for the realization of purpose in a changing country.
One cannot discuss the Japanese New Wave without Hiroshi Teshigahara and his collaborations with Japanese writer Kobo Abe and composer Toru Takemitsu. Teshigahara didn’t make many films during this period of extreme...
One cannot discuss the Japanese New Wave without Hiroshi Teshigahara and his collaborations with Japanese writer Kobo Abe and composer Toru Takemitsu. Teshigahara didn’t make many films during this period of extreme...
- 9/1/2015
- by Anthony Spataro
- SoundOnSight
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