by Mehdi Achouche
Watching “Night River” (also known with the better title of “Undercurrent”), you understand why director Kozaburo Yoshimura (1911-2000) has so often been compared to Kenji Mizoguchi – although that has often been at Yoshimura's expense. Both delivered post-war melodramas often centering on strong, independent-minded female characters being repressed by their families and the social order. Yoshimura (who started as Ozu's assistant director) even took over from Mizoguchi after the latter's death and directed “An Osaka Story” in 1957. The year before, he made “Night River”, penned by feminist screenwriter (and frequent Naruse collaborator) Sumie Tanaka, and adapted from a novel by Hisao Sawano. The story is set in Kyoto and can be seen as part of an informal set of melodramas that Yoshimura directed in the 1950s. These films follow the lives of hard-working women in a rapidly modernizing post-war Kyoto, including the powerful “Clothes of Deception” (1951), “Sisters...
Watching “Night River” (also known with the better title of “Undercurrent”), you understand why director Kozaburo Yoshimura (1911-2000) has so often been compared to Kenji Mizoguchi – although that has often been at Yoshimura's expense. Both delivered post-war melodramas often centering on strong, independent-minded female characters being repressed by their families and the social order. Yoshimura (who started as Ozu's assistant director) even took over from Mizoguchi after the latter's death and directed “An Osaka Story” in 1957. The year before, he made “Night River”, penned by feminist screenwriter (and frequent Naruse collaborator) Sumie Tanaka, and adapted from a novel by Hisao Sawano. The story is set in Kyoto and can be seen as part of an informal set of melodramas that Yoshimura directed in the 1950s. These films follow the lives of hard-working women in a rapidly modernizing post-war Kyoto, including the powerful “Clothes of Deception” (1951), “Sisters...
- 5/15/2024
- by Guest Writer
- AsianMoviePulse
However hard it is to expand the canon, legwork must always be done. In my own time I’ve seen the understanding of mid-century Japanese cinema expand, however marginally, from Kurosawa alone to Ozu and Mizoguchi; it may be now that we place room for their contemporary Hiroshi Shimizu, whose films are subject of a two-part, cross-borough retrospective beginning next week. On May 4, Queens’ Museum of the Moving Image launches Part I: The Shochiku Years; May 16 will bring Part II: The Postwar and Independent Years to Manhattan’s Japan Society. In total the series spans 27 films, all shown on 35mm prints “imported from collections and archives in Japan.” We are accordingly thrilled to debut its trailer.
Here’s the series’ synopsis: “An unsung master of Japanese cinema, Hiroshi Shimizu (1903–1966) was highly regarded by contemporaries Yasujirō Ozu and Kenji Mizoguchi for his seemingly effortless formal ingenuity, distinguished by his signature linear traveling shots and his naturalistic,...
Here’s the series’ synopsis: “An unsung master of Japanese cinema, Hiroshi Shimizu (1903–1966) was highly regarded by contemporaries Yasujirō Ozu and Kenji Mizoguchi for his seemingly effortless formal ingenuity, distinguished by his signature linear traveling shots and his naturalistic,...
- 4/26/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Floating Clouds.In the opening scene of Mikio Naruse’s Floating Clouds (1956), a group of repatriated Japanese civilians disembarks from a shabby boat. After two brief wide shots, Naruse cuts to a medium shot to introduce the film’s protagonist, Yukiko, singling her out from what is otherwise a crowd of anonymous faces. But the film’s screenplay elaborates on those who walk alongside Yukiko: Returnees from South Asia are getting off the ship. Among the crowd of women, which consists only of comfort women, geishas, nurses, typists, clerks and the like, there is also Kõda Yukiko, who is not outfitted with proper winter attire.“Comfort women” is a name given to women and girls forced into sexual slavery at the hands of the Japanese Imperial Army. According to Yoko Mizuki’s screenplay, some are present in the crowd, but it is impossible for the viewer to discern them. The...
- 4/25/2024
- MUBI
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Roxy Cinema
Our House of Tolerance 35mm presentation returns on Friday, while a print of the James Dean-led Giant shows this Saturday alongside prints of Twilight and Half Baked; Decoder also screens.
Paris Theater
A 1984 retrospective brings Body Double and a 35mm print of Love Streams.
Japan Society
A two-title retrospective of the legendary Directors Company brings one of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s best early films, Bumpkin Soup, and Sogo Ishii’s The Crazy Family.
Anthology Film Archives
“Essential Cinema” brings two early masterpieces by Ozu, while the Quebecois cinema retrospective has its final screenings on Friday; Roy Cohn/Jack Smith shows on Saturday and Sunday.
Film at Lincoln Center
Yi Yi and A Brighter Summer Day return.
Film Forum
As Le Samouraï plays in a new 4K restoration, an Alain Delon retrospective continues while a Ken Loach series starts.
Roxy Cinema
Our House of Tolerance 35mm presentation returns on Friday, while a print of the James Dean-led Giant shows this Saturday alongside prints of Twilight and Half Baked; Decoder also screens.
Paris Theater
A 1984 retrospective brings Body Double and a 35mm print of Love Streams.
Japan Society
A two-title retrospective of the legendary Directors Company brings one of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s best early films, Bumpkin Soup, and Sogo Ishii’s The Crazy Family.
Anthology Film Archives
“Essential Cinema” brings two early masterpieces by Ozu, while the Quebecois cinema retrospective has its final screenings on Friday; Roy Cohn/Jack Smith shows on Saturday and Sunday.
Film at Lincoln Center
Yi Yi and A Brighter Summer Day return.
Film Forum
As Le Samouraï plays in a new 4K restoration, an Alain Delon retrospective continues while a Ken Loach series starts.
- 4/19/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Floating Weeds Sitting inside his Tokyo home, surrounded by stacks of books and photos of John Ford and Jean-Luc Godard pinned to the wall, the venerated film and literary critic, writer, and scholar Shiguéhiko Hasumi admitted with a wry smile that he was not really in the mood to talk about Ozu. We were gathered for an interview about a new English translation of his book Directed by Yasujiro Ozu, but he had old Hollywood on his mind. As he spoke, he switched between Japanese and French-accented English. “This book was written 40 years ago,” he said. “My last monograph is about John Ford. And this is my latest book. I greatly admire the films of Don Siegel.” He pointed to What is a Shot?. “So, I am so far from Ozu.” Indeed, Hasumi, who turns 88 this month, remains prolific. Spread out on the coffee table in front of him by...
- 4/16/2024
- MUBI
To mark the centenary of Yasujiro Ozu's birth, Hou Hsiao-Hsien made his own Tokyo story, “Café Lumière,” a film with Hou's individuality, but full of subtle nuances in tribute to the Japanese master. The family drama gets a modern-day setting, with cultural change seen across the generations.
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
Yoko (Taiwanese-Japanese musician Yo Hitoto) is a journalist who switches her time between Tokyo and Taiwan. Researching Taiwanese composer Wen-Ye Jiang, she seeks out a cafe the composer frequented when based in Tokyo. And in tribute to Ozu, who favored dialogue over story, that is about that in terms of plot.
Family and its changing nature is a theme hinted at throughout, with Yoko being pregnant by her boyfriend in Taiwan. However, she has a somewhat blasé attitude towards the pregnancy, and indeed her boyfriend; unconcerned as to whether she sees him again,...
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
Yoko (Taiwanese-Japanese musician Yo Hitoto) is a journalist who switches her time between Tokyo and Taiwan. Researching Taiwanese composer Wen-Ye Jiang, she seeks out a cafe the composer frequented when based in Tokyo. And in tribute to Ozu, who favored dialogue over story, that is about that in terms of plot.
Family and its changing nature is a theme hinted at throughout, with Yoko being pregnant by her boyfriend in Taiwan. However, she has a somewhat blasé attitude towards the pregnancy, and indeed her boyfriend; unconcerned as to whether she sees him again,...
- 4/3/2024
- by Andrew Thayne
- AsianMoviePulse
Since the beginning of his career, Hirokazu Koreeda became recognized for his films representing the family cinema genre—intrinsically linked with the favorite of Western critics among Japanese filmmakers: Yasujiro Ozu. This was already the case with Koreeda's 1995 debut film, “Maboroshi no hikari”, a visual meditation on loss and the passing of time, told through the eyes of a single mother who has just lost her beloved husband. Since the early 1960s and the death of Yasujiro Ozu, Western critics seemed to be engaged in an excruciating quest to find a new ancestor to Ozu's poetics of cinema—and finally, there was one; Koreeda became the new Ozu.
The similarity is there—a contemplative approach towards the mundane which translates to something more transcendental; a patient gaze onto the bonds of the family set against the backdrop of a modernizing world and changing traditions; or a talent to put...
The similarity is there—a contemplative approach towards the mundane which translates to something more transcendental; a patient gaze onto the bonds of the family set against the backdrop of a modernizing world and changing traditions; or a talent to put...
- 3/27/2024
- by Lukasz Mankowski
- AsianMoviePulse
Shô Miyake’s All the Long Nights is a film about small things: decency, kindness, why people help each other out, how those acts can inspire others. The first character we meet is Misa (Mone Kamishiraishi), a sensitive type who suffers from premenstrual syndrome. In the opening scene, this causes Misa to lose her cool at work, and while the situation is smoothed over, she quits out of shame. Leaving the city, she lands a gig in a suburban company, assembling astronomical sets, and meets Takatoshi (Hokuto Matsumura), a young, panic attack-prone man who recently left a job under similar circumstances. After an initial misunderstanding, their orbits align into something that looks like love but never skews romantic.
If that all sounds a bit saccharine, bear with it: in Miyake’s previous film, Small, Slow But Steady, the director took the autobiography of Keiko Ogasawara, a hearing-impaired female boxer, and...
If that all sounds a bit saccharine, bear with it: in Miyake’s previous film, Small, Slow But Steady, the director took the autobiography of Keiko Ogasawara, a hearing-impaired female boxer, and...
- 3/21/2024
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
Directed by Neo Sora, “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus” records the final performance of its namesake composer and musician prior to his death from cancer in March 2023. Per Sora, Sakamoto’s son, “Opus” is less a documentary than a concert film, capturing 20 tracks — electronic, orchestral, and everything in between — from his multifaceted career as they’re played on the piano in crisp black and white, in lighting that transitions from night to day and back to night.
As he explains, it was no small task to chronicle what he knew could be his father’s last artistic gift to the world. But when speaking about the film, Sora maintains a studied objectivity that focuses more on the process of making it than the feelings behind it — much less about his father in general. Even as a fan of Sakamoto’s since the days of Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Last Emperor,” it’s...
As he explains, it was no small task to chronicle what he knew could be his father’s last artistic gift to the world. But when speaking about the film, Sora maintains a studied objectivity that focuses more on the process of making it than the feelings behind it — much less about his father in general. Even as a fan of Sakamoto’s since the days of Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Last Emperor,” it’s...
- 3/15/2024
- by Todd Gilchrist
- Variety Film + TV
Remembering David Bordwell: A Film Scholar Who Did More Than Anyone to Advance Academic Film Studies
He simply may have watched more movies than anyone else alive. That’s the kind of legendary detail that followed film scholar David Bordwell, dead at 76 after a long struggle with a degenerative lung disease.
Was that true? Impossible to determine, and Bordwell’s cinephilia was never about bragging or the accumulation of knowledge to score points — but instead, to share with others and enrich our collective understanding of cinema. If you studied film on any level in academia, you almost certainly have heard his name.
For several generations of film students, you read Bordwell’s “Film Art: An Introduction” in your fall freshman Film 101 class. That was me in 2004, and I believe that book was already on its seventh edition by that point — it had first been published in 1979. If you went deeper into your studies, you’d undoubtedly encounter his “Film History” textbook as well. Both of these...
Was that true? Impossible to determine, and Bordwell’s cinephilia was never about bragging or the accumulation of knowledge to score points — but instead, to share with others and enrich our collective understanding of cinema. If you studied film on any level in academia, you almost certainly have heard his name.
For several generations of film students, you read Bordwell’s “Film Art: An Introduction” in your fall freshman Film 101 class. That was me in 2004, and I believe that book was already on its seventh edition by that point — it had first been published in 1979. If you went deeper into your studies, you’d undoubtedly encounter his “Film History” textbook as well. Both of these...
- 3/1/2024
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
by Vedant Srinivas
“Record of A Tenement Gentleman” is one of Ozu's great early films, and one which was also screened last year at Cannes as part of their Classics section.
The plot outline of “Record”, like most of Ozu's works, is deceptively simple (and also full of comic touches). In post-war Japan, a man living in an impoverished Tokyo tenement brings home an abandoned child (Kohei). O-Tane, a hard-hearted widow living in the same tenement, is forced to take care of Kohei. In what follows, we gradually see O-Tane's change of heart, from her initial anger at Kohei's bedwetting, her endless tricks to get rid of the boy, to finally growing fond of him.
What is most remarkable is how each scene, character, and setting is ingrained with the disastrous after-effects of WW2. Tashiro, Tamekichi, and O-Tane, the three residents of the tenement we are introduced to, each...
“Record of A Tenement Gentleman” is one of Ozu's great early films, and one which was also screened last year at Cannes as part of their Classics section.
The plot outline of “Record”, like most of Ozu's works, is deceptively simple (and also full of comic touches). In post-war Japan, a man living in an impoverished Tokyo tenement brings home an abandoned child (Kohei). O-Tane, a hard-hearted widow living in the same tenement, is forced to take care of Kohei. In what follows, we gradually see O-Tane's change of heart, from her initial anger at Kohei's bedwetting, her endless tricks to get rid of the boy, to finally growing fond of him.
What is most remarkable is how each scene, character, and setting is ingrained with the disastrous after-effects of WW2. Tashiro, Tamekichi, and O-Tane, the three residents of the tenement we are introduced to, each...
- 2/24/2024
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
As you go through the whole filmography of directors such as Yasujiro Ozu, you start to notice a certain pattern, not only in terms of the visual style but also considering elements of the story. The concept of marriage is, most of the time, when collisions and arguments start to erupt within the family unit, signifying the chasm within Japanese post-war society and some underlying issues in a conformist culture which, to this day, have not been fully resolved. In “Tokyo Twilight”, possibly one of his bleakest features stylistically and narratively, Ozu again shows the family as a mirror of society, its contradictions, regrets and guilt, posing the question of where the culture is headed and whether freedom and independence will bring the solution people wish for.
Tokyo Twilight is screening at Japan Society as part of the Family Portrait program
Shukichi Sugiyama (Chishu Ryu) is a respected employee in a Tokyo bank.
Tokyo Twilight is screening at Japan Society as part of the Family Portrait program
Shukichi Sugiyama (Chishu Ryu) is a respected employee in a Tokyo bank.
- 2/20/2024
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Criterion’s got murder on their mind. This May will bring a 4K release of Michael Powell’s career-killing masterpiece Peeping Tom, supplemented by appearances from its biggest fans Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker. More recent (and less certain on questions of guilt) is Anatomy of a Fall, arriving on Blu-ray with a 5.1 surround DTS-hd Master Audio rendition of “P.I.M.P. (Instrumental).” Meanwhile, Karyn Kusama’s 2001 feature Girlfight gets a Bd.
Then there’s two sets. Sicking up the mantle of Janus’ career-spanning retrospective, Criterion will release a three-film Ousmane Sembène offering this May––Emitaï, Xala, and Ceddo spread across a nicely designed box––and Ozu’s Floating Weeds / A Story of Floating Weeds duology, which I honestly cannot believe has been stuck on DVD for decades. Color Ozu should be nationally subsidized, and this is a good start at least.
Find cover art below and more details...
Then there’s two sets. Sicking up the mantle of Janus’ career-spanning retrospective, Criterion will release a three-film Ousmane Sembène offering this May––Emitaï, Xala, and Ceddo spread across a nicely designed box––and Ozu’s Floating Weeds / A Story of Floating Weeds duology, which I honestly cannot believe has been stuck on DVD for decades. Color Ozu should be nationally subsidized, and this is a good start at least.
Find cover art below and more details...
- 2/15/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Beware, spoilers! You may witness the most astonishingly beautiful allegory of death in a movie. The kind of long takes that flashed your mind and remains diffused long after the details of the plot are forgotten. But Shh… these few words should be enough to convince you to watch “Tomorrow is a long time”, the first feature-length film of Singapore's brilliant new formalist, Jow Zhi Wei.
Tomorrow is a Long Time is screening at Black Movie
In a fantasized Singapore, as an archetype of any tropical Asian modern city, the 17 years old Meng is raised alone by an austere hard-working father after his mother has left home, seemingly without an address. Meng's narrative has been clearly devised upon two distinct movements. The first part immerses us in the day-to-day life of this dysfunctional family surviving in a cold and harsh society. While the silent Meng is struggling to exist among...
Tomorrow is a Long Time is screening at Black Movie
In a fantasized Singapore, as an archetype of any tropical Asian modern city, the 17 years old Meng is raised alone by an austere hard-working father after his mother has left home, seemingly without an address. Meng's narrative has been clearly devised upon two distinct movements. The first part immerses us in the day-to-day life of this dysfunctional family surviving in a cold and harsh society. While the silent Meng is struggling to exist among...
- 2/6/2024
- by Jean Claude
- AsianMoviePulse
Veteran German director Wim Wenders broke new ground during the Oscar nominations on Tuesday morning when he was nominated for his Japanese-language drama Perfect Days in the best international feature category.
This isn’t Wenders’ first Oscars rodeo. The 78-year-old German director has three Academy Award nominations to his name but all have come in the best documentary category. He was nominated in 2000 for the music doc Buena Vista Social Club about aging Cuban street musicians; in 2012 for Pina, a groundbreaking 3D documentary tribute to the work of legendary dance choreographer Pina Bausch; and in 2015 for The Salt of the Earth, a portrait of famed Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado, co-directed with Salgado’s son, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado. Perfect Days does, however, mark Wenders’ first-ever Oscar nomination for a drama.
“It’s a bit ironic to be nominated for a Japanese-language film but at the same time a great honor for...
This isn’t Wenders’ first Oscars rodeo. The 78-year-old German director has three Academy Award nominations to his name but all have come in the best documentary category. He was nominated in 2000 for the music doc Buena Vista Social Club about aging Cuban street musicians; in 2012 for Pina, a groundbreaking 3D documentary tribute to the work of legendary dance choreographer Pina Bausch; and in 2015 for The Salt of the Earth, a portrait of famed Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado, co-directed with Salgado’s son, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado. Perfect Days does, however, mark Wenders’ first-ever Oscar nomination for a drama.
“It’s a bit ironic to be nominated for a Japanese-language film but at the same time a great honor for...
- 1/23/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Turner Classic Movies has picked up the exclusive North American television rights to the forthcoming documentary The Ozu Diaries, from Oscar-nominated filmmaker Daniel Raim. An intimate exploration of the life and legacy of Japanese cinematic master Yasujiro Ozu, the film will premiere on the festival circuit this year, followed by a theatrical release in 2025.
Produced with the support of the Ozu estate and Shochiku, the historic Japanese studio behind the director’s greatest works, The Ozu Diaries is a cinema history documentary that portrays the iconic filmmaker through his diaries, personal letters and interviews, plus rare archival footage, movie clips and new insights from some of his closest collaborators.
The project was initiated in 2023 to mark the 120th anniversary of Ozu’s birth. The movie will trace his journey from a rebellious young painter and cinephile in 1920s Japan to the globally renowned creator of classics like I Was Born,...
Produced with the support of the Ozu estate and Shochiku, the historic Japanese studio behind the director’s greatest works, The Ozu Diaries is a cinema history documentary that portrays the iconic filmmaker through his diaries, personal letters and interviews, plus rare archival footage, movie clips and new insights from some of his closest collaborators.
The project was initiated in 2023 to mark the 120th anniversary of Ozu’s birth. The movie will trace his journey from a rebellious young painter and cinephile in 1920s Japan to the globally renowned creator of classics like I Was Born,...
- 1/22/2024
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
One of George Lucas' primary influences when making "Star Wars" was Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, who is generally considered his country's best director aside from maybe Yasujirō Ozu. Whereas Ozu is famous for making domestic comedies and dramas, Kurosawa made movies that felt epic: samurai movies, noir thrillers ("High & Low"), and Shakespearean stories translated into his homeland's history ("Throne of Blood").
This may be one reason why "Star Wars" is popular in Japan. If you don't believe the box office, look at Japanese pop culture; anime cornerstones like "Gundam" owe a debt to Lucas. One Japanese "Star Wars" fan is Hiromu Arakawa, the manga artist most famous for creating "Fullmetal Alchemist." (Arakawa is not shy about expressing her opinions on the "Star Wars" films either.)
Set in a world where alchemy is more than just a pseudoscience, "Fullmetal Alchemist" primarily follows two brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, who search far...
This may be one reason why "Star Wars" is popular in Japan. If you don't believe the box office, look at Japanese pop culture; anime cornerstones like "Gundam" owe a debt to Lucas. One Japanese "Star Wars" fan is Hiromu Arakawa, the manga artist most famous for creating "Fullmetal Alchemist." (Arakawa is not shy about expressing her opinions on the "Star Wars" films either.)
Set in a world where alchemy is more than just a pseudoscience, "Fullmetal Alchemist" primarily follows two brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, who search far...
- 1/18/2024
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
As part of the Aca Cinema Project––”an ongoing initiative fostered by the Government of Japan to increase awareness and appreciation of Japanese films and filmmakers in the United States”––Japan Society will run “Family Portrait: Japanese Family in Flux” from February 15-24. A mix of American premieres and repertory showings, this series puts “bonds of the Japanese family” front and center to “both celebrate these traditions as well as call into question their reality and relevance in our quickly changing modern world.”
U.S. premieres include Kazuyoshi Kumakiri’s Yoko, starring Rinko Kikuchi, and Keiko Tsuruoka’s Tsugaru Lacquer Girl. A special spotlight is given to Ryota Nakano, whose A Long Goodbye and exquisitely titled Her Love Boils Bathwater will be making New York debuts; his 2020 feature The Asadas also plays.
Repertory screenings will be held for Kohei Oguri’s Muddy River, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Tokyo Sonata, Kore-eda’s Still Walking,...
U.S. premieres include Kazuyoshi Kumakiri’s Yoko, starring Rinko Kikuchi, and Keiko Tsuruoka’s Tsugaru Lacquer Girl. A special spotlight is given to Ryota Nakano, whose A Long Goodbye and exquisitely titled Her Love Boils Bathwater will be making New York debuts; his 2020 feature The Asadas also plays.
Repertory screenings will be held for Kohei Oguri’s Muddy River, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Tokyo Sonata, Kore-eda’s Still Walking,...
- 1/17/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
After a career as producer and few short films, independent director Kim Cho-hee brings to light her debut feature, “Lucky Chan-sil”, a charming story of, well … a film producer, dealing with the challenges that life throws at her. Like many of this year's movies, her work was caught in the COVID19 storm, just in between Festival runs and (cancelled) theatrical releases; therefore, after gaining a rich palmarès in Festivals (Kbs Independent Film Award and the Cgv Arthouse Award at Biff and the Audience Award at the Seoul Independent Film Festival), got stalled abruptly. Hopefully not for long.
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
Offbeat sweet ‘n' sour comedy “Lucky Chan-sil” follows the titular character, an indie film producer in her forties played by Gang Mal-geum, going through a moment of intense crisis. She has dedicated her work-life and career to the same director, a well-known auteur,...
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
Offbeat sweet ‘n' sour comedy “Lucky Chan-sil” follows the titular character, an indie film producer in her forties played by Gang Mal-geum, going through a moment of intense crisis. She has dedicated her work-life and career to the same director, a well-known auteur,...
- 1/12/2024
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
PETA has found its 2023 Person of the Year in James Gunn.
The animal rights organization has singled out the blockbuster filmmaker, who stepped in last year as co-head of DC Studios alongside Peter Safran, for his use of CGI animals like Rocket Raccoon in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. The third installment of the Marvel Studios franchise came out in May and has since grossed upward of $845 million at the global box office. It now ranks No. 4 on the year’s highest-grossing films.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by James Gunn (@jamesgunn)
Furthermore, Gunn has promoted the slogan “Adopt. Never shop” when referring to pet adoption. He adopted his dog Ozu in May 2022, and has regularly shared moments of his home life with the dog for his three million Instagram followers. “Less than two months ago, Ozu, after spending his whole life outside in a horde of 50 dogs,...
The animal rights organization has singled out the blockbuster filmmaker, who stepped in last year as co-head of DC Studios alongside Peter Safran, for his use of CGI animals like Rocket Raccoon in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. The third installment of the Marvel Studios franchise came out in May and has since grossed upward of $845 million at the global box office. It now ranks No. 4 on the year’s highest-grossing films.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by James Gunn (@jamesgunn)
Furthermore, Gunn has promoted the slogan “Adopt. Never shop” when referring to pet adoption. He adopted his dog Ozu in May 2022, and has regularly shared moments of his home life with the dog for his three million Instagram followers. “Less than two months ago, Ozu, after spending his whole life outside in a horde of 50 dogs,...
- 12/8/2023
- by Chris Gardner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Director James Gunn has been named PETA’s 2023 Person of the Year. Per the animal rights organization, Gunn has been selected “for using impressive and stunningly well-crafted CGI animals to inspire tens of millions of moviegoers—who flocked to theaters to see ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’—to have compassion for the millions of animals killed by experimenters in laboratories.”
The third installment of “Guardians of the Galaxy” explains Rocket Raccoon’s origin story as a test subject in a lab, alongside other animals.
“By telling the story of the millions of vulnerable animals abused in experiments, James Gunn has shown himself to be a true animal guardian,” says PETA president Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is delighted to honor him for encouraging exactly what the world needs: empathy for all living beings.”
Gunn also adopted his dog, Ozu, in May 2022 and promoted #AdoptDontShop on each post related to his dog’s journey.
The third installment of “Guardians of the Galaxy” explains Rocket Raccoon’s origin story as a test subject in a lab, alongside other animals.
“By telling the story of the millions of vulnerable animals abused in experiments, James Gunn has shown himself to be a true animal guardian,” says PETA president Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is delighted to honor him for encouraging exactly what the world needs: empathy for all living beings.”
Gunn also adopted his dog, Ozu, in May 2022 and promoted #AdoptDontShop on each post related to his dog’s journey.
- 12/4/2023
- by Jazz Tangcay, Valerie Wu, Clayton Davis, Jaden Thompson and Caroline Brew
- Variety Film + TV
Turkey’s Best International Feature Oscar entry “About Dry Grasses” defrosts the blurred lines between teacher and student, colleague and mentor, in Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s epically ambitioned, Cannes award-winning drama.
IndieWire debuts the trailer for the film that follows an abusive teacher (Deniz Celiloğlu) as he grapples with living in icy Anatolia, including favoring one pupil (Ece Bağcı), and seeking solace with a fellow teacher.
Samet (Celiloğlu) is a young art teacher now in his fourth year of compulsory service in a remote village in Anatolia. After a turn of events he can hardly make sense of, as is the case of many a Ceylan character facing a void, he loses his hopes of escaping the grim life he seems to be stuck in. Will his encounter with Nuray, also a teacher, help him overcome his angst? Musab Ekici also stars as Samet’s roommate.
The film is directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan,...
IndieWire debuts the trailer for the film that follows an abusive teacher (Deniz Celiloğlu) as he grapples with living in icy Anatolia, including favoring one pupil (Ece Bağcı), and seeking solace with a fellow teacher.
Samet (Celiloğlu) is a young art teacher now in his fourth year of compulsory service in a remote village in Anatolia. After a turn of events he can hardly make sense of, as is the case of many a Ceylan character facing a void, he loses his hopes of escaping the grim life he seems to be stuck in. Will his encounter with Nuray, also a teacher, help him overcome his angst? Musab Ekici also stars as Samet’s roommate.
The film is directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan,...
- 11/28/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
To commemorate 100 years since Yasujiro Ozu's birth, Hou's Tokyo story is one that shows the Japanese director was clearly an influential figure in the Taiwanese director's love of cinema. Though while “Café Lumière” features many themes seen throughout Ozu's oeuvre, this is very much a work of Hou.
Much like Hou himself, Yoko (played by Taiwanese-Japanese Yo Hitoto) is visiting Tokyo from Taiwan to research a musician, seeking a café that he used to frequent in the capital. Pregnant by her Taiwanese boyfriend, this causes conflict with her strict, rural father, who feels out of place in the city and with his daughter. In true Ozu style, this is low on plot, with changing family dynamics and female empowerment key themes, with Yoko indifferent to her family and boyfriend's opinions on her pregnancy. She is happy to go it alone. Trains, another Ozu staple, run in the veins of this film,...
Much like Hou himself, Yoko (played by Taiwanese-Japanese Yo Hitoto) is visiting Tokyo from Taiwan to research a musician, seeking a café that he used to frequent in the capital. Pregnant by her Taiwanese boyfriend, this causes conflict with her strict, rural father, who feels out of place in the city and with his daughter. In true Ozu style, this is low on plot, with changing family dynamics and female empowerment key themes, with Yoko indifferent to her family and boyfriend's opinions on her pregnancy. She is happy to go it alone. Trains, another Ozu staple, run in the veins of this film,...
- 11/19/2023
- by Andrew Thayne
- AsianMoviePulse
The Criterion Channel is closing the year out with a bang––they’ve announced their December lineup. Among the highlights are retrospectives on Yasujiro Ozu (featuring nearly 40 films!), Ousmane Sembène, Alfred Hitchcock (along with Kent Jones’ Hitchcock/Truffaut), and Parker Posey. Well-timed for the season is a holiday noir series that includes They Live By Night, Blast of Silence, Lady in the Lake, and more.
Other highlights are the recent restoration of Abel Gance’s La roue, an MGM Musicals series with introduction by Michael Koresky, Helena Wittmann’s riveting second feature Human Flowers of Flesh, the recent Sundance highlight The Mountains Are a Dream That Call To Me, the new restoration of The Cassandra Cat, Lynne Ramsay’s Morvern Callar, Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster, and more.
See the lineup below and learn more here.
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Terry Gilliam, 1988
An American in Paris, Vincente Minnelli,...
Other highlights are the recent restoration of Abel Gance’s La roue, an MGM Musicals series with introduction by Michael Koresky, Helena Wittmann’s riveting second feature Human Flowers of Flesh, the recent Sundance highlight The Mountains Are a Dream That Call To Me, the new restoration of The Cassandra Cat, Lynne Ramsay’s Morvern Callar, Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster, and more.
See the lineup below and learn more here.
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Terry Gilliam, 1988
An American in Paris, Vincente Minnelli,...
- 11/13/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
“Always: Sunset on Third Street” is based on the manga series “Sunset on Third Street,” written and illustrated by Ryohei Saigan, which follows the lives of various characters in post-war Japan. Upon release, “Always: Sunset on Third Street” would be a box-office hit, receive an overwhelmingly positive reception, and be picked as the Picture of the Year at the 2006 Japanese Academy Awards. The success of the movie would spawn two sequels.
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
Set in 1958 Japan, during the post-war economic recovery, technology is evolving, with the rising advent of television and the building of the Tokyo Tower. The primary location is a lower-income neighborhood in the Yuhi district. Rural schoolgirl Mutsuko Hoshino arrives in the metropolitan city excited to work as an apprentice at Suzuki Auto. Yet, she's perplexed when she learns that her workplace is a rundown auto repair shop...
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
Set in 1958 Japan, during the post-war economic recovery, technology is evolving, with the rising advent of television and the building of the Tokyo Tower. The primary location is a lower-income neighborhood in the Yuhi district. Rural schoolgirl Mutsuko Hoshino arrives in the metropolitan city excited to work as an apprentice at Suzuki Auto. Yet, she's perplexed when she learns that her workplace is a rundown auto repair shop...
- 11/4/2023
- by Sean Barry
- AsianMoviePulse
“Snow Leopard,” the last film by Tibetan director Pema Tseden prior to his death in May, was awarded the Grand Prix at the closing ceremony of the 36th Tokyo International Film Festival on Wednesday. Premiering out of competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival and later screening at Toronto, the film depicts the argument between a father and his adult son of how to deal with the title beast, which has descended from the mountains to kill sheep in their village.
Winner of the second-place Special Jury Prize was “Tatami,” a drama co-directed by Guy Nattiv and Zar Amir about an Iranian judoka (Arienne Mandi), who is ordered by her government to withdraw from a match to avoid facing an Israeli opponent and is subjected to increasingly desperate pleadings from her coach (Amir). Premiering at Venice, “Tatami” is the first feature film to be co-directed by an Israeli (Nattiv...
Winner of the second-place Special Jury Prize was “Tatami,” a drama co-directed by Guy Nattiv and Zar Amir about an Iranian judoka (Arienne Mandi), who is ordered by her government to withdraw from a match to avoid facing an Israeli opponent and is subjected to increasingly desperate pleadings from her coach (Amir). Premiering at Venice, “Tatami” is the first feature film to be co-directed by an Israeli (Nattiv...
- 11/1/2023
- by Mark Schilling
- Variety Film + TV
Leading filmmakers from China, Germany, Japan and the U.S. spoke of their admiration for Yasujiro Ozu as part of the celebrations at Tokyo International Film Festival for the 120th anniversary of the legendary Japanese director’s birth.
Wim Wenders opened proceedings by introducing a screening of a 4K digitally restored version of the 1959 comedy Good Morning, describing Ozu as “the master,” before a talk event featuring Jia Zhangke, Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Kelly Reichardt.
A passionate acolyte of Ozu, Wenders shot a documentary about the acclaimed director titled Tokyo-ga four decades ago, and 10 years later came to the Tokyo fest for his 90th anniversary celebrations.
Good Morning, the second film he shot in color, is a light but perceptive chronicle of family life in postwar Japan of the kind Ozu was so adept at creating.
“Watching Good Morning for the first time in a long time, I was struck...
Wim Wenders opened proceedings by introducing a screening of a 4K digitally restored version of the 1959 comedy Good Morning, describing Ozu as “the master,” before a talk event featuring Jia Zhangke, Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Kelly Reichardt.
A passionate acolyte of Ozu, Wenders shot a documentary about the acclaimed director titled Tokyo-ga four decades ago, and 10 years later came to the Tokyo fest for his 90th anniversary celebrations.
Good Morning, the second film he shot in color, is a light but perceptive chronicle of family life in postwar Japan of the kind Ozu was so adept at creating.
“Watching Good Morning for the first time in a long time, I was struck...
- 10/28/2023
- by Gavin J Blair
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Following a generation of organizational drift, the Tokyo International Film Festival has charted a course towards greater global influence under the ambitious leadership of current chairman Hiroyasu Ando. A career diplomat for Japan’s Foreign Service, Ando took the helm of the Tokyo festival in mid-2019 and quickly set about remaking the event, changing its location, shaking up the programming ranks, recruiting arthouse star Hirokazu Kore-eda to program a seminar series and adding more glamor to the after-dark parties and filmmaker fetes. A lot of that revitalization went unseen by the international film community, however, thanks to the long interregnum of the pandemic. In 2023, the Tokyo festival’s renewed outlook will be harder to miss.
“Now that the coronavirus disaster is fully over, we were able to make further progress in moving forward and upgrading our festival,” Ando tells The Hollywood Reporter.
To leverage Japan’s strengths and boost the...
“Now that the coronavirus disaster is fully over, we were able to make further progress in moving forward and upgrading our festival,” Ando tells The Hollywood Reporter.
To leverage Japan’s strengths and boost the...
- 10/23/2023
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
As dusk fell on a warm Tokyo evening, comeback director Wim Wenders introduced the cast and crew of “Perfect Days” at an outdoor stage, giving the opening ceremony of the 36th Tokyo International Film Festival a moment of European cool.
Inside the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater, Wenders was brought on stage twice more.
“I had a dream that with ‘Perfect Days,’ I’d make a film that would play at the Cannes Film Festival. I dreamed that it would win the best acting prize. I didn’t dare to dream that it would be Japan’s Oscar entry. But I did dream that it would be the opening film at the Tokyo festival and play in front of Japanese audiences,” said Wenders, getting into his stride. “And then I woke up. And yet here you are.”
Wenders, who must be nursing a bad case of jetlag, having only recently been honored...
Inside the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater, Wenders was brought on stage twice more.
“I had a dream that with ‘Perfect Days,’ I’d make a film that would play at the Cannes Film Festival. I dreamed that it would win the best acting prize. I didn’t dare to dream that it would be Japan’s Oscar entry. But I did dream that it would be the opening film at the Tokyo festival and play in front of Japanese audiences,” said Wenders, getting into his stride. “And then I woke up. And yet here you are.”
Wenders, who must be nursing a bad case of jetlag, having only recently been honored...
- 10/23/2023
- by Patrick Frater and Mark Schilling
- Variety Film + TV
Apple Original Films’ Killers of the Flower Moon marks the 16th time Martin Scorsese has worked with either Robert De Niro or Leonardo DiCaprio in a feature-length film, yet it’s the first Scorsese film that includes both actors in starring roles. Scorsese and De Niro began their 50-year association with 1973’s Mean Streets. 1976’s Taxi Driver, 1977’s New York, New York, 1980’s Raging Bull, 1983’s The King of Comedy, 1990’s Goodfellas, 1991’s Cape Fear, and 1995’s Casino followed, cementing their relationship as one of the most successful actor-director teams.
After a nearly 25-year break, Scorsese and De Niro reunited for 2019’s The Irishman, and now they’re back together again for 2023’s Killers of the Flower Moon.
During the two-decade break in the Scorsese / De Niro films, the Oscar-winning director cast Leonardo DiCaprio in 2002’s Gangs of New York, 2004’s The Aviator, 2006’s The Departed, 2010’s Shutter Island, and...
After a nearly 25-year break, Scorsese and De Niro reunited for 2019’s The Irishman, and now they’re back together again for 2023’s Killers of the Flower Moon.
During the two-decade break in the Scorsese / De Niro films, the Oscar-winning director cast Leonardo DiCaprio in 2002’s Gangs of New York, 2004’s The Aviator, 2006’s The Departed, 2010’s Shutter Island, and...
- 10/19/2023
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
Tiger Leaping To Holiday Frame
India’s Yash Raj Films has set a mid-November release date ahead of the Diwali holidays for “Tiger 3,” its anticipated spy-action film starring Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif and Emraan Hashmi. Holiday complexities have caused the company to devise what it called a “strategic and unique release plan.”
Having previously only released teaser footage, Yrf has now also unveiled a full trailer.
Unusually, the film will open in Indian and international theaters on a Sunday – Nov. 12.
“2023 is the year of ‘Adhik Maas’ which has led to complications regarding festival dates. This year, Monday, Nov. 13 is New Moon/Amavasya and the Govardhan Pooja/Gujarati New Year falls on Nov. 14. Bhai Dooj is on November 15, giving the film an extended run in this crucial holiday period which will aid in collections through the week,” said Yrf.
Directed by Maneesh Sharma (“Band Baaja Baaraat”), the film is the...
India’s Yash Raj Films has set a mid-November release date ahead of the Diwali holidays for “Tiger 3,” its anticipated spy-action film starring Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif and Emraan Hashmi. Holiday complexities have caused the company to devise what it called a “strategic and unique release plan.”
Having previously only released teaser footage, Yrf has now also unveiled a full trailer.
Unusually, the film will open in Indian and international theaters on a Sunday – Nov. 12.
“2023 is the year of ‘Adhik Maas’ which has led to complications regarding festival dates. This year, Monday, Nov. 13 is New Moon/Amavasya and the Govardhan Pooja/Gujarati New Year falls on Nov. 14. Bhai Dooj is on November 15, giving the film an extended run in this crucial holiday period which will aid in collections through the week,” said Yrf.
Directed by Maneesh Sharma (“Band Baaja Baaraat”), the film is the...
- 10/16/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
"Now what?" "Would you like to go to the cinema?" Any fans of awkward romance must watch this. Mubi has unveiled their official trailer for Aki Kaurismäki's latest film Fallen Leaves, his light-hearted romantic tragicomedy that first premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Two lonely people who meet each other by chance in the Helsinki night, until then can't find each other again. "With this film, Kaurismäki tips his hat to Bresson, Ozu and Chaplin, wanting to tell a story about the things that may lead humanity to a future: longing for love, solidarity, hope, and respect for another human being, nature and anything living or dead." Starring Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen. The film was initially inspired by the song “Les feuilles mortes" (translates to "Dead Leaves”), composed by Joseph Kosma with lyrics by Jacques Prévert. And the fun song in the trailer is by the Finnish band Maustetytöt,...
- 10/12/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
The Tokyo International Film Festival undertook a series of bold changes in 2020 to enhance its international reach, including a location change and major shakeups across staffing and programming. For the global film community, however, much of the overhaul went unfelt due to the travel restrictions of the pandemic. The Tokyo festival’s chairman, Hiroyasu Ando, emphasized at a press conference in the Japanese capital Wednesday that the event “aims to take a bigger leap” this year with its upcoming 36th edition, making good on its ambitions for a transformation.
“We’re really focussing on international interaction,” Ando said, noting that the festival would welcome some 600 overseas guests this year, including filmmakers, jury members and industry professionals, a major uptick from the 104 international industry VIPs who attended in 2022.
The Tokyo International Film Festival will open Oct. 23 with a gala screening of acclaimed German auteur Wim Wenders’ Tokyo-set drama Perfect Days, which...
“We’re really focussing on international interaction,” Ando said, noting that the festival would welcome some 600 overseas guests this year, including filmmakers, jury members and industry professionals, a major uptick from the 104 international industry VIPs who attended in 2022.
The Tokyo International Film Festival will open Oct. 23 with a gala screening of acclaimed German auteur Wim Wenders’ Tokyo-set drama Perfect Days, which...
- 9/27/2023
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Equal numbers of Chinese and Japanese titles adorn the main competition section of the Toyo International Film Festival, which was announced on Wednesday – three each.
Among the Chinese films is “Snow Leopard,” the last feature by the late Pema Tseden, and “Dwelling by the West Lake,” directed by Gu Xiaogang, the surprisingly inexperienced joint recipient of this year’s Kurosawa Award.
The full competition with 15 titles, set to play between Oct. 23 and Nov. 1, includes the world premiere of Russian director Alexei German Jr.’s “Air” and Filipino director Sheron Dayoc’s “The Gospel of the Beast.”
The trio from Japan are: “(Ab)Normal Desire,” by Kishi Yoshiyuki; “A Foggy Paradise,” by Kotsijui Yohei; and “Who Were We,” by Tomina Tetsuya.
The festival’s gala selection appears designed for entertainment pleasure. In addition to the previously-announced “Perfect Days” and “Godzilla Minus One,” set as the festival’s opening and closing films,...
Among the Chinese films is “Snow Leopard,” the last feature by the late Pema Tseden, and “Dwelling by the West Lake,” directed by Gu Xiaogang, the surprisingly inexperienced joint recipient of this year’s Kurosawa Award.
The full competition with 15 titles, set to play between Oct. 23 and Nov. 1, includes the world premiere of Russian director Alexei German Jr.’s “Air” and Filipino director Sheron Dayoc’s “The Gospel of the Beast.”
The trio from Japan are: “(Ab)Normal Desire,” by Kishi Yoshiyuki; “A Foggy Paradise,” by Kotsijui Yohei; and “Who Were We,” by Tomina Tetsuya.
The festival’s gala selection appears designed for entertainment pleasure. In addition to the previously-announced “Perfect Days” and “Godzilla Minus One,” set as the festival’s opening and closing films,...
- 9/27/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Ozu Yasujiro, the leading Japanese film director behind classics including “Tokyo Story” and “Late Spring,” has had his double birth and death anniversaries – Ozu died in 1963 on the day of his 60th birthday, a little more than a year after the release of his last film “An Autumn Afternoon” – celebrated throughout 2023 at places as varied as the Cannes Film Festival, Los Angeles’ Margaret Herrick Library and the Taiwan Film & Audiovisual Institute.
But it falls to October’s Tokyo International Film Festival to put on this year’s biggest and most comprehensive reconstruction of Ozu’s surprisingly varied career.
Working in conjunction with the National Film Archive of Japan, the festival will present an extensive retrospective that covers almost all the films that Ozu directed (TIFF/Nfaj Classics: Ozu Yasujiro Week) from Oct. 24-29.
Ozu spent his entire career, from camera assistant in 1923 to renown director in 1962, as an employee of major Japanese studio Shochiku,...
But it falls to October’s Tokyo International Film Festival to put on this year’s biggest and most comprehensive reconstruction of Ozu’s surprisingly varied career.
Working in conjunction with the National Film Archive of Japan, the festival will present an extensive retrospective that covers almost all the films that Ozu directed (TIFF/Nfaj Classics: Ozu Yasujiro Week) from Oct. 24-29.
Ozu spent his entire career, from camera assistant in 1923 to renown director in 1962, as an employee of major Japanese studio Shochiku,...
- 9/20/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Ozu first wrote “There Was a Father”, along Tadao Ikeda and Takao Yanai, in early 1937, soon after the release of “The Only Son” in September 1936 and just before he was drafted for the first time. After he returned to Japan, he revised it thoroughly, and the result was a triumph, with the movie winning the Second Prize in Kinema Junpo and having considerable success in the box office. The surviving print, a version cut by General MacArthur's sensors for postwar rerelease, was also the one Criterion released on DVD in 2010, but this year, Venice is screening a restored version that is 5 minutes longer.
“There Was a Father” is screening in Venice International Film Festival
Shuhei Horikawa is a math teacher in middle school, who lives with his 10-year-old son, Ryohei, following his wife's death, with the boy studying in the same school. One day, while taking his class for an excursion,...
“There Was a Father” is screening in Venice International Film Festival
Shuhei Horikawa is a math teacher in middle school, who lives with his 10-year-old son, Ryohei, following his wife's death, with the boy studying in the same school. One day, while taking his class for an excursion,...
- 9/6/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
We recently had the good fortune to speak with the talented, prolific filmmaker Wayne Wang about his long career, in particular his film Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart, whose Director-Approved Special Edition Blu-ray is now available from Criterion and also streaming on the Criterion Channel. Additional B-Sides we chatted about with Wang included Eat a Bowl of Tea, Life Is Cheap… But Toilet Paper Is Expensive (also on Criterion Channel), Smoke (and its own B-Side Blue in the Face), Chinese Box, and A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.
Wang elaborated on making films efficiently, his career-long ambition to make a different kind of picture every time, how he constructed the perfect “pillow shot” (an homage to filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu) in Dim Sum, and some smaller films of his that he hopes more people discover. There’s also talk about his faltering first steps into Hollywood (Slam Dance) and...
Wang elaborated on making films efficiently, his career-long ambition to make a different kind of picture every time, how he constructed the perfect “pillow shot” (an homage to filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu) in Dim Sum, and some smaller films of his that he hopes more people discover. There’s also talk about his faltering first steps into Hollywood (Slam Dance) and...
- 9/6/2023
- by Dan Mecca
- The Film Stage
Japan has picked German director Wim Wenders’ delicate drama Perfect Days, which debuted to rave reviews at Cannes earlier this year, as its entry for the 2024 Oscars in the best international feature category.
The film follows the daily routines of a late-middle-aged Japanese man who works as a cleaner of toilets in Tokyo. Koji Yakusho won Cannes’ prestigious best actor honor for his nuanced portrayal of this simple, dignified man. The film also took home the Ecumenical Jury Prize from Cannes.
The selection marks the first time Japan has submitted a film to the Oscars that was not helmed by a Japanese filmmaker. But aside from the director, Perfect Days is Japanese through and through, featuring an all-Japanese cast performing only in the Japanese language. Produced by Master Mind Limited (Japan) and Spoon Inc. (Japan) in collaboration with Wenders Images (Germany), the film is an official Japan-Germany co-production.
The Hollywood...
The film follows the daily routines of a late-middle-aged Japanese man who works as a cleaner of toilets in Tokyo. Koji Yakusho won Cannes’ prestigious best actor honor for his nuanced portrayal of this simple, dignified man. The film also took home the Ecumenical Jury Prize from Cannes.
The selection marks the first time Japan has submitted a film to the Oscars that was not helmed by a Japanese filmmaker. But aside from the director, Perfect Days is Japanese through and through, featuring an all-Japanese cast performing only in the Japanese language. Produced by Master Mind Limited (Japan) and Spoon Inc. (Japan) in collaboration with Wenders Images (Germany), the film is an official Japan-Germany co-production.
The Hollywood...
- 9/4/2023
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
An elderly couple visit their grownup children in this stunning work of art from 1953, now re-released for its 70th anniversary
The exquisite sadness of Yasujiro Ozu’s 1953 film, now re-released for its 70th anniversary, does not get any more bearable or less overwhelming with time. With each repeated viewing, the film of tears obscuring my own view of its star Setsuko Hara appears earlier and earlier, making her heartbreakingly decent, courageous smile shimmer and wobble. Ozu’s distinctive and stylised idiom, with low shooting angles and direct sightlines into camera, creates something mesmerically formal to match the drama’s emotional restraint, which is more devastating when the dam is breached. When Hara’s smile finally drops, it is like a gunshot.
Chieko Higashiyama and Ozu’s repertory stalwart Chishu Ryu play the elderly Tomi and Shukichi, who live in the quiet town of Onomichi; they are gentle country mice, almost childlike in the calm,...
The exquisite sadness of Yasujiro Ozu’s 1953 film, now re-released for its 70th anniversary, does not get any more bearable or less overwhelming with time. With each repeated viewing, the film of tears obscuring my own view of its star Setsuko Hara appears earlier and earlier, making her heartbreakingly decent, courageous smile shimmer and wobble. Ozu’s distinctive and stylised idiom, with low shooting angles and direct sightlines into camera, creates something mesmerically formal to match the drama’s emotional restraint, which is more devastating when the dam is breached. When Hara’s smile finally drops, it is like a gunshot.
Chieko Higashiyama and Ozu’s repertory stalwart Chishu Ryu play the elderly Tomi and Shukichi, who live in the quiet town of Onomichi; they are gentle country mice, almost childlike in the calm,...
- 8/31/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Fallen Leaves, Aki Kaurismäki’s first film since 2017’s The Other Side of Hope, took home the Jury Prize from this year’s Cannes while charming critics more than just about anything else in competition. His “gentle tragicomedy” marks the fourth part of a working-class series, following Shadows in Paradise, Ariel, and The Match Factory Girl, bearing influence from Ozu, Bresson, and Chaplin.
Ahead of a fall-festival run and November 17 theatrical release, Mubi have unveiled a brief but lovely teaser that confirms Rory O’Connor’s Cannes diagnosis of “a charming, moving, bittersweet romance packed with all the lovely things we’ve come to associate with him after four decades.” As he continued, “The locations and colors still come in admirable shades of mustard and pea soup––as do the characters and their moods. As a film, Fallen Leaves could hardly be simpler––two people living separate, lonesome lives meet and...
Ahead of a fall-festival run and November 17 theatrical release, Mubi have unveiled a brief but lovely teaser that confirms Rory O’Connor’s Cannes diagnosis of “a charming, moving, bittersweet romance packed with all the lovely things we’ve come to associate with him after four decades.” As he continued, “The locations and colors still come in admirable shades of mustard and pea soup––as do the characters and their moods. As a film, Fallen Leaves could hardly be simpler––two people living separate, lonesome lives meet and...
- 8/30/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
The Tokyo International Film Festival will open on Oct. 23 with a gala screening of Wim Wenders’ Tokyo-set drama Perfect Days. The festival also revealed that Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus One, the 37th film in the enduringly popular Godzilla franchise, will close the event.
Perfect Days is set for its Asian premiere at the festival and will be presented by Wenders who is also serving as the Jury President of this year’s competition. The German filmmaker’s bittersweet feature stars Koji Yakusho as a simple Tokyo toilet cleaner whose past is revealed as he encounters various people. The film has been a huge critical hit since it debuted at Cannes this year, winning the French festival’s Ecumenical Jury Prize and a best actor award for Yakusho.
In a statement, Wenders said, “I’m excited to be back at the Tokyo International Film Festival, happening 60 years after the death...
Perfect Days is set for its Asian premiere at the festival and will be presented by Wenders who is also serving as the Jury President of this year’s competition. The German filmmaker’s bittersweet feature stars Koji Yakusho as a simple Tokyo toilet cleaner whose past is revealed as he encounters various people. The film has been a huge critical hit since it debuted at Cannes this year, winning the French festival’s Ecumenical Jury Prize and a best actor award for Yakusho.
In a statement, Wenders said, “I’m excited to be back at the Tokyo International Film Festival, happening 60 years after the death...
- 8/30/2023
- by Abid Rahman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Wim Wenders’ Tokyo-based Cannes Competition title Perfect Days has been set as the opening film of this year’s Tokyo Film Festival while Godzilla Minus One, written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki, will close proceedings.
Starring Koji Yakusho (Babel), who picked up the best actor gong at Cannes for his performance, Perfect Days tells the story of Hirayama, who seems utterly content with his simple life as a cleaner of toilets in Tokyo. Outside of his very structured everyday routine, he enjoys his passion for music and books. He loves trees and takes photos of them. A series of unexpected encounters gradually reveals more of his past.
Wenders also serves as the President of this year’s competition jury at Tokyo.
“I’m excited to be back at the Tokyo International Film Festival, happening 60 years after the death and therefore 120 years after Ozu’s birth, my declared master, which makes...
Starring Koji Yakusho (Babel), who picked up the best actor gong at Cannes for his performance, Perfect Days tells the story of Hirayama, who seems utterly content with his simple life as a cleaner of toilets in Tokyo. Outside of his very structured everyday routine, he enjoys his passion for music and books. He loves trees and takes photos of them. A series of unexpected encounters gradually reveals more of his past.
Wenders also serves as the President of this year’s competition jury at Tokyo.
“I’m excited to be back at the Tokyo International Film Festival, happening 60 years after the death and therefore 120 years after Ozu’s birth, my declared master, which makes...
- 8/30/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
If you are looking for a room in the coastal town of Onomichi, you better not check in at the Ohashi apartments. Except if you want your very own meet-and-greet with J-Pop Idol Shiori Kubo, who happens to play the ghost trapped inside room 101 in Natsuki Takahashi's “A Girl in My Room”.
A Girl in My Room is streaming as part of Jff+ Independent Cinema
Based on the popular manga by Chugaku Yamamoto, the story revolves around the heartbroken Yohei, who gets dumped by his girlfriend and is left behind in the former love nest. Out of nowhere, a curious girl ghost appears and wants to experience a feeling she never felt during her life as a human, love. Yohei is annoyed by her curiosity and even tries to exorcise her, but slowly realises that she is more human than he thought.
The fantasy romantic comedy was filmed on...
A Girl in My Room is streaming as part of Jff+ Independent Cinema
Based on the popular manga by Chugaku Yamamoto, the story revolves around the heartbroken Yohei, who gets dumped by his girlfriend and is left behind in the former love nest. Out of nowhere, a curious girl ghost appears and wants to experience a feeling she never felt during her life as a human, love. Yohei is annoyed by her curiosity and even tries to exorcise her, but slowly realises that she is more human than he thought.
The fantasy romantic comedy was filmed on...
- 8/23/2023
- by Alexander Knoth
- AsianMoviePulse
James Gunn's sci-fi adventure film "Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3" takes place on a free-floating space station that was once the head of an ineffable space deity. On board the head, called Knowhere, a wide variety of aliens and creatures live in a cramped complex of apartments, trying to reside as comfortably as possible. Knowhere is also the home to the Guardians of the Galaxy, a loosely associated group of aliens — and one human — who occasionally commit acts of heroism for hire. In the first "Guardians" film, they came into the possession of Cosmo, a Soviet space dog that was salvaged by an unusual being called the Collector. By the third "Guardians," Cosmo could speak through a psychic collar (Cosmo was voiced by Maria Bakalova) and float objects with her mind.
Cosmo's breed is never spoken aloud, but she looks like a labrador or a golden retriever. In other words,...
Cosmo's breed is never spoken aloud, but she looks like a labrador or a golden retriever. In other words,...
- 8/18/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Wayne Wang’s Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart, the filmmaker’s follow-up to his existential noir riff Chan Is Missing, again focuses explicitly on the Chinese American community in San Francisco. But where his debut feature found its protagonists constantly scrambling about the city, Dim Sum is set almost exclusively within, or just outside, the domestic space. Echoes of Ozu Yasujirō, specifically Late Spring, ring throughout Wang’s melodrama, whose tender, empathetic, and often funny examination of a loving, codependent mother-daughter relationship is reminiscent of Ryū Chishū and Haru Setsuko’s characters’ in Ozu’s masterwork.
Dim Sum, too, is a film of extended silences and often mundane conversations, and of emotions coursing beneath placid surfaces across settings where old customs collide with new ones. Wang makes evocative use of Ozu’s signature pillow shots throughout, reflecting elements of a Chinese community through shots of Chinatown and its...
Dim Sum, too, is a film of extended silences and often mundane conversations, and of emotions coursing beneath placid surfaces across settings where old customs collide with new ones. Wang makes evocative use of Ozu’s signature pillow shots throughout, reflecting elements of a Chinese community through shots of Chinatown and its...
- 8/17/2023
- by Derek Smith
- Slant Magazine
Tokyo Appointment
Noted Japanese director Ando Momoko has been named as the ambassador for this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival.
She also features, alongside her father Okuda Eiji in the festival’s newly-released poster, which recreates a scene from Ozu Yasujiro’s “Tokyo Story” and in which Okuda and Ando represent the classic film’s Ryu Chishu and Hara Setsuko characters. The poster image, shot at the rooftop garden of Kitte Marunouchi Building, with Tokyo Station in the background, was designed by Koshino Junko, who has created the festival’s key visuals for the past three years.
Tokyo Iff 2023 festival poster.
This is the 120th anniversary of Japanese film master Ozu’s birth, and the 60th anniversary of his death.
The festival, which says that its key themes this year will be “diversity” and “the possibilities of cinema,” will run Oct. 23 – Nov. 1 in the Hibiya-Yurakucho-Marunouchi-Ginza area.
The 36thTIFF opening...
Noted Japanese director Ando Momoko has been named as the ambassador for this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival.
She also features, alongside her father Okuda Eiji in the festival’s newly-released poster, which recreates a scene from Ozu Yasujiro’s “Tokyo Story” and in which Okuda and Ando represent the classic film’s Ryu Chishu and Hara Setsuko characters. The poster image, shot at the rooftop garden of Kitte Marunouchi Building, with Tokyo Station in the background, was designed by Koshino Junko, who has created the festival’s key visuals for the past three years.
Tokyo Iff 2023 festival poster.
This is the 120th anniversary of Japanese film master Ozu’s birth, and the 60th anniversary of his death.
The festival, which says that its key themes this year will be “diversity” and “the possibilities of cinema,” will run Oct. 23 – Nov. 1 in the Hibiya-Yurakucho-Marunouchi-Ginza area.
The 36thTIFF opening...
- 8/17/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Japan’s Tokyo Film Festival (TIFF) has revealed the official poster for its 2023 edition, which pays tribute to the country’s seminal filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu on the 120th anniversary of his birth. Check out the full poster below.
The poster was designed as a visual tribute to Ozu’s 1952 pic Tokyo Story and features actor-filmmaker Eiji Okuda and his daughter, filmmaker Momoko Ando, representing the relationship between Ryu Chishu and Hara Setsuko in Ozu’s film.
The resulting image was shot on the rooftop garden of the Kitte Marunouchi Building, with Tokyo station’s domes in the background. The visuals were created by Junko Koshino, a Japanese fashion designer who has worked on TIFF’s visuals since 2021. The posters will be displayed at theaters from August 18. This year, Momoko has also been appointed to the ceremonial role of TIFF festival navigator, formerly known as festival ambassador. Beginning as a filmmaker, Momoko now also operates an arthouse cinema in Kochi, southwestern Japan.
Discussing her new role, Momoko said: “Cinema can embody any story. Cinema can change the world. The world can be changed by films. I honestly believe that is true. Films reflect our thoughts. They project invisible winds, tiny creatures, and all life. They memorize and record the past and future in our minds. Now in 2023, what will we gaze at, and where will we be led? Film festivals are the compass of the world. Now, here, from Tokyo.”
Running October 23 — November 1, TIFF will host a large-scale tribute to Ozu throughout its program. Specific details about the festival’s Ozu tribute have yet to be announced.
The 36th TIFF opening ceremony will take place at the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater, as it did last year, while the closing ceremony will be held at Toho Cinemas Hibiya. In addition to three large theaters, Marunouchi Toei, Marunouchi Piccadilly, and Toho Cinemas Hibiya, Hulic Hall Tokyo will join as a new screening venue, along with TIFF’s regular theaters, Kadokawa Cinema Yurakucho, Cine Switch Ginza, Humantrust Cinema Yurakucho and Toho Cinemas Chanter.
The poster was designed as a visual tribute to Ozu’s 1952 pic Tokyo Story and features actor-filmmaker Eiji Okuda and his daughter, filmmaker Momoko Ando, representing the relationship between Ryu Chishu and Hara Setsuko in Ozu’s film.
The resulting image was shot on the rooftop garden of the Kitte Marunouchi Building, with Tokyo station’s domes in the background. The visuals were created by Junko Koshino, a Japanese fashion designer who has worked on TIFF’s visuals since 2021. The posters will be displayed at theaters from August 18. This year, Momoko has also been appointed to the ceremonial role of TIFF festival navigator, formerly known as festival ambassador. Beginning as a filmmaker, Momoko now also operates an arthouse cinema in Kochi, southwestern Japan.
Discussing her new role, Momoko said: “Cinema can embody any story. Cinema can change the world. The world can be changed by films. I honestly believe that is true. Films reflect our thoughts. They project invisible winds, tiny creatures, and all life. They memorize and record the past and future in our minds. Now in 2023, what will we gaze at, and where will we be led? Film festivals are the compass of the world. Now, here, from Tokyo.”
Running October 23 — November 1, TIFF will host a large-scale tribute to Ozu throughout its program. Specific details about the festival’s Ozu tribute have yet to be announced.
The 36th TIFF opening ceremony will take place at the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater, as it did last year, while the closing ceremony will be held at Toho Cinemas Hibiya. In addition to three large theaters, Marunouchi Toei, Marunouchi Piccadilly, and Toho Cinemas Hibiya, Hulic Hall Tokyo will join as a new screening venue, along with TIFF’s regular theaters, Kadokawa Cinema Yurakucho, Cine Switch Ginza, Humantrust Cinema Yurakucho and Toho Cinemas Chanter.
- 8/17/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
A new exhibition about “trash filmmaker” John Waters and new screening series featuring the work of French New Wave grandmother Agnès Varda and freshly scanned and restored Fleischer cartoon shorts are coming this fall to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
The Los Angeles institution will also mark its second birthday by offering complimentary admission to all visitors on Saturday, Sept. 30.
“This fall’s slate of programs at the Academy Museum are designed to tell immersive and dynamic stories of moviemaking for visitors of all ages and abilities,” Amy Homma, chief audience officer of the Academy Museum, said in a statement. “Visitors can experience the John Waters: Pope of Trash exhibition, then join us for Drag Queen Story Hour to see kid-friendly live scene-readings from his films. Or visit the Director’s Inspiration gallery to view some of Agnès Varda’s personal artifacts before making their way to the theater...
The Los Angeles institution will also mark its second birthday by offering complimentary admission to all visitors on Saturday, Sept. 30.
“This fall’s slate of programs at the Academy Museum are designed to tell immersive and dynamic stories of moviemaking for visitors of all ages and abilities,” Amy Homma, chief audience officer of the Academy Museum, said in a statement. “Visitors can experience the John Waters: Pope of Trash exhibition, then join us for Drag Queen Story Hour to see kid-friendly live scene-readings from his films. Or visit the Director’s Inspiration gallery to view some of Agnès Varda’s personal artifacts before making their way to the theater...
- 8/16/2023
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Blind Beast.You could start cradled like the kidnapped woman in the undulating foam curves that resemble a gigantic female torso in Blind Beast (1969). You could make your approach via the swing of a Super-8 camera towards the steps of a courthouse at the beginning of A Wife Confesses (1961). You could drift into A Cheerful Girl (1957) through the kitchen window, onto a table laden with groceries and bottles of fluorescent orange soda-pop. You could inject yourself like morphine into Red Angel (1966), seep like body ink into the skin of Spider Tattoo (1966), or slide into the fevered bloodstream of All Mixed Up (1964) like powdered poison swallowed from a kite-paper pouch. Whether you arrive on the tip of a blade or the cusp of a kiss, there is no wrong place to start with Yasuzo Masumura, the postwar Japanese director whose astonishing accomplishment should by rights have him mentioned in the same...
- 8/15/2023
- MUBI
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Roxy Cinema
Throughout this weekend we’re proudly presenting Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo on 35mm and Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rain People, marking the New York premiere of American Zoetrope’s 4K restoration––further details, including how to get discounted tickets, are here––while Desperately Seeking Susan also plays.
"[The Rain People] is the only time I think of a movie when I'm making a movie. The only one." — Vincent Gallo
We're hosting the New York premiere of American Zoetrope's 4K restoration @RoxyCinemaNYC this weekend, alongside 'Rio Bravo' on 35mm: https://t.co/txwXR32yRm pic.twitter.com/9p6knmwNa8
— The Film Stage (@TheFilmStage) July 27, 2023
Museum of Modern Art
Films by Olivier Assayas, Claire Denis, and Todd Haynes screen on 35mm as part of “Views from the Vault.”
Bam
A series on second features has begun.
IFC...
Roxy Cinema
Throughout this weekend we’re proudly presenting Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo on 35mm and Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rain People, marking the New York premiere of American Zoetrope’s 4K restoration––further details, including how to get discounted tickets, are here––while Desperately Seeking Susan also plays.
"[The Rain People] is the only time I think of a movie when I'm making a movie. The only one." — Vincent Gallo
We're hosting the New York premiere of American Zoetrope's 4K restoration @RoxyCinemaNYC this weekend, alongside 'Rio Bravo' on 35mm: https://t.co/txwXR32yRm pic.twitter.com/9p6knmwNa8
— The Film Stage (@TheFilmStage) July 27, 2023
Museum of Modern Art
Films by Olivier Assayas, Claire Denis, and Todd Haynes screen on 35mm as part of “Views from the Vault.”
Bam
A series on second features has begun.
IFC...
- 7/28/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
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