Matsunaga Daishi’s Egoist is a love duet full of intimate gestures. “I hated my hometown so much, I fled it, at 18, for Tokyo,” confesses Kosuke (Suzuki Ryohei), in voiceover. “For me, clothes are armor.” Though the gay fashion magazine editor, who lost his mother at age 14, seems much more at home in the more socially liberal Tokyo, he still hides behind his sharp style and his money. That is, until he meets Ryuta (Miyazawa Hio), a fitness trainer to whom he feels an immediate bond. And through these two young men from decidedly different backgrounds, Matsunaga’s film considers how class, capitalism, and core wounds collide, infect, and also inspire the heart’s most tender desires.
It isn’t long after Kosuke starts training with Ryuta that the two become romantically linked. Theirs is a carnal connection that deepens and complicates as they learn more about each other. In some ways,...
It isn’t long after Kosuke starts training with Ryuta that the two become romantically linked. Theirs is a carnal connection that deepens and complicates as they learn more about each other. In some ways,...
- 4/13/2024
- by Greg Nussen
- Slant Magazine
The 17th annual Asian Film Awards (Afa) announced the winners and special award recipients at a ceremony held at the West Kowloon Cultural District's Xiqu Centre in Hong Kong on March 10, 2024. Sixteen competitive prizes and six honorary prizes were given out.
A total of thirty-five films from 24 countries and regions were nominated for 16 prizes at the 17th Afa. From Japan, Ryusuke Hamaguchi 's Evil Does Not Exist received the Best Film Award and Best Original Music (Eiko Ishibashi), marking the second year in a row that Hamaguchi and Ishibashi have received Afa Awards; and Hirokazu Kore-eda won the Best Director Award with Monster, following last year's wins with his Korean film Broker. Koji Yakusho won the Best Actor Award for Perfect Days, his second such Afa Award following his win at the 13th Afa in 2019 for The Blood of Wolves. Perfect Days won the Best Director Award at the Japan...
A total of thirty-five films from 24 countries and regions were nominated for 16 prizes at the 17th Afa. From Japan, Ryusuke Hamaguchi 's Evil Does Not Exist received the Best Film Award and Best Original Music (Eiko Ishibashi), marking the second year in a row that Hamaguchi and Ishibashi have received Afa Awards; and Hirokazu Kore-eda won the Best Director Award with Monster, following last year's wins with his Korean film Broker. Koji Yakusho won the Best Actor Award for Perfect Days, his second such Afa Award following his win at the 13th Afa in 2019 for The Blood of Wolves. Perfect Days won the Best Director Award at the Japan...
- 3/11/2024
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
The 66th edition of the Blue Ribbon Awards, presented by the Association of Tokyo Film Journalists, has announced its winners on January 24, 2024. The nominees are selected from movies released in 2023. The trifecta wins for “Godzilla Minus One” come as no surprise, sweeping the Best Film, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress categories. Yuya Ishii picks up the Best Director award for both his movies “The Moon” and “Masked Hearts”.
Best Film
Masked Hearts
Ichiko
Egoist
Monster
The Dry Spell
Godzilla Minus One
Mom, Is That You?!
(Ab)normal Desire
The Moon
One Last Bloom
Perfect Days
Bad Lands
September 1923
Do Unto Others
As Long as We Both Shall Live
Best Director
Yuya Ishii – The Moon, Masked Hearts
Hirokazu Koreeda – Monster
Daishi Matsunaga – Egoist
Takashi Yamazaki – Godzilla Minus One
Yoji Yamada – Mom, Is That You?!
Best Actor
Goro Inagaki – (Ab)normal Desire
Ryunosuke Kamiki – Godzilla Minus One, We're Broke, My Lord!
Best Film
Masked Hearts
Ichiko
Egoist
Monster
The Dry Spell
Godzilla Minus One
Mom, Is That You?!
(Ab)normal Desire
The Moon
One Last Bloom
Perfect Days
Bad Lands
September 1923
Do Unto Others
As Long as We Both Shall Live
Best Director
Yuya Ishii – The Moon, Masked Hearts
Hirokazu Koreeda – Monster
Daishi Matsunaga – Egoist
Takashi Yamazaki – Godzilla Minus One
Yoji Yamada – Mom, Is That You?!
Best Actor
Goro Inagaki – (Ab)normal Desire
Ryunosuke Kamiki – Godzilla Minus One, We're Broke, My Lord!
- 1/25/2024
- by Suzie Cho
- AsianMoviePulse
The love of self and the love of others are deeply intertwined, according to everyone from ancient philosophers to “Drag Race” host Ru Paul. We must be anchored in a solid space of self-love in order to let someone else into our lives. On its surface, this is the key tenet of Daishi Matsunaga’s “Egoist” (ergo its title). But that sentiment serves instead to highlight how this maudlin Japanese drama about a gay man in his 30s coping with love and loss, rarely moves beyond the readymade platitudes that litter its well-meaning narrative.
Based on the late Makoto Takayama’s autobiographical novel of the same name, “Egoist” follows Saitô Kôsuke (Ryohei Suzuki), a magazine editor whose picture-perfect life includes an immaculately designed condo, a quick-paced job surrounded by fashion and photography, a closet full of beautiful designer clothes and a coterie of gay male friends with whom he handily gets along.
Based on the late Makoto Takayama’s autobiographical novel of the same name, “Egoist” follows Saitô Kôsuke (Ryohei Suzuki), a magazine editor whose picture-perfect life includes an immaculately designed condo, a quick-paced job surrounded by fashion and photography, a closet full of beautiful designer clothes and a coterie of gay male friends with whom he handily gets along.
- 1/13/2024
- by Manuel Betancourt
- Variety Film + TV
Organised by the Busan, Hong Kong and Tokyo International Film Festivals, and supported by Create HongKong and the Film Development Fund, the Asian Film Awards Academy (Academy or Afaa) has spearheaded efforts to promote Asian cinema around the world year-round. As part of the Asian Film Awards (Afa), its flagship event and the largest celebration of Asian cinema in the world, the Academy appoints an emerging Asian star every year as Youth Ambassador to act as the face of the awards and to take part in outreach activities. For the first time in its history, the Academy has appointed not one, but four celebrated Asian stars as the Youth Ambassadors of the 17th Afa: (in alphabetical order) Liu Kuan-Ting, Mario Maurer, Miyazawa Hio and Will Or.
Embodying numerous countries and cultures, Asia is a region that is rich in diversity, and that diversity has always been reflected in its films,...
Embodying numerous countries and cultures, Asia is a region that is rich in diversity, and that diversity has always been reflected in its films,...
- 12/28/2023
- by Suzie Cho
- AsianMoviePulse
The spectre of autism can prove to be a slippery slope for filmmakers. Even if it does not necessarily end up on the territory of exploitation, it tends to be the defining characteristic for the characters with it, as we witnessed in films like “Rain Man” and “Forest Gump”. Having that in mind, making a compelling, convincing and believable romance movie with at least one character somewhere on the spectrum seems like a difficult, if not downright impossible task, and the Japanese filmmaker Rika Katsu undertook it for her debut feature “Spring in Between” that we had the chance to see at Nippon Connection.
Spring In Between is screening at Nippon Connection
Katsu opens the film with a parallel montage of a man seemingly playing with blue paint on its hands, but actually painting and a woman running to some kind of an open show, against the backdrop of music...
Spring In Between is screening at Nippon Connection
Katsu opens the film with a parallel montage of a man seemingly playing with blue paint on its hands, but actually painting and a woman running to some kind of an open show, against the backdrop of music...
- 6/9/2023
- by Marko Stojiljković
- AsianMoviePulse
Daishi Matsunaga’s gay romance premiered at Tokyo International Film Festival last October.
Japan’s Nikkatsu has sold Daishi Matsunaga’s LGBTQ+ romance drama Egoist to the US and a trio of territories in Asia.
The film has been picked up by Stand Releasing for the US, which is planning a release this autumn, alongside South Korea (Studio Elon), Taiwan (Sky Digi) and Hong Kong (Golden Harvest).
It stars Ryohei Suzuki as a fashion magazine editor who starts working with a young personal trainer, played by Hio Miyazawa, who has dropped out of school to support his ailing mother. Having lost his own mother early,...
Japan’s Nikkatsu has sold Daishi Matsunaga’s LGBTQ+ romance drama Egoist to the US and a trio of territories in Asia.
The film has been picked up by Stand Releasing for the US, which is planning a release this autumn, alongside South Korea (Studio Elon), Taiwan (Sky Digi) and Hong Kong (Golden Harvest).
It stars Ryohei Suzuki as a fashion magazine editor who starts working with a young personal trainer, played by Hio Miyazawa, who has dropped out of school to support his ailing mother. Having lost his own mother early,...
- 5/19/2023
- by Jean Noh
- ScreenDaily
As the discourse in Japan regarding same-sex marriage is currently on the rise, films about the topic overall are bound to come out in more frequency. One of those films is Daishi Matsunaga's “Egoist”, based on the homonymous, autobiographical novel by Makoto Takayama, which was recently screened in Tokyo International.
“Egoist” is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival
When Kosuke was 14 years old, his mother died. He spent his adolescence in a rural village and suppressed his feelings as a gay male. As the film begins, however, we find him having turned his life completely upside down, working as a fashion magazine editor in Tokyo, looking rather smart in his designer clothes and overall handsomeness, and having a circle of friends that seem both dedicated and a constant source of fun for him. One day, after the suggestion of one of them, Kosuke starts working with Ryuta, a...
“Egoist” is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival
When Kosuke was 14 years old, his mother died. He spent his adolescence in a rural village and suppressed his feelings as a gay male. As the film begins, however, we find him having turned his life completely upside down, working as a fashion magazine editor in Tokyo, looking rather smart in his designer clothes and overall handsomeness, and having a circle of friends that seem both dedicated and a constant source of fun for him. One day, after the suggestion of one of them, Kosuke starts working with Ryuta, a...
- 4/28/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car was awarded best feature at this year’s Asian Film Awards (March 12), along with prizes for best editing and best original music. The multiple award-winning Japanese film premiered at Cannes film festival in 2021 and also won the Oscar for Best International Feature last year.
Another Japanese filmmaker, Hirokazu Kore-eda, took best director for Broker, the Korean-language film that has also been on an awards streak since premiering at Cannes film festival last year.
Best actress went to Chinese actress Tang Wei for her role in Korean director Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave, while Hong Kong’s Tony Leung Chiu-wai took best actor for Philip Yung’s Where The Wind Blows and was also presented with the Asian Film Contribution Award. Decision To Leave was also awarded best screenplay, for a script written by Park and Chung Seo-kyung, as well as best production design.
Another Japanese filmmaker, Hirokazu Kore-eda, took best director for Broker, the Korean-language film that has also been on an awards streak since premiering at Cannes film festival last year.
Best actress went to Chinese actress Tang Wei for her role in Korean director Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave, while Hong Kong’s Tony Leung Chiu-wai took best actor for Philip Yung’s Where The Wind Blows and was also presented with the Asian Film Contribution Award. Decision To Leave was also awarded best screenplay, for a script written by Park and Chung Seo-kyung, as well as best production design.
- 3/13/2023
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
‘Decision To Leave’ won three and Hirokazu Kore-eda named best director.
The Asian Film Awards (Afa) celebrated its comeback edition in Hong Kong tonight (March 12) and named Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car best film.
The Japanese film, which premiered at Cannes in 2021 and won best international feature at last year’s Oscars, won a further two awards at the AFAs: best editing for Azusa Yamazaki and best original music by Eiko Ishibashi.
Scroll down for full list of winners
Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave went into the night as the favourite, with a leading 10 nominations for the South Korean film,...
The Asian Film Awards (Afa) celebrated its comeback edition in Hong Kong tonight (March 12) and named Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car best film.
The Japanese film, which premiered at Cannes in 2021 and won best international feature at last year’s Oscars, won a further two awards at the AFAs: best editing for Azusa Yamazaki and best original music by Eiko Ishibashi.
Scroll down for full list of winners
Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave went into the night as the favourite, with a leading 10 nominations for the South Korean film,...
- 3/12/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
The much-decorated Japanese drama “Drive My Car” was named the best film Sunday at the Asian Film Awards, defeating hot favorite “Decision to Leave.”
Other notable awards went to Japan’s Hirokazu Kore-eda whose “Broker” debuted at Cannes, but which was largely shunned in his home country.
“Decision to Leave,” which started the evening with ten nominations, was nevertheless rewarded with three awards, best screenplay, best production design and best actress for China’s Tang Wei.
While nominations were geographically diverse, the awards on Sunday skewed heavily towards North East Asia –Japan, Korea and Greater China – to the total exclusion of films from India, Indonesia and The Philippines. Snubs included the exclusion of Indonesia’s “Autobiography” and Happy Salma, both of which have been widely lauded on the festival circuit.
The awards ceremony returned to Hong Kong after detours to Macau and Busan and a Covid hiatus in previous years.
Other notable awards went to Japan’s Hirokazu Kore-eda whose “Broker” debuted at Cannes, but which was largely shunned in his home country.
“Decision to Leave,” which started the evening with ten nominations, was nevertheless rewarded with three awards, best screenplay, best production design and best actress for China’s Tang Wei.
While nominations were geographically diverse, the awards on Sunday skewed heavily towards North East Asia –Japan, Korea and Greater China – to the total exclusion of films from India, Indonesia and The Philippines. Snubs included the exclusion of Indonesia’s “Autobiography” and Happy Salma, both of which have been widely lauded on the festival circuit.
The awards ceremony returned to Hong Kong after detours to Macau and Busan and a Covid hiatus in previous years.
- 3/12/2023
- by Patrick Frater and Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
As the discourse in Japan regarding same-sex marriage is currently on the rise, films about the topic overall are bound to come out in more frequency. One of those films is Daishi Matsunaga’s “Egoist”, based on the homonymous, autobiographical novel by Makoto Takayama, which was recently screened in Tokyo International.
When Kosuke was 14 years old, his mother died. He spent his adolescence in a rural village and suppressed his feelings as a gay male. As the film begins, however, we find him having turned his life completely upside down, working as a fashion magazine editor in Tokyo, looking rather smart in his designer clothes and overall handsomeness, and having a circle of friends that seem both dedicated and a constant source of fun for him. One day, after the suggestion of one of them, Kosuke starts working with Ryuta, a young personal trainer whose mother has raised him alone essentially.
When Kosuke was 14 years old, his mother died. He spent his adolescence in a rural village and suppressed his feelings as a gay male. As the film begins, however, we find him having turned his life completely upside down, working as a fashion magazine editor in Tokyo, looking rather smart in his designer clothes and overall handsomeness, and having a circle of friends that seem both dedicated and a constant source of fun for him. One day, after the suggestion of one of them, Kosuke starts working with Ryuta, a young personal trainer whose mother has raised him alone essentially.
- 1/7/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Tatsushi Ohmori made an impressive transition from arthouse filmmaker to cineplex crowd pleaser. Known for violent disruptions of conventions both cinematic and social, he created his own style, starting in 2005 with the debut film “The Whispering of Gods”. His latest production, “Goodbye Cruel World”, is a heist movie about a group of people who rob a Yakuza gang. Betrayal, love, and revenge are mixed together and crowned with an A-List cast.
Goodbye Cruel World is screening at Hawai’i International Film Festival
Nao Ohmori (“Outrage Coda” 2017) steals the show as a detective hired by the yakuza to find the culprits. On the other side, “Drive my Car” actor Hidetoshi Nishijima leads the robbers, consisting of Takumi Saitoh (“Shin Godzilla” 2016), Hio Miyazawa (“his” 2020), Tina Tamashiro (“Diner” 2019), Tomokazu Miura (“Adrift in Tokyo” 2007), and Daisuke Miyagawa (“Drop” 2009). All the characters are portrayed in a passive way, and their story is told with many omissions,...
Goodbye Cruel World is screening at Hawai’i International Film Festival
Nao Ohmori (“Outrage Coda” 2017) steals the show as a detective hired by the yakuza to find the culprits. On the other side, “Drive my Car” actor Hidetoshi Nishijima leads the robbers, consisting of Takumi Saitoh (“Shin Godzilla” 2016), Hio Miyazawa (“his” 2020), Tina Tamashiro (“Diner” 2019), Tomokazu Miura (“Adrift in Tokyo” 2007), and Daisuke Miyagawa (“Drop” 2009). All the characters are portrayed in a passive way, and their story is told with many omissions,...
- 11/7/2022
- by Alexander Knoth
- AsianMoviePulse
‘Fragments Of The Last Will’ opened 35th edition.
The 35th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) has launched with its first full-scale red carpet in three years.
At the Takarazuka Theatre in the festival’s new main area of Hibiya-Yurakucho-Ginza, relocated last year from Roppongi, international competition jury president and US director Julie Taymor spoke from the red carpet: “It’s an incredible time now that – since Covid – you’re able to have many more international guests, which is so critical at a time in the world which is so divisive.”
TIFF was only able to host eight foreign guests last year,...
The 35th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) has launched with its first full-scale red carpet in three years.
At the Takarazuka Theatre in the festival’s new main area of Hibiya-Yurakucho-Ginza, relocated last year from Roppongi, international competition jury president and US director Julie Taymor spoke from the red carpet: “It’s an incredible time now that – since Covid – you’re able to have many more international guests, which is so critical at a time in the world which is so divisive.”
TIFF was only able to host eight foreign guests last year,...
- 10/24/2022
- by Jean Noh
- ScreenDaily
Marks the latest titles from Daishi Matsunaga and Tetsu Maeda.
Japan’s Nikkatsu is set to launch sales on director Daishi Matsunaga’s gay romance drama Egoist and Tetsu Maeda’s suspense film Do Unto Others at the Asian Contents & Film Market (Acfm).
Set to play in competition at the upcoming Tokyo International Film Festival, Egoist is from the director of 2015 drama Pieta In The Toilet and documentary Pyuupiru 2001-2008.
Starring Ryohei Suzuki and Hio Miyazawa, it follows a fashion magazine editor who starts working with a young personal trainer, who has dopped out of school to support his ailing mother.
Japan’s Nikkatsu is set to launch sales on director Daishi Matsunaga’s gay romance drama Egoist and Tetsu Maeda’s suspense film Do Unto Others at the Asian Contents & Film Market (Acfm).
Set to play in competition at the upcoming Tokyo International Film Festival, Egoist is from the director of 2015 drama Pieta In The Toilet and documentary Pyuupiru 2001-2008.
Starring Ryohei Suzuki and Hio Miyazawa, it follows a fashion magazine editor who starts working with a young personal trainer, who has dopped out of school to support his ailing mother.
- 10/7/2022
- by Jean Noh
- ScreenDaily
Satsuki’s (Nana Komatsu) lover Hitoshi (Hio Miyazawa) dies suddenly. She is unable to get over his death and is mired in deep sadness. Satsuki keeps thinking about the moon shadow phenomenon, which she heard about in the past. The moon shadow phenomenon is a mysterious event that allows a person to meet the dead at the end of a full moon.
- 8/17/2021
- by Don Anelli
- AsianMoviePulse
In comparison to other Asian countries, Japan is relatively progressive when it comes to the recognition of LGBT rights, with the March 2021 district court ruling in favor of same-sex marriage being one of the latest developments in that regard. At the same time, as in many other countries and cultures, theory is one thing, but practice is something entirely different, and it might take quite a while before a society which traditionally favors conformism realizes that a same-sex couple not only has the same right, but can be parents just as much. In the past, Japanese director Rikiya Imaizumi has repeatedly discussed the theme of love and social traditions within his home country, for example in his aptly named feature “What is Love?” which talks about how love can possibly bridge prejudices and norms. In “his” the director tackles the issue of same-sex couples, about parenthood and images of gender within his home country.
- 6/4/2021
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
With plenty of history throughout modern times, a live-action version of an anime series or show is nothing new in Japanese cinema which is where Tsutomu Hanabusa‘s version of the gambling series comes from, as a sequel to two seasons of a live-action TV drama. After being on the festival circuit for a while, this now makes its way to American audiences with its premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival.
“Kakegurui” screened at the Fantasia International Film Festival:
Transferring to the elite Hyakkaou Private Academy, new student Yumeko Jabami (Minami Hamabe) is determined to subvert the trope about the school from determining your grades based on how well you perform at the gambling table. While there, she faces opposition from student council president Kirari Momobami (Elaiza Ikeda) who is also dealing with a battle against Amane Murasame (Hio Miyazawa), the priest-like leader of a campus-based cult called The Village,...
“Kakegurui” screened at the Fantasia International Film Festival:
Transferring to the elite Hyakkaou Private Academy, new student Yumeko Jabami (Minami Hamabe) is determined to subvert the trope about the school from determining your grades based on how well you perform at the gambling table. While there, she faces opposition from student council president Kirari Momobami (Elaiza Ikeda) who is also dealing with a battle against Amane Murasame (Hio Miyazawa), the priest-like leader of a campus-based cult called The Village,...
- 8/28/2020
- by Don Anelli
- AsianMoviePulse
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