A couple of years ago, Third Window Films released a rather crazy film, “The Legend of the Stardust Brothers” which was shot in 1985 but was considered lost. It seems though, that Macoto Tezka’s movie was not the only crazy one to have disappeared during the era, as Masashi Yamamoto also shot “What’s Up Connection” in 1990, a rare bilingual Japan-Hong Kong co-production, which is equally preposterous and also considered lost up until now. Thankfully, it has recently been restored from 35mm elements and has its international premiere in Fantasia.
“What’s Up Connection” is screening on Fantasia International Film Festival
A family of poor swindlers that live in the slums of the secluded fishing village of Po Toi O, find one day that they have won multiple holiday prizes to travel abroad, in different Asian countries. The oldest son, teenager Chi Gau Shin ends up in Tokyo by way of Kamagasaki,...
“What’s Up Connection” is screening on Fantasia International Film Festival
A family of poor swindlers that live in the slums of the secluded fishing village of Po Toi O, find one day that they have won multiple holiday prizes to travel abroad, in different Asian countries. The oldest son, teenager Chi Gau Shin ends up in Tokyo by way of Kamagasaki,...
- 7/30/2022
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Monte Hellman and his dog Kona. Monte Hellman, cult director of The Shooting (1966), Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) and Road to Nowhere (2010) has died. Hellman spoke with Notebook on several occasions about his films, decrying the committee-designed quality of new films while staying true to his own long-held principles: "I am aware of continually breaking rules." Léos Carax's first English-language film, the musical Annette, will be opening the 74th Cannes Film Festival on July 6th. The film will simultaneously be released in French cinemas. Two other Cannes titles have also been announced, having been selected for last year's postponed edition of the festival: Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch and Paul Verhoeven's Benedetta. Steven Soderbergh is undertaking the overwhelming creative task of staging this year's Oscars ceremony. As Soderbergh says, the project is "the walking...
- 4/21/2021
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: George Segal and Elliot Gould in California Split (1974). Actor George Segal, a "defining face of 1970s Hollywood" known for his roles in films like Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Robert Altman's California Split, has died. The 2021 Jury and Special Award winners of the 28th SXSW Film Festival have been announced, with winners including Megan Park's The Fallout and Jeremy Workman's Lily Topples the World. Recommended VIEWINGFor the series A One-Woman Confessional: Eight Films by Cecilia Mangini, Another Gaze's streaming project Another Screen has also made available a video of Mangini and Agnès Varda's first meeting in 2011. Metrograph's official trailer for Claire Denis' L'Intrus, her 2004 adaptation of an essay by philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy. The film will be available at the cimema's virtual theatre from March 26 to April 8. A fan-made...
- 3/28/2021
- MUBI
Makoto Tezuka's The Legend of the Stardust Brothers (1985) is playing exclusively on Mubi starting March 18, 2021 in many countries in the series Rediscovered.It’s ironic that Legend of the Stardust Brothers, a film about the meteoric rise, fall, and disappearance of two pop idols, nearly suffered the same fate as its protagonists. A giddy live-action cartoon full of surprising cameos, the film’s plot is sketched around insanely catchy tunes by eclectic pop musician and TV personality Hauro Chikada mocking industry, government, celebrity and scene drama. The anarchic musical was the first feature from up-and-comer Tezka, nee Makoto Tezuka, who at 22 had already garnered national attention for his creative shorts. Family name recognition probably didn’t hurt, as he was also the son of “God of Manga” Osamu Tezuka (creator of “Astroboy”). The film is a charming time capsule of Japan at the dawn of its booming bubble economy, and...
- 3/24/2021
- MUBI
UK-based distributors Third Window Films and Arrow Video will release hard-copy Japanese cult classics come September. Among the titles include Macoto Tezka’s musical “The Legend of the Stardust Brothers” (1985), Seiji Tanaka’s low-budget, high concept feature “Melancholic” (2018), and Katsuhito Ishii’s Cannes opening film “The Taste of Tea” (2004). Read below for exact release dates.
Black Test Car / The Black Report: 24 August; blu-ray only
Japanese maverick director Yasuzo Masumura (Blind Beast) helms a bitingly satirical espionage thriller set in the heart of the Japanese auto industry in his 1962 landmark Black Test Car, which launched a series of similarly themed “Black” films.
Making its worldwide Blu-ray debut, Black Test Car is paired here with the English-language video premiere of its follow-up The Black Report, also directed by Masumura.
Melancholic: 7 September; blu-ray only
From Third Window Films: Despite having graduated from the prestigious Tokyo University, Kazuhiko is unemployed and living with his...
Black Test Car / The Black Report: 24 August; blu-ray only
Japanese maverick director Yasuzo Masumura (Blind Beast) helms a bitingly satirical espionage thriller set in the heart of the Japanese auto industry in his 1962 landmark Black Test Car, which launched a series of similarly themed “Black” films.
Making its worldwide Blu-ray debut, Black Test Car is paired here with the English-language video premiere of its follow-up The Black Report, also directed by Masumura.
Melancholic: 7 September; blu-ray only
From Third Window Films: Despite having graduated from the prestigious Tokyo University, Kazuhiko is unemployed and living with his...
- 8/23/2020
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
Stars: Shingo Kubota, Kan Takagi, Kyoko Togawa, Kiyohiko Ozaki | Written and Directed by Macoto Tezuka
The Legend of the Stardust Brothers was made all the way back in 1985. I was only two years old; Back to the Future, The Goonies, Weird Science and The Breakfast Club were enchanting cinema goers by the millions; New Coke was introduced in the USA to very little fanfare and our friends over in Japan released this movie, a movie that I, until very recently, hadn’t heard anything about. It seems I’m not alone though, as the film flopped in its native Japan and even remains unknown to the majority of folks to this day. Strange. Needless to say, I was excited to check it out once I read the premise and heard the riveting backstory behind it.
The backstory to the film, which I found quite intriguing, would see the son of...
The Legend of the Stardust Brothers was made all the way back in 1985. I was only two years old; Back to the Future, The Goonies, Weird Science and The Breakfast Club were enchanting cinema goers by the millions; New Coke was introduced in the USA to very little fanfare and our friends over in Japan released this movie, a movie that I, until very recently, hadn’t heard anything about. It seems I’m not alone though, as the film flopped in its native Japan and even remains unknown to the majority of folks to this day. Strange. Needless to say, I was excited to check it out once I read the premise and heard the riveting backstory behind it.
The backstory to the film, which I found quite intriguing, would see the son of...
- 2/17/2020
- by Chris Cummings
- Nerdly
North America’s largest festival of contemporary Japanese cinema presents a diverse slate of 42 films, with over 20 guest filmmakers and talent in person for daily post-screening Q&As, including Cut Above awardee Shinya Tsukamoto.
Premiering 26 features and 16 short films, the summer festival offers a deep dive into one of the world’s most vital film cultures with a diverse selection across its Feature Slate, Classics: Rediscoveries and Restorations, Documentary Focus, Experimental Spotlight and Shorts Showcase sections. This year’s lineup features 19 first-time filmmakers and 14 female directors (the most in the festival’s history), including 10 International Premieres, 16 North American Premieres, 4 U.S. Premieres, 4 East Coast Premieres and 6 New York Premieres. In addition, over 20 guest filmmakers and talent from Japan will join the festival to participate in post-screening Q&As and parties.
“This 13th edition of Japan Cuts provides testament to the continued vitality of contemporary Japanese cinema with a wide array...
Premiering 26 features and 16 short films, the summer festival offers a deep dive into one of the world’s most vital film cultures with a diverse selection across its Feature Slate, Classics: Rediscoveries and Restorations, Documentary Focus, Experimental Spotlight and Shorts Showcase sections. This year’s lineup features 19 first-time filmmakers and 14 female directors (the most in the festival’s history), including 10 International Premieres, 16 North American Premieres, 4 U.S. Premieres, 4 East Coast Premieres and 6 New York Premieres. In addition, over 20 guest filmmakers and talent from Japan will join the festival to participate in post-screening Q&As and parties.
“This 13th edition of Japan Cuts provides testament to the continued vitality of contemporary Japanese cinema with a wide array...
- 6/14/2019
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
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