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I’ve been late to some events in my life but today’s was the first where Tony Leung locked eyes while I opened the door. This, sadly, was not a one-on-one encounter or beginning of a Hong Kong co-production but the jury press conference for the 37th Tokyo International Film Festival at Toho Cinema Chanter, which the legendary production company manages, owns, and marks as their own with a Godzilla stationed outside the premises. Watching even one such event on YouTube––there’s, conservative estimate, 9,000 you can choose from across the span of the international fest circuit––you know how intimate these things get: almost everybody is a little jetlagged, hungover, under-caffeinated, and / or coasting on the energy of a hotel breakfast, the questions are not very good, and answers often their equal; not so much for lack of trying as it is means of reading the room, a...

Academy Awards® accredited and one of Asia’s largest international short film festivals, Short Shorts Film Festival (Ssff & Asia) starts annual “Screening in Autumn” today from Online Grand Theater (co-organized by Tokyo Metropolitan Government).

Tickets for screening & talk events in October are also on sale from today.

This year, in addition to the screening of 2024 award winning shorts, specially invited short films “Haunted by the Sound of the Wind” starring globally recognized actress who became the ambassador of Tokyo International Film Festival, Rinko Kikuchi and “The Chicken” by Neo Sora whose feature film was nominated Venice Film Festival will be showcased.

Furthermore, “Women in Focus program” (in cooperation with TIFF), commemorating the 160th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Switzerland “Swiss Eyes on Japan” program, and “Korean Shorts” program are also screened.

As the Online Grand Theater limited program, “Craft Stories Around Japan” starts global streaming today. 6 short films...

Guillermo del Toro's mecha vs kaiju beat-em-up blockbuster "Pacific Rim" is still his biggest commercial hit, but the sequel "Pacific Rim: Uprising" is largely considered a wash. Neither del Toro nor star Charlie Hunnam returned for "Uprising," which makes it extra easy to write off.

Hunnam played Raleigh Becket, a pilot of the "Jaeger" mecha Gipsy Danger, which was designed to kill enormous extradimensional monsters. In an interview with Inverse, when asked if he'd go back for a potential "Pacific Rim 3," Hunnam suggested it would need to be del Toro calling him back: "I would do anything that Guillermo was doing. If Guillermo invites me to do 'Pacific Rim 3,' I'll be there, or anything else he wants me to do."

Hunnam and del Toro first met when the latter was auditioning for "Hellboy II: The Golden Army." Hunnam did a make-up test for the film's villain, the cream-skinned elf Prince Nuada,...

Earlier this year, it was announced that Tom Cruise will be starring in the new film from director Alejandro Iñárritu for Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment, with this being Iñárritu’s first English language movie since The Revenant, which hit theatres back in 2015. Now Deadline has revealed the names of six of Cruise’s co-stars, breaking the news that he has been joined in the cast by John Goodman (The Big Lebowski), Jesse Plemons (Civil War), Sophie Wilde (Talk to Me), Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall), and Michael Stuhlbarg (Call Me by Your Name), with Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal) in final negotiations to join in as well. Details on the characters they’ll be playing are being kept under wraps.

This will be Cruise’s first time working with all of these actors except for Plemons. Cruise and Plemons were in the 2017 film American Made together.

Iñárritu co-wrote...

The Pacific Rim robots are coming to the small screen.

As part of a first-look television deal with Legendary Entertainment, writer/producer Eric Heisserer (Shadow and Bone, Arrival) is developing an origin story series for the movie franchise, our sister site Variety reports.

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The Pacific Rim films are set in a future where Earth is at...

“Tokyo Vice” , the 2022 crime drama TV series based on the 2009 book by Jake Adelstein, starring Ansel Elgort ("Baby Driver"), Ken Watanabe ("The Last Samurai") and Rinko Kikuchi ("Babel") has been canceled after 2 seasons on Max:

“… Set in the late 1990’s, journalist ‘Jake Adelstein’ relocates to Tokyo to join the staff of a major Japanese newspaper as their first foreign-born reporter.

“Taken under the wing of a veteran detective in the vice squad, he starts to explore a dangerous life in the Japanese underworld…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

Tokyo Vice will not be returning for a third season. Max has confirmed the cancellation of the crime drama after two seasons on the streaming service. The 10-episode second season premiered in February.

The Tokyo Vice series, which stars Ansel Elgort, Ken Watanabe, Rinko Kikuchi, Rachel Keller, Show Kasamatsu, Ayumi Ito, Yosuke Kubozuka, and Miki Maya, follows the first-hand account of the Tokyo crime scene by American journalist Jake Adelstein (Elgort).

Read More…...

One of the most critically acclaimed shows on Max (formerly HBO Max) is coming to an end, with it revealed today that Tokyo Vice’s second season will be its last. The show starred Ansel Elgort as American journalist Jake Adelstein, upon whose memoir the show was based. In it, Adelstein, a crime reporter, relocates to Tokyo and becomes embroiled in the world of the Japanese Yakuza. Ken Watanabe played his mentor, a detective investigating organized crime in the city, while Rachel Keller, Sho Kasamatsu and Rinko Kikuchi co-starred.

The pilot episode for the show was famously directed by the great Michael Mann, who also served as one of the show’s executive producers. It was originally commissioned at a time when Warner-Discovery was hoping to make HBO Max a hub for high-end series, only for many of their shows, including Raised by Wolves, The Flight Attendant, and now Tokyo Vice...

Guillermo Del Toro loves giant robot action films and he even made a film based on the mechas, Pacific Rim. When Del Toro promoted his 2013 film in Japan, he came across a life-sized Gundam statue that left him in awe. As the old video resurfaces on the internet, fans call for a live-action Gundam movie directed by the Pan’s Labyrinth director. Some fans also wanted him to consider making another film in the Pacific Rim franchise.

Guillermo Del Toro’s old video prompts fans to demand a live-action movie based on the central character from Mobile Suit Gundam

Del Toro’s love for all the nerdy things is quite famous and his home is filled with collectibles and memorabilia. He has also revealed his love for video games and Japanese manga and anime. Seeing the Gundam statue, the true nerd in him just came out.

Guillermo Del Toro’s...

[Editor’s Note: The following review contains spoilers for “Tokyo Vice” Season 2, Episode 10, “Endgame.”]

In “Tokyo Vice,” honor is a double-edged katana. On one end sits Ozaki (Bokuzō Masana), the Meicho Shimbun newspaper executive who confesses to Emi (Rinko Kikuchi) that he was the one who destroyed the Yoshino videotape — although “confesses” is too generous a word. Ozaki solves her season-long mystery without batting an eye, before mansplaining his action as if Emi is an idiot. He had to destroy the tape. If the Meicho ran a story about a government official’s involvement in the murder of a hostess, then the paper would be frozen out of government business for years. “And how would that serve our readers?” he asks. So now that Emi has brought him further evidence against prime-minister-in-waiting Jotaro Shigematsu (Hajime Inoue), proving his ties to Yakuza leader Shinzo Tozama (Ayumi Tanida), the dignified thing to do is turn over her documents to the proper parties,...

While Max (formerly known as HBO Max) is in no way the success story that Netflix is and even if it doesn’t have the vast library that Netflix has you can’t deny the sheer quality of shows that Max has. With some of the greatest stories ever told in the world of television, Max completely justifies its premium subscription price. So, today we are listing the best shows you can check out on Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming service.

Barry Credit – HBO

Barry is supposed to be a comedy but it is so much more than that as you will see thrilling drama and heartbreaking tragedy in this HBO series. Created by Bill Hader and Alec Berg, the dramedy series follows the story of a hitman who goes out to LA to eliminate a target but ends up falling in love with acting and joins a class thinking...

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...

"Not fake, it's real!" Bleecker Street has revealed a brand new trailer for a 2024 re-release of a lost indie cult classic called Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter. The film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival as the latest Zellner Brothers creation, their fifth feature film at the time after Kid-Thing in 2012. It played at tons of fests, became a cult hit, but barely got a proper release and hasn't been available to watch on VOD for a while. In honor of the film's 10th anniversary, and with the wild return of the Zellner Brothers glorious Sasquatch Sunset this year, it's landing in theaters again in March before the Sasquatches arrive in April. Rinko Kikuchi stars as Kumiko, a jaded Japanese office worker who discovers a hidden copy of Fargo (1996) on VHS, believing it to be a treasure map indicating the location of a large case of money. She travels to America...

The urban legend of a woman who died trying to find the fictional “Fargo” suitcase full of cash became an indie drama breakout hit for filmmakers the Zellner Brothers.

The Zellners debuted “Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter” at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, capturing the tale of a Tokyo-based office worker, played by Oscar-nominated “Babel” star Rinko Kikuchi, who trekked to Minneapolis, Minnesota, in search of the money that Steve Buscemi’s character buries in the snow at the end of the Coens’ “Fargo.” The blurring of fact and fiction, reality and film, turned “Kumiko” into a cult classic in the making. And the film has since been notoriously hard to find, as it’s not currently available on streaming platforms.

Now, in honor of the film’s 10-year anniversary, Bleecker Street is re-releasing the feature in theaters and on demand. “Kumiko” is directed by David Zellner from a script he co-wrote with his brother Nathan Zellner.

Here’s some exciting news: Deadline reports that Tom Cruise is set to star in a new movie from Alejandro Iñárritu for Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment. This would be Iñárritu’s first English language movie since The Revenant, which hit theaters nearly a decade ago.

Plot details are being kept under wraps, but it’s said that Iñárritu co-wrote the script last year with Sabina Berman as well as his Birdman co-writers Alexander Dinelaris and Nicolás Giacobone. It was reported yesterday that Tom Cruise was looking to return to more serious, dramatic fare with an award-winning director, and Alejandro Iñárritu certainly fits the bill. The movie will also be the first project that will fall under Cruise’s strategic partnership with Warner Bros.

Related Will Tom Cruise return to more serious dramatic movies under Warner Bros. deal?

According to Deadline’s report, Cruise arranged a meeting with Iñárritu as...

Road movies have been becoming more and more common in the Japanese movie industry, particularly since the “opening” of the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, ten years after the initial events. Kazuyoshi Kumakiri also directs a film of the canon, although the aforementioned theme is just part of the narrative here, in a title that won Best Film, Best Actress and Best Screenplay in Shanghai and is headed by an impressive performance by Rinko Kikuchi.

Yoko is screening at Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme

The Oscar-nominee plays the titular, 42-year-old woman, who is single and lives in her apartment in Tokyo, having a part time job as online customer support, and seemingly never going out, exhibiting an intense sense of agoraphobia and depression. When her cousin, Shigeru, comes knocking at her door in order to inform her that her estranged for 20 years father has died, Yoko is forced to leave...

It’s been nearly two years since the premiere of “Tokyo Vice,” in which director Michael Mann introduced us to yet another lonely male obsessive. As the sole Caucasian employee of Tokyo’s largest newspaper, Jake Adelstein (Ansel Elgort) — a real-life journalist and executive producer of the show, which is loosely based on his memoir of the same name — stood out like a sore thumb. He also acted as a Virgil guiding American viewers through the Japanese underworld at the turn of the millennium. Jake investigates organized crime via an informal partnership with Hiroto Katagiri (Ken Watanabe), a policeman who doesn’t fight the yakuza so much as help preserve the equilibrium among their competing factions. Samantha (Rachel Keller), a Mormon missionary turned apostate, served a similar purpose to Jake, but as a guide to hostess bars, a source of paid yet strictly nonsexual company unfamiliar to Westerners.

In Season...

Curb Your Enthusiasm returns to Max this month in what’s being called the show’s final season (for now). If you’re not ready for the Larry David-centric comedy series to end, you can binge all eleven of the show’s previous seasons on Max right now before hitting the new episodes.

Tokyo Vice will also be back in February for season 2. Stars Ansel Elgort, Ken Watanabe, Rinko Kikuchi, Rachel Keller, Show Kasamatsu, and Ayumi Ito are joined by Kubozuka and Miki Maya this time around, as Jake Adelstein feels the danger closing in on him. Max also welcomes you to the premiere of the highly acclaimed (and highly depraved) Dicks: The Musical this month, as a couple of self-obsessed businessmen discover they’re identical twins and decided to bring their divorced parents back together.

Here’s everything coming to (and leaving) HBO and Max this month…

HBO...

What To Watch In February 2024: 22 Films, 9 Web-Shows! (Picture Credit: IMDb/Instagram)

All you cinephiles, listen carefully because ‘What to Watch in February 2024’ has arrived with varied structures of films and shows at your disposal. From Shahid Kapoor, Kriti Sanon‘s AI-Sci-fi love story in Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya to Mammootty‘s spine-chilling horror flick in Bramayugam, there’s at least one movie for everyone of you in this month (there are 22 of them).

Even as far as the web shows are concerned, out of the nine assorted ones, you’ll get Childish Gambino attempting to thrill you in the spy-comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith; you’ll have Sushmita Sen finishing things off with Aarya Antim War (season 3).

You’ll also see Michael Dante Dimartino and Bryan Konietzko’s vision getting a live-action treatment in Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender. Let’s check out the list of...

February may be the shortest month, but Max is staying true to its name with a jam-packed schedule of additions all month long!

In addition to dozens of library shows and movies getting added to the platform throughout February—from classics like “Citizen Kane” and “A Clockwork Orange” to recent A24 favorites like “Midsommar” and “Dicks: The Musical“—several major HBO premieres are coming this week to the cabler and its streamer, including Season 11 of “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” and the final season of the long-running “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

Find out The Streamable’s top picks for February, and continue below to the full list of everything new on Max this month!

7-Day Free Trial $9.99+ / month Max via amazon.com What are the 5 Best Shows and Movies Coming to Max in February 2024? “Chasing Flavor” | Thursday, Feb. 1

“The Chew” host and “Top Chef” fan favorite Carla Hall hits the...

Presented by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan, and Japan Society

February 15-24, 2024 at Japan Society

and partner venues in NYC

New York, NY – Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan and Japan Society are proud to announce the eighth installment of the Aca Cinema Project film series – Family Portrait: Japanese Family in Flux – an ongoing initiative fostered by the Government of Japan to increase awareness and appreciation of Japanese films and filmmakers in the United States. The Aca Cinema Project has presented events in both New York and LA since 2021, and its upcoming edition will showcase over nine contemporary and classic films from February 15-24, 2024 all with the central theme of the modern family. The bonds of the Japanese family are often revered in the West, and this series will both celebrate these traditions as well as call into question their reality and relevance in our quickly changing modern world.

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,...

A premiere date for season two of Tokyo Vice has been announced. The Max crime drama will return with new episodes next month. The series debuted in April 2022.

Starring Ansel Elgort, Ken Watanabe, Rinko Kikuchi, Rachel Keller, Show Kasamatsu, Ayumi Ito, and new series regulars Yosuke Kubozuka and Miki Maya, Tokyo Vice follows the first-hand account of the Tokyo crime scene by American journalist Jake Adelstein.

Read More…...

Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s latest feature, Evil Does Not Exist, and the period action pic 12.12: The Day, from Korea, lead the nominations at this year’s Asian Film Awards.

Both films received six nominations, including Best Film and Best Director. Directed by Kim Sung-soo, whose credits include Asura: The City Of Madness and The Flu, 12.12: The Day is set against the backdrop of the real-life military coup of 1979, which resulted in an eight-year military junta in South Korea. The cast includes Hwang Jung-min (The Wailing), Jung Woo-sung (Asura: The City Of Madness), and Lee Sung-min (The Spy Gone North). Released on November 22, the film sailed past the 12 million admissions mark at the Korean box office over the Christmas holiday period, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2023 in the market.

Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist — which debuted out of Venice — follows Takumi and his daughter Hana, who live...

Max has debuted the brand new trailer for the upcoming second season of Tokyo Vice!

Ansel Elgort stars in the drama as journalist Jake Adelstein, whose real life, first-hand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat has loosely inspired the show.

Get more info and watch the trailer inside…

Here’s a synopsis: Season two, filmed on location in Tokyo, takes us deeper into the city’s criminal underworld as Adelstein (Elgort) comes to realize that his life, and the lives of those close to him, are in terrible danger.

Also starring in the series are returning actors Ken Watanabe, Rinko Kikuchi, Rachel Keller, Show Kasamatsu and Ayumi Ito, as well as new series regulars Yosuke Kubozuka and Miki Maya.

Tokyo Vice season two is set to debut on Thursday, February 8th on Max with the first two episodes, followed by one new episode weekly for eight weeks.

Related: HBO...

Season 2 of the crime thriller drama series “Tokyo Vice”, streams February 8, 2024 on Max:

“…inspired by the first-hand account of US journalist ‘Jake Adelstein', and the ‘Tokyo Metropolitan Police’nbeat, season two of the series, filmed on location in Tokyo, takes us deeper into the city's criminal underworld as ‘Adelstein’ (Ansel Elgort) comes to realize that his life, and the lives of those close to him, are in terrible danger…”

Cast also includes Ken Watanabe, Rinko Kikuchi, Rachel Keller, Show Kasamatsu, Ayumi Ito, Yosuke Kubozuka and Miki Maya.

Click the images to enlarge…...

"Be crushed by the police or evolve." Max has unveiled an official trailer for Season 2 of their crime series Tokyo Vice, set in Tokyo following the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat as they encounter the Yakuza. The first season debuted back in 2022 (here's the trailer) streaming on HBO Max to mostly positive reviews, with this second season picking up right where the first left off. The story follows American expat journalist Jake Adelstein and detective Hiroto Katagiri as allies while a war for power and territory brews between Tokyo's gangs. Find the truth no matter the cost. Ansel Elgort returns co-starring with Ken Watanabe, Nobushige Suematsu, Shô Kasamatsu, Rachel Keller, Rinko Kikuchi, Koshi Uehara, along with newcomers Miki Maya & Yosuke Kubozuka. Tokyo Vice was initially conceived as a multi-season series, and the creator knows the ending of Season 1 worried viewers. "We underestimated the level of viewers' attachment to Sato." You will...

"Tokyo Vice" wasn't the buzziest show of 2022, but those who took the plunge into the Japanese underworld alongside Ansel Elgort's dangerously curious American journalist were treated to a thrilling, narratively complex crime drama that left us gasping with a killer cliffhanger.

Thankfully, the decision-makers at what we now call Max opted to give the executive producer Michael Mann's series a second season, and, judging from the just-released trailer, the stakes are getting raised sky-high for Elgort's Jake Adelstein, Ken Watanabe's organized crime detective Hiroto Katagiri, and, oh hell yeah, Show Kasamatsu's yakuza muscle Sato.

That's right. Sato survived that seemingly fatal stabbing from Gen (Nobushige Suematsu). An internal mob war seems all but likely, and that's not taking into account the yakuza's ongoing conflict with Tokyo law enforcement. Everyone's life is in jeopardy, including Jake's. Let's take a look at what series creator and showrunner J.T. Rogers has in store.

Max has released the trailer for Season 2 of its original crime drama series “Tokyo Vice,” which will premiere on the streamer on Feb. 8 with the release of two episodes. Subsequently, one episode will debut every week for eight weeks.

Written and created by J.T. Rogers, Ansel Elgort stars as an American journalist from Missouri living in Tokyo.

The series’ synopsis reads, “Loosely inspired by American journalist Jake Adelstein’s first-hand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat, Season 2 of the series, filmed on location in Tokyo, takes us deeper into the city’s criminal underworld, as Adelstein (Elgort) comes to realize that his life, and the lives of those close to him, are in terrible danger.”

In addition to Elgort, “Tokyo Vice” stars Ken Watanabe, Rinko Kikuchi, Rachel Keller, Show Kasamatsu, Ayumi Ito, and new series regulars Yosuke Kubozuka and Miki Maya.

Watanabe stars as Hiroto Katagiri, a detective investigating...

Crime never sleeps, so it’s time for the Tokyo Vice squad to get back to work.

Season 2 of the Ansel Elgort-led crime drama will premiere Thursday, Feb. 8 on Max, TVLine has learned. The new season will debut with two episodes, with one new episode airing each Thursday after that.

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Max also released a new trailer, which you can watch above, with American...

Ansel Elgort is returning to Japan for Season 2 of Max series “Tokyo Vice.”

The “West Side Story” star muses in the trailer that he loves the “unpredictability” of being a journalist abroad covering organized crime. However, the dangers of covering the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat pushes him deeper into the city’s criminal underworld.

“Tokyo Vice” is created and written by Tony Award winner J.T. Rogers and loosely based on real-life journalist Jake Adelstein’s experiences as an expat. Elgort stars as Adelstein, with Ken Watanabe, Rinko Kikuchi, Rachel Keller, Show Kasamatsu, and Ayumi Ito reprising their respective roles for Season 2.

Yosuke Kubozuka and Miki Maya join the cast as new series regulars for the 10-episode second season.

“Tokyo Vice” Season 2 debuts with the first two episodes, followed by weekly installments. The series is executive produced by creator Rogers and director Alan Poul along with Michael Mann, Destin Daniel Cretton,...

Winning Best Actor at Cannes for Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days” (Neon) was a surprise for veteran Japanese star Koji Yakusho (“Shall We Dance?”). “I’m a very lucky man,” he told IndieWire on Zoom. And when he and Wenders heard that “Perfect Days,” despite its German director, was submitted by Japan for the Oscar, they cheered over dinner at Telluride “like we had just won the Academy Award,” said Yakusho. “Director Wim thought it would be more of a handicap that he’s not a Japanese director. But for the Japanese people, he knows the culture really well. And he also has spent a lot of time there. We were very proud to have him be selected as Japan’s entry.”

Yakusho knew Wenders’ work when he was asked to play Hiroyama, a public toilet cleaner in Tokyo. “He was always looking for a new challenge in his filmmaking,” the actor said,...

“In Love and Deep Water” is a movie directed by Yûsuke Taki, and starring Ryo Yoshizawa, Aoi Miyazaki, and Yoh Yoshida.

In Love and Deep Water

It could have been another murder story, reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s style, set on a ship, one of those movies where a detective eats a lot while solving a crime. But no, because “In Love and Deep Water” plays with that premise and turns it around to immerse us in a delightful tale of love, crime, and comedy.

A sophisticated comedy coming all the way from Japan, available on Netflix this Thursday.

It’s a mystery comedy where the crime is clear and all we have to solve is… the enigma of love.

Review of “In Love and Deep Water”

Since we were kids, we have grown up with fantastic stories of cruises where two people find love or maybe rediscover it. Whether...

Isabel Coixet, the Spanish director of My Life Without Me, Things I Never Told You, The Bookshop and It Snows in Benidorm, will be honored by the European Film Academy with this year’s European Achievement in World Cinema award for her life’s work.

Coixet has carved out an impressive career in what could be called pan-Atlantic cinema, making mainly English-language features with international casts but with a strongly European sensibility. She followed up her promising 1989 debut Demasiado viejo para morir joven (which won the best new director prize at Spain’s Goya awards) with the U.S.-shot drama Things I Never Told You, starring Andrew McCarthy and Lili Taylor. The film premiered in Berlin, a favorite launching pad for Coixet, who returned the German festival in 2003 with My Life Without Me, a romantic drama starring Sarah Polley as a young mother diagnosed with terminal cancer who decides...

Clockwise from left: The League (Magnolia Pictures), The Last Rider (Roadside Attractions), Black Ice (Lionsgate)Image: The A.V. Club

It’s Thanksgiving time, so give thanks to Hulu if you’re a fan of sports documentaries because the streaming service is stuffing its library with them. Black Ice is about institutional racism in professional hockey,...

In director Guillermo del Toro’s 2013 “monsters vs. mecha” film Pacific Rim (watch it Here), Idris Elba played the character of Marshal Stacker Pentecost, whose most popular scene may be when he gives a crowd-pumping speech that includes the line, “Today we are cancelling the apocalypse!” It’s a great moment that was almost played by another actor, as del Toro has revealed that Tom Cruise was the first choice to play Marshal Stacker Pentecost!

Speaking with Collider, del Toro said, “The two models for Pacific Rim, the two models for the screenplay, are Hoosiers with Gene Hackman and Top Gun. So, the part that Idris Elba plays, Tom Cruise was gonna do it, and I even had a karaoke. The deal couldn’t be made. He wanted to do it. We were developing stuff, and he couldn’t do it. I thought, ‘You know what? Let’s go with Idris Elba then.

You remember "Pacific Rim Uprising," don't you? The 2018 sequel at least had the good sense to continue telling stories in a world begging to become a franchise and also cast John Boyega in a much-deserved leading role, but still managed to squander its potential with a lackluster story, a bizarre and unflattering habit of setting all its major action sequences in broad daylight, and, most egregiously of all, the decision to move forward without director Guillermo del Toro's involvement. This has obviously been a sore spot for the acclaimed, monster-loving filmmaker, but we never quite got to the bottom of why things went down the way they did.

Until now, that is. "Pacific Rim" and its thrilling set pieces just turned 10 years old and, to mark the occasion, del Toro teamed up with Collider to host a special Q&a session after a recent screening of the original movie in glorious IMAX.

Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro is talking about the ‘Pacific Rim’ sequel and opening up on why he didn’t end up directing it. Del Toro directed the 2013 film about sea creatures emerging from the ocean and to defend human life, humans create giant humanoid mechas. The film starred Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Rober Kazinsky, Charlie Day, Max Martini and Ron Perlman, reportsDeadline.

Although the director was signed up to direct the sequel, he ultimately didn’t because the sound stages he wanted to shoot at were not available.

“We were getting ready to do it, it was different from the first, but it had a continuation of many of the things that I was trying to do. Then what happened is—I mean, this is why life’s crazy, right?—they had to give a deposit for the stages at 5 p.m. or we would lose the stages in Toronto for many months,...

Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro is talking about the ‘Pacific Rim’ sequel and opening up on why he didn’t end up directing it. Del Toro directed the 2013 film about sea creatures emerging from the ocean and to defend human life, humans create giant humanoid mechas. The film starred Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Rober Kazinsky, Charlie Day, Max Martini and Ron Perlman, reportsDeadline.

Although the director was signed up to direct the sequel, he ultimately didn’t because the sound stages he wanted to shoot at were not available.

“We were getting ready to do it, it was different from the first, but it had a continuation of many of the things that I was trying to do. Then what happened is—I mean, this is why life’s crazy, right?—they had to give a deposit for the stages at 5 p.m. or we would lose the stages in Toronto for many months,...

Guillermo del Toro is talking about the Pacific Rim sequel and opening up as to why he didn’t end up directing it.

Del Toro directed the 2013 film about sea creatures emerging from the ocean and to defend human life, humans create giant humanoid mechas. The film starred Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Rober Kazinsky, Charlie Day, Max Martini and Ron Perlman.

Although the director was signed up to direct the sequel, he ultimately didn’t due to the sound stages he wanted to shoot at not being available.

“We were getting ready to do it, it was different from the first, but it had a continuation of many of the things that I was trying to do. Then what happened is—I mean, this is why life’s crazy, right?—they had to give a deposit for the stages at 5 p.m. or we would lose the stages in Toronto for many months,...

A middle-aged woman forced to return home after 20 years following the death of her father. A service that provides elderly call girls to socialize with lonely Japanese seniors. A grimly hilarious look at the pressures faced by Japanese women, itself a rebuttal to the post-covid social issue films that dare not flash a smile. These three films, “Yoko,” “Tea Friends” and “Ripples” are universal in their messaging while challenging taboos about Japanese culture and society.

TheWrap hosted a three-night film festival spotlighting emerging voices in Japanese cinema. “Yoko” director Kazuyoshi Kumakiri made an in-person appearance for the post-screening Q&a while “Tea Friends” director Bunji Sotoyama and “Ripples” filmmaker Naoko Ogigami participated via Zoom. All three shared, with the assistance of translator David Neptune, poignant insights and personal stories.

‘Tea Friends’ trailer Inspirations for art

The conversations around all three films began with inquiries as to what made the filmmakers...

The Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan (Aca) is sponsoring the seventh Aca Cinema Project — Emerging Japanese Films — as the cornerstone of its Japan Overseas Expansion Enhancement Project. Visual Industry Promotion Organization (Vipo) serves as the steward for the encore of this distinguished screening series. Three recently released, prestigious theatrical titles headline the event, which runs from Tuesday, September 26, through Thursday, September 28, at the Linwood Dunn Theater, Hollywood. Festivities are free of charge for accredited entertainment industry professionals.

Launching the Aca Cinema Project on September 26 at 7:00 p.m. is the stateside debut of Kazuyoshi Kumakiri‘s quirky, character-driven, road trip drama Yoko (2022; Trt: 113 minutes). Yoko represents the longtime professional reunion of director Kumakiri and Oscar®-nominated actress Rinko Kikuchi (Tokyo Vice, Babel). Yoko marks the 20-year follow-up to their initial collaboration, 2001 Rotterdam International Film Festival Fipresci Prize winner Hole in the Sky.

Aca Cinema Project offers two...

The U.S. premieres of the films Yoko, Ripple, and Tea Friends highlight the seventh Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan (Aca) Cinema Project, which will spotlight “Emerging Japanese Films” in a series set to run Sept. 26-28 at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood.

The Aca is sponsoring the series as the cornerstone of its Japan Overseas Expansion Enhancement Project. Visual Industry Promotion Organization (Vipo) serves as the steward for the encore of the screening series.

Launching the Aca Cinema Project on September 26 at 7:00 Pm is the stateside debut of Kazuyoshi Kumakiri’s quirky, character-driven, road trip drama Yoko (2022; Trt: 113 minutes). Yoko represents the longtime professional reunion of director Kumakiri and Oscar-nominated actress Rinko Kikuchi. Yoko marks the 20-year follow-up to their initial collaboration, 2001 Rotterdam International Film Festival Fipresci Prize winner Hole in the Sky.

Set for September 27 is Ripples (2023; Trt: 120 minutes), a...

Apple TV+‘s Invasion is eyeing its Season 2 return as the latest chapter of Simon Kinberg and David Weil‘s sci-fi hit continues beginning Wednesday, August 23, and we have your exclusive first look at Mitsuki’s (Shioli Kutsuna) heartbreak in the wake of Hinata’s (Rinko Kikuchi) death. In the extended sneak peek clip, above, Mitsuki is asked to sit down for a cognitive test which quickly turns tense after a series of benign questions soon begin to focus on her love life. When asked about her first love, Mitsuki is reluctant to answer but becomes even more closed off when asked what the name of that first love was. (Credit: Apple TV+) As the tester scrolls through images on a screen, they begin to understand that the love Mitsuki is afraid to reveal is for Hinata, who viewers will recall died in Season 1. When the ordeal becomes too much for Mitsuki to cope with,...

The fans of the hit Max original series Tokyo Vice don’t have to worry about the impact of the WGA and the SAG-AFTRA strike on the series’ second season. Because Season 2 of Tokyo Vice had finished filming before the writers and actors strike began according to Tokyo Vice producer Alex Boden, who confirmed the good news in an interview with Variety.

Boden also expressed his hope that the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are resolved before the second season of the series comes out. Check out what he said below:

“Everyone involved is so proud of the work that they’ve done on this unique show — the writers, of course, but also the actors, we’ve got Ansel Elgort and Rachel Keller, who both spent a lot of time and energy learning Japanese and now speak really good Japanese. So it’d be a shame to have any...

The keenly awaited Season 2 of Max’s “Tokyo Vice” completed principal photography just before the Hollywood strikes and is now in post-production, producer Alex Boden tells Variety. Auteur Terrence Malick’s biblical drama “The Way of the Wind” is being edited.

Season 1 of “Tokyo Vice,” which followed a Western journalist working for a publication in Tokyo who takes on one of the city’s most powerful crime bosses, bowed in 2022. It was created by J.T. Rogers and starred Ken Watanabe, Ansel Elgort, Rachel Keller and Rinko Kikuchi. The season ended on a cliffhanger and Boden says that Season 2 will answer all questions eventually.

Boden says that the post-production process on the show is a lengthy one and he hopes that the strike will be resolved in time for the cast to promote it. “We’re all hoping for a resolution to the strikes for everyone’s sake, for everyone who’s impacted by them,...

Going simply by the awards handed out, the 25th Shanghai International Film Festival delivered on its promise to celebrate the emerging stars of both Asian and Chinese cinema.

There were Golden Goblet wins for established markets Japan and China, and those less known, including Uzbekistan. And there were some scene-stealing emotions shared up on stage at the Shanghai Grand Theater, including the moments when two of China’s biggest stars, Hu Ge and Da Peng, were jointly awarded the festival’s best actor prize and then shared memories of their long-lasting friendship.

Japanese director Kazuyoshi Kumakiri was certainly swept up by the occasion, as China’s major festival event marked a return to normalcy — and a return of international guests — after the travel restrictions and assorted uncertainties of the global pandemic.

Kumakiri’s Yoko picked up the festival’s best feature film, best actress and best screenplay awards in the...

“Yoko No Tabi” directed by Kazuyoshi Kumakiri (“Manhole”) was crowned winner of Best Feature Film of the the 25th Shanghai International Film Festival, one of the leading festivals in East Asia, during the awards ceremony on Saturday.The film also bagged an award for Best Actress and one for Best Screenplay.

A human drama directed by Kazuyoshi Kumakiri (Mukoku) and headlined by Rinko Kikuchi. Other cast members include Pistol Takehara, Asuka Kurosawa, Jun Fubuki and Joe Odagiri. Kikuchi was recently nominated for best supporting actress in “Babel” at the 2007 Academy Awards.

Synopsis:

Given up her dream and life long ago, Yoko has been socially isolated for years and barely leaves her tiny apartment. When she receives the news of her estranged father's death, she is forced to leave the room and ride with her cousin to return home for the first time in 20 years. However, Yoko ends up left alone in the highway rest stop…...

Further winners included Spanish documentary ‘Muyeres’.

Kazuyoshi Kumakiri’s Japanese drama Yoko scored a hat-trick of prizes at the Shanghai International Film Festival’s (Siff) Golden Goblet Awards including best film.

The film’s Japanese lead Rinko Kikuchi was named best actress for her performance of Yoko, a 42-year-old single woman who embarks on long journey to her hometown after the death of her estranged father. The film also won the best screenplay prize.

Scroll down for full list of winners

Kikuchi previously received an Oscar nomination for 2006’s Babel and worked with director Kumakiri on Hole In The Sky...

Further winners included Spanish documentary ‘Muyeres’.

Kazuyoshi Kumakiri’s Japanese drama Yoko scored a hat-trick of prizes at the Shanghai International Film Festival’s (Siff) Golden Goblet Awards including best film.

The film’s Japanese lead Rinko Kikuchi was named best actress for her performance of Yoko, a 42-year-old single woman who embarks on long journey to her hometown after the death of her estranged father. The film also won the best screenplay prize.

Scroll down for full list of winners

Kikuchi previously received an Oscar nomination for 2006’s Babel and worked with director Kumakiri on Hole In The Sky...