News

In 2020, Naoya Fujita won the Japanese Short Film Competition of Skip City International D-Cinema with “Stay” (2019). Following up in 2022, he directed “Long-Term Coffee Break” (2022) for the New Directions in Japanese Cinema Project. “Confetti” is his first feature film and was produced to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Skip City International D-Cinema Festival and the 90th anniversary of Kawaguchi City. Enough reasons to take a closer look at this exciting new director.

Confetti is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival 2024

Yuki is a high school student living on the road with his father, who is the leader of the Yuhiza Theatre Group. Due to touring, Yuki has to change school almost every month and his life is in constant change marked by various encounters and partings. Coming to town, he is determined to focus on his biggest wish, to become an actor. He is not interested in finding new friends...

In the overwhelming plethora of yakuza movies that were produced from the Japanese movie industry, we have seen movies that portray the gangsters as heroic, as losers, or as they actually are, in a rather realistically dramatic fashion that has become more prevalent during the latest years. It is very rare, however, to watch a film of the category where the protagonist is a rather cunning coward, who spends all his energy trying to avoid becoming part of the action. This is exactly what happens in “Like a Rolling Stone” however, a film that also moves into drama/erotic paths and managed to win a plethora of local awards, mostly for the direction and the main protagonist, Eiji Okuda.

Tanaka is a yakuza whose main function is to collect protection money for his boss. Considering himself second in command, as soon as he is released from prison as the story begins,...

In the midst of the surge of J-horror following the success of “Ringu”, it seems that someone had an idea of parodying the standards (cliches if you prefer) of the category. That someone was Shinji Aoyama and the film was “Embalming”, a production that is deceptively badly written and occasionally directed, still managing, though, to retain its fun element from beginning to end.

on Amazon by clicking on the image below

Embalmer Miyako Murakami is called by her detective friend Hiraoka to treat the body of teenager Yuki Shindo, the son of a politician, after he jumps from a rooftop, apparently in a suicide. A needle found in the body, however, leads Miyako into thinking that there may be more to his death, while Hiraoka seems to think that the deceased's girlfriend, Rika is more involved than she appears to be. And more there is, in abundance actually,...

In 2020, Naoya Fujita won the Japanese Short Film Competition of Skip City International D-Cinema with “Stay” (2019). Following up in 2022, he directed “Long-Term Coffee Break” (2022) for the New Directions in Japanese Cinema Project. “Confetti” is his first feature film and was produced to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Skip City International D-Cinema Festival and the 90th anniversary of Kawaguchi City. Enough reasons to take a closer look at this exciting new director.

Confetti is screening at Skip City International D-Cinema Festival

Yuki is a high school student living on the road with his father, who is the leader of the Yuhiza Theatre Group. Due to touring, Yuki has to change school almost every month and his life is in constant change marked by various encounters and partings. Coming to town, he is determined to focus on his biggest wish, to become an actor. He is not interested in finding new friends...

Howling Village Review — Howling Village / Inunaki mura (2019) Film Review, a movie directed by Takashi Shimizu, and starring Ayaka Miyoshi, Ryota Bando, Tsuyoshi Furukawa, Renji Ishibashi, Takamasa Suga, Hina Mayano, Megumi Okina, Reiko Takashima, Rinka Otani, Masanobu Takashima, Minori Terada, Akira Sasamoto, and Ken Tanaka. Takashi Shimizu’s recent entry, Howling Village, draws its plot [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: Howling Village (2019): Takashi Shimizu Takes on a Famous Urban Legend With a Solid Movie...

Stars: Yayan Ruhian, Rirî Furankî, Hayato Ichihara, Mio Yûki, Pierre Taki, Denden, Tetsu Watanabe, Yoshiyuki Morishita, Riko Narumi, Reiko Takashima, Lily Frankie, Masanori Mimoto, Shô Aoyagi, Manzô Shinra, Kiyohiko Shibukawa | Written by Yoshitaka Yamaguchi | Directed by Takashi Miike

I’m not sure if it’s from watching Battles Without Honour and Humanity or my love of the Crows Zero movies that did it, but I have to admit that I was very excited about Takashi Miike’s Yakuza Apocalypse. Now that I’ve seen it, I may be a little confused but I’ll also admit to being in love with the insane little film.

Yakuza Apocalypse focuses on the story of Kageyama, a Yakuza who is ridiculed for his lack of signature tattoos down to his sensitive skin. When he witnesses the defeat of his former boss, whose decapitated head in turn bites him turning him into a vampire he turns into a vampire.

Stars: Yayan Ruhian, Rirî Furankî, Hayato Ichihara, Mio Yûki, Pierre Taki, Denden, Tetsu Watanabe, Yoshiyuki Morishita, Riko Narumi, Reiko Takashima, Lily Frankie, Masanori Mimoto, Shô Aoyagi, Manzô Shinra, Kiyohiko Shibukawa | Written by Yoshitaka Yamaguchi | Directed by Takashi Miike

When considering the work of a director who often makes up to six or seven films a year, you might be forgiven for assuming that most of these would be low-key, simple productions focusing on small sets of characters. Not so in the case of Takashi Miike, the filmmaker behind such eyebrow-raising fare as the ultraviolent Ichi The Killer, zombie musical comedy The Happiness of the Katakuris and contemplative drama The Bird People in China. Never one to shirk an ambitious project for the sake of an easy life, Miike’s latest film sees him on world-ending form with Yakuza Apocalypse.

Kageyama is a low-level Yakuza thug bullied by his fellow gangsters...

Based on the 1,000-year-old "The Tale of Genji", written by a court woman in Kyoto during Japan's Heian Dynasty, Toei Co.'s cinematic version of a famous literary classic is an expensive but disappointing costume epic.

Opening in December in Japan, "Genji -- A Thousand Year Love" marks the feature film debut of veteran TV director Tonko Horikawa. Unlikely to stir up much international interest beyond foreign festival engagements, the film is often beautiful and parts of the episodic storytelling achieve the universal romantic appeal the filmmakers strove for.

But even a 2-hour-and-20-minute movie is bound to cut a lot of corners in attempting to adapt the lengthy original. Indeed, Viking just published a two-volume, 1,200-page English translation of "The Tale of Genji".

Credited to veteran Akira Hayasaka, the screenplay of "Genji" strives to present the best-known characters from what some have called the world's first novel.

But it also attempts to weave in the story of author Murasaki Shikibu (Sayuri Yoshinaga). The daughter of a scholar, Murasaki is already famous for her writing when she's employed to tutor the daughter (Takami Mizuhashi) of a statesman (Ken Watanabe). Hoping to have his daughter marry the emperor, Murasaki's employer enourages the telling of stories about Genji. An idealized "beautiful man" who has many loves, Genji is played with elegance and muted charisma by a woman, Yuki Amami.

The film moves back and forth between Murasaki's world and the romantic realms that her creation Genji exists in. Son of the emperor but destined not to rule, Genji falls seriously in love with his father's new wife, the Empress Fujitsubo (Reiko Takashima), and gets her pregnant. This misstep leads the lovesick hero to essentially kidnap a girl that he raises to be a "perfect woman" (Takako Tokiwa).

But over the years Genji dallies with many other ladies, including his wife (Shinobu Nakayama) who he was married to as a teenager. He eventually builds a mansion with four pavilions themed after the seasons. But not all his true loves are thrilled to take up residence.

The rights of women in the mostly peaceful world depicted are strangely skewed or non-exsistent. Murasaki's lusty, tragic tale causes her charge to question the fate that destines her to become one of many women beholden to one powerful man.

While one doesn't exactly feel transported to the 11th Century, "Genji" tries hard with pretty locations and historically accurate kimonos to make the material a memorable encounter with ancient Japanese culture. Special effects are even part of the package, including spooky sequences with spirits. Alas, the long running time results in a movie that stumbles to a decidedly less than earthmoving conclusion.

GENJI -- A THOUSAND YEAR LOVE

Toei Co.

Director: Tonko Horikawa

Screenwriter: Akira Hayasaka

Producers: Yusuke Okada, Hiroshi Hayakawa, Sadashi Iida, Sumio Kiga, Hisashi

Yamauchi

Executive producer: Tan Takaiwa

Director of photography: Tatsuo Suzuki

Production designer: Yoshinobu Nishioka

Music: Isao Tomita

Color/stereo

Cast:

Murasaki Shikibu: Sayuri Yoshinaga

Hikaru Genji: Yuki Amami

Shoshi: Takami Mizuhashi

Murasakinoue: Takako Tokiwa

Empress Fujitsubo/Lady Kiritsubo: Reiko Takashima

Lady Aoi: Shinobu Nakayama

Michinaga: Ken Watanabe

Running time -- 142 minutes

No MPAA Rating...