Saturday, March 28, 2009
Back From HK
Back from a very productive and fun time in HK. As far as news scoops our Screen fest dailies slaughtered the competition, especially without Variety in play. Some of the articles are not online yet but here are a few pieces on the sale of live-action Tezuka adaptation MW to Hong Kong, Fortissimo picking up Kore-eda's Air Doll and our Filmart wrap.
It was great to attend the Asian Film Awards and see Japan do so well. Mitani Kôki was funny despite his difficulty with English and Kurosawa Kiyoshi delivered his two victory speeches with a lot of heart. The best two parties were the opening night do at the Grand Hyatt by pool side. Meeting Oliver Stone again after almost 10 years was cool but the Film Workshop 25th anniversary celebration took the cake. Having grown up with the movies of John Woo and Tsui Hark, seeing them in such good spirits, along with cigar-smoking Johnnie To and a beautiful Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia to name a few, was very memorable. Hitting the scene with guys like Colin "18 Bronze Men in One" Geddes, Todd "Tattooed Hitman" Brown (see his report) and Grady "Velvet Hustler" Hendrix added to the enjoyment. Lockhart Rd., so much to answer for...
With working the market, fitting in meals and parties at night I didn't get to see any movies in the end (other than Shinjuku Incident) -- no surprise. Having seen Crows Zero 2 before I went, and with screenings of The Crab Cannery Ship, Donjû and Rain Fall coming up in the next week I'll hopefully be able to post some impressions.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Japan Wins Big At Asian Film Awards!
Just back from the after-party of the Asian Film Awards, held at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong. It was a bonanza of Japanese film recognition!
Tokyo Sonata won Best Film and Best Screenplay!
Kore-eda Hirokazu won Best Director!
Motoki Masahiro won Best Actor!
Hisaishi Joe won Best Music!
Even sweeter is that the voting system is purely vote-based, without jury meetings or politics. Very "pure" wins, if you will.
Hope to write some kind of HK wrap up when I'm back in Tokyo as there have been a lot of highlights.
Oh, and I thought that while flawed, Derek Yee's Shinjuku Incident, starring Jackie Chan, was bold, ambitious, and shockingly violent. It also completely explodes Chan's image to a degree I thought it wouldn't have the guts to go to. A risky film that will have people debating, which is a great thing however you look at it. The festival print was the uncut Cat III version.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Hitoshi Matsumoto's Symbol
Back in November I mentioned a casting call for foreign extras for a "major film" that I couldn't reveal details about. Well, it was in fact the new film by Downtown star and Dai Nipponjin director Matsumoto Hitoshi, entitled Symbol (『しんぼる』).
There's nothing on the official site yet other than a mention of the press conference that took place at the inaugural edition of the Okinawa International Movie Festival and the film's fall release through Shochiku. Internetters: please squat on it until a teaser appears.
OIMF was established by Yoshimoto Kôgyô -- Matsumoto's agency and exec producer of his films. They're rapidly expanding their mission statement.
Weekend in Wan Chai
In my 28th floor room on Hong Kong island. Flesh is already sticky here.
Some ladies of the night on the Lockhart Rd. drag, along which you'll find strip clubs and expat bars where the average age gap between the male and (petite) female patrons is 25 years. You can see the corner of the sign for famed pub "Old China Hand" -- conjures up memories of "I'm an old Japan hand" in Rising Sun.
Special thanks to Hollywood Reporter's Maggie Lee for guiding me to a great noodle shop near Wan Chai stn.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Sanpei Splashes Into Cinemas / Hong Kong Trip
Finished the subtitles for Takita Yôjiro's Sanpei The Fisher Boy (Tsurikichi Sanpei, 『釣りキチ三平』), though there might be a couple tweaks before a print is struck. Above average number of titles for this cute movie. Suga Kenta is good as Sanpei -- he was just a munchkin when he appeared in omnibus ZOO, which we subtitled back in '05.
The film opens tomorrow (March 20). Usually local films open on Saturdays here but it's a national holiday (shunbun no hi, vernal equinox). Producer Toei now has a film by an Oscar-winning director on its hands, and publicity has reflected that. Snapped a little picture the other evening of the flagship Toei cinemas in Ginza. A TV screen played the trailer and an interview with Takita.
This Saturday I'm off to Hong Kong for the film market and other events (official site). I'll be busy helping crank out Screen's daily festival issues. Hopefully there will be time to catch a few films, hang out with friends and hit some parties.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Zatoichi To Unsheath His Sword One Final Time
The news is all over the interweb -- Sakamoto Junji's Zatôichi The Last (『座頭市 THE LAST』) began shooting two days ago. It will be the final time the blind anti-hero graces the screen. And in the titular role? SMAP member Katori Shingo, who previously starred in Monkey Magic and hit TV drama Shinsegumi, two name two. You can read my article about the production for Screen here.
What do you think of Katori playing such a legendary character? I've set up a poll in the top right of the sidebar to get a rough idea, but you can leave comments to explain yourself.
Also interested to hear what people think of Sakamoto as the helmer. I've spent time on two Sakamoto sets -- I'd be curious to see how things are going up at Yamagata's Shônai Eiga Mura -- a large open set facility where the likes of Sukiyaki Western Django, Departures and last year's Ichi (also produced by Nakazawa Toshiaki) were shot.
I remember hearing one funny tale (there are hundreds) about Katsu "Katsushin" Shintarô, who of course played Zatôichi for a large part of his life. Sakamoto Junji was a passenger in his car as they drove along a busy road. When Sakamoto was nearing his destination, Katsu let him out in the middle of traffic to fend for himself. I think Katsu was addicted to making people scared.
I've just realized something bizarre. Three of SMAP's five members have played blind characters. Can you name the other two actors/films?
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Kanikosen (The Crab Cannery Ship) Main Visual & Title Track Band
Above is the official main visual for Sabu's The Crab Cannery Ship (Kanikôsen,『蟹工船』), released to the media today.
For those with sharp eyes, this configuration of oppressor Asakawa (Nishijima Hidetoshi) and oppressed Shinjô (Matsuda Ryûhei) has been used on the obi for the movie tie-in reprint of Kobayashi Takiji's original novel. It almost suggests an album cover feel. Sabu is an absolute music freak and even used to be in a punk band called "Shocker".
So it's no surprise that hot band NICO Touches the Walls, whom the director is a fan of, will provide the film's original title track, with lyrics written to complement the film's themes. You can sample their punk-pop sound on the below Youtube clip.
International sales of the The Crab Cannery Ship are set to be handled by a very good company based in Asia (you might be able to glean who based on previous Sabu news here). Will be following up on this when I go to Hong Kong for next week's market and seeing the movie itself after that. Very much looking forward to it.
I've been told that The Crab Cannery Ship's release is set for end of June/beginning of July. You'll be able to see it at Cinema Rise among many other locations.
See collected posts on The Crab Cannery Ship here and a Twitch article there.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Japanese Films at Bradford Fest / Skip City International D-Cinema Festival
Last year I mentioned how Nakajima Ryô's This World Of Ours made its way to the Bradford International Film Festival after I had praised it back in 2007.
This year's edition of BIFF (March 13~28) features even more titles for those of you in the UK or in neighbouring countries looking for a big-screen fix of J-content.
BIFF programmer Tom Vincent thanked me yesterday for the "invaluable" information on this blog and how it motivated him to track down some of these films. Always very glad to hear this kind of feedback. Here are the titles:
Naked of Defenses (also see my Midnight Eye Best of 2008 list and my article on Pia's 2008 winners)
Mime-Mime (Also see Pia link above. Sode Yukiko is one of Japan's young female directors to watch, and not just because she's beautiful -- I thought she was an actress when I first saw her at PFF years ago.)
Yakuza Eiga (wrote a bit about it as part of my nouvelle tsunami coverage here)
Wings of Defeat (Spoke about this film in my first podcast back in June 2007. Also see a new interview with director Risa Morimoto from last week here).
Megumi (wrote a bit about this last April while covering the animated film about Megumi's tragic life).
In local festival news, I'm pleased to announce I've been hired by Skip City International D-Cinema Festival (July 10~20) as a member of the selection committee. I will be helping to discover new talent for inclusion in the newly established section for independent Japanese feature films. Very much looking forward to it.
Skip City trivia 1: Why "Skip"? Saitama Kawaguchi Intelligent Park. The digital studio facilities there are quite amazing.
Skip City trivia 2: The empty lot to the north of the grounds has been used for film shoots, most recently 20th Century Boys: Chapter Two - The Last Hope. The limo assassination sequence (one of the film's highlights) was shot along the Visual Plaza's main strip.
See my collected Skip City posts here.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Japan Close-Up Article on Japanese Film Industry
As I mentioned in January and December, I have a cover story in the new (March 2009) issue of Japan Close-Up. You can see the contents page here, which contains a blurb on what perspective the article takes.
Although Japan Close-Up is obviously about this country, it's published in Singapore which means it fell victim to the demise of foreign publication distribution monopoly Yohan (background). However, I understand it's available at Kinokuniya and will reappear at other chains soon.
If you've read the history of the industry and follow the trades there might not be a lot you don't know, but I think I did a decent job of condensing piles of material with my own spin on things in one 2400-word essay.
Monday, March 02, 2009
Yubari Fantastic Fest Winners Announced
You can read my article about the winners at this year's Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival on Screen here (don't forget, our excellent Asia news coverage is free).
See the official site for director Irie Yu's Grand Prix-winning film SR: Saitama's Rapper (Saitama No Rapper, 『SR サイタマノラッパー』) here. Good Japanese movies even coming out of Saitama? Anything's possible, kids.
Gwyneth Paltrow's Blog: Too Japanese for Americans?
The media in the US are scratching their heads and hating on Gwyneth Paltrow's website/blog goop.com.
I took a few minutes to go through it. To my eyes, it's very much like the type of site you'd see a female celebrity here in Japan put together (backed by some kind of agency, just like hers is, apparently). Someone with lots of blogging time on his hands like Momus (or alternatively, the Neojaponisme team) would do a great analysis of the revulsion her site has sparked Stateside.
