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Posted on 08.25.10 by David @ 11:08 am
Filed under: Movie News and Movie News: Japan and Movie News: Obituaries Comments: None |
While Hayao Miyazaki remains the sentimental favorite and patron saint of anime, in recent years Satoshi Kon has taken the reins from such creators as Katsuhiro Otomo and Mamoru Oshii and become the representative of the cutting edge of big-screen anime with his gorgeously realized and psychologically intricate films. What would become Kon’s signature theme - the thin dividing line between fantasy and reality - was apparent even in his earlier works, like the Magnetic Rose segment of Memories. However, in recent years Kon raised his explorations of dreams and memories, and how they intrude on everyday life, to the level of masterpiece with films like Millennium Actress and Paprika, as well as the television freak-out Paranoia Agent. Upon his untimely death from cancer, he leaves behind one unfinished project, The Dream Machine. Released stills are intriguing - we can only hope that enough has been completed that The Dream Machine may serve as a fitting epitaph.
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Posted on 07.20.10 by David @ 9:04 am
On 8000 Miles CSB: The English title, 8000 Miles, is a play on the Eminem film, 8 Mile. Did you like that choice? Do you see parallels in the stories? Yu Irie: I chose it myself. They are both stories about people who are trying to make it in rap. Filed under: Movie News and Movie News: Japan and Contributors: David and Movie News: Interviews and Film Festivals: New York Asian Film Festival 2010 Comments: None |
Yu Irie has made a name for himself in Japan recently with back-to-back independent films chronicling the hijinks and setbacks of wannabe rappers in small town Japan. The first film, Saitama Rapper (re-christened 8000 Miles for US audiences) was a sleeper success, and Irie quickly followed up with Saitama Rapper 2: Chick Rappers’ Hurtful Rhyme (aka 8000 Miles 2: Girl Rappers), which guest-starred the characters of Ikku and Tom from the first series but otherwise added an entirely new female cast. CSB’s David Austin sat down with Yu Irie, in town for the New York Asian Film Festival, to discuss the films.|
Posted on 04.02.10 by David @ 8:39 am
This is the third of three articles, each focusing on a different actress featured in the series. The first article, on Ayako Wakao, may be found here. The second article, on Meiko Kaji, may be found here. PART 3 - MARIKO OKADA: THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE ADULTERESS [April 14-18] While Kaji’s films are generally genre or exploitation pieces and those of Ayako Wakao directed by Yasuzo Masumura run the gamut, the films of Kiju Yoshida and Mariko Okada are stylistically and thematically of a piece. In each of these films, Okada plays a variation on the same basic character – a despairing wife trapped in a loveless, upper middle class marriage, contemplating or engaging in adultery but ultimately dissatisfied. In contrast to the smoldering anger of Kaji or the sensual passion or anguish of Wakao, Okada’s delicate features register a quieter form of unhappiness. Similarly, her rebellions are far less explosive and her happiness more impossible to win. While Wakao constantly finds herself consigned to the margins of society and Kaji emphatically and anarchistically rejects society, the fragile Okada’s tragedy is that she is bound by restraints of society. Filed under: Movie News and Movie News: Japan and Venues: The Japan Society Comments: 1 Comment |
On March 31, the Japan Society commenced its “Mad, Bad… & Dangerous to Know: Three Untamed Beauties of Japanese Cinema” series, to run from March 31 to April 18, a retrospective on the work of actresses Meiko Kaji, Ayako Wakao (specifically her work with director Yasuzo Masumura) and Mariko Okada (specifically her work with director Kiju Yoshida) in the 1960s and 1970s (schedule and further details may be found |
Posted on 04.01.10 by David @ 10:36 am
This is the second of three articles, each focusing on a different actress featured in the series. The first article, on Ayako Wakao, may be found here. The third article, on Mariko Okada, may be found here. PART 2 - MEIKO KAJI: A MAD, BAD UNHOLY EASTER WEEKEND [April 3-4] If Ayako Wakao’s image was based on passion and sex appeal, Meiko Kaji’s was based on cold fury and unimpeachable style. Kaji’s trademark glare allowed for little warmth – passion might be doled out on her terms but should not be expected. Despite (or because of) her lack of warmth, Kaji remains the more familiar actress in the West. In fact, the last ten years have seen a major revival of interest in her films, with releases of much of her back catalog on DVD and the inclusion of her songs on the Kill Bill soundtrack. The five films featured in the Japan Society’s series contain several of her best roles. Filed under: Movie News and Movie News: Japan and People: Meiko Kaji and Venues: The Japan Society Comments: None |
Posted on 03.31.10 by David @ 8:57 am
 News of a mixed blessing today. After a six year absence (since Godzilla Final Wars, reviewed here), the Big G will finally be heading back to theaters. The bad news? Toho has licensed Godzilla to Warner Bros., who will co-produce with Legendary Pictures. Now, as someone who firmly believes the Roland Emmerich New York-based Godzilla (1998) to be an abomination in the eyes of God(zilla), the idea of another US-based Godzilla is about as appealing as a sharp stick in the eye. While the Toho-produced Godzilla films of the 2000s were no great shakes - Godzilla-Mothra-King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) being the only significant exception - none approached the crapulence of the Emmerich version. Moreover, Asian remake king Roy Lee is attached (never a good sign) and Warner Bros. is issuing bloodless statements like “Godzilla is emblematic of the kind of branded, event films for which Warner Bros. and our partners at Legendary are best known.” Filed under: General and Movie News and Movie News: Japan and People: Godzilla Comments: None |
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Posted on 03.30.10 by David @ 11:41 pm
This is the first of three articles, each focusing on a different actress featured in the series. The second article, on Meiko Kaji, may be found here. The third article, on Mariko Okada, may be found here. PART 1 - AYAKO WAKAO: PASSION MADE FLESH [running March 31-April 2] My previous exposure to director Yasuzo Masumura was through his seventies sleaze flicks Blind Beast and Hanzo the Razor: The Snare. Neither overly impressed me. The Snare (1974) was an average entry in a series that was already the perverted, less talented little brother of Lone Wolf and Cub. Blind Beast (1969), while far more ambitious, was more transgressive than actually good, with the strongest element being the outrageous set design. However, his films in this series – ranging in tone (sometimes within film) from horror, to social-realism, to melodrama – have caused me to completely re-evaluate Masumura. In large part, that success is due to his star and muse, Ayako Wakao, who, as the Japan Society’s title for her portion of the program indicates, exudes passion and sex, drawing audience attention like a magnet. Wakao’s characters are sexually aggressive, atypically so for Japanese female protagonist of the sixties and as likely to be the initiators as the recipients of sexual advances. Nevertheless, despite this common core, unlike Kaji or Okada (who largely play the same type in all of their entries in the series), Wakao believably disappears into her roles. I mean it as a compliment when I say I could be fooled into thinking a completely different actress performed in each of her films. Filed under: General and Movie News and Movie News: Japan and Venues: The Japan Society Comments: 1 Comment |
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Posted on 03.05.10 by David @ 12:12 am
Titled “Mad, Bad… & Dangerous to Know: Three Untamed Beauties of Japanese Cinema,” the series will run from March 31 to April 18, and have a special focus on films by directors Kiju Yoshida and Yasuzo Masumura. Highlights include four films from the Lady Snowblood and Female Convict Scorpion series (I’ve always thought the Lady Snowblood films were overrated, but the first two Scorpion films are absolutely freaking brilliant), as well as Masumura’s Red Angel and Tattoo. While Kaji’s filmography is very familiar, I’m looking forward to seeing more of Wakao and Okada, who took prominent roles in films by Yasujiro Ozu, Juzo Itami, and Hiroshi Inagaki. The full schedule, from the Japan Society press release, is set out below: Filed under: Movie News and Movie News: Japan and People: Meiko Kaji and Venues: The Japan Society Comments: None |
Hot on the heels of their recent series of samurai films, the Japan Society has announced a new series to focus on some of the bad girls of Japanese ’60s and ’70s - Ayako Wakao, Mariko Okada, and Cinema Strikes Back favorite Meiko Kaji. |
Posted on 08.10.09 by David @ 9:17 am
Recently, Nishimura came to town for the world premiere of his follow-up film as a director, Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl, at the New York Asian Film Festival. Nishimura set a high bar with Tokyo Gore Police, but, so far as I am concerned, he managed to meet it with Vampire Girl, while going in a very different direction tonally and thematically. Candy-colored where Tokyo Gore Police was dark, poppy where Tokyo Gore Police was brooding, Vampire Girl is the high school-set story of an ordinary teenager torn between two extraordinary girls, at a school that seems to operate under the same rules as The Story of Ricky. Vampire Girl is scheduled to open in Japan in a week, but Nishimura and I sat down for a chat the day of the world premiere, and a few hours before the NYAFF’s Tokyo Gore Night, an event which involved action star Tak Sakaguchi throwing darts at the (barely) loincloth-covered asses of Nishimura, Iguchi and festival director Grady Hendrix (remind me to post some truly frightening video some day) and the recording of a live commentary track for the special edition release of Tokyo Gore Police. CSB: At the showing of Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl, you appeared with the bone samurai hat and blood sword from the film. Have you kept more props from your films? Nishimura: We hold on to all the props. Our storage starts to overflow with all the crazy props, though, so we hold on to props from a movie until the DVD release. It’s really starting to get full so we’re starting to think about throwing away stuff from the film Meatball Machine. CSB: Do you just throw the props away or do you ever leave them in unusual places to startle people? Nishimura: That’s a good idea, but if we do it in our neighborhood, they’re totally going to know who did it. (laughs) Filed under: Movie News and Movie News: Japan and Contributors: David and Movie News: Interviews and Film Festivals: New York Asian Film Festival 2009 and People: Yoshihiro Nishimura Comments: None |
Yoshihiro Nishimura is at the forefront of the low-budget, gore film revolution coming out of Japan. Directors like Noboru Iguchi (Machine Girl) and Yudai Yamaguchi (Meatball Machine) are proving that Japanese horror isn’t all women with long, dark hair and the alienation of modern life, it’s also about penis guns, schoolgirls with machine guns for arms and people punching each other’s skeletons right out of their bodies. As a special effects and makeup artist of truly gruesome reputation, Nishimura has worked with some of the most fascinating directors in Japan today, including Iguchi, Yamaguchi, Sion Sono, Hideo Nakata, Takashi Shimizu, and even old ero-guro stalwarts like Teruo Ishii. More recently, Nishimura has achieved international notoriety as a director with Tokyo Gore Police, an international cult hit and one of Cinema Strikes Back’s choices for best film of 2008.|
Posted on 07.03.09 by David @ 5:38 pm
CSB: Which did you film first, Be a Man! Samurai School or Yoroi Samurai Zombie? Sakaguchi: Be a Man! Samurai School was first. That was my directorial debut. Filed under: General and Movie News and Movie News: Japan and Contributors: David and Movie News: Interviews and Film Festivals: New York Asian Film Festival 2009 and People: Tak Sakaguchi Comments: 2 Comments |
Tak Sakaguchi, street fighter, actor, stuntman, action choreographer, and now director, got his start as the star of Ryuhei Kitamura’s Versus before going on to star in or choreograph stunts for countless cult films, including Azumi, Battlefield Baseball, Cromartie High, Tokyo Gore Police and Shinobi, as well as founding the Zero’s stunt team. Now he has turned his hand to directing, with two films appearing in the 2009 New York Asian Film Festival - Be a Man! Samurai School [Sakigake! Otokojuku], an action/comedy about a “men’s school,” and Yoroi Samurai Zombie, an action/horror film in the style of Versus (and scripted by Kitamura). Cinema Strikes Back’s David Austin recently sat down with the deadpan Sakaguchi, who appeared in full costume from Samurai School and wielding a katana, to talk about his transition to directing and the state of the stunt industry in Japan.|
Posted on 02.23.09 by Jeff @ 9:02 am
On February 6, 2009, cult filmmaker Takashi Miike’s new big-budget flick Yatterman premiered at the DGA Theater in New York City, in conjunction with the New York Comic Con and the fine folks at Subway Cinema.  The premiere itself was quite a spectacle — a red carpet gala with screaming fans, press, the whole nine yards. Very few members of the throng assembled outside the theater appeared to be fans of Takashi Miike, but instead seemed to be trying to capture a glimpse or a snapshot of the film’s star, Sho Sakurai. I know very little about J-Pop, but Messr. Sakurai appears to be a major Japanese singing star with a sizable US fanbase. I am not sure who the intended audience for Yatterman is, other than fans of Sho Sakurai, who would apparently pay hard-earned cash to hear him read from the phone book. The film is a goofy Power Rangers-type adventure story, about a squeaky clean boyfriend and girlfriend who work in a toy shop. Both of them use the superhero moniker “Yatterman”, and on the side build giant mecha with which to fight evildoers who dress up like giant rodents and have their own, more sinister mecha with which to wreak havoc on the city of Tokyo. Complications ensue when both teams compete to capture a series of sacred rocks, which have the power to active the God of Thieves, or some such nonsense. Further complications ensue when the sultry female evildoer falls head-over-heels for Mr. Yatterman. Filed under: General and Movie News and Movie News: Japan and People: Takashi Miike and Contributors: Jeff Comments: None |
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Posted on 09.15.08 by David @ 11:01 am
“Tekkonkinkreet is a play on Japanese words meaning “a concrete structure with an iron frame,” and it suggests the opposing images of concrete cities against the strength of imagination.”
Filed under: General and Movie News and Movie News: Japan and Contributors: David and Book Reviews Comments: None |
In my recent capsule review of Michael Arias’s animated film Tekkon Kinkreet (see review |
Posted on 07.03.08 by David @ 1:07 pm
Today marks the start of the Japan Society’s second annual Japan Cuts festival of new Japanese film. For the July 4th weekend, the festival will be teaming up with the Subway Cinema gang to co-present a number of excellent films. The remainder of the festival will include additional new films, shorts, and a number of special guests, including Naomi Kawase, Takako Matsumoto, and a special satellite appearance by Koji Wakamatsu, barred from entering the US for his political activities. Also look for a special tribute to the late, great Kon Ichikawa on July 11 and 12 with presentations of his films, The Inugami Family and Murder of the Inugami Family.  Our coverage of some of the films playing in Japan Cuts 2008, including Dainipponjin, Adrift in Tokyo, Sukiyaki Western Django and Fine, Totally Fine can be found here. Look for Jeff’s review of Koji Wakamatsu’s brutal masterpiece United Red Army tomorrow. ::: Cinema Strikes Back coverage of Japan Cuts 2008 Filed under: General and Movie News and Movie News: Japan and Venues: The Japan Society and Film Festivals: Japan Cuts 2008 Comments: None |
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Posted on 06.23.08 by Jeff @ 7:01 pm
CSB: Our readers are likely familiar with numerous of your acting roles, but they may not be familiar with your work in the theater. Would you mind providing our readers with a little bit of background about your career? Iwamatsu: When I was in university, I became a member of the theater. I did not like it so much, and quit in one year. All of my colleagues and friends came back to me and said, “Why don’t you join us one more time?” I didn’t have anything else to do at the time, so I decided to rejoin. After ten-plus years in the same theater, I realized that I was over thirty years old. This was not good, so I decided to write a play for the theater. I became a playwright at that time. One thing led to another, and I won some awards. Now I have no way out! CSB: One of my favorite things about Then Summer Came was its timeless feel. In fact, it’s very noticeable when modern technology intrudes on the characters, particularly with use of cell phones. Do you have any thoughts on this feeling of timelessness — the fact that the story could have happened 30 years ago, or today? Also do you share your characters’ dislike of cell phones? Iwamatsu: I don’t like high-tech devices. If I have been asked to write a play, for example, based on those high-tech devices, I will make sure that it does not come into the play unnecessarily. I will make sure that it is a necessary tool. Filed under: General and Movie News and Movie News: Japan and Film Festivals: News and Movie News: Interviews and Contributors: Jeff and Film Festivals: New York Asian Film Festival 2008 Comments: None |
Ryo Iwamatsu is well-known to Western viewers of Japanese films for his acting roles in films ranging from Zebraman to Cutie Honey. What is less well-known in the West is Mr. Iwamatsu’s decades-long career as a playwright. He has just returned to the film director’s chair after a fifteen-year absence to write and direct Then Summer Came, a comedy-drama that had its world premiere at the 2008 New York Asian Film Festival. Then Summer Came is a very fine effort, a surreal comedy-drama about the tensions between a small-town father and son who must deal with many complications, including the son’s upcoming arranged marriage, the father’s secret romance with a coworker, and the return of a long-lost relative who is secretly living in their attic. While in New York for the premiere of his film, Mr. Iwamatsu sat down with Cinema Strikes Back’s Jeff for a long talk about his career and Then Summer Came.|
Posted on 04.09.08 by David @ 4:38 pm
As with last year, the Japan Society will be running its “Japan Cuts” festival partially overlapping with and presented by the NYAFF. The dates have been confirmed - “Japan Cuts” will run from Wednesday, July 2 through Sunday, July 13, 2008 and overlap with the NYAFF on July 3-6. Confirmed films so far include: Filed under: Movie News and Movie News: Japan and Venues: The Japan Society and Film Festivals: Japan Cuts 2008 Comments: None |
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Posted on 02.11.08 by David @ 11:45 pm
 Those with any interest in animation, Japanese animation or Japanese cinema and history in general are in for a rare treat with the Japan Society’s four day festival/retrospective titled “Dawn of Japanese Animation.” The short films on display are broadly divided into four categories, each playing on a different night. The first night features chambara swordplay films and other adventure stories; the second horror and comedy shorts; the third propaganda films; and the fourth musical and dance. The films in this series help to fill in one of the gaps between the traditional Japanese graphic arts that presaged the comic book, like ukiyoe masters Yoshitoshi and Hokusai’s manga series, and the modern cultural giant that is the Japanese animation industry, a massive force of business and art increasingly prominent in international media. Filed under: Movie News and Movie News: Japan and Venues: The Japan Society Comments: None |
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