Beginning Friday, October 4, Plastic, Daisuke Miyazaki‘s heartwarming love story propelled by the intoxicating power of shared musical obsession, opens for an exclusive one-week NY theatrical run at Metrograph In Theater. On the same day, the film will also have its streaming premiere on Metrograph At Home, running for an exclusive limited engagement until December 4.
Miyazaki’s tender, colorful, terribly charming tribute to headstrong youthful romance and the transcendent power of pop is inspired (and soundtracked) by musician Kensuke Ide’s eclectic, electrifying 2020 concept album—a record framed as being the work of a fictional ’70s glam rock group, Exne Kedy and the Poltergeists, and their mysterious frontman. In Plastic, rock obsessives Jun and Ibuki (Takuma Fujie and An Ogawa) bond over their mutual love for Exne Kedy’s elusive music, falling in love while trying to track their idols down, only to drift apart during the Covid-19 pandemic… until...
Miyazaki’s tender, colorful, terribly charming tribute to headstrong youthful romance and the transcendent power of pop is inspired (and soundtracked) by musician Kensuke Ide’s eclectic, electrifying 2020 concept album—a record framed as being the work of a fictional ’70s glam rock group, Exne Kedy and the Poltergeists, and their mysterious frontman. In Plastic, rock obsessives Jun and Ibuki (Takuma Fujie and An Ogawa) bond over their mutual love for Exne Kedy’s elusive music, falling in love while trying to track their idols down, only to drift apart during the Covid-19 pandemic… until...
- 9/25/2024
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Asian-produced teen and coming-of-age films will be the focus of a special section at this year’s Busan International Film Festival which is heading for its 29 edition in October.
With 10 titles, the section comprises a mix of notable recent productions, such as Malaysian body horror and self-discovery title “Tiger Stripes,” and a pair of world premieres.
In addition to “Tiger Stripes,” which won the Grand Prix Prize in Critics Week at Cannes in 2023, was selected as Malaysia’s Oscar contender only to be cut by local censors, the selection includes: “City of Wind,” winner of the Orizzonti Award for best actor at Venice last year; Okuyama Hiroshi’s “My Sunshine,” from this year’s Cannes Un Certain Regard section; Sora Neo’s “Happyend,” which will play at Venice next month’; Shuchi Talati’s “Girls Will Be Girls,” winner of the audience awards at Sundance in January; and “Fishbone,” which won...
With 10 titles, the section comprises a mix of notable recent productions, such as Malaysian body horror and self-discovery title “Tiger Stripes,” and a pair of world premieres.
In addition to “Tiger Stripes,” which won the Grand Prix Prize in Critics Week at Cannes in 2023, was selected as Malaysia’s Oscar contender only to be cut by local censors, the selection includes: “City of Wind,” winner of the Orizzonti Award for best actor at Venice last year; Okuyama Hiroshi’s “My Sunshine,” from this year’s Cannes Un Certain Regard section; Sora Neo’s “Happyend,” which will play at Venice next month’; Shuchi Talati’s “Girls Will Be Girls,” winner of the audience awards at Sundance in January; and “Fishbone,” which won...
- 8/19/2024
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Produced by Aunor's production company Nv Productions and released as one of the official entries to the 6th Metro Manila Film Festival on December 25, 1980, the film was also shown at the Directors' Fortnight of the 1981 Cannes International Film Festival. This year, the iconic film which is considered one of the country's best of all time, is screening in Cannes, in a restored version.
Bona is screening in Cannes Film Festival
Bona is a middle-class schoolgirl who is besotted with a bit actor, Gardo, desperately trying to get his attention. Eventually she manages to do so, despite the fact that the man always seems to be in the company of another woman. The two, however, do not become a couple exactly, since she ends up in his house in the slums, essentially acting as his maid, cooking, ironing and cleaning his clothes and helping him with his baths. When her father...
Bona is screening in Cannes Film Festival
Bona is a middle-class schoolgirl who is besotted with a bit actor, Gardo, desperately trying to get his attention. Eventually she manages to do so, despite the fact that the man always seems to be in the company of another woman. The two, however, do not become a couple exactly, since she ends up in his house in the slums, essentially acting as his maid, cooking, ironing and cleaning his clothes and helping him with his baths. When her father...
- 5/21/2024
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The route from idol group member to TV and film acting is a well-trodden one for multiple Japanese performers as they mature and attempt to broaden and extend their career.
Few, however, can have received the plaudits of SixTONES member Matsumura Hokuto, who flies in to the Berlin Film Festival for the international premiere of two handed drama feature “All the Long Nights.”
Derived from a novel by Seo Maiko and directed by Miyake Sho, the narrative features a woman (portrayed by Kamishiraishi Mone) whose pre-menstrual tension is so intense that it changes her character and disrupts her career. She is befriended by a younger, somewhat solitary man who, in turn, suffers from panic attacks.
The film’s narrative describes their ever closer, but non-romantic, relationship as these two tender souls support each other through a stressful and clamorous world. And the Berlin organizers’ normally dry catalog write-up called the performances simply “fantastic.
Few, however, can have received the plaudits of SixTONES member Matsumura Hokuto, who flies in to the Berlin Film Festival for the international premiere of two handed drama feature “All the Long Nights.”
Derived from a novel by Seo Maiko and directed by Miyake Sho, the narrative features a woman (portrayed by Kamishiraishi Mone) whose pre-menstrual tension is so intense that it changes her character and disrupts her career. She is befriended by a younger, somewhat solitary man who, in turn, suffers from panic attacks.
The film’s narrative describes their ever closer, but non-romantic, relationship as these two tender souls support each other through a stressful and clamorous world. And the Berlin organizers’ normally dry catalog write-up called the performances simply “fantastic.
- 2/20/2024
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Paralyzed by societal lockdowns, spiritual isolation, and deaths in the millions, the aftermath of Covid-19's rampant virulency continues to deepen the ignorance of a people left traumatized and numb by its ceaseless waves of devastation. Simultaneously fresh and distant, memories of the decade thus far are still distinctly raw, a stinging reminder of mortality, impermanence, and the absurd futility of existence. Though humanity blazes forward with its eyes firmly negating the rearview mirror, many remain immobilized in a state of ennui, desperate yet incapable of regaining control and contentment. Daisuke Miyazaki's coming-of-age drama ‘Plastic' wades into the deep end of this murky quagmire and slowly subdues itself under the crushing weight of its own hopelessness; stripped of pleasure and joy, both the film and its characters struggle to merely exist in a world brought to a complete standstill.
Plastic is screening at Japan Cuts
Ibuki (An Ogawa...
Plastic is screening at Japan Cuts
Ibuki (An Ogawa...
- 7/29/2023
- by JC Cansdale-Cook
- AsianMoviePulse
Sci-fi fantasy stars Aoi Ito from Katayama Shinzo’s ’Missing’.
Japan’s Free Stone Productions is launching sales at Hong Kong Filmart on sci-fi fantasy drama From The End Of The World, starring Aoi Ito from Katayama Shinzo’s Missing.
Directed by Kazuaki Kiriya, whose credits include the post-apocalyptic epic Casshern and English-language action film Last Knights, the film also stars Mari Natsuki and Shunji Iwai, the writer/director of films such as Love Letter and All About Lily Chou-Chou.
The story follows a seemingly normal high school girl who wakes from a dream about a 10-year-old girl living in...
Japan’s Free Stone Productions is launching sales at Hong Kong Filmart on sci-fi fantasy drama From The End Of The World, starring Aoi Ito from Katayama Shinzo’s Missing.
Directed by Kazuaki Kiriya, whose credits include the post-apocalyptic epic Casshern and English-language action film Last Knights, the film also stars Mari Natsuki and Shunji Iwai, the writer/director of films such as Love Letter and All About Lily Chou-Chou.
The story follows a seemingly normal high school girl who wakes from a dream about a 10-year-old girl living in...
- 3/13/2023
- by Jean Noh
- ScreenDaily
(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they've been watching, why it's worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)
The Movie: "All About Lily Chou-Chou"
Where You Can Stream It: Pluto TV, Tubi, Vudu
The Pitch: Yūichi Hasumi (Hayato Ichihara) is an introverted 14-year-old boy who idolizes Lily Chou-Chou, a Björk-like singer whose lush, surreal music provides the perfect escape for his hellish life. Yūichi is an unwilling member of a gang run by his classmate and former friend Shūsuke Hoshino (Shugo Oshinari), a formerly mild-mannered, high-scoring student who, after a near-death experience while on a...
The post The Daily Stream: The Dark Teenage Dream of All About Lily Chou-Chou appeared first on /Film.
The Movie: "All About Lily Chou-Chou"
Where You Can Stream It: Pluto TV, Tubi, Vudu
The Pitch: Yūichi Hasumi (Hayato Ichihara) is an introverted 14-year-old boy who idolizes Lily Chou-Chou, a Björk-like singer whose lush, surreal music provides the perfect escape for his hellish life. Yūichi is an unwilling member of a gang run by his classmate and former friend Shūsuke Hoshino (Shugo Oshinari), a formerly mild-mannered, high-scoring student who, after a near-death experience while on a...
The post The Daily Stream: The Dark Teenage Dream of All About Lily Chou-Chou appeared first on /Film.
- 3/15/2022
- by Hoai-Tran Bui
- Slash Film
As part of the “Lost Future”-series, which is one of the many facets of BFI Japan, there will be a screening of Shunji Iwai’s “All About Lily Chou-Chou”, which hasn’t been screened since its UK debut in 2001.
The movie shows us a group of teenagers who meet online after becoming obsessed with a J-Pop starlet (Lily Chou-Chou) and it explores the onset of online communities in the early internet era of the millennium. It is a very dark and emotional story as well as visually interesting, as a quite dazzling early foray into digital cinematography.
Screening as part of #BFIJapan, see Shunji Iwai’s All About Lily Chou-Chou at the @lost__futures 20th Anniversary Screening, Weds 10th Nov at the @ThePCCLondon. Tickets: https://bit.ly/LF007EMBERZ...
The movie shows us a group of teenagers who meet online after becoming obsessed with a J-Pop starlet (Lily Chou-Chou) and it explores the onset of online communities in the early internet era of the millennium. It is a very dark and emotional story as well as visually interesting, as a quite dazzling early foray into digital cinematography.
Screening as part of #BFIJapan, see Shunji Iwai’s All About Lily Chou-Chou at the @lost__futures 20th Anniversary Screening, Weds 10th Nov at the @ThePCCLondon. Tickets: https://bit.ly/LF007EMBERZ...
- 11/2/2021
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
The Great Yokai War: Guardians
The final titles were added to this year's Fantasia line-up today, and it was revealed that the festival will close with The Great Yokai War: Guardians. Helmed by Takashi Miike, it sees Japanese demons going head to head in a battle on which the fate of the world could depend.
Other freshly added highlights include the brutal puppet mayhem of Frank And Zed, and unforgettable English documentary Alien On Stage.
The festival team also revealed today that they will be presenting writer, director and video artist Shunji Iwai with a Career Achievement award, recognising his 30 years of distinctive contributions to cinema. His latest work, The 12 Day Tale Of The Monster That Died In 8, will be screening as part of this year's line-up along with earlier works April Story, All About Lily Chou-Chou and Fireworks, Should We See It From The Side Or The Bottom?
Also receiving an award.
The final titles were added to this year's Fantasia line-up today, and it was revealed that the festival will close with The Great Yokai War: Guardians. Helmed by Takashi Miike, it sees Japanese demons going head to head in a battle on which the fate of the world could depend.
Other freshly added highlights include the brutal puppet mayhem of Frank And Zed, and unforgettable English documentary Alien On Stage.
The festival team also revealed today that they will be presenting writer, director and video artist Shunji Iwai with a Career Achievement award, recognising his 30 years of distinctive contributions to cinema. His latest work, The 12 Day Tale Of The Monster That Died In 8, will be screening as part of this year's line-up along with earlier works April Story, All About Lily Chou-Chou and Fireworks, Should We See It From The Side Or The Bottom?
Also receiving an award.
- 7/21/2021
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
As we have also started to deal with Asian music in Asian Movie Pulse lately, a list that features movie soundtracks was a must. In the entries that follow, we have collected 50 films’ scores that have stayed in our minds and have made us happy, sad, or simply to enjoy ourselves while listening to them. From anime to musicals, from cult to art-house and from dramas to comedies, here is a list with 50 works that define the movies they were included at least as much as their visuals.
*Some movies never had their soundtracks released but we felt that the songs included deserve a mention here. By clicking on the titles you can read our reviews of the films, by clicking on the song titles you can listen the tracks from YouTube.
1. 9 Souls
Dip create intense background music that follows rock and alternative paths, with each of the tracks pointing...
*Some movies never had their soundtracks released but we felt that the songs included deserve a mention here. By clicking on the titles you can read our reviews of the films, by clicking on the song titles you can listen the tracks from YouTube.
1. 9 Souls
Dip create intense background music that follows rock and alternative paths, with each of the tracks pointing...
- 8/25/2020
- by AMP Group
- AsianMoviePulse
Digger (2017) By Kengo Yagawa (15.3 Minutes)
There is a fierce competition going on every night in the woods, a secret ritualistic meeting of disenfranchised businessmen. Each armed with a shovel, their challenge is to dig for as long as they can. The nightly competition attracts a nameless and silent protagonist, an office worker who spends his days fantasizing about the act of digging. He must face some fierce competition in order to make it to the top and beat the man who silently watches over the event.
“Digger” is an example that in the world of the absurd, anything can become a competition. This short film, which features no dialogue and a lot of digging is more fun in execution than concept. The late night rituals the men perform in the short makes it feel as if this is just an event that has been and always will be, steeped in...
There is a fierce competition going on every night in the woods, a secret ritualistic meeting of disenfranchised businessmen. Each armed with a shovel, their challenge is to dig for as long as they can. The nightly competition attracts a nameless and silent protagonist, an office worker who spends his days fantasizing about the act of digging. He must face some fierce competition in order to make it to the top and beat the man who silently watches over the event.
“Digger” is an example that in the world of the absurd, anything can become a competition. This short film, which features no dialogue and a lot of digging is more fun in execution than concept. The late night rituals the men perform in the short makes it feel as if this is just an event that has been and always will be, steeped in...
- 7/26/2020
- by Adam Symchuk
- AsianMoviePulse
When someone talks about the Japanese movie industry in the 00s, inevitably the discussion goes towards anime, which, in the specific decade, accounted for 60% of the local film production. With films like Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away” and the rest of Studio Ghibli’s productions, along with masterpieces from Satoshi Kon, Mamoru Oshii, Katsuhiro Otomo and other great filmmakers, there is no wonder why the 00s were considered “Japanese Cinema’s Second Golden Age”, particularly for the penetration of local films in cinemas around the world.
However, anime were not the only story Japanese cinema had to tell in this decade. Yojiro Takita also won an Oscar, Shinji Aoyama and Naomi Kawase won at Cannes, Hirokazu Koreeda continued his successful festival run, Yoji Yamada made an exceptional trilogy of samurai films, Shunji Iwai directed one of the most critically acclaimed film of the decade, Kinji Fukasaku released his last film and Takeshi Kitano his most successful.
However, anime were not the only story Japanese cinema had to tell in this decade. Yojiro Takita also won an Oscar, Shinji Aoyama and Naomi Kawase won at Cannes, Hirokazu Koreeda continued his successful festival run, Yoji Yamada made an exceptional trilogy of samurai films, Shunji Iwai directed one of the most critically acclaimed film of the decade, Kinji Fukasaku released his last film and Takeshi Kitano his most successful.
- 5/10/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Japanese director Shunji Iwai most recent production “Last Letter” is set for release on January 17, 2020. The films stars Takao Matsuo, as a house wife who receives confession from her first love. Matuso, previously worked with director Shunji Iwai in the 1998 movie “April Story”.
In anticipation of the films release, Toho has made a trailer available, which can be viewed below. Recently, we got a chance to speak with director Shunji Iwai, you can read our interview here.
Synopsis
Yuri Kishibeno (Takako Matsu) is a housewife. She lives with her husband (Hideaki Anno) and their two children. Yuri Kishibeno then attends her sister Misaki Tono’s funeral. There, she meets her niece Ayumi (Suzu Hirose) for the first time in many years. Ayumi is still unable to accept her mother’s death and, because of this, she can’t open a letter left behind by her mother. Yuri Kishibeno attends her...
In anticipation of the films release, Toho has made a trailer available, which can be viewed below. Recently, we got a chance to speak with director Shunji Iwai, you can read our interview here.
Synopsis
Yuri Kishibeno (Takako Matsu) is a housewife. She lives with her husband (Hideaki Anno) and their two children. Yuri Kishibeno then attends her sister Misaki Tono’s funeral. There, she meets her niece Ayumi (Suzu Hirose) for the first time in many years. Ayumi is still unable to accept her mother’s death and, because of this, she can’t open a letter left behind by her mother. Yuri Kishibeno attends her...
- 12/8/2019
- by Adam Symchuk
- AsianMoviePulse
Contemporary Chinese Cinema is a column devoted to exploring contemporary Chinese-language cinema primarily as it is revealed to us at North American multiplexes.Earlier this year, Derek Tsang’s Better Days was abruptly pulled from its intended premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival. One of a number of such high profile cancellations, the withdrawal was supposedly for “technical reasons” but widely assumed to be a last-minute decision by the latest version of China’s film censorship regime, which last year adopted new layers of guidelines and processes to an already-opaque and unpredictable system. Still, the film was apparently approved for commercial release this past summer, when it was to debut both in China and in North America. And then it was cancelled again, three days before its opening. And again, no official reason was given. And then, out of nowhere, on October 22nd it was suddenly announced that the...
- 11/5/2019
- MUBI
“Love Letter” marks the theatrical debut of Shunji Iwai’s filmmaking career, the director of such critically acclaimed pictures as “Picnic” (1996), “Swallowtail Butterfly” (1996), and “All About Lily Chou-Chou” (2001). It became an immediate hit in the Japanese box-office. Additionally, it was one of the first Japanese productions to be shown in South Korean cinemas since the end of World War II. Among its many prizes, the film won three Japanese Academy Awards in 1996.
Hiroko Watanabe (Miho Nakayama) is a woman living in the city of Kobe. Two years earlier, her fiancé Itsuki Fujii (Takashi Kashiwabara) died in a mountain climbing accident. Still in depression and grief, Hiroko writes a letter to her dead fiancé and sends it to the address she found in his old high-school yearbook. However, it was the wrong Itsuki Fujii she found. The mail reaches Otaru, a northern town far away from Kobe, and...
Hiroko Watanabe (Miho Nakayama) is a woman living in the city of Kobe. Two years earlier, her fiancé Itsuki Fujii (Takashi Kashiwabara) died in a mountain climbing accident. Still in depression and grief, Hiroko writes a letter to her dead fiancé and sends it to the address she found in his old high-school yearbook. However, it was the wrong Itsuki Fujii she found. The mail reaches Otaru, a northern town far away from Kobe, and...
- 8/27/2019
- by Oliver Ebisuno
- AsianMoviePulse
The thematic of bullying has produced some of the most memorable Asian film during the 21st century, with films like “Confessions”, “Liverleaf” and “King of Pigs” first coming to mind. “All About Lily Chou-Chou” includes a story of at least equal impact, although through an almost experimental and definitely art house approach. Let us take things from the beginning though.
The story revolves around two boys, Yuichi and Hoshino, starting from the first term of junior high school and finishing after the second, although in a non-linear narration, that begins midway, goes back to the beginning and then to the present again. The two of them become friends when they both join the kendo club, with Hoshino proving kind and very communicative, in contrast to the timid, introvert Yuichi. A summer trip to Okinawa after the end of the first term, and a near-death experience Hoshino endures,...
The story revolves around two boys, Yuichi and Hoshino, starting from the first term of junior high school and finishing after the second, although in a non-linear narration, that begins midway, goes back to the beginning and then to the present again. The two of them become friends when they both join the kendo club, with Hoshino proving kind and very communicative, in contrast to the timid, introvert Yuichi. A summer trip to Okinawa after the end of the first term, and a near-death experience Hoshino endures,...
- 4/6/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Makoto Nagahisa’s debut feature film “We are little Zombies” is an extraordinary and cynical metaphor about life. Four orphans – Hikari, Tekamura, Ishi, and Ikuko – meet by accident at a crematory, where their parents have just been cremated. No hopes, no dreams, and no sadness. As they team up and form a band by the name “Little Zombies”, the kids try to find their lost emotions.
“We Are Little Zombies” is screening at Berlin Film Festival
“Funerals need more humor”, says Hikari, who opens the prologue of the film. Everything is boring and stupid for him. Always in front of his game boy, he sees the world as a video game. Hikari’s view is projected onto the depiction of the film. 8-bit music and retro game animations drawing through a bright color world, constructed only by the narration of the 13-year olds. A world that is numb. Being raised into this state of mind,...
“We Are Little Zombies” is screening at Berlin Film Festival
“Funerals need more humor”, says Hikari, who opens the prologue of the film. Everything is boring and stupid for him. Always in front of his game boy, he sees the world as a video game. Hikari’s view is projected onto the depiction of the film. 8-bit music and retro game animations drawing through a bright color world, constructed only by the narration of the 13-year olds. A world that is numb. Being raised into this state of mind,...
- 2/9/2019
- by Alexander Knoth
- AsianMoviePulse
Contemporary Chinese Cinema is a column devoted to exploring contemporary Chinese-language cinema primarily as it is revealed to us at North American multiplexes.The sneakiest major release of the year is surely the latest from Japanese director Shunji Iwai, whose new movie opens this Friday at a dozen multiplexes around North America courtesy of the distributor China Lion Film. Last Letter is Iwai’s first film made in China, and stars Zhou Xun, who starred in one of last year’s best films, Ann Hui’s Our Time Will Come, which was also distributed here by China Lion. That he would be working in a new country is no surprise: Iwai is one of the more eclectic filmmakers of his generation: having started in TV and video in the early 90s before moving into film, he’s since made documentaries and music videos, science fiction films and anime, epics of...
- 11/9/2018
- MUBI
Describing the trailer for Iwai Shunji's Last Letter as "wispy" is meant in the sense that it is fine, light as air video that suggests something is more powerful and affecting than it might look. More than 20 years ago, Iwai began making waves that broke beyond Japan with films like Swallowtail Butterfly, April Story, All About Lily Chou-Chou and, especially, Hana and Alice. He's remained busy throughout his career, working in television as well as the big-screen arena, making features, series and documentaries. His previous feature, A Bride for Rip Van Wrinkle, received an appreciative review by our own Jaime Grijalba Gomez back in June 2016: "It's perfectly tuned, wonderfully performed and tonally consistent. One of the best films of the year." In its...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 10/15/2018
- Screen Anarchy
Lovers of Japanese cinema should find themselves in San Francisco during the weekends of April 14th/15th and 21st/22nd for the Cherry Blossom Film Festival. And if you especially love the work of director Iwai Shunji we have a giveaway for you. Screen Anarchy is pleased to offer you and a guest a double pass to one of Iwai's films playing during the opening night of the festival. Iwai's latest film A Bride for Rip Van Winkle will be playing with two other titles from his filmography, All About Lily Chou-Chou and Hanna & Alice on April 14th at the New People Cinema in San Francisco. If you win our random draw you and a guest can choose which one of the three films you would...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 4/2/2018
- Screen Anarchy
This disorientating teen tale – think Japan’s answer to Sliding Doors – follows the divided destinies of three characters in wholly un-Hollywood style
The full Japanese title is: Uchiage hanabi, shita kara miru ka? Yoko kara miru ka? or “Fireworks, should we see them from the side, or below?” This is co-directed by Nobuyuki Takeuchi (an animator who has worked for Hayao Miyazaki) and is an anime version of a 50-minute live-action TV play from 1993 by Shunji Iwai, who made the cult 2001 teen feature All About Lily Chou-Chou. It is a strange but atmospheric realist fantasy about how it feels to be a teenager, quite without the emollient notes of comedy or irony that you might expect from Hollywood. This is an adventure in counter-factual romance – like Sliding Doors, perhaps.
A bunch of kids are preparing to go to a firework display, and are arguing about whether the starburst shapes in...
The full Japanese title is: Uchiage hanabi, shita kara miru ka? Yoko kara miru ka? or “Fireworks, should we see them from the side, or below?” This is co-directed by Nobuyuki Takeuchi (an animator who has worked for Hayao Miyazaki) and is an anime version of a 50-minute live-action TV play from 1993 by Shunji Iwai, who made the cult 2001 teen feature All About Lily Chou-Chou. It is a strange but atmospheric realist fantasy about how it feels to be a teenager, quite without the emollient notes of comedy or irony that you might expect from Hollywood. This is an adventure in counter-factual romance – like Sliding Doors, perhaps.
A bunch of kids are preparing to go to a firework display, and are arguing about whether the starburst shapes in...
- 11/10/2017
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Upon its initial 2016 release, critics raved about Japanese filmmaker Shunji Iwai’s “A Bride For Rip Van Winkle.” Serving as an adaptation of Iwai’s own novel, “Hana and Alice,” “Bride” tells the story of a lonely woman named Nanami who decides to marry a man she met online. But because of the cavalcade of lies she’s told her new beau, she must then pay people from the Internet to attend the wedding as her friends and family.
The comical, yet crushingly sad film delivers a harsh look into the desperation and lack of genuineness in the age of social media. Iwai has previously dealt with the uglier sides of romance in his previous movies such as “Love Letter” and “All About Lily Chou-Chou,” which also expose the desperation and dishonesty that accompanies the search for love.
“A Bride For Rip Van Winkle” is finally opening in U.S.
The comical, yet crushingly sad film delivers a harsh look into the desperation and lack of genuineness in the age of social media. Iwai has previously dealt with the uglier sides of romance in his previous movies such as “Love Letter” and “All About Lily Chou-Chou,” which also expose the desperation and dishonesty that accompanies the search for love.
“A Bride For Rip Van Winkle” is finally opening in U.S.
- 11/8/2017
- by Raelyn Giansanti
- Indiewire
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSViennale director Hans HurchWe are heartbroken to learn the the director of the Vienna International Film Festival, Hans Hurch, has died unexpectedly in Rome over the weekend. The Viennale—which we have covered for many years—has long been a beacon of aesthetically bold, politically engaged and defiantly personal programming. Hurch and his work will be greatly missed. In his honor, we're revisiting a fabulous interview with the festival director published by Sight & Sound in 2012:i would be happy if it’s a festival that’s not doing harm to the people. It sounds very defensive, but it isn’t. There are so many things in the world that are doing so much harm, and I believe in an old leftist idea – everything you experience does something to you. So if you drink something that is not good,...
- 7/26/2017
- MUBI
The full English-language title for this upcoming animated film is Fireworks: Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom?, so you'll forgive me if I just refer to it as Fireworks in the headline. It's based on a live-action film, directed by Iwai Shunji, first shown on television in Japan in August 1993; it gained a theatrical release in 1995. Iwai would go on to make Swallowtail Butterfly, April Story, All About Lily Chou-Chou and Hana & Alice, if that gives you any kind of idea what to expect, i.e. not your standard drama. Per Anime News Network, it's set for distribution in 110 countries and regions. The site also include a synopsis: "The film is set on one day during summer vacation,...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 7/19/2017
- Screen Anarchy
The Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff) will showcase films starring local actresses Sakura Ando, Yu Aoi, Hikari Mitsushima and Aoi Miyazaki in its Japan Now section.
Ando came to the attention of audiences in Sion Sono's Love Exposure (2008) and starred in 100 Yen Love, Japan's foreign-language Oscar entry in 2015. Mitsushima also appeared in Love Exposure, as well as Death Note (2006).
Aoi made her debut in Shunji Iwai's All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001) and won best supporting actress at the Japan Academy Prize awards for Hula Girls (2007). Miyazaki has appeared in numerous films, including Chronicles of My...
Ando came to the attention of audiences in Sion Sono's Love Exposure (2008) and starred in 100 Yen Love, Japan's foreign-language Oscar entry in 2015. Mitsushima also appeared in Love Exposure, as well as Death Note (2006).
Aoi made her debut in Shunji Iwai's All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001) and won best supporting actress at the Japan Academy Prize awards for Hula Girls (2007). Miyazaki has appeared in numerous films, including Chronicles of My...
- 5/18/2017
- by Gavin J. Blair
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Japan Now showcase to focus on director Shunji Iwai; Animation Focus to spotlight Mamoru Hosoda.
Florence Foster Jenkins, starring Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant, is to open the 29th Tokyo International Film Festival (Oct 25-Nov 3).
The Stephen Frears-directed film, which bowed in the Us in early August, is based on the true story of a wealthy New York socialite who used her family’s money to promote herself as an opera singer, despite the fact she was widely-regarded as not being able to sing well.
The festival will close with Satoshi: A Move For Tomorrow, a biopic about shogi (Japanese chess) master Satoshi Murayama, starring Kenichi Matsuyama.
Director Shunji Iwai, whose films All About Lily Chou-Chou and Hana And Alice generated positive word-of-mouth at arthouse cinemas and festivals overseas in the early 2000s, will be the subject of this year’s Japan Now showcase.
His latest film, A Bride For Rip Van Winkle, was released...
Florence Foster Jenkins, starring Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant, is to open the 29th Tokyo International Film Festival (Oct 25-Nov 3).
The Stephen Frears-directed film, which bowed in the Us in early August, is based on the true story of a wealthy New York socialite who used her family’s money to promote herself as an opera singer, despite the fact she was widely-regarded as not being able to sing well.
The festival will close with Satoshi: A Move For Tomorrow, a biopic about shogi (Japanese chess) master Satoshi Murayama, starring Kenichi Matsuyama.
Director Shunji Iwai, whose films All About Lily Chou-Chou and Hana And Alice generated positive word-of-mouth at arthouse cinemas and festivals overseas in the early 2000s, will be the subject of this year’s Japan Now showcase.
His latest film, A Bride For Rip Van Winkle, was released...
- 8/23/2016
- ScreenDaily
If it’s late June in Manhattan, it must be time for the city’s annual dose of martial-arts madness, indescribably twisted revenge stories, and go-for-broke dramas about sexually liberated high school girls. A collaboration between Subway Cinema and The Film Society of Lincoln Center, the New York Asian Film Festival has established itself as one of the summer’s most vital (and occasionally traumatizing) annual events, a celebration of the best and most bonkers in classic and contemporary Asian cinema. Even in an age of VOD and streaming, many — or most — of these gems never receive American distribution, making the fest that much more valuable to local cinephiles.
Running from June 22 thru July 9, the 2016 edition promises to live up to the Nyaff legend, as iconic films like “All About Lily Chou-Chou” and “Tetsuo: The Iron Man” will be screened alongside a smorgasbord of new stuff that’s just waiting to be discovered.
Running from June 22 thru July 9, the 2016 edition promises to live up to the Nyaff legend, as iconic films like “All About Lily Chou-Chou” and “Tetsuo: The Iron Man” will be screened alongside a smorgasbord of new stuff that’s just waiting to be discovered.
- 6/21/2016
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Go Ayano stars in the film crime drama based on detective Yoshiaki Inaba’s autobiography.
This year’s New York Asian Film Festival (Nyaff, June 22-July 9) will open with the world premiere of Kazuya Shiraishi’s Twisted Justice, starring Go Ayano.
Based on Yoshiaki Inaba’s autobiography, the crime epic stars Ayano as Japan’s most corrupt police detective who was eventually imprisoned for drug and gun possession.
Nikkatsu is handling international sales on the film, which opens in Japan on June 25.
Shiraishi will introduce the film on the festival’s opening night with producer Yoshinori Chiba. Ayano, one of three actors being recognised at Nyaff with the Screen International Rising Star Award, will attend the festival later to accept the award.
Nyaff is also honouring Japanese filmmaker Shunji Iwai, who will receive the festival’s Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award for a 20-year career spanning films such as Love Letter (1995), All About Lily Chou-chou (2001) and...
This year’s New York Asian Film Festival (Nyaff, June 22-July 9) will open with the world premiere of Kazuya Shiraishi’s Twisted Justice, starring Go Ayano.
Based on Yoshiaki Inaba’s autobiography, the crime epic stars Ayano as Japan’s most corrupt police detective who was eventually imprisoned for drug and gun possession.
Nikkatsu is handling international sales on the film, which opens in Japan on June 25.
Shiraishi will introduce the film on the festival’s opening night with producer Yoshinori Chiba. Ayano, one of three actors being recognised at Nyaff with the Screen International Rising Star Award, will attend the festival later to accept the award.
Nyaff is also honouring Japanese filmmaker Shunji Iwai, who will receive the festival’s Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award for a 20-year career spanning films such as Love Letter (1995), All About Lily Chou-chou (2001) and...
- 5/17/2016
- by [email protected] (Liz Shackleton)
- ScreenDaily
Hosoda will be the subject of the festival’s Animation Focus, while Iwai will be the Director In Focus.
This year’s Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff, Oct 25-Nov 3) will be celebrating the work of Japanese filmmakers Mamoru Hosoda and Shunji Iwai.
Hosoda’s work will be the subject of Tiff’s Animation Focus, while Iwai has been selected as the Director In Focus in the festival’s Japan Now section.
Tiff will be screening all of Hosoda’s major films, which include The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006), Summer Wars (2009) and Wolf Children (2012). His most recent film, The Boy And The Beast, became the highest-grossing local film in Japan in 2015 and was sold by France’s Gaumont to around 50 international territories.
Iwai is also internationally renowned with films such as Love Letter (1995), All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001), Hana And Alice (2004) and this year’s A Bride For Rip Van Winkle.
“In A Bride...
This year’s Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff, Oct 25-Nov 3) will be celebrating the work of Japanese filmmakers Mamoru Hosoda and Shunji Iwai.
Hosoda’s work will be the subject of Tiff’s Animation Focus, while Iwai has been selected as the Director In Focus in the festival’s Japan Now section.
Tiff will be screening all of Hosoda’s major films, which include The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006), Summer Wars (2009) and Wolf Children (2012). His most recent film, The Boy And The Beast, became the highest-grossing local film in Japan in 2015 and was sold by France’s Gaumont to around 50 international territories.
Iwai is also internationally renowned with films such as Love Letter (1995), All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001), Hana And Alice (2004) and this year’s A Bride For Rip Van Winkle.
“In A Bride...
- 5/11/2016
- by [email protected] (Liz Shackleton)
- ScreenDaily
The 19th Annual Fantasia Film Festival is only a week away, beginning July 14 and running through August 4. And as promised for today, they’ve revealed their full line-up of films screening at 2015’s festival in Montreal.
This year’s line-up boasts 22 World Premieres, 13 International Premieres, and 21 North American Premieres. Both Marvel’s Ant-Man and the animated Miss Hokusai were previously announced, but now they’ve added the much anticipated Attack on Titan movie as their closing night film. Other highlights include the Sundance darlings Cooties, starring Elijah Wood and Rainn Wilson, Cop Car, starring Kevin Bacon and directed by the upcoming Spider-man director Jon Watts, and a trio of films from horror auteur Sion Sono.
See the full line-up announcement of films below via Fantasia’s Facebook page, and be sure to check out their website at fantasiafestival.com for additional information.
****
Fantasia 2015:
36 Countries, 135 Features, and Nearly 300 Short Films
- Including 22 World Premieres,...
This year’s line-up boasts 22 World Premieres, 13 International Premieres, and 21 North American Premieres. Both Marvel’s Ant-Man and the animated Miss Hokusai were previously announced, but now they’ve added the much anticipated Attack on Titan movie as their closing night film. Other highlights include the Sundance darlings Cooties, starring Elijah Wood and Rainn Wilson, Cop Car, starring Kevin Bacon and directed by the upcoming Spider-man director Jon Watts, and a trio of films from horror auteur Sion Sono.
See the full line-up announcement of films below via Fantasia’s Facebook page, and be sure to check out their website at fantasiafestival.com for additional information.
****
Fantasia 2015:
36 Countries, 135 Features, and Nearly 300 Short Films
- Including 22 World Premieres,...
- 7/7/2015
- by Brian Welk
- SoundOnSight
The worlds of martial arts, the Yakuza, and horror are set to collide as Twitch has scored the first look at Takashi Miike's latest guaranteed to kick ass flick, Yakuza Apocalypse: The Great War of the Underworld, starring Raid star Yayan Ruhian.
Do you even need any more reasons to put this on your "most anticipated" list?
Scripted by Yoshitaka Yamaguchi, the flick also stars Hayato Ichihara (All About Lily Chou-Chou).
Synopsis
Akira (Hayato Ichihara) admires Genyo Kamiura, who is the most powerful Yakuza. Genyo Kamiura has been targeted numerous times but has never died. He is called the invincible person.
Because of Genyo Kamiura, Akira enters the world of the Yakuza. His colleagues treat him like an idiot; Akira can't even get tattoos because of his sensitive skin. Akira becomes disappointed in the Yakuza world because it's not like what they say in the movies, especially in terms...
Do you even need any more reasons to put this on your "most anticipated" list?
Scripted by Yoshitaka Yamaguchi, the flick also stars Hayato Ichihara (All About Lily Chou-Chou).
Synopsis
Akira (Hayato Ichihara) admires Genyo Kamiura, who is the most powerful Yakuza. Genyo Kamiura has been targeted numerous times but has never died. He is called the invincible person.
Because of Genyo Kamiura, Akira enters the world of the Yakuza. His colleagues treat him like an idiot; Akira can't even get tattoos because of his sensitive skin. Akira becomes disappointed in the Yakuza world because it's not like what they say in the movies, especially in terms...
- 6/25/2014
- by Steve Barton
- DreadCentral.com
Filming is underway on Miike Takashi's gangster-horror mash-up Yakuza Apocalypse: The Great War Of The Underworld, which stars Ichihara Hayato (All About Lily Chou-Chou) opposite Indonesian martial arts star Yayan Ruhian (The Raid, The Raid 2), as a sensitive young yakuza who discovers his allegedly indestructible boss is actually a vampire.A new image has just been released, featuring Ichihara and Ruhian squaring off in one of many epic encounters in what is reported to be a pretty blood-soaked fantasy rumble. Nikkatsu is producing, with Miike directing a script penned by Yamaguchi Yoshitaka (Arcana, Samurai Cat). Expect to see the film hitting screens sometime in 2015. Click below for a larger version of the image.Synopsis:Akira (Hayato Ichihara) admires Genyo Kamiura who is the most powerful yakuza. Genyo Kamiura...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 6/25/2014
- Screen Anarchy
The 2011 Sitges Film Festival, held 6-16 October on the Catalan coast of Spain, has released information on the films that will comprise the fest's "Noves Visions" section, which promises to be a category dedicated to the most innovative and transgressive approaches. Several genre films are represented, and we have the full rundown here.
The films are divided into four categories, three of which can be found below. We're including all the films in these three sections as even if some aren't pure horror, they sound intriguing enough to be of interest to genre fans. The fourth category is comprised solely of documentaries. Be sure to visit the official Sitges Film Festival website for full details on "Noves Visions" and more!
Ficció:
A selection that combines big names in contemporary film with young artists appearing around the festival circuit.
- The Day He Arrives (Sang-soo Hong): A game of meta-language...
The films are divided into four categories, three of which can be found below. We're including all the films in these three sections as even if some aren't pure horror, they sound intriguing enough to be of interest to genre fans. The fourth category is comprised solely of documentaries. Be sure to visit the official Sitges Film Festival website for full details on "Noves Visions" and more!
Ficció:
A selection that combines big names in contemporary film with young artists appearing around the festival circuit.
- The Day He Arrives (Sang-soo Hong): A game of meta-language...
- 8/24/2011
- by The Woman In Black
- DreadCentral.com
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
2006′s indie hit Paris je t’aime worked precisely because it was a fresh, fully-formed experimental endeavour, featuring a collective of renowned directors – ranging from indie mainstays such as Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha, to the better-known likes of Gus Van Sant, Coen Brothers, Alfonso Cuarón, Alexander Payne and even horror maestro Wes Craven – each directing a short film. With eighteen films filling out the two hours, there was never really much of an opportunity to get too bored. The sequel to this acclaimed project, New York, I Love You, lacks the same consideration, instead having the feel of a messy tourist advice pamphlet, lingering too long on a smaller run of shorts while a greater chasm of quality runs between them.
From the very first story, starring Rachel Bilson, Hayden Christensen, and Andy Garcia, the affected dialogue comes off as silly and incredibly forced,...
2006′s indie hit Paris je t’aime worked precisely because it was a fresh, fully-formed experimental endeavour, featuring a collective of renowned directors – ranging from indie mainstays such as Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha, to the better-known likes of Gus Van Sant, Coen Brothers, Alfonso Cuarón, Alexander Payne and even horror maestro Wes Craven – each directing a short film. With eighteen films filling out the two hours, there was never really much of an opportunity to get too bored. The sequel to this acclaimed project, New York, I Love You, lacks the same consideration, instead having the feel of a messy tourist advice pamphlet, lingering too long on a smaller run of shorts while a greater chasm of quality runs between them.
From the very first story, starring Rachel Bilson, Hayden Christensen, and Andy Garcia, the affected dialogue comes off as silly and incredibly forced,...
- 2/6/2011
- by Shaun Munro
- Obsessed with Film
By Andre Chautard
(Moving Pictures, winter issue, 2011)
Can Sundance 2011 match last year’s stellar lineup, which included the world premieres of “The Kids Are All Right,” “Winter’s Bone,” “Catfish,” “Blue Valentine,” “Restrepo,” “Waiting for ‘Superman,’” and “Exit Through the Gift Shop”? It’s a tall order, but festival director John Cooper and programming director Trevor Groth — both long-timers who are in their second year in the fest’s top two spots — are thrilled about the quality of this year’s slate.
Cooper and Groth say the U.S. Documentary Competition is particularly strong this time, and a separate Documentary Premieres section is debuting this year to underscore the increasing profile and popularity of the genre in independent filmmaking.
Here, they talk about some of the forthcoming fest’s most buzzworthy titles and potential breakout stars, and offer sage advice and insider info for all the film lovers making the...
(Moving Pictures, winter issue, 2011)
Can Sundance 2011 match last year’s stellar lineup, which included the world premieres of “The Kids Are All Right,” “Winter’s Bone,” “Catfish,” “Blue Valentine,” “Restrepo,” “Waiting for ‘Superman,’” and “Exit Through the Gift Shop”? It’s a tall order, but festival director John Cooper and programming director Trevor Groth — both long-timers who are in their second year in the fest’s top two spots — are thrilled about the quality of this year’s slate.
Cooper and Groth say the U.S. Documentary Competition is particularly strong this time, and a separate Documentary Premieres section is debuting this year to underscore the increasing profile and popularity of the genre in independent filmmaking.
Here, they talk about some of the forthcoming fest’s most buzzworthy titles and potential breakout stars, and offer sage advice and insider info for all the film lovers making the...
- 1/20/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Network
A big festival hit but otherwise a brash indie too grim and severe to really break out in theaters, Antonio Campos's Afterschool is one of the best movies ever made about high school -- that is, it nails the experience to the wall with a gutter spike. I'm not talking about the fun but fantastical high school movies you're thinking of, like Fast Times at Ridgemont High, but the movies that capture the lostness, the social combat, and the pubertal angst, movies like Gus Van Sant's Elephant, Lindsay Anderson's If..., Shunji Iwai's All about Lily Chou-Chou, and Tim Hunter's River's Edge. (I'd throw in Park Ki-hyeong's moody K-horror epic Ghost School Trilogy and Frederick Wiseman's High School, but maybe that's enough adolescent hallway dread already.)...
- 9/16/2010
- Movieline
[Our thanks to Andrew David Long for the following report from the set of Shunji Iwai's debut English language feature, Vampire.]
Shunji Iwai's upcoming film Vampire will be treading about as far from Bela Lugosi territory as one can get, but if the writer/director of such critical favourites as Love Letter (1995), All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001), and Hana and Alice (2004) has his way, we will all leave the cinema with the coppery taste of blood lingering on our tongues. Despite having earned a reputation for artfully crafted depictions of teen angst and uncertainty, Vampire promises to turn Iwai's unique sensibilities towards a much darker path than any of his work to date. While his films have developed a loyal festival and art-house following in North America, Vampire will be pushing for a broader release; it's Iwai's first English-language feature, and he's working with a carefully assembled cast including Kevin Zegers, Amanda Plummer, Rachael Leigh Cook, and Keisha Castle-Hughes.
Zegers stars as Simon, a man with a predilection for the taste of blood,...
Shunji Iwai's upcoming film Vampire will be treading about as far from Bela Lugosi territory as one can get, but if the writer/director of such critical favourites as Love Letter (1995), All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001), and Hana and Alice (2004) has his way, we will all leave the cinema with the coppery taste of blood lingering on our tongues. Despite having earned a reputation for artfully crafted depictions of teen angst and uncertainty, Vampire promises to turn Iwai's unique sensibilities towards a much darker path than any of his work to date. While his films have developed a loyal festival and art-house following in North America, Vampire will be pushing for a broader release; it's Iwai's first English-language feature, and he's working with a carefully assembled cast including Kevin Zegers, Amanda Plummer, Rachael Leigh Cook, and Keisha Castle-Hughes.
Zegers stars as Simon, a man with a predilection for the taste of blood,...
- 5/31/2010
- Screen Anarchy
Ever wonder what happened to Keisha Castle-Hughes, after her break-out role as Paikea in Whale Rider? There were appearances in Revenge of the Sith and a version of The Nativity, but more-or-less our first look at a grown-up Keisha will be in Vampire, the English-language debut of All About Lily Chou-Chou's director Shunji Iwai.Vampire stars Kevin Zegers (Transamerica, Dawn of the Dead) as a vampire high-school teacher (a teacher who is a vampire, not a teacher at a vampire high-school) with a penchant for feasting on emo girls. We're guessing that Castle-Hughes is a student rather than a fellow teacher, but she'll be joined onscreen by Kristin Kreuk (Street Fighter), Rachael Leigh Cook (Nancy Drew), and Adelaide Clemens (Wolverine). Amanda Plummer is also on hand. Another teacher? Headmistress? Elizabeth Bathory?Okay, so it sounds like teen-horror Twilight bandwagoneering, but the scream-queen road is a tried and tested route...
- 5/24/2010
- EmpireOnline
Screen Daily reports that Kristin Kreuk from "Smallville," Keisha Castle-Hughes ( Whale Rider ) and Rachel Leigh Cook are joining the cast of Iwai Shunji's Vampire , which began filming in Vancouver last week. It will be the first English language film from the Japanese director of the cult hit All About Lily Chou-Chou who also had a segment in the recent anthology New York, I Love You . The three actresses, Adelaide Clemens and Trevor Morgan join the already-announced cast of Kevin Zegers, Amanda Plummer and Yu Aoi from Japan. In other vampire news, it looks like Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, the makers of Date Movie , Epic Movie , Meet the Spartans and Disaster Movie , are back and ready to take on the vampire genre themselves with Untitled Vampire Spoof...
- 5/21/2010
- Comingsoon.net
Back in March, it was announced that Japanese director Shunji Iwai (All About Lily Chou-Chou, Hana and Alice) would be directing an English-language vampire film. The film starting shooting in Vancouver last week, and a new round of western cast members have been announced.
It was previously known that Kevin Zegers would star in the film alongside Amanda Plummer and Japanese star Yu Aoi. The newly-announced additions include Keisha Castle-Hughes (Whale Rider), Rachael Leigh Cook (She’s All That), Kristin Kreuk (Smallville), Adelaide Clemens (X-Men: Origins), and Trevor Morgan (Mean Creek).
Zegers will star as a schoolteacher who craves human blood and seeks out suicidal women to become his victims/lovers.
Yesterday, JustJared.com confirmed that the previously untitled film is now officially titled Vampire. So yeah, you can see what took them so long; creative inspiration can sometimes be an elusive mistress.
Source: Screen Daily...
It was previously known that Kevin Zegers would star in the film alongside Amanda Plummer and Japanese star Yu Aoi. The newly-announced additions include Keisha Castle-Hughes (Whale Rider), Rachael Leigh Cook (She’s All That), Kristin Kreuk (Smallville), Adelaide Clemens (X-Men: Origins), and Trevor Morgan (Mean Creek).
Zegers will star as a schoolteacher who craves human blood and seeks out suicidal women to become his victims/lovers.
Yesterday, JustJared.com confirmed that the previously untitled film is now officially titled Vampire. So yeah, you can see what took them so long; creative inspiration can sometimes be an elusive mistress.
Source: Screen Daily...
- 5/14/2010
- Nippon Cinema
After spending the past few years screenwriting and producing, filmmaker Shunji Iwai (All About Lily Chou-Chou, Hana and Alice) is returning to the director’s chair for a yet-untitled English-language vampire drama to begin shooting in Vancouver this May.
Currently, the only plot info available is that the story will involve a seemingly average young man who secretly craves blood and seeks out suicidal women on the internet. However, the women need to fall in love with him before he’s able to get the full pleasure of sucking the life out of them (yep, sounds like internet dating all right). Actresses Amanda Plummer and Yu Aoi are signed on as cast members. Kevin Zegers (Dawn of the Dead, Gossip Girl) is in negotiations.
Fortissimo Films has already picked up the project for international distribution, and several territories including the Middle East, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea and Japan have...
Currently, the only plot info available is that the story will involve a seemingly average young man who secretly craves blood and seeks out suicidal women on the internet. However, the women need to fall in love with him before he’s able to get the full pleasure of sucking the life out of them (yep, sounds like internet dating all right). Actresses Amanda Plummer and Yu Aoi are signed on as cast members. Kevin Zegers (Dawn of the Dead, Gossip Girl) is in negotiations.
Fortissimo Films has already picked up the project for international distribution, and several territories including the Middle East, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea and Japan have...
- 3/23/2010
- Nippon Cinema
Chicago – For film lovers unable to attend international film festivals, “Paris, je t’aime” provided an irresistible glimpse at world cinema. Eighteen celebrated filmmakers were each recruited to make a short subject set in the City of Love, thus allowing audiences to view the same town from different cultural perspectives. Some shorts worked better than others, but the resounding majority of them were utterly captivating.
It’s great to see this cinematic experiment continue with “New York, I Love You,” despite the fact that it isn’t anywhere near as artistically stimulating or dramatically satisfying as its predecessor. There’s only ten filmmakers this time, excluding Randy Balsmeyer, who handles the transitions. While “Paris” included Gus Van Sant, Alfonso Cuaron and the Coen brothers, “New York” offers directors like Shekhar Kapur (“Elizabeth”), Allen Hughes (“The Book of Eli”) and Brett Ratner (“Rush Hour”), whose very name inspires derisive laughter amongst film purists.
It’s great to see this cinematic experiment continue with “New York, I Love You,” despite the fact that it isn’t anywhere near as artistically stimulating or dramatically satisfying as its predecessor. There’s only ten filmmakers this time, excluding Randy Balsmeyer, who handles the transitions. While “Paris” included Gus Van Sant, Alfonso Cuaron and the Coen brothers, “New York” offers directors like Shekhar Kapur (“Elizabeth”), Allen Hughes (“The Book of Eli”) and Brett Ratner (“Rush Hour”), whose very name inspires derisive laughter amongst film purists.
- 2/5/2010
- by [email protected] (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
If you've seen Paris, je t'aime, you would know the basic concept of New York, I Love You. Some of the world's celebrated filmmakers create short tales of romance based in a metropolitan city, compiled in an anthology film. The stories stand on their own, but connected together by the common theme of love and the mood of its location.
What's different—and consequently better—about New York, I Love You is that the individual stories are interconnected, to illustrate a web of people that links New Yorkers in unexpected ways. It could be that two strangers hail the same cab, or go to the same Chinese laundromat, or know the same pharmacist. Furthering these links is Emilie Ohana, playing a video artist who circles the city with a video camera and continually runs into the other characters.
Unlike the segmented and showcasey Paris, je t'aime, this film is much more fluid.
What's different—and consequently better—about New York, I Love You is that the individual stories are interconnected, to illustrate a web of people that links New Yorkers in unexpected ways. It could be that two strangers hail the same cab, or go to the same Chinese laundromat, or know the same pharmacist. Furthering these links is Emilie Ohana, playing a video artist who circles the city with a video camera and continually runs into the other characters.
Unlike the segmented and showcasey Paris, je t'aime, this film is much more fluid.
- 10/16/2009
- by Arya Ponto
- JustPressPlay.net
Baton is a new anime from director Ryuhei Kitamura (Versus, Azumi) and Shunji Iwai (April Story, All About Lily Chou-Chou) that is being produced by Us animation studio titmouse (huh?). There’s not much known about the story at the moment See update below!, only that Aya Ueto and (Hayato Ichihara will play the two main characters Apollo and Micha(?)l who live together with intelligent robots on a future Earth.
The three, about 20 minutes long Episodes of Baton will be shown during the 150th anniversary celebration of the city of Yokohama from April 28 to September 27.
[See post to watch Flash video] According to the development studio Wild Boar Media, Baton is a mixture of “traditional rotoscope animation with added 2D and 3D effects”…the result kinda looks like A Scanner Darkly gets drunk with Freedom on a cocktail party thrown by Ralph Bakshi.
Update: Nippon Cinema has come up with a detailed synopsis for the flick:
On Planet Abel,...
The three, about 20 minutes long Episodes of Baton will be shown during the 150th anniversary celebration of the city of Yokohama from April 28 to September 27.
[See post to watch Flash video] According to the development studio Wild Boar Media, Baton is a mixture of “traditional rotoscope animation with added 2D and 3D effects”…the result kinda looks like A Scanner Darkly gets drunk with Freedom on a cocktail party thrown by Ralph Bakshi.
Update: Nippon Cinema has come up with a detailed synopsis for the flick:
On Planet Abel,...
- 3/12/2009
- by Ulrik
- Affenheimtheater
Strange news comes from the land of the rising sun. There has been movement in the Bandage film camp. Seems like Kitamura got caught selling Meiji Gummy Choco’s to the fat kids and got himself kicked out. There are new faces!
First, there is a new director for the project. Music producer Takeshi Kobayashi will helm his first fictional motion picture. He doesn’t have much of a resume on film making but he has proven his chops in the music world. He did the music for the movie’s scriptwriter Shunji Iwai’s Swallowtail [1996] and All About Lily Chou-Chou [2001]. They are both producing Eriko Kitagawa’s Harufuwei/Halfway due out in February 2009. So they have a good working relationship at least.
Second, Kat-tun member Jin Akanishi makes his silver screen debut with the starring role in the movie. Akanishi has had plenty of television roles the last nine...
First, there is a new director for the project. Music producer Takeshi Kobayashi will helm his first fictional motion picture. He doesn’t have much of a resume on film making but he has proven his chops in the music world. He did the music for the movie’s scriptwriter Shunji Iwai’s Swallowtail [1996] and All About Lily Chou-Chou [2001]. They are both producing Eriko Kitagawa’s Harufuwei/Halfway due out in February 2009. So they have a good working relationship at least.
Second, Kat-tun member Jin Akanishi makes his silver screen debut with the starring role in the movie. Akanishi has had plenty of television roles the last nine...
- 10/29/2008
- by Mack
- Screen Anarchy
- Ryo Nakajima spent four years essentially locked in a room living as a recluse (a phenomenon known as hikikomori). Amidst this deep depression he found the fortitude to take pen to page, writing a screenplay in order to excise his demons. Exploring the frustrations of his generation, This World of Ours takes on bullying, rape, suicide, and even terrorism with the touch of an undeniable new artistic voice. The film follows three lost youths as they each face an unending gauntlet of personal and social tribulations (both individually and, at times, together – yet not) exasperated by their ambitions to be more than the rank and file of humanity. When the realization that – regardless of their actions – the world will never change dawns on each; the question becomes whether this world of ours can include them. Shot with the energy of youth, Nakajima mines gold from his meager resources and amateur actors.
- 6/25/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
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