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Whatever the situation with the Japanese movie industry, one thing is for certain: there will always be filmmakers producing strange and extreme, but original and enjoyable films, with productions like the ones from Hitoshi Matsumoto being the first ones that come to mind. Koji Segawa may not take his film to such extremes, since the basic premise of his work is actually realistic, but definitely stretches the borders of reality to their limit.

Mariko is a seemingly normal woman who works at a batting centre, is married to Tomoharu, and has a son. This regularity however, is just the surface of her life, which is not normal at all. In her work, she is being continuously harassed by her letch of a boss and clients, while she has to hear the “wisdoms” of another clerk, (“I would never marry a man shorter than 170 cm”) who actually has a sexual relationship with their boss.

James Farrell, head of international originals at Amazon MGM Studios, and Akihiko Okamoto, president and representative director at Yoshimoto Kogyo, are to feature in a joint keynote session at TV market Mipcom.

The execs will explore the origination and approach that has made “Lol: Last One Laughing” one of the most successful and travelled formats of recent years and Prime Video’s most watched title ever in several countries.

The session, part of the market’s Media Mastermind Keynote series, will be staged on the first full day of Mipcom on Oct. 21 at 10.20 a.m. in the Grand Auditorium of the Palais des Festivals. The 40th edition of Mipcom will take place in Cannes from Oct. 21-24.

The show originated from a top-line pitch to Farrell as follows: “Ten comedians gather in a room and try to make each other laugh; the last one to keep a straight face wins.

Jimmy Carr is set to host a U.K. version of comedy format “Last One Laughing” for Prime Video.

The six-part series will see Carr challenge 10 of the U.K.’s top comedians to make each other laugh – with the last one laughing crowned the winner.

“Famous for his dark humour, one liners and That laugh, Jimmy Carr challenges 10 of Britain’s funniest comics to spend the day together without so much as cracking a smile,” reads the synopsis. “Over the course of the series, they will use every ounce of their comedic talents to try and break their opponents without cracking up themselves.”

But it’s not just their fellow comedians the contestants will need to watch out for. There will also be comedy cameos, format twists and surprises to try and raise a giggle from the participants.

The series is based on a Japanese Amazon Original series titled “Documental,...

Prime Video has confirmed it is making a UK version of international format Last One Laughing.

Last year, we told you the Amazon streamer was exploring a British version of the show, which has versions on Prime Video in numerous territories, and it’s now going ahead following a tender process.

Comedian and presenter Jimmy Carr will host the show, which will run exclusive on Prime Video around the world in 2025.

In the series, a group of 10 British comedians will spend the day in a living room-style studio together trying to make the others laugh. At the first laugh, the competitor is cautioned (yellow carded), while a second eliminates the player from the game (red carded), and the only way to communicate with the outside is a telephone controlled by the host. The rules are simple: laugh and you’re out.

“It has the holy grail of format development: an incredible simple concept,...

France’s Urban Distribution has shut its doors, the latest independent distributor to fold due to struggling ticket sales following the closure of Rezo Films’ distribution arm in March.

Urban Group’s thriving international sales and production divisions Urban Sales and Urban Factory will continue to operate, but its distribution arm, founded in 2011 by Frédéric Corvez and Mathieu Piazza, was officially liquidated on March 21.

Corvez confirmed the closure to Screen, explaining, “Over the years, we’ve seen our work come up against more and more obstacles” and citing the pandemic as an event that “undoubtedly transformed the industry”.

He described...

North American Digital Release

North American digital distributor Echelon Studios has come on board “12.12: The Day,” the highest grossing film from Korea last year.

The film has been on theatrical release in North America, through 815 Pictures since last year and grossed over $1 million. Echelon said that the film will have a streaming release later this year. It will also be available to pre-order to own on iTunes, Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube Movies, Vudu, Vimeo OnDemand and OnDemand Korea shortly.

Directed by Kim Sung-su and with a Korean gross exceeding $90 million, the action drama is based on true events in December 1979, which resulted in an eight-year military junta in South Korea.

The film stars Hwang Jung-min (“Deliver Us from Evil”), Jung Woo-sung (“Asura: The City of Madness”), Lee Sung-min (“The Spy Gone North”), Park Hae-joon (“Believer”), Kang Gil-woo (Netflix series “The Glory”), and Jung Hae-in (Netflix’s “D.P.”).

Treasure Island...

Exclusive: Amazon Prime Video is eying a UK version of hit format Lol: Last One Laughing.

Deadline understands the streamer has been scoping out indies to produce the UK version over the past few weeks via an informal tender process, with that process now in its final stages. The show is yet to be greenlit and we understand no final decision will be made until the format launches next year in Ireland, a version that is being helmed by one of the UK’s top presenters, Graham Norton. Trevor Noah, meanwhile, is down to host the upcoming South African version following his Daily Show exit.

Lol: Last One Laughing sees comedians stay in a living room-style studio for several hours during which they must try to make the others laugh by any means possible, while not reacting to their opponents’ attempts to make them break. At the first laugh, the...

The blockbuster French cast of Amazon Prime Video’s third season of “Lol: Qui rit, qui sort” speaks volumes about the Japanese variety format’s tremendous popularity in France.

The Amazon Original series, adapted from the format “Lol: Last One Laughing,” scored its biggest launch to date on Prime Video in France since bowing on March 10. The show is one of the streamer’s first unscripted originals in France and has been a major coup as a brand exercise that’s succeeded with limited resources — certainly in comparison to scripted comedy. Adaptations of “Lol” have also thrived in Italy and Germany where they have ranked as the most watched local titles on the service, respectively. Local versions are also available in Spain, Canada, Mexico and Australia (hosted by Rebel Wilson).

On the heels of its milestone success with “Lol: Qui rit, qui sort,” the French teams at Amazon Studios are...

Being a Kaiju fan wasn’t always this easy. Not only were dubbed and subtitled copies of Japanese monster movies hard to come by before the advent of online streaming and boutique Blu-rays, but it was also hard to find other cinephiles with the same taste for rubber-suits and cardboard destruction. Fortunately, times have changed, with the rise of internet culture allowing what were once niche interests to find their way into mainstream culture.

However, while general audiences are now mostly aware of Godzilla and his titanic rogues’ gallery, there’s still a whole world of untapped kaiju flicks out there, just waiting to be discovered by a new generation of fans. And with the internet making even the most obscure creature features more accessible, we’ve decided to come up with a list celebrating six Kaiju movies that aren’t Godzilla-related.

While we obviously have nothing against everyone’s favorite radioactive lizard,...

Format

Japan’s Nippon TV has teamed with Finland’s Rabbit Films for the Finnish-language version of Nippon TV’s unscripted format “Silent Library.” The Finnish version, hosted by popular presenter Riku Rantala, will air from Feb. 15 on Star Channel and is titled “Silent Library Suomi.”

Since its launch as an international format in 2007, local versions have been developed in more than 20 countries around the world, including a hit U.S. version that launched on MTV in 2009. First airing in 2001 on Nippon TV, “Silent Library” is created by Japanese comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto and produced by Nippon TV in association with Yoshimoto Kogyo. In the show, there are six contestants, one librarian, and other people who sit randomly at the tables in the library. During the show, the contestants must endure crazy pranks but must always keep silent because the show takes place in a library.

For the Finnish version, celebrities...

If there was ever a region that included themes, characters and motifs that occasionally surpassed even the borders of the surreal, that would be Asia, with the titles that can be easily described as absurd coming out in scores. Maybe it has to do with a particular type of idiosyncrasy, maybe that in a number of countries, particularly in Japan and India, filmmakers feel the freedom to express themselves in any way they want, away from any kind of political correctness or even cinematic “rules”. A number of these movies have already garnered the title of cult, but as we are about to see in this particular list, titles from the whole spectrum of cinema can be found here. Without further ado, here are 40 movies that definitely deserve the title of weird, in alphabetical order.

Ps. The focus on Japanese films was inevitable…

1. A Man Vanishes

This is the closing...

The May 2022 lineup at Mubi here in the United States has been unveiled, most notably featuring a Cannes Takeover timed with the 75th edition of the festival. At long last, Arnaud Desplechin’s Philip Roth adaptation Deception will arrive stateside alongside Karim Ainouz’s documentary Mariner of the Mountains. Reaching further back into the festival’s history, Ruben Östlund’s Force Majeure and The Square, David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, Gaspar Noé’s Irreversible, and Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank will also come to the service.

Their Franz Rogowski series will also continue with Great Freedom and Love Steaks, while works from Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Gia Coppola, Joachim Trier, Jeff Nichols, Satyajit Ray, Takashi Miike, and more will also arrive.

Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.

5/1/2022 | Everybody Street | Cheryl Dunn

5/2/2022 | Love Steaks | Jakob Lass

5/3/2022 | Our Lady of the Nile | Atiq Rahimi

5/4/2022 | Time Piece | Jim Henson

5/5/2022 | R100 | Hitoshi Matsumoto...

The Amazon Prime Video competition series “Lol: Last One Laughing” will launch a Canadian edition Feb. 18.

“Last One Laughing Canada” competitors include Caroline Rhea, Dave Foley, Debra Digiovanni, Jon Lajoie, Tom Green, Colin Mochrie, Mae Martin, Brandon Ash Mohammed, Andrew Phung and K. Trevor Wilson. Hosted by Jay Baruchel, the six-part series follows the 10 comedians as they try to eliminate others by making each other laugh, while not laughing themselves. The comedian who outlasts their competitors wins the grand prize of $100,000 for their charity of choice.

Executive Producers are John Brunton, Erin Brock, and Shannon Farr. The series is produced in association with Insight Productions.

“Lol: Last One Laughing Canada” is the latest adaptation of “Documental,” an Amazon Original series in Japan owned by Yoshimoto Kogyo and created by and starring Hitoshi Matsumoto — where Matsumoto leads 10 comedians who bet their own money in a “battle of laughter behind closed doors.

Tomo Hyakutake is a master of the horrific. For more than two decades, he has been working as special makeup effects artist, moldmaker, model designer, model marker, mask creator, for movies, music videos and commercials, having dozens of credits to his names, while also retaining a gallery with his own work.

We speak with him about his art and his creative procedure, working in movies, his cooperation with the likes of Takashi Miike, Takashi Shimizu, Hideaki Anno and many more, the art and movie scene in Japan and many other topics.

How did your interest in art, and particularly the art of the horrific, begin?

When I was a student, Screaming Mad George and Kazu Hiro were my professors at the university. I also learned a lot from my respected seniors, Yasushi Nirasawa, Takayuki Takeya, and Steve Wang. After graduating from school, they introduced me to the industry. In terms of Art-horror,...

National cinemas come and go from the top, which is currently dominated by Korea, as it did by Hong Kong some decades ago, but the truth remains that the only one who has stayed on top since its beginning (maybe with the exception of the 80s) is the Japanese one. Either through the festival favorites like Koreeda, Kawase, Kiyoshi Kurosawa or through the more cult like Miike, Sono, Toyoda, or through a number of newcomers, Japanese cinema continues to make an impact, proving both its current quality and its potential for the years to come. The decade that just passed is another testament to the fact, and the movies that you will find in this list, the most distinct proof.

In an effort to winnow some of the best Japanese movies of the decade (2011-2020), we came up with 40 we felt were the ones that truly stand out in terms of quality,...

Amazon has greenlit a French version of their hit Japanese format Hitoshi Matsumoto Presents Documental, in which comedians compete to try and get each other to laugh while keeping a straight face themselves.

French actor and comedian Philippe Lacheau (Alibi.com) will present the French version, Lol: Tu ris, Tu perds (Lol: Last One Laughing), pitting 10 famous French comedians against one in a competition for a €100,000 ($119,000) donation to their favorite charity.

The competing comedians include Tarek Boudali, Inès Reg, Julien Arruti, Reem Kherici, Alexandra Lamy, Gérard Jugnot, Kyan Khojandi, Bérengère Krief, Hakim Jemily, and Fadily Camara.

Endemol ...

Amazon has greenlit a French version of their hit Japanese format Hitoshi Matsumoto Presents Documental, in which comedians compete to try and get each other to laugh while keeping a straight face themselves.

French actor and comedian Philippe Lacheau (Alibi.com) will present the French version, Lol: Tu ris, Tu perds (Lol: Last One Laughing), pitting 10 famous French comedians against one in a competition for a €100,000 ($119,000) donation to their favorite charity.

The competing comedians include Tarek Boudali, Inès Reg, Julien Arruti, Reem Kherici, Alexandra Lamy, Gérard Jugnot, Kyan Khojandi, Bérengère Krief, Hakim Jemily, and Fadily Camara.

Endemol ...

Anime in particular is starting to go mainstream among Gen Z and Millennials as the number of global streaming buyers grows.

Japanese film and TV content, in particular anime, has been reaching new international audiences during the era of Covid-19 lockdowns and growing steaming consumption, according to several speakers at this week’s Tiffcom Online (November 4-6).

On the first day of the market, Crunchyroll general manager Joanne Waage said the WarnerMedia-owned anime streaming service has already achieved its projected year-end figures of 3 million subscribers and 70 million registered users.

“During Covid times, the streaming business has been resilient as people have been home more,...

According to Wikipedia, A mockumentary (a portmanteau of mock and documentary) or docucomedy is a type of movie or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. The genre gained recognition (notoriety if you prefer) with “Borat“, although some may remember the 1984 “This is Spinal Tap” or the excellent Belgian “Man Bites Dog“. In Asian cinema, the mockumentary occasionally has a different form, with Shohei Imamura blending documentary with theater and fourth-wall-breaking surrealism in “A Man Vanishes” for example, although recently, a number of productions seem to follow the international “rules” of the subcategory. Without further ado, here are 10 of the most intriguing samples one can find in Asian cinema, in chronological order.

*We took some liberties with the films in the list, essentially mocking the term (film nerd humor)

1. A Man Vanishes

The film starts as a documentary of sorts, regarding the disappearance of plastic salesman Oshima that occurred two years previously.

Film will open in Japanese cinemas and stream globally on Amazon Prime Video from July 17.

Isao Yukisada’s Theater will be released simultaneously in Japanese cinemas and on the Amazon Prime Video streaming platform on July 17, marking the first time that Amazon has released a film day-and-date with theatres in Japan.

Amazon is making the film available in 200 countries and territories worldwide. Starring Kento Yamazaki and Mayu Matsuoka, the film is a live-action adaptation of comedian Naoki Matayoshi’s second novel Gekijo. Matayoshi won the Akutagawa Prize in 2015 for his first novel Hibana, which was adapted into a series by Netflix.

The cult film VOD platform Spamflix has launched a new worldwide app, available now for mobile and smart TV compatible. Via the app users can browse, rent and stream from the full catalog, which includes a wide range of feature and short films from around the globe.

Visit spamflix.com/app.do for more information, or available directly on Google Play and the Apple Store.

Spamflix was founded in 2018 by Markus Duffner, a project manager at the Locarno Film Festival and Julia Duarte, former producer of São Paulo International Film Festival. Called ‘Netflix for Cult Film Fans’ by Geek Spin the bulk of Spamflix’s library consists of hard to find and lesser-seen genre titles, many of which garnered acclaim on the festival circuit only to land without significant distribution.

A treasure trove for cult film enthusiasts that has a specialty focus on black comedy and adult animation, the new...

Rebel Wilson.

Endemol Shine Australia is producing the first Australian Amazon Original, Lol: Last One Laughing, which will feature ten local comedians trying to make each other laugh first.

To be hosted and executive produced by Rebel Wilson, the final comedian left standing at the end of the six-part series will win a grand prize of $100,000. The line-up of comedians will be announced in the coming weeks.

“I’m thrilled to be joining the Prime Video family of creators and talent,” said Wilson.

“I’ve already had the chance to work with Alexa – she’s great – and on Audible, so working with Prime Video seemed like an obvious choice. I can’t wait to see what these talented Australian comedians come up with and how far they’ll go to take home the prize.”

The show is based on an Amazon Original format from Japan, Documental, produced by and starring comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto,...

Rebel Wilson has signed on to host and executive produce the first Australian Amazon Original series, Lol: Last One Laughing.

The comedy-variety series, produced with Endemol Shine Australia, will feature a cast of 10 Australian comedic actors and stand-up comics competing to make each other laugh first. The final comedian left standing will win the grand prize of Aud$ 100,000. The first Australian Amazon Original series will premiere exclusively on Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories in 2020.

The six-part series will film nonstop to catch all of the action, and follow the select group of talented comics who bring various styles to the table including stand-up, character, improvisational and physical comedy among others.

“I’m thrilled to be joining the Prime Video family of creators and talent,” said Wilson. “I’ve already had the chance to work with Alexa — she’s great — and on Audible,...

Amazon is giving Japan an early Valentine’s Day gift in the form of a series order for a local adaptation of “The Bachelorette.”

Prime Video has greenlit a Japanese version of the popular ABC reality dating series, along with more than 20 other new and returning Prime original series, set to go into production in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, India, Japan and Mexico, the streamer announced during the Television Critics Association press tour Wednesday.

Here’s the official description for the upcoming Japan-based version of the long-running American series: “‘The Bachelorette’ is a local version of the American reality dating competition format that has aired continuously for 14 seasons in the Us since 2003, when it was created as a spinoff of ‘The Bachelor.’ In ‘The Bachelorette,’ gender roles are reversed and women are put in the driver’s seat when a single Bachelorette embarks on a journey to find her...

Eugenio Derbez is returning to television with a six-part Amazon Prime original series, Lol: Last One Laughing, that will be available exclusively to Prime members.

Derbez’s first TV gig in six years follows his Overboard movie with Anna Faris earlier this year. The Amazon Lol series will see Derbez lead an all-star cast of Mexican comedians from stand-up, character, improvisational and physical comedy, among other styles. The cast members will battle for a grand prize of one million Mexican pesos.

The series is showrun by Juan Maldonado of Litopos Producciones and is produced by Derbez and partner Ben Odell’s 3Pas Studios and Endemol Shine Boomdog.

The new series is an adaptation of the Japanese Prime original series in Japan, Hitoshi Matsumoto Presents Documental, where ten comedians bet money in an “anything goes” battle.

The Derbez show is will premiere later this year on Prime Video.

New platform to distribute films, TV series, manga, anime and live performances.

Japanese talent agency and media conglomerate Yoshimoto Kogyo plans to launch a streaming platform to distribute Japanese and Asian content to global audiences.

Yoshimoto has teamed with two other Japanese companies – digital services provider Transcosmos and cyber-security firm Blue Planet – on development of the platform, which has yet to be branded but is being referred to as the ‘Asian Entertainment Platform’.

While the official launch date has not been set, Yoshimoto president Hiroshi Osaki said he wanted to introduce the platform at this year’s Okinawa International Movie Festival,...

In french, an orgasm is sometimes referred to as, la petite mort, or little death. The phrase can also infer, with less existential hubris, simply a nervous spasm. Kobayashi Toshimasa playfully uses the two ideas in his feature film debut Almost Coming, Almost Dying to generate gentle comedy predicated on the suffering of a man who has failed to achieve orgasm, and by extension is failing at life. Anchored by a sweetly self-deprecating performance from deadpan Japanese comic Nou Misoo as an introverted, nerdy fusion of Matsumoto Hitoshi and Matthew Broderick. Looking a bit like the latter, half-way between Ferris Bueller and Election, Misoo plays an unemployed layabout on the cusp of his 30s named Nakagawa Manabu. Clearly a man-child with little prospects, he lives at home...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Excessive, mindless and often weird violence is being carried out by testosterone fueled male hands. Or at least, that´s the stereotype usually assigned to Xy chromosome wielding part of mankind, while women are deemed the gentler sex in every aspect. Meir Zarchi's cult classic of the rape-revenge genre I Spit on Your Grave, reverses the notion but only after physical and psychological humiliation, and victimization of the main protagonist. Recently, Matsumoto Hitoshi brought an army of whip-cracking, teeth-kicking and spit-jetting dominatrixes in the head-twisting comedy R100. A self-taught filmmaker from Mexico, Artemio Narro, catches the theme from the other side in his feature debut I Stay With You (Me Quedo Contigo).Spaniard Natalia (Beatriz Arjona) flies to Mexico City to meet her boyfriend Esteban. Soon...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

The astonishingly surreal work of Japanese comedian-turned-filmmaker Matsumoto Hitoshi has long been championed here at TwitchFilm, and in some ways his fourth feature film - R100 - transcends anything he has yet produced. Positioned not as a comedy, but rather as the potentially upsetting tale of a reserved, unremarkable salary man struggling to raise his young son while his wife lies motionless in a coma, R100 has all the trappings of a classic Asian tearjerker. But rather than have his protagonist wallow in his predicament, or even find an understanding shoulder to cry own, R100 sees Katayama Takafumi (played by Omori Nao) enlist in the ultimate S&M club, with increasingly ridiculous consequences.As our own Todd Brown stated in his review of the film out of...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Welcome back to This Week In Discs! If you see something you like, click on the title to buy it from Amazon. R100 Takafumi (Nao Ohmori, Ichi the Killer) is a mattress salesman raising his young son alone while his wife wastes away in a coma, but he needs something to take the edge off. He joins a very special S&M club that promises a world of unexpected pleasure in the form of unplanned appearances by leather-clad women intent on inflicting pain and humiliation upon him. They cross a line though by bringing the fun into his home, and soon he’s fighting an enemy capable of causing far more pain than he anticipated. It all sounds so ominous, but Hitoshi Matsumoto‘s film is actually a tremendously funny black comedy with a surprising amount of heart. Takafumi loves his son and misses his wife, and the sensation he gets from the dominatrices has him feeling...

Premiering in the Midnight Madness section of the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, Hitoshi Matsumoto’s latest slice of insanity, R100, is his most perverse yet. If only there could have been more of a definable method to the madness. After a wide range of festival play, the title received a limited theatrical release at the end of 2014 and has gone on to acquire something of a cult following thanks to its generally amusing array of batshit crazy set pieces.

After his delightful if belabored 2007 debut Big Man Japan put him on the map, director Matsumoto returns with another slice of strangeness, with an S&M inspired fever dream of alternate realities that’s not quite as compelling as it is confounding. Drug fueled hallucinations, secret clubs and leather harnessed vixens abound, but this is more Rihanna’s style of S&M, teasingly vague rather than titillating or sinister. Fans of...

By the time Matsumoto Hitoshi made the move into feature films with his 2007 effort Big Man Japan, he was already a massive star in his native Japan, his television comedy work having firmly established Matsumoto as one of the nation's most popular entertainers. The conversation at the time was dominated by Matsumoto versus Kitano chatter -- as in, would this latest comedian to move to the big screen from the small have a chance at matching the critical acclaim of his predecessor. With Matsumoto now four feature films into his big screen career, it is increasingly clear that those early debates miss the point entirely. Not only was the supposed competition between the two former TV comics made moot by the simple fact that...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Next month, "Fifty Shades Of Grey" comes to cinemas, bringing its best-selling, Mom-approved kinks to the big screen for mass consumption. But we're pretty sure it won't have anything on Hitoshi Matsumoto's "R100," in which a particular fetish gets exercised in some unlikely ways. Nao Omori leads the movie as Takafumi Katayama, a salesman leading a dull, semi-tragic life, raising his young son alone as his wife is in a coma. Seeking an outlet for some excitement, Takafumi signs up with an S&M club that has some very curious stipulations: membership is for one year, it can't be canceled, and you will be treated to beatings and public humiliation. And there are no limits. Want an example? Check out this exclusive clip in which a nighttime stroll takes on sexy, violent dimensions. "R100" opens on VOD and in limited release on Friday, January 23rd. Watch below.

Joy Pain Club: Matsumoto’s Latest Insistent Weirdness Uneven

After his delightful if belabored 2007 debut Big Man Japan put him on the map, director Hitoshi Matsumoto returns with another slice of strangeness with R100, an S&M inspired fever dream of alternate realities that’s not quite as compelling as it is confounding. Drug fueled hallucinations, secret clubs and leather harnessed vixens abound, but this is more Rihanna’s style of S&M, teasingly vague rather than titillating or sinister. Fans of Matsumoto are likely to be reeled in, but inexplicable twists and turns aggravate its intermittent flashes of interest.

A beautiful woman, possibly a prostitute, applies make-up while she lazily smokes a cigarette as she readies herself for a meeting with Takafumi Katayma (Nao Ohmori), who we assume to be her potential client. A strange conversation devolves quickly into sudden violence, pushing the conflict into the streets. Soon after,...

Hitoshi Matsumoto's R100 takes its name from the Japanese rating system, which proceeds thusly: R15, safe for fifteen-year-olds; R18, safe for adults; and now, Matsumoto's invented category, which, depending on a centenarian's ticker, could refer to either a calming montage of pigeons or a gonzo sex comedy. If you guessed the latter, you guessed correctly. The film follows a grieving single father (Nao Ohmori) who hires an s&m service with an unusual contract: For one year, its latex-clad beauties will surprise the submissive pervert whenever they want, without warning — even if he says stop. They whip him at work, drown him in park fountains, and beat him in vans. His package includes the Gobble Queen (not as sexy as it sounds), the Saliva Queen (that go...

"R100" is a game of cat and mouse... between one man, his son, and dozens upon dozens of dominatrices. Read More: Drafthouse Films Acquires Hitoshi Matsumoto's Ratings Satire 'R100' For North America The title is actually a play on the Japanese film ratings system -- R18 is their version of Nc-17. Directed by much-loved comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto, "R100" is the story of a seemingly regular, mild-mannered dad, Takafumi Katayama (Nao Ohmori), who just so happens to have a secret S&M fetish. When he enters into a non-terminable one-year contract with a mysterious boutique dominatrix agency that specializes in public acts of degradation, he quickly realizes he's in way over his head. Under a constant barrage of attacks from dominatrices of every age, shape, size, and preferred method of pain (which is every method you could possibly imagine), Matsumoto and his young son must figure out a...

R100, the outrageously funny film from Matsumoto Hitoshi will be out in cinemas and on VOD on January 23rd from Drafthouse Films. We have an outrageous clip to share with you. It is from early on in the film and features our lead Omori Nao and Tominaga Ai, the first of many dominatrices you will meet during the course of the film.You would assume that the couple are out for a nice cup of coffee. Omori is probably thrilled that a young woman as stunning as Tominaga is sitting at the same table as him. And then he asks her if she knows the answer to his question. Her response? At first she seems drawn in. Those words. Those lyrics. Then? Well, you will just have to watch,...

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We have an exclusive set of images from Drafthouse Films' wild new released R100. These photos show off a mild-mannered family man with a secret taste for S&M who finds himself pursued by a gang of ruthless dominatrices. This promises to be one hilarious and bizarre take on the modern sex comedy as seen through the eyes of Japanese comedy giant Hitoshi Matsumoto.

Nao Ohmori (star of Takashi Miike's Ichi the Killer) plays Takafumi Katayama, a mild-mannered father who escapes the pressures of daily life by joining a mysterious S&M club, where the so-called Queens visit clients in real-life settings. While at first the rough treatment and humiliation he receives from leather-clad women in caf&#233s and restaurants is enjoyable, Takafumi soon realizes that he's opened a door that cannot be closed. Unable to end his relationship with the club, he finds himself pursued by a gang of ruthless dominatrices,...

"No one under 100 will be admitted!" Dang this looks crazy. Drafthouse Films has debuted their official Us trailer for Hitoshi Matsumoto's R100, a funky, wacky Japanese thriller about a man (Nao Ohmori of Ichi the Killer) who joins an S&M club and gets into some crazy shit when dominatrices appear and kick his ass anytime of the day. The title R100 is a riff on the Japanese movie rating system, whose equivalent to Nc-17 is R18, and this is playing on the idea that it's not okay for anyone under 100. Ha. The new poster is a bit too much, aiming to sell it purely on the sex/S&M angle, but the trailer hints at the absurdity of the film in so many other ways. This definitely isn't for everyone, but it's not just for S&M fans either, I think. Have fun. Here's the official Us trailer for Hitoshi Matsumoto's R100,...

Damn. We've got an exclusive poster for the new Drafthouse Films release R100 that makes a lot of promises that might be hard to fulfill. At least that's what I thought until I saw the trailer, which indeed does feature a lot of whipping, punching, slapping, choking, kicking and beating. This movie looks out of its mind in the best of ways. I can only hope that the central protagonist, played by Nao Ohmori from Ichi the Killer, finds the pleasure he's seeking behind whatever pain thresholds he's made to endure. Also, the movie looks really funny. R100 was directed by Hitoshi Matsumoto and hits Drafthouse theaters and VOD on Friday, January 23rd. Hit the jump for the exclusive poster and to be introduced to the equally bold trailer. The film's title is a play on the Japanese rating system, their Nc-17 equivalent is R18, so you can see where this is heading.

Hitoshi Matsumoto has a big reputation among his fellow Japanese peers, and he's considered to be a very, very funny guy. He made his name on television and the country's popular form of comedy known as owarai, playing the boke half of the duo known as “Downtown” with his friend Masatoshi Hamada. Now, boke is the universally recognizable comedic trope of the one who misinterprets everything and appears to be a slight airhead. After watching Matsumoto's latest feature film "R100," which has been making its festival rounds this year, the conscious force that's working against any kind of straight-forward, easily-understandable and anchored narrative in the film makes sense to have the fruit of its artistic loins planted in misinterpretation and airheadedness. And that's not meant to be a slight against Matsumoto. On the contrary, it is the fool and the village idiot who usually has the right of it in...

The second annual Beyond Fest is coming back to Los Angeles' Egyptian Theatre (6712 Hollywood Boulevard) and will be running from September 25 through October 4, 2014. Tickets are available through Fandango Now.

From the Press Release

Dedicated to delivering the elite in horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and badass cinema, this year’s Beyond Fest programming reflects a globally diverse and eclectic mix of premieres, rare repertory screenings, and special events, all of which are anchored in bringing firsts to the community of genre fans in Los Angeles.

Beyond Fest has also partnered with Robert Rodriguez’s El Rey Network as its presenting sponsor, a partnership that will make much of the festival’s programming free to creative makers and film fans alike.

“The response was so great last year that we knew we had to bring Beyond Fest back, so much so that we immediately started planning this installment,” said Christian Parkes, co-founder of Beyond Fest.

Beyond Fest returns with a vengeance in Los Angeles later this month, giving genre fans a lineup to look forward to. An eclectic mix of films both old and new are on the menu, with a screening of the Halloween 4k re-master highlighting the events. Halloween fans will also be treated to the first-ever combined appearance by John Carpenter and Jamie Lee Curtis to discuss their horror classic.

Los Angeles – September 4, 2014 - “Beyond Fest and the American Cinematheque announced today that they are partnering for the return of the sophomore festival, Beyond Fest, featuring the best in world genre programming, September 25th – October 4th, 2014 at the Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Boulevard. Tickets will be available through Fandango today.

Dedicated to delivering the elite in horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and badass cinema, this year’s Beyond Fest programming reflects a globally diverse and eclectic mix of premieres, rare repertory screenings, and special events,...

Stars: Nao Ômori, Lindsay Hayward, Mao Daichi, Hairi Katagiri, Gin Maeda, Suzuki Matsuo, Hitoshi Matsumoto, Eriko Satô, Shinobu Terajima, Ai Tominaga | Written by Hitoshi Matsumoto, Mitsuyoshi Takasu, Tomoji Hasegawa, Kôji Ema, Mitsuru Kuramoto | Directed by Hitoshi Matsumoto

Hitoshi Matsumoto is a director who, though I can’t say I know a great deal about, only that he is a comedian known for his surreal and crazy style, I have enjoyed greatly in the past with his films Symbol (2009) and Big Man Japan (2007) so I was intrigued and excited to see that R100, Matsumoto’s latest, was going to be a part of Frightfest in 2014.

A stiff bodied and reticent office worker, Takafumi, joins a strange club which has one rule, the rule being that, under no circumstances can you cancel your membership within the year in which the membership runs for. Simple. No. What this results in is hard to quite explain,...

The line-up for this year's Film4 FrightFest in London has just been announced – and boy, is it a doozy! Sporting a record-breaking 38 UK/European premieres and 11 world premieres, this August is going to be an exciting time in the genre calendar.

Check it all out right here, including lots of new images!

This year Film4 FrightFest will be moving from its previous home at Leicester Square's Empire Cinema to the nearby Vue Cinema (also on Leicester Square), prompting an ingenious reshuffle of the screening arrangements.

All main screen films will be presented at different times across three different screens, with two extra screens reserved for single-slot screenings of the various films hitting this year's Discovery Screens.

Here's the full list of goodies:

Main Screens (5, 6, 7)

Thursday Aug 21

Opening Night Film - The Guest (UK Premiere)

Director: Adam Wingard. Cast: Dan Stevens, Maika Monroe, Brendan Meyer, Sheila Kelley, Leland Orser. USA 2014. 99 mins.

Film4 FrightFest 2014, returning for its 15th year, unveils its biggest line-up ever. From Thurs 21 August to Monday 25 August, the UK’s leading event for genre fans will be at the Vue West End, Leicester Square, to present sixty-four films plus twenty shorts across five screens. There are sixteen countries representing five continents with a record-breaking thirty-eight UK or European premieres and eleven world premieres.

Are you ready for a monstrous and memorable mayhem of killer claws, cannibalism, cult classics, murderous musicals, chiller thrillers, graphic novel action and sick celluloid masterpieces? Then prepare yourself for the biggest, strongest and most eclectic must-see programme in Film4 FrightFest’s history.

From the opening night turbo-driven thrill-ride The Guest to the UK premiere of the closing night mesmeric sci-fi fantasy The Signal, FrightFest has netted the latest works from genre big-hitters such as Eli Roth (The Green Inferno), Alan Moore and Mitch Jenkins (Show...

R100 (2013) Review Plot76% Acting76% Directing77%Surprisingly boldA certain craziness you don't see everydayDefinitely not for everyoneSome shocking scenes can disgust76%Overall ScoreReader Rating: (0 Votes)0%

Oh boy, where to start with this one. Just when you think movies can’t get any crazier; this one comes along. The film’s opening immediately sets the tone with the following message: “This movie is fiction! It is made with respect to all of God’s creatures. (Including animals and children)“. Well ok, that’s noted. Director Hitoshi Matsumoto, a famous and very popular comedian in Japan, is known for his weird and absurd humor. Moviegoers already knew he could make a film or two with his previous outings as a director: Big Man Japan (2007), Symbol (2009) and Scabbard Samurai (2010). But if you have seen those films, trust me, you ain’t ready for what R100 is about to bring you.

Let me start by...

The Stanley Film Fest is the new kid on the block in the film festival game as 2013 was their premiere. We had the pleasure of attending and covering the genre-themed gathering last year, and in addition to the films that played the fest one of the biggest highlights was the location. The historic Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Co hosts the festival, and as horror fans know it was an extended stay here that inspired Stephen King’s “The Shining.” The hotel and grounds are an architectural and atmospheric joy, and the surrounding mountains add a gorgeous sense of natural beauty. Basically, it’s a perfect setting for a horror film festival. This year’s list of films playing the fest is unfortunately light on premieres, but it features a fantastic bunch of critical darlings, new releases and genre favorites. It’s essentially a make-up fest offering a chance to see recent festival hits on the big...

Shine on, kids! The full schedule for the Stanley Film Festival, which runs at the iconic and historic Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Co, April 24-27, has been announced; and we have all the details you need right here. Dig it!

From the Press Release

The Stanley Film Festival (Sff), produced by the Denver Film Society and presented by NBC Universal's Chiller, announced today its Opening Night film and several special event highlights and experiences taking place at the four-day event (April 24-27, 2014).

The Stanley Film Festival celebrates the best in independent horror cinema at the hotel that inspired The Shining. The Festival will host a full slate of films, panels, competitions, and special events - all at the beautiful and historically haunted Stanley Hotel.

The Stanley Film Festival will open Thursday, April 24, with a Gala Presentation of an original documentary from EPiX, Doc of the Dead. Directed by Colorado...

The Stanley Hotel launched its first annual Stanley Film Festival last year and put together an impressive group of horror films and guests. After initially announcing Doc of the Dead as their opening film, we now have the full programming list, which includes screenings of The Sacrament, Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead, and much more:

“The Stanley Film Festival (Sff) produced by the Denver Film Society (Dfs) and presented by Chiller, announced today its full line-up and schedule. As previously announced, Doc of the Dead will open Sff. The festival, taking place April 24-27, will close with the mockumentary from Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords), What We Do In The Shadows, about a house of vampires trying to get back in touch with modern society. Throughout the four-day celebration of the best in horror cinema, Sff will showcase a full slate of features, shorts, panels,...