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“I Am What I Am” is the third feature film for Shinya Tamada, a director with lots of experience in theatre and television dramas, and it is also the third film – after “The Nighthawk’s First Love” (Yuka Yasukawa, 2021) and “Grown-ups” (Takuya Kato, 2022) – of the project “(Not) Heroine Movies”, initiated by Nagoya Broadcasting Network with the intent of subverting the stereotypical female roles in films. In this case the cliché to subvert is the classic romantic dramedy.

I Am What I Am is streaming on Jff Theater until 2025/05/01 11:00:00 [Jst]

The film’s opening introduces us immediately to the complicated universe of protagonist Kasumi (Toko Miura) and all things that bother her. It’s a night out with co-workers of a call center and the two guys cannot stop talking and asking the girls about romantic attraction, taste in boys and so on. Kasumi appears very reluctant and embarrassed, to...

by Tiago Carneiro

Although it was overlooked at the few film festivals it played in, Yukiko Mishima‘s latest work, “Voice”, is a unique addition to this year’s Japanese cinema catalogue, with a third act that you do not want to miss. “Voice” is an anthology film offering three separate vignettes about coping with loss, trauma, grief and guilt, where Mishima uses characters rather distinct from each other to explore how these feelings affect the human mind, regardless of the body.

There is an almost depressing tone to “Voice” due to a lack of background music and an abundance of quiet, longer takes where not much is verbally spoken. All characters have nihilistic views of the world and isolate themselves from human connection and relationships, likely due to their traumatic experiences. “Voice” offers a calm, introspective journey of healing and escaping from the demons of the past, and a...

With exceptional frankness, director Mishima presented “Voice” to the public of Udine Far East Film Festival, revealing that the film – that she wrote as well – is inspired at large, by her own trauma of being sexually abused at the age of 6. Said frankness is something that comes undoubtedly from a long and painful path of recovery and the director has challenged herself navigating self-worth and guilt in her latest work.

Voice is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival

The film is in omnibus format, composed by three episodes of different style and far apart location, and a bridging conclusion. In the first episode, in a stylish house near lake Toya, in the North of Japan, a woman, Maki (Maki Carrousel) is preparing Osechi, a traditional New Year's feast that contains several dishes, all highly symbolic of good fortune, safety, good health and longevity. In doing so she follows the...

Japan’s Free Stone Productions has secured international sales rights to upcoming drama Promised Land and is launching the feature at Hong Kong Filmart.

It marks the feature directorial debut of Masashi Iijima and is based on a novel of the same name written by Kazuichi Iijima.

Set in a mountainous region of northern Japan in 1983, the story is centred on traditional hunters known as the Matagi, who track and kill wildlife every winter. The film follows two young men with opposing views who venture out in search of a bear, despite the introduction of a hunting ban by Japan’s environmental agency.

Stars: Sayu Kubota, Yuzu Aoki, Mituru Fukikoshi, Akaji Maro, Shunsuke Tanaka, Hitomi Takahashi, Atsuko Maeda | Written by Ken’ichi Ugana, Hirobumi Watanabe | Directed by Ken’ichi Ugana

Love Will Tear Us Apart is the latest film from director Ken’ichi Ugana, who has made a name for himself on the festival circuit with films like Extraneous Matter and Visitors. His latest is a strange tale that takes one part It Follows and one part slasher movie.

The film follows Wakaba, a young girl whose father is an abusive alcoholic and whose mother is too timid to defend herself or Wakaba. But that doesn’t stop Wakaba from defending her fellow classmate Koki who is being bullied by other students at elementary school. However that defence, and subsequent friendship between the two, is ruined by the school bullies turning their attention to Wakaba. But that attention doesn’t last long as the...

Shingo Matsamura's gripping drama “The Lump In My Heart” about a student who is challenged by a life-changing diagnosis is based on a script adapted from Yokoyama Takuya's eponymous stage play, and penned by Takahashi Izumi, producer/ director/ writer who has proved his writing versatility with contributions to genre and dramas alike.

The Lump In My Heart is screening at Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme

When Chinatsu (Yoshida Mizuki) runs into her chidlhood friend and teenage crush Kohki (Okudaira Daiken) at the university campus, she becomes obsessed with something he had said to her a long time ago that made her aware of the male gaze. That particular remark made such an impact on her in the past, that she has developed a permanently complicated relationship to her body. When her breasts come to focus again many years later, due to a medical check-up she is required to do,...

Coupling is difficult and relationships are difficult. That would be the basic premise of pretty much any romantic comedy or drama ever. Santa Yamagishi's second feature “To the Supreme!”, based on a stage play by Shuko Nemoto, is not different in that department, as we get to see four couples or almost couples struggling with their love life on almost day-to-day basis in two different timelines.

To The Supreme is screening at Nippon Connection

Atsuko Maeda plays the nerdy costume designer Machiko who starts a relationship with her high school friend Reito (Fuma Kikuchi) who presents himself as an influencer, but is actually a parasite. Former child actress Suzu (Shuri) lives with her gay roommate Tommy (Yudai Chiba) after giving up hope to return to her job and harbors certain feelings for him which he prefers not to notice. Miwa (Marika Ito) is a freelancer whose pregnancy scare turns to be cancer,...

“I Am What I Am” is the third feature film for Shinya Tamada, a director with lots of experience in theatre and television dramas, and it is also the third film – after “The Nighthawk's First Love” (Yuka Yasukawa, 2021) and “Grown-ups” (Takuya Kato, 2022) – of the project “(Not) Heroine Movies”, initiated by Nagoya Broadcasting Network with the intent of subverting the stereotypical female roles in films. In this case the cliché to subvert is the classic romantic dramedy.

“I Am What I Am” is screening at Helsinky Cine Aasia

The film's opening introduces us immediately to the complicated universe of protagonist Kasumi (Toko Miura) and all things that bother her. It's a night out with co-workers of a call center and the two guys cannot stop talking and asking the girls about romantic attraction, taste in boys and so on. Kasumi appears very reluctant and embarrassed, to the point that she soon...

Satoshi Miki started out as a writer for hit TV variety shows, some of which are legendary in Japan. He then began directing stage plays and further expanded into TV dramas and films. His directing style has its good and urbane sense of humor, in which seemingly unnecessary episodes and dialogues are developed and interwoven into a story, incidentally making them indispensable parts of the story. His first film “In the Pool” (’05) and his second feature “Turtles Are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers” were consecutively released theatrically in the year 2005. Two of his movies were also released in 2022, “What to Do With The Dead Kaiju” and his collaboration with Mark Schilling, “Convenience Story”.

On the occasion of both screening at Fantasia, we talk to him about the appeal of kaiju movies, Japanese politicians, the casting of the two movies, cooperating with Mark Schilling, the Japanese movie industry, and other topics.

“What to Do With The Dead Kaiju...

When it comes to Japanese comedies, few directors have made quite the impact. While some of his peers might have some of the more universally known titles under their belt, Miki has also left his mark with works such as “Turtles Are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers”, “Adrift in Tokyo” and “Instant Swamp”. Being the member of a comedy group whose band of humor he once compared to Monty Python, he has emphasized the targets for laughter in his works are those tendencies, trends or moods within the culture of his home country which may be seen as odd or troublesome. His newest feature, “Convenience Story”, is no exception to the rule, with the story revolving around one of the cornerstones of Japanese culture, at least to the eye of the outsider, the 24/7-open convenience store seemingly promising an easy solution to one’s problems. The feature is also a collaboration of film critic Mark Schilling,...

Shuichi Okita, with a very personal style, delicate but assertive at the same time, has been able to make himself known and appreciated in the circuits of festivals and in less mainstream circles with films that are difficult to label, often defined as “dramedy” that is a mixture of drama and comedy. Like in “The Woodsman and The Rain”, “The Chef of South Polar” and “Mori: The Artist’s Habitat”, the backdrop of “The Mohican Comes Home” is also a small community on an imaginary island in the Soto Inland Sea, off the coast of Hiroshima, where Okita places one of his typical characters, always dazed and looking out of place.

on YesAsia

This time it is Eichiki (Ryuhei Matsuda), the titular “Mohican” (because of his haircut), who 7 years earlier had left his hometown for Tokyo, in search of work and fame in a death metal band.

The Opening Ceremony for the Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2022 was held at Line Cube Shibuya on June 7th (Tue). 9 awards were presented at the ceremony. U-25 Program, Shibuya Diversity Award, Biogen Award, Book Shorts Award, Amuse Musical Short Film Pitch Competition, Milbon Beauty Award, Save the Earth! Minister’s Award, the Ministry of the Environment & J-wave Award, and Global Spotlight Award.

Ssff & Asia received 5720 entries for the competitions including Official Competition supported by Sony from 126 countries & regions. The judges will select best short awards of each category: International, Asia International, Japan, Non-Fiction, and Animation among about 200 finalists. Grand-Prix is selected from winners of the Academy Awards Accredited 5 Competitions. Each winner will be eligible to the Oscar of the short film category next year and will be announced on June 20th at Meiji-Jingu Kaikan in Tokyo. Ssff & Asia 2022 has begun its screening from today till June 20th at Tokyo as well as Online Venue.

Caution, Hazardous Wife: The Movie Review — Caution, Hazardous Wife: The Movie (2021) ) Film Review from the 25th Annual Fantasia International Film Festival, a movie directed by Tôya Satô, starring Haruka Ayase, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Rei Dan, Fumiyo Kohinata, Atsuko Maeda, Minosuke, Naomasa Musaka, and Shirô Sano. Memory loss, secret agents, corporate and [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: Caution, Hazardous Wife: The Movie: A Genre-Bending Series Follow-Up That Capably Stands On Its Own [Fantasia 2021]...

Japanese cinema likes making feature film versions of anything remotely popular, be it novels, mangas, anime or TV shows. So it was only a matter of time before the Haruka Ayase starring “Caution, Hazardous Wife” was adapted for the big screen. Sure enough, three years since the telecast of the popular tv show, the feature film adaption came along, helmed by Toya Sato, every single of whose feature films before this have been manga or anime adaptations.

“Caution, Hazardous Wife: The Movie” is Screening at Fantasia International Film Festival

The quiet seaside town of Tamami is reeling from the news that a methane hydrate R&d plant is to come up off their shores. The people involved in the plant project have the government’s support and see the chemical reserve there as a cash-cow, whereas the people of the town have always held the sea as something sacred and...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Alex Wheatle (Steve McQueen)

Alex Wheatle, the fourth entry in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology, offers a modest take on the process of unlearning cultural attitudes and biases through the eyes of a naïve teenager. In 1980, Alex Wheatle moves to a social services hostel in Brixton after spending his childhood in a group home, where he was subject to constant abuse from his white peers and caretaker. In Brixton, however, Wheatle finds himself immersed in the Black British community, from which he was displaced growing up in all-white Surrey, where he slowly but surely assimilates the patois, fashion, and most importantly, music of his culture. He quickly witnesses...

To The Ends Of The Earth (Tabi no Owari Sekai no Hajimari) Tokyo Theatres Co./ Loaded Films Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net linked from Rotten Tomatoes by: Harvey Karten Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa Writer: Kiyoshi Kurosawa Cast: Atsuko Maeda, Tokio Emoto, Ryô Kase, Adiz Rajabov, Shôta Sometani Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 11/18/20 Opens: December 11, […]

The post To The Ends of the Earth Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

"It was like a dream." KimStim Films has released an official trailer for the US release of the Japanese indie film To the Ends of the Earth, one of the latest works by prolific Japanese filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa. This premiered at the fall festivals last year including Locarno, TIFF, and New York, and is opening in select theaters (starting at the Metrograph) this December. A Japanese woman finds her cautious and insular nature tested when she travels to Uzbekistan to shoot the latest episode of her travel variety TV show. It's described as "a brilliant mix of black comedy, travelogue, drama, and adventure-imbued showbiz satire, To the Ends of the Earth—commissioned to mark the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and the central Asian republic of Uzbekistan—chronicles the journey of a young woman from displacement to self-discovery." Starring Atsuko Maeda as Yoko, Shôta Sometani, Tokio Emoto, Adiz Rajabov,...

One of last year’s best films would, by extension, prove a clear highlight of 2020 even if a normal theatrical climate persisted. Sneaking in just under the wire, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s To the Ends of the Earth will be released by Kimstim on December 11 via Metrograph, and they’ve debuted a U.S. trailer on Indiewire. that does well to capture the movie’s panoply of tones: disquieting without proving grim, the elemental and magnificent bound together.

We gave the film nice marks at its Locarno premiere, while managing editor Nick Newman named it his second-favorite feature of 2019, saying “Most filmmakers, even great ones, would use their displacement to gawk and play easy notes about fish-out-of-water life; Kiyoshi Kurosawa instead created a paean to the perpetually lost–rarely has anything in any medium so succinctly captured the constant unease and occasional terror of international travel.”

Find the trailer and poster...

Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa may be best known for cult favorites like “Pulse,” “Cure,” and “Tokyo Sonata,” but he’s been steadily pouring out films on the festival circuit and into arthouses for four decades. His latest to hit the U.S. is “To the Ends of the Earth,” a road odyssey that picked up acclaim across the Locarno, Toronto, New York, and AFI film festivals in 2019. The film begins an exclusive virtual run on Friday, December 11 via the Metrograph, and IndieWire shares the exclusive first trailer. Watch it below.

Here’s the synopsis: “Yoko (former J-pop idol Atsuko Maeda) travels with a small crew to Uzbekistan (breathtakingly captured by veteran Dp Akiko Ashizawa) to shoot an episode of her travel reality show. In front of the camera, her persona is carefree and happy-go-lucky, but behind the scenes she is cautious and introverted. Despite her best efforts, the filming of the television series ends unsuccessfully,...

A young reporter on assignment in Uzbekistan undertakes a minor rebellion with consequences in Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s sweet, sad tale

Kiyoshi Kurosawa is the Japanese film-maker known for his horror movies in the 90s, and the excellent drama Tokyo Sonata from 2009 about a salaryman who loses his job, but still keeps leaving the house each morning in his suit because he can’t bear to confess the truth to his wife.

His newest film is a sweet, sad, mysterious film in a vein of docu-realism and it really grew on me, largely due to the transparently emotional and sensitive performance of its young lead, Atsuko Maeda, who plays Yoko, a young TV reporter filming what appears to be a light travel programme in Uzbekistan. She goes to Samarkand and Tashkent with her crew, and does everything asked of her by the director, doggedly shooting silly items – including having to take...

Inspired by a mix of Nobel Literature Prize-winner Yasunari Kawabata’s short novels, “The Master of Funerals” is a debut feature by Naofumi Higuchi, who turned the whole project into a homage to the late writer. The orphaned writer in fact, had moved from his birthplace Osaka to Ikibari to stay with his grandmother and attend the Prefectural Ibaraki Junior High School, the same school (now a Senior High School) featured in the movie. The title too refers to the sorrow nickname Kawabata gave to himself after burying his parents first, his sister not long after, and finally both his grandparents. However, despite the sadness connected with the title, Higuchi’s work tries hard to retain the true spirit of Kawabata’s elegies to beautiful things.

“The Master of Funerals” is screening at Toronto Japanese Film Festival

Single mum, factory worker and blogger Yukiko Watanabe (Atsuko Maeda) lives her simple and busy life in Ikebara,...

The classic whodunit genre is seeing a revival of sorts, with tentpole Hollywood blockbusters like “Murder on the Orient Express” and “Knives Out” leading the way and recently even Netflix jumping on the bandwagon with the Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston starring “Murder Mystery” and the Hindi-language film “Raat Akeli Hai” proving to be hits for the streaming platform. Yet another project in the same genre which saw a fair amount of success was 2019’s “Masquerade Hotel” by Masayuki Suzuki, which is based on a Keigo Higashino book and was produced and released, like many Higashino adaptations, after a long drawn-out bidding battle over the book’s rights.

A serial killer is on the loose in Tokyo, three seemingly random murders only having a code left at the scene being the connecting factor between them. The code, when decoded, tells of the location of the next murder...

Earlier this week, we shared our feature highlighting the best festival premieres in 2019 that were still seeking distribution in the United States. Just a few days later, we’re thrilled to exclusively announce one of our favorites has now found a home.

KimStim has acquired all U.S. and Canadian rights to Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s To the Ends of the Earth, which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival, and was a selection at Tiff, Nyff, BFI London, Busan, Viennale, AFI Fest, Tokyo Iff, Taipei Golden Horse Ff, and more in recent months.

Commissioned to mark the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and the central Asian republic of Uzbekistan, the film stars J-pop icon Atusko Maeda, formerly of the mega-selling girl group AKB48, traveling to Uzbekistan to host an episode of a TV travel show. Along the way, her chipper, though somewhat insular persona begins to unravel, threatening her...

The “obsession” with the 80’s never actually ceased in the 21st century, and Japan could not be an exception, with “Initiation Love” being a testament to the fact. The script is based on the homonymous novel by Kurumi Inui, although Yukihiko Tsutsumi took some liberties with the original.

The film is portrayed in the classic music format of an “A-b sided cassette tape”, with the story completely changing setting and style half through the movie.

“Initiation Love” is part of The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme

Suzuki is a university student in Shizuoka, who is the personification of the “loser”. He is fat, kind of ugly, dresses like a nerd, has almost no friends, and cannot even think about a girlfriend. His luck, however, changes, when he agrees to accompany some of his fellow students in a party, where he is actually just invited in order to even the number with the girls coming.

“To the Ends of the Earth” was jointly commissioned by Japan and Uzbekistan to commemorate the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, as well as the 70th anniversary of the Navoi Theater in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, which was constructed by Japanese prisoners of war after World War II. Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, whose filmography boasts of various genres but is probably most well-known for his earlier J-horror films like “Cure” and “Pulse”, was hired to write and direct the film.

“To the Ends of the Earth” screened at San Diego Asian Film Festival

Yoko is in Uzbekistan as a reporter to shoot a travel documentary about the country for a variety show, but it’s not going as smoothly as her team or she expects. A rare, almost mythical fish apparently native to a lake there which they want to catch and film won’t bite, the rice in...

I’ve been in a spot where the young Yoko (Atsuko Maeda) was (or maybe still in it): an existential anxiety about your prospects. For anyone who has ever done film production before, you know that small filmmaking roles can be a gateway to your desired grander opportunity. At this point in her life, Yoko is disillusioned […]

The post ‘To the Ends of the Earth’ Review: One Woman’s Journey, One of the Best Films of the Year [Nyff 2019] appeared first on /Film.

Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s To the Ends of the Earth is a masterful film—all the more so for being masterful in the most unassuming of ways. The film originated as a commission to commemorate diplomatic relations between Japan and Uzbekistan, and to that end, it incorporates a number of the landlocked nation's various tourist landmarks—the Navoi Theater, the Chorsu Bazaar, and Lake Aydar. And yet, watching this thrillingly protean film, one would be hard-pressed to dismiss this as a mere gun-for-hire effort. It is modest, to be sure—and perhaps destined to be received as a doggedly minor work. But in that sense, the film is also an auteurist work par excellence, one that demonstrates—perhaps more so than any of Kurosawa’s work this decade—the director’s casual control of disparate genres, tones, and moods.No mere fish-out-of-water travelogue, To the Ends of the Earth is a...

The Notebook is covering Tiff with an on-going correspondence between critics Fernando F. Croce Kelley Dong, and editor Daniel Kasman.Saint MaudDear Danny and Fern, The festival has come to an end and exhaustion has caught up to me. The end of press screenings and industry gatherings signals the start of sleep and, whenever awake, reading Jack London’s Martin Eden. Having seen so many films in a short timespan means that while I can enjoy a much-needed physical break, my mind is still racing with ideas on the verge of being unearthed. I benefit much from sorting through these and thinking with you, and as always, consider myself very lucky. You each mention being jolted and throttled, good news amid an assortment of lulls. I'd been searching for such ferocity all throughout the festival until finally I encountered Rose Glass’s Saint Maud, which left me so petrified and...

“To the Ends of the Earth,” directed by Japan’s Kiyoshi Kurosawa has added a handful of international distribution deals. The Uzbekistan-set drama had festival premieres in recent weeks in Locarno and Toronto.

Rights were licensed by sales agent Free Stone Productions to mainland China’s Hugoeast, and by Av Jet for Taiwan. For Brazil, rights were acquired by Zeta Film. Trigon Films took the rights for Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein.

The license deals are in addition to the sale of French rights to Eurozoom that was announced in May. Eurozoom, which previously handled other Kurosawa titles including “Before We Vanish,” and “Creepy,” is set to release the film on Oct. 23.

Starring Atsuko Maeda, Ryo Kase, and Shota Sometani, the film is a rare example of a Japanese-Uzbekistan co-production. Production is by Eiko Mizuno-Gray and Jason Gray of Tokyo-based Loaded Films and Toshikazu Nishigaya of Tokyo Theatres. Uzbekistan’s...

TV reporter Yoko sits with a member of her crew in the breakfast room of Tashkent’s Uzbekistan Hotel. She’s miles away from her native Tokyo turf, on an assignment that shipped her all the way to the central Asian republic, ostensibly to film a “bramul,” a gigantic fish said to reach up to two meters in length. Except the fish is a most elusive creature, and the trip is turning into a disaster of epic proportions. The look on Yoko’s face has little to do with the failed quest though; her eyes are going grim, her face sending out less light. She tells the cameraman she fears her job is steering her away from what she truly wants to do: sing. The man consoles her (“singing and reporting to an audience aren’t much different”), but she won’t have it. “I feel different. Singing needs emotion,...

Photo by Ottavia Bosello

From the mezzanine level of Caffè Verbano, Locarno’s Piazza Grande glitters under the scorching sun, the army of black and yellow chairs sprawling below the festival’s biggest screen and iconic open-air theatre. At a table overlooking the piazza, Kiyoshi Kurosawa sits for the last few interviews ahead of the premiere of his new feature, To the Ends of the Earth.

It’s the Japanese horror master’s second time in Locarno–in 2013, his Real found a slot in the Swiss festival’s international competition–though the first in the non-competitive sidebar for which the fest is possibly best known for, the programme named after the square where, every night, an 8,000-strong audience enjoys some of the best in the year’s world cinema.

Assuming one can still find a leitmotiv in an oeuvre that’s as vast as it is growing increasingly protean, To...

Adia Tay is an Indie singer-songwriter who hails from Singapore. Her debut six-track Ep “Kintsugi”, which was released in April 2019, is “an ode to brokenness and the renewal of the heart” and it also contains a juicy surprise for Asian Film fans.

As a matter of fact, the second track on the album is called “Kabukicho” and has been composed as a homage to the 2014 Japanese film “Kabukicho Love Hotel” directed by Ryūichi Hiroki and starring celebrities Shota Sometani and Atsuko Maeda. The film is the direct inspiration behind the song “Kabukicho,” and celebrates Japanese life and art.

The music video for “Kabukicho” will be released on 30th May 2019, and here is a sneak preview.

Scheduled for Japanese release later this year, the tear-jerker stars Chise Niitsu and veteran actor Yoshi Oida.

Japan’s Free Stone Productions has sold Naoki Hashimoto’s Show Me The Way To The Station to China’s Heaven Pictures and South Korea’s Jinjin Pictures.

Scheduled for Japanese release later this year, the tear-jerker stars Chise Niitsu and veteran actor Yoshi Oida.

Free Stone also picked up international rights to Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Japan-Uzbekistan co-production To The Ends Of The Earth, starring Atsuko Maeda on the eve of Cannes.

The film follows a young Japanese woman who finds her cautious...

French distributor Eurozoom has acquired local rights for “To The Ends Of The Earth,” the new film by Japanese directing icon Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Following a deal struck on the eve of the Cannes Film Festival, international sales duties were picked up by Japanese indie sales firm Free Stone Productions.

Starring Atsuko Maeda, Ryo Kase, and Shota Sometani, the film is a rare example of a Japanese-Uzbekistan co-production. Production is by Eiko Mizuno-Gray and Jason Gray of Tokyo-based Loaded Films and Toshikazu Nishigaya of Tokyo Theatres. Uzbekistan’s national cinema agency Uzbekkino serves as co-producer, with backing from the Ministry of Tourism, through the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Tourism Development.

The story involves the host of a popular travel show who is in fact insular and shy on a trip to Central Asia, where her assignment calls for the filming of a mythical fish. As things go wrong,...

Indie sales house, Free Stone Productions has picked up sales rights on “To The Ends Of The Earth,” the new film by Japanese directing icon Kiyoshi Kurosawa.

Starring Atsuko Maeda, Ryo Kase, and Shota Sometani, the film is a rare example of a Japanese-Uzbekistan co-production. Production is by Eiko Mizuno-Gray and Jason Gray of Tokyo-based Loaded Films and Toshikazu Nishigaya of Tokyo Theatres. Uzbekistan’s national cinema agency Uzbekkino serves as co-producer, with backing from the Ministry of Tourism, through the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Tourism Development.

The story involves the host of a popular travel show who is in fact insular and shy on a trip to Central Asia, where her assignment calls for the filming of a mythical fish. As things go wrong, and team members return to Tokyo, she discovers a new freedom in the mountains.

“The once-great Timurid Empire has fascinated me for decades.

Prolific Japanese filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Pulse) returned to Cannes with this genre-bending mashup, both a darkly comedic sci-fi and a slow-paced action spectacle. Three aliens on a reconnaissance mission to Earth take over the bodies of human hosts to explore the world they’re about to invade. On the way they steal individual concepts from the minds of anyone who crosses their path, from work, to free will, to love, leaving behind them a trail of soulless bodies. In doing so they start to unwittingly define the essential aspects of what it means to be human.

The film follows Narumi, whose husband, Shinji (Ryuhei Matsuda), becomes one of the three hosts. As the invasion grows nearer, Narumi’s attempts to save humanity from extinction become increasingly entwined with Shinji’s decision on whether to save the humanity within himself.

Combining the best of Kurosawa’s genre stylings...

Masanori Tominaga, known from his documentary “The Echo of Astro Boy’s Footsteps” (2011) about Matsuo Ohno and narratives like “Pandora’s Box” (2009), which was based on a story written by Osamu Dazai, returns to the silver screen with a biopic about Akira Suei, Japan’s famous erotic-magazine editor. Even though the erotic images – including the work of Nobuyoshi Araki – were the main attraction of New Self, Weekend Super, and Shashin Jidai, these magazines also featured articles about various underground cultural phenomena and the work of distinguished writers like Genpei Akasegawa and Shigesato Itio. Now, With Tominaga’s adaptation of Suei’s biographical essay “Suteki na Dainamaito Sukyandaru” (1982), we finally get a chance to explore the life of one of the most controversial editors of the eighties.

Dynamite Graffity is screening at the 17th New York Asian Film Festival

It took only one explosion to radically change the subjective trajectory of...

The film is currently in production for local release this autumn.

Japan’s Toei has launched sales on romantic feature Taberu Onna (working title), directed by Jiro Shono (Time Lost, Time Found), at Filmart.

A tale of eight women of different ages, occupations and perspectives trying to find their own ways of living through food and sex, the film stars Kyoko Koizumi (Tokyo Sonata), Erika Sawajiri (Shinjuku Swan), Atsuko Maeda (Kabukicho Love Hotel), Kyoka Suzuki (The Kiyosu Conference), Alice Hirose, Yu Yamada, Dan Mitsu and Charlotte Kate Fox. Currently in production, it is set for release locally this autumn.

Toei...

Before We Vanish (Sanpo suru shinryakusha) Neon Reviewed by: Harvey Karten Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa Screenwriter: Sachiko Tanaka, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, based on the play by Tomohiro Maekawa Cast: Masami Nagasawa, Ryuhei Matsuda, Atsuko Maeda, Hiroki Hasegawa, Yuri Tsunematsu, Mahiro Takasugi, Masahiro Higashide Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 1/25/18 Opens: February 2, 2018 If you’re looking for […]

The post Before We Vanish Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

The 31st film in the franchise is scheduled to be released on July 29, 2016. Hideaki Anno (Neon Genesis Evangelion) and Shinji Huguchi (Attack on Titan) will co-direct, with the former also penning the script.

When the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line mysteriously floods and collapses, Japan’s Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Rando Yaguchi is convinced that the incident was caused by a living creature. His claims are shrugged off by the Prime Minister who assumes the accident was caused by a natural disaster. However when a long massive tail surfaces from the Bay, the possibility of a giant monster becomes a reality

Hiroki Hasegawa (Why Don’t You Play in Hell?), Satomi Ishihara (Attack on Titan) and Yutaka Takenouchi(Best Wishes for Tomorrow) will star, while 328 well known actors will appear in supporting and cameo appearances including Kengo Kora, Ren Osugi, Akira Emoto, Kimiko Yo, Jun Kunimura, Mikako Ichikawa, Pierre Taki, Takumi Saito,...

Kabukicho Love HotelSTORY75%DIRECTION72%ACTING80%VISUALS71%POSITIVESVery entertaining, including drama, comedy and sexDisillusioned depiction of the love hotel concept and the sex industry in generalGreat acting by all the actorsNEGATIVESThe minor promotion stunt with Atsuko Maeda2016-07-0175%Overall ScoreReader Rating: (1 Vote)90%

Ryuichi Hiroki combines his pinku past with his social film present to portray a plethora of stories that occur during a 24-hour period and interweave through a love hotel in Tokyo’s Red Light district.

Saya is a singer-songwriter who tries to take the next step in her career. She lives with Toru, and although the two of them are in love, the sex has stopped. Toru supposedly works for a five star hotel, but actually is a front desk attendant in a love hotel called Atlas. Mena is a Korean call girl that meets her clients in Atlas. This is her last day in the job, since...

The 31st film in the franchise is scheduled to be released on July 29, 2016. Hideaki Anno (Neon Genesis Evangelion) and Shinji Huguchi (Attack on Titan) will co-direct, with the former also penning the script.

Hiroki Hasegawa (Why Don’t You Play in Hell?), Satomi Ishihara (Attack on Titan) and Yutaka Takenouchi(Best Wishes for Tomorrow) will star, while 328 well known actors will appear in supporting and cameo appearances including Kengo Kora, Ren Osugi, Akira Emoto, Kimiko Yo, Jun Kunimura, Mikako Ichikawa, Pierre Taki, Takumi Saito, Keisuke Koide, Arata Furuta, and Atsuko Maeda.

Neil Armfield.s Holding the Man, Simon Stone.s The Daughter, Jeremy Sims. Last Cab to Darwin and Jen Peedom.s feature doc Sherpa will have their world premieres at the Sydney Film Festival.

The festival program unveiled today includes 33 world premieres (including 22 shorts) and 135 Australian premieres (with 18 shorts) among 251 titles from 68 countries.

Among the other premieres will be Daina Reid.s The Secret River, Ruby Entertainment's. ABC-tv miniseries starring Oliver Jackson Cohen and Sarah Snook, and three Oz docs, Marc Eberle.s The Cambodian Space Project — Not Easy Rock .n. Roll, Steve Thomas. Freedom Stories and Lisa Nicol.s Wide Open Sky.

Festival director Nashen Moodley boasted. this year.s event will be far larger than 2014's when 183 films from 47 countries were screened, including 15 world premieres. The expansion is possible in part due to the addition of two new screening venues in Newtown and Liverpool.

As previously announced, Brendan Cowell...

Exclusive: Japan’s Nippon TV has pre-sold Heaven’s Story director Takahisa Zeze’s sci-fi thriller Strayer’s Chronicle to Nk Contents for South Korea.

Starring Masaki Okada (Life Back Then) and Shota Sometani (Himizu), the film features the struggles of two sets of genetically manipulated children who grow up with extraordinary powers that could either save or destroy the world.

Warner Brothers Japan has the film set for theatrical release locally in June 27.

Nippon TV has also picked up romantic comedy Heroine Shikkaku (aka No Longer Heroine), based on the popular manga series by Momoko Koda.

Starring Mirei Kiritani (Ace Attorney), Kenta Yamazaki (L・Dk) and Kentaro Sakaguchi (Umimachi Diaries), the high school lesbian love triangle film is directed by Tsutomu Hanabusa (Handsome Suit, Sadako 3D).

The company also has Initiation Love, directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi (Memories of Tomorrow), starring Shota Matsuda (Boys Over Flowers) and Atsuko Maeda (Tamako in Moratorium).

The film, in post-production...

The latest supernatural thriller from Hideo (Ring) Nakata, The Complex is now available on VOD, iTunes and Amazon. It's also one of the films I hand-selected from the Fantasia Film Festival 2013 to join the string of releases we are helping put out through The Orchard. You can now check out four clips (plus the trailer, in case you missed it) via the player here.

In the film, nursing student Asuka (Atsuko Maeda) has just moved into an apartment complex with her parents and younger brother. On the first night in her new room, she is awoken by a strange scratching sound coming from the apartment of her neighbor, a reclusive old man who has refused all attempts at communication. Concerned over his well being, Asuka enters his home only to find him dead from malnutrition.

The post Watch 4 Clips from Hideo Nakata’s The Complex, Now Available on VOD! appeared...

Ring director Hideo Nakata's new film The Complex is hitting iTunes, Amazon, and VOD on September 9th via Orchard and Shock Till You Drop, and right now we have a new trailer and poster for you. Dig 'em!

The Complex stars Atsuko Maeda.

Synopsis

Nursing student Asuka has just moved into an apartment complex with her parents and younger brother. On the first night in her new room, she is awoken by a strange scratching sound coming from the apartment of her neighbor, a reclusive old man who has refused all attempts at communication. Concerned over his well being, Asuka enters his home, only to find him dead from malnutrition. Worse, it looks as if he had been trying to claw his way into her room.

Asuka learns that there have been a number of strange deaths in the complex over the years from Shinobu (Hiroki Narimiya), the handyman...

It's been twelve years since Hideo Nakata (Ringu) made a good movie. He came close a time or two, but the last decade has seen him dip his toes in unfamiliar waters, with uneven and increasingly underwhelming results. Ringu and Dark Water were memorable urban horror movies, and The Complex is a return to traditional horror roots. It's been a long time coming, and we've had to endure a lot of Asian ghost stories in the time that's past, but The Complex is a welcome return to form for Nakata, and like an old friend who's come home to visit, it feels both familiar and strangely satisfying. Nursing student Asuka (Atsuko Maeda) has just moved into an apartment complex with her parents and younger brother. On the first night in her new room, she is awoken by a strange scratching sound coming from her neighbours apartment, a reclusive old man...

It's been twelve years since Hideo Nakata (Ringu) made a good movie. He came close a time or two, but the last decade has seen him dip his toes in unfamiliar waters, with uneven and increasingly underwhelming results. Ringu and Dark Water were memorable urban horror movies, and The Complex is a return to traditional horror roots. It's been a long time coming, and we've had to endure a lot of Asian ghost stories in the time that's past, but The Complex is a welcome return to form for Nakata, and like an old friend who's come home to visit, it feels both familiar and strangely satisfying. Nursing student Asuka (Atsuko Maeda) has just moved into an apartment complex with her parents and younger brother. On the first night in her new room, she is awoken by a strange scratching sound coming from her neighbours apartment, a reclusive old man...

Stars: Atsuko Maeda, Hiroki Narimiya, Masanobu Katsumura, Naomi Nishida, Kanau Tanaka | Written by Jun’ya Katô, Ryûta Miyake | Directed by Hideo Nakata

Hideo Nakata is well known in the horror world for his work, directing Ring, Ring 2 and Dark Water, among others, so it wasn’t unwelcome to see a new release from Nakata that sounded like it was along the lines of the films that made him so famous in the first place.

The Complex comes at a time when films like Ring and Dark Water are less frequent after a period, a few years ago, where the popularity of these originators caused many other ghost stories along similar lines to materialise until the marketplace felt a little saturated by them. I found myself, after taking a step or two back from the genre for a couple of years, feeling excited about this film.

The Complex tells the tale...

★★☆☆☆True J-horror fans will probably shudder at the thought of yet another lacklustre ghost story, and sadly The Complex (2013) is just that. Hideo Nakata was a seminal figure in the rise of the modern Japanese horror film, with Dark Water and the acclaimed Ringu franchise both having the dubious honour of receiving inferior Hollywood remakes. However, the return of Nakata with The Complex could be regarded as the final nail in the coffin for this tired and suitably lifeless foreign sub-genre. More desperate still is the casting of star Atsuko Maeda as your typical horror protagonist; innocent, jumpy and an adept at the wide-eyed scream.