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From her debut, Mika Ninagawa implemented a distinct style of her own, which focused on image even more than context, bolstering intense colors and impressive set designs and costumes, to the point that almost each frame looks like a painting or a photograph, with the latter actually being her main profession. And while her later movies also entail this style, “Sakuran” remains the one where this approach finds its apogee.

Sakuran is screening at Japan Society https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fnSUUGfD0s&feature=emb_title&ab_channel=JapanSocietyNYC

Based on the homonymous manga by Moyoco Anno and with a script by Yuki Tanada, the story takes place in 18th century Edo, in the red-light district of Yoshiwara. In that district, the most prestigious category of courtesans is called “Oiran”, and a whole protocol is established just for someone to meet them. The film revolves around Kiyoha, who is...

Over the last decade, Asian horror cinema has become a major cultural export that has breached the international markets, as more exposure than ever before has shown off the immense talent making genre films over the years. Getting a chance to see the work of many different individuals in this part of the world has highlighted the work of Yeon Sang-ho, Joko Anwar, Kimo Stamboel, Timo Tjahjanto and Yoshihiro Nishimura, to name just a few, from out of the shadows of their home countries to the world at large.

Several trends emerged throughout the decade as time rolled on. The first is the South Korean onslaught of talent that emerged where the country ascended to the top of the genre market, and international acclaim and awards followed. They proved time and again that they were developing a core of talented and creative technicians that churned out some of the most...

Mixing genres through a barely coherent narrative and a visual presentation that borders on the epileptic through its use of intense coloring and frequency of cuts has been one of the traits of contemporary Japanese cinema for many years. This kind of productions usually end up in seemingly silly, but also quite rich in context and entertaining films, that also seem to “loan” from other, older movies. Probably the main representative of the style is Tetsuya Nakashima, but other directors, like Mika Ninagawa, have also adopted the approach, while Obayashi’s last works also moved towards the same direction. Yoshimasha Ishibashi tries his hand in the style.

“Milocrorze: A Love Story” is screening at Fantasia Festival

The story unfolds in four different axes. The first one is set like a children’s movie and revolves around a rather colorful boy (literally) named Ovreneli Vreneligare who eventually meets Milocrorze in a...

Actress Shinobu Terajima, director and photographer Mika Ninagawa, and Japanese-British artist Sputniko! will take part in Women in Motion, on Thursday next week.

The event is a special symposium hosted by the Tokyo International Film Festival and global fashion conglomerate Kering, and is the first time that the Cannes-based Women in Motion series has touched down in Japan. The talk will be facilitated by film journalist Atsuko Tatsuta

Women in Motion aims to spotlight women in the film industry and provide a platform to express their views on the representation of women – whether onscreen or within the industry in general, to talk about challenges they face, their own experiences, and the wider contribution of women.

Since its launch at Cannes in 2015, the program has sought to extend its reach into other areas of artistic production where gender inequality is present, among them photography.

Terajima made history in 2010 as the first...

Helter Skelter (2012) Review (Mika Ninagawa)STORY82%ACTING78%DIRECTING75%VISUALS90%Great castMeaningful storyExcellent cinematographyThe script is a little naive at times2015-10-0981%Overall ScoreReader Rating: (1 Vote)66%

Based on the homonymous manga by Kyoko Okazaki, that won a number of awards in Japan, Helter Skelter was one of the most successful films of 2012, grossing Us$24,231,554 and netting the 26th position at the Japanese box office.

Lilico is the top Japanese female idol: Stunning to perfection, kind, funny and generally, socially unblemished, she is a woman every teenage girl wants to be like and every man wants to conquer. Underneath that flawless facade though, a plethora of secrets and discrepancies is lurking.

Lilico is actually an insecure, shallow, malicious and overall sad individual that permanently obeys the commands of her corrupt and emotionless manager, Hiroko Tada and is totally depended upon her assistant, Michiko Hada. The latter actually arranges everything in her daily life,...

Give us a cut of Ace Attorney that clocks in at say, 90 minutes, and it would probably be gold. There's a lot to like about director Takashi Miike's take on the first game in the long-running series. What trips the ultimately enjoyable adaptation up is that it wears out its welcome at 135 minutes, and coupled with structural problems inherent in every courtroom setup requiring Phoenix Wright to delay for time, it feels like the movie overstates its case by the one hour mark.

As such things goes, Ace Attorney (Gyakuten saiban) is very faithful to the source material, the 2001 Gba title. That game, and the movie see awkward but well-coiffed defense attorney Phoenix Wright embroiled in a series of murder cases where he has to piece together contradictions to evidence and testimony from the prosecution, typically embodied by unscrupulous lawyer for the state and former childhood friend of Wright's,...

Photographer turned director Mika Ninagawa turned heads around the world with her 2006 debut feature, the ultra colorful Sakuran. Ninagawa's debut immediately established her as one of Japan's brightest visual talents and fans were excited to see what she would do next. They've had to wait over five years to find out.Ninagawa returns in 2012 with Helter Skelter, a film adapted from a popular manga about a young starlet who turns to ever increasing levels of plastic surgery to maintain her impossible image. To star Ninagawa has turned to Erika Sawajiri, a young woman whose dramatic rise and fall from grace - her career crashed dramatically in 2007 - is a mirror of the her character in the film.The first full trailer for the...

Photographer turned director Mika Ninagawa turned heads around the world with her 2006 debut feature, the ultra colorful Sakuran. Ninagawa's debut immediately established her as one of Japan's brightest visual talents and fans were excited to see what she would do next. They've had to wait over five years to find out.Ninagawa returns in 2012 with Helter Skelter, a film adapted from a popular manga about a young starlet who turns to ever increasing levels of plastic surgery to maintain her impossible image. To star Ninagawa has turned to Erika Sawajiri, a young woman whose dramatic rise and fall from grace - her career crashed dramatically in 2007 - is a mirror of the her character in the film.The first teaser for the film...

Photographer turned director Mika Ninagawa is returning to the big screen with an adaptation of the 2003 manga Helter Skelter. Her first film, Sakuran back in 2007, found a lot of favor among the writers here at Twitch. The film also marks the return to the big screen of Jill of all trades - Erika Sawajiri. The actress, model, gravure model and pop singer  fell out of favor with Japan's entertainment industry after a less than adequate appearance during a press conference at the Pusan International Film Festival in 2007. The story revolves around a woman named Ririko (Sawajiri), a top model in the entertainment industry. However, her perfect beauty has been attained entirely through plastic surgery, a secret that she cannot reveal to anyone.So after...

Japanese director Tetsuya Nakashima (Memories Of Matsuko) has rapidly earned himself a reputation as a hugely talented and idiosyncratic auteur whose genre-busting films have been favourably compared to the work of directors such as Tim Burton (Charlie And The Chocolate Factory; Big Fish), Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge; Romeo And Juliet) and Jean-Pierre Jeunet (A Very Long Engagement; Amelie). Now, the pop culture phenomenon that has taken Japan by storm, Nakashima's Kamikaze Girls, comes to DVD courtesy of Third Window Films.

Based on the bestselling novel-turned-manga by cult author Novala Takemoto, Kamikaze Girls concerns 17-year-old Momoko (Kyoko Fukada), a self-absorbed dreamer and ‘Lolita' fashion obsessive whose love of all things Rococo sees her fantasizing about fleeing her backcountry home and living life in 18th Century Versailles.

While selling off her father's supplies of bootleg designer fashion goods in order to fund her expensive obsession, Momoko unexpectedly meets the rebellious Ichigo (Anna Tsuchiya...

Masatoshi Nagase is one of the great unsung heroes of Japanese film, a hugely reliable character actor with seemingly unerring taste in projects who - despite a huge body of work - remains largely unknown by name. Tell people that you’ve got a new movie starring Masatoshi Nagase and you’ll probably get mostly blank looks. Tell them you’ve got a new movie with the guy from Funuke Show Some Love You Losers, Sakuran, The Hidden Blade, and the Mike Hama films - in which he plays the titular detective - and then you’re on to something.

And now Nagase stars with Koji Yakusho in Gelatin Silver, Love, the much awaited debut feature from acclaimed still photographer Kazumi Kurigami. Nagase plays a photographer hired by Yakusho to follow a hired killer played by the beautiful Rie Miyazawa. I’ve been checking the website for this one a...

Reportedly budgeted at a final of $12m and currently in post-production after shooting in both New York and Tokyo, Rain Fall headlines Gary Oldman as a CIA agent in a Tokyo bureau who is up against the assassin John Rain played by Kippei Shiina. As I'm a big fan of Gary Oldman's work, I'm definitely looking forward to this. "Based on the best-selling novel by Barry Eisler, the film stars Japanese actor Kippei Shiina (Shinobi, Sakuran) as the assassin John Rain who is forced to protect the daughter of one of his own targets. Oldman plays the chief officer of the CIA Tokyo bureau, while Kyoko Hasegawa (Nanayo) plays the daughter." If you head over to the official website which is linked after the break, you can find a few production stills.

Rain Fall official website

via KFC Cinema (registration required)...