Cannes Film Festival head honcho Thierry Frémaux often likes to speak of the “Cannes family,” meaning the extended stable of international auteurs whom the festival helped discover, nurtured and has made regulars on the famed red-carpet steps of the Palais des Festivals. Today’s standard-bearer for Japan’s great tradition of humanist filmmaking in Cannes is undoubtedly Hirokazu Kore-eda, whose features have been included in the festival’s official selection seven times, a record for his home country. Incidentally, the leitmotif of Kore-eda’s work is also family — families broken, families in turmoil and families found. His most celebrated films at Cannes have all centered on the theme, albeit in various and inventive ways.
Like Father, Like Son, winner of the 2013 Cannes jury prize, told the story of two boys mistakenly switched at birth, the discovery of which — years later — confronts the parents with the agonizing decision of whether to...
Like Father, Like Son, winner of the 2013 Cannes jury prize, told the story of two boys mistakenly switched at birth, the discovery of which — years later — confronts the parents with the agonizing decision of whether to...
- 5/18/2023
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A number of academics and film historians have written about the genesis of Japanese cinema and its progression through the 20th century, with Donald Richie, Aaron Gerow, Isolde Standish being some of the most renowned. Daisuke Miyao, however, who seems to have studied everything his predecessors had written before him, deals with the particular subject through a rather unique approach, by focusing on the ways of implementing light and shadows on film highlighting its progress. The result, as Earl Jackson who suggested the book mentioned, is truly magnificent
on Amazon
To refer to the huge amount of info presented on the 281, small font pages of the book would be truly futile, so instead I am going to focus on some key events of the story Miyao shares here, and the ways he implemented them in order to unfold it as artfully as possible. As such, the story...
on Amazon
To refer to the huge amount of info presented on the 281, small font pages of the book would be truly futile, so instead I am going to focus on some key events of the story Miyao shares here, and the ways he implemented them in order to unfold it as artfully as possible. As such, the story...
- 6/8/2022
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car” has won Best International Feature at the 94th Academy Awards. The Japanese film is only the second film from that country to win this prize competitively, following 2008’s “Departures.” Japan previously won three Honorary Oscars before the (previously named) Best Foreign Language Film category was instituted for films from 1956. Those honorees were Akira Kurosawa’s “Rashomon,” Teinosuke Kinugasa’s “Gate of Hell,” and Hiroshi Inagaki’s “Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto.”
“Drive My Car” was far and away the the favorite to win Best International Feature this year, and it stands as not just one of the most acclaimed international features of the year, but one of the most acclaimed films full stop. It was up against Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated Danish submission “Flee,” Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Hand of God” (Italy), Bhutan’s entry “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom” by Pawo Choyning Dorji,...
“Drive My Car” was far and away the the favorite to win Best International Feature this year, and it stands as not just one of the most acclaimed international features of the year, but one of the most acclaimed films full stop. It was up against Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated Danish submission “Flee,” Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Hand of God” (Italy), Bhutan’s entry “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom” by Pawo Choyning Dorji,...
- 3/28/2022
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
By Nicholas Poly
In this article I’m going to take a peek on a double bill. The first title is Kon Ichikawa’s intriguing mystery drama ‘The Inugami Family’ aka ‘The Inugamis’, which was released back in 1976. The second one is Masato Harada’s ‘Inugami’ which was released 25 years later, in 2001.
The interesting fact is the inugami ‘effect’ itself, in both films, which is also the obvious link between the two titles. It must be stressed though, that the theme is presented from a completely different angle in each one of these features. This means that there is no apparent ‘technical’ or ‘artistic’ relation between the two films. Harada’s film is nor a remake neither some kind of ‘hommage’ on Ichikawa’s title. Each one of the films forms a cinematic universe of its own, despite the dramatic overtones and symbolisms that reflect in both features.
Buy This...
In this article I’m going to take a peek on a double bill. The first title is Kon Ichikawa’s intriguing mystery drama ‘The Inugami Family’ aka ‘The Inugamis’, which was released back in 1976. The second one is Masato Harada’s ‘Inugami’ which was released 25 years later, in 2001.
The interesting fact is the inugami ‘effect’ itself, in both films, which is also the obvious link between the two titles. It must be stressed though, that the theme is presented from a completely different angle in each one of these features. This means that there is no apparent ‘technical’ or ‘artistic’ relation between the two films. Harada’s film is nor a remake neither some kind of ‘hommage’ on Ichikawa’s title. Each one of the films forms a cinematic universe of its own, despite the dramatic overtones and symbolisms that reflect in both features.
Buy This...
- 8/2/2020
- by Guest Writer
- AsianMoviePulse
by Cláudio Alves
Last time we explored the history of non-English speaking films at the Academy Awards, we looked at the success of Japanese cinema in the Best Costume Design category. In 1956, two years after the historical victory of Teinosuke Kinugasa's Gate of Hell, the Academy finally inaugurated the Best Foreign Language Oscar as a competitive category. Federico Fellini's La Strada was the first winner and, like Gate of Hell, it also scored a nomination in another category, Best Original Screenplay. This time around, though, the foreign film champion lost that additional statuette. However, it didn't lose to a Hollywood production or even an English-language one. Instead, that year's prize for Best Original Screenplay went to one of the weirdest Oscar winners of all time.
We're talking about a nearly dialogue-free French short film about a magical balloon directed and written by the creator of the Risk board game…...
Last time we explored the history of non-English speaking films at the Academy Awards, we looked at the success of Japanese cinema in the Best Costume Design category. In 1956, two years after the historical victory of Teinosuke Kinugasa's Gate of Hell, the Academy finally inaugurated the Best Foreign Language Oscar as a competitive category. Federico Fellini's La Strada was the first winner and, like Gate of Hell, it also scored a nomination in another category, Best Original Screenplay. This time around, though, the foreign film champion lost that additional statuette. However, it didn't lose to a Hollywood production or even an English-language one. Instead, that year's prize for Best Original Screenplay went to one of the weirdest Oscar winners of all time.
We're talking about a nearly dialogue-free French short film about a magical balloon directed and written by the creator of the Risk board game…...
- 5/22/2020
- by Cláudio Alves
- FilmExperience
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 an archive of past round-ups here.
Alice (Josephine Mackerras)
It makes no sense. The night before saw Alice Ferrand’s (Emilie Piponnier) husband François (Martin Swabey) going out of his way to passionately make-out with her in front of their friends at a dinner party and now he won’t answer her calls. Despite his running out of the house earlier than usual without any explanation, however, there’s nothing to make her think something is wrong until a trip to the drugstore exposes a freeze on their finances. One credit card won’t work. Then another. The Atm won’t accept her sign-in and François still isn’t picking up his phone.
Alice (Josephine Mackerras)
It makes no sense. The night before saw Alice Ferrand’s (Emilie Piponnier) husband François (Martin Swabey) going out of his way to passionately make-out with her in front of their friends at a dinner party and now he won’t answer her calls. Despite his running out of the house earlier than usual without any explanation, however, there’s nothing to make her think something is wrong until a trip to the drugstore exposes a freeze on their finances. One credit card won’t work. Then another. The Atm won’t accept her sign-in and François still isn’t picking up his phone.
- 5/15/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
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 an archive of past round-ups here.
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (Marielle Heller)
It sounds almost too perfect: Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers, the beloved children’s entertainer. Of course, who else could it be, really? It is so seemingly predestined, in fact, that Hanks’s first onscreen appearance as Fred Rogers elicits knowing laughter from the audience. Yes, Tom Hanks playing Mr. Rogers looks and sounds exactly how you would imagine. Marielle Heller’s A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, however, is much more than an obvious biopic. It’s not really a biopic at all. Nor is it a rehash of 2018’s much-heralded documentary profile of Fred Rogers, Won’t You Be MyNeighbor?...
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (Marielle Heller)
It sounds almost too perfect: Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers, the beloved children’s entertainer. Of course, who else could it be, really? It is so seemingly predestined, in fact, that Hanks’s first onscreen appearance as Fred Rogers elicits knowing laughter from the audience. Yes, Tom Hanks playing Mr. Rogers looks and sounds exactly how you would imagine. Marielle Heller’s A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, however, is much more than an obvious biopic. It’s not really a biopic at all. Nor is it a rehash of 2018’s much-heralded documentary profile of Fred Rogers, Won’t You Be MyNeighbor?...
- 2/7/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Machiko Kyo, an actress who starred in some of the most internationally acclaimed Japanese films of the postwar era, died in Tokyo on Sunday at age 95, her former studio Toho announced Tuesday. The cause of death was heart failure.
Born in Osaka in 1924 as Motoko Yano, she joined the Osaka Shochiku Girls Opera in 1936 and, using the stage name Machiko Kyo, the Daiei studio in 1949. Though viewed by studio boss Masaichi Nagata as a Japanese answer to the voluptuous Hollywood sirens of the era, she first came to attention of the world as the sexually assaulted wife of a murdered samurai in Akira Kurosawa’s “Rashomon” (1950). The winner of the Golden Lion at Venice, the film brought not only Kyo and Kurosawa but also Japanese cinema to the attention of the West.
Kyo followed up with starring roles in Kenji Mizoguchi’s “Ugetsu” (1953) and Teinosuke Kinugasa’s “Gate of Hell...
Born in Osaka in 1924 as Motoko Yano, she joined the Osaka Shochiku Girls Opera in 1936 and, using the stage name Machiko Kyo, the Daiei studio in 1949. Though viewed by studio boss Masaichi Nagata as a Japanese answer to the voluptuous Hollywood sirens of the era, she first came to attention of the world as the sexually assaulted wife of a murdered samurai in Akira Kurosawa’s “Rashomon” (1950). The winner of the Golden Lion at Venice, the film brought not only Kyo and Kurosawa but also Japanese cinema to the attention of the West.
Kyo followed up with starring roles in Kenji Mizoguchi’s “Ugetsu” (1953) and Teinosuke Kinugasa’s “Gate of Hell...
- 5/15/2019
- by Mark Schilling
- Variety Film + TV
Machiko Kyo, star of films by many of Japan's legendary directors, including Akira Kurosawa, Teinosuke Kinugasa, Kenji Mizoguchi, Kon Ichikawa and Yasujiro Ozu, died Sunday of heart failure at a Tokyo hospital, according to studio Toho. She was 95.
Born Motoko Yano in Osaka in 1924, Kyo began her career as a dancer and showgirl at the now defunct Daiei Co. in 1949, where her charms caught the eye of its president and producer Masaichi Nagata, who groomed her for stardom.
Nagata, with whom she became romantically involved, produced Kurosawa's Rashomon (1950), in which Kyo starred as the "...
Born Motoko Yano in Osaka in 1924, Kyo began her career as a dancer and showgirl at the now defunct Daiei Co. in 1949, where her charms caught the eye of its president and producer Masaichi Nagata, who groomed her for stardom.
Nagata, with whom she became romantically involved, produced Kurosawa's Rashomon (1950), in which Kyo starred as the "...
- 5/14/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Machiko Kyo, star of films by many of Japan's legendary directors, including Akira Kurosawa, Teinosuke Kinugasa, Kenji Mizoguchi, Kon Ichikawa and Yasujiro Ozu, died Sunday of heart failure at a Tokyo hospital, according to studio Toho. She was 95.
Born Motoko Yano in Osaka in 1924, Kyo began her career as a dancer and showgirl at the now defunct Daiei Co. in 1949, where her charms caught the eye of its president and producer Masaichi Nagata, who groomed her for stardom.
Nagata, with whom she became romantically involved, produced Kurosawa's Rashomon (1950), in which Kyo starred as the "...
Born Motoko Yano in Osaka in 1924, Kyo began her career as a dancer and showgirl at the now defunct Daiei Co. in 1949, where her charms caught the eye of its president and producer Masaichi Nagata, who groomed her for stardom.
Nagata, with whom she became romantically involved, produced Kurosawa's Rashomon (1950), in which Kyo starred as the "...
- 5/14/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
“Across Asia Film Festival 2018. Ghosts of Asia”
Cagliari, Italy – from 2 to 10 December 2018
Across Asia, the International Festival dedicated to explore the cinematography of South East Asia – and this year focusing on Thailand e Philippine – is back on the beautiful island of Sardinia and is promising International and Italian Premieres, screenings, masterclasses, workshops and parties all over the city of Cagliari.
Stefano Galanti and Maria Paola Zedda are the creators and the artistic directors of Across Asia Film Festival that is a young festival, focused on most interesting languages of recent cinematographic production from Asia, with the goal of promoting the encounter between Italian and foreign communities and developing cultural exchanges.
Across Asia’s mission is to become a window on the world, a different and unconventional way to look at the Asiatic continent and its representations, away from the standard and usual mainstream view.
The programme includes many Italian premieres...
Cagliari, Italy – from 2 to 10 December 2018
Across Asia, the International Festival dedicated to explore the cinematography of South East Asia – and this year focusing on Thailand e Philippine – is back on the beautiful island of Sardinia and is promising International and Italian Premieres, screenings, masterclasses, workshops and parties all over the city of Cagliari.
Stefano Galanti and Maria Paola Zedda are the creators and the artistic directors of Across Asia Film Festival that is a young festival, focused on most interesting languages of recent cinematographic production from Asia, with the goal of promoting the encounter between Italian and foreign communities and developing cultural exchanges.
Across Asia’s mission is to become a window on the world, a different and unconventional way to look at the Asiatic continent and its representations, away from the standard and usual mainstream view.
The programme includes many Italian premieres...
- 11/30/2018
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
The Silent Japanese film A Page Of Madness (1926) screens at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood) at 7:30pm on October 28th with live music by the Alloy Orchestra. All tickets are $10
Quite a legendary entry in the history of Japanese cinema, Teinosuke Kinugasa’s A Page Of Madness (1926) was lost for 45 years, until it was rediscovered by the director in his storehouse in 1971.
A Page Of Madness is an amazing depiction of one woman’s graphic descent into mental illness, and her husband’s dedication to helping her. Released in 1926, it is one of the very rare Japanese silent films to have survived World War II. This avant guard film combines astounding cinematography, and a emotionally packed story in a non linear exploration of what’s going on in the characters’s (sometimes unhinged) minds.
Alloy Orchestra’s minimalist score helps with the audience’s capitulation to the ongoing insanity.
Quite a legendary entry in the history of Japanese cinema, Teinosuke Kinugasa’s A Page Of Madness (1926) was lost for 45 years, until it was rediscovered by the director in his storehouse in 1971.
A Page Of Madness is an amazing depiction of one woman’s graphic descent into mental illness, and her husband’s dedication to helping her. Released in 1926, it is one of the very rare Japanese silent films to have survived World War II. This avant guard film combines astounding cinematography, and a emotionally packed story in a non linear exploration of what’s going on in the characters’s (sometimes unhinged) minds.
Alloy Orchestra’s minimalist score helps with the audience’s capitulation to the ongoing insanity.
- 10/15/2018
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Quite a legendary entry in the history of Japanese cinema, Teinosuke Kinugasa’s “A Page of Madness” was lost for 45 years, until it was rediscovered by the director in his storehouse in 1971. However, the print existing today is missing nearly a third of what was shown in theaters in 1926, while the fact that it does not contain intertitles, since it was screened with the presence of a benshi (source: Aaron Gerow (2008). A Page of Madness: Cinema and Modernity in 1920s Japan. Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan), makes it quite difficult to follow, even more due to its avant-garde and experimental nature. Its cinematic impact however, cannot be denied in any way.
Having secured a distribution contract from Shochiku, Kinugasa formed the Kinugasa Motion Picture League, an endeavor that almost broke him financially, to the point that the actors of “A Page of Madness”, had to help paint sets,...
Having secured a distribution contract from Shochiku, Kinugasa formed the Kinugasa Motion Picture League, an endeavor that almost broke him financially, to the point that the actors of “A Page of Madness”, had to help paint sets,...
- 5/19/2018
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
An Actor’s Revenge
Blu ray
Criterion
1963 / Color / 2.39:1 / 113 Min. / Street Date February 20, 2018
Starring Kazuo Hasegawa
Cinematography by Setsuo Kobayashi
Written by Daisuke Itô, Teinosuke Kinugasa
Edited by Shigeo Nishida
Directed by Kon Ichikawa
From Twelfth Night to Homicidal, casting calls for cross-dressers are a Hollywood tradition. The stories are alike in their differences; Katherine Hepburn was dodging the cops, Jack Lemmon was fleeing the mob, Dustin Hoffman was just an actor begging for work. Yukitarō, the enigmatic hero of An Actor’s Revenge, is gainfully employed but his motives are far more complicated than Hoffman’s needy thespian.
The story of a female impersonator’s vengeful killing spree, Kon Ichikawa’s 1963 film boasts a plot line John Waters would surely appreciate. But where Waters revels in the high comedy of lowlifes, Ichakawa’s movie is a ravishing melodrama set in the elevated atmosphere of death-dealing samurai, 19th century Kabuki...
Blu ray
Criterion
1963 / Color / 2.39:1 / 113 Min. / Street Date February 20, 2018
Starring Kazuo Hasegawa
Cinematography by Setsuo Kobayashi
Written by Daisuke Itô, Teinosuke Kinugasa
Edited by Shigeo Nishida
Directed by Kon Ichikawa
From Twelfth Night to Homicidal, casting calls for cross-dressers are a Hollywood tradition. The stories are alike in their differences; Katherine Hepburn was dodging the cops, Jack Lemmon was fleeing the mob, Dustin Hoffman was just an actor begging for work. Yukitarō, the enigmatic hero of An Actor’s Revenge, is gainfully employed but his motives are far more complicated than Hoffman’s needy thespian.
The story of a female impersonator’s vengeful killing spree, Kon Ichikawa’s 1963 film boasts a plot line John Waters would surely appreciate. But where Waters revels in the high comedy of lowlifes, Ichakawa’s movie is a ravishing melodrama set in the elevated atmosphere of death-dealing samurai, 19th century Kabuki...
- 3/27/2018
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Conceived by Daiei as a tribute to the 300th screen appearance of veteran actor Kazuo Hasegawa, “An Actor’s Revenge” is a remake of the homonymous, 1935 film, which also starred Hasegawa. The screenplay, written by Ichikawa’s wife, Natto Wada, was based on the adaptation by Daisuke Ito and Teinosuke Kinugasa of a newspaper serial originally written by Otokichi Mikami, which was used for the 1935 version.
Yukitaro is a famous onnagata, a male actor who plays female roles in the kabuki theatre, whose Osaka-based troupe, headed by Kikunojo Nakamura, is making its first appearances in Kyoto. Yukitaro however, has his eyes set on revenge upon three men: Sansai Dobe, Kawaguchiya, and Hiromiya, who plotted and eventually led his father to death and his mother to suicide when he was just seven years old. In order to achieve his goal, Yukitaro, whose stage name is Yukinojo, uses his handsomeness,...
Yukitaro is a famous onnagata, a male actor who plays female roles in the kabuki theatre, whose Osaka-based troupe, headed by Kikunojo Nakamura, is making its first appearances in Kyoto. Yukitaro however, has his eyes set on revenge upon three men: Sansai Dobe, Kawaguchiya, and Hiromiya, who plotted and eventually led his father to death and his mother to suicide when he was just seven years old. In order to achieve his goal, Yukitaro, whose stage name is Yukinojo, uses his handsomeness,...
- 3/7/2018
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Seemingly for as long as the medium has been around, film has consistently been in conversation with and influenced by its elder sibling, theater. Be it the rather constant flood of screen adaptations of famous plays and musicals, or the actual aesthetic back and forth between the two mediums, film and theater are two vastly different outlets for artists to practice their craft within, while working vastly different muscles. However, when films attempt to blur the lines between these two worlds, some true beauty and greatness can arise. And therein lies Kon Ichikawa’s An Actor’s Revenge.
Set within the world of kabuki theater of the nineteenth century, Ichikawa’s film tells the story Yukinojo (Kazuo Hasegawa), a man raised since age seven in the arts not only of theater (he is known as an onnagata, or a male actor cast in female positions) but also deadly martial arts.
Set within the world of kabuki theater of the nineteenth century, Ichikawa’s film tells the story Yukinojo (Kazuo Hasegawa), a man raised since age seven in the arts not only of theater (he is known as an onnagata, or a male actor cast in female positions) but also deadly martial arts.
- 3/2/2018
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
'The Doll' with Ossi Oswalda and Hermann Thimig: Early Ernst Lubitsch satirical fantasy starring 'the German Mary Pickford' has similar premise to that of the 1925 Buster Keaton comedy 'Seven Chances.' 'The Doll': San Francisco Silent Film Festival presented fast-paced Ernst Lubitsch comedy starring the German Mary Pickford – Ossi Oswalda Directed by Ernst Lubitsch (So This Is Paris, The Wedding March), the 2017 San Francisco Silent Film Festival presentation The Doll / Die Puppe (1919) has one of the most amusing mise-en-scènes ever recorded. The set is created by cut-out figures that gradually come to life; then even more cleverly, they commence the fast-paced action. It all begins when a shy, confirmed bachelor, Lancelot (Hermann Thimig), is ordered by his rich uncle (Max Kronert), the Baron von Chanterelle, to marry for a large sum of money. As to be expected, mayhem ensues. Lancelot is forced to flee from the hordes of eligible maidens, eventually...
- 6/28/2017
- by Danny Fortune
- Alt Film Guide
Craig Lines Apr 5, 2017
Marvel? DC? They have their moments, but how about Shogun Assassin, and in turn, the Lone Wolf & Cub movies?
Like most western viewers, I came to the Lone Wolf & Cub series via Shogun Assassin – a recut/mash-up of the first two movies, trimmed to 90 minutes and dubbed into English by a pair of enterprising Andy Warhol acolytes. It was one of the original 'video nasties' in the UK, banned for years, so highly desirable to a kid like me. And it didn’t disappoint. In fact, it was probably the goriest movie on the list.
While it may seem criminal now to butcher a pair of bona fide Japanese classics and completely change their meaning and tone, Shogun Assassin got away with it by being so vibrant and hyperactive. The inappropriate score is a joyful synthesiser meltdown and the spirited dub goes full-pelt, even if what they...
Marvel? DC? They have their moments, but how about Shogun Assassin, and in turn, the Lone Wolf & Cub movies?
Like most western viewers, I came to the Lone Wolf & Cub series via Shogun Assassin – a recut/mash-up of the first two movies, trimmed to 90 minutes and dubbed into English by a pair of enterprising Andy Warhol acolytes. It was one of the original 'video nasties' in the UK, banned for years, so highly desirable to a kid like me. And it didn’t disappoint. In fact, it was probably the goriest movie on the list.
While it may seem criminal now to butcher a pair of bona fide Japanese classics and completely change their meaning and tone, Shogun Assassin got away with it by being so vibrant and hyperactive. The inappropriate score is a joyful synthesiser meltdown and the spirited dub goes full-pelt, even if what they...
- 4/4/2017
- Den of Geek
The first successes of Asian films in the Oscars occured during the 50’s, when the award for Foreign-Language Film was not yet introduced and the Academy presented Special/Honorary awards to the best foreign language films released in the United States. Three Japanese productions received these awards during this decade.
1951. Rashomon, by Akira Kurosawa. A priest, a woodcutter and another man are taking refuge from a rainstorm in the shell of a former gatehouse called Rashômon. The priest and the woodcutter are recounting the story of a murdered samurai whose body the woodcutter discovered three days earlier in a forest grove. Both were summoned to testify at the murder trial, the priest who ran into the samurai and his wife traveling through the forest just before the murder occurred.
Three other people who testified at the trial are supposedly the only direct witnesses: a notorious bandit named Tajômaru, who allegedly...
1951. Rashomon, by Akira Kurosawa. A priest, a woodcutter and another man are taking refuge from a rainstorm in the shell of a former gatehouse called Rashômon. The priest and the woodcutter are recounting the story of a murdered samurai whose body the woodcutter discovered three days earlier in a forest grove. Both were summoned to testify at the murder trial, the priest who ran into the samurai and his wife traveling through the forest just before the murder occurred.
Three other people who testified at the trial are supposedly the only direct witnesses: a notorious bandit named Tajômaru, who allegedly...
- 2/28/2016
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The awards were first introduced in 1946 by the Mainichi Shinbun (毎日新聞) newspaper, which is the oldest daily Japanese one, since it has been on circulation since 1872. Nowadays, it is one of the three largest in the country, and it is noteworthy that two of its general directors were elected Prime Ministers.
The first winners were:
Best Film: Aru yo no tonosama (Teinosuke Kinugasa)
Best Firector: Tadashi Imai (Minshu no teki)
Best Script: Osone ke no ashita (Eijiro Hisaita)
Best Actor: Eitaro Ozawa (Osone ke no ashita)
Best Soundtrack: Minshu no teki (Fumio Hayasaka)
Since 1962, a year after the death of Noburo Ofuji, one of the pioneers of Japanese anime, a new award was introduced in his name, for the best anime of the season. The first winner was Osamu Tezuka, with “Story of a Certain Street Corner.”With the rise of the anime industry during the 80’s, the major studios started dominating the award,...
The first winners were:
Best Film: Aru yo no tonosama (Teinosuke Kinugasa)
Best Firector: Tadashi Imai (Minshu no teki)
Best Script: Osone ke no ashita (Eijiro Hisaita)
Best Actor: Eitaro Ozawa (Osone ke no ashita)
Best Soundtrack: Minshu no teki (Fumio Hayasaka)
Since 1962, a year after the death of Noburo Ofuji, one of the pioneers of Japanese anime, a new award was introduced in his name, for the best anime of the season. The first winner was Osamu Tezuka, with “Story of a Certain Street Corner.”With the rise of the anime industry during the 80’s, the major studios started dominating the award,...
- 2/26/2016
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Each week, the fine folks at Fandor add a number of films to their Criterion Picks area, which will then be available to subscribers for the following twelve days. This week, the Criterion Picks focus on nine films where some of the most famous directors in the Criterion Collection first directed a feature in color.
Saturate yourself in the vivid stylings of some of our favorite directors, wielding a whole new spectrum of expression for the very first time.
Don’t have a Fandor subscription? They offer a free trial membership.
Dodes’ka-den, the Japanese Drama by Akira Kurosawa
The unforgettable Dodes’Ka-den was made at a tumultuous moment in Kurosawa’s life. And all of his hopes, fears and artistic passion are on fervent display in this, his gloriously shot first color film.
Equinox Flower, the Japanese Drama by Yasujirô Ozu
Later in his career, Yasujiro Ozu started becoming...
Saturate yourself in the vivid stylings of some of our favorite directors, wielding a whole new spectrum of expression for the very first time.
Don’t have a Fandor subscription? They offer a free trial membership.
Dodes’ka-den, the Japanese Drama by Akira Kurosawa
The unforgettable Dodes’Ka-den was made at a tumultuous moment in Kurosawa’s life. And all of his hopes, fears and artistic passion are on fervent display in this, his gloriously shot first color film.
Equinox Flower, the Japanese Drama by Yasujirô Ozu
Later in his career, Yasujiro Ozu started becoming...
- 1/26/2016
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
Teinosuke Kinugasa is best-known in the West for Gate of Hell (1953), with its court intrigues in luminous color, and for A Page of Madness (a.k.a. A Page out of Order, 1926), which can be considered as the Japanese Caligari, only with dynamic and disturbing camera movement thrown into the mix, making it seem much more modern and involving that Robert Weine's expressionist classic.
But Kinugasa directed 109 movies by the IMDb's count, and while no doubt many of the silents are now lost, it's a great shame so few of the survivors have had any kind of release outside of their homeland (or even inside their homeland).
Yoso (a.k.a. Bronze Magician, 1963) was Kinugasa's penultimate film, and shows his powers undimmed. In fact, in some sense they could be considered condensed and purified. Japanese cinema takes seriously the principle that each film should exist as a beautiful art object:...
But Kinugasa directed 109 movies by the IMDb's count, and while no doubt many of the silents are now lost, it's a great shame so few of the survivors have had any kind of release outside of their homeland (or even inside their homeland).
Yoso (a.k.a. Bronze Magician, 1963) was Kinugasa's penultimate film, and shows his powers undimmed. In fact, in some sense they could be considered condensed and purified. Japanese cinema takes seriously the principle that each film should exist as a beautiful art object:...
- 12/11/2013
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
Innovative animator whose credits include Lady and the Tramp, Petroushka and Grease
The pioneering animator John David Wilson, who has died aged 93, launched his studio, Fine Arts Films, in 1955 and found success with his first short subject, an adaptation of a Japanese folk tale, Tara the Stonecutter, which was screened in America with Teinosuke Kinugasa's Oscar-winning samurai drama Jigokumon (Gate of Hell, 1953). Next came Petroushka (1956), for which Igor Stravinsky (despite negative feelings towards animation following Disney's Fantasia) was persuaded by Wilson to prepare a shortened score for the film and conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the soundtrack. Petroushka won several festival awards and was the first animated film to be accepted by the Venice film festival.
Wilson's diverse productions ranged from innovative TV commercials for Instant Butter-Nut Coffee, made with the actor and humorist Stan Freberg, to a groundbreaking 15-minute film, Journey to the Stars, for the United...
The pioneering animator John David Wilson, who has died aged 93, launched his studio, Fine Arts Films, in 1955 and found success with his first short subject, an adaptation of a Japanese folk tale, Tara the Stonecutter, which was screened in America with Teinosuke Kinugasa's Oscar-winning samurai drama Jigokumon (Gate of Hell, 1953). Next came Petroushka (1956), for which Igor Stravinsky (despite negative feelings towards animation following Disney's Fantasia) was persuaded by Wilson to prepare a shortened score for the film and conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the soundtrack. Petroushka won several festival awards and was the first animated film to be accepted by the Venice film festival.
Wilson's diverse productions ranged from innovative TV commercials for Instant Butter-Nut Coffee, made with the actor and humorist Stan Freberg, to a groundbreaking 15-minute film, Journey to the Stars, for the United...
- 7/2/2013
- by Brian Sibley
- The Guardian - Film News
Earlier this month I discovered this Deco delight on the excellent silent film Tumblr The Loudest Voice, where it was billed as “Ad for Bettina Loved a Soldier, 1916” with no further information as to where it came from. The film has an IMDb page but on its listing on the Progressive Silent Film List the survival status of the fim is “unknown.” A synopsis of the film can be found in Clive Hirschhorn’s The Universal Story (which documents the 2,641 films produced by Universal from the silent era until 1982) and there is also a synopsis on the TCM database.
Searching for the origins of the ad, which was more than likely an insert in a trade magazine (though what a poster it would have made), I stumbled across a treasure trove of similar ads on Flickr. The ads, all for Bluebird Photoplays Inc. and all seemingly drawn by one Burton Rice,...
Searching for the origins of the ad, which was more than likely an insert in a trade magazine (though what a poster it would have made), I stumbled across a treasure trove of similar ads on Flickr. The ads, all for Bluebird Photoplays Inc. and all seemingly drawn by one Burton Rice,...
- 5/31/2013
- by Adrian Curry
- MUBI
Chicago – Beneath every honorable warrior is a cold-hearted opportunist hell-bent on dominating his victimized prey at all costs. That’s a theory indelibly illustrated by Teinosuke Kinugasa’s revered 1953 classic, “Gate of Hell,” a melodrama populated by such frustrating characters that it nearly loses the viewer’s interest before its admittedly splendid finale, when the tale takes on grand dimensions of Greek tragedy.
The real—and, regrettably, only—reason to seek out Criterion’s new release of this long-forgotten landmark is to marvel at the new digital master of a 2011 2K restoration that brought Kôhei Sugiyama’s vibrant color photography back to life. This was not only one of the first color pictures in Japanese cinema, but one of the first films to utilize color with the arresting vibrance of a truly painterly eye. The golds, reds and blues pop with such potency that they would’ve felt right at...
The real—and, regrettably, only—reason to seek out Criterion’s new release of this long-forgotten landmark is to marvel at the new digital master of a 2011 2K restoration that brought Kôhei Sugiyama’s vibrant color photography back to life. This was not only one of the first color pictures in Japanese cinema, but one of the first films to utilize color with the arresting vibrance of a truly painterly eye. The golds, reds and blues pop with such potency that they would’ve felt right at...
- 4/29/2013
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Teinosuke Kinugasa’s glorious and vibrant masterpiece, Gate of Hell, excitingly receives a Criterion digital remastering this month, a certifiable occasion because this not only recreates the film’s initial visual beauties, but the first time it will be widely available stateside (cinephiles were only previously privy to Eureka Entertainment’s UK Blu-ray release). Winner of the top prize at Cannes, as well as the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and Costume Design, Martin Scorsese names the film among one of the most beautiful color films of all time.
Based on the play Kesa’s Husband by Ken Kikuchi, the setting is 1159 Ad, known as the Heiji Era, and a rebellion has been staged against the royal family. Under siege, it is decided that a decoy must be used to distract the rebel army, and Lady Kesa (Machiko Kyo) assumes the responsibility, carted away by a group of samurais.
Based on the play Kesa’s Husband by Ken Kikuchi, the setting is 1159 Ad, known as the Heiji Era, and a rebellion has been staged against the royal family. Under siege, it is decided that a decoy must be used to distract the rebel army, and Lady Kesa (Machiko Kyo) assumes the responsibility, carted away by a group of samurais.
- 4/16/2013
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Every month the folks at Criterion Collection select a number of classic and contemporary films deemed culturally and/or artistically significant and then take great pains to remaster them for a Blu-ray transfer to help preserve them for another generation of cinephiles. If you love film, then you can appreciate the public service Criterion Collection does for the medium when it offers us HD remasters of cinematic classics like 1984's Repo Man (starring Harry Dean Stanton and Emilio Estevez), the Teinosuke Kinugasa's samurai tale Gate of Hell, Laurence Olivier's take on Shakespeare's Richard III, and David Cronenberg's adaptation of William S. Burrough's drugged out head trip novel Naked Lunch led by Peter Weller. Additionally, this April, Criterion Collection has assembled a collection of 5 films by French filmmaker Pierre Etaix. For details on all of this month's releases, just keep reading.
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- 4/9/2013
- by Lex Walker
- JustPressPlay.net
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: April 9, 2013
Price: DVD $19.95, Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Criterion
The winner of two Oscars and the Grand Prix Prize at Cannes, Teinosuke Kinugasa’s (A Page of Madness) 1953 historical drama-romance Gate of Hell is a visually sumptuous, psychologically penetrating work.
In the midst of epic, violent intrigue in twelfth-century Japan, an imperial warrior falls for a lady-in-waiting. Even after he discovers she is married, he goes to extreme lengths to win her love. Nothing good can come of this…
A tragic story of obsession and unrequited passion, Kinugasa’s film was an early triumph of color cinematography in Japan. In fact, it’s reportedly the first Japanese film to employ a Western color process.
Presented in Japanese with English subtitles, the Criterion Blu-ray and DVD includes the following features:
• New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• New English subtitle translation
• A booklet featuring an...
Price: DVD $19.95, Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Criterion
The winner of two Oscars and the Grand Prix Prize at Cannes, Teinosuke Kinugasa’s (A Page of Madness) 1953 historical drama-romance Gate of Hell is a visually sumptuous, psychologically penetrating work.
In the midst of epic, violent intrigue in twelfth-century Japan, an imperial warrior falls for a lady-in-waiting. Even after he discovers she is married, he goes to extreme lengths to win her love. Nothing good can come of this…
A tragic story of obsession and unrequited passion, Kinugasa’s film was an early triumph of color cinematography in Japan. In fact, it’s reportedly the first Japanese film to employ a Western color process.
Presented in Japanese with English subtitles, the Criterion Blu-ray and DVD includes the following features:
• New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• New English subtitle translation
• A booklet featuring an...
- 1/22/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Photos for Fast Six, The Wolverine, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, and the cast of Mortal Kombat: Legacy 2.
Posters for The Sweeney, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Mood Indigo, Jack the Giant Slayer, Gambit, The Host, The End of Love, Epic, and the final episode of Fringe.
DC Comics has revealed a new 1:6 scale "Man of Steel" statue which offers a closer look at Henry Cavill's Superman costume. Click here to check out the statue.
"Criterion's April slate includes Alex Cox's 'Repo Man,' Laurence Olivier's 'Richard III,' Teinosuke Kinugasa's 'Gate of Hell,' a box-set featuring five films by French comedy filmmaker Pierre Etaix, and a Blu-ray version of David Cronenberg's 'Naked Lunch'…" (full details)
"'The Da Vinci Code' and 'Angels and Demons' author Dan Brown has announced 'Inferno,' his fourth novel featuring Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon.
Posters for The Sweeney, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Mood Indigo, Jack the Giant Slayer, Gambit, The Host, The End of Love, Epic, and the final episode of Fringe.
DC Comics has revealed a new 1:6 scale "Man of Steel" statue which offers a closer look at Henry Cavill's Superman costume. Click here to check out the statue.
"Criterion's April slate includes Alex Cox's 'Repo Man,' Laurence Olivier's 'Richard III,' Teinosuke Kinugasa's 'Gate of Hell,' a box-set featuring five films by French comedy filmmaker Pierre Etaix, and a Blu-ray version of David Cronenberg's 'Naked Lunch'…" (full details)
"'The Da Vinci Code' and 'Angels and Demons' author Dan Brown has announced 'Inferno,' his fourth novel featuring Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon.
- 1/16/2013
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Looking back at 2012 on what films moved and impressed us, it is clear that watching old films is a crucial part of making new films meaningful. Thus, the annual tradition of our end of year poll, which calls upon our writers to pick both a new and an old film: they were challenged to choose a new film they saw in 2012—in theaters or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they also saw in 2012 to create a unique double feature.
All the contributors were asked to write a paragraph explaining their 2012 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch in that perfect world we know doesn't exist but can keep dreaming of every time we go to the movies.
How would you program some...
All the contributors were asked to write a paragraph explaining their 2012 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch in that perfect world we know doesn't exist but can keep dreaming of every time we go to the movies.
How would you program some...
- 1/9/2013
- by Daniel Kasman
- MUBI
One of the many pleasures of the Criterion Collection comes in the form of their monthly newsletters, in which they make good on a series of crude drawings hinting at upcoming releases (which in 2012 gave us a Robert Downey Sr. retrospective, “Quadrophenia,” and “Harold and Maude” among many others). It's a fun, collaborative peek into the months ahead, and in their fourth-annual Mega-Clue drawing for 2013, the folks over at CriterionCast have parsed out what looks to be a promising year indeed. While much clearer and more stripped down than last year's installment, the New Years Hint still holds a number of contentious clues within. However, there are some near certainties, such as the candy-loving woman seen in Mike Leigh's film “Life is Sweet,” the flames of Teinosuke Kinugasa's samurai film “Gate of Hell,” the Pink Pearl giveaway of David Lynch's “Eraserhead,” and the huge clock's indication...
- 1/2/2013
- by Charlie Schmidlin
- The Playlist
★★★★☆ Winner of two Oscars and the Grand Prix Prize at Cannes, Teinosuke Kinugasa's arresting 1953 effort Gate of Hell was the first Japanese film to employ a Western colour process. Now, thanks to the hard work of the always reliable Masters of Cinema strand, Kinugasa's sumptuous hues and diverse palette have been gloriously reissued on Blu-ray, once again capturing the awe and magnificence of this visually spellbinding film. During an attempted coup in 12th century Japan, an attractive young woman, Lady Kesa (Machiko Kyo) volunteers to act as a decoy in order to help the lord's wife escape to safety.
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- 12/4/2012
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Press release: Japanese film festival moves to Cinema Museum to celebrate Japan’s legacy on celluloid. Zipangu Fest is pleased to announce the full line up of its 2012 programme. Following its move to a new venue, the Cinema Museum in London’s Kennington district, the third Zipangu Fest celebrates Japan’s rich cinematic heritage with retrospective screenings of some unseen gems alongside a host of newer titles, with a large proportion of the programme screened from film. The Reel Zipangu section includes Kaizō Hayashi’s critically-regarded 1986 homage to Japan’s silent era, To Sleep So As To Dream, and a long overdue revival of Teinosuke Kinugasa’s avant-garde masterpiece from 1928 and one of the first Japanese films ever screened in the West, Crossways. A samurai drama filmed in the style of German Expressionism, the film will be presented with an illustrated lecture by Festival Director Jasper Sharp before its screening...
- 8/30/2012
- by Nix
- Beyond Hollywood
One of the greatest female stars of Japanese cinema
Isuzu Yamada, who has died aged 95, was among the greatest female stars of Japanese cinema. In a career that lasted more than half a century, she shone in both Jidai-geki (period films) and Gendai-geki (films with modern settings) and was renowned for her appearances in films by such leading directors as Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse and Akira Kurosawa.
Yamada's range was remarkable. She was fortunate to have emerged at the time that Mizoguchi, whose focus was always on persecuted women, was changing his attitude towards them from being destroyed victims of male society to characters vital enough to fight, often in vain, for survival against the social system.
She played fallen women in her first films for Mizoguchi. These included the title roles in The Downfall of Osen (1935), in which she played an ex-geisha who pays for the education of a...
Isuzu Yamada, who has died aged 95, was among the greatest female stars of Japanese cinema. In a career that lasted more than half a century, she shone in both Jidai-geki (period films) and Gendai-geki (films with modern settings) and was renowned for her appearances in films by such leading directors as Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse and Akira Kurosawa.
Yamada's range was remarkable. She was fortunate to have emerged at the time that Mizoguchi, whose focus was always on persecuted women, was changing his attitude towards them from being destroyed victims of male society to characters vital enough to fight, often in vain, for survival against the social system.
She played fallen women in her first films for Mizoguchi. These included the title roles in The Downfall of Osen (1935), in which she played an ex-geisha who pays for the education of a...
- 7/11/2012
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Has another photo existed with so many great filmmakers in one shot? This was taken in 1936 on the occation of the creation of the Japan Film Directors Society.
Front row, from left:
Teinosuke Kinugasa (1896-1982)
Yoshinobu Ikeda (1892-1973)
Sadao Yamanaka (1909-1938)
Mansaku Itami (1900-1946)
Heinosuke Gosho (1902-1981)
Minoru Murata (1894-1937)
Shigeyoshi Suzuki (1900-1976)
Kenji Mizoguchi (1898-1956)
Second row, from left:
Tomotaka Tasaka (1902-1974)
Yasujiro Shimazu (1897-1945)
Hiroshi Shimizu (1903-1966)
Yutaka Abe (1895-1977)
Kiyohiko Ushihara (1897-1985)
Kajiro Yamamoto (1902-1974)
Yasujiro Ozu (1903-1963)
Tomu Uchida (1898-1970)
Third row, from left:
Mikio Naruse (1905-1969)
Kintaro Inoue (1901-1954)
(Via Vermillion and One Nights.)...
Front row, from left:
Teinosuke Kinugasa (1896-1982)
Yoshinobu Ikeda (1892-1973)
Sadao Yamanaka (1909-1938)
Mansaku Itami (1900-1946)
Heinosuke Gosho (1902-1981)
Minoru Murata (1894-1937)
Shigeyoshi Suzuki (1900-1976)
Kenji Mizoguchi (1898-1956)
Second row, from left:
Tomotaka Tasaka (1902-1974)
Yasujiro Shimazu (1897-1945)
Hiroshi Shimizu (1903-1966)
Yutaka Abe (1895-1977)
Kiyohiko Ushihara (1897-1985)
Kajiro Yamamoto (1902-1974)
Yasujiro Ozu (1903-1963)
Tomu Uchida (1898-1970)
Third row, from left:
Mikio Naruse (1905-1969)
Kintaro Inoue (1901-1954)
(Via Vermillion and One Nights.)...
- 9/25/2011
- MUBI
This year's president of the Festival de Cannes Robert De Niro will preside over jury members including fellow actors Jude Law, Uma Thurman and Martina Gusman, directors Olivier Assayas, Johnnie To and Mahamat Saleh Haroun, Chinese producer Nansun Shi and Norwegian critic and writer Linn Ullmann. The nine jury members will hand out the main prizes including the Palme d'Or amongst others for writing, directing and performances. They will follow the path of some of the greatest names in the history of cinema. Many accused Isabelle Huppert of playing favourites when Haneke finally won for his long overdue Palme. De Niro has worked with Brad Pitt and Sean Penn --- will the brotherhood remain intact with a vote going towards Malick? Unlike any other awards, the Palme d'Or is the most elusive and coveted of them all. The first prize handed out was the Grand Prix in 1949 at the third...
- 5/10/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
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