If seeing the trailer for the Netflix adaptation of Susanna Jones's The Earthquake Bird has piqued your curiosity, you can devour the 220-page book or keep reading to find out all the answers to this haunting mystery. Just beware of spoilers!
Published in 2001, The Earthquake Birth is narrated by Lucy Fly, a 34-year-old British translator and ex-pat living in Tokyo. The story opens with Lucy being questioned over the murder of her friend Lily Bridges. Evasive in her answers to the police, she's more open with the reader, who quickly becomes her silent confidant. As such, the bulk of the novel is formed by recollections of her past, intertwined with beautiful and detailed descriptions of Japan.
A woman without a home, Lucy tells us about her emotionally distant parents and a childhood that left her closed-off to the world. Bullied by her brothers constantly, she's happy to move to...
Published in 2001, The Earthquake Birth is narrated by Lucy Fly, a 34-year-old British translator and ex-pat living in Tokyo. The story opens with Lucy being questioned over the murder of her friend Lily Bridges. Evasive in her answers to the police, she's more open with the reader, who quickly becomes her silent confidant. As such, the bulk of the novel is formed by recollections of her past, intertwined with beautiful and detailed descriptions of Japan.
A woman without a home, Lucy tells us about her emotionally distant parents and a childhood that left her closed-off to the world. Bullied by her brothers constantly, she's happy to move to...
- 11/13/2019
- by Priscila Santa Rosa
- Popsugar.com
When she was a young girl in Gothenburg, Alicia Vikander dreamt of a life in tutus. At 15, she moved to Stockholm and attended the Royal Swedish Ballet School, where she would dance seven hours a day, six days a week. Eventually, a chronic back injury put paid to her ambitions, but not before it had equipped her for Hollywood. “I’m very good with pain,” the Oscar-winning star of The Danish Girl explains. Moments later, she rolls up her trousers to reveal a recent scar on her knee. “Skiing,” she says in a stage whisper, gesturing towards her management team across the room. “But don’t tell them.”
A high pain threshold helped the 31-year-old with the 2018 Tomb Raider reboot, for which she put on 12 pounds of muscle through weight training, rock climbing, swimming and Mma fighting. Her Lara Croft tempered being a badass with bruised vulnerability; her running, jumping...
A high pain threshold helped the 31-year-old with the 2018 Tomb Raider reboot, for which she put on 12 pounds of muscle through weight training, rock climbing, swimming and Mma fighting. Her Lara Croft tempered being a badass with bruised vulnerability; her running, jumping...
- 11/2/2019
- by Patrick Smith
- The Independent - Film
Wash Westmoreland’s crime-mystery about a love triangle turned obsessive, starring Alicia Vikander, delivers a few real tremors
The Earthquake Bird is the critically admired and prizewinning 2001 mystery novel by the British author Susanna Jones, which has now been turned into an intriguing, if sometimes redundant, psychological noir for Netflix by the writer-director Wash Westmoreland.
The setting is Tokyo in the late 1980s, where the threat of intermittent earthquakes is treated as a fact of life. Alicia Vikander plays Lucy, a reserved and professional young woman from Sweden with fluent Japanese (and English) who works as a translator. She is disconcerted one day when a very handsome Japanese man, Teiji (played by the actor and J-pop star Naoki Kobayashi) who is photographing the reflections that buildings make in puddles of rainwater, turns his camera on her in the street and takes her picture.
The Earthquake Bird is the critically admired and prizewinning 2001 mystery novel by the British author Susanna Jones, which has now been turned into an intriguing, if sometimes redundant, psychological noir for Netflix by the writer-director Wash Westmoreland.
The setting is Tokyo in the late 1980s, where the threat of intermittent earthquakes is treated as a fact of life. Alicia Vikander plays Lucy, a reserved and professional young woman from Sweden with fluent Japanese (and English) who works as a translator. She is disconcerted one day when a very handsome Japanese man, Teiji (played by the actor and J-pop star Naoki Kobayashi) who is photographing the reflections that buildings make in puddles of rainwater, turns his camera on her in the street and takes her picture.
- 11/1/2019
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
When it comes to showing their dedication to a role, actors have been known to gain weight, hit the gym, shave their heads and even have a tooth pulled. But those are all signs of physical commitment. Far more challenging is going out of your way to learn a foreign language — or faking it well enough that audiences can’t tell the difference. In “Earthquake Bird,” Alicia Vikander plays Lucy Fly, a Western woman who’s buried herself in all things Japanese as a way of escaping a traumatic past, only to see the trail of fatalities continue all the way in Tokyo.
“Death follows me,” Vikander says at one point, delivering the line in perfectly convincing Japanese. Here, she plays a Brit so desperate to reinvent herself that she finds herself at the center of a missing persons case. Her friend Lily Bridges (Riley Keough), also an expat, but...
“Death follows me,” Vikander says at one point, delivering the line in perfectly convincing Japanese. Here, she plays a Brit so desperate to reinvent herself that she finds herself at the center of a missing persons case. Her friend Lily Bridges (Riley Keough), also an expat, but...
- 10/30/2019
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Take a look at the new mystery feature "Earthquake Bird", written and directed by Wash Westmoreland and produced by Ridley Scott, based on the novel of the same name by Susanna Jones, starring Alicia Vikander ("Tomb Raider"), Riley Keough, Naoki Kobayashi and Jack Huston, streaming on Netflix November 15, 2019:
"...set in 1989 Tokyo, 'Lucy Fly' (Vikander), a young female expat, is suspected of murder when her friend 'Lily' goes missing in the wake of a tumultuous love triangle with 'Teiji', a handsome local photographer..."
Cast also includes Kiki Sukezane as 'Natsuko' and Ken Yamamura as 'Oguchi'.
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Earthquake Bird"...
"...set in 1989 Tokyo, 'Lucy Fly' (Vikander), a young female expat, is suspected of murder when her friend 'Lily' goes missing in the wake of a tumultuous love triangle with 'Teiji', a handsome local photographer..."
Cast also includes Kiki Sukezane as 'Natsuko' and Ken Yamamura as 'Oguchi'.
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Earthquake Bird"...
- 10/21/2019
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
Susanna Jones's haunting novel Earthquake Bird is being adapted for the big screen thanks to Netflix and producer Ridley Scott, and the film's tense and twisty movie trailer will make you understandably paranoid. (You've been warned.)
Tomb Raider star Alicia Vikander takes the lead in Wash Westmoreland's atmospheric psychological thriller as Lucy Fly, an expat who moves to Tokyo in 1989 in an effort to escape a painful past. She soon strikes up a romance with the intense Teiji (Naoki Kobayashi), a local photographer who's obsessed with taking photos of her, and becomes close friends with fellow transplant Lily (Riley Keough). As her relationships with both individuals deepen, Lucy finds herself questioning reality, especially when Lily goes missing and the police arrive at Lucy's door.
Did Lucy kill her? Can she be trusted? Watch the trailer above to see if you can untangle the mystery, and then be sure...
Tomb Raider star Alicia Vikander takes the lead in Wash Westmoreland's atmospheric psychological thriller as Lucy Fly, an expat who moves to Tokyo in 1989 in an effort to escape a painful past. She soon strikes up a romance with the intense Teiji (Naoki Kobayashi), a local photographer who's obsessed with taking photos of her, and becomes close friends with fellow transplant Lily (Riley Keough). As her relationships with both individuals deepen, Lucy finds herself questioning reality, especially when Lily goes missing and the police arrive at Lucy's door.
Did Lucy kill her? Can she be trusted? Watch the trailer above to see if you can untangle the mystery, and then be sure...
- 10/13/2019
- by Quinn Keaney
- Popsugar.com
We’ve got the first full trailer for you to check out from the Netflix indie thriller Earthquake Bird. The film is directed and adapted by Wash Westmoreland from a novel written by Susanna Jones. The film stars Alicia Vikander, Riley Keough (Logan Lucky), Jack Huston (The Irishman), Kiki Sukezane (Westworld), and Ken Yamamura (Godzilla). Here’s the synopsis:
A psychologically unsettling and atmospheric thriller set in 1989 Tokyo from director Wash Westmoreland, Earthquake Bird follows Lucy Fly (Alicia Vikander), an enigmatic expat haunted by a painful past, who enters into an intense relationship with Teiji (Naoki Kobayashi), a handsome local photographer. Lucy’s imperturbable exterior begins to crack when a naive newcomer, Lily Bridges (Riley Keough), becomes entangled in their lives and ends up missing — suspected dead.
This looks kind of creepy and weird and probably has twists and turns, but I just don’t know if I’m sold on the trailer alone.
A psychologically unsettling and atmospheric thriller set in 1989 Tokyo from director Wash Westmoreland, Earthquake Bird follows Lucy Fly (Alicia Vikander), an enigmatic expat haunted by a painful past, who enters into an intense relationship with Teiji (Naoki Kobayashi), a handsome local photographer. Lucy’s imperturbable exterior begins to crack when a naive newcomer, Lily Bridges (Riley Keough), becomes entangled in their lives and ends up missing — suspected dead.
This looks kind of creepy and weird and probably has twists and turns, but I just don’t know if I’m sold on the trailer alone.
- 10/10/2019
- by Jessica Fisher
- GeekTyrant
In the trailer for her new film “Earthquake Bird,” Alicia Vikander is being questioned as one of the top subjects in the disappearance of a missing woman and one of her best friends.
And Vikander stands out in the crowd as a suspect because she’s an expat living in Tokyo in 1989, where just the act of walking around is enough for Japanese residents to stare or take your photo.
“It’s weird how everyone stares at you. It’s like being famous,” Vikander’s friend played by Riley Keough says in the trailer.
Also Read: Alicia Vikander's 'Tomb Raider' Sequel Sets 2021 Release With Director Ben Wheatley
That’s the premise of “Earthquake Bird,” which is a psychological thriller directed by Wash Westmoreland and is produced by Ridley Scott and plays on the fish-out-of-water cultural differences of the late 1980s.
In “Earthquake Bird,” Vikander plays Lucy, an enigmatic...
And Vikander stands out in the crowd as a suspect because she’s an expat living in Tokyo in 1989, where just the act of walking around is enough for Japanese residents to stare or take your photo.
“It’s weird how everyone stares at you. It’s like being famous,” Vikander’s friend played by Riley Keough says in the trailer.
Also Read: Alicia Vikander's 'Tomb Raider' Sequel Sets 2021 Release With Director Ben Wheatley
That’s the premise of “Earthquake Bird,” which is a psychological thriller directed by Wash Westmoreland and is produced by Ridley Scott and plays on the fish-out-of-water cultural differences of the late 1980s.
In “Earthquake Bird,” Vikander plays Lucy, an enigmatic...
- 10/9/2019
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Alicia Vikander returns for her first major leading film role since 2018’s “Tomb Raider” with the Netflix neo-noir “Earthquake Bird.”
Adapted from a novel by Susanna Jones, the film stars Vikander as Lucy, an American expat living in 1980s Tokyo who falls into a dangerous relationship with a native photographer, played by Naoki Kobayashi. Vikander meets Lily, played by Riley Keough. Lily is new to Japan, but just as soon vanishes under eerie circumstances. The film also stars Jack Huston.
“Earthquake Bird” is written and directed by Wash Westmoreland, whose “Colette” earned acclaim for Keira Knightley in 2018, while his “Still Alice” won Julianne Moore an Academy Award for Best Actress. Westmoreland spoke with Entertainment Weekly, which had the exclusive trailer, about making “Earthquake Bird” on-location, including at Toho Studios, where many of the contemporary and classic “Godzilla” films were shot.
“Working with Alicia was kind of a dream,” the filmmaker...
Adapted from a novel by Susanna Jones, the film stars Vikander as Lucy, an American expat living in 1980s Tokyo who falls into a dangerous relationship with a native photographer, played by Naoki Kobayashi. Vikander meets Lily, played by Riley Keough. Lily is new to Japan, but just as soon vanishes under eerie circumstances. The film also stars Jack Huston.
“Earthquake Bird” is written and directed by Wash Westmoreland, whose “Colette” earned acclaim for Keira Knightley in 2018, while his “Still Alice” won Julianne Moore an Academy Award for Best Actress. Westmoreland spoke with Entertainment Weekly, which had the exclusive trailer, about making “Earthquake Bird” on-location, including at Toho Studios, where many of the contemporary and classic “Godzilla” films were shot.
“Working with Alicia was kind of a dream,” the filmmaker...
- 10/9/2019
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Netflix unveiled its lineup of original programming from Japan. It includes major local and international names.
Among the most highly anticipated entries is “Ai-naki Mori de Sakebe” (literal translation: Shout in the Loveless Forest), a three-part series inspired by a real multiple murder case set to stream this summer. The director is international cult favorite Sion Sono who suffered a heart attack and underwent an operation in February. “It was all my fault,” Sono told media at an event in Tokyo on Tuesday. “I was really busy with editing. I feel I should pay Netflix compensation.”
Scheduled to begin streaming on Aug. 8 to 190 countries and territories is “The Naked Director,” a series based on the career of real-life porn director Toru Muranishi. Playing Muranishi, who pioneered the adult video genre in the 1980s, is Takayuki Yamada, a favorite of Takashi Miike and the star of the popular “Uchijima the Loan Shark” series.
Among the most highly anticipated entries is “Ai-naki Mori de Sakebe” (literal translation: Shout in the Loveless Forest), a three-part series inspired by a real multiple murder case set to stream this summer. The director is international cult favorite Sion Sono who suffered a heart attack and underwent an operation in February. “It was all my fault,” Sono told media at an event in Tokyo on Tuesday. “I was really busy with editing. I feel I should pay Netflix compensation.”
Scheduled to begin streaming on Aug. 8 to 190 countries and territories is “The Naked Director,” a series based on the career of real-life porn director Toru Muranishi. Playing Muranishi, who pioneered the adult video genre in the 1980s, is Takayuki Yamada, a favorite of Takashi Miike and the star of the popular “Uchijima the Loan Shark” series.
- 6/26/2019
- by Mark Schilling
- Variety Film + TV
Production continues on director Wash Westmoreland's Tokyo-set female-driven 'noir' feature "The Earthquake Bird", adapting author Susanna Jones' mystery thriller, starring Alicia Vikander ("Tomb Raider") and Riley Keough for Netflix/Scott Free Productions:
"... in a Tokyo police station, 34 year old 'Lucy Fly' is questioned over the murder of her friend 'Lily Bridges'.
"Lucy has been in Tokyo ten years and is fluent in Japanese and employed in translating manuals into English. She is evasive in her answers to the police but recounts what led to her current situation including her estrangement from her family back in England, her relationship with photographer 'Teiji and the recent arrival of 'Lily', who like Lucy comes from East Yorkshire..."...
Click the images to enlarge...
"... in a Tokyo police station, 34 year old 'Lucy Fly' is questioned over the murder of her friend 'Lily Bridges'.
"Lucy has been in Tokyo ten years and is fluent in Japanese and employed in translating manuals into English. She is evasive in her answers to the police but recounts what led to her current situation including her estrangement from her family back in England, her relationship with photographer 'Teiji and the recent arrival of 'Lily', who like Lucy comes from East Yorkshire..."...
Click the images to enlarge...
- 2/5/2019
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Wash Westmoreland on the influence of Orson Welles's Citizen Kane: "Willy basically raps this poem about Colette and we have this big table and, oh, wouldn't it be great if everyone just started dancing on the table." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Max Ophüls' The Earrings Of Madame De…, starring Danielle Darrieux, Charles Boyer, and Vittorio De Sica, Guy de Maupassant, the Eiffel Tower, Orson Welles's Citizen Kane, and François Truffaut, the reflected relationship between Dominic West's Willy and Keira Knightley's Colette, and the influence of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cure on Earthquake Bird, starring Alicia Vikander, Riley Keough, and Jack Huston, adapted from Susanna Jones's novel - all come up in the final instalment of my conversation with Colette director Wash Westmoreland at Le Parker Meridien in New York.
Wash Westmoreland on Willy (Dominic West) taking credit for Colette's (Keira Knightley) work: "Like in West Side Story,...
Max Ophüls' The Earrings Of Madame De…, starring Danielle Darrieux, Charles Boyer, and Vittorio De Sica, Guy de Maupassant, the Eiffel Tower, Orson Welles's Citizen Kane, and François Truffaut, the reflected relationship between Dominic West's Willy and Keira Knightley's Colette, and the influence of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cure on Earthquake Bird, starring Alicia Vikander, Riley Keough, and Jack Huston, adapted from Susanna Jones's novel - all come up in the final instalment of my conversation with Colette director Wash Westmoreland at Le Parker Meridien in New York.
Wash Westmoreland on Willy (Dominic West) taking credit for Colette's (Keira Knightley) work: "Like in West Side Story,...
- 12/26/2018
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Working once again with what might be a strong female protagonist and adapted source material, Wash Westmoreland boarded The Earthquake Bird in August of 2016 and production took place in Tokyo in May of 2018 with an international cast. Quickly snapped up by the Netflix folks, Westmoreland who teams up with Oldboy cinematographer Chung Chung-hoon for a first time, has been to Sundance before with last year’s Colette (review) and 2006’s Quinceañera – which was a major career boost when it took home both the Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize prizes.
Gist: Based on Susanna Jones’ novel, set in Tokyo, this revolves around a young female expat (Riley Keough) who is suspected of murder when her friend (Alicia Vikander) goes missing in the wake of a tumultuous love triangle with Teiji (Kobayashi), a handsome and mysterious local photographer.…...
Gist: Based on Susanna Jones’ novel, set in Tokyo, this revolves around a young female expat (Riley Keough) who is suspected of murder when her friend (Alicia Vikander) goes missing in the wake of a tumultuous love triangle with Teiji (Kobayashi), a handsome and mysterious local photographer.…...
- 11/20/2018
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Exclusive: Netflix and Scott Free Productions have set Naoki Kobayashi to fill out the lethal love triangle with Alicia Vikander and Riley Keough of The Earthquake Bird. Kobayashi will play the leading male role of Teiji, a handsome and mysterious local photographer.
The film is set in Tokyo, and revolves around a young female expat who is suspected of murder when her friend goes missing in the wake of a tumultuous love triangle with the photographer. Wash Westmoreland adapted the script from the Susanna Jones novel and he is directing as his followup to the Sundance pic Colette and Still Alice, latter of which won Julianne Moore her Oscar. Jack Huston also stars in the film.
Kobayashi started out a dancer and model, and his credits in Japan include Night Hero Naoto and Tatara Samurai.
Scott Free’s Ridley Scott, Michael Pruss and Kevin Walsh are producing with Ann Ruark...
The film is set in Tokyo, and revolves around a young female expat who is suspected of murder when her friend goes missing in the wake of a tumultuous love triangle with the photographer. Wash Westmoreland adapted the script from the Susanna Jones novel and he is directing as his followup to the Sundance pic Colette and Still Alice, latter of which won Julianne Moore her Oscar. Jack Huston also stars in the film.
Kobayashi started out a dancer and model, and his credits in Japan include Night Hero Naoto and Tatara Samurai.
Scott Free’s Ridley Scott, Michael Pruss and Kevin Walsh are producing with Ann Ruark...
- 5/8/2018
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Netflix and writer/director Wash Westmoreland have set Jack Huston to play the male lead in an adaptation of the Susanna Jones novel The Earthquake Bird. He stars alongside previously set Alicia Vikander and Riley Keough. The Earthquake Bird is a Tokyo-set female-driven noir thriller that tells the story of young female expat who is suspected of murder after her friend goes missing in the wake of a tumultuous love triangle with a handsome local photographer. Huston, best known for Boardwalk Empire, plays the photog. Pic shoots this May in Tokyo and Sado Island.
Scott Free’s Kevin Walsh and Michael Pruss will produce alongside Ann Ruark and Twenty First City’s Georgina Pope. Ridley Scott will be exec producer.
The Earthquake Bird won several awards including the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the Crime Writers’ Association New Blood Dagger Award for newly published authors. Westmoreland seems a strong...
Scott Free’s Kevin Walsh and Michael Pruss will produce alongside Ann Ruark and Twenty First City’s Georgina Pope. Ridley Scott will be exec producer.
The Earthquake Bird won several awards including the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the Crime Writers’ Association New Blood Dagger Award for newly published authors. Westmoreland seems a strong...
- 4/19/2018
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
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