Takashi Yamazaki’s first feature, “Juvenile,” while nothing groundbreaking, was a charming directorial debut that teased the potential of the director’s talents moving forward. Sadly, the same cannot be said for his second movie, “Returner,” a visually ugly mess that fails to entertain with its action or engage with its sci-fi storytelling. Much of the production team returns, including visual effects companies Shirogumi and Robot Communications, as do some actors, notably Anne Suzuki, in a more prominent starring role. Starring alongside her is Takeshi Kaneshiro, who cinephiles may best recognize for his collaborations with acclaimed filmmaker Wong Kar-wai. While “Returner” would be a box-office hit, it was met with generally negative reception.
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In 2084, a young soldier named Milly travels back in time to try and prevent an alien race known as the “Daggra” from raging war against humanity.
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In 2084, a young soldier named Milly travels back in time to try and prevent an alien race known as the “Daggra” from raging war against humanity.
- 10/16/2023
- by Sean Barry
- AsianMoviePulse
“Juvenile” marks the directorial debut of Takashi Yamazaki, one of Japan’s most popular filmmakers working today. While lacking originality, it’s charm makes for a commendable first effort. The project was conceived by Shirogumi, an animation and visual effects studio Yamazaki had worked for since 1986 and continues to collaborate with. Written and directed by him, it is his first collaboration with the visual effects company Robot Communications, who, like Shirogumi, he continues to work with frequently. While fairly obscure overseas, the feature was a hit for its native release and international premiere at the Gifoni Film Festival in Italy. The robot that appears in it, Tetra, has remained fairly popular in Japanese pop culture.
During the summer of 2000 in Japan, Yusuke and his friends encounter a peculiar finding in the woods while on a camping trip. They meet a small, friendly robot named Tetra sent from the future to...
During the summer of 2000 in Japan, Yusuke and his friends encounter a peculiar finding in the woods while on a camping trip. They meet a small, friendly robot named Tetra sent from the future to...
- 9/26/2023
- by Sean Barry
- AsianMoviePulse
Racing films were all the rage in the early 2000s thanks to the successful launch of the Hollywood “The Fast and the Furious” franchise. A year before that franchise relocated briefly to Tokyo for its third drive, which introduced and focused on the technique of drifting, Hong Kong cinema also turned to Japan for “Initial D”, a feature based on a manga and anime of the same name, which also looked at the world of street racing and drifting in Japan.
“Initial D” is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival
By day, Takumi Fujiwara works at the gas station of his best friend Itsuki’s father. Come nightfall, he goes down the nearby Mt. Akina and delivers tofu for his father Bunta “Tofuman” Fujiwara’s business in his father’s AE86 car. The Mt. Akina mountain pass is a favourite track amongst underground street racers as well as professionals,...
“Initial D” is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival
By day, Takumi Fujiwara works at the gas station of his best friend Itsuki’s father. Come nightfall, he goes down the nearby Mt. Akina and delivers tofu for his father Bunta “Tofuman” Fujiwara’s business in his father’s AE86 car. The Mt. Akina mountain pass is a favourite track amongst underground street racers as well as professionals,...
- 4/28/2022
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
Racing films were all the rage in the early 2000s thanks to the successful launch of the Hollywood “The Fast and the Furious” franchise. A year before that franchise relocated briefly to Tokyo for its third drive, which introduced and focused on the technique of drifting, Hong Kong cinema also turned to Japan for “Initial D”, a feature based on a manga and anime of the same name, which also looked at the world of street racing and drifting in Japan.
on Amazon
By day, Takumi Fujiwara works at the gas station of his best friend Itsuki’s father. Come nightfall, he goes down the nearby Mt. Akina and delivers tofu for his father Bunta “Tofuman” Fujiwara’s business in his father’s AE86 car. The Mt. Akina mountain pass is a favourite track amongst underground street racers as well as professionals, who test their and each...
on Amazon
By day, Takumi Fujiwara works at the gas station of his best friend Itsuki’s father. Come nightfall, he goes down the nearby Mt. Akina and delivers tofu for his father Bunta “Tofuman” Fujiwara’s business in his father’s AE86 car. The Mt. Akina mountain pass is a favourite track amongst underground street racers as well as professionals, who test their and each...
- 2/22/2022
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
“Akira” – repeatedly claimed as one of the greatest anime films of all time – has done little to support the sales of its followup film, “Steamboy.” Katsuhiro Otomo’s equally monumental second feature doubly hit the books as one of the most expensive animated movies made to date. With a budget of 2.4 billion Yen ($26 million Usd), this ambitious production cost over 180,000 drawings, 440 CG cuts, and around ten years of production for a 2-hour production.
Needless to say, it was epic.
Like “Akira,” “Steamboy” tells another cautionary tale of mass destruction. This time, however, the film takes place in Britain at the peak of the Victorian era. Here, the film begins at the heart of the Industrial Revolution: Manchester. The film opens when the 13-year-old James Ray Steam (Anne Suzuki) receives a mysterious package from his grandfather. Apparently, an accompanying letter says, this unwieldy contraption is a “steam ball...
Needless to say, it was epic.
Like “Akira,” “Steamboy” tells another cautionary tale of mass destruction. This time, however, the film takes place in Britain at the peak of the Victorian era. Here, the film begins at the heart of the Industrial Revolution: Manchester. The film opens when the 13-year-old James Ray Steam (Anne Suzuki) receives a mysterious package from his grandfather. Apparently, an accompanying letter says, this unwieldy contraption is a “steam ball...
- 9/21/2021
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
In the spirit of “Thelma and Louise,” a lesbian fugitive and the woman she’d kill for hit the road with three stilettos and a blood-red BMW in “Ride or Die.” A glammed up, erotically-charged cocktail of amour fou and true romance directed by Ryuichi Hiroki and written by Nami Kikkawa, the Netflix production gives agency to full-blooded female protagonists. That’s a rarity in Japan’s studio-dominated, cookie-cutter entertainment industry, which explains its liberating, inexhaustible energy.
Based on the adult-skewing manga “Gunjo” (Ultramarine) by Ching Nakamura, the film stars actor-model Kiko Mizuhara (“Norwegian Wood”) and actor-musician Honami Sato. The two celebs’ graphic sex scenes and full-frontal nudity are bound to be a talking point in Japan, where managers usually exert such tight control over their actors’ public image they forbid anything risqué. Given such a system, the audacity and ardor Mizuhara and Sato generated on screen prove their commitment.
Based on the adult-skewing manga “Gunjo” (Ultramarine) by Ching Nakamura, the film stars actor-model Kiko Mizuhara (“Norwegian Wood”) and actor-musician Honami Sato. The two celebs’ graphic sex scenes and full-frontal nudity are bound to be a talking point in Japan, where managers usually exert such tight control over their actors’ public image they forbid anything risqué. Given such a system, the audacity and ardor Mizuhara and Sato generated on screen prove their commitment.
- 4/15/2021
- by Maggie Lee
- Variety Film + TV
Based on a short story by Shuichi Yoshida, whose fiction also inspired the critically acclaimed “Villain” and “A Story of Yonosuke”, the film won the Special Jury Prize at the 35th Moscow International Film Festival, although in Japan, it was mainly praised for Yoko Maki’s performance.
The script implements a rather unusual narrative, as it begins with a number of reporters besieging an apartment where a woman suspected of murdering her own baby lives. Eventually the police arrest her and the focus turns to the couple having sex door, Shunsuke and Kanako. A bit later, we are introduced to Watanabe, a reporter covering the story, who seems to have marital issues. The woman arrested informs the police that she had an affair with Shunsuke and that turns the attention of Watanabe and his partner, Kobayashi to him. Eventually they dig up his past, which involved a rape,...
The script implements a rather unusual narrative, as it begins with a number of reporters besieging an apartment where a woman suspected of murdering her own baby lives. Eventually the police arrest her and the focus turns to the couple having sex door, Shunsuke and Kanako. A bit later, we are introduced to Watanabe, a reporter covering the story, who seems to have marital issues. The woman arrested informs the police that she had an affair with Shunsuke and that turns the attention of Watanabe and his partner, Kobayashi to him. Eventually they dig up his past, which involved a rape,...
- 1/14/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
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,...
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,...
- 10/9/2015
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Exclusive: Japan’s Nippon TV (Ntv) is launching sales on new titles by hot Japanese directors Takashi Miike and Shunji Iwai at the European Film Market (Efm).
Based on Masashi Sada’s novel and song, Miike’s The Lion Standing In The Wind follows a Japanese doctor who travels to Africa and treats a boy soldier. Miike shot the film in Japan and Kenya last year.
Takao Osawa, who starred in Miike’s Shield Of Straw, plays the doctor and the cast also includes Satomi Ishihara and Yoko Maki. Japanese release is scheduled for March 14, 2015.
Shunji Iwai’s animated feature The Case Of Hana And Alice is a follow-up to his live action high school romance Hana And Alice (2004).
The story revolves around how the titular characters first met, while investigating the rumoured murder of a classmate.
Yu Aoi and Anne Suzuki, who played the leads in the live action version, voice the animation...
Based on Masashi Sada’s novel and song, Miike’s The Lion Standing In The Wind follows a Japanese doctor who travels to Africa and treats a boy soldier. Miike shot the film in Japan and Kenya last year.
Takao Osawa, who starred in Miike’s Shield Of Straw, plays the doctor and the cast also includes Satomi Ishihara and Yoko Maki. Japanese release is scheduled for March 14, 2015.
Shunji Iwai’s animated feature The Case Of Hana And Alice is a follow-up to his live action high school romance Hana And Alice (2004).
The story revolves around how the titular characters first met, while investigating the rumoured murder of a classmate.
Yu Aoi and Anne Suzuki, who played the leads in the live action version, voice the animation...
- 2/5/2015
- by lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
- ScreenDaily
The racing movie has been a staple of Hollywood filmmaking for years. From classics such as Le Mans to the modern-day Fast & Furious franchise, there have always been racing movies and there have always been racing movie fans… The latest entry into the racing film genre is Death Race 3: Inferno, which continues the fight to the death Car-nage that the series is famous for. In honour of that films release of, we decided to take a look at the Top 10 Best Racing Films.
10) Initial D: Drift Racer
18-year-old Takumi (Jay Chou) delivers tofu for his hard-drinking dad, and works part time at his best friend’s garage. When he is unexpectedly asked to drive in an upcoming race, Takumi’s shock victory opens up a whole new world of possibilities, and his overnight fame is soon leading him to even more hellraising and dangerous races. But as Takumi pushes...
10) Initial D: Drift Racer
18-year-old Takumi (Jay Chou) delivers tofu for his hard-drinking dad, and works part time at his best friend’s garage. When he is unexpectedly asked to drive in an upcoming race, Takumi’s shock victory opens up a whole new world of possibilities, and his overnight fame is soon leading him to even more hellraising and dangerous races. But as Takumi pushes...
- 2/13/2013
- by Phil
- Nerdly
The Japanese film site Cinema Today has posted a link to the new 2-minute trailer for Ryuichi Hiroki’s upcoming film Keibetsu on their YouTube channel.
Based on a novel by the late Kenji Nakagami, the film stars Kengo Kora and Anne Suzuki as a troubled young couple.
Kora plays Kazu, the only son of a prominent family. In spite of his distinguished upbringing, he spends most of his time gambling all his money away in Tokyo. Suzuki plays Machiko, the number one pole dancer at a club in Kabukicho, Shinjuku. The two start a fling based on mutual attraction and attempt to begin a life together in Kazu’s home town. However, his family is unwilling to recognize the relationship.
Machiko returns to Tokyo and Kazu soon follows her there to profess his love for her once and for all. Meanwhile, the huge debt he’s racked up with...
Based on a novel by the late Kenji Nakagami, the film stars Kengo Kora and Anne Suzuki as a troubled young couple.
Kora plays Kazu, the only son of a prominent family. In spite of his distinguished upbringing, he spends most of his time gambling all his money away in Tokyo. Suzuki plays Machiko, the number one pole dancer at a club in Kabukicho, Shinjuku. The two start a fling based on mutual attraction and attempt to begin a life together in Kazu’s home town. However, his family is unwilling to recognize the relationship.
Machiko returns to Tokyo and Kazu soon follows her there to profess his love for her once and for all. Meanwhile, the huge debt he’s racked up with...
- 2/21/2011
- Nippon Cinema
Earlier this week, it was announced that the last full-length work of Akutagawa Prize-winning author Kenji Nakagami, Keibetsu (literally “scorn”), is being turned into a film starring Kengo Kora and Anne Suzuki. Ryuichi Hiroki (April Bride, The Lightning Tree) will direct.
Kora plays Kazu, the only son of a prominent family. In spite of his distinguished upbringing, he spends most of his time gambling all his money away in Tokyo. In a fairly drastic shift from her usually image, Suzuki plays Machiko, the number one pole dancer at a club in Kabukicho, Shinjuku. The two start a fling based on mutual attraction and attempt to begin a life together in Kazu’s home town. However, his family is unwilling to recognize the relationship.
Machiko soon returns to Tokyo and Kazu comes to the realization that he has no way to pay off the massive debt he’s racked up with...
Kora plays Kazu, the only son of a prominent family. In spite of his distinguished upbringing, he spends most of his time gambling all his money away in Tokyo. In a fairly drastic shift from her usually image, Suzuki plays Machiko, the number one pole dancer at a club in Kabukicho, Shinjuku. The two start a fling based on mutual attraction and attempt to begin a life together in Kazu’s home town. However, his family is unwilling to recognize the relationship.
Machiko soon returns to Tokyo and Kazu comes to the realization that he has no way to pay off the massive debt he’s racked up with...
- 11/3/2010
- Nippon Cinema
Venice International Film Festival
VENICE, Italy -- Takeshi Kitano is called God in Japan, and this God, like an Indian version, has two avatars.
Beat Takeshi, the name he assumed when he entered show business as a comic in 1972, runs riotous slapstick serials on Japanese television. The actor's other name is, well, Takeshi Kitano, the serious filmmaker, whose movies often are horribly violent. His latest work, Glory to the Filmmaker (Kantoku Banzai), screened out of competition at the Venice Film Festival and is a cocktail of violence and comedy.
Although billed as his first real comedy since the 1995 "Getting Any?" the movie has a few extremely brutal scenes, probably to attract Japanese youth growing up on aggressive video games and near-sadistic comics. Despite this mix, the film did just about average business in Japan. Kitano does spell success in art house circles, and Venice honored him this year by naming an award after his latest movie. Kitano received the inaugural Glory to the Filmmaker prize, his first accolade on the Lido since 1997, when his Fireworks won the Golden Lion for the best competition entry.
Glory reflects the disillusionment of a director. Indeed, Kitano recently complained publicly that the medium, despite its 100-plus years of existence, had not evolved radically enough. It is this frustrating feeling that he gives vent to in his film.
So Beat Takeshi desperately seeks a new genre that will bring audiences back to the theaters. He tries out a variety of plots that pan from gangsterism to romance to costume drama to period piece to martial arts to horror to slow-paced Ozu-style narrative. But each of these displeases him; he finds little novelty. Then he hits upon the story of a mother-daughter duo who try to crook a rich man. Beat is his secretary, and he thwarts the women's attempts, saving mankind in the process!
Although the movie does make several forays into the comic, often getting viewers into splits, it tends to drag at intervals, and Takeshi's normal wooden style of acting and deadpan expression do not lift the sagging frames. The women -- Kayoko Kishimoto (mother) and Anne Suzuki (daughter) -- are livelier, effectively delivering funny one-liners. Toru Emori as Mr. Big appears rather exaggerated, coming off as an overstuffed doll, an apt partner for Kitano's own look-alike puppet that shields him from punches and abuses.
GLORY TO THE FILMMAKER
Office Kitano
Credits:
Screenwriter-director-editor: Takeshi Kitano
Producers: Masayuki Mori, Takio Yoshida
Director of photography: Katsumi Yanagijima
Production designer: Norihiro Isoda
Music: Shin-Ichiro Ikebe
Costume designer: Fumio Iwasaki
Cast:
Beat Takeshi: Takeshi Kitano
Mr Big: Toru Emori
Mother: Kayoko Kishimoto
Daughter: Anne Suzuki
Running time -- 104 minutes
No MPAA rating...
VENICE, Italy -- Takeshi Kitano is called God in Japan, and this God, like an Indian version, has two avatars.
Beat Takeshi, the name he assumed when he entered show business as a comic in 1972, runs riotous slapstick serials on Japanese television. The actor's other name is, well, Takeshi Kitano, the serious filmmaker, whose movies often are horribly violent. His latest work, Glory to the Filmmaker (Kantoku Banzai), screened out of competition at the Venice Film Festival and is a cocktail of violence and comedy.
Although billed as his first real comedy since the 1995 "Getting Any?" the movie has a few extremely brutal scenes, probably to attract Japanese youth growing up on aggressive video games and near-sadistic comics. Despite this mix, the film did just about average business in Japan. Kitano does spell success in art house circles, and Venice honored him this year by naming an award after his latest movie. Kitano received the inaugural Glory to the Filmmaker prize, his first accolade on the Lido since 1997, when his Fireworks won the Golden Lion for the best competition entry.
Glory reflects the disillusionment of a director. Indeed, Kitano recently complained publicly that the medium, despite its 100-plus years of existence, had not evolved radically enough. It is this frustrating feeling that he gives vent to in his film.
So Beat Takeshi desperately seeks a new genre that will bring audiences back to the theaters. He tries out a variety of plots that pan from gangsterism to romance to costume drama to period piece to martial arts to horror to slow-paced Ozu-style narrative. But each of these displeases him; he finds little novelty. Then he hits upon the story of a mother-daughter duo who try to crook a rich man. Beat is his secretary, and he thwarts the women's attempts, saving mankind in the process!
Although the movie does make several forays into the comic, often getting viewers into splits, it tends to drag at intervals, and Takeshi's normal wooden style of acting and deadpan expression do not lift the sagging frames. The women -- Kayoko Kishimoto (mother) and Anne Suzuki (daughter) -- are livelier, effectively delivering funny one-liners. Toru Emori as Mr. Big appears rather exaggerated, coming off as an overstuffed doll, an apt partner for Kitano's own look-alike puppet that shields him from punches and abuses.
GLORY TO THE FILMMAKER
Office Kitano
Credits:
Screenwriter-director-editor: Takeshi Kitano
Producers: Masayuki Mori, Takio Yoshida
Director of photography: Katsumi Yanagijima
Production designer: Norihiro Isoda
Music: Shin-Ichiro Ikebe
Costume designer: Fumio Iwasaki
Cast:
Beat Takeshi: Takeshi Kitano
Mr Big: Toru Emori
Mother: Kayoko Kishimoto
Daughter: Anne Suzuki
Running time -- 104 minutes
No MPAA rating...
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