Based on two stories by Syugoro Yamamoto, “The Smell of an Unknown Flower” and ”Before the Dew Dries”, the script of “The Sea is Watching” was written by Akira Kurosawa, who did not manage to see it becoming a film, though, as he died in 1998. Kei Kumai eventually directed it, in a rare approach to stories about the pre-Meiji era, as it focuses not on geishas, but prostitutes.
on Imprint Asia by clicking on the image below
The setting is a village that would later become part of Tokyo, circa 1868, in the red-lights district, which is separated from the rest of the area by a river. O-shin is a somewhat naive prostitute who always falls for the people in need, something that the other girls make fun of her, including Kikuno, who has taken upon herself the role of protecting the young girl from herself. However, as the story begins,...
on Imprint Asia by clicking on the image below
The setting is a village that would later become part of Tokyo, circa 1868, in the red-lights district, which is separated from the rest of the area by a river. O-shin is a somewhat naive prostitute who always falls for the people in need, something that the other girls make fun of her, including Kikuno, who has taken upon herself the role of protecting the young girl from herself. However, as the story begins,...
- 5/7/2024
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Udine Far East Film Festival is an all-embracing gaze over the Far East which – since 1999 – has been engaging with, transcending, and never ceasing to delve deeper into questions of diversity, distance and every possible interpretation of the word “inspiring”. Some numbers: 75 films (48 in competition and 27 not in competition) from 12 countries. More precisely, 12 world premieres, 22 international premieres, 23 European premieres and 19 Italian premieres. And as far as the number of accredited visitors goes, there's been an increase of 24% over 2023. There have also been more than 250 requests from cinema students at universities around the world, which shows just how active the younger “Fareasters” are.
The 26th edition of this prestigious and beloved Festival came to an end on Thursday night with the Awards Ceremony in its historic headquarters of the Teatro Nuovo theatre. Here all the winners:
Audience Awards
1st place: Takano Tofu, Mitsuhiro Mihara, Japan 2023
2nd place: Confetti, Naoya Fujita, Japan 2024
3rd...
The 26th edition of this prestigious and beloved Festival came to an end on Thursday night with the Awards Ceremony in its historic headquarters of the Teatro Nuovo theatre. Here all the winners:
Audience Awards
1st place: Takano Tofu, Mitsuhiro Mihara, Japan 2023
2nd place: Confetti, Naoya Fujita, Japan 2024
3rd...
- 5/3/2024
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
On a big night for Japan, Mitsuhiro Mihara’s Takano Tofu took home the top prize at the 26th Far East Film Festival (Feff), which concluded on Thursday night in the northern Italian city of Udine. The family drama, which stars Tatsuya Fuji and Kumiko Aso as a father and daughter who run a tofu store in a small town, won Feff’s coveted Golden Mulberry Audience Award. Takano Tofu also won the Purple Mulberry Award, which is selected by users of MYmovies, Italy’s leading film fan platform.
It was a one-two for Japan in the main audience awards, as Naoya Fujita’s youthful drama Confetti came second place. In third was the Hong Kong film Time Still Turns the Pages, a devastating drama from Nick Cheuk who scored best director wins at the Asian Film Awards and Hong Kong Film Awards for the same film.
Feff’s Black Dragon...
It was a one-two for Japan in the main audience awards, as Naoya Fujita’s youthful drama Confetti came second place. In third was the Hong Kong film Time Still Turns the Pages, a devastating drama from Nick Cheuk who scored best director wins at the Asian Film Awards and Hong Kong Film Awards for the same film.
Feff’s Black Dragon...
- 5/3/2024
- by Abid Rahman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“Battle Cry” is a very interesting film for Kihachi Okamoto. Considering that his most famous works in the beginning of the 60s, “Samurai Assassin” and “The Sword of Doom”, even though were critical of Bushido, were also chanbara epics, the fact that later in his career, he decided to mock the exact concept, comes as a surprise, particularly because he seems to mock his filmic past. Atg was the place to do so at the time, and after “The Human Bullet” which satirized WW2, Okamoto came up with “Battle Cry”, which does the same thing with the military phase of the Meiji Restoration of 1868.
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The movie begins with a narrator that talks about a thug with a penis like a horse, instigating that this will be his story. The person in question is Sentaro, and as the movie begins,...
Follow our coverage of Art Theatre Guild by clicking on the image below
The movie begins with a narrator that talks about a thug with a penis like a horse, instigating that this will be his story. The person in question is Sentaro, and as the movie begins,...
- 8/30/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The world changed a lot in the 20 years that "Star Trek" was off-air. The Cold War was all but over when "The Next Generation" began airing in 1987. So, it made sense to reimagine the Klingons, who during "The Original Series" had been the Ussr stand-ins to the Federation's America. Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross' behind-the-scenes book, "The 50-Year Mission," details how the "Tng" writers did so.
David Gerrold, a writer on "Tos" who returned for "Tng," pitched a Klingon First Officer on the Enterprise-d. The parallels to Spock (Leonard Nimoy) would be obvious; producer Robert H. Justman even suggested the Klingon be half-human.
But wait, Worf wasn't the first officer on the Enterprise-d. That's because this idea was vetoed by "Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry. Roddenberry did not want to use the villains from "The Original Series" — his "Tng" production bible says Klingons and Romulans are verboten. Associate producer D.C. Fontana...
David Gerrold, a writer on "Tos" who returned for "Tng," pitched a Klingon First Officer on the Enterprise-d. The parallels to Spock (Leonard Nimoy) would be obvious; producer Robert H. Justman even suggested the Klingon be half-human.
But wait, Worf wasn't the first officer on the Enterprise-d. That's because this idea was vetoed by "Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry. Roddenberry did not want to use the villains from "The Original Series" — his "Tng" production bible says Klingons and Romulans are verboten. Associate producer D.C. Fontana...
- 8/20/2023
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
From 1976 to 1981, FBI agent Joe Pistone infiltrated the Bonnano crime family as "Donnie Brasco." His time undercover was spun into a 1997 movie, named for Pistone's alias and starring Johnny Depp.
The faces "Donnie" meets while undercover in the New York underworld are played by gangster film veterans. The true star of the movie, Al Pacino as Pistone's contact Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggerio. Michael Madsen, perhaps best known as Mr. Blonde in "Reservoir Dogs," plays "Sonny Black," real name Dominick Napolitano.
Their "Donnie Brasco" characters inverts their previous parts. Lefty, played by The Godfather himself, is a lowly soldier stuck in a dead-end job. Sonny Black may be a murderer, but he's also the calm and collected boss of the family, far from an unstable psychotic like Mr. Blonde. Speaking to the Av Club in 2015, Madsen said he considers "Donnie Brasco" one of the top five films he's made: "It was a pretty damned good film,...
The faces "Donnie" meets while undercover in the New York underworld are played by gangster film veterans. The true star of the movie, Al Pacino as Pistone's contact Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggerio. Michael Madsen, perhaps best known as Mr. Blonde in "Reservoir Dogs," plays "Sonny Black," real name Dominick Napolitano.
Their "Donnie Brasco" characters inverts their previous parts. Lefty, played by The Godfather himself, is a lowly soldier stuck in a dead-end job. Sonny Black may be a murderer, but he's also the calm and collected boss of the family, far from an unstable psychotic like Mr. Blonde. Speaking to the Av Club in 2015, Madsen said he considers "Donnie Brasco" one of the top five films he's made: "It was a pretty damned good film,...
- 11/7/2022
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
Completing the accusation-towards-the-system “Resurrection Trilogy”, following “Wolf’s Calling” and “The Day of Destruction”, eloquently titled “Go Seppuku Yourselves” is another audiovisual extravaganza, this time aiming at the samurai system and particularly the Bushido, alongside politicians.
“Go Seppuku Yourselves” is screening at Japan Cuts
The 25-minute short begins with a rather impressive scene, where a geisha is moving in slow motion through the narrow street of a village during the samurai era. The camera follows her from behind, but when it turns to her face, a black oni mask is revealed, before she cuts off her little finger, which is then showed being dropped somewhere. The whereabouts are revealed in the next scene, which changes completely setting, inside the “den” of a pharmacist, where a samurai, Danbe, enters, informing the owner that a well has been contaminated by an oni (a Japanese demon). Danbe also cautions the pharmacist, that the authorities,...
“Go Seppuku Yourselves” is screening at Japan Cuts
The 25-minute short begins with a rather impressive scene, where a geisha is moving in slow motion through the narrow street of a village during the samurai era. The camera follows her from behind, but when it turns to her face, a black oni mask is revealed, before she cuts off her little finger, which is then showed being dropped somewhere. The whereabouts are revealed in the next scene, which changes completely setting, inside the “den” of a pharmacist, where a samurai, Danbe, enters, informing the owner that a well has been contaminated by an oni (a Japanese demon). Danbe also cautions the pharmacist, that the authorities,...
- 8/20/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Kazuo Koike was one of Japan’s leading seinen (“youth”) manga writers and several of his works, like “Lady Snowblood” and “Lone Wolf and Cub”, have seen big-screen adaptations that’re much loved the world over. However, one of his best adaptations that still remains less discovered and even lesser discussed is “Bohachi Bushido”. The rights to the manga were secured by superstar Tetsuro Tamba, who then brought director Teruo Ishii to make what would end up being one wild ride.
One evening, when fighting a horde of enemies, weathered samurai Shino Ashita just about has enough of life in general and, out of weariness from the constant fighting that he has always seen, decides to end his life. However, it doesn’t go quite as planned, as he is rescued by people of the Bohachi clan. This clan is notorious for having forgone eight important morals...
One evening, when fighting a horde of enemies, weathered samurai Shino Ashita just about has enough of life in general and, out of weariness from the constant fighting that he has always seen, decides to end his life. However, it doesn’t go quite as planned, as he is rescued by people of the Bohachi clan. This clan is notorious for having forgone eight important morals...
- 3/9/2021
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
Review by Zack Zacho
“13 Assassins” was, with little-to-no surprise, (given the director) a commercial success globally back in 2010. The movie was made for around $6 million and grossed somewhere in the region of $17.5 million. (worldwide) I think I can safely say, given it’s a period piece created primarily for adults, that “13 Assassins” was a triumph at the box office. In Japan, the film managed to win four of it’s ten nominations at the 34th Japan Academy Awards, including `Picture of the Year` and `Director of the Year`.
The movie has had an impact all over the globe artistically, (a modern-day cult classic) from it’s day of release until now Miike delivers a slice of Japanese history (however fantastical it may be) and folklore straight into our living rooms. History is to be taught and learnt, if not always understood. And what better way to study bygone days,...
“13 Assassins” was, with little-to-no surprise, (given the director) a commercial success globally back in 2010. The movie was made for around $6 million and grossed somewhere in the region of $17.5 million. (worldwide) I think I can safely say, given it’s a period piece created primarily for adults, that “13 Assassins” was a triumph at the box office. In Japan, the film managed to win four of it’s ten nominations at the 34th Japan Academy Awards, including `Picture of the Year` and `Director of the Year`.
The movie has had an impact all over the globe artistically, (a modern-day cult classic) from it’s day of release until now Miike delivers a slice of Japanese history (however fantastical it may be) and folklore straight into our living rooms. History is to be taught and learnt, if not always understood. And what better way to study bygone days,...
- 10/9/2020
- by Guest Writer
- AsianMoviePulse
Films that focus on the rather harsh practices of Bushido have been aplenty among the jidai-geki, but “Sword of Desperation” seems to move the concept a step further, in a rather captivating (if too similar with “Harakiri”) story that is based on the homonymous novel by Hideyuki Kirayama.
The script unfolds in two time frames, both focusing on Kanemi Sanzaemon, a captain of the powerful daimyo Tabu Ukyou. As the film starts, we witness him killing his lord’s concubine, Renko, in a seemingly unwarranted action that has him, however, suffering only a minor punishment, of one-year house arrest. The second period takes place in the past, in essence explaining the reasons for his actions, mostly deriving from the huge influence Renko had on Ukyou, and the repercussions her decisions had.to both his household and the people he ruled. At the same time, we witness Sanzaemon’s relationship with his wife,...
The script unfolds in two time frames, both focusing on Kanemi Sanzaemon, a captain of the powerful daimyo Tabu Ukyou. As the film starts, we witness him killing his lord’s concubine, Renko, in a seemingly unwarranted action that has him, however, suffering only a minor punishment, of one-year house arrest. The second period takes place in the past, in essence explaining the reasons for his actions, mostly deriving from the huge influence Renko had on Ukyou, and the repercussions her decisions had.to both his household and the people he ruled. At the same time, we witness Sanzaemon’s relationship with his wife,...
- 3/12/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
“We knew how good we had it.”
John Milius, 33 years old, said that to the Los Angeles Times in 1977. At the time, he was shooting Big Wednesday, his third full-blown feature film as a director. Supposedly, it was about surfing in Southern California. In truth, the movie was about John, and that one glorious moment in his life – those years on the beach, in the early 1960s – when he was briefly at one with the times.
Milius was back on the beach Wednesday, where he anchored a gathering at Duke’s, in Malibu. The occasion was a memorial service for Jan-Michael Vincent, who died last February after a long, troubled life that was only briefly interrupted by his role as surf legend Matt Johnson in Big Wednesday.
“He was a good bad boy,” said actress Lee Purcell, who played his wife and lover in Big Wednesday,...
John Milius, 33 years old, said that to the Los Angeles Times in 1977. At the time, he was shooting Big Wednesday, his third full-blown feature film as a director. Supposedly, it was about surfing in Southern California. In truth, the movie was about John, and that one glorious moment in his life – those years on the beach, in the early 1960s – when he was briefly at one with the times.
Milius was back on the beach Wednesday, where he anchored a gathering at Duke’s, in Malibu. The occasion was a memorial service for Jan-Michael Vincent, who died last February after a long, troubled life that was only briefly interrupted by his role as surf legend Matt Johnson in Big Wednesday.
“He was a good bad boy,” said actress Lee Purcell, who played his wife and lover in Big Wednesday,...
- 4/25/2019
- by Michael Cieply
- Deadline Film + TV
Can (intense) violence be used to communicate a message about antiviolence? If Shinya Tsukamoto begun giving a reply to this question with “Fires on the Plain”, this time, he gives a definite one, and in the most stunning matter.
Killing is screening at Five Flavours Festival
After 250 years of peace, the idle samurais hear again the bells of war in the mid 19th century coming from Edo, as the “negotiations” with the Americans start taking place. Mokunoshin Tsuzuki is another masterless samurai, who earns his living by working in the rice paddies of an isolated farm, while honing his skills by sparring with the family’s son, Ichisuke, who dreams of becoming a samurai, despite the fact the he was born a peasant. At the same time, the beginning of a subtle romance seems to take place between Tsuzuki and Yu, the family’s daughter despite the fact that the...
Killing is screening at Five Flavours Festival
After 250 years of peace, the idle samurais hear again the bells of war in the mid 19th century coming from Edo, as the “negotiations” with the Americans start taking place. Mokunoshin Tsuzuki is another masterless samurai, who earns his living by working in the rice paddies of an isolated farm, while honing his skills by sparring with the family’s son, Ichisuke, who dreams of becoming a samurai, despite the fact the he was born a peasant. At the same time, the beginning of a subtle romance seems to take place between Tsuzuki and Yu, the family’s daughter despite the fact that the...
- 11/16/2018
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
“Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji” is a significant entry in the filmography of Tomu Uchida, one of the most important figures of the Japanese pre-war cinema. The film signaled his return to cinema after spending a decade in Manchuria while it is also considered as both a harsh political statement and a tribute to Uchida’s friend, Sadao Yamanaka, a promising director who was killed in combat in Manchuria. Furthermore, the film is a rare case where shomin-geki is combined with chanbara, since Uchida uses the samurai setting to portray, realistically, the lives of the lower castes in Japan, through a production that functions much like a road movie.
Sakawa is a kind samurai who travels to Edo to present some valuable ceramics to his mother. He is attended by his two servants, Gonpachi, a proud and selfless samurai who functions as his spear bearer, and Genta,...
Sakawa is a kind samurai who travels to Edo to present some valuable ceramics to his mother. He is attended by his two servants, Gonpachi, a proud and selfless samurai who functions as his spear bearer, and Genta,...
- 9/5/2018
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Berlin -- Constantin Film has acquired the rights to the best-selling autobiography of Bushido, one of Germany's most successful recording artists and a pioneer in German gangsta rap.
The 30-year-old rapper will play himself in the film, which is set to begin shooting in early 2009 for a fall release.
Born Anis Mohamed Youssef Ferchichi, the son of Tunisian immigrants to Germany, Bushido went from abject poverty to superstar status after the release of his 2001 debut album, "King of Kingz." Since then, he has had five gold and one platinum album in Germany. In 2006, he won best German act at the MTV Europe Music Awards.
True to the gangsta rap tradition, Bushido's career has been dogged with controversy, and critics accuse him of racism and misogyny for his X-rated lyrics and public utterances.
Bushido's biography, which he wrote together with Lars Armend, has spent the last nine weeks on the best-seller charts.
The 30-year-old rapper will play himself in the film, which is set to begin shooting in early 2009 for a fall release.
Born Anis Mohamed Youssef Ferchichi, the son of Tunisian immigrants to Germany, Bushido went from abject poverty to superstar status after the release of his 2001 debut album, "King of Kingz." Since then, he has had five gold and one platinum album in Germany. In 2006, he won best German act at the MTV Europe Music Awards.
True to the gangsta rap tradition, Bushido's career has been dogged with controversy, and critics accuse him of racism and misogyny for his X-rated lyrics and public utterances.
Bushido's biography, which he wrote together with Lars Armend, has spent the last nine weeks on the best-seller charts.
- 11/21/2008
- by By Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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