It’s been nearly two years since the premiere of “Tokyo Vice,” in which director Michael Mann introduced us to yet another lonely male obsessive. As the sole Caucasian employee of Tokyo’s largest newspaper, Jake Adelstein (Ansel Elgort) — a real-life journalist and executive producer of the show, which is loosely based on his memoir of the same name — stood out like a sore thumb. He also acted as a Virgil guiding American viewers through the Japanese underworld at the turn of the millennium. Jake investigates organized crime via an informal partnership with Hiroto Katagiri (Ken Watanabe), a policeman who doesn’t fight the yakuza so much as help preserve the equilibrium among their competing factions. Samantha (Rachel Keller), a Mormon missionary turned apostate, served a similar purpose to Jake, but as a guide to hostess bars, a source of paid yet strictly nonsexual company unfamiliar to Westerners.
In Season...
In Season...
- 2/8/2024
- by Alison Herman
- Variety Film + TV
The bond between parents and their children is at the core of many narratives, especially when it comes to the idea of passing on knowledge or teaching someone skills you feel are necessary to survive in this world. During his career, Japanese director Naoya Asanuma has explored this link quite often, if features such as “Fuyu go moetara” (2017) or “My life, My love and My pickpocketing” (2015) are any indicators. His newest feature, the short “The Stolen Ocean” is no exception to the rule, blending family drama and road movie and resulting in a tale about two outcasts, which benefits especially from its two central performances, and which receives its international premiere at this year’s Japan Filmfest Hamburg.
The Stolen Ocean is screening at Japan Filmfest Hamburg
However, it is not just the bond between father and child which connects Kosuke (Takaki Uda) and his daughter Hazuki (Riho Toshio). In order to provide for themselves,...
The Stolen Ocean is screening at Japan Filmfest Hamburg
However, it is not just the bond between father and child which connects Kosuke (Takaki Uda) and his daughter Hazuki (Riho Toshio). In order to provide for themselves,...
- 6/22/2022
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
The concept of the home invasion has been explored in a number of radically different films in Japanese cinema, from Takashi Miike’s “Visitor Q” to Koji Fukada’s “Harmonium”. Naoya Fujita adds another, radically different approach, by making the invader a public servant, in an effort that netted him the Best Picture Award from Skip City International D-Cinema Festival.
Stay screened at Skip City International D-Cinema Festival
A group of five people has occupied a traditional Japanese house, living there in a kind of commune where the only rule is that they accept everybody and that they all do their share in chores and contribute financially. However, the local town office wants them out of there, even though they have no particular reason to evict them, and has dispatched a number of public servants to ask them to leave, to no avail. The latest “agent” is Yajima, a young...
Stay screened at Skip City International D-Cinema Festival
A group of five people has occupied a traditional Japanese house, living there in a kind of commune where the only rule is that they accept everybody and that they all do their share in chores and contribute financially. However, the local town office wants them out of there, even though they have no particular reason to evict them, and has dispatched a number of public servants to ask them to leave, to no avail. The latest “agent” is Yajima, a young...
- 1/18/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
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