Neuigkeiten

During Covid-19, many Japanese communities organized fireworks to cheer people up and strengthen the collective spirit while being isolated. Emiko Hiramatsu, an industry veteran and regular writer for Yoji Yamada, uses this as a premise to tell a heartwarming story about her hometown, Kurashiki.

The Tales of Kurashiki is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival

After her husband destroys her paintings, Natsuko leaves behind her family and heads for the big city to continue her art. Not only does she leave behind her daughter Beniko and her autistic brother Kyosuke but also an unfinished family portrait. Years later, Beniko aims to be accepted into an Arts college. Obsessed with the unfinished piece of art by her mother, she is determined to submit the once-finished version as an application work. However, her determination is hindered by her alcoholic father and her sense of responsibility for her brother.

The second storyline is...

Japanese actor Joe Odagiri has made his directorial debut with They Say Nothing Stays the Same, a drama that premiered at the Venice Film Festival back in 2019 followed by a subsequent release in its native country. Now finally receiving a U.S. release courtesy of Film Movement on November 12, we’re pleased to debut the exclusive new trailer for the film shot by the great Christopher Doyle, longtime collaborator of Wong Kar-wai.

The drama follows an old ferryman in a remote Meiji-era community. His life is a peaceful, cyclical existence, given meaning by the essential role he plays in transporting people, livestock, and goods across the water, connecting villages and lives. When news arrives that a bridge is being built, it’s clear that his services will no longer be needed. Meanwhile, his life will be equally transformed by the appearance of a mysterious young woman whom he saves from drowning.

As the film begins with an action scene filled with visual effects, explosions and war in all its cinematic glory, one would think that this was going to be another war drama about the loss the Japanese suffered in WWII, much like one of Takashi Yamazaki’s previous works, the multi-awarded “The Fighter Pilot”. However, as soon as the second scene depicts a heated argument among the people in charge of the Japanese navy in 1933, regarding the type of the vessel they should build, it becomes evident that the based on Norifusa Mita’s manga film is a whole different kind of movie.

On the one hand, Shigetaro Shizuma and mechanic Tadamichi Hirayama insist on building a huge battleship that will boast the glory of Nippon and elevate morale among the troops and the population. On the other, Isoroku Yamamoto and Osami Nagano insist that a fighter...

In a testament to film’s appeal to the Japanese audience, only four months after the March 2016 release of the original movie, this sequel was greenlighted, with Yoji Yamada presenting once again, the shenanigans of a truly crazy, but very lovable family.

“What A Wonderful Family 2” screened at Fantasia International Film Festival

The story takes place several years after the events of the first movie, when Shuzo, the patriarch of the family almost divorced from his wife, Tomiko. Shuzo, however, is once more the central character, as the two parts of the film revolve around him. The first regards the (conspiring) efforts of the rest of the family to persuade him to stop driving, after realizing that his car has a number of dents, and the second his meeting with Ginnpei Maruta, an old schoolmate who has disappeared. The old friends decide to go on a night of extreme drinking...

Yoji Yamada’s What a Wonderful Family screening on Fantasia International Film FestivalSTORY73%DIRECTION77%ACTING80%VISUALS65%POSITIVESGreat castMeaningful story with social implicationsElaborate directionNEGATIVESThe slow pace and the lack of action may not apply to the mainstream audience2016-08-0174%Overall ScoreReader Rating: (0 Votes)0%

Yoji Yamada has turned towards family films during the latest years, and this time presents a social comedy about a family of three generations living under the same roof.

The Hirata’s, seemingly, are a functional family, despite the fact that the grandparents, their eldest son, Konosuke with his wife, Fumie and their two children, and the younger son, Shota, all live under the same roof, along with their dog, Toto. The only family member away from the house is the daughter, Shigeko, who lives with her husband, Taizo, in an apartment of their own. The only one who seems to be problematic is the grandfather, Shuzo,...

The films of Hirokazu Kore-eda aren't flashy, but what they lack in pizazz, they make up for in deep wells of emotion. Fatherhood and family are the resonating themes in his movies of late, in pictures such as the excellent "Like Father, Like Son" and "Our Little Sister," which debuted at Cannes last year, and opens in limited release in the U.S. soon. The busy filmmaker has already wrapped his next effort, and once again, fathers, sons, and family take center stage.  Starring Hiroshi Abe, Kirin Kiki, Yoko Maki, Taiyo Yoshizawa, Sosuke Ikematsu, Lily Franky, Satomi Kobayashi, and Isao Hashizume, the story follows a divorced man, a former writer and current private detective, who tries to reconnect with his ex-wife and son. Here's the official synopsis:  Dwelling on his past glory as a prize-winning author, Ryota (Hiroshi Abe) wastes the money he makes as a private detective on gambling and can barely pay.

Exclusive: Japanese studio Shochiku is launching sales on two new projects from leading director Yoji Yamada – a drama based on a Hisashi Inoue story and the director’s first comedy since the end of the Tora-san series in 1995.

The drama, Haha To Kuraseba (literal translation: Living With My Mother) is currently in production with Sayuri Yoshinaga (Kabei: Our Mother) and Kazunari Ninomiya (Letters From Iwo Jima) heading the cast.

The story follows a midwife in Nagasaki who is stunned when she is visited by her son who she thought had died three years earlier when an atomic bomb fell on the city. Japanese release is tentatively scheduled for Winter 2015.

Currently in post-production, the comedy Kazoku Wa Tsuraiyo! stars most of the cast from Yamada’s Tokyo Family, including Isao Hashizume, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Masahiko Nishimura and Yui Natsukawa.

The story follows an older couple who decide to divorce after 50 years of marriage, and the efforts...

The Tale Of Princess Kaguya Gkids Reviewed for Shockya by Harvey Karten. Data-based on Rotten Tomatoes. Grade:    B+ Director:  Isao Takahata Screenwriter:  Isao Takahata Cast:  Dubbed version: Chloë Grace Moretz, James Caan, Mary Steenburgen, Darren Criss, Lucy Liu, Beau Bridges, James Marsden, Oliver Platt, Dean Cain. Subtitled version: Aki Asakura, Kengo Kora, Takeo Chii, Nobuko Miyamoto, Atsuko Takahata, Tomoko Tabata, Tatekawa, Takaya Kamikawa, Hikaru Ijuin, Ryudo Uzaki, Nakamura Shichinosuke II, Isao Hashizume, Yukiji Asaoka, Tatsuya Nakadai Screened at:  Review 2, NYC, 10/14/15 Opens:  October 17, 2014 If your high school World History course was like mine, you spent a little time on Greece and Rome, another few weeks on medieval  [ Read More ]

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Gkids, a distributor of award-winning animation for both adult and family audiences, has announced the English voice cast for The Tale of Princess Kaguya, the highly anticipated new feature from Studio Ghibli. It is the first film in fourteen years from legendary Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata. In addition to Chloe Moretz as The Princess Kaguya, the film features the voices of James Caan, Mary Steenburgen, Darren Criss, Lucy Liu, Beau Bridges, James Marsden, Oliver Platt and Dean Cain. (Full cast list below.) Gkids has North American distribution rights for the film and is planning a theatrical release starting October 17, with national expansion to follow. The film will qualify for the Academy Awards and other awards season contests.

The Tale of Princess Kaguya made its international premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, where Variety hailed it as "a visionary tour-de-force." Eight years in the making, the film is the untold story of The Princess Kaguya,...