News

Tatsushi Ohmori made an impressive transition from arthouse filmmaker to cineplex crowd pleaser. Known for violent disruptions of conventions both cinematic and social, he created his own style, starting in 2005 with the debut film “The Whispering of Gods”. His latest production, “Goodbye Cruel World”, is a heist movie about a group of people who rob a Yakuza gang. Betrayal, love, and revenge are mixed together and crowned with an A-List cast.

Goodbye Cruel World is screening at Hawai’i International Film Festival

Nao Ohmori (“Outrage Coda” 2017) steals the show as a detective hired by the yakuza to find the culprits. On the other side, “Drive my Car” actor Hidetoshi Nishijima leads the robbers, consisting of Takumi Saitoh (“Shin Godzilla” 2016), Hio Miyazawa (“his” 2020), Tina Tamashiro (“Diner” 2019), Tomokazu Miura (“Adrift in Tokyo” 2007), and Daisuke Miyagawa (“Drop” 2009). All the characters are portrayed in a passive way, and their story is told with many omissions,...

A comedy in which four dull single middle-aged men struggle to fulfill the wishes of a longing woman who reunited for the first time in 20 years. In order to capture the heart of the former heroine, she depicts the adventures of men who are eager to find the mysterious “Yaunpe” she wants. The director said, “Wow! Ryo Miyawaki such as “Sukehira”. Hiroyuki Ikeuchi such as “Rock’n’Roll Sewing Machine”, Daisuke Miyagawa such as “Sakuranbo no Koi”, Satoru Matsuo such as “Shin Godzilla”, Tetsuhiro Ikeda such as “Ghostwriter Hotel”, Misako Renbu, Muramatsu Toshifumi, Kurihara, and Umika Kawashima will co-star.

Live-action adaptations of manga are a booming business in Japan. While this trend is not applauded by everyone – a proliferation structuring the business, one cannot deny that the potential these narratives have often led to enjoyable end products – e.g. “Moteki” (2011), “Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno” (2014), and “Tokyo Ghoul” (2017). Is Kan Eguchi, an unknown director with a limited oeuvre but with excellent credentials, able to adapt Katsuhisa Minami’s manga “The Fable” in something worthy of our time? Let’s find out in our review.

“The Scoundrels” is screening at New York Asian Film Festival

One day, Fable (Junichi Okada), a famous contract-killer, is ordered to stay low for a year in Osaka. While he receives Akira Sato as his alter-ego, his partner (Fumino Kimura) is given the identity of Yoko Sato, Akira’s younger sister.

When contract killer Fudo (Sota Fukushi) and his partner inspect Fable’s last work of art,...