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Nowadays, short-form content is taking over the world and is steadily decreasing our attention span. Any movie longer than two hours can be tiresome for moviegoers who aren't used to the immersive world-building seen in Avatar: The Way of Water's three-hour storyline and even Wicked's 160-minute part one. Watching a full-length film takes real dedication, yet the four hours of the 2008 comedy-drama Love Exposure flies by in an instant.

The concept of experiencing romance for the first time is a tried and tested trope in shows, movies, literature, and music. Hikaru Utada’s global 1990’s hit “First Love” which tackles this theme is one of the most successful Japanese pop songs worldwide. It perfectly captures the yearning and grief associated with an all consuming love which ended but still haunts the person who felt it.

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Almost two decades later, Netflix produced a series directly inspired by this song and its 2018 follow up track called “Hatsukoi.” It stars Takeru Satoh, Hikari Mitsushima (“Love Exposure”), as well as Yagi Rikako and Taisei Kido. Consisting of cliches which are woven beautifully, it depicts fated love and serves as a great introduction to Japanese melodramas for audiences worldwide.

Spanning two decades, it narrates the story of Yae (Riko/Mitsushima) and Harumichi (Kido/Satoh), as wide-eyed,...

Sakaki Hideo, a well-known Japanese actor and film director, was arrested on Tuesday in Tokyo on suspicion of sexual assault.

Japanese media, quoting police reports, said that the arrest relates to an alleged incident in May 2016. They also cite Sakaki’s denial of the charges, which he calls “false accusations.”

The assault is alleged to have occurred at Sakaki’s apartment, where he took an actor in her 20s in order to give her acting advice. During the course of their encounter, Sakaki is alleged to have asked the woman to take off her clothes so that he could check for tattoos and suggested that she should get used to nudity in her acting career.

The actor and her lawyer consulted with Tokyo police in September that year, and filed a formal complaint in 2023.

The alleged incident was first reported in the Shukan Bunshun weekly magazine in March 2022, which accused...

InlanDimensions International Arts Festival has established itself as Central Europe's largest multidisciplinary festival, rejecting differentiation between Europe and Asia by building bridges between countries and cultures. It showcases a kaleidoscope of arts ranging from theatre, performance, dance, and cinema, to music, literature, and visual arts, bringing together artists and audiences from all over the world, launching co-productions, and facilitating negotiations between venues and producers through professional language services. Though the central focus of InlanDimensions is on postwar to postmodern art, the festival does not break with tradition, but stresses its transformations and influence on contemporary art. It introduces audiences to the concept of Eurasian theatre and film as a marriage of diverse cultures and genres within a single piece of art. We invite a broad spectrum of artists to create another dimension of this vast intercultural empire that reaches deeper and deeper into the continents.

Projects currently in progress initiated...

Yoshika is a young hard working woman with an obsession for extinct animals. Pouring so much passion into her job and interests, her love life has remained stagnant throughout her life. This does not stop her from injecting romance into her daily life as she relieves and tells stories of a school crush to everyone she meets in her life. Determined that she will eventually be reunited with “Ichi” through a romantic fate, Yoshika is able to live a rather carefree existence that allows her to indulge in her own eccentricities. Yoshika's comfortable existence begins to change when one of her co-workers begins to openly court her.

“Tremble All You Want” is streaming on Sakka Films

With the possibility of having her first boyfriend, the memories of her high school crush, whom she views as the ideal partner, begins to escalate, culminating in her planning a school reunion to see him again.

From the late ’50s and into the 1970s the Japanese New Wave exhibited an incredible creative outburst that defined and shaped what we consider contemporary Japanese cinema. But most studious critics have labeled what came after, the 1980s, as the “lost decade” of Japanese filmmaking, where no major directors or movements came to the forefront in either the home country or worldwide. Nevertheless, there’s been a recent surge of reconsideration of that period, mainly through retrospectives and restorations, like the one put together by Japan Society on Shinji Somai, one of the most important, eclectic directors who got his start in that epoch.

“Rites of Passage: The Films of Shinji Somai” features seven of the director’s early features, made between 1981 and 1990, which cemented his style. As the name of the retrospective and its accompanying description by its programmers hint, Somai cut his teeth into the seishun eiga (youth film) genre,...

The world of Japanese cinema is one of the most acclaimed and beloved. This video examines many of the classics, the most essential films ever made in Japan or by Japanese filmmakers. Why is the appreciation of Japanese cinema so enduring? "Narrator Luiza Liz Bond emphasized the 'heightened aesthetic sensibility' of Japanese filmmakers, on display in 'the tender observation of Ozu's Tokyo Story, the poetic rhapsody of Kurosawa's Dreams, the harrowing feminine gaze of Videophobia." The video essay is split into different chapters covering different styles of films: Bushidō, Wabi-Sabi, Mono No Aware, Yūgen, Guro, and Hen. Many all-timer films are featured including The Sword of Doom, Seven Samurai, Hausu, Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Tampopo, Love Exposure, Sansho the Bailiff, Tokyo Sonata + many more. Discover films below. // Continue Reading ›...

Japanese film producer Umekawa Haruo has been accused of sexual harassment in a report by Bunshun Online, a sister site of the Shukan Bunshun weekly tabloid publication.

According to a shortened web version of a longer story that is set to appear in print, Umekawa has pressured actresses for sexual favors in exchange for being cast in his films.

The veteran producer has been active since the 1990s and is an associate of cult director Sono Sion. On Monday, Sono was accused of being sexual harassment by the Shukan Josei Prime entertainment news and gossip site.

Umekawa’s credits include the 1990 indie drama “Swimming Upstream,” Sono’s 2008 international festival hit “Love Exposure” and his 2011 drama “Themis.” Umekawa’s most recent credit is Netflix’s lesbian-themed road movie “Ride or Die.”

The multiple accusations against prominent figures appear to suggest that the #MeToo movement has belatedly arrived in Japan, where the...

Prolific Japanese director Sion Sono, known for such films as Love Exposure and Antiporno, as well as the recent Nicolas Cage-starrer Prisoners Of The Ghostland, has reportedly been accused of sexual harassment by several actresses in Japan.

The accusations came to light in a post on local site Shukan Josei Prime with actresses anonymously alleging impropriety. According to Deadline’s sister publication, Variety, the alleged predatory behavior has been linked to Sono’s acting workshops and an upcoming workshop has been cancelled.

Actor Yuki Matsuzaki, who has appeared in such films as Letters From Iwo Jima and The Pink Panther 2, has been tweeting about the allegations:

Now that Sion Sono is outed as a sexual predator who preys on young actresses luring them with roles in his films, I wonder if Any of the major Japanese film studios and TV networks would condemn such predatory practices? How about Japan Academy Awards?...

Sion Sono, the Japanese cult film director of movies like “Love Exposure” and who in 2021 directed Nicolas Cage in “Prisoners of the Ghostland,” is being accused of sexual assault by two anonymous actresses who say that he offered roles in his films in exchange for sex.

The accusations as published Monday in the Japanese magazine Shukan Josei link his alleged predatory behavior to his acting workshops, and in addition to the two unnamed women, the piece also includes a quote from a Japanese film executive who accused Sono of misconduct.

“Even now, there is a director who has no qualms about saying ‘If you screw me, I’ll give you work’. His films are acclaimed and many actresses want to appear in them. He uses that to assault women as if it’s nothing. That director is Sion Sono,” the executive told the magazine.

One woman identified as Actress A...

Japanese director Sion Sono has been accused by two women of sexual assault in a new report from Shukan Josei Prime.

Sono is known for provocative indie films like 2008’s “Love Exposure,” which screened at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival and won two awards. The almost four-hour film follows the erotic adventures of a peeping tom photographer.

An unnamed actress told entertainment magazine Shukan Josei Prime that Sono told her that women have had sex with him for years to gain parts in his films, and that he is to thank for their success in the industry. She said that after Sono offered her a role, he attempted to force her to have sex with him (via Variety). After she refused, the director allegedly called another actress he had previously worked with and proceeded to engage in sexual acts in front of her. An assistant director then allegedly led her outside...

Self-proclaimed maverick Japanese film director Sono Sion, known for raunchy indie movies including ‘Love Exposure’ and ‘Antiporno’, has been accused of sexual harassment by several actresses in Japan’s film industry. The accusations were published Monday by the Shukan Josei Prime entertainment news and gossip site, reports ‘Variety’. In a lengthy article, several actresses made accusations […]...

Sono Sion, the self-proclaimed maverick Japanese film director known for raunchy indie movies including “Love Exposure” and “Antiporno,” has been accused of sexual harassment by several actresses in Japan’s film industry.

The accusations were published Monday by the Shukan Josei Prime entertainment news and gossip site. In a lengthy article, several actresses made accusations against Sono under the protection of anonymity. According to the piece, Sono, now aged 60, boasted of making sexual advances to “most of [his] leading ladies.” Sono’s alleged predatory practices have been linked to his acting workshops.

On Tuesday, Sono responded to the allegations with a statement from his company. “To whom it may concern. Thank you very much for your continued support. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience and concern this may have caused to all parties concerned. We will make a new announcement after sorting out the facts.” His upcoming acting workshop has been canceled.

The Osaka Asian Film Festival (Oaff) 2022 announced its program outline on January 31, 2022.

Event Outline

The Oaff aims to facilitate human resources development and exchange, to invigorate the Osaka economy, and to increase the city’s appeal, through providing opportunities to watch excellent Asian films, supporting filmmaking in Osaka and attracting filmmakers from Asian countries and regions to Osaka. Promoting Osaka worldwide as a gateway city for Asian films, and engaging with many people from the fields of culture, art, education, tourism and business, from Osaka and all of Asia, Oaff works as an open platform to contribute to the development of Osaka and cinema.

Marking its 17th edition this year and under programming director Teruoka Sozo, Oaff will again select high-quality Asian films. The Competition section, which receives increased recognition every year, will again select films previously unreleased in Japan. The Indie Forum section, special programs and other sections will...

Seemingly appearing out of nowhere, “Red Post On Escher Street” is a Sion Sono movie that can be best described as a return to the rebellious style where he shines the brightest. While news of its production was not totally unknown with a fact or two being revealed throughout the year, the eyes of every Sono fan were fixed towards his East-meets-West thriller “Prisoners Of The Ghostland”, so the release did feel like a genuine surprise.

“Red Post on Escher Street” is Screening at Five Flavours Asian Film Festival

Sono’s 2020 release follows a filmmaker, known in the movie industry as a festival magnet, who is asked by a major film studio to direct a film for them, which the studio boss hopes shall receive a warm welcome at the festival circuit. When Kobayashi, the filmmaker, decides to hold a mass audition to select his cast, a multitude of characters...

This review of “Prisoners of the Ghostland” was first published after the film’s January 2021 premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.

Prolific and wildly eccentric Japanese auteur Sion Sono has spent most of his career at the dizzying point at which arthouse bravado meets grindhouse gonzo, and his best films stretch the limits of narrative so far as to leave viewers simultaneously gobsmacked and exhilarated. It’s perhaps inevitable that he would cross paths with Nicolas Cage, an actor whose post-Oscar film choices have tended to veer into the grimiest edges of genre, resulting in a very mixed bag of delights and duds.

One might have hoped that “Prisoners of the Ghostland” — Sono’s English-language debut, starring Cage, and making its world premiere at Sundance — would have elevated Cage to Sono’s level, but unfortunately, it’s done the opposite. While the film far outshines most of Cage’s recent...

Nicolas Cage teams up with Japanese enfant terrible director Sion Sono for an entertaining post-apocalyptic mashup

Cult Japanese film-maker Sion Sono never shies away from an opportunity to shock and surprise with lashings of gore, weirdness and lurid, louche lunacy. Nicolas Cage, meanwhile (now practically a cult himself), loves to rage, bellow and glower in offbeat low-budget films, apparently the kookier the better. They’ve teamed up for this beyond-bonkers, cross-cultural bricolage of styles and influences, and the result is predictably excessive, noisy and more than a little exhausting. But mostly in a fun way, as long as you’re not bothered by gratuitous violence, incoherence and a deep streak of silly.

The setting is some kind of future Earth/parallel universe/post-apocalyptic zona – the why and when is not really important – that’s a mashup of neon-streaked Tokyo fleshpot and Mad Max-style wild west dystopia. A warlord called...

Sion Sono has lived many lives behind the camera. After several relentless decades spent churning out softcore pornos, demented J-horror classics, furious confrontations with post-Fukushima Japan, a hyper-violent rap opera about masculine fragility, one of the most unflinching serial killer dramas since “Vengeance Is Mine,” a four-hour epic about upskirt photographers (and death cults), an Amazon miniseries called “Tokyo Vampire Hotel,” and a few dozen other films that defy such easy description, the only thing less surprising than the massive heart attack that struck Sono in February 2019 — and literally killed him for an entire minute — is that it hasn’t slowed him down whatsoever.

Forgive the familiar lede, but some things bear repeating, particularly in the context of a new movie that unfolds like a mission statement for its irrepressible creator. The poet emeritus of ero guro nansensu has been prolific as ever since rolling out of his hospital bed two years ago,...

Now you can begin to look forward to the upcoming Year of the Ox, already Terracotta has been adding a host of new Third Window titles available to purchase on their store, such as punk adventure Fish Story and Sion Sono’s epic, Love Exposure. You can see the list of new additions here.

Recently they have released the culinary yakuza story, Tokyo Dragon Chef, on DVD and VOD. And you can pre-order one of 2,000 limited edition copies of Meatball Machine with slipcase of illustrated artwork and specially commissioned extra features.

Continuing with the celebrations, they are also offering our readers a 15% discount on our DVD and blu-ray store if you use code LNY21 – valid until 11.59pm on the 12th February UK time.

Finally, sister label Sharp Teeth Films is releasing Butchers, a Wrong Turn / Texas Chainsaw Massacre-esque horror on VOD 22nd Feb and on DVD on 8th March.

VOD...

Some movies don’t seem inevitable until they’re made. The most absurd thing about Sion Sono’s “Prisoners of the Ghostland” — a sukiyaki psych-Western that casts Nicolas Cage as a criminal on a mission to rescue a runaway girl from a post-apocalyptic wasteland before the bombs attached to his balls explode — is that it didn’t already exist.

This is the first film that Sono shot (predominately) in English, and the first film that Cage shot with a (predominately) Japanese crew, but “Prisoners of the Ghostland” leaves no doubt that these two wildmen speak the same language. If this gonzo cross-cultural mash-up pulls taut across more ideas than it has skin on its bones, well, it’s easy to forgive Sono and Cage for getting a bit overexcited about meeting for the first time (It may be worth noting that Sono suffered a heart attack during pre-production that scuttled...

Seemingly appearing out of nowhere, “Red Post On Escher Street” is a Sion Sono movie that can be best described as a return to the rebellious style where he shines the brightest. While news of its production was not totally unknown with a fact or two being revealed throughout the year, the eyes of every Sono fan were fixed towards his East-meets-West thriller “Prisoners Of The Ghostland”, so the release did feel like a genuine surprise.

“Red Post on Escher Street” is Screening at Black Movie

Sono’s 2020 release follows a filmmaker, known in the movie industry as a festival magnet, who is asked by a major film studio to direct a film for them, which the studio boss hopes shall receive a warm welcome at the festival circuit. When Kobayashi, the filmmaker, decides to hold a mass audition to select his cast, a multitude of characters from different sectors...

By Raktim Nandi

Seemingly appearing out of nowhere, “Red Post On Escher Street” is a Sion Sono movie that can be best described as a return to the rebellious style where he shines the brightest. While news of its production was not totally unknown with a fact or two being revealed throughout the year, the eyes of every Sono fan were fixed towards his East-meets-West thriller “Prisoners Of The Ghostland”, so the release did feel like a genuine surprise.

Sono’s 2020 release follows a filmmaker, known in the movie industry as a festival magnet, who is asked by a major film studio to direct a film for them, which the studio boss hopes shall receive a warm welcome at the festival circuit. When Kobayashi, the filmmaker, decides to hold a mass audition to select his cast, a multitude of characters from different sectors of society arrives at the prospect of...

Sion Sono produced his feature film “The Forest of Love” for Netflix, in 2019. Now, the streaming platform is releasing the miniseries that was part of the initial project with the director. In seven episodes of between 32 and 51 minutes, the material now receives an extension that adds greater uniformity and harmony to the whole concept. It could be argued that it is a bit irritating why a compressed form appeared, when the series is obviously the original – probably marketing reasons play an important role here.

Sono was inspired by a real criminal case. The viewer is informed about this at the beginning of each episode. This goes through your mind over and over again during the course of the series and gives an additional level to what you see. Each episode is based on a similar structure, which divides the plot into three time spans. 1993 is usually at the beginning. Three friends,...

The 28th edition of the Raindance Film Festival will take place in London from Oct. 28 through Nov. 7. this year.

Known as a showcase for independent cinema, the festival normally attracts some 16,000 visitors annually. The 2019 edition took place in September, but organizers have likely moved the event back as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus pandemic and its knock-on effects on film releases.

Winners of best short, best animation short and best documentary short at the festival will qualify for the Academy Awards. British films accepted at Raindance may qualify for BAFTA consideration. British features and shorts in the official selection are eligible for entry for the 2020 British Independent Film Awards.

Festival strands this year include Raindance Immersive, Raindance Queer, Raindance Sonic for music documentaries and live music, A Dirty World for environmental films, Homegrown for U.K. films), Viva Voce: Stories of Women, Female Gaze featuring films by women behind the camera,...

To begin with, a disclaimer: There are practically no 2019 titles on my Best of the Decade list, not because there weren’t a lot of great films this year, but because I haven’t had the opportunity to live with them for all that long. My Best of 2019 list was its own challenge to write, but this year’s movies are just too new for them to have knocked around in my central nervous system the way these earlier titles have. Film historians can debate the major movie-related events of the decade — the rise of streaming, the dominance of Disney — but these are the films took up residency with me and refuse to move out:

11-30 (alphabetically): “Anomalisa,” “Before Midnight,” “Bernie,” “Bridesmaids,” “Call Me By Your Name,” “Certain Women,” “Clouds of Sils Maria,” “Ex Machina,” “Force Majeure,” “The Great Beauty,” “The Handmaiden,” “Happy Hour,” “Holy Motors,” “Leave No Trace,...

“To be deceived is a woman’s crime.”

When you listen to the magnificent soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill, Vol.1” you will notice that one track called “The Flower of Carnage” sung by Meiko Kaji. Even though you might not understand the lyrics the voice of the singer, the bittersweet melody hints at the character being deeply emotional, full of tenderness, but at the same time carrying something with her, something dark and vicious. It seems to conjure a certain image, feeling or memory of a past and a present of a certain somebody who is addressed in this film, so strong is the voice it wants you to almost take a mental picture of the person, see her pain but also her beauty. To Tarantino this was the perfect sound for The Bride, a character played by Uma Thurman, a woman who has been continuously betrayed and declared dead,...

Principal photography set to commence in Japan this month on Sion Sono’s English-language debut.

Rising star Sofia Boutella from Climax and The Mummy and Ed Skrein have joined Nicolas Cage in Xyz Films’ Afm worldwide sales title Prisoners Of The Ghostland.

Bill Moseley has come on board the English-language debut by Japanese auteur Sion Sono, which will also star Japan’s Young Dais and Tak Sakaguchi.

Principal photography is scheduled to commence in Japan this month on the story of a criminal (Cage) dispatched to rescue an abducted woman (Boutella) from a dark supernatural realm known as the Ghostland.

After shooting 15 movies and two TV shows this decade alone, hyper-prolific renegade filmmaker Sono Sion was rushed to a Tokyo hospital in February, where emergency surgery was performed to save his life. The gonzo auteur behind the gleefully demented likes of “Suicide Circle” and “Why Don’t You Play in Hell?” had just finished work on an unhinged Amazon Prime series called “Tokyo Vampire Hotel,” which may have been his wildest project thus far; high praise for someone whose previous career highlights include the likes of “Love Exposure” (a four-hour epic about a teenage Catholic who falls in with a secret cult of up-skirt panty photographers) and “Tokyo Tribe” (a hyper-violent rap opera about a gangster who torches an entire city to the ground to compensate for his micro-penis).

Needless to say, the only thing less surprising than the fact that Sono suffered a heart attack is the fact that...

Celebrated Japanese director Sion Sono Has completed production on his most recent project “The Forest of Love”. This will be the second project Sono has completed for a streaming service, having previously worked on “Tokyo Vampire Hotel” for Amazon Japan.

“The Forest of Love” is set for release October 11th, 2019 through Netflix streaming service. Netflix has released a trailer for the production, which can be viewed below.

Japanese director Sion Sono suffered a heart attack Thursday and has since undergone an operation. Sono’s representatives have told Japanese media that his life is not in danger.

His illness may delay production of Nicolas Cage-starring horror-action film “Prisoners of the Ghostland,” which was scheduled to begin shooting this spring.

Cage is to star as a criminal out to rescue a kidnapped girl who has fallen into a dark alternative universe. Imogen Poots has also boarded the film, which is Sono’s first in English.

“Our understanding is that he is in very good condition, and there’s no impact on ‘Ghostland’ or timeline,” producer Nate Bolotin of Xyz Films told Variety in an email.

Pushing boundaries of sex and violence while mixing in classical music, Christian imagery and black humor, Sono became an international cult favorite in the early years of the millennium. Among his best-known films abroad are “Suicide Club,...

Loosely based on the Saitama serial murders of dog lovers, a case of a married couple who owned a pet shop and murdered at least four people, “Cold Fish” gave Sono the opportunity to present his version of how a serial killer film ought to be like.

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Syamoto is a humble and guileless exotic fish shop owner who is taken advantage of by both his spoiled daughter, Mitsuko and his second wife, Taeko. His daughter is an underage delinquent who spends her time flirting and sometimes beating her stepmother. One night, a grocery shop attendant catches her stealing; however, a peculiarly friendly man, Murata, manages to convince the clerk not to call the police. Furthermore, he is also an exotic fish shop owner and offers to hire Mitsuko in his establishment, which is far larger than Syamoto’s. Moreover, when Murata, who has become a friend of Syamoto,...

Here’s a match made in movie heaven you never knew you needed: Nicolas Cage and Sion Sono collaborating on a crime thriller. The result is the upcoming “Prisoners of the Ghostland,” which Cage says “might be the wildest movie [he’s] ever made.” That may sound hard to believe — this year’s “Mandy” was pretty out there, and who can forget the likes of “Vampire’s Kiss” or that “Wicker Man” remake? — but anyone who’s seen “Love Exposure” or “Suicide Club” knows that Sono is capable of much oddity.

“I’m thrilled about it! It’s unlike anything I’ve ever read before,” Cage said of the film during the Film Festival and Awards Macao, according to Screen Anarchy. “It might be the wildest movie I’ve ever made, and that’s saying something. It’s out there. I wear a skintight black leather jumpsuit with grenades attached to different body parts,...

We love Nicolas Cage for the unabashed intensity with which he seems to approach any role he is offered, and in recent years, boy have there been a lot of them. The actor was in Macau this past weekend at the 3rd International Film Festival and Awards Macao. During his masterclass, Cage revealed a tidbit about one of his most anticipated projects for 2019, Prisoners of the Ghostland. The film marks the English-language debut of Sion Sono, the equally unhinged director of Love Exposure, Suicide Club, Why Don’t You Play in Hell?, Antiporno and many other deranged favourites. Suffice to say, it sounds pretty crazy… “I’m thrilled about it! It’s unlike anything I’ve ever read before. It might be the wildest movie I’ve...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Yoshika is a young hard working woman with an obsession for extinct animals. Pouring so much passion into her job and interests, her love life has remained stagnant throughout her life. This does not stop her from injecting romance into her daily life as she relieves and tells stories of a school crush to everyone she meets in her life. Determined that she will eventually be reunited with “Ichi” through a romantic fate, Yoshika is able to live a rather carefree existence that allows her to indulge in her own eccentricities. Yoshika’s comfortable existence begins to change when one of her co-workers begins to openly court her.

Tremble All You Want is screening at Camera Japan

With the possibility of having her first boyfriend, the memories of her high school crush, whom she views as the ideal partner, begins to escalate, culminating in her planning a school reunion to see him again.

Movie trilogies have emerged in world cinema during the last decade or so, as one of the most favorite medium of films, and probably, as a countermeasure to the growing popularity of TV series. Evidently, this does not mean that there have not been trilogies in the past, but it seems like, at the moment, this is where the movie industry is heading.

In Asian cinema, though, trilogies have been a favorite medium since the 50’s, with their impact continuing to these days, although not in the same extend as in Hollywood. Filmmakers of the magnitutde of Satyajit Ray and Yasuhiro Ozu felt that a single movie could not contain their vision, and proceeded on shooting trilogies that include some of the all time, international masterpieces.

The tendency continues to later decades, with a number of the most acclaimed Asian directors presenting their own, either loose (Park Chan-wook and Wong...

The first thing you should know about Sono Sion’s characteristically unhinged “Tokyo Vampire Hotel” is that — spoiler alert? — most of it takes place inside of a vampire’s vagina. Well, technically speaking, most of it takes place inside of a massive hotel, but that massive hotel is actually squeezed into an inter-dimensional pocket of space-time that’s located between the legs of a decrepit vampire queen. And that decrepit vampire queen lives in Tokyo, hence the title “Tokyo Vampire Hotel.” Or maybe lives in Romania. It’s kind of unclear. The hotel is definitely in her vagina, though — there’s no doubt about that.

A demented cocaine giallo that splits the difference between Suzuki Seijun and Claire Denis, Sono Sion’s latest exercise in gonzo digital mayhem is maybe the wildest thing he’s ever made; that’s high praise when discussing the punk auteur responsible for the likes...

Exclusive: Nicolas Cage has been set to star in Prisoners of the Ghostland, a post-apocalyptic action thriller that will mark the English-language debut of Japanese filmmaker Sion Sono. Untitled Entertainment’s Laura Rister, Eleven Arts’ Ko Mori, Reza Sixo Safai of Black Light District Entertainment and Xyz Films’ Nate Bolotin are producing.

Xyz Films is also repping worldwide rights on the new title this week at the Cannes Film Festival. Xyz and Cage previously teamed on Mandy, which is playing in the fest’s Directors’ Fortnight section after bowing at Sundance. That pic is getting a summer theatrical release via Rlje Films.

Ghostland, penned by Aaron Hendry and Safai, centers on notorious criminal Hero (Cage) who is sent to rescue an abducted girl who has disappeared into a dark supernatural universe. They must break the evil curse that binds them and escape the mysterious revenants that rule the Ghostland, an...

Kore-eda won critical acclaim last year for crime drama The Third Murder, which premiered at Venice.

Source: Hiroshi Nomura

Japan’s Gaga Corp has unveiled details of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s new as-yet-untitled project, which is currently shooting with a cast including Ando Sakura and Lily Franky.

Franky and child actor Jyo Kairi play a father and son from a poor family who take in a small girl (Miyu Sasaki) they find freezing on the streets after one of their shoplifting sessions together. Ando plays the mother with Mayu Matsuoka as her sister and Kiki Kirin as the grandmother on whose pension the family is heavily dependent.

While Franky and Kiki are both Kore-eda regulars, the film marks the first time that Ando and Matsuoka have worked with the director.

Ando is known for her roles in critically-acclaimed independent films including 100 Yen Love and Love Exposure, while Matsuoka’s credits include the Chihayafuru series and Kirishima Thing. Both child...

Close-Up is a feature that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Sion Sono's Antiporno (2016), which is receiving an exclusive global online premiere on Mubi, is showing from December 8, 2017 - January 7, 2018 as a Special Discovery.Few directors before or since Russ Meyer have so enthusiastically worn their art’s sexual obsessions on their sleeves as Japanese auteur Sion Sono. But if Meyer once claimed that he wasn’t interested in anything “below the belt,” Sono is the complete opposite, reveling in the upskirt wonderland of schoolgirls and women in uniform, whether it be the group suicide that opens his notorious Suicide Club (2001), the panty-shot perverts in Love Exposure (2008), or the small army of oblivious high schoolers in his ultra-violent Tag (2015). Such an obsession seemingly made him a perfect choice for the “Roman Porno Reboot Project” of Japanese movie studio Nikkatsu, an ambitious series of five movies commissioned by the legendary...

If you read Playboy for the articles, “Wet Woman in the Wind” and “Antiporno” may be for you. Part of Mubi’s foray into theatrical distribution, they also represent the return of the Roman Porno — a particular kind of pink film (read: softcore porn) made by the Nikkatsu studio and prevalent in Japan throughout the 1970s and ‘80s.

The first of these, 1971’s “Apartment Wife: Affair in the Afternoon,” spawned 20 sequels within a seven-year span and made Kuzuko Shirakawa a different kind of scream queen long before Jamie Lee Curtis first met Michael Myers. Nikkatsu produced roughly three Roman Pornos a month until 1988, helping the revered studio pivot away from Yakuza flicks. These affairs were short, sexy, and often quite good — critics responded to them with nearly as much enthusiasm as audiences.

Read More:‘Anti-Porno’ Trailer: Japanese Director Sion Sono Returns with a Feminist Take on Sexuality

To celebrate that legacy,...

In 2017, Sion Sono shot a 9-episode series for Amazon Prime Japan, “Tokyo Vampire Hotel.” This film is the festival/movie edition of the production, and a return to his gory, absurd past as much as a tribute to a number of his previous films.

Tokyo Vampire Hotel is screening at Five Flavours, that will be on in Warsaw November 15-22.

The story, which is actually based on a historic episode in which King Matthias Corvinus imprisoned Vlad the Impaler (aka Dracula), has the latter transformed into a whole tribe of the original vampires named Draculas, who are imprisoned by another tribe of vampires, the Corvinus. The Corvinus have some awful plans that involve destroying the whole of humanity and keeping just a number of them in a hotel of theirs (the titular one), in order to serve as their food.

However, the Draculas are on the rise from the bottoms...

Nick Aldwinckle Nov 27, 2017

Our latest round-up of genre DVDs and Blu-rays covers George A Romero, Damnation Alley and more...

With real life’s ridiculous news stories almost beyond parody, it seems fitting that 2017 was the year we saw George A. Romero, the master of satirical zombie tomfoolery, responsible for horror classics from Dawn Of The Dead through to Tales From The Dark Side, shuffle off this mortal coil. To commemorate three of Romero’s less celebrated early movies, Arrow Video has released the intriguing Between Night And Dawn set on Bluray, with ample extras to sate the most eager fanboy/girl.

First up, and by far the movie most will know (perhaps due to its 2010 remake), 1973's The Crazies plays out almost like a retread of Romero's 1968 debut Night Of The Living Dead, with a group of townsfolk again subject to a dodgy violence-inducing substance whilst military jackanapes try and control the epidemic.

The Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff) will showcase films starring local actresses Sakura Ando, Yu Aoi, Hikari Mitsushima and Aoi Miyazaki in its Japan Now section.

Ando came to the attention of audiences in Sion Sono's Love Exposure (2008) and starred in 100 Yen Love, Japan's foreign-language Oscar entry in 2015. Mitsushima also appeared in Love Exposure, as well as Death Note (2006).

Aoi made her debut in Shunji Iwai's All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001) and won best supporting actress at the Japan Academy Prize awards for Hula Girls (2007). Miyazaki has appeared in numerous films, including Chronicles of My...

Sakura Ando, Yu Aoi, Hikari Mitsushima and Aoi Miyazaki to be feted.

Tokyo International Film Festival is highlighting the work of four Japanese actresses – Sakura Ando, Yu Aoi, Hikari Mitsushima and Aoi Miyazaki – in this year’s Japan Now section.

The highlight, ‘Muses of Japanese Cinema’, is one of the special programmes that the festival is planning to celebrate its 30th anniversary. The four actresses have won acclaim in recent years for the high standard of their work, collaborations with renowned directors and increasing international status.

Ando won multiple awards for 2015 releases 0.5 mm and 100 Yen Love, while Aoi’s credits include Over the Fence (2016) and Japanese Girls Never Die (2016).

Mitsushima gained worldwide attention in Sion Sono’s Love Exposure (2009) and recently starred in Traces Of Sin (2017). Miyazaki’s recent credits include Sang-il Lee’s Rage (2016) and Yasuhiro Yoshida’s Birthday Card (2016).

In addition to screenings of films featuring the selected actresses, Tokyo will host...

Sion Sono has inked a prime deal. The provocative Japanese auteur responsible for such controversial, must-see films as “Love Exposure” and “Tokyo Tribe” is creating the original series “Tokyo Vampire Hotel” for Amazon. The show will consist of nine episodes, all of which will be available to stream on Amazon Prime Japan beginning June 16.

Read More: ‘Anti-Porno’ Trailer: Japanese Director Sion Sono Returns with a Feminist Take on Sexuality

Telling the tried-and-true story of humanity fighting for its very survival against the mythical bloodsuckers, the series stars Kaho, Shinnosuke Mitsushima, Ami Tomite, Yumi Adachi and Megumi Kagurazaka, who happens to be Sono’s wife. Jun Tsugita and Manabu Ikarimoto penned the screenplay; Tomohiro Kubo have Daisuke Matsuo have written and directed two episodes.

Read More: ‘Shinjuku Swan II’ Trailer: Sion Sono Returns With Sequel To Live Action Manga Series Adaptation

“Our focus is to work with the content creators to...

Time to meet the Shinjuku Swan. A full Japanese trailer has debuted for Sion Sono's latest film, Shinjuku Swan II, a sequel to his first adaptation of a manga about an adult entertainment scout named Tatsuhiko Shiratori. Sion Sono is one of Japan's best directors working today, behind films like Love Exposure, Why Don't You Play in Hell? and Tokyo Tribe, though this film series hasn't picked up any Us distribution yet. Shinjuku Swan II stars Gou Ayano, Alice Hirose, Kippei Shiina, Yusuke Iseya, Motoki Fukami, Nobuaki Kaneko, Yu Yamada, Hideo Nakano, as well as Tadanobu Asano as the rival scout CEO that Tatsuhiko goes up against. This looks like some of Sono's most commercial work, but might still be fun. Here's the first official trailer (+ poster) for Sion Sono's Shinjuku Swan II, from YouTube (via Tfs): And for reference, here's a trailer for the first Shinjuku...

Japanese filmmaker Sion Sono is probably best known for his films “Love Exposure” and “Cold Fish,” but even then, his pictures have mostly played to a cult audience and they don’t consistently get arthouse releases in the United States. Indeed, his epic two-hour-and-20-minute manga adaptation “Shinjuku Swan” hit the festival circuit and that was about it. But the film has surprisingly managed to spawn a sequel.

Continue reading The Battle Continues In New Trailer For Sion Sono’s ‘Shinjuku Swan II’ at The Playlist.

Yu is a young Christian growing up with his father, Tetsu, who became a fanatical priest after the early death of his wife. Having to confess every single day, Yu has to invent supposed sins to appease his father, who believes it a sin to not have something to confess. When Tetsu finally discovers the truth, Yu decides to commit as many “serious” sins as he can, while searching for a woman to love that fits the Madonna archetype. Eventually he stumbles upon Kaori, and Aya Koike and her gang, while his father has trouble with Kaori Fujiwara, a woman who seems to wish to become a Christian.

A cult epic

In this 4-hour cult epic, Sono incorporates elements of adventure, comedy, drama, social satire, parody, romance and soft porn, while dealing with themes like religion, family, love, sex, adolescence, hedonism and guilt, in one of his most complex works.

For 10 years, Five Flavours Film Festival has been presenting the best cinema from Asia, its meanings and contexts. Initially, the Festival focused solely on Vietnamese films, but it evolved to become a yearly review of the cinema of East and Southeast Asia, the only such event in the country.

The 10th edition is held in Warsaw, on November 16-23 (Muranów and Kinoteka cinemas), and in Wrocław on November 18-24 (New Horizons Cinema).

This year’s edition of Five Flavours is the biggest in history – it presents over 40 productions. The program combines artistic and commercial cinema, allowing the audience to experience the best Asian films have to offer. On the one hand, there are the intimate stories with a social angle, on the other – fresh, innovative blockbusters, filled with the sheer joy of cinematic creation, attracting millions of viewers in their homelands.

Three

This diversity is already visible in the choice...

45 years after Nikkatsu switched its focus from making yakuza movies to focusing on softcore erotica, the celebrated Japanese studio returns to the titillating genre with its Roman Porno Reboot project, and has attracted some pretty heavyweight talent along for the ride.   Directors Sion Sono (Why Don't You Play in Hell?, Love Exposure), Hideo Nakata (Ring, Dark Water), Akihiko Shiota (Moonlight Whispers), Kazuya Shiraishi (Love Paradise in Tokyo) and Isao Yukisada (Crying out Love in the Center of the World) were each recruited to make a 70-80 minute film, shot in one week, which will start screening theatrically from late November, as well as on satellite platform SkyPerfecTV!   The features, entitled Battle, Society, Art, Lesbian and Romance each revisit the roman porno genre...

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