The Mainichi web site has recently published an interview with Murakami Haruki in five parts, about his inspiration in American literature, his translation work, his upcoming new novel, and the situation in the world: one, two, three, four, five.
Test your poetic inspiration by participating in the 12th Mainichi Haiku Contest.
The Japan Times feautures an interview […]
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Posted in Book, Film, Japan, Review on Mar 14th, 2008 Comments Off
Why do I watch horror films? I do not even believe in the supernatural, let alone ghosts. Probably some childhood fear of darkness stays lodged in our minds, providing even those who consider themselves enlighted with a bridge to horror. And the atmosphere of horror films grabs you: the slow threat, the sure sense that […]
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Janne in Osaka shines light on a matter to my heart: how to shelve your books…
Japan Probe has a round-up of videos that recently appeared on the web about the town of Obama (also see my post about this town chock-full with ancient temples and Buddhist statues - a great destination for a weekend trip).
Japan […]
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Posted in Film, Japan on Feb 29th, 2008 No Comments »
It takes a lot of nerve to make a film with the same title as Kobayashi Masaki’s Kaidan, for you will unconsciously be measured against that impressive predecessor. It would be unfair to do so in the case of Nakata Hideo’s Kaidan, for this is not one of the many “remakes” we are being flooded […]
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Cult director Miike Takashi pulls out all stops in big budget Sukiyaki Western Django, his very post-modern, Japanese “Sukiyaki-style” take on the Spaghetti Western. And this “fusion Western” is not such a bad idea at all. In the fifties and sixties, the great Kurosawa Akira made The Seven Samurai, which was later remade as The […]
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Posted in Film, Japan on Feb 9th, 2008 No Comments »
For convenience sake, here is once more the list of my selection of the ten best Japanese films of 2007:
1. Sakuran
2. Exte
3. Nightmare Detective
4. Maiko Haaaan!!!
5. Retribution
6. Strawberry Shortcakes
7. Like a Dragon
8. Dai-Nipponjin
9. The Pavillion “Salamandre”
10. Uncle’s Paradise
Looking back at the list, I would move up Strawberry Shortcakes to second position, after having seen it […]
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Posted in Film, Japan on Feb 8th, 2008 No Comments »
No. 10 on my list of best Japanese films of 2007 is Uncle’s Paradise, a modern “pink” film. As “pink film” even today serves as an incubator for quirky helmers, I think it is justified to add this film to my list, although Uncle’s Paradise does not reach the same level as pink movies by […]
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Posted in Film, Japan on Feb 7th, 2008 No Comments »
In my previous post I already made mention of The Pavillion “Salamandre” as another surrealistic masterpiece besides Dai-Nipponjin. Strangely, this film has caused only a few ripples in the pond of independent Japanese film, despite the presence of heart-throbs as Odagiri Joe and Kashii Yu. Perhaps that is because the story develops rather slowly and […]
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Posted in Film, Japan on Feb 6th, 2008 No Comments »
Japanese independent directors excel in making eccentric and surrealistic masterpieces and we had quite a lot of that again in 2007 - think The Pavillion “Salamandre”and Deathfix, for example. The best of these maniac excursions into zaniness in 2007 was Dai-Nipponjin, about an eponymous “Great Japanese” who is not so great anymore and has lost […]
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Posted in Film, Japan on Feb 4th, 2008 No Comments »
Miike Takashi makes several fims a year, and therefore in the list for 2007 we find Sunscarred, Sukiyaki Western Django, Crows: Episode 0 and Like a Dragon. I opt for the last one as No 7 on my list of best Japanese films of 2007, in the first place because I am fond of Miike’s […]
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Posted in Film, Japan on Feb 3rd, 2008 No Comments »
Number 6 on my list of favorite Japanese films of 2007 is Strawberry Shortcakes, a film that has received lots of praise, for example on Midnight Eye, and that certainly deserves all the compliments. It is an exercise in subdued realism - almost like a documentary - but with many marvelous touches that show it […]
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Posted in Film, Japan on Feb 2nd, 2008 No Comments »
The next film, No. 5, on my list of Best Japanese Films of 2007 is Retribution by Kurosawa Kiyoshi, a perfect film-noir that treads a fine line between thriller and horror. As always by Kurosawa, there is also a wider, philosophical context.
The Japanese title of this film is Sakebi or “Scream” - in the […]
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Posted in Film, Japan on Jan 31st, 2008 No Comments »
It is time for some comic relief, so for No. 4 on the list of my favorite Japanese films of 2007 we turn to the antics of comic actor Abe Sadao in search of that elusive phenomenon, a real Kyoto geisha, in Maiko Haaaan!!!.
By the way, “Haaaan” is just a very enthousiastic pronunciation of […]
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Posted in Film, Japan on Jan 30th, 2008 No Comments »
My number three film of 2007 is Nightmare Detective (Akumu Tantei) by veteran indy helmer Tsukamoto Shinya. This is a film about death, emptiness and suicide - a contemporary topic if ever there was one. With more than 33,000 who do the deed every year, for many years now, for numerous Japanese the wish to […]
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Posted in Film, Japan on Jan 28th, 2008 No Comments »
We continue our journey in 2007 Japanese film land with my Number Two: Exte. About a half year ago I already dedicated a post to this film, which I will partly quote here while adding some new observations.
What is it about?
Japanese horror films are all too famous for the female ghosts who swing their […]
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Posted in Film, Japan on Jan 26th, 2008 2 Comments »
Midnight Eye’s contributors have come out with their annual lists of the best (and worst) Japanese films of 2007. For me, too, this was a year of many films (mostly on DVD) and being an inveterate list maker, I like to present my own “best 10″. I will do it one film at a time, […]
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Posted in Film, Review on Nov 8th, 2007 No Comments »
One of the films introduced by Tom Mes and Jasper Sharp in their list of 21st c. Japanese top films in Katei Gaho International, A Laughing Frog (2002; director: Hirayama Hideyuki) is a rather subdued comedy - not only because it is a bit low-key, but also because the whole film is situated in one […]
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Posted in Film, Japan on Oct 30th, 2007 1 Comment »
The 2007 autumn edition of Kateigaho International Edition has a report on contemporary Japanese film that also includes an article about Tom Mes and Jasper Sharp, the two minds behind the website Midnight Eye (and the book of the same title, a must-have guide to contemporary Japanese films and directors). We also get their “Top […]
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Posted in Film, Review on Oct 13th, 2007 No Comments »
In the US, you are only as good as your latest succes and after three failures, Paul Verhoeven returned to the Netherlands to make a new film on native soil. And what a film it is, Black Book, there could be no more worthy comeback! This is a film on the same level as Basic […]
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Posted in Film, Review on Sep 16th, 2007 No Comments »
Loft by Kurosawa Kiyoshi has been so vehemently mowed down by various critics, that it takes some courage to write a positive review. Contrary to most others, I found Loft a good Kurosawa movie, not a masterwork, but certainly of solid average level.
It all depends on the expectation with which you sit down for this […]
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Posted in Book, Film, Review on Aug 21st, 2007 No Comments »
In a former post, I have reviewed Stray Dogs and Lone Wolves, Patrick Galloway’s riveting take on the samurai film. Now we have his Asia Shock, Horror and Dark Cinema from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand. Just like the earlier volume, this is both a book that is very well researched and at the […]
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Posted in Film, Review on Aug 20th, 2007 No Comments »
Japanese horror films are all too famous for the female ghosts who swing their long, black hair in front of their faces. The classic example is Ringu, where the videotaped ghost - hair first - even comes creeping out of the TV for her last killing spree, but the tradition is as old as Asia […]
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Despite the expected boost it will give the economy, not everybody in Nagasaki is happy with the government decision to register 20 Christian sites with the Unesco World Heritage List. As Asahi.com reports, the priests are afraid noisy tourists will disturb the peace of the believers by snapping their picture, leave graffitti on the walls […]
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Posted in Film, History, Japan on Nov 11th, 2006 2 Comments »
After reading Stray Dogs & Lone Wolves, I felt like making my own list of favorite samurai films and this is what I came up with:
Miyamoto Musashi aka Samurai (1954-56) by Inagaki Hiroshi. In three films Inagaki follows the exploits of Japan’s greatest legendary swordsman. The first film is rather sentimental (due to the time […]
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Posted in Book, Film, Review on Nov 11th, 2006 3 Comments »
The first Japanese film I ever saw was Rashomon and since that momentous evening I have been hooked on samurai films (and Japanese film in general). This was about 20 years ago, at a time when it was still difficult to find Japanese films. The situation improved after I moved again to Japan in the […]
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