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Japan Cuts : “A Girl Named Ann” / Q&A with Actress Yuumi Kawai

Check out our YouTube Channel  Nobuhiro Hosoki grew up watching American films since he was a kid; he decided to go to the United States thanks to seeing the artistry of Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange.” After graduating from film school, he worked as an assistant director on  TV Tokyo’s program called “Morning Satellite” at the New…

Japan Cuts: ‘A Samurai In Time’ Marks The Comeback Of Jidaigeki

The fantasy comedy picture A Samurai In Time, directed by Jun’ichi Yasuda, focuses on the time travel experience of Kosaka Shinzaemon (Makiya Yamaguchi). He is an Aizu samurai from the Edo era, who is struck by lightning and is transported to the film studios of 2007 Japan. It will take some time for this 19th…

Japan Cuts: Yasuko, Songs of Days Past Is an Elegant Period-Drama

@Courtesy of Kino Films  There are a few times when the very first few images of a movie are able to set the tone of it. This is the case of this psychological melodrama directed by Kichitarô Negishi. The beauty of a red umbrella passing through an aisle on a rainy morning. The simplicity of…

Japan Cuts: ‘She Taught Me Serendipity’ Shows The Dark Side Of Fortuitous Incidents

The word Serendipity stands for “the faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident,” it’s basically a blessing in disguise. The film directed by Akiko Ohku seems to explore the darker aspect of life’s fortuitous events. The destinies of the characters involved in the story, rather than finding something good accidentally, traverse unexpected sorrows and someway…

Japan Cuts: ‘Japanese Avant-Garde Pioneers’ Is A Kaleidoscopic Vision

The prodigious documentary directed by Amélie Ravalec focuses on a time of profound social change in the Land of the Rising Sun: the Sixties. Japanese Avant-Garde Pioneers portrays how the turbulent times of the postwar era inspired an artistic explosion across the Nipponic nation, with the emergence of a revolutionary scene of avant-garde artists who…

‘Look Back,’ Is An Immersion In The Inner World Of Manga Artists

GKIDS presents a new anime film, that is based on an autobiographical manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto best known for Chainsaw Man: Look Back. The picture is directed by Kiyotaka Oshiyama, who also curated the character designs. He adapted the 143-page one-shot web manga that was published on Shueisha’s Shōnen Jump+ and that, upon its release,…

Japan Cuts : Performing Kaoru’s Funeral / Exclusive Interview with Director Noriko Yuasa

©PKFP PARTNERS Performing Kaoru’s Funeral : When a screenwriter named Kaoru dies suddenly, she leaves behind a tangle of relations who are all pulled together for the final act in her life: performing her funeral. The chief mourner is her ex-husband, Jun. A failed actor, he drifts around Tokyo as a driver for callgirls. He…

Japan Cuts: Interview with Tetsuya Chihara on ICE CREAM FEVER

©Courtesy of Japan Cuts The title of the most “kawaii” film from this year’s Japan Cuts undoubtedly goes to director Tetsuya Chihara‘s debut feature, Ice Cream Fever. This innovative film intricately depicts the intersecting longings, affections, and obsessions of four women living in Tokyo. The project showcases Chihara’s keen artistic vision of finding beauty in…

Japan Cuts: Interview with Shinya Tsukamoto on Shadow of Fire

©Courtesy of Japan Cuts The centerpiece film of this year’s Japan Cuts, Shadow of Fire is the third feature in Shinya Tsukamoto’s “War” trilogy, following his previous works Fires on the Plain and Killing. Renowned for his mastery in creating intense atmospheres and exploring visceral subject matter, Tsukamoto once again draws audiences into the harrowing world…

Japan Cuts : The Making of a Japanese / Exclusive Interview with Director Ema Ryan Yamazaki

©Courtesy of Japan Cuts The Making of a Japanese : Located in one of Tokyo’s sprawling suburbs, Tsukado is one of the largest public elementary schools in Japan with nearly 1,000 students. In the nation’s unique educational system, children are tasked to run their own school in order to teach communal values and how to play…

Japan Cuts : Between the White Key and the Black Key / Exclusive Interview with Director Masanori Tominaga

©Courtesy of Japan Cuts Between the White Key and the Black Key  :Music sweeps through 1980s Ginza, a glamorous and dangerous neighborhood where well heeled Tokyoites, artists and thugs all sway together under the power of jazz. Sosuke Ikematsu stars in this spiraling, splintering, intersecting Mobius strip of a film based on the memoirs of…