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Tag: JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film

Japan Cuts / Retake : Nakano Taps Into Universal Teen Attitudes & Neuroses

©Courtesy of Japan Cuts  There is less parental supervision in this film than you see in an average John Hughes movie. Perhaps as a result, these teens hardly spend any time working or studying during their summer break—maybe a little, but not a lot. However, they are not idle slackers. In fact, they keep quite…

Japan Cuts : Kubi / It’s an Iron-Clad Guarantee the Audience Will Never be Bored

©Courtesy of Japan Cuts  In Takeshi Kitano’s gangster movies, a lot of fingers get chopped. For this samurai historical epic, he steps up to head-chopping. To be fair, Kitano’s yakuza probably lopped off a few heads of their own, but during Japan’s Sengoku Era, collecting severed heads was the preferred method of proving the death…

Japan Cuts Animated Shorts: Bottle George & Nezumikozo Jirokichi

©Courtesy of Japan Cuts The compulsions of two hard-living characters reshape the worlds around them in their respective animated shorts. This produces artistic triumph in one case and family tragedy in the other. Yet, Anime fans will be duly impressed by both short films’ artistry and pedigrees. Despite their lengths, Bottle George, from Daisuke “Dice”…

Japan Cuts Film Review – ‘Mondays: See You ‘This’ Week!’ is an Enjoyable Time Loop Group Project

Time loops are a tricky thing, and it typically takes film or television characters a decent amount of time to even figure out that’s what happening. Shock and denial tend to come in first, and then the difficulty of convincing someone else that this is real causes considerable frustration and dismay. After that, it’s a…

Japan Cuts: Wandering, A Devastatingly Beautiful Film About Society’s Obsession With Labels

The line-up for the 2023 edition of JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film includes the film Wandering, also released with the title The Wandering Moon. The movie directed by Lee Sang-il is based on the novel Rurou no Tsuki by Yuu Nagira, winner of 17th Japan Booksellers’ Award in 2020. Fate brings together two…

Japan Cuts Film Review – ‘Single8’ is a Celebration of a Love of Filmmaking and Unbridled Creativity

There are few films more impactful in the history of cinema as Star Wars. It managed to become a box office hit with audiences and influence decades of science fiction, winning numerous technical awards and spawning many sequels. What has become a franchise now includes multiple lauded television series and an endless supply of tie-in…

Japan Cuts: Amiko, A Contemplative Tale About An Irrepressible Child

Amiko is part of the 2023 JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film line-up, and marks Yusuke Morii’s directorial debut (the film is not to be confused with the one of the same title by Yôko Yamanaka). Amiko Tanaka (Kana Osawa) is not like other children. She lives in a suburb of Hiroshima with her…

Japan Cuts: J005311, Two Lifeless Entities Collide And Give Birth To A Miracle

The JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film has reached its 16th edition, and is showcasing at Japan Society from July 26th until August 6th. During this occasion a variety of remarkable motion pictures will celebrate the Land of the Rising Sun. One of these films is the unanimous Grand Prix winner at the 44th…