This month, it was a challenge settling on a film to review. Initially, the article was going to explore Japanese remakes of American films, because as it turns out, Hollywood is not the only place “borrowing” ideas from overseas. Then, because I am cheap and ゴースト (which exists, seriously) is not eligible for half-price rentals yet, I decided to put that article on the backburner. The school culture festival had put me in a high school dramedy mood, however, so
The kendo club at my school was, historically, rather disappointing, despite the majority of our student body coming from a middle school with a very respectable team. For the past two years, they have only had about three active members, and the student with the strongest swordsmanship, who competed at the national level in junior high school, gave up competing in favor of managing the club (which mostly consists of passing out cold beverages). Even three years ago, however, when
Are you a director? Is the female lead in your upcoming film in need of a shady older brother with connections to the “right” people?
I am dating an amazing Japanese woman, and therefore it was only natural that we would eventually watch ダーリンは外国人 (My Darling is a Foreigner) together. In fact, before the movie even came out on DVD, she started reading the manga it was based on and had me doing the same…
There are many ways to study geisha. Middle-aged American women have Memoirs of a Geisha and Oprah. Tourists can dress like geisha in Kyoto for an in-their-shoes experience. The rich and connected can attend legitimate geisha performances. Academics turn to scholarship and classical literature on the topic. Me? I learned everything I need to know about geisha from a film released in 2009 by director Iguchi Noboru (who also makes porn). His film taught me the four tenets of geisha:
If you consider yourself a cinema enthusiast, you need to see the Hirokazu Koreeda (pronounced Kore-eda) film After Life (ワンダフルライフ). After Life is more than just a good movie; it presents a vision of life after death that can give anyone hope. Film lovers especially, however, will find themselves nodding in ferocious agreement when one of the deceased remarks, “…that really is heaven.”
HANA-BI is the best Japanese movie ever made. Need proof? In 1997, it won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, one of the highest honors in the film industry. Need more? In 2005, it changed my life (which is also a pretty big deal).
Have you ever noticed that students quote the same joke (Toose!) over and over for months but eventually the joke (Ichi, ni, SAN!) mysteriously disappears? This occurs because Japanese comedians frequently fade into obscurity as quickly as they rose to popularity. The director and star of HANA-BI, however…
