Mubi’s retrospective Takeshi Kitano: Destroy All Yakuza—featuring Violent Cop, Boiling Point, and Outrage Coda—is now showing in the United States, Canada, and select countries.Kubi.The presidential suite of the Grand Hotel Yerevan sits at the end of an amber-lit, carpeted corridor. The door comes fitted with its own CCTV camera, the concierge proudly gloats as an elevator slingshots us several floors above the ground, “so guests can feel safer.” Not that the current occupant has much to worry about. Guarding the suite on this exceptionally hot July afternoon is a small platoon of suit-clad Japanese men, looking equally stern and jet-lagged. The lucky few who get to pad in and out of the room do so in reverential silence, and even those outside speak in hushed voices, lest he should be disturbed. "He" is somewhere in the suite right now, and his name is Takeshi Kitano.
- 1/11/2024
- MUBI
For all their grisly mayhem, the earliest films by Takeshi Kitano all demonstrated a keen grasp of negation. Violence was an omnipresent fixture of his first crime capers––from Violent Cop (1989) to Fireworks (1997)––but it unfolded in hiccups. The director enjoyed trading in tantalizing elisions, and his most gruesome scenes would often leave the action offscreen, offering a set-up and aftermath while cutting the most dramatic moments––an approach that would become more frequent after A Scene at the Sea (1991), the first feature he’d edit himself. It was as if Kitano had realized the most visceral shots were those left on the cutting room floor and proceeded to fashion those early projects on an iceberg principle: prodding one to imagine the bloodletting without ever displaying it in full. It was a style predicated on absence; it made the violence all the more vivid, the films all the more original.
- 5/23/2023
- by Leonardo Goi
- The Film Stage
‘Bad Kids’ Are As Good As ‘Gold’
“The Bad Kids,” a hit series from Chinese streamer iQiyi, is to be remade as a Japanese feature film “Gold Boy.” The 12-episode gritty crime thriller depicts the troubles that arise after three children accidentally film a murder. The series was previously licensed to Japanese pay-tv group Wowow.
The film is to be directed by Kaneko Shusuke, director of two of the hit “Death Note” franchise films, with screenwriter Minato Takehiko, producer Yoshida Takio (Venice Silver Lion winner with “Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman”), and lead actor Okada Masaki (“Drive My Car”) on board.
Variety previously shortlisted the original series as being among the 15 best international TV series of 2020. The series was adapted from the novel of the same name by Chinese suspense writer Chen Zijin and presented by iQIYI and co-produced by Eternity Pictures, with Han Sanping, former head of China Film Group,...
“The Bad Kids,” a hit series from Chinese streamer iQiyi, is to be remade as a Japanese feature film “Gold Boy.” The 12-episode gritty crime thriller depicts the troubles that arise after three children accidentally film a murder. The series was previously licensed to Japanese pay-tv group Wowow.
The film is to be directed by Kaneko Shusuke, director of two of the hit “Death Note” franchise films, with screenwriter Minato Takehiko, producer Yoshida Takio (Venice Silver Lion winner with “Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman”), and lead actor Okada Masaki (“Drive My Car”) on board.
Variety previously shortlisted the original series as being among the 15 best international TV series of 2020. The series was adapted from the novel of the same name by Chinese suspense writer Chen Zijin and presented by iQIYI and co-produced by Eternity Pictures, with Han Sanping, former head of China Film Group,...
- 3/29/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
The family drama genre quite frequently takes an extreme, perverse hypostasis in Japanese cinema, with the harsh realism actually being one of the trademarks of local titles. Actor/Filmmaker Hideo Sasaki stumbled upon such a script 10 years ago, written by Takehiko Minato, eventually managing to shoot a movie out of it when he met Aimi Satsukawa, who embodies the protagonist in the best fashion. The result was “Confession”.
The story starts in the present, in a house deep in the mountains, where Mizuki, a 32-year-old woman is living peacefully, almost in complete silence, with her older, potter husband. The serenity is broken, however, when her stepbrother Iori shows up along with his girlfriend, after 15 years of absence, to inform her that their mother has died. Both his and his girlfriend’s attitude is somewhat contentious, and through a series of flashbacks, we soon learn why.
The movie then takes a leap backwards,...
The story starts in the present, in a house deep in the mountains, where Mizuki, a 32-year-old woman is living peacefully, almost in complete silence, with her older, potter husband. The serenity is broken, however, when her stepbrother Iori shows up along with his girlfriend, after 15 years of absence, to inform her that their mother has died. Both his and his girlfriend’s attitude is somewhat contentious, and through a series of flashbacks, we soon learn why.
The movie then takes a leap backwards,...
- 5/10/2022
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Allegations by several actresses were published by a Japanese magazine.
Japanese drama Confession has been pulled from release following allegations of sexual abuse against director Hideo Sakaki.
Accusations from several actresses were published yesterday (March 9) in weekly magazine Shukan Bunsham. No legal charges have been filed against Sakaki.
However, the release of Confession – scheduled for March 25 by distributor Ark Entertainment – has been postponed indefinitely and a statement on the film’s official website said: “As a result of discussions with related parties regarding this work directed by Hideo Sakaki, the release of the movie Mitsugetsu [Confession’s Japanese title] is temporarily suspended. The future is undecided.
Japanese drama Confession has been pulled from release following allegations of sexual abuse against director Hideo Sakaki.
Accusations from several actresses were published yesterday (March 9) in weekly magazine Shukan Bunsham. No legal charges have been filed against Sakaki.
However, the release of Confession – scheduled for March 25 by distributor Ark Entertainment – has been postponed indefinitely and a statement on the film’s official website said: “As a result of discussions with related parties regarding this work directed by Hideo Sakaki, the release of the movie Mitsugetsu [Confession’s Japanese title] is temporarily suspended. The future is undecided.
- 3/10/2022
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
The plethora of indie family dramas in the Japanese industry have a number of motifs in common. The accusation of the current generation towards the previous ones, the overall lack of parenting, that not all women are fit to become mothers and bullying are the most central ones. Tatsushi Omori, in his latest work, which is now streaming on Netflix, seems to have managed to include every one of them, in a film whose pragmatism is quite shocking even more so since it is based on an actual incident that took place in 2014.
The film shows its colors from the initial scene, where we see Akiko, a single mother, trying to get money from her parents and her hard-working sister, first by yelling and becoming violent and then by begging. However, they will not have none of it, since their patience is obviously exhausted, and a frustrated Akiko leaves along with her little son,...
The film shows its colors from the initial scene, where we see Akiko, a single mother, trying to get money from her parents and her hard-working sister, first by yelling and becoming violent and then by begging. However, they will not have none of it, since their patience is obviously exhausted, and a frustrated Akiko leaves along with her little son,...
- 11/7/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
If there is a film (or films) meant to represent Japan’s nowadays society/economy in a nutshell, that could be this 6 hour epic journey called “Wilderness: Part 1” & “Wilderness: Part 2”. And although we are talking about two films here, Wilderness is really one film split in two, since both parts directly depend on each other. Directed by Yoshiyuki Kishi and starring outstanding actors such as Masaki Suda, Ik-june Yang, Yusuke Santamaria, Akari Kinoshita and Tae Kimura among others.
Wilderness: Part 1 & 2 is screening at Nippon Connection
The context is set on the very near future in Japan, the year 2021. On the one hand, we have Shinji, one of the main protagonists of the story. Shinji is a young boy who has been involved in street gangs in the past and who has just been released from prison. Filled with hatred and with a clear goal due to the consequences that his violent past has left him,...
Wilderness: Part 1 & 2 is screening at Nippon Connection
The context is set on the very near future in Japan, the year 2021. On the one hand, we have Shinji, one of the main protagonists of the story. Shinji is a young boy who has been involved in street gangs in the past and who has just been released from prison. Filled with hatred and with a clear goal due to the consequences that his violent past has left him,...
- 6/3/2018
- by Pedro Morata
- AsianMoviePulse
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.