Stars: Andrea Granera, Deepti Menon, Josh Cox, Mateo Correa, Milly Miles | Written and Directed by Josh Cox
I think it might be harder to make, and get positive reviews, for a short film that isn’t action-packed. It must be a temptation for directors of shorts to fill their time (twenty minutes with Summer After) with fights or gore or big drama. But film-maker Josh Cox has gone for a mellow, coming of age short with his latest film.
Set in 1986, although it’s hard to tell – this isn’t strewn with Eighties film posters or product placement and the clothes then are now trending anyway! 17-year-old Mesa is trying to make it through a summer one year after an impassioned romance with a girl from out of town. Trying to understand herself, reconcile the past and live in the moment, there’s a lot to pack into the short runtime.
I think it might be harder to make, and get positive reviews, for a short film that isn’t action-packed. It must be a temptation for directors of shorts to fill their time (twenty minutes with Summer After) with fights or gore or big drama. But film-maker Josh Cox has gone for a mellow, coming of age short with his latest film.
Set in 1986, although it’s hard to tell – this isn’t strewn with Eighties film posters or product placement and the clothes then are now trending anyway! 17-year-old Mesa is trying to make it through a summer one year after an impassioned romance with a girl from out of town. Trying to understand herself, reconcile the past and live in the moment, there’s a lot to pack into the short runtime.
- 6/2/2022
- by Alain Elliott
- Nerdly
Stars: Kaori Fuji, Takako Matsu, Seiichi Tanabe | Written and Directed by Shunji Iwai
Even though I’d call myself a fan of Asian cinema, the reality is, if it isn’t horror or animated, I probably haven’t seen it. So I was thrilled to get the chance to watch 1998’s April Story at this year’s Fantasia Fest.
On the face of things, April Story is a very simple movie and not a whole lot happens. In Spring a girl, Uzuki Nireno, leaves the island of Hikkaido and her home town to attend University in Tokyo. And that’s kinda the whole story. We follow her as she struggles a little with being out of her comfort zone and the city not being quite as fantastic as she hoped.
But this is not a sad story, far from it. We see her loneliness and anxiety in new situations but...
Even though I’d call myself a fan of Asian cinema, the reality is, if it isn’t horror or animated, I probably haven’t seen it. So I was thrilled to get the chance to watch 1998’s April Story at this year’s Fantasia Fest.
On the face of things, April Story is a very simple movie and not a whole lot happens. In Spring a girl, Uzuki Nireno, leaves the island of Hikkaido and her home town to attend University in Tokyo. And that’s kinda the whole story. We follow her as she struggles a little with being out of her comfort zone and the city not being quite as fantastic as she hoped.
But this is not a sad story, far from it. We see her loneliness and anxiety in new situations but...
- 8/26/2021
- by Alain Elliott
- Nerdly
Shunji Iwai always thrived in the portrayal of youths in various transitional stages of their life, with a significant part of his filmography focusing on this topic. “April Story” is another testament to the fact, although in a much tamer fashion than the majority of his work, which did not forbid it, however, from winning the audience award in Busan in 1998.
“April Story” is screening at Fantasia International Film Festival
Uzuki Nireno is a genuine country bumpkin from northern Hokkaido, who has just moved to Tokyo to study in the university. Adapting however, is not particularly easy, and the girl finds herself, either helping when not needed, interacting with men who seem anything but normal, and being pushed by a quirky girl in her classroom, the only one who wants to hang with her, into joining an air fishing club, presided by Fukatsu, an equally quirky young man. As time passes,...
“April Story” is screening at Fantasia International Film Festival
Uzuki Nireno is a genuine country bumpkin from northern Hokkaido, who has just moved to Tokyo to study in the university. Adapting however, is not particularly easy, and the girl finds herself, either helping when not needed, interacting with men who seem anything but normal, and being pushed by a quirky girl in her classroom, the only one who wants to hang with her, into joining an air fishing club, presided by Fukatsu, an equally quirky young man. As time passes,...
- 8/8/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The Great Yokai War: Guardians
The final titles were added to this year's Fantasia line-up today, and it was revealed that the festival will close with The Great Yokai War: Guardians. Helmed by Takashi Miike, it sees Japanese demons going head to head in a battle on which the fate of the world could depend.
Other freshly added highlights include the brutal puppet mayhem of Frank And Zed, and unforgettable English documentary Alien On Stage.
The festival team also revealed today that they will be presenting writer, director and video artist Shunji Iwai with a Career Achievement award, recognising his 30 years of distinctive contributions to cinema. His latest work, The 12 Day Tale Of The Monster That Died In 8, will be screening as part of this year's line-up along with earlier works April Story, All About Lily Chou-Chou and Fireworks, Should We See It From The Side Or The Bottom?
Also receiving an award.
The final titles were added to this year's Fantasia line-up today, and it was revealed that the festival will close with The Great Yokai War: Guardians. Helmed by Takashi Miike, it sees Japanese demons going head to head in a battle on which the fate of the world could depend.
Other freshly added highlights include the brutal puppet mayhem of Frank And Zed, and unforgettable English documentary Alien On Stage.
The festival team also revealed today that they will be presenting writer, director and video artist Shunji Iwai with a Career Achievement award, recognising his 30 years of distinctive contributions to cinema. His latest work, The 12 Day Tale Of The Monster That Died In 8, will be screening as part of this year's line-up along with earlier works April Story, All About Lily Chou-Chou and Fireworks, Should We See It From The Side Or The Bottom?
Also receiving an award.
- 7/21/2021
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Masterclasses and special awards for Stephen Sayadian, Phil Tippett, Shunji Iwai.
Takashi Miike’s The Great Yokai War – Guardians will close Fantasia International Film Festival (August 5-25), which festival heads have turned into a hybrid event after adding a limited roster of in-person screenings in Montreal.
Japanese horror specialist Miike’s sequel to his family fantasy epic and Fantasia 2006 opener The Great Yokai War gets its international premiere and centres on a battle between Japanese monsters that will determine the fate of the world.
Paul Andrew Williams’s (London To Brighton) UK crime thriller Bull is among world premieres in...
Takashi Miike’s The Great Yokai War – Guardians will close Fantasia International Film Festival (August 5-25), which festival heads have turned into a hybrid event after adding a limited roster of in-person screenings in Montreal.
Japanese horror specialist Miike’s sequel to his family fantasy epic and Fantasia 2006 opener The Great Yokai War gets its international premiere and centres on a battle between Japanese monsters that will determine the fate of the world.
Paul Andrew Williams’s (London To Brighton) UK crime thriller Bull is among world premieres in...
- 7/21/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Having a great cast in his hands, Shunji Iwai decided to take a trip down his own cinematic past this time, resulting in a rather nostalgic film that works on a number of levels, but also seems to fail to pack a punch. The script is based on his own novel, while in 2018 he directed a homonymous, Chinese film starring Zhou Xun.
Yuri is a middle-aged mother who has just returned to the area she grew up, along with her daughter, Fuka, to attend the funeral of her older sister, Misaki, who has just died, leaving her own daughter, Ayumi, with her grandmother, since her husband is out of the picture. When an invitation for a class reunion comes to the house, Yuri decides to attend, to inform her sister’s classmates of her death, but finds herself being confused with Misaki, to the point that an old boyfriend of hers,...
Yuri is a middle-aged mother who has just returned to the area she grew up, along with her daughter, Fuka, to attend the funeral of her older sister, Misaki, who has just died, leaving her own daughter, Ayumi, with her grandmother, since her husband is out of the picture. When an invitation for a class reunion comes to the house, Yuri decides to attend, to inform her sister’s classmates of her death, but finds herself being confused with Misaki, to the point that an old boyfriend of hers,...
- 12/20/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Contemporary Chinese Cinema is a column devoted to exploring contemporary Chinese-language cinema primarily as it is revealed to us at North American multiplexes.The sneakiest major release of the year is surely the latest from Japanese director Shunji Iwai, whose new movie opens this Friday at a dozen multiplexes around North America courtesy of the distributor China Lion Film. Last Letter is Iwai’s first film made in China, and stars Zhou Xun, who starred in one of last year’s best films, Ann Hui’s Our Time Will Come, which was also distributed here by China Lion. That he would be working in a new country is no surprise: Iwai is one of the more eclectic filmmakers of his generation: having started in TV and video in the early 90s before moving into film, he’s since made documentaries and music videos, science fiction films and anime, epics of...
- 11/9/2018
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSLil Peep and Terrence MalickHere's a surprising one: Terrence Malick is set to executive produce a documentary about the late rapper Lil Peep. Ang Lee has begun preparing to direct a biographical film about Teresa Teng, the Taiwanese pop icon who passed away in 1995 at the age of 42. There's also some very exciting rumors that the role of Teng is to be played by pop icon Faye Wong.Lucrecia Martel is mounting her next feature, her first documentary chronicling "the murder of indigenous activist Javier Chocobar and the removal of his community from their ancestral land in Argentina."Recommended VIEWINGThe Coen brothers' forthcoming anthology western, starring the likes of Liam Neeson, Zoe Kazan, Tom Waits, and Tim Blake Nelson, gets its 2nd trailer ahead of its Netflix release.This one caught us by surprise:...
- 11/8/2018
- MUBI
Describing the trailer for Iwai Shunji's Last Letter as "wispy" is meant in the sense that it is fine, light as air video that suggests something is more powerful and affecting than it might look. More than 20 years ago, Iwai began making waves that broke beyond Japan with films like Swallowtail Butterfly, April Story, All About Lily Chou-Chou and, especially, Hana and Alice. He's remained busy throughout his career, working in television as well as the big-screen arena, making features, series and documentaries. His previous feature, A Bride for Rip Van Wrinkle, received an appreciative review by our own Jaime Grijalba Gomez back in June 2016: "It's perfectly tuned, wonderfully performed and tonally consistent. One of the best films of the year." In its...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 10/15/2018
- Screen Anarchy
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.