Hoga News

Ken Watanabe is selected for "Yodogawa Nagaharu Award"

Ken Watanabe was awarded with 15th "Yodogawa Nagaharu Award", which is sponsored by Road Show magazine and is given to a person or a group who contributed much to the Japanese film industry in the past year.  The award is to commemorate Japan's great film critique late Nagaharu Yodogawa.  Watanabe was chosen for his wide range international works.

The award had been given to directors and staff before, but in 2004 and 2005, actors Hiroyuki Sanada and Jacky Chen (the first non-Japanese winner) won the award, and this trend continues through this year.

Source:  SANSPO

Amazing relationships between Kyoko Koizumi's romance and "Korean boom"?

Japan's popular entertainment media rocked when the news of Kyoko Koizumi 's new romance rumor appeared on a tabloid photo magazine "Friday" this week.  Koizumi - totally unrelated to Japan's prime minister - is a former idol 20 years ago but currently an established actress, 40 years old, divorced 2 years ago from actor Masatoshi Nagase ("The Hidden Blade"), and was the star in "Hanging Garden" which brought her Blue Ribbon Award this year.  The opposite of her is 20 year old up-and-coming pop idol Kazuya Kamenashi, a member of the rock group KAT-TUN.

Now, an insider blogger Mr. Orochon explains, why didn't Janny's Jimusho, Kamenashi's agent, block the news from being published?  They are notorious for tightly controling their clients' privacy, or even not letting their photos exposed on the Web (I had a hard time finding his photo on the Web).  Normally this type of rumor is considered damaging, so why did they let it leak out?

Mr. Orochon speculates that clue is in "Korean boom".  At the height of the boom, the most popular Korean star in Japan, Bae Yong Joon, was so puplar among mid/older women that his fans spent fortune just to visit Korea and to buy his memorabilia.  Note that these older women has MUCH more money than the young students who would normally flock to KAT-TUN-type young idols.

Koizumi is in the same age group with those rich women, and is well accepted by them as an independent, cute and charming role model.  So, Mr. Orochon speculates, Kamenashi camp may have thought that by connecting him with Koizumi, former Yong Joon fans would sympathize with Koizumi, fantasize their own romance with 20-year younger heartthrob (!?), and get more interested in Kamenashi after all.

Dunno what  the truth is, but sure sounds valid to me.  (lol)

Source:  Zakzak, Nandeka Flamenco

Koizumi's "Hanging Garden" (Region 2)　and Kamenashi's photo book

Korean boom slowing down, and Hollywood still low flying in Japan

Mr. Texas at Movie Consultant Blog points out that a Korean period-fantasy film "Duelist" opened with a hugely disappointing result, (no, it's not one of "Yugi-oh" sequel) with only 34 million yen over the last weekend.  That is only 32% of already disappointing "Now and Forever" (previous weekend) and 55% of "Typhoon" (2 weekends ago), all from Korea, despite of agressive marketing effort almost at the level of Hollywood blockbusters. 

Mr. Texas thinks that "Korean boom" is largely about love stories supported by mid/older age women, so action films such as "Duelist" and "Typhoon" may be out of the range anyway, and some of the main actors/actresses are not yet proven in Japanese market.  Therefore it may not be a fair comparison with last year's big hits such as  "A Moment to Remember" (final bo result 3 bil. yen) and "April Snow" (2.75 bil. yen).  However, "Now and Forever" is a love story and features an already popular actress Choi Ji-woo - no excuse for this one.  It may be just another sign of the over-supply of Korean materials and the end of the boom era.

And by the way, ever-over-supplied Hollywood films also continue to run quite slowly in Japanese market this year.  Again, according to Mr. Texas, last weekend's "V for Vendetta" did OK with 153 mil. yen and started at the 3rd position (although it is ranked No.4 in Ryuganji's report based on Eiga.com, and No.3 is "Ice Age 2", but the following statements hold true) in the weekend BO ranking.  However, since the beginning of this year, there are only 4 other top 3 starts among foreign movies; "Flight Plan", "Narnia", "Munich" and "Producers", and the last two held on to the top 3 position for just one week.

So, he wonders, is it that Hogas are doing well or foreign films are doing poorly?

Starting this weekend, so-called "Golden Week", a big Japanese holiday week, kicks off, and even the weather forecast is not cooperating with the movie industry - sunny and warm.  Too bad, guys, but it's time for a picnic!

Koji Yakusho's 4th Cannes, and power duo's "UDON" shop

As Ryuganji reported, Hollywood film "Babel" starring Brad Pitt, along with Koji Yakusho, will enter Cannes Film Festival competition in May.

See Ryuganji for details.

Yakusho starred in "The Eel", which won Palm D'or in 1997, as well as "Eureka" (2000) and "Warm Water Under a Red Bridge" (2001), so it will be his 4th film in Cannes competition.  He received the e-mail information from Director Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu about the entry, and states "I felt that this will be a universally accepted great movie when I read the script." and is scheduled to fly to France for its screening on May 23.

Source:  SANSPO

As a separate topic, Fuji/Toho's power duo will open an UDON noodle shop in Cannes to promote their new film "UDON", starring Yusuke Santamaria.   "UDON" is not in competition but will be marketed in Cannes Market.

See this article for more about "UDON".

"UDON" is produced by Fuji's Producer Chihiro Kameyama and Director Katsuyuki Motohiro, the team that made "Bayside Shakedown" a huge hit series.  They have named the film in alphabet to be easily marketd overseas from the start.  They are planning to bring along 200-300 servings of udon noodle, and serve them at the filming in Cannes, maybe even bringing the udon chef.  They are also asking the main cast to come to Cannes.

A press conference was held on April 21 in Marugame, Kagawa, where the story is based in.  The main actor Yusuke Santamaria, also the star of "Bayside" spin-off hit "Negotiator Mashita Masayoshi", says "I have probably eaten 50 servings of udon so far.  There is even a scene that I eat 3 servings first thing in the morning.  I am tired of udon...", but also improvised a dance on the stage to "cheer up eating udon".

"UDON" is scheduled to open on August 26.  Please see Hoga Central special interview to Ryoichi Kimizuka for more details of "Bayside Shakedown" series.

Source:  SANSPO

Ken Watanabe appears in dementia symposium

Ken Watanabe, who stars in "Asu no Kioku" (literally "tomorrow's memory") by Yukihiko Tsutsumi, spoke on the stage of the dementia symposium with the desease's specialists in Tokyo on April 23.   The film deals with a man who suffers with Altzheimer's desease at an early age.

Watanabe told the 600 attendees, "I learned through making this film that the desease is not the end, but is the beginning of a new life.  I believe that making the space where the patients feel excited and comfortable is the most important thing, rather than to regulate the treatment."

Watanabe himself once was suffered from ｌeukemia and overcame it, so his words were even convincing for the co-attending specialists.

"Asu no Kioku" is scheduled to open on May 13, and Watanabe will be working full-time on the film promotion till the opening day.

Source:  SANSPO (with Watanabe's photo)

UK's Oasis plays for Yuya Yagira's new movie

British rock band Oasis will provide their hit songs for a new hoga "Sugar and Spice - Fumi Zekka-" (literally "Sugar and Spice - excellent taste-"), starring Cannes Best Actor winner Yuya Yagira ("Nobody Knows") and Erika Sawajiri ("Pacchigi!").  The story is about the young boy's sweet and bitter first love, based on a popular novel by Eimi Yamada.  The production team has been targeted to distribute the film overseas from the beginning and was looking for the Western musicians to do the music.

Producer Toru Ota from Fuji TV and Director Isao Nakae gave an offer to Oasis, but they have never provided songs for Japanese movies despite several past attempts.  Mssrs. Ota and Nakae argued that their previous movie "Calmi Cuori Appattionati" made its theme song by Enya a million seller, and brought up the importance of Yagira's participation in this film.  They finally got their wishes come true in February, and Oasis's three songs from their album "Don't Believe the Truth", "Let There Be Love", "Lyla" and "Muckey Fingers" will be played in the movie.

The film is drawing the popular attention for the first kiss scene on the screen by Yagira, and the trailer with "Let There Be Love" background will be played in theaters from April 22.  "Sugar and Spice" is scheduled to be released on September 16.

"Nezu no Ban" opens strongly

Masahiko Makino (aka Masahiko Tsugawa as an actor) should be happy to see his director debut as the heir of the great Makino family turns out to be quite successful.  Makino's "Nezu no Ban" (literally "Night Watch with no Sleep") opens at No. 9 in the last weekend box office chart, with only 50 screens in the arthouse theaters.  Other hogas in the chart are mostly for kids for their spring break, but this one is rated R-15 - adults only. 

Here is a photo from their opening day stage appearance line-dancing - Yoshino Kimura, Ittoku Kishibe, Makino, Makino's brother Hiroyuki Nagato and Kiichi Nakai.

Source:  Eiga.com, Ryuganji, Sanspo

Kurosawa Academy official Website is open

"Kurosawa Akira Academy", film-making school run by the team Kurosawa headed by Teruyo Nogami and Tatsuya Nakadai, just started its official Website.  As was reported earlier, the line-up of the instructors are amazing, and several guest lecturers are also listed up, including Yoji Yamada, Kon Ichikawa and Mie Wada.

See Kurosawa Akira Academy Website.

Hiroyuki Sanada will join James Ivory again?

The words starts to go around in the fan community that Hiroyuki Sanada's next project will be with James Ivory again, as he himself stated in an interview below, and the film is most likely will be "The City of Your Final Destination", original novel by Peter Cameron.

Please see Hiroyuki Sanada Enthusiast for more details.

Source:  OutNow.CH, Hiroyuki Sanada Enthusiast

Hiroyuki Sanada's previous James Ivory film "The White Countess" - DVD release will be on May 16.

San Francisco International Film Festival lineup

SFIFF starts on April 20, and there are several Japanese movies and a Japan related one on the lineup.

• Princess Raccoon (Starring Jo Odagiri and Zhang Ziyi, directed by Seijun Suzuki)
• The House of Himiko ("Maison de Himiko", Starring Jo Odagiri, directed by Isshin Inudo)
• Bashing (Directed by Masahiro Kobayashi)
• Executive Koala (Directed by Minoru Kawasaki)
• Sun (Directed by Alexander Sokurov, starring Issei Ogata as Emperor Hirohito)

Please see San Francisco Film Society's Website for schedule details.

Line up is the usual suspects, I guess (except for "Koala" - I didn't know about it).  Personally, I wonder if there is any occasion, somewhere, sometime, that they show hit movies (=easy to enjoy even for the regular people like me)  like "The Uchoten Hotel (Suite Dreams)", "Always - Sunset on the Third Street" or "Negotiator Mashita Masayoshi" - in this whole wide United States.