Hoga News

"Who would go see such movies?" award 2008 in Japan

People tend to enjoy ridiculing bad movies more than praising good movies.  So here is one seed of laugh for Japanese movie watchers, in such a dark economy lately.

"Who would go see such movies?" award on Hakaiya website is not backed up by any authority, and is totally based on readers' votes, among the nominations by the site owner.  As the award title suggests, I have not seen most of the listed movies.  But is SO funny just to see the titles and people's comments.  I think it much better reflects the reality than "Bunshun Raspberry Award", which, to me, is the platform for critics to show off their distaste to the "mass oriented" movies.

So here are the top 10:

1. Ginmakuban Sushi Oji! New York e Iku (Sushi King Goes to New York)
2. Yama no Anata - Tokuichi no Koi (You of the Mountain — Tokuichi's Love)
3. Shaorin Shojo (Shaorin Girl)
4. Furefure Shojo (Fure Fure Girl)
5. HEY JAPANESE! Do you believe PEACE,LOVE and UNDERSTANDING? 2008 2008年、イマドキジャパニーズよ。愛と平和と理解を信じるかい？
   
6. Maboroshi no Yamatai-koku (Where the Legend Lives)
7. Watashi wa Kai ni Naritai (I Want to Be a Shellfish)
8. Kakushi toride no san akunin THE LAST PRINCESS
9. Higurashi no Naku Koroni (Shrill Cries of Summer)
10. 252 Seizonsha Ari (252: Signal of Life)

The only one I saw is "Where the Legend Lives", as I mentioned in my previous entry.  It is directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi, as well as the top honor "Sushi Oji", so Mr. Hakaiya concludes that NG symbol in 2008 was Tsutsumi.  He also points out that "Johnny's Office" movies covers 40% of the top 10 - Koichi Domoto at "Sushi Oji", Tsuyoshi Kusanagi at "Tokuichi", Masahiro Nakai at "Shellfish", Jun Matsumoto at "The Last Princess".  I guess people get outraged against the "plot" to promote those already rich stars with big production/marketing budget but poor quality.  I can TOTALLY understand that. 

I also am quite purplexed by Johnny's selection of the themes - why do they have to be SO old-fashioned, out-of-context, cheezy movie themes to start with?  As I have not seen ANY of them, I cannot comment on their ability to act, but just hearing the titles turns me off - why?  Is it only me?

Even if you cannot read Japanese, you probably can feel you don't watch these by just going to their official website.

I should also add that the site owner nominated non-Japanese movies as well originally, but none of them made it to the top 10.  It shows how BAD some of the Japanese movies are.

Hollywood movie financing is shrinking with the Wallstreet meltdown, and the same thing probably will happen to Japan's "Hoga Bubble" in 2009.  Hope we will see LESS of those "waste of talent" movies.

Michi

Yoji Yamada's homage to late Kon Ichikawa - "OTOUTO"

(C) 2009 OTOUTO FILM PARTNERS

 Yoji Yamada and Japan's living-legend actress Sayuri Yoshinaga join up again, after  “KABEI – Our Mother” which premiered at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival in competition, to produce a new film.

The same title film "OTOUTO", meaning younger brother in Japanese, was made by late Kon Ichikawa in 1960, and this new "OTOUTO" is positioned as a latter-day story of a sister and a brother, and as a homage to Ichikawa by Yamada and Yoshinaga.

The main character, a "loser" brother, will be played by Tsurube Shofukutei, who also was with this Y-Y team in "KABEI" as Yoshinaga's annoying uncle.  Tsurube's day job is rakugo, a "sit-down" (not stand-up) one-man comedy, and will be a fit to play this character who is trying to make it as a comedian.  Yoshinaga will play a caring older sister, a single mother of a young daughter.

No offence to Yamada and Yoshinaga, but I personally didn't like "KABEI" that much (except for Tadanobu Asano's acting), and I did not like Yoshinaga's latest "Maboroshi no Yamatai-koku (Where the Legend Lives)" by Director Yukihiko Tsutsumi, co-starring Naoto Takenaka.  To me, both felt too old-fashioned and targeting at older age group.  Sayuri Yoshinaga certainly has a very special meaning to older generation, I agree, and that may lead to be put into a mold.  I hope to see something different this time.

See Jason Gray's article HERE.

I also add a release from Shochiku here.

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Shochiku Co., Ltd., Japan’s leading entertainment conglomerate, announced today that they would start production of Yoji Yamada’s latest feature, “OTOUTO (original Japanese title)” which will start shooting in mid January 2009.

Following the enormous success of the samurai trilogy that included 2004 Academy Award® nominated film “The Twilight Samurai,” “The Hidden Blade” and “LOVE AND HONOR,” as well as the highly acclaimed “KABEI – Our Mother” which premiered at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival in competition and moved the audience in tears with the strong drama of a family who struggled through the hard times of WWII, Yoji Yamada now returns to modern drama for the first time in 10 years.

Shochiku Co. Ltd., will produce and also distribute the film widely in Japan, set for early 2010.

The film will mark the 81^st film from helmer Yoji Yamada.

The film focuses on one foolish brother (the word “otouto” in Japanese means younger brother) and his warm and caring older sister.

The brother seeks amusing but somewhat ridiculous way of life and always troubles the sister who leads a more consistent path to support her only daughter. Though it seems that the brother is only a nuisance to the family, she takes in the brother’s ridiculousness and keeps her love and care for him being the only brother and sister to support themselves in life. However, an incident brings the sister to break off their relationship, and the brother is left to stand alone in devastation. When they finally reunite, they find that the brother is fighting a fatal disease, and he is facing death.

The love and care you feel between relationships. The relief to have someone who will always be by your side. The feeling of trust. The loving humor that lifts you up in times of hardships.

The new film from Yoji Yamada brings heartfelt laughter and tears as well as hope on human relationships.

The film will be starring Tsurube Shofukutei as the role of the “brother”, who teamed with Yoji Yamada on “KABEI – Our Mother” as a loud and entertaining uncle. The film will also co-star the acclaimed and award winning Sayuri Yoshinaga who is by far the top actress in Japan, in the role of the caring sister. Yoji Yamada, Tsurube Shofukutei, and Sayuri Yoshinaga teamed for the film “KABEI – Our Mother” which was nominated for 12 categories at the Japanese Academy Awards this year, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Leading Actress.

The film also will star internationally acclaimed young talents, Yu Aoi (All About Lily Chou-Chou, Hula Girl) and Ryo Kase (Letters from Iwo-Jima, I Just Didn’t Do It), as Yoshinaga’s daughter, and her love interest.

Comments from Yoji Yamada:

I had already imagined during the shooting of “KABEI – Our Mother,” how fun and interesting it would be to bring back Sayuri Yoshinaga and Tsurube Shofukutei together and have them work on another role brining out all that they have. Family ties are inseparable. The unreasonable, yet loving, and sometimes sad relationship of a family and siblings will be depicted through heartfelt laughter in this film.

Comments from Sayuri Yoshinaga:

I am so happy and honored to be back on the set with Yoji Yamada once again. I was extremely moved by the way of filmmaking during “KABEI – Our Mother” and I wanted to learn more from him.

Comments from Tsurube Shofukutei:

Amazing script, amazing director, amazing cast. I cannot find more happiness in doing this business than what I am given the chance to do now. Looking forward to making a huge splash on the screen.

“OTOUTO” (original Japanese title)

Directed by Yoji Yamada

Written by Yoji Yamada, Emiko Hiramatsu

Producer: Hiroshi Fukasawa, Kenichi Tamura

by Michi

"Sky Crawlers" premiere in New York Dec.12

SONY PICTURES, STAGE 6 FILMS, PRODUCTION I.G,
NEW YORK –TOKYO, AND THE FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER
PRESENT NY PRE MIERE OF



WITH SPECIAL VIDEO INTRO BY DIRECTOR MAMORU OSHII

Japan/2008/122/color/Japanese with English subtitles

FRIDAY, DEC.12 AT 7 & 9:30
WALTER READE THEATER AT LINCOLN CENTER
165 W.65TH ST (UPPER LEVEL, BET.B’WAY & AMSTERDAM AVE)

TICKETS: http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/skycrawlers.html

Official Webpage

Hmmm...  There are SO MANY events going on in New York these days...  I wish I were there..

Michi Kaifu

"The Yellow Handkerchief" Hollywood version is coming up

Yoji Yamada's "The Yellow Handkerchief", winner of the very first Japan Academy Award in 1978, has been re-made into a Hollywood movie, and the Los Angeles premiere was just held.

I am waiting for the further info, and will follow up as soon as I get it.

Here is a summary of the movie, from its PR sheet:

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Brett Hanson (William Hurt) is an ex-convict, just released from prison after serving six years for manslaughter and now adrift in a world of new freedoms and responsibilities.  Finding initial difficulties in reconciling himself to a troubled past, Brett crosses paths with lonely and troubled teenager Martine (Kristen Stewart) and her new ‘ride,’ Gordy (Eddie Redmayne). The trio head out in the same car and direction – Martine to cut loose and get away from her family, Gordy to get closer to Martine, and Brett who must decide whether he wants to return to his troubled past and an uncertainty with May (Maria Bello) the woman that he left behind.  Once on the road, the trio finds their relationships forging and changing in myriad ways, but it is Brett’s story and his need to reconcile his past to his future that drives the two young people to reassess their own passages as well.

“The Yellow Handkerchief” stars William Hurt, Maria Bello, Kristen Stewart and Eddie Redmayne and is Produced by Arthur Cohn.

*************************************************************************************

Michi Kaifu

TOKYO SONATA will be in the U.S. theaters in March 2009

I got the following info about TOKYO SONATA!

TOKYO SONATA, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s acclaimed new film, winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard Jury Prize and a selection of the 2008 Toronto and New York Film Festivals, will open in New York and Los Angeles on Friday, March 13, followed by a national roll out.

With TOKYO SONATA, Kiyoshi Kurosawa delves into a different kind of everyday horror with a contemporary fable exquisitely pitched between comedy, tragedy and Bunuelian irrationality. Based on a story by Australian writer Max Mannix, it follows the progress of an ordinary family as it gradually comes undone.

Ryuhei (Teruyuki Kagawa) is an Everyman, a Tokyo husband and father of two, who, unexpectedly laid off from his job, finds he is a soldier in a vast army of unemployed men concealing their shameful realities from their families and friends. Pretending to depart each day for work, he actually kills time in libraries and parks. His lies go unnoticed by his older son who becomes increasingly distanced from his parents, while his wife strives to keep her family together. Ryuhei takes out his frustrations at home, and his proud refusal to allow his gifted youngest son to take piano lessons is the first step into a tragicomic trip into alienation and ultimate regeneration.

One of the most exciting directors in contemporary Japanese cinema, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s body of work spans over two decades. He is best known to international audiences for twisted and stylistically daring thrillers including BRIGHT FUTURE, CHARISMA (developed at the Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab), CURE, LICENCE TO LIVE and PULSE, all selected at top films festivals worldwide including Berlin, Cannes and Venice.

Michi Kaifu