Based on the homonymous manga by Ken Wakui, “Shinjuku Swan” is another testament to Sion Sono’s prowess in adapting, with the many and colorful characters, the extreme violence and the overall sleaziness being just down his alley.
on Amazon
The labyrinth story begins with Tatsuhiko, an unemployed young man who does not have even the fare to return home (although he wears a Supreme hoodie that costs upwards than 400), getting into a fight with a gang, and getting rescued by Mako, a scout who recruits girls to work for the Burst scouting agency run by Yamashiro in Kabukicho. Tatsuhiko learns the “tricks” of wooing women to work in massage parlors, and although he feels uncomfortable when he realizes that they are exploited, the sense of belonging, success and comradeship soon take over with him becoming quite successful. However, Burst is not the only company working in the area,...
on Amazon
The labyrinth story begins with Tatsuhiko, an unemployed young man who does not have even the fare to return home (although he wears a Supreme hoodie that costs upwards than 400), getting into a fight with a gang, and getting rescued by Mako, a scout who recruits girls to work for the Burst scouting agency run by Yamashiro in Kabukicho. Tatsuhiko learns the “tricks” of wooing women to work in massage parlors, and although he feels uncomfortable when he realizes that they are exploited, the sense of belonging, success and comradeship soon take over with him becoming quite successful. However, Burst is not the only company working in the area,...
- 5/12/2022
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Although “Chiwawa” was the film that truly cemented the artfulness of his slightly disorienting, filled with (neon) colors and music, sexually charged style, it is interesting to examine the path Ken Ninomiya followed to reach that level, with his previous movie providing a great opportunity.
The story revolves around Aki Oria, a young girl who came to Tokyo ten years ago to become an actress, but eventually ended up staying in a circus of sorts, having a relationship with Kaito, the young man who introduced her, and acting as the magician’s assistant, with her role being pretending to be hypnotized. Eventually, she manages to land a part after a successful audition, even becoming a star, before a scandal takes a significant toll to her reputation. Is that the reality though? And who is this clown-like figure she calls Butch that seems to always be with her?...
The story revolves around Aki Oria, a young girl who came to Tokyo ten years ago to become an actress, but eventually ended up staying in a circus of sorts, having a relationship with Kaito, the young man who introduced her, and acting as the magician’s assistant, with her role being pretending to be hypnotized. Eventually, she manages to land a part after a successful audition, even becoming a star, before a scandal takes a significant toll to her reputation. Is that the reality though? And who is this clown-like figure she calls Butch that seems to always be with her?...
- 2/18/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The film is currently in production for local release this autumn.
Japan’s Toei has launched sales on romantic feature Taberu Onna (working title), directed by Jiro Shono (Time Lost, Time Found), at Filmart.
A tale of eight women of different ages, occupations and perspectives trying to find their own ways of living through food and sex, the film stars Kyoko Koizumi (Tokyo Sonata), Erika Sawajiri (Shinjuku Swan), Atsuko Maeda (Kabukicho Love Hotel), Kyoka Suzuki (The Kiyosu Conference), Alice Hirose, Yu Yamada, Dan Mitsu and Charlotte Kate Fox. Currently in production, it is set for release locally this autumn.
Toei...
Japan’s Toei has launched sales on romantic feature Taberu Onna (working title), directed by Jiro Shono (Time Lost, Time Found), at Filmart.
A tale of eight women of different ages, occupations and perspectives trying to find their own ways of living through food and sex, the film stars Kyoko Koizumi (Tokyo Sonata), Erika Sawajiri (Shinjuku Swan), Atsuko Maeda (Kabukicho Love Hotel), Kyoka Suzuki (The Kiyosu Conference), Alice Hirose, Yu Yamada, Dan Mitsu and Charlotte Kate Fox. Currently in production, it is set for release locally this autumn.
Toei...
- 3/20/2018
- by Jean Noh
- ScreenDaily
The 19th Annual Fantasia Film Festival is only a week away, beginning July 14 and running through August 4. And as promised for today, they’ve revealed their full line-up of films screening at 2015’s festival in Montreal.
This year’s line-up boasts 22 World Premieres, 13 International Premieres, and 21 North American Premieres. Both Marvel’s Ant-Man and the animated Miss Hokusai were previously announced, but now they’ve added the much anticipated Attack on Titan movie as their closing night film. Other highlights include the Sundance darlings Cooties, starring Elijah Wood and Rainn Wilson, Cop Car, starring Kevin Bacon and directed by the upcoming Spider-man director Jon Watts, and a trio of films from horror auteur Sion Sono.
See the full line-up announcement of films below via Fantasia’s Facebook page, and be sure to check out their website at fantasiafestival.com for additional information.
****
Fantasia 2015:
36 Countries, 135 Features, and Nearly 300 Short Films
- Including 22 World Premieres,...
This year’s line-up boasts 22 World Premieres, 13 International Premieres, and 21 North American Premieres. Both Marvel’s Ant-Man and the animated Miss Hokusai were previously announced, but now they’ve added the much anticipated Attack on Titan movie as their closing night film. Other highlights include the Sundance darlings Cooties, starring Elijah Wood and Rainn Wilson, Cop Car, starring Kevin Bacon and directed by the upcoming Spider-man director Jon Watts, and a trio of films from horror auteur Sion Sono.
See the full line-up announcement of films below via Fantasia’s Facebook page, and be sure to check out their website at fantasiafestival.com for additional information.
****
Fantasia 2015:
36 Countries, 135 Features, and Nearly 300 Short Films
- Including 22 World Premieres,...
- 7/7/2015
- by Brian Welk
- SoundOnSight
Sion Sono doesn't sleep. Or least that's what it seems like as the cult Japanese director is working at a remarkably prolific rate. It was only last fall that he was premiering "Tokyo Tribe" at the Toronto International Film Festival, and not only does he already have "Shinjuku Swan" in the can and ready for release this spring, he's got "Love & Peace" in post-production. And that's not all. According to Variety, Sono will release six movies this year. Watch your back Takashi Miike. Anyway, the first teaser for "Shinjuku Swan" is here, and yes, it looks like your typically wild Sono joint. Starring Go Ayano, Erika Sawajiri, Takayuki Yamada and Yusuke Iseya, and based on the manga series by Ken Wakui, the story follows an unemployed man who winds up recruiting women for the sex industry in Tokyo's red light district. And as you'll see in the trailer below, rival...
- 1/30/2015
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Anew announced that they are moving forward on Ghost Train, an English language remake of the 2006 Japanese horror movie Otoshimono:
“Los Angeles and Tokyo – October 30, 2014 – Adding to its commitment to establish a cultural bridge between a consortium of Japan’s leading creative companies and prominent Hollywood filmmakers and studios, All Nippon Entertainment Works (Anew) has partnered with the Hollywood feature film production company, Depth of Field and Japan’s legendary movie studio, Shochiku to develop “Ghost Train.”
Based on the 2006 Japanese horror thriller “Otoshimono,” “Ghost Train” is a horror themed tale tracking a mysterious force that invades an underground commuter train and terrifies its passengers,
The announcement of “Ghost Train” follows on the heels of previously announced Anew projects that include “Soul ReVIVER,” in association with Fields Corp., and filmmaker partners Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz of Bedford Falls Prods. and a live action remake of Toei Animation’s robot anime “Gaiking,...
“Los Angeles and Tokyo – October 30, 2014 – Adding to its commitment to establish a cultural bridge between a consortium of Japan’s leading creative companies and prominent Hollywood filmmakers and studios, All Nippon Entertainment Works (Anew) has partnered with the Hollywood feature film production company, Depth of Field and Japan’s legendary movie studio, Shochiku to develop “Ghost Train.”
Based on the 2006 Japanese horror thriller “Otoshimono,” “Ghost Train” is a horror themed tale tracking a mysterious force that invades an underground commuter train and terrifies its passengers,
The announcement of “Ghost Train” follows on the heels of previously announced Anew projects that include “Soul ReVIVER,” in association with Fields Corp., and filmmaker partners Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz of Bedford Falls Prods. and a live action remake of Toei Animation’s robot anime “Gaiking,...
- 10/31/2014
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
Helter Skelter
Written by Arisa Kaneko and Kyoko Okazaki
Directed by Mika Ninagawa
Japan, 2012
Browse through the magazine section of a local book or newsprint media retailer and one quickly notices, as if they had never before, that a gargantuan number of magazines specialize in beauty, health and style and, for the most part, feature brilliantly glamorous photographs of celebrities on their covers. It virtually goes without saying that culture in the industrialized nations is heavily driven by interest in those people deemed worthy of celebrity status, even if some people would rather not admit to it. Occasionally a story will leak about how the obsessiveness spreads into the minds of those being objectified as well, with rumours of photoshop, too much makeup and even plastic surgery.
Director Mika Ninagawa, mostly known for her photography and music videos, delves into the world of beauty and celebrity with her sophomore effort,...
Written by Arisa Kaneko and Kyoko Okazaki
Directed by Mika Ninagawa
Japan, 2012
Browse through the magazine section of a local book or newsprint media retailer and one quickly notices, as if they had never before, that a gargantuan number of magazines specialize in beauty, health and style and, for the most part, feature brilliantly glamorous photographs of celebrities on their covers. It virtually goes without saying that culture in the industrialized nations is heavily driven by interest in those people deemed worthy of celebrity status, even if some people would rather not admit to it. Occasionally a story will leak about how the obsessiveness spreads into the minds of those being objectified as well, with rumours of photoshop, too much makeup and even plastic surgery.
Director Mika Ninagawa, mostly known for her photography and music videos, delves into the world of beauty and celebrity with her sophomore effort,...
- 7/30/2013
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
The full Fantasia 2013 lineup has now been revealed, and we have here the third and final wave of titles to share. Prepare to drool!
From the Press Release:
The Fantasia International Film Festival is proud to announce the rest of our 120-feature lineup that comprises our 2013 event, along with a string of additional details that mark our 17th edition as a standout. Fantasia will engulf the city of Montreal from July 18-August 6, 2013. Be sure to visit the Fantasia Film Festival website for detailed essays on every title announced here, as well as all films previously disclosed over the last weeks.
Before we get started on titles... Meet Our 2013 Juries
Main Competition For The Cheval Noir Award For Best Film
Jury President: Laura Kern (Critic, Curator, managing editor, Film Comment)
Jean-Pierre Bergeron (Actor, Director, Screenwriter)
Samuel Jamier (Co-Director of the New York Asian Film Festival, Programmer at Japan Society)
Jarod Neece (Senior Programmer and Operations Manager,...
From the Press Release:
The Fantasia International Film Festival is proud to announce the rest of our 120-feature lineup that comprises our 2013 event, along with a string of additional details that mark our 17th edition as a standout. Fantasia will engulf the city of Montreal from July 18-August 6, 2013. Be sure to visit the Fantasia Film Festival website for detailed essays on every title announced here, as well as all films previously disclosed over the last weeks.
Before we get started on titles... Meet Our 2013 Juries
Main Competition For The Cheval Noir Award For Best Film
Jury President: Laura Kern (Critic, Curator, managing editor, Film Comment)
Jean-Pierre Bergeron (Actor, Director, Screenwriter)
Samuel Jamier (Co-Director of the New York Asian Film Festival, Programmer at Japan Society)
Jarod Neece (Senior Programmer and Operations Manager,...
- 7/9/2013
- by The Woman In Black
- DreadCentral.com
The Fantasia Film Festival is taking place from July 18th to August 6th in Montreal and will feature over 100 films from around the world. We gave you a look at the initial lineup last month and now have an additional list of Fantasia 2013 films that will be screening, including Curse of Chucky, You’re Next, and Frankenstein’s Army:
Horror Is Child’S Play – Don Mancini’S Curse Of Chucky (World Premiere)
A rarity among genre franchises, the Child’S Play series (begun in 1988) has retained the sure-handed guidance of original screenwriter/creator Don Mancini throughout killer doll Chucky’s decades’-long reign of horror. Mancini, who will be hosting our “scar-studded” world premiere, graduated to the director’s chair with 2004’s Seed Of Chucky, after having co-written or written every entry in the series. His longevity with the project is, of course, matched by the fiendish voiceover work by...
Horror Is Child’S Play – Don Mancini’S Curse Of Chucky (World Premiere)
A rarity among genre franchises, the Child’S Play series (begun in 1988) has retained the sure-handed guidance of original screenwriter/creator Don Mancini throughout killer doll Chucky’s decades’-long reign of horror. Mancini, who will be hosting our “scar-studded” world premiere, graduated to the director’s chair with 2004’s Seed Of Chucky, after having co-written or written every entry in the series. His longevity with the project is, of course, matched by the fiendish voiceover work by...
- 7/9/2013
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
The 2013 New York Asian Film Festival runs June 28 – July 15. If you’re lucky enough to be in the area and interested in tickets check out the official Nyaff page here, but if not feel free to follow along with us as we take a look at several of the movies playing the fest this year. As the name implies the festival presents new and select films from several countries including Japan, South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Our third look at the films of Nyaff 2013 takes a detour into the dark side with death, dismemberment and some horrifically damaged psyches. Helter Skelter (Japan) Lilico (Erika Sawajiri) is on top of the world. Supermodel, actress, idol to teenage girls, and the envy and desire of women and men across Japan, she wants for nothing. But she’s also hiding something. Her look and persona are a fabrication of plastic lies, press...
- 7/8/2013
- by Rob Hunter
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Helter Skelter
Directed by Mika Ninagawa
Written by Kyoko Okazaki & Arisa Kaneko
Starring Erica Sawajiri, Angelababy, Kiko Mizuhara, Kaori Momi, Shinobu Terajima
Kyoko Okazaki’s manga Helter Skelter, published by Shoudensha in 2003 was an award winning satire of those particularly kaleidoscopic and ceramic coated dimensions of contemporary Japanese celebrity culture, alongside its elitist associated fashion businesses and boutiques. When second time director Mika Ninagawa was announced as the maestro of the film adaption the fans must have gone wild, as it’s difficult to imagine a more perfect marriage of clothes horse to glamorous kimono, as Ninagawa is one of the finest fashion photographers in Japan, an oriental mesh of David Bailey and Anne Leibowitz, who would be ideally empowered with her unique position within the goldfish bowl of the industry to luminously ridicule its shortcomings and distorted practices. The project was further enhanced with the casting of Erika Sawajiri...
Directed by Mika Ninagawa
Written by Kyoko Okazaki & Arisa Kaneko
Starring Erica Sawajiri, Angelababy, Kiko Mizuhara, Kaori Momi, Shinobu Terajima
Kyoko Okazaki’s manga Helter Skelter, published by Shoudensha in 2003 was an award winning satire of those particularly kaleidoscopic and ceramic coated dimensions of contemporary Japanese celebrity culture, alongside its elitist associated fashion businesses and boutiques. When second time director Mika Ninagawa was announced as the maestro of the film adaption the fans must have gone wild, as it’s difficult to imagine a more perfect marriage of clothes horse to glamorous kimono, as Ninagawa is one of the finest fashion photographers in Japan, an oriental mesh of David Bailey and Anne Leibowitz, who would be ideally empowered with her unique position within the goldfish bowl of the industry to luminously ridicule its shortcomings and distorted practices. The project was further enhanced with the casting of Erika Sawajiri...
- 10/19/2012
- by John
- SoundOnSight
The programme for the 56th BFI London Film Festival launched yesterday under the new creative leadership of BFI’s Head of Exhibition and Festival Director, Clare Stewart, bringing a rich and diverse programme of international films and events from both established and upcoming talent over a 12 day celebration of cinema. The Festival will screen a total of 225 fiction and documentary features, including 14 World Premieres, 15 International Premieres and 34 European Premieres. There will also be screenings of 111 live action and animated shorts. A stellar line-up of directors, cast and crew are expected to take part in career interviews, master classes, and other special events. The 56th BFI London Film Festival will run from 10-21 October 2012. This year sees the introduction of several changes to the Festival’s format. Now taking place over 12 days, the Festival expands further from its traditional Leicester Square cinemas – Odeon West End, Vue West End, Odeon Leicester Square...
- 9/7/2012
- by John
- SoundOnSight
Announced yesterday, the programme for the 56th BFI London Film Festival brings a rich and diverse programme of international films and events from both established and upcoming talent over a 12 day celebration of cinema. The Festival will screen a total of 225 fiction and documentary features, including 14 World Premieres, 15 International Premieres and 34 European Premieres. There will also be screenings of 111 live action and animated shorts. A stellar line-up of directors, cast and crew are expected to take part in career interviews, master classes, and other special events.
This year sees the introduction of several changes to the Festival’s format. Now taking place over 12 days, the Festival expands further from its traditional Leicester Square cinemas – Odeon West End, Vue West End, Odeon Leicester Square and Empire – and the BFI Southbank to include four additional new venues – Hackney Picturehouse, Renoir, Everyman Screen on the Green and Rich Mix, which join existing London venues the Ica,...
This year sees the introduction of several changes to the Festival’s format. Now taking place over 12 days, the Festival expands further from its traditional Leicester Square cinemas – Odeon West End, Vue West End, Odeon Leicester Square and Empire – and the BFI Southbank to include four additional new venues – Hackney Picturehouse, Renoir, Everyman Screen on the Green and Rich Mix, which join existing London venues the Ica,...
- 9/6/2012
- by Phil
- Nerdly
One of the clear victors emerging out of Telluride was Ben Affleck‘s The Town follow-up, the political hostage thriller Argo. Featuring a great ensemble including Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin and John Goodman, the film received top-notch reviews for its mix of thrillers and comedy and now we’ve got word it’ll be showing at another prestigious festival.
BFI London Film Festival announced their promising line-up today, which includes Argo, as well as Michael Haneke‘s Amour, Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths, Michael Winterbottom’s Everyday, Sally Potter’s Ginger and Rosa, Jacques Audiard’s Rust and Bone and much more. Check out the complete line-up below, as well as WB’s first TV spot for Argo.
London, Wednesday 5 September: The programme for the 56th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express launched today under the new creative leadership of BFI’s Head of Exhibition and Festival Director,...
BFI London Film Festival announced their promising line-up today, which includes Argo, as well as Michael Haneke‘s Amour, Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths, Michael Winterbottom’s Everyday, Sally Potter’s Ginger and Rosa, Jacques Audiard’s Rust and Bone and much more. Check out the complete line-up below, as well as WB’s first TV spot for Argo.
London, Wednesday 5 September: The programme for the 56th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express launched today under the new creative leadership of BFI’s Head of Exhibition and Festival Director,...
- 9/5/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
The line-up to the 56th London Film Festival has just been announced and you can see the list of movies coming to the greatest city in the world below. We already knew that Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie and Mike Newell’s Great Expectations would open and close the festival respectively but now we have the rest of the movies coming to London Town.
Let us know your thoughts on the line-up below in our comments section.
The Festival itself runs from October 10th to October 21st and we’ll be doing our best to bring you reviews from as many films as we possibly can!
London, Wednesday 5 September: The programme for the 56th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express launched today under the new creative leadership of BFI’s Head of Exhibition and Festival Director, Clare Stewart, bringing a rich and diverse programme of international films and...
Let us know your thoughts on the line-up below in our comments section.
The Festival itself runs from October 10th to October 21st and we’ll be doing our best to bring you reviews from as many films as we possibly can!
London, Wednesday 5 September: The programme for the 56th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express launched today under the new creative leadership of BFI’s Head of Exhibition and Festival Director, Clare Stewart, bringing a rich and diverse programme of international films and...
- 9/5/2012
- by David Sztypuljak
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Mika Ninagawa’s live-action adaptation of Kyoko Okazaki’s Helter Skelter manga will premiere in Japan tomorrow (July 5) and according to a report from Cinema Today, lead actress Erika Sawajiri will be noticeably absent.
Sawajiri has been skipping out on all promotion and interviews for the movie since May due to “poor health”, but it wasn’t known if she’d attend the premiere until Wednesday when Avex Management confirmed that she won’t.
Helter Skelter is Sawajiri’s first film in five years, and was intended to be her big comeback to film acting after being dismissed from her previous agency, Stardust Promotion.
This is seemingly just the latest footnote in a long history of unpredictable, often difficult behavior from the actress, who earned the sarcastic moniker “Erika-sama” during her first run of controversy.
Whether it’s Japan or Hollywood, not participating in promotion is one of those cardinal...
Sawajiri has been skipping out on all promotion and interviews for the movie since May due to “poor health”, but it wasn’t known if she’d attend the premiere until Wednesday when Avex Management confirmed that she won’t.
Helter Skelter is Sawajiri’s first film in five years, and was intended to be her big comeback to film acting after being dismissed from her previous agency, Stardust Promotion.
This is seemingly just the latest footnote in a long history of unpredictable, often difficult behavior from the actress, who earned the sarcastic moniker “Erika-sama” during her first run of controversy.
Whether it’s Japan or Hollywood, not participating in promotion is one of those cardinal...
- 7/4/2012
- Nippon Cinema
Photographer turned director Mika Ninagawa turned heads around the world with her 2006 debut feature, the ultra colorful Sakuran. Ninagawa's debut immediately established her as one of Japan's brightest visual talents and fans were excited to see what she would do next. They've had to wait over five years to find out.Ninagawa returns in 2012 with Helter Skelter, a film adapted from a popular manga about a young starlet who turns to ever increasing levels of plastic surgery to maintain her impossible image. To star Ninagawa has turned to Erika Sawajiri, a young woman whose dramatic rise and fall from grace - her career crashed dramatically in 2007 - is a mirror of the her character in the film.The first full trailer for the...
- 5/14/2012
- Screen Anarchy
The new trailer for Mika Ninagawa’s Helter Skelter has been uploaded to YouTube. Jiji Press has included a short behind the scenes clip of Ninagawa coaching up her star Erika Sawajiri for one of many bonkers reaction shots.
Based on a manga by Kyoko Okazaki, the film stars Sawajiri as a beautiful model named Ririko who has reigned at the top of the entertainment world while assembling an ever-growing list of jealous rivals. However, she hides the fact that her appearance has been obtained almost entirely through radical plastic surgery procedures.
Ruriko closely guards her secret while navigating the dog-eat-dog world of the entertainment business, but she’ll soon be involved in a scandal that affects not only her industry, but society in general.
“Helter Skelter” will be released by Asmik Ace Entertainment in Japan on July 14, 2012.
A 1080p version of the trailer itself is also available on the Asmik Ace YouTube channel.
Based on a manga by Kyoko Okazaki, the film stars Sawajiri as a beautiful model named Ririko who has reigned at the top of the entertainment world while assembling an ever-growing list of jealous rivals. However, she hides the fact that her appearance has been obtained almost entirely through radical plastic surgery procedures.
Ruriko closely guards her secret while navigating the dog-eat-dog world of the entertainment business, but she’ll soon be involved in a scandal that affects not only her industry, but society in general.
“Helter Skelter” will be released by Asmik Ace Entertainment in Japan on July 14, 2012.
A 1080p version of the trailer itself is also available on the Asmik Ace YouTube channel.
- 5/11/2012
- Nippon Cinema
Photographer turned director Mika Ninagawa turned heads around the world with her 2006 debut feature, the ultra colorful Sakuran. Ninagawa's debut immediately established her as one of Japan's brightest visual talents and fans were excited to see what she would do next. They've had to wait over five years to find out.Ninagawa returns in 2012 with Helter Skelter, a film adapted from a popular manga about a young starlet who turns to ever increasing levels of plastic surgery to maintain her impossible image. To star Ninagawa has turned to Erika Sawajiri, a young woman whose dramatic rise and fall from grace - her career crashed dramatically in 2007 - is a mirror of the her character in the film.The first teaser for the film...
- 2/27/2012
- Screen Anarchy
Photographer turned director Mika Ninagawa is returning to the big screen with an adaptation of the 2003 manga Helter Skelter. Her first film, Sakuran back in 2007, found a lot of favor among the writers here at Twitch. The film also marks the return to the big screen of Jill of all trades - Erika Sawajiri. The actress, model, gravure model and pop singer fell out of favor with Japan's entertainment industry after a less than adequate appearance during a press conference at the Pusan International Film Festival in 2007. The story revolves around a woman named Ririko (Sawajiri), a top model in the entertainment industry. However, her perfect beauty has been attained entirely through plastic surgery, a secret that she cannot reveal to anyone.So after...
- 1/12/2012
- Screen Anarchy
Pusan International Film Festival
Closed Note (Kurosudo Nooto), as its title suggests, is a closed world where ugly reality is locked out, offering gift-wrapped romance made for escapists. Director Isao Yukisada pulls the done-to-death trick of the old diary connecting one person to another living in a different time and world.
The film opened in third place at the Japanese boxoffice Sept. 29, partially stimulated by controversy about lead actress Erika Sawajiri's "attitude problem." Yukisada's unabashedly commercial romances "Crying Out Love From the Center of the World" and Spring Snow replicated their domestic success in Asia, but the new film is slack on originality and chemistry, so it probably won't perform a hat trick in the overseas market.
Kae (Erika Sawajiri), a college student training to be a school teacher, discovers a notebook tucked away in her newly rented apartment. It is the handwritten diary of former tenant, Ibuki Mano (Yuko Takeuchi), a elementary school teacher. She starts to follow Ibuki's floridly written entries like a Harlequin addict. Ibuki who has more patience for her nauseatingly cherubic pupils than Mother Teresa for the sick, becomes the diffident Kae's role model. As Kae serializes Ibuki's love life in her mind, she casts her TV idol in the role of Ibuki's boyfriend Takashi.
When not strumming her mandolin like a Vermeer portrait, Kae works part-time in a shop specializing in rare fountain pens. And who could have walked in but the most classically chiseled face in Japanese cinema -- Yusuke Iseya (Sukiyaki Western Django, Memories of Matsuko) playing a man named Ryu Ishitobi. He is looking for the right pen for his exhibition though it's not ink but corny dialogue that flows.
It turns out that Ryu has been loitering in Kae's neighborhood, and she is driven to distraction by expectations of a full-blown romance with his mildly suggestive overtures. Kae eventually summons the courage to confess her love to Ryu, but overhears a crushing truth. This is supposed to be a big revelation, though there'll be few gasps of surprise in the cinema. Hearts are broken and healed, tears are shed, but there follows a resolution that helps wash down the emotional heartburn from too much syrupy sweetness and melodrama.
With many outdoor locations set in or around Kyoto, every encounter between the main protagonists are framed by a lush backdrop, sprinkled with conventional visual tropes like rain falling at a sad moment, or a close-up of blue andrangeas under the window sill to suggest a romantic interlude. The problem is that every character is too damn nice -- to look at and to each other -- so every scene feels cosmetic and lacks enough contrast and tension to justify the running length. Love scenes are scrubbed clean of sexual passion, leaving only a bland chasteness.
Closed Note still makes a good date movie, if only to let the female audience swoon over Yusuke Iseya, whose flowing mane and real illustrations (he was an art college graduate) make him look the part. Guys get to drool over Japan's two loveliest actresses for the price of one ticket.
CLOSED NOTE
Toho Company Ltd./Hakuhodo DY Media Partners Inc./SDP Inc./Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc./Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co. Ltd.
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Isao Yukisada
Screenwriters: Tomoko Yoshida, Chihiro Ito
Based on the novel by: Shusuke Shizukui
Producers: Kei Haruna, Morio Amagi, Akihiro Yamauchi, Hasashi Usui
Executive producer: Minami Ichikawa
Director of photography: Koichi Nakayama
Production designer: Yuji Tsuzuki
Music: Meina Co
Costume designer: Sachiko Ito
Editor: Tsuyoshi Imai
Cast:
Kae Horii: Erika Sawajiri
Ryu Ishitobi: Yusuke Iseya
Ibuki Mano: Yuko Takeuchi
Running time -- 138 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Closed Note (Kurosudo Nooto), as its title suggests, is a closed world where ugly reality is locked out, offering gift-wrapped romance made for escapists. Director Isao Yukisada pulls the done-to-death trick of the old diary connecting one person to another living in a different time and world.
The film opened in third place at the Japanese boxoffice Sept. 29, partially stimulated by controversy about lead actress Erika Sawajiri's "attitude problem." Yukisada's unabashedly commercial romances "Crying Out Love From the Center of the World" and Spring Snow replicated their domestic success in Asia, but the new film is slack on originality and chemistry, so it probably won't perform a hat trick in the overseas market.
Kae (Erika Sawajiri), a college student training to be a school teacher, discovers a notebook tucked away in her newly rented apartment. It is the handwritten diary of former tenant, Ibuki Mano (Yuko Takeuchi), a elementary school teacher. She starts to follow Ibuki's floridly written entries like a Harlequin addict. Ibuki who has more patience for her nauseatingly cherubic pupils than Mother Teresa for the sick, becomes the diffident Kae's role model. As Kae serializes Ibuki's love life in her mind, she casts her TV idol in the role of Ibuki's boyfriend Takashi.
When not strumming her mandolin like a Vermeer portrait, Kae works part-time in a shop specializing in rare fountain pens. And who could have walked in but the most classically chiseled face in Japanese cinema -- Yusuke Iseya (Sukiyaki Western Django, Memories of Matsuko) playing a man named Ryu Ishitobi. He is looking for the right pen for his exhibition though it's not ink but corny dialogue that flows.
It turns out that Ryu has been loitering in Kae's neighborhood, and she is driven to distraction by expectations of a full-blown romance with his mildly suggestive overtures. Kae eventually summons the courage to confess her love to Ryu, but overhears a crushing truth. This is supposed to be a big revelation, though there'll be few gasps of surprise in the cinema. Hearts are broken and healed, tears are shed, but there follows a resolution that helps wash down the emotional heartburn from too much syrupy sweetness and melodrama.
With many outdoor locations set in or around Kyoto, every encounter between the main protagonists are framed by a lush backdrop, sprinkled with conventional visual tropes like rain falling at a sad moment, or a close-up of blue andrangeas under the window sill to suggest a romantic interlude. The problem is that every character is too damn nice -- to look at and to each other -- so every scene feels cosmetic and lacks enough contrast and tension to justify the running length. Love scenes are scrubbed clean of sexual passion, leaving only a bland chasteness.
Closed Note still makes a good date movie, if only to let the female audience swoon over Yusuke Iseya, whose flowing mane and real illustrations (he was an art college graduate) make him look the part. Guys get to drool over Japan's two loveliest actresses for the price of one ticket.
CLOSED NOTE
Toho Company Ltd./Hakuhodo DY Media Partners Inc./SDP Inc./Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc./Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co. Ltd.
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Isao Yukisada
Screenwriters: Tomoko Yoshida, Chihiro Ito
Based on the novel by: Shusuke Shizukui
Producers: Kei Haruna, Morio Amagi, Akihiro Yamauchi, Hasashi Usui
Executive producer: Minami Ichikawa
Director of photography: Koichi Nakayama
Production designer: Yuji Tsuzuki
Music: Meina Co
Costume designer: Sachiko Ito
Editor: Tsuyoshi Imai
Cast:
Kae Horii: Erika Sawajiri
Ryu Ishitobi: Yusuke Iseya
Ibuki Mano: Yuko Takeuchi
Running time -- 138 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 10/5/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
ADV Films
The latest example of J-horror to reach our shores, Takeshi Furusawa's "Ghost Train" demonstrates that the increasingly tired genre may be in need of a serious overhaul. The familiar elements are there, including the requisite pale-skinned, black-haired, jerky-moving ghosts, but this would-be spooky tale of mysterious disappearances along apparently haunted train tracks never quite leaves the station. The film recently received its U.S. theatrical premiere at New York's Two Boots Pioneer Theater.
As is often the case, the heroine seeking to get to the bottom of the mystery is a plucky high-school student. Nana (Erika Sawajiri) not only manages to be at the top of her class but also cares for her kid sister, Koriko (Aya Sugimoto), while their mother is spending an extended time in the hospital suffering from heart trouble.
The girls travel to school by train, a trip that becomes more problematic when first a little boy and then Koriko go missing after gaining possession of a mysterious train pass. It turns out that they are but the latest in a string of commuters who have disappeared without explanation. Nana sets out to find them with the help of a conductor (Shun Oguri) who keeps halting his trains after seeing a ghostly figure on the tracks.
The usual thematic and visual elements are handled in less than exciting fashion here, with the derivative film lacking the assured qualities of many of its predecessors. Although the director manages to sustain a reasonably scary atmosphere, true chills are in short supply: A subplot involving one of Nana's classmates proves unrewarding, and the climactic sequence in which the monster is ultimately revealed is more cheesy than horrific.
The latest example of J-horror to reach our shores, Takeshi Furusawa's "Ghost Train" demonstrates that the increasingly tired genre may be in need of a serious overhaul. The familiar elements are there, including the requisite pale-skinned, black-haired, jerky-moving ghosts, but this would-be spooky tale of mysterious disappearances along apparently haunted train tracks never quite leaves the station. The film recently received its U.S. theatrical premiere at New York's Two Boots Pioneer Theater.
As is often the case, the heroine seeking to get to the bottom of the mystery is a plucky high-school student. Nana (Erika Sawajiri) not only manages to be at the top of her class but also cares for her kid sister, Koriko (Aya Sugimoto), while their mother is spending an extended time in the hospital suffering from heart trouble.
The girls travel to school by train, a trip that becomes more problematic when first a little boy and then Koriko go missing after gaining possession of a mysterious train pass. It turns out that they are but the latest in a string of commuters who have disappeared without explanation. Nana sets out to find them with the help of a conductor (Shun Oguri) who keeps halting his trains after seeing a ghostly figure on the tracks.
The usual thematic and visual elements are handled in less than exciting fashion here, with the derivative film lacking the assured qualities of many of its predecessors. Although the director manages to sustain a reasonably scary atmosphere, true chills are in short supply: A subplot involving one of Nana's classmates proves unrewarding, and the climactic sequence in which the monster is ultimately revealed is more cheesy than horrific.
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.