Top Japanese star Yagira Yuga was front and center of streamer Disney+’s plans when it gave a green light to a second season of drama-horror series “Gannibal.”
The creepy show, in which Yagira portrays a damaged police detective on the heels of a gangster-like family in a troubled village, has been a ratings winner in terms of minutes watched for the streamer. And, on Sunday, it earned Yagira win an Asian excellence prize at the Busan International Film Festival’s Asia Contents Awards & Global Ott Awards.
He spoke to Variety about the newly-started production of the second season.
Where does Season Two kick off?
In Season One, we saw the surfacing of many secrets including those of the village and the villagers. In season two we see most of these secrets resolved. I hope you can catch the nuance there.
How did you get back into character? Was its...
The creepy show, in which Yagira portrays a damaged police detective on the heels of a gangster-like family in a troubled village, has been a ratings winner in terms of minutes watched for the streamer. And, on Sunday, it earned Yagira win an Asian excellence prize at the Busan International Film Festival’s Asia Contents Awards & Global Ott Awards.
He spoke to Variety about the newly-started production of the second season.
Where does Season Two kick off?
In Season One, we saw the surfacing of many secrets including those of the village and the villagers. In season two we see most of these secrets resolved. I hope you can catch the nuance there.
How did you get back into character? Was its...
- 10/11/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Kitano Takeshi, a contemporary icon of Japanese cinema, is to receive a lifetime achievement award next month at the Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy.
“A legendary artist on Friday the 29th of April will receive the Golden Mulberry Award for lifetime achievement on the stage of Feff 24,” the festival announced Friday with barely concealed delight.
Kitano who has film credits as writer, director, producer and performer, as well as a whole TV comedy career, is known for the brutal sergeant he played alongside David Bowie and Sakamoto Ryuichi in Oshima Nagisa’s “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence,” and for incursions into Hollywood in “Johnny Mnemonic” and “Ghost in the Shell.”
His Japanese oeuvre ranges from fine art to gangster genre thriller. He has credits in film noir (“Violent Cop”), romance (“A Scene at the Sea”), drama masterpieces and hard-boiled cult saga “Outrage.”
“For Far East Film Festival 24, a truly...
“A legendary artist on Friday the 29th of April will receive the Golden Mulberry Award for lifetime achievement on the stage of Feff 24,” the festival announced Friday with barely concealed delight.
Kitano who has film credits as writer, director, producer and performer, as well as a whole TV comedy career, is known for the brutal sergeant he played alongside David Bowie and Sakamoto Ryuichi in Oshima Nagisa’s “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence,” and for incursions into Hollywood in “Johnny Mnemonic” and “Ghost in the Shell.”
His Japanese oeuvre ranges from fine art to gangster genre thriller. He has credits in film noir (“Violent Cop”), romance (“A Scene at the Sea”), drama masterpieces and hard-boiled cult saga “Outrage.”
“For Far East Film Festival 24, a truly...
- 3/18/2022
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Among the most anticipated films of the year, at least for fans of Takeshi Kitano and Japanese cinema in general, “Asakusa Kid” is based on the homonymous song Kitano released in 1986 and the also homonymous, autobiographical novel which was published 1988, and focuses on the beginnings of his career, much before he even considered of getting into movies.
Told in flashbacks, the main arc begins in 1965, when Take (as he was called by everybody at the time) drops out of studying to be an engineer, and joins the Asakusa France Za, a performance theater which included comic skits and strip shows. The troupe is headed by Senzaburo Fukami, aka Fukami of Asakusa, who, quite reluctantly in the beginning, becomes Take’s teacher and mentor. One of his biggest influences to the then awkward Kitano was to insist on him being an entertainer at all times, even outside the stage, and that...
Told in flashbacks, the main arc begins in 1965, when Take (as he was called by everybody at the time) drops out of studying to be an engineer, and joins the Asakusa France Za, a performance theater which included comic skits and strip shows. The troupe is headed by Senzaburo Fukami, aka Fukami of Asakusa, who, quite reluctantly in the beginning, becomes Take’s teacher and mentor. One of his biggest influences to the then awkward Kitano was to insist on him being an entertainer at all times, even outside the stage, and that...
- 12/15/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
For much of its running time, “Asakusa Kid” is a safe, traditional and easily enjoyable biographical drama about the scrappy early career of legendary Japanese comedian-actor-author-filmmaker “Beat” Takeshi Kitano. When the handsomely packaged Netflix movie injects the verve and invention Kitano is celebrated for, it shines much more brightly. Though it doesn’t offer the penetrating insight into Kitano that many viewers would be hoping for, this adaptation of his memoir by writer-director Gekidan Hitori (“A Bolt From the Blue”) does provide a respectful and touching portrait of Kitano’s mentor Senzaburo Fukami, the master entertainer whose fame and fortune declined sharply as Kitano’s career started to soar.
Published in 1988 and previously filmed in 2002 by Makoto Shinozaki (also director of the 1999 Kitano documentary “Jam Session”), “Asakusa Kid” charts the early life adventures and showbiz education of university dropout Kitano in the early 1970s. Opening in familiar biography style with...
Published in 1988 and previously filmed in 2002 by Makoto Shinozaki (also director of the 1999 Kitano documentary “Jam Session”), “Asakusa Kid” charts the early life adventures and showbiz education of university dropout Kitano in the early 1970s. Opening in familiar biography style with...
- 12/10/2021
- by Richard Kuipers
- Variety Film + TV
The year is somehow already almost over! To celebrate another passage around the sun, Netflix is putting its best foot forward with its list of new releases for December 2021.
Netflix’s options of original series are quite vast and impressive this month. It starts early on with two finales: Lost in Space wraps up its story with a third and final season on Dec. 1 and is quickly followed by the last go-around for Spanish hit Money Heist. The blockbusters continue apace from there with The Witcher season 2 premiering on Dec. 17, Emily in Paris season 2 on Dec. 22, and Cobra Kai season 4 on Dec. 31 to close out the year.
Read more TV The Witcher Season 2 First Look Asks What Kind of Father Geralt Will Be By Michael Ahr TV How Will Money Heist End? By Gene Ching
It’s also a good month for movies on Netflix. Adam McKay’s satirical climate...
Netflix’s options of original series are quite vast and impressive this month. It starts early on with two finales: Lost in Space wraps up its story with a third and final season on Dec. 1 and is quickly followed by the last go-around for Spanish hit Money Heist. The blockbusters continue apace from there with The Witcher season 2 premiering on Dec. 17, Emily in Paris season 2 on Dec. 22, and Cobra Kai season 4 on Dec. 31 to close out the year.
Read more TV The Witcher Season 2 First Look Asks What Kind of Father Geralt Will Be By Michael Ahr TV How Will Money Heist End? By Gene Ching
It’s also a good month for movies on Netflix. Adam McKay’s satirical climate...
- 12/1/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Netflix will close out the year by debuting its biggest awards contenders and popular series like Season 2 of “The Witcher” and Season 2 of “Emily in Paris.”
But the headline releases are on the film side. December 1 brings the streaming premiere of “The Power of the Dog,” Jane Campion’s Best Picture favorite starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, and Kodi Smit-McPhee. On December 10, Netflix drops “The Unforgivable,” a new drama with former Best Actress winner Sandra Bullock. On December 24, it’s Adam McKay’s star-studded Best Picture hopeful “Don’t Look Up,” with Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, Cate Blanchett, Rob Morgan, Timothee Chalamet, Tyler Perry, Ariana Grande, and Mark Rylance. The streamer closes out 2021 with “The Lost Daughter,” Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut with Olivia Colman and Dakota Johnson.
Ahead, everything coming to Netflix in December 2021.
Coming Soon
Decoupled
Dec. 1
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean...
But the headline releases are on the film side. December 1 brings the streaming premiere of “The Power of the Dog,” Jane Campion’s Best Picture favorite starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, and Kodi Smit-McPhee. On December 10, Netflix drops “The Unforgivable,” a new drama with former Best Actress winner Sandra Bullock. On December 24, it’s Adam McKay’s star-studded Best Picture hopeful “Don’t Look Up,” with Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, Cate Blanchett, Rob Morgan, Timothee Chalamet, Tyler Perry, Ariana Grande, and Mark Rylance. The streamer closes out 2021 with “The Lost Daughter,” Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut with Olivia Colman and Dakota Johnson.
Ahead, everything coming to Netflix in December 2021.
Coming Soon
Decoupled
Dec. 1
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean...
- 11/28/2021
- by Christopher Rosen
- Gold Derby
Netflix aims to increase its appeal to Japanese filmmakers as the streaming giant engineers a pivot towards local production and feature movies, in particular. Theatrical releases of Netflix’ Japanese films are among the options.
The company’s initiative was this week highlighted by the signing of iconic “Shoplifters” director Kore-eda Hirokazu to direct a big budget feature for the streamer as well as a series on which Kore-eda will be showrunner and co-director. Titles were not announced in either case.
“We have only announced Kore-eda at the moment, but we are already developing things with a lot of great creators, legendary filmmakers and young filmmakers. It’s very diverse,” Sakamoto Kaata, Netflix VP of Japanese content told Variety. He was speaking on the sidelines of the two-day Netflix Japan Festival 2021 in which the company this week provided updates, release dates and introductions of new shows covering a total of 50 projects.
The company’s initiative was this week highlighted by the signing of iconic “Shoplifters” director Kore-eda Hirokazu to direct a big budget feature for the streamer as well as a series on which Kore-eda will be showrunner and co-director. Titles were not announced in either case.
“We have only announced Kore-eda at the moment, but we are already developing things with a lot of great creators, legendary filmmakers and young filmmakers. It’s very diverse,” Sakamoto Kaata, Netflix VP of Japanese content told Variety. He was speaking on the sidelines of the two-day Netflix Japan Festival 2021 in which the company this week provided updates, release dates and introductions of new shows covering a total of 50 projects.
- 11/11/2021
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
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