It’s a grand time for fans of Japanese cinema if you’re living in New York City. With a Noriaki Tsuchimoto retrospective recently concluding at the Museum of the Moving Image, a Yoshimitsu Morita retrospective starting Friday at Film at Lincoln Center, and a Shunji Iwai series coming to Japan Society, another major highlight is “Hachimiri Madness: Japanese Indies from the Punk Years,” which kicks off this Friday at Metrograph.
One of the major highlights of that series––which profiles works from the jishu eiga (“autonomous film”) indie scene that kicked off in the late 1970s Japan with 8mm-shot guerilla filmmaking––is the brand-new, 25th-anniversary restoration of Nobuhiro Suwa’s 2/Duo, which features an early performance from Drive My Car‘s Hidetoshi Nishijima. It opens on December 9, and ahead of that we’re pleased to exclusively debut the new trailer (courtesy Arbelos). The high-definition digital transfer was supervised by Suwa and cinematographer Masaki Tamura.
One of the major highlights of that series––which profiles works from the jishu eiga (“autonomous film”) indie scene that kicked off in the late 1970s Japan with 8mm-shot guerilla filmmaking––is the brand-new, 25th-anniversary restoration of Nobuhiro Suwa’s 2/Duo, which features an early performance from Drive My Car‘s Hidetoshi Nishijima. It opens on December 9, and ahead of that we’re pleased to exclusively debut the new trailer (courtesy Arbelos). The high-definition digital transfer was supervised by Suwa and cinematographer Masaki Tamura.
- 11/29/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Roxy Cinema
Two of Steven Spielberg’s best films, A.I. and Catch Me If You Can, play on 35mm while a print of E.T. also shows; a puppet program has a 16mm screening this Sunday.
Museum of the Moving Image
A series on director’s cuts includes The New World, The Act of Killing, Ishtar, and Brazil, while a retro of documentary filmmaker Noriaki Tsuchimoto concludes.
Film Forum
Two great pieces of Vibe Cinema—The Last Waltz and Paris, Texas—have showings while four Laurel & Hardy shorts play Sunday.
Anthology Film Archives
The General screens in “Essential Cinema.”
Museum of Modern Art
A series on Filipino filmmaker Mike De Leon continues.
IFC Center
Cronenberg’s Rabid, Night of the Living Dead, Prince of Darkness, The Evil Dead, and From Dusk Till Dawn all play.
The post NYC Weekend Watch: A.
Roxy Cinema
Two of Steven Spielberg’s best films, A.I. and Catch Me If You Can, play on 35mm while a print of E.T. also shows; a puppet program has a 16mm screening this Sunday.
Museum of the Moving Image
A series on director’s cuts includes The New World, The Act of Killing, Ishtar, and Brazil, while a retro of documentary filmmaker Noriaki Tsuchimoto concludes.
Film Forum
Two great pieces of Vibe Cinema—The Last Waltz and Paris, Texas—have showings while four Laurel & Hardy shorts play Sunday.
Anthology Film Archives
The General screens in “Essential Cinema.”
Museum of Modern Art
A series on Filipino filmmaker Mike De Leon continues.
IFC Center
Cronenberg’s Rabid, Night of the Living Dead, Prince of Darkness, The Evil Dead, and From Dusk Till Dawn all play.
The post NYC Weekend Watch: A.
- 11/25/2022
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Film Forum
One of the most exciting series of 2022 is a study of the Taiwanese New Wave that goes beyond Hou, Yang, and Tsai—included though they are—while a print of Bogdanovich’s What’s Up, Doc? plays Sunday.
Museum of the Moving Image
Documentary filmmaker Noriaki Tsuchimoto is given his first-ever U.S. retrospective, while the director’s cut of Donnie Darko screens on Friday and Home for the Holidays shows this Saturday.
Anthology Film Archives
Films by Jim McBride are highlighted, while “Trans Film” returns.
Roxy Cinema
The Rapture and Eve’s Bayou play on 35mm this weekend; “City Dudes” returns on Saturday; Jack Smith’s Normal Love has a 16mm screening this Sunday
Museum of Modern Art
A series on Filipino filmmaker Mike De Leon continues.
IFC Center
Cronenberg’s Rabid, Night of the Living Dead,...
Film Forum
One of the most exciting series of 2022 is a study of the Taiwanese New Wave that goes beyond Hou, Yang, and Tsai—included though they are—while a print of Bogdanovich’s What’s Up, Doc? plays Sunday.
Museum of the Moving Image
Documentary filmmaker Noriaki Tsuchimoto is given his first-ever U.S. retrospective, while the director’s cut of Donnie Darko screens on Friday and Home for the Holidays shows this Saturday.
Anthology Film Archives
Films by Jim McBride are highlighted, while “Trans Film” returns.
Roxy Cinema
The Rapture and Eve’s Bayou play on 35mm this weekend; “City Dudes” returns on Saturday; Jack Smith’s Normal Love has a 16mm screening this Sunday
Museum of Modern Art
A series on Filipino filmmaker Mike De Leon continues.
IFC Center
Cronenberg’s Rabid, Night of the Living Dead,...
- 11/18/2022
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.Newsrrr.First: Notebook is launching a weekly email newsletter in 2023! Sign up here to keep up with our latest writing in this precarious digital age.At a recent screening of Rrr in Chicago, S.S. Rajamouli mentioned that his father and screenwriting partner V. Vijayendra Prasad is beginning to draft a sequel. In the meantime, Rajamouli is preparing an untitled film starring Mahesh Bubu, set to begin filming in the spring.In this Willamette Week article about George Saunders’s new short story collection Liberation Day, there is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it mention of a film project. Richard Ayoade will direct an adaptation of Saunders’s 2012 short story “The Semplica-Girl Diaries,” set to begin filming next year. Though Ayoade stole the show in both parts of Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir, this will be his...
- 11/16/2022
- MUBI
Noriaki Tsuchimoto (right).When asked about his profession, the Japanese documentarian Noriaki Tsuchimoto would declare himself “a partisan revolutionary first, a filmmaker second.” This radical and humanist approach to filmmaking practice, in which people’s struggles are always centered, and political concerns take precedence over everything else, is central to the filmmaker’s later, better known films, but it is also present in the less widely seen works he made in the 1960s. Diverse in form, style, and subject matter, each disparate film from this period contains fragments of ideas that the filmmaker would return to, and also clear indications of what would come to preoccupy him and emblematize his approach.Born in 1928, Noriaki Tsuchimoto grew up in Tokyo, studying at Waseda University until he was expelled in 1953 due to his involvement with the Japanese Communist Party. After his expulsion, a period spent as a communist guerilla in what the...
- 11/11/2022
- MUBI
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Film Forum
One of the most exciting series of 2022 is a study of the Taiwanese New Wave that goes beyond Hou, Yang, and Tsai—included though they are.
Roxy Cinema
Lost Highway has a rare 35mm screening on Saturday, while a two-part experimental animation festival gets underway; Paul Schrader’s Hardcore screens on Friday.
Museum of the Moving Image
Documentary filmmaker Noriaki Tsuchimoto is given his first-ever U.S. retrospective, while The Cotton Club Encore screens on Friday and Saturday.
Bam
A series on unlikable characters includes The Heartbreak Kid and films by Maren Ade, Catherine Breillat, and Dan Sallitt.
Anthology Film Archives
A series of UFO films begins, including Close Encounters and the X-Files movie on 35mm.
Japan Society
A 4K restoration of Kon Ichikawa’s Her Brother screens this Sunday, while his Mishima adaptation Conflagration plays on Monday.
Film Forum
One of the most exciting series of 2022 is a study of the Taiwanese New Wave that goes beyond Hou, Yang, and Tsai—included though they are.
Roxy Cinema
Lost Highway has a rare 35mm screening on Saturday, while a two-part experimental animation festival gets underway; Paul Schrader’s Hardcore screens on Friday.
Museum of the Moving Image
Documentary filmmaker Noriaki Tsuchimoto is given his first-ever U.S. retrospective, while The Cotton Club Encore screens on Friday and Saturday.
Bam
A series on unlikable characters includes The Heartbreak Kid and films by Maren Ade, Catherine Breillat, and Dan Sallitt.
Anthology Film Archives
A series of UFO films begins, including Close Encounters and the X-Files movie on 35mm.
Japan Society
A 4K restoration of Kon Ichikawa’s Her Brother screens this Sunday, while his Mishima adaptation Conflagration plays on Monday.
- 11/10/2022
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Rushes: Bruno Dumont's "The Empire," John Carpenter Interviewed, Hito Steyerl x Film Comment Podcast
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSHaunted Hotel.The British Film Institute has begun unveiling the program for the London Film Festival, which runs from October 5-16. So far, they have announced the official competition, featuring films from Alice Diop, Mark Jenkin, and Hlynur Pálmason, and the VR- and Ar-oriented "Extended Realities" strand, including a new work from Guy Maddin, Haunted Hotel.Production has begun on Bruno Dumont's The Empire. Cineuropa reports that the science-fiction film depicts the "epic parallel life of knights from interplanetary kingdoms"; the cast includes Lyna Khoudri (César-winner for Papicha) and the gendarmerie duo from Li'l Quinquin, Bernard Pruvost and Philippe Jore.The international film critics association Fipresci have chosen the winner of their 2022 Grand Prix for Film of the Year: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi's Drive My Car.Recommended VIEWINGAndrew Mau and Alan Mak's seminal...
- 8/30/2022
- MUBI
*special thanks to Nancy Fornoville for gifting me this book
On the occasion of the film programs dedicated to Ogawa Shinsuke and Ogawa Pro at Cinematek and Tsuchimoto Noriaki at Courtisane Festival, Stoffel Debuysere, Elias Grootaers, and Quinten Wyns have compiled a book that contains a number of essays on the work and life of Shinsuke Ogawa and Noriaki Tsuchimoto, by a number of experts but also by the filmmakers themselves.
The first part of the book deals with Shunsuke Ogawa and particularly his company, Ogawa Pro and the way he and his crew shot the “Sanrizuka” documentary series, which recorded the struggle of farmers and student protesters to prevent the construction of the Narita International Airport in Sanrizuka, Chiba Prefecture. The rather unusual ways he implemented both in the way he run his company and the way he shot his documentaries are highlighted in the best...
On the occasion of the film programs dedicated to Ogawa Shinsuke and Ogawa Pro at Cinematek and Tsuchimoto Noriaki at Courtisane Festival, Stoffel Debuysere, Elias Grootaers, and Quinten Wyns have compiled a book that contains a number of essays on the work and life of Shinsuke Ogawa and Noriaki Tsuchimoto, by a number of experts but also by the filmmakers themselves.
The first part of the book deals with Shunsuke Ogawa and particularly his company, Ogawa Pro and the way he and his crew shot the “Sanrizuka” documentary series, which recorded the struggle of farmers and student protesters to prevent the construction of the Narita International Airport in Sanrizuka, Chiba Prefecture. The rather unusual ways he implemented both in the way he run his company and the way he shot his documentaries are highlighted in the best...
- 10/10/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
“The nail that sticks out shall be hammered down” is nowadays an almost overused proverb to describe the conformity of Japanese society. The filmmaker Kazuo Hara takes a closer look at those nails that stick out. In doing so, his movies become hammers. But instead of hammering those individuals down, the hammer is aiming at the audience. Piece by piece, he is shattering down the viewers presumed idea of Japanese identity.
“Sennan Asbestos Disaster” screened at Japan Cuts 2018
Kazuo Hara, who won a number of renowned Prices, including the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award and the Japan Academy Price, gained prominence in the field of documentary filming, because of his raw and sometimes graphic representation of the covert parts of Japanese life.
Starting 46 years ago with “Goodbye Cp” (1972), a movie about people with cerebral palsy, and the infamously groundbreaking “The Emporer’s Naked Army Marches On” from 1987, in...
“Sennan Asbestos Disaster” screened at Japan Cuts 2018
Kazuo Hara, who won a number of renowned Prices, including the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award and the Japan Academy Price, gained prominence in the field of documentary filming, because of his raw and sometimes graphic representation of the covert parts of Japanese life.
Starting 46 years ago with “Goodbye Cp” (1972), a movie about people with cerebral palsy, and the infamously groundbreaking “The Emporer’s Naked Army Marches On” from 1987, in...
- 6/30/2019
- by Alexander Knoth
- AsianMoviePulse
Kazuhiro Soda was working for a production company in New York, producing more than 50 productions for the Japanese State Television, Nhk. Inspired by the documentaries of Frederick Wiseman, he began to establish his own “observation”-style. Soda, who used to be tied to scripts and schedules in his former job, now chooses an uncaged concept of filmmaking. No scripts, no research, but only the camera and the reality in front of him.
The director returned to Japan in 2005 to shoot a movie about mental health but ended up documenting the election campaign of an old classmate, Yamauchi Kazuhiko, who ran for the council of Kawasaki. Hereby, “Campaign” was pretty much done by accident and got its release in 2007, winning the Peabody Award for Best Documentary.
From the beginning, it is obvious that Yamauchi is not the ideal candidate for this seat. He has never been involved in...
The director returned to Japan in 2005 to shoot a movie about mental health but ended up documenting the election campaign of an old classmate, Yamauchi Kazuhiko, who ran for the council of Kawasaki. Hereby, “Campaign” was pretty much done by accident and got its release in 2007, winning the Peabody Award for Best Documentary.
From the beginning, it is obvious that Yamauchi is not the ideal candidate for this seat. He has never been involved in...
- 2/26/2019
- by Alexander Knoth
- AsianMoviePulse
Evidently, not the most popular category of films out there; nevertheless, documentaries can offer as much entertainment as any movie, and in the process, educate, remind, and have a considerable impact on their audience.
This year’s selection entails a number of subjects that includes socieal, political, social media, music, art, humanistic and history themes, from countries that include a rather large part of the area.
Without further ado, here are the Best Asian (themed) Documentaries of 2018, in random order. Some may have premiered in 2017, but since they mostly circulated in 2018, we decided to include them.
1. Reason
Patwardhan’s vision invokes many concerns. Not only about future scenarios for India. Unfortunately, affairs such as religion interfering with swelling number of aspects of the public life’s, the national pride rhetoric combined with supremacy gripping over the majority of a population, and the revisionism hitting the history textbooks seem to become...
This year’s selection entails a number of subjects that includes socieal, political, social media, music, art, humanistic and history themes, from countries that include a rather large part of the area.
Without further ado, here are the Best Asian (themed) Documentaries of 2018, in random order. Some may have premiered in 2017, but since they mostly circulated in 2018, we decided to include them.
1. Reason
Patwardhan’s vision invokes many concerns. Not only about future scenarios for India. Unfortunately, affairs such as religion interfering with swelling number of aspects of the public life’s, the national pride rhetoric combined with supremacy gripping over the majority of a population, and the revisionism hitting the history textbooks seem to become...
- 1/3/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Kazuo Hara is currently touring his 2017 film “Sennan Asbestos Disaster,” a somber 3.5-hour long investigation of Asbestos poisoning in Japan. It is Hara’s first film in 10 years.
Hara is perhaps best known for his internationally acclaimed film “The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On” (1987), which unveils Japanese cannibalism during the Pacific War. The filmmaker is no stranger to controversy: in his debut “Goodbye Cp,” Hara follows an activist-poet with Cerebral Palsy; in “Extreme Private Eros: Love Song 1974,” Hara turns the camera on himself and his ex-lover, even filming her giving birth to their child.
Compared to such early experiments, “Sennan Asbestos Disaster” is more tame and thoughtful, yet no less political. It chronicles 8.5 years of struggle, as former asbestos factory workers, mostly centered around Sennan, Japan, fight for reparations from the government. The victims are largely elderly or middle aged, and most have worked in asbestos factories.
Hara is perhaps best known for his internationally acclaimed film “The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On” (1987), which unveils Japanese cannibalism during the Pacific War. The filmmaker is no stranger to controversy: in his debut “Goodbye Cp,” Hara follows an activist-poet with Cerebral Palsy; in “Extreme Private Eros: Love Song 1974,” Hara turns the camera on himself and his ex-lover, even filming her giving birth to their child.
Compared to such early experiments, “Sennan Asbestos Disaster” is more tame and thoughtful, yet no less political. It chronicles 8.5 years of struggle, as former asbestos factory workers, mostly centered around Sennan, Japan, fight for reparations from the government. The victims are largely elderly or middle aged, and most have worked in asbestos factories.
- 8/25/2018
- by Julia Alekseyeva
- AsianMoviePulse
The second in a series of independent documentaries Noriaki Tsuchimoto shot regarding the mercury-poisoning incident in Minamata, is considered one of the best Japanese documentaries of all time, and has received international recognition. Let us see why.
Buy This Title
In the small town of Minamata in Kyushu, far from the metropolitan center, the fertilizer company Chisso (a leader of Japan’s chemical industry since the 1930’s) built a factory to take advantage of cheap labor in 1932 and commenced dumping mercury-filled wastewater into the nearby sea. Soon residents began exhibiting symptoms of a mysterious illness, a happening that would eventually develop into the worst case of environmental pollution in postwar Japan. Noriaki Tsuchimoto visits the patients and their families who sued Chisso and listens to their voices.
As the diary of a case that lasted from the 50’s until the 70’s is revealed, we learn of a truly shocking story...
Buy This Title
In the small town of Minamata in Kyushu, far from the metropolitan center, the fertilizer company Chisso (a leader of Japan’s chemical industry since the 1930’s) built a factory to take advantage of cheap labor in 1932 and commenced dumping mercury-filled wastewater into the nearby sea. Soon residents began exhibiting symptoms of a mysterious illness, a happening that would eventually develop into the worst case of environmental pollution in postwar Japan. Noriaki Tsuchimoto visits the patients and their families who sued Chisso and listens to their voices.
As the diary of a case that lasted from the 50’s until the 70’s is revealed, we learn of a truly shocking story...
- 8/22/2018
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
“The nail that sticks out shall be hammered down” is nowadays an almost overused proverb to describe the conformity of Japanese society. The filmmaker Kazuo Hara takes a closer look at those nails that stick out. In doing so, his movies become hammers. But instead of hammering those individuals down, the hammer is aiming at the audience. Piece by piece, he is shattering down the viewers presumed idea of Japanese identity.
Sennan Asbestos Disaster is screening at Japan Cuts 2018
Kazuo Hara, who won a number of renowned Prices, including the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award and the Japan Academy Price, gained prominence in the field of documentary filming, because of his raw and sometimes graphic representation of the covert parts of Japanese life.
Starting 46 years ago with “Goodbye Cp” (1972), a movie about people with cerebral palsy, and the infamously groundbreaking “The Emporer’s Naked Army Marches On” from...
Sennan Asbestos Disaster is screening at Japan Cuts 2018
Kazuo Hara, who won a number of renowned Prices, including the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award and the Japan Academy Price, gained prominence in the field of documentary filming, because of his raw and sometimes graphic representation of the covert parts of Japanese life.
Starting 46 years ago with “Goodbye Cp” (1972), a movie about people with cerebral palsy, and the infamously groundbreaking “The Emporer’s Naked Army Marches On” from...
- 7/25/2018
- by Alexander Knoth
- AsianMoviePulse
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