Toshio Lee’s newest comedy “Struggling Man” tells the story of an utterly plain 45 years old man, Haruo Izawa (Ken Yasuda). He lives in an okay house somewhere outside of Tokyo with his wife Ritsuko (Eiko Koike) and three children. He is the floor chief of the Ohara branch of Umeya supermarkets where he has worked for the past twenty five years. He is trusted by the manager and looked up to by his co-workers. Though he acts like he doesn’t believe that he doesn’t have what it takes to be a manager, secretly, he can’t stop himself from dreaming of becoming one. The only place where he allows himself to openly speak about his wish is at the small diner he sometimes secretly eats curry at. This is his only vice.
Struggling Man is screening at Asian Pop Up Cinema
“Struggling Man...
Struggling Man is screening at Asian Pop Up Cinema
“Struggling Man...
- 9/13/2022
- by Martin Lukanov
- AsianMoviePulse
As I have mentioned many times before, one of the main nucleus of the Japanese movie industry is the family drama, which is currently dominated by the style of Hirokazu Koreeda, which many consider as a continuation of Ozu‘s. The number of similar productions currently is overwhelming, and thus the main point of interest when reviewing such titles is to find if they manage to stray away from the norms. And while Toshio Lee does not succeed fully in that regard, his effort is definitely different, and not just for the title.
When I Get Home, My Wife Always Pretends to Be Dead is available from Terracotta
Salary man Jun is married for the second time, and thinks that the third year in a marriage is the most crucial one, since that was when he divorced his first wife. As this exact period is upon him and his current spouse,...
When I Get Home, My Wife Always Pretends to Be Dead is available from Terracotta
Salary man Jun is married for the second time, and thinks that the third year in a marriage is the most crucial one, since that was when he divorced his first wife. As this exact period is upon him and his current spouse,...
- 1/6/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Online video fans will soon be able to enjoy more Japanese period dramas on YouTube. Google’s online video site transformed the YouTube Space Tokyo into a samurai-themed movie set for select creators to develop their own jidaigeki (period dramas).
To create the set, YouTube partnered with TV and film production and distribution company Toei, known for its work on jidaigeki like 13 Assassins. Toei developed the multi-functional set, which has adjustable lighting, two rooms with four possible designs, and an outdoor “garden.” The production company is also providing resources, such as sword-fighting and styling tutorials, to the group of ten video creators approved to use the Space for filming.
YouTube and Toei also brought on board Japanese director Toshio Lee (of Detroit Metal City fame) to dole out filmmaking advice to the YouTubers aiming to make their own jidaigeki. And according to The Verge, a few of these video creators...
To create the set, YouTube partnered with TV and film production and distribution company Toei, known for its work on jidaigeki like 13 Assassins. Toei developed the multi-functional set, which has adjustable lighting, two rooms with four possible designs, and an outdoor “garden.” The production company is also providing resources, such as sword-fighting and styling tutorials, to the group of ten video creators approved to use the Space for filming.
YouTube and Toei also brought on board Japanese director Toshio Lee (of Detroit Metal City fame) to dole out filmmaking advice to the YouTubers aiming to make their own jidaigeki. And according to The Verge, a few of these video creators...
- 4/7/2015
- by Bree Brouwer
- Tubefilter.com
The 18th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) announced its line-up today with Maximilian Erlenwein’s German thriller Stereo [pictured] as the opening film.
Stereo received its world premiere in the Berlinale Panorama section in February but will recieve its Asian premiere at PiFan.
The festival’s closing film will be the world premiere of Korean director Kwon Lee’s sophomore feature My Ordinary Love Story, featuring popular stars Song Sae-byeok and Kang Ye-won.
“My Ordinary Love Story starts off as a humorous romantic comedy and later transforms into a horror mystery,” said chief programmer Jangwan Pyeon, describing it and the opening film as representative of the PiFan’s focus on more “complex genre films” this year.
The festival will screen 210 films from 47 countries with 43 world premieres and 20 international premieres. It will run July 17-27 with the closing ceremony on July 25 and encore screenings on the last two days.
Competition titles
The Puchon Choice: Feature competition section of 12 titles...
Stereo received its world premiere in the Berlinale Panorama section in February but will recieve its Asian premiere at PiFan.
The festival’s closing film will be the world premiere of Korean director Kwon Lee’s sophomore feature My Ordinary Love Story, featuring popular stars Song Sae-byeok and Kang Ye-won.
“My Ordinary Love Story starts off as a humorous romantic comedy and later transforms into a horror mystery,” said chief programmer Jangwan Pyeon, describing it and the opening film as representative of the PiFan’s focus on more “complex genre films” this year.
The festival will screen 210 films from 47 countries with 43 world premieres and 20 international premieres. It will run July 17-27 with the closing ceremony on July 25 and encore screenings on the last two days.
Competition titles
The Puchon Choice: Feature competition section of 12 titles...
- 6/19/2014
- by hjnoh2007@gmail.com (Jean Noh)
- ScreenDaily
A still from “Unforgiven”
Twelve new Japanese films will be screened at the upcoming 44th International Film Festival of India, which is to be held in Goa, from November 20 to 30, 2013 as Japan will be the “country in focus”.
In addition, press conferences will be held with directors and producers in attendance.
Kiyoshi Kurosawa, director of Real; Sang-il Lee, director of Unforgiven; Keiichi Hara and Yoshitaka Ishizuka; director and producer respectively of Dawn of a Filmmaker: The Keisuke Kinoshita Story have been invited to attend the festival.
The following twelve Japanese films will be screened:
1. Real, director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa (2013/127 min)
2. Unforgiven, director: Sang-il Lee (2013/135 min)
3. Dawn of a Filmmaker: The Keisuke Kinoshita Story, director: Keiichi Hara (2013/96 min)
4. Oshin, director: Shin Togashi(2013/109 min)
5. The Devil’s Path, director: Kazuya Shiraishi(2013/128 min)
6. Recipes of Diet Diaries,director: Toshio Lee (2013/100 min)
7. Rebirth, director: Izuru Narushima (2011/147 min)
8. The Garden of Words,director: Makoto Shinkai(2013/46 min)
9. Wolf Children,...
Twelve new Japanese films will be screened at the upcoming 44th International Film Festival of India, which is to be held in Goa, from November 20 to 30, 2013 as Japan will be the “country in focus”.
In addition, press conferences will be held with directors and producers in attendance.
Kiyoshi Kurosawa, director of Real; Sang-il Lee, director of Unforgiven; Keiichi Hara and Yoshitaka Ishizuka; director and producer respectively of Dawn of a Filmmaker: The Keisuke Kinoshita Story have been invited to attend the festival.
The following twelve Japanese films will be screened:
1. Real, director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa (2013/127 min)
2. Unforgiven, director: Sang-il Lee (2013/135 min)
3. Dawn of a Filmmaker: The Keisuke Kinoshita Story, director: Keiichi Hara (2013/96 min)
4. Oshin, director: Shin Togashi(2013/109 min)
5. The Devil’s Path, director: Kazuya Shiraishi(2013/128 min)
6. Recipes of Diet Diaries,director: Toshio Lee (2013/100 min)
7. Rebirth, director: Izuru Narushima (2011/147 min)
8. The Garden of Words,director: Makoto Shinkai(2013/46 min)
9. Wolf Children,...
- 11/18/2013
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Tiff’s Midnight Madness program turned 25 this year, and for two and half decades, the hardworking programers have gathered some of the strangest, most terrifying, wild, intriguing and downright entertaining films from around the world. From dark comedies to Japanese gore-fests and indie horror gems, the Midnight Madness program hasn’t lost its edge as one the leading showcases of genre cinema. In its 25-year history, Midnight Madness has introduced adventurous late-night moviegoers to such cult faves as Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. But what separates Midnight Madness from, say, Montreal’s three and half week long genre festival Fantasia, is that Tiff selects only ten films to make the cut. In other words, these programmers don’t mess around. Last week I decided that I would post reviews of my personal favourite films that screened in past years. And just like the Tiff programmers,...
- 9/18/2013
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by the serious tone of Toshio Lee's Box! You see, despite the very silly nature of his previous feature Detroit Metal City and his history with 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano's television comedy efforts, the feature that really elevated Dmc above a horde of silly Japanese comedy peers was Lee's ability to get the characters just right. People that should have been outrageous caricatures throughout the film somehow weren't. So clearly Lee has got a little something going on when it comes to understanding his young protagonists and that something is all over the upcoming teen athletic drama Box!
Yes, the exclamation mark is part of the title.
Hayato Ichihara and Kengo Kora star as high school friends and rivals who take up boxing and, apparently, the young stars trained hard for months ahead of time so that they could perform all the boxing sequences themselves.
Yes, the exclamation mark is part of the title.
Hayato Ichihara and Kengo Kora star as high school friends and rivals who take up boxing and, apparently, the young stars trained hard for months ahead of time so that they could perform all the boxing sequences themselves.
- 4/14/2010
- Screen Anarchy
The official website for Toshio Lee‘s Box! has been updated with a new full-length trailer.
Based on a 2008 novel by Naoki Hyakuta, the film stars Hayato Ichihara as a teenager in Osaka named Yoshihei Kaburaya. Although he’s never been much of a student, he’s always had a natural talent for boxing. His childhood friend Kitaru (Kengo Kora) is a genius student well on his way toward moving on to a prestigious university. However, he’s been a weakling and lacked physical confidence since he was a child. Wanting to become strong like his friend Kaburaya, Kitaru joins him in their school’s boxing club and the pair become both partners and rivals in training.
“Box!” will be released by Toho in Japan on May 22, 2010.
Thanks logboy for the heads up.
Based on a 2008 novel by Naoki Hyakuta, the film stars Hayato Ichihara as a teenager in Osaka named Yoshihei Kaburaya. Although he’s never been much of a student, he’s always had a natural talent for boxing. His childhood friend Kitaru (Kengo Kora) is a genius student well on his way toward moving on to a prestigious university. However, he’s been a weakling and lacked physical confidence since he was a child. Wanting to become strong like his friend Kaburaya, Kitaru joins him in their school’s boxing club and the pair become both partners and rivals in training.
“Box!” will be released by Toho in Japan on May 22, 2010.
Thanks logboy for the heads up.
- 4/14/2010
- Nippon Cinema
Here’s the trailer for Banmei Takahashi‘s Box: Hakamada Jiken, not to be confused with Toshio Lee’s Box!, which is coming out around the same time.
The film is based on a notorious real-life crime which took place in Shimizu, Shizuoka Prefecture and became known as the “Hakamada Incident”. On June 30, 1966, a miso factory is set on fire after the director of the company and three of his family members are stabbed to death in the building. Detective Tatematsu (Ryo Ishibashi) eventually arrests ex-boxer Iwao Hakamada (Hirofumi Arai) for the crime based on some blood-stained clothing and a small cut on his finger. He initially claims innocence, but is forced into confession after being beaten by police and tortured for hours at a time.
Hakamada received a death sentence from Shizuoka District Court Judge Kumamoto (Masato Hagiwara) and lost several appeals in the decades that followed. Kumamoto, now a lawyer,...
The film is based on a notorious real-life crime which took place in Shimizu, Shizuoka Prefecture and became known as the “Hakamada Incident”. On June 30, 1966, a miso factory is set on fire after the director of the company and three of his family members are stabbed to death in the building. Detective Tatematsu (Ryo Ishibashi) eventually arrests ex-boxer Iwao Hakamada (Hirofumi Arai) for the crime based on some blood-stained clothing and a small cut on his finger. He initially claims innocence, but is forced into confession after being beaten by police and tortured for hours at a time.
Hakamada received a death sentence from Shizuoka District Court Judge Kumamoto (Masato Hagiwara) and lost several appeals in the decades that followed. Kumamoto, now a lawyer,...
- 4/2/2010
- Nippon Cinema
In the few short years since making her film debut with an impressively precocious performance in Akihiko Shiota's Canary, 19-year-old Mitsuki Tanimura has established herself as one of the most interesting actresses in her age bracket. While it would be easy for a young idol signed to a major talent agency to just coast by on her looks with modeling gigs and appearances in schmaltzy TV dramas (as most girls of her stature do quite happily), Tanimura keeps jumping clean off the radar, signing on to act in some seriously oddball projects with little potential for press coverage, let alone financial success. And it's not as if her career has stalled -- far from it. In addition to several small films by unestablished directors, she's also slated to appear in Toshio Lee's Box!, Takashi Miike's remake of Thirteen Assassins, and Junji Sakamoto's Yukizuri no Machi, among others.
- 3/25/2010
- Nippon Cinema
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by the serious tone of Toshio Lee's Box! You see, despite the very silly nature of his previous feature Detroit Metal City and his history with 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano's television comedy efforts, the feature that really elevated Dmc above a horde of silly Japanese comedy peers was Lee's ability to get the characters just right. People that should have been outrageous caricatures throughout the film somehow weren't. So clearly Lee has got a little something going on when it comes to understanding his young protagonists and that something is all over the upcoming teen athletic drama Box!
Yes, the exclamation mark is part of the title.
Hayato Ichihara and Kengo Kora star as high school friends and rivals who take up boxing and, apparently, the young stars trained hard for months ahead of time so that they could perform all the boxing sequences themselves.
Yes, the exclamation mark is part of the title.
Hayato Ichihara and Kengo Kora star as high school friends and rivals who take up boxing and, apparently, the young stars trained hard for months ahead of time so that they could perform all the boxing sequences themselves.
- 3/9/2010
- Screen Anarchy
Finally the wait is over. Out on English subbed DVD next month, star of the ‘Death Note’ series Matsuyama Kenichi returns with another quirky role as "Negishi" in the Japanese thrash metal parody Detroit Metal City. Based on Wakasugi Kiminori's popular manga and directed by Toshio Lee, Dmc follows the unlikely double life of a nerdy aspiring pop singer who becomes a screaming death metal rocker. Chock full of sly humor, thrash music, and random profanity, the film spoofs the death metal scene and even boasts a cameo by Kiss guitarist Gene Simmons, as a legendary death metal guitarist.
- 3/18/2009
- 24framespersecond.net
Finally the wait is over. Out on English subbed DVD next month, star of the ‘Death Note’ series Matsuyama Kenichi returns with another quirky role as "Negishi" in the Japanese thrash metal parody Detroit Metal City. Based on Wakasugi Kiminori's popular manga and directed by Toshio Lee, Dmc follows the unlikely double life of a nerdy aspiring pop singer who becomes a screaming death metal rocker. Chock full of sly humor, thrash music, and random profanity, the film spoofs the death metal scene and even boasts a cameo by Kiss guitarist Gene Simmons, as a legendary death metal guitarist.
- 3/18/2009
- 24framespersecond.net
From April 15th to 19th, Frankfurt transforms into the center of the Japanese film world when the Nippon Connection 2009 opens its doors once again. After giving us a first look at the highlights of the largest festival for Japanese film worldwide, the official site has now been updated with the full program that includes more than 150 feature and short films.
Nippon Cinema 20th Century Boys (Niju seiki shonen), R: Yukihiko Tsutsumi, J 2008
www.20thboys.com All Around Us (Gururi no koto), R: Ryosuke Hashiguchi, J 2008
www.gururinokoto.jp Detroit Metal City, R: Toshio Lee, J 2008
www.go-to-dmc.jp Genius Party Beyond, R: Masahiro Maeda, Koji Morimoto, Kazuto Nakazawa, Shinya Ohira, Tatsuyuki Tanaka, J 2008
www.genius-party.jp/beyond Genius Party, R: Atsuko Fukushima, Shoji Kawamori, Shinji Kimura, Yoji Fukuyama, Hideki Futamura, Masaaki Yuasa, Shinichiro Watanabe, J 2007
www.genius-party.jp/genius01 Gs Wonderland, R: Ryuichi Honda, J 2008
www.gs-w.jp Hells Angels,...
Nippon Cinema 20th Century Boys (Niju seiki shonen), R: Yukihiko Tsutsumi, J 2008
www.20thboys.com All Around Us (Gururi no koto), R: Ryosuke Hashiguchi, J 2008
www.gururinokoto.jp Detroit Metal City, R: Toshio Lee, J 2008
www.go-to-dmc.jp Genius Party Beyond, R: Masahiro Maeda, Koji Morimoto, Kazuto Nakazawa, Shinya Ohira, Tatsuyuki Tanaka, J 2008
www.genius-party.jp/beyond Genius Party, R: Atsuko Fukushima, Shoji Kawamori, Shinji Kimura, Yoji Fukuyama, Hideki Futamura, Masaaki Yuasa, Shinichiro Watanabe, J 2007
www.genius-party.jp/genius01 Gs Wonderland, R: Ryuichi Honda, J 2008
www.gs-w.jp Hells Angels,...
- 3/13/2009
- by Ulrik
- Affenheimtheater
Sometimes the ridiculous can be truly sublime but surprisingly rare is the film that manages to latch on to a particularly silly concept and work it to its potential without pounding it to oblivion in the process. Toshio Lee’s Detroit Metal City? Brilliantly silly concept definitely in place, no doubt there. And there’s also no doubt as far as Lee’s ability to work his concept to their absolute maximum effect. This is glorious, absurd perfection.
- 9/6/2008
- by Todd Brown
- Screen Anarchy
Filed under: Festival Reports, Toronto International Film Festival, Cinematical Indie
Long day tonight on about three hours sleep, but somehow James and I managed to push through to make it to both the party for Richard Linklater's film Me and Orson Welles and the Midnight Madness screening of Detroit Metal City.
The Orson Welles party was great by my personal film fest standards, which include preferring not to be crushed in a crowd of starlet wannabes tottering in high heels. There was a decent-sized, but not overwhelming crowd; appropriate, but not overly loud music; and tasty, but not overly messy snacks being circulated on trays. The film's star, Zac Efron, was on hand, as was Linklater. Geoffrey Rush was also there circulating around.
We had to ditch the party a bit early to allow time to grab a bite of dinner, then headed over to the Ryerson; when Detroit Metal City...
Long day tonight on about three hours sleep, but somehow James and I managed to push through to make it to both the party for Richard Linklater's film Me and Orson Welles and the Midnight Madness screening of Detroit Metal City.
The Orson Welles party was great by my personal film fest standards, which include preferring not to be crushed in a crowd of starlet wannabes tottering in high heels. There was a decent-sized, but not overwhelming crowd; appropriate, but not overly loud music; and tasty, but not overly messy snacks being circulated on trays. The film's star, Zac Efron, was on hand, as was Linklater. Geoffrey Rush was also there circulating around.
We had to ditch the party a bit early to allow time to grab a bite of dinner, then headed over to the Ryerson; when Detroit Metal City...
- 9/6/2008
- by Kim Voynar
- Cinematical
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