Takumi Saitoh is best known as an in-demand actor with an enormous list of credits, but he has also established himself as a filmmaker and photographer. After modeling in Japan and overseas in his teens, he made his acting debut in 2001, and has appeared in such heralded films as Takashi Miike's For Love's Sake (2012) Junji Sakamoto's The Projects (2015), Eric Khoo's Ramen Teh (2018), Last of the Wolves (Nyaff 2021), Shin Ultraman and The Legend and Butterfly (2023), among many others. Saitoh has been directing short films for several decades, and made his feature debut with blank 13 (2018), which won awards at film festivals in Japan and abroad, followed by the omnibus Zokki (Nyaff 2020). Home Sweet Home marks his third feature as director.
On the occasion of his film “Home Sweet Home” screening at New York Asian Film Festival, we speak with him about transitioning from actor to director, the filmmakers...
On the occasion of his film “Home Sweet Home” screening at New York Asian Film Festival, we speak with him about transitioning from actor to director, the filmmakers...
- 8/4/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Stars: Sôsuke Ikematsu, Shin’ya Tsukamoto, Minami Hamabe, Mirai Moriyama, Tasuku Emoto, Nanase Nishino | Written and Directed by Hideaki Anno
The third entry in the Shin Japan Heroes Universe, Shin Kamen Rider, steps away from the kaiju-oriented plots of Shin Godzilla and Shin Ultraman to let writer/director Hideaki Anno, the driving force behind the Shin project, reboot a character that dates back to 1971 and who has, over the years appeared in various incarnations spanning live action, anime, and manga forms.
Takeshi Hongo was a socially inept college student who only cared about his motorcycle until he was kidnapped by S.H.O.C.K.E.R., Sustainable Happiness Organization with Computational Knowledge Embedded Remodeling, and experimented on by Professor Midorikawa, played appropriately enough by Shin’ya Tsukamoto, the director of Tetsuo: The Iron Man and its sequels.
He fused Hongo’s DNA with that of a grasshopper giving him incredible strength,...
The third entry in the Shin Japan Heroes Universe, Shin Kamen Rider, steps away from the kaiju-oriented plots of Shin Godzilla and Shin Ultraman to let writer/director Hideaki Anno, the driving force behind the Shin project, reboot a character that dates back to 1971 and who has, over the years appeared in various incarnations spanning live action, anime, and manga forms.
Takeshi Hongo was a socially inept college student who only cared about his motorcycle until he was kidnapped by S.H.O.C.K.E.R., Sustainable Happiness Organization with Computational Knowledge Embedded Remodeling, and experimented on by Professor Midorikawa, played appropriately enough by Shin’ya Tsukamoto, the director of Tetsuo: The Iron Man and its sequels.
He fused Hongo’s DNA with that of a grasshopper giving him incredible strength,...
- 7/24/2023
- by Jim Morazzini
- Nerdly
Nyaff unveils first wave of features from China, Hong Kong, Japan and beyond.
The New York Asian Film Festival (Nyaff) has unveiled the first wave of features for its 22nd edition and announced that Japanese actor Ryohei Suzuki will receive the Screen International Rising Star award.
Nyaff will run from July 14-30 at the city’s Film at Lincoln Center, with a programme of more than 60 titles, and Suzuki will be presented with the award recognising emerging talent from East Asia on July 15.
Suzuki has been acting on screen for more than 15 years, with a string of roles in Japanese...
The New York Asian Film Festival (Nyaff) has unveiled the first wave of features for its 22nd edition and announced that Japanese actor Ryohei Suzuki will receive the Screen International Rising Star award.
Nyaff will run from July 14-30 at the city’s Film at Lincoln Center, with a programme of more than 60 titles, and Suzuki will be presented with the award recognising emerging talent from East Asia on July 15.
Suzuki has been acting on screen for more than 15 years, with a string of roles in Japanese...
- 6/15/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
The Oscar nominations for “Drive My Car,” Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s three-hour drama about a man dealing with the death of his wife, have thrilled the director’s native Japan.
News of the four Academy Awards nominations was reported by all major Japanese media, from the most serious Nikkei business daily to the sports tabloids whose usual coverage of local art films is zero.
The news also lit up Twitter.
“An Academy Award nomination for Best Picture is a great accomplishment. I think the melding between Haruki Murakami and Chekhov has created a universality that can be felt around the world,” said Twitter user YasioE.
“I really want it to win the Best Picture award, don’t you? Judging from the state of the awards race, I think it can win it. And as a film based on Murakami’s work, I think it should win the Adapted Screenplay award too,...
News of the four Academy Awards nominations was reported by all major Japanese media, from the most serious Nikkei business daily to the sports tabloids whose usual coverage of local art films is zero.
The news also lit up Twitter.
“An Academy Award nomination for Best Picture is a great accomplishment. I think the melding between Haruki Murakami and Chekhov has created a universality that can be felt around the world,” said Twitter user YasioE.
“I really want it to win the Best Picture award, don’t you? Judging from the state of the awards race, I think it can win it. And as a film based on Murakami’s work, I think it should win the Adapted Screenplay award too,...
- 2/9/2022
- by Mark Schilling
- Variety Film + TV
The main asset of the Japanese movie industry has always been a stability, particularly in terms of production quality, which, even in the years where countries like S. Korea held the sceptres of the ‘Best Asian Cinema’, did not “allow” local titles to be very far off. In that regard, it is easy to say that, even if Japanese filmmakers do not come up with masterpieces so often (at least not as often as in the past), the local industry remains the one that produces more “7/10” movies than any other in the world, consistently. This stability became much more obvious this year, since Korean cinema seems to have hit a reef that is more evident that it was before, and gradually, Japanese cinema seems to have reached the top of Asia once more, even if the level was a bit lower this year. The films that follow prove the fact in the most eloquent way.
- 12/19/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Skip City International D-Cinema Festival which started in 2004 in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture, has been held every year as a “gateway for emerging talent” centered on the International Competition and the Japanese Film Competition (features and shorts). The festival launched the careers of Kazuya Shiraishi (Last of the Wolves), Ryota Nakano (The Asadas), Shinichiro Ueda (One Cut of the Dead), Shinzo Katayama (Siblings of the Cape) and many other directors who are leading the Japanese film industry as top runners and whose new movies audiences are looking forward to seeing.
The 18th edition will be held virtually on the streaming platform “Cinema Discoveries” for 9 days from Saturday, September 25th to Sunday, October 3rd, in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus infection and ensure the safety of audience and related visitors.
From left to right: Director Tsutomu Tsuchikawa, Programming Director Toshiyuki Hasegawa, Yumiko Kimura
On Wednesday, September 1st, we...
The 18th edition will be held virtually on the streaming platform “Cinema Discoveries” for 9 days from Saturday, September 25th to Sunday, October 3rd, in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus infection and ensure the safety of audience and related visitors.
From left to right: Director Tsutomu Tsuchikawa, Programming Director Toshiyuki Hasegawa, Yumiko Kimura
On Wednesday, September 1st, we...
- 9/5/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Kazuya Shiraishi’s films are always entertaining and well shot, but I feel that he only reaches his full potential when he is dealing with the Yakuza. “Last of the Wolves”, the sequel to 2018 “Blood of the Wolves”, is a testament to this fact.
“Last of the Wolves” is screening at New York Asian Film Festival
Three years after the events of the previous film, Hioka is not a rookie anymore, and has actually implemented his mentor’s (Shogo Ogami) plan about keeping the peace between Odani-gumi and the Irako-kai to the fullest, making a lot of money in the process. The bad blood with Saga, one of the higher ups who knew exactly what happened with Ogami, still exists however, and when Hioka is transferred to the police precinct he is in charge of, the pressure begins to pile up, despite the fact that his new partner, veteran Takayuki...
“Last of the Wolves” is screening at New York Asian Film Festival
Three years after the events of the previous film, Hioka is not a rookie anymore, and has actually implemented his mentor’s (Shogo Ogami) plan about keeping the peace between Odani-gumi and the Irako-kai to the fullest, making a lot of money in the process. The bad blood with Saga, one of the higher ups who knew exactly what happened with Ogami, still exists however, and when Hioka is transferred to the police precinct he is in charge of, the pressure begins to pile up, despite the fact that his new partner, veteran Takayuki...
- 8/17/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
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