Talk about a podcast custom-made to win over your Podthinker. First — and most importantly — it's a podcast. That's step one. Second, it's about film, and it's been clearly, laboriously, repeatedly documented here how much your Podthinker loves himself a fine film. Third, it focuses specifically on films released for home viewing by The Criterion Collection , the company that not only...
DVD Video Review: Claire Denis channels the spirit of Ozu through her own sensibility and modern-day view of Paris. Noel Megahey reviews New Wave's DVD release.
Japanese auteur Takashi Miike's tale of psychosexual anxiety gets a 10th-anniversary release. Japanese auteur Takashi Miike's tale of psychosexual anxiety gets a 10th-anniversary release.
Recently, my uncle -- a film buff to put most other film buffs to shame -- sent me a clipping from the Seattle Times, in which critic John Hartl celebrated the greatest movie year of all time. Not 1939, as is generally accepted, but 1959. And I have to agree with him. It was an amazing time when the old Hollywood guard was winding down and creating their final masterpieces, new upstarts were coming...
When the average American film fan thinks of Japanese movies, they'll probably picture one of three things: either a samurai or a gangster -- Toshiro Mifune and his sword, or Takeshi Kitano and his gun -- or a stringy-haired ghost girl. Die-hard fans will know that Yasujiro Ozu, Nagisa Oshima and Mikio Naruse also made contemporary dramas about modern-day citizens, often trying to figure out their...
I dreamed that I was a bookstore owner, and then I woke up wanting to own a bookstore. I'd also like to become a professional poker player. I have life-goals. Man, that was some serious coma-sleep, almost painful. I hate waking up all disoriented with the lights on and the TV on and having no concept of the time of day or why my kidneys hurt. Sometimes I like to wake up at 1pm and eat a can of pringles...
I know that Everybody’s Fine is clearly a movie for mainstream families about the importance of family coming together (a good thing) so there is really no point in my critiquing it for its intention or content - they’re just not for me. However, the trailer itself is a different story. My problem with the below trailer? It gives it all away. All you really need to know about Everybody’s...
Claire Denis has an almost-unparalleled gift for blending poeticism and realism, a combination once again seamlessly achieved in 35 Shots of Rum, her magnificently understated and piercing portrait of the difficulty of letting go. With a tip of the hat...
This is a large (23.1 cm by 28.9 cm), fully illustrated account of Japanese film from its beginnings. There have now been a number of such histories, each perforce written from different perspectives and using various paradigms and methodologies. This latest entry, from the esteemed author of "The Emperor and the Wolf" — the most detailed study of director Akira Kurosawa and his iconic...
News: Dogwoof have announced the UK Region 2 DVD release of Cherry Blossoms on 12th October 2009 priced at £14.99 RRP. Inspired by Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story, this film from German filmmaker Doris Dorrie is a tender examination of life, death, love and the...
Everybody likes corn tempura. Never had it? Me, neither. But given how little the characters in "Still Walking" agree on, and how much they all agree on corn tempura, it must have magical properties.
By Steven Boone [ Still Walking is now playing at the Angelika and Lincoln Plaza cinemas in Manhattan. ] Hirokazu Kore-eda's Still Walking could have been made in 1949 by Yasujiro Ozu. I guess we hear that about a lot of films. Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Café Lumiere was a direct homage that really took Ozu's restraint to a certain (yawn) extreme. Directors as diverse as Jim Jarmusch and Mike Leigh...
Thrissur: A classic by Ozu, a vintage Hindi work by K. Asif and a 2007 film by Naomi Kawase will be the highlights of the presentations at the Fourth Thrissur International Film Festival on Saturday. The festival will pay tribute to ...
In the Realm of the Senses, Nagisa Oshima's controversial film about a housemaid who mutilates her lover, is often dismissed as art-house porn. But he saw all his work as a 'social act' and a rebellion against traditional Japanese cinema, argues Emilie Bickerton Nagisa Oshima has always had a kamikaze streak. The 77-year-old Japanese director's filmography counts over 25 features, and each serves...
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