Close-Up is a feature that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Akihiko Shiota's Wet Woman in the Wind (2016), which is receiving an exclusive global online premiere on Mubi, is showing from November 24 - December 24, 2017 as a Special Discovery.Much like Hollywood, the Japanese film industry goes to the well as often as possible once it hits a lucky strike. Such was the case with the so-called Roman Porno films of the 1970s, an infamous genre of sexploitation primarily identified with Japan’s oldest major studio, Nikkatsu. Financial trouble necessitated a popular, inexpensive product, and these softcore numbers were just the ticket. This may have been the studio where Kenji Mizoguchi and Shohei Imamura made films early in their careers, but by 1971 the Roman Porno factory was in full swing, producing quick, cheap, titillating product for an audience hungry for female toplessness and a great deal of convulsive thrusting.
- 11/23/2017
- MUBI
More that 1,100 of similar soft-core productions were released in theaters during the 70’s and 80’s by Nikkatsu, which helped to launch the careers of filmmakers like Masayuki Suo (Shall we Dance?, The Terminal Trust), Takashi Ishii (Gonin), Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Pulse, Tokyo Sonata, Journey to the Shore), Yojiro Takita (Departures), Koji Wakamatsu (Endless Waltz, United Red Army, Caterpillar) and many more.
The main reason so many directors chose the particular genre was due to the complete artistic freedom given to the them after they have met four criteria:
The film must have a required minimum quota of sex scenes (supposedly a sex scene every five minutes, although this rule was never strictly met) The film must be approximately one hour in duration. It must be filmed on 16 mm or 35 mm film within one week. The film must be made on a very limited budget (about $35,000)
The films were commecially successes and...
The main reason so many directors chose the particular genre was due to the complete artistic freedom given to the them after they have met four criteria:
The film must have a required minimum quota of sex scenes (supposedly a sex scene every five minutes, although this rule was never strictly met) The film must be approximately one hour in duration. It must be filmed on 16 mm or 35 mm film within one week. The film must be made on a very limited budget (about $35,000)
The films were commecially successes and...
- 3/29/2016
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Above: From left to right, Tokyo FilmEx festival directors Kanako Hayashi and Shozo Ichiyama; and Nobuteru Uchida's prize-winning film, Love Addition.
Last November, I had a conversation with Tokyo FilmEx Festival directors Shozo Ichiyama and Kanako Hayashi. For more than a decade, this duo has helmed Japan’s most serious festival, one dedicated to independent cinema from Asia. Office Kitano, Takeshi Kitano’s production company, has remained its key partner over the years, and helped Japan’s support of Iranian directors as well as groundbreaking figures from China, most notably Jia Zhangke, a regular at FilmEx from the beginning. The festival also revealed the fragile state of art cinema in and from Japan and how a very small, centralized community that has been determining what fits into this category, and what is not allowed in; a community that’s aged while being unable to neither find nor form new heirs.
Last November, I had a conversation with Tokyo FilmEx Festival directors Shozo Ichiyama and Kanako Hayashi. For more than a decade, this duo has helmed Japan’s most serious festival, one dedicated to independent cinema from Asia. Office Kitano, Takeshi Kitano’s production company, has remained its key partner over the years, and helped Japan’s support of Iranian directors as well as groundbreaking figures from China, most notably Jia Zhangke, a regular at FilmEx from the beginning. The festival also revealed the fragile state of art cinema in and from Japan and how a very small, centralized community that has been determining what fits into this category, and what is not allowed in; a community that’s aged while being unable to neither find nor form new heirs.
- 3/9/2011
- MUBI
Yahoo! Eiga has uploaded a trailer for Masahiro Kunimoto‘s upcoming terminal illness tearjerker Oniichan no Hanabi starring Kengo Kora (Fish Story, Box!) and Mitsuki Tanimura (Canary). The trailer is also available on the film’s official website with an additional intro from both stars.
Originally inspired by a real-life documentary, the film stars Tanimura as a 16-year-old named Hana who moved to a small town in Niigata 5 years ago with her family and has been receiving treatment for leukemia for the past 6 months. Every year, the town hosts “Katakai Matsuri” which is known for being the largest fireworks display in the world. Hana’s older bother Taro (Kora) is a hikikomori, and spends most of his time alone in his room. However, to make his sister happy, he decides to make more of an effort to get out and participate in the festival with her.
Go! Cinema will be...
Originally inspired by a real-life documentary, the film stars Tanimura as a 16-year-old named Hana who moved to a small town in Niigata 5 years ago with her family and has been receiving treatment for leukemia for the past 6 months. Every year, the town hosts “Katakai Matsuri” which is known for being the largest fireworks display in the world. Hana’s older bother Taro (Kora) is a hikikomori, and spends most of his time alone in his room. However, to make his sister happy, he decides to make more of an effort to get out and participate in the festival with her.
Go! Cinema will be...
- 7/29/2010
- 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
Manga adaptations have been hitting Japanese screens en masse in recent years, though fantasy sword epic “Dororo” does at least have an impeccable pedigree to set it out from the crowd, being based upon a long running series from the 1960s by the masterful Osamu Tezuka (who also created the much loved iconic “Astro Boy”). Having already been transformed into an anime, the comic made the leap to cinemas in 2007 at the hands of director Akihiko Shiota, previously responsible for the likes of “Canary” and “Harmful Insect”. The film was a massive hit on its original release, setting a domestic box office record by holding onto the top spot for an unprecedented six consecutive weeks, and is now finally available on region 2 DVD via Mvm, coming with a featurette and deleted scenes. Although it ostensibly takes place in the future, the film basically has a period setting, and begins as...
- 8/8/2009
- by James Mudge
- Beyond Hollywood
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