Only porn theater in Tohoku reopens after earthquake

There have been very few upbeat stories emerging from the Tohoku area following the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11. However, weekly tabloid Shukan Post (July 22-29), happily reports that the region’s only porn theater, in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, reopened for business on June 20.

The two-screen Ishinomaki Nikkatsu Pearl Cinema has 260 seats and was heavily damaged by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Yet in spite of resuming operations, it is not exactly business as usual.

A man in his 60s who visited the cinema early in July tells Shukan Post, “While I heard about the reopening from a friend, I came here to actually to confirm that as the schedule was not appearing in the newspaper. I was worried, but I am so delighted that it has reopened.”

According to the patron, the schedule typically appears three times a month in the local Ishinomaki Kahoku newspaper. However, no ad has appeared since the reopening. “The owner told me that ads were rejected,” the man says. Read more

Director Anh Hung Tran given free hand in adapting Haruki Murakami’s ‘Norwegian Wood’

TOKYO (TR) – Haruki Murakami is one of the world’s most celebrated authors. Yet in adapting what is his most autobiographical novel, “Norwegian Wood,” to the big screen, helmer Anh Hung Tran was given few restrictions by the novelist.

After a special screening of the film at the Norwegian Embassy in Tokyo’s Minato Ward on Wednesday, the Vietnamese-French Tran said that Murakami only made some suggestions in the beginnings of the development of the screenplay.

“After the first round of exchanges, he generally allowed me great freedom to do what I wanted to,” said the 47-year-old Tran of the film, which opens nationwide today (December 11). “As an artist himself, he understood that I, a director, need my space to make my own creative decisions.”

Taking place amid student uprisings in Tokyo in the late 1960s, the pic, which received its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, is a tale of love and letting go. University student Toru Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama) falls for Naoko (Oscar-nominated Rinko Kikuchi), the former girlfriend of his best friend Kizuki, who had killed himself not long before. Read more

Japan poised to set box office record in 2010

TOKYO (TR) – Japan is looking to enjoy its best year ever at the box office, according to figures compiled by the Nikkei newspaper.

Boosted by the popularity of 3D pics, including the local smash “Umizaru 3: The Last Message,” distrib Toho’s latest installment in the action series featuring the Japan Coast Guard, total box office receipts for 2010 may pass the 220 billion yen ($2.63 billion) mark. This would beat the all-time (non-inflation-adjusted) record set 2004 — 210.9 billion yen ($2.52 billion).

Boosted by the premium for 3D tickets, three Hollywood 3D pics surpassed the 10 billion yen ($120 million) milestone: “Avatar,” “Alice In Wonderland” and “Toy Story 3.” Read more

Tokyo Filmex wraps, ‘Love Addiction’ wins Grand Prize

TOKYO (TR) – The 11th Tokyo Filmex concluded on Sunday with its Grand Prize being awarded to the drama “Love Addiction,” the third feature from helmer Nobuteru Uchida.

Uchida made his feature-length debut with the love story “Kaza-ana” three years ago. “Love Addiction” covers similar themes, profiling the complicated romantic relationships between four co-workers.

“I think that Japanese independent films are of high quality,” said Uchida. “I am hoping that all of my colleagues who make films like this will continue to move forward in the future.”

The pic was awarded 1 million yen, which is 100,000 yen less than the film’s budget. The jury appreciated the low-budget nature of the film, saying that its intensity — largely created through strong acting and the use of a hand-held camera — conveyed a powerful expression.

Jury chairperson Ulrich Gregor, the director of the International Forum of New Cinema, said that it was a pleasure for the jury to discuss the 10 films in competition on their own merits and collectively. “We found that there were quite many films which fascinated us, thrilled us, told us important things about the way of living today, about our society, politics, and the state of mind of men and women,” Gregor said. Read more

Sion Sono’s ‘Cold Fish’ nets Japan premiere at Tokyo Filmex

TOKYO (TR) – Getting its Japan premiere at Tokyo Filmex on Saturday was art-house helmer Sion Sono’s latest pic, the gore fest “Tsumetai Nettaigyo” (Cold Fish), which he said goes in a completely different direction from his last pic, “Love Exposure.”

His inspiration for making the film came from two areas.

“There are many crime cases in Japan that have interested me,” said Sono following the screening at the Yurakucho Asahi Hall in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward. “I also wanted to depict a sense of total hopelessness, which I feel is lacking in Japanese films.”

The grotesque, sometimes humorous, often farcical pic, which is based on an actual killing spree committed by a dog kennel owner in the 1980s, tells the story of a family of three that becomes entangled in a string of ongoing murders perpetrated by a tropical fish salesman in Shizuoka Prefecture. Read more

Tokyo Filmex opens with ‘Uncle Boonmee’

TOKYO (TR) – Billing itself as a festival that seeks out the endless creativity and possibilities of cinema, the week-long Tokyo Filmex opened on Saturday in Chuo Ward.

Hundreds of biz luminaries, including legendary film historian Donald Richie, packed the Tokyo International Forum for the opening film, helmer Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.”

Jury chairperson Ulrich Gregor, the director of the International Forum of New Cinema, said in an opening address that he has been a long-time admirer of the collection of unique films and filmmakers that Filmex attracts. “What unites us all is the passion for film, the hope for a brilliant future of cinema and further development,” said Gregor. Read more

Tokyo drifter: Yoichi Higashi goes ‘Wandering Home’

TOKYO (TR) – Veteran helmer Yoichi Higashi tackles the difficult subject of a family being torn apart by alcoholism in his latest film, the drama “Wandering Home.”

The often brutal and sometimes humorous pic, to be released next next month, is based on the autobiography of the late journalist Yutaka Kamoshida, who detailed his struggle with alcohol dependency and the resulting burden placed upon his wife, manga artist Rieko Saibara, and two young children.

“I didn’t have the sense that I was making a film about a person suffering from alcohol dependency,” said the 76-year-old Higashi following an evening press screening at The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan on Monday. “I had the sense that I was making a film about a pilgrim, about someone who was wandering, searching for a path in life.”

The Japanese title reads, “I’ll Come Home When I’m Sober,” and Yasu, Kamoshida’s character played by Tadanobu Asano, spends very little time at his west Tokyo residence. After abusing his wife (Hiromi Nagasaku, who recently appeared in “Cast Me If You Can”), and multiple ambulance trips to the hospital, one of which follows a violent blood-vomiting incident, he is admitted to a specialized rehab facility for long-term care. Yet Higashi takes such a difficult subject and mixes dark comedy into the script, such as Yasu’s obsession with receiving curry meals. Read more

TIFF opens with ‘The Social Network,’ offers peek at ‘Tron: Legacy’

TOKYO (TR) – An estimated 3,200 film fans gathered on Saturday in the Roppongi entertainment district of Tokyo for the opening night of the 23rd Tokyo International Film Festival, which will feature 15 films in its main competition.

Over 300 biz luminaries strode along the ceremonial “green carpet” — a symbol of the fest’s ecological theme — laid upon Keyakizaka-dori at the Roppongi Hills complex in Minato Ward as the assembled crowd snapped photos and sought autographs.

Kicking off the event was helmer David Fincher’s “The Social Network,” the Sony Pictures film that stars Jesse Eisenberg and tells story of Mark Zuckerberg’s founding of the immensely popular social-working site Facebook. Read more

Tokyo film fest to feature four world premieres in competition, honor Bruce Lee

TOKYO (TR) – The 23rd Tokyo International Film Festival will feature four world premieres in competition and pay tribute to martial arts film Bruce Lee with a special series to mark the 70th year of his birth.

TIFF chairman Tatsumi “Tom” Yoda said at a press conference on Thursday that this year will be a pivotal one for the event.

“Our mission is to gather films that can convey the power of film,” said Yoda at the conference, held at the Roppongi Hills complex in Tokyo’s Minato Ward. “This is the jumping stage that will launch us into the future. The high-quality films at this event will be what drives us forward.”

Kicking off the event on October 23 is “The Social Network,” the story of the founding of the immensely popular social-working site Facebook by Mark Zuckerberg. TIFF’s week-long run will feature over 200 films at theaters in the Roppongi entertainment district and other areas. The closer will be Ben Affleck’s “The Town,” a bank-heist film set in Boston. Read more

Yoji Yamada nurtures Japan’s next generation in ‘Kyoto Story’

TOKYO (TR) – Famed Shochiku helmer Yoji Yamada passes on the art of filmmaking to Japan’s next generation in “Kyoto Story,” his collaboration with co-director Tsutomu Abe and a team of university students.

Yamada (“Twilight Samurai” and “The Hidden Blade”), Abe and 22 students from Ritsumeikan University College of Image Arts and Sciences teamed up on the film, set in Uzumasa, one of Kyoto’s most historic areas.

“How one goes about teaching filmmaking is a common point of discussion nowadays,” said the 79-year-old Yamada of the film following a press screening at The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan last week. “If you teach painting, of course you draw. If you teach music, you ask students to perform. So naturally, if you want students to understand filmmaking you must ask them to make a film.”

Abe said that the film industry is not the same as when he was young, a time when gaining knowledge was similar to theft. “I learned in the studio,” he said. “This is exactly why we came up with this project – to give students an opportunity. I do believe that the time is now to pass on these skills to the younger generation.” Read more

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