Yearly Archives: 2011
Japanese Cinema Blogathon: 10 Classic Japanese Film Posters
This is my second contribution for Japanese Cinema Blogathon for earthquake/tsunami relief. To be perfectly honest, I’ve only seen one of these films. But these posters are just so gorgeous, they make me want to see all of these films. I wish more western movie posters were this gorgeous.
Movie Quote of the Day – Breakfast on Pluto, 2005 (dir. Neil Jordan)
Patrick “Kitten” Braden: If I wasn’t a transvestite terrorist, would you marry me?
Movie Quote of the Day – A Little Princess, 1995 (dir. Alfonso Cuarón)
Miss Minchin: Don’t tell me you still fancy yourself a princess? Child, look around you! Or better yet, look in the mirror.
Sara Crewe: I am a princess. All girls are. Even if they live in tiny old attics. Even if they dress in rags, even if they aren’t pretty, or smart, or young. They’re still princesses. All of us. Didn’t your father ever tell you that? Didn’t he?
Japanese Cinema and the Academy Awards
As part of the Japanese Cinema Blogathon hosted by myself and JapanCinema, I thought I’d take a look at how Japanese cinema has fared over the years with the Academy. As it happens, Japan has had its best luck with the Academy in the Foreign Language Film category, but there have been a few other nominations (and wins) for filmmakers and actors from the industry.
Movie Quote of the Day – Hiroshima Mon Amour, 1959 (dir. Alain Resnais)
Elle: Were you here in Hiroshima?
Lui: Of course not.
Elle: That’s right. How silly of me.
Lui: But my family was in Hiroshima. [beat] I was off fighting the war.
Elle: Lucky for you, eh?
Lui: Yes.
Elle: Lucky for me, too.
Japanese Cinema Blogathon: Let The Blogging Begin!
Welcome to the Japanese Cinema blogathon to help aid the recent natural disasters in Japan, hosted by JapanCinema and CinemaFanatic.
If you’ve written a post for the blogathon, leave a link to it in the comments section and I will add it to the ongoing list below. Don’t forget to add a link to the donation page in your post and feel free to use one of these banners on your blog. Also, please link back to this post so your readers can see all the participating blogs.
Tuesday, March 15th:
- YAM Magazine reviews Mamoru Hosoda’s サマーウォーズ (Summer Wars)
- 24 Frames takes a look at Kurosawa’s High and Low
- Juan reviews Miyazaki’s Spirited Away
- Millie at Classic Forever reviews Seijun Suzuki’s Tokyo Drifter
- Laura at No Lies, Just Love writes about how she discovered Japanese Cinema
- Clara at Via Margutta 51 reviews Isao Takahata’s Only Yesterday
- Carl at Losing Sight of Land reviews Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro
- CinemaFanatic takes a look at how Japanese Cinema has fared at the Academy Awards
- Bette’s Classic Movie Blog reviews Miyazaki’s Ponyo
- Bookshop @Livejournal reviews Teinosuke Kinugasa’s 1926 film Kurutta ippêji (Page of Madness)
- David at CouchCutter lists 5 Takashi Miike Films You Have to See
Wednesday, March 16th:
- YAM Magazine reviews Tetsuya Nakashima’s パコと魔法の絵本 (Paco and the Magical Book)
- Hungry Lemur writes about Ogawa Shinsuke’s documentary Manzan benigaki (Red Persimmons)
- Juan discusses Nobuhiko Obayashi’s Hausu (House)
- Body of a Greek Goddess discusses the subtitling of Japanese films
- ML Clark reviews Kihachi Okamoto’s The Sword of Doom
- Criterion Reflections takes a look at Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress
- Caroline at Garbo Laughs reviews Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
- YAM Magazine reviews Mamoru Hosoda’s 時をかける少女 (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time)
- Red Letter Prints takes a look at Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
- Vikram Kamat reviews Mikio Naruse’s Floating Clouds
- Vikram Kamat reviews Hiroshi Teshigahara’s Woman in the Dunes
- Vikram Kamat reviews Shuji Terayama’s To Die in the Country
- Sinamatic Salve-ation discusses Eastern Ways in Western Dress: Cultural Hybridity and Subversion in Kurosawa’s Yojimbo
- Mr. C. of Planet Chocko Zone reviews Makoto Naitô’s The 13 Steps of Maki
- MoviesInFrames – Rashōmon, 1950 (dir. Akira Kurosawa)
- MonkeyWonder posts a scene from Yasujiro Ozu’s Late Spring
- Bookshop @Livejournal takes a look at Images of Women in Japanese Films
Thursday, March 17th:
- YAM Magazine reviews Sang-il Lee’s フラガール (Hula Girls)
- Jack reivews Takeshi Koike’s レドライン (Redline)
- CinemaFanatic looks at 10 beautiful posters from classic Japanese Cinema
- DJ White at JapanCinema reviews Takashi Miike’s Audition
- Jack at Lights! Camera! Critic! reviews Kore-eda Hirokazu’s 誰も知らない (Nobody Knows)
- Jack at Lights! Camera! Critic! reviews Nakashima Tetsuya’s 告白 (Confessions)
- Caroline at Garbo Laughs reviews Miyazaki’s Porco Rosso
- Bookshop @Livejournal takes a look at “The Bag” in Takashi Miike’s Audition
Friday, March 18th:
- YAM Magazine reviews Yojiro Takita’s Academy-Award-Winning おくりびと Okuribito (Departures)
- Jennifer at SilentStanzas writes about actor Sessue Hayakawa
- Kendra at VivAndLarry reviews Alain Resnais’ Hiroshima, Mon Amour
- Anti-Manifesto’s tribute to Miyazaki’s Mononoke-hime
- Sinamatic Salve-ation discusses Zombies, Interdimensional Travel and Rock’n’Roll: Pulp Fiction and Japanese Cinema
- Caroline at Garbo Laughs reviews Miyazaki’s Pom Poko
Saturday, March 19th:
- YAM Magazine reviews Naoto Kumazawa’s ニライカナイからの手紙 (Letters from Kanai Nirai)
- The Lady Eve’s Reel Life reviews Juzo Itami’s comedy Tampopo
- MarcC at Go, See, Talk! reviews Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle
- MarcC at Go, See, Talk! reviews Goro Miyazaki’s Tales From Earthsea
- MarcC at Go, See, Talk! presents “Miyazaki Madness”
- YAM Magazine reviews Tatsuya Ishihara and Yasuhiro Takemoto’s 涼宮ハルヒの消失 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
- dear8lue at GreenTeaGraffiti writes a tribute for the works of Iwai Shunji
- Caroline at Garbo Laughs reviews Yoshifumi Kondō’s Whisper of my Heart
- YAM Magazine reviews Kawano Koji’s ラブ マイ ライフ (Love My Life)
- CinemaFanatic discusses her love of Gojira (Godzilla) films.
Sunday, March 20th
- Sinamatic Salve-ation discusses Controlled Testimonies: Cinema, the State, and Nationalism
- Raymond Owen reviews Yasujiro Ozu’s 1931 silent film Tokyo Chorus
- Caroline at Garbo Laughs reviews Hiroyuki Morita’s The Cat Returns
- Daniel at The Ghibli Blog discusses connection between Toei Doga’s Wan Wan Chushingura and Miyazaki’s Ponyo
Monday, March 21st
- MarcC at Go, See, Talk! presents the final four of “Miyazaki Madness”
- David Blakeslee at the Criterion Cast discusses Akira Kurosawa’s No Regrets for Our Youth
- Andreas at Pussy Goes Grrr reviews Shinya Tsukamoto’s Tetsuo: The Iron Man, while Ashley reviews Miyazaki’s Ponyo
- For Cinephiles by a Cinefille discusses Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Influence on American Filmmakers
- Extra Sugar, Extra Salt takes a look at the films of Tetsuya Nakashima
- Diandra at Double Feature Fight reviews the Maiku Hama: Private Eye trilogy
- The Projector Has Been Drinking talks about the classic anime show Star Blazers
Japanese Cinema Blogathon To Aid Earthquake and Tsunami Relief
This blogathon is hosted by JapanCinema and CinemaFanatic. Tomorrow we will each have a post on our sites officially starting the blogathon, which will run for a week. Simply leave a comment in one of those posts and we will add a link to the post so that everyone can see all of the participating blogs.
To participate post something on your blog related to Japanese Cinema (a review of a film, a preview, etc.) and add this link: https://www.paypal-donations.com/pp-charity/web.us/campaign.jsp?cid=-12 asking for donations from your readers. Please also use one of our graphics to let them know it’s part of the blogathon and so your readers can see the other posts in the blogathon:
You can also find updates for the blogathon on Facebook.
Tribeca Film Festival Announces Film Selections for Spotlight and Cinemania Sections and Special Screenings
The 10th edition of the Festival will take place from April 20 to May 1 in lower Manhattan. “This year’s Spotlight is a mixture of carefully selected festival favorites from around the globe, highly anticipated releases, a number of new works by high profile filmmakers and films with subjects of special note,” said Genna Terranova, Senior Programmer. “And in Cinemania we really kick it up a notch with boundary-pushing genre films packed with action, sexy thrills, and an extra helping of blood and guts for good measure.”
Oscar Vault Monday – Apocalypse Now, 1979 (dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
While nothing can replace The Thin Red Line as my all-time favorite war film, I think this movie would be a close second, even if I did just see it for the first time on Saturday (I know, I know). I’d like to point out first off that I watched the Redux version and not the theatrical version, so this post will be based on that version of the film. I’m also not going to talk a lot about some of the behind the scenes stories (there are a lot) and probably won’t cover all the themes in the film because I feel like the only way to do everything about this film justice would be to write 100 pages. I will, however, talk about the main performances and a couple of scenes that I really loved. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning two: Best Sound (won), Best Cinematography (won), Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor Robert Duvall, Best Director and Best Picture. The other films nominated for Best Picture that year were All That Jazz, Breaking Away, Norma Rae and winner Kramer Vs. Kramer. Side note: I really love Kramer Vs. Kramer, so this is not a “this film is better than the winner” post; it’s more like a “this film is equally as awesome” post.
the diary of a film history fanatic 