Category: Film Festivals
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Villon’s Wife (Japanese Film Festival 2010)
Based on the semi-autobiographical Osamu Dazai novel Villon no Tsuma.
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Confessions (Japanese Film Festival 2010)
There has been a fair amount of hype surrounding Confessions (告白), the latest film from Memories of Matsuko and Happy-Go-Lucky writer/director Tetsuya Nakashima. When it was released in Japan earlier this year, it spent a whopping four weeks at the top spot (although was admittedly knocked off by the unfortunately titled Bayside Shakedown 3: Set…
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Flavor of Happiness (Japanese Film Festival 2010)
It’s hard to turn on the television these days without someone telling you how to cook. Buoyed by the wave of success that shows such as MasterChef and Japan’s own Iron Chef, celebrity and amateur cooking has become popular across the globe. The reasons are not difficult to fathom: all humans, in one way or…
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Zero Focus (Japanese Film Festival 2010)
Based on the novel by Seicho Matsumoto, Zero Focus (ゼロの焦点) marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of that famous Japanese author. A prolific writer of mystery, historical and non-fiction works alike, “Zero no Shoten” (also known as Zero Focus) is arguably his most famous work. Previously made for the screen by director Yoshitaro Nomura…
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Dear Doctor (Japanese Film Festival 2010)
Dear Doctor (ディア・ドクター) was one of the most critically acclaimed Japanese films of 2009, topping both the Yokohama Film Festival and Kinema Jumpo lists, and placing at #2 on the prestigious Japan Times list behind Yoshihiro Nakamura’s Fish Story and joining such prestigious films as Villon’s Wife, Zero Focus and Summer Wars. Garnering multiple awards at the Hochi…
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FLOWERS (Japanese Film Festival 2010)
If there is a meme running through the 14th Japanese Film Festival, and indeed throughout the history of Japanese cinema, it is the changing nature of family with each generation. Opening night film About Her Brother drew on the traditions of the great Ozu by touching on the impact of family throughout several generations, yet…
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Hanamizuki (Japanese Film Festival 2010)
We’ve had a variety of inspirations for this year’s entries in the Japanese Film Festival – a novel (Feel the Wind), a manga (Solanin), a true story of calligraphy performance (Shodo Girls) and a 1960s Kon Ichikawa film (About Her Brother) – but Hanamizuki may be the first film based on a pop song. At…
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Japanese Film Festival 2010: Opening Night
On a steamy spring night in Sydney town, the 14th Japanese Film Festival officially opened at the Regent on George Street. As we were reminded in an opening address, this festival keeps growing every year, from the humble beginnings of 5 films and 500 guests to this year’s 21 films and almost 10,000 guests around…
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Solanin (Japanese Film Festival 2010)
REVIEW: Too young to hold on, and too old to just break free and run
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Shodo Girls (Japanese Film Festival 2010)
The thing that has always excites me about cinema is that I am constantly learning new things. Prior to Shodo Girls, I had no idea that there was such a thing as competition performance calligraphy. Yes, the gentle art of fancy lettering is a no-holds-barred bloodletting that gets pretty fierce. Plus, it’s all based on a…
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