Labyrinth of Cinema (2019) is playing in a theater for Japan Cuts on September 2

 LABYINTH OF CINEMA is a film that only Obayashi could have made. Wild and crazy but with a very serious point, the film forces us to ponder the natures of war and cinema as well as our own existence.

The simple plot outline has three people at a movie marathon launched into the on screen world of Japan at war.  They experience the horrors of war in a cinematic and not so cinematic ways as the time line gets closer and closer to Hiroshima.

If you saw Obayahi's Hanagatami you may have some idea what this is like, but even so this film gets even more crazier (fish in space). Like the earlier film which had some people I know scratching their heads, Labyrinth of Cinema pushes the envelope as to what a serious movie is. Nothing is too out there for a director who is looking to make his point. Assuming you are like me the journey can take any form so long as the payoff is worth it. Here the pay off was worth it as I was left pondering what I had just seen and why it made me feel like I had been hit with a large club. It also made me want to take another 3 hours and watch the film again so that I could truly appreciate the film on it's own terms.

While I know most people know Obayashi for his cult favorite Hausu, I've always been of the opinion that while that film is good, his other films are better. I say that because more than any other director Obayashi truly understood cinema. He knew  that in cinema there are no rules nor limits. If you can dream it and if you can sell anything is game. Yes, not all his films work, but when they do they not only tell us great stories and make us think and feel in ways that a conventional telling could never manage.(and even when his films failed they were pretty damn interesting)

Labyrinth of Cinema tells us a great story and makes us feel. It does so in a way that not everyone will accept, but that is perfectly fine since Obayashi made the film he wanted to  which is enough. It is one last singular work from a master director whose body of work was wonderfully and uniquely his own.

Highly recommended to Obayashi fans as well as anyone who want a film that is unlike any other.

Wife of a Spy (2021) Japan Cuts 2021

 

Kiyoshi Kurosawa does the unthinkable and tells a more or less straight forward historical tale, proving he can do pretty much anything and will always surprise.

Shot for Japanese television WIFE OF A SPY is the story of an actress married to successful business man in the early days of the Second World War (1940). When her husband returns from Manchuria things are not quite right and it transpires that he was altered by what he saw there in a medical experimentation camp.

A mix of war time domestic drama and espionage tale is not what I would have expected from Kurosawa how tends to tell tales that have an odd bend into them, I mean his REAL ends with the out of left field appearance of a sea monster. Then again this film doesn’t behave like most similar films you’ve ever seen. I didn’t expect the okay drama to turn to switch up and become a tense war time drama.

This is a really good film. Beginning with the fact the film shows a side of war time Japan that we in America don’t see, I mean almost all depictions are of soldiers and their families and the fact that we see something approaching “normal life” or filmmaking is kind of eye opening. From there we have a compelling story that doesn’t do what we expect. I didn’t expect a man trying to get word out of Japan of atrocities.

This is solid filmmaking. If there is anything to quibble about it is perhaps the fact that being made for Japanese TV the budget is less than for a feature and we can feel it in some scenes that feel a little small. But, as I said  that is a minor quibble especially when you are seeing a new film from a master director.

Playing both in person and virtually at Japan Cuts WIFE OF A SPY is recommended. 

For access to the film streaming or to see it in person on August 27 go here.

The Great Yokai War Gaurdians (2021) Japan Cuts 2021 Fantasia 2021

 Takashi Miike returns to the world of Yokai Wars with a second film Guardians, the story of two modern brothers who join the battle with the Yoaki Wars.

Decidedly more kid friendly than the previous entry. You would be hard pressed to think that Miike was behind this film. On the other hand he is such a prolific filmmaker it’s almost impossible to nail him down as what sort of filmmaker he is. This is a grand romp full of great characters and bits of magic and whimsy that utterly delight.

Forgive me if I don’t really try to critique this film, its not something you can do. Its both clunky and forced, and perfectly made and dead on. The films near climatic Iron Giant-esque moment completely wrecked me despite it’s unevenness simply because the love and emotion of the story and the characters far outshone the narrative.

And of course there are the monsters. There seem to be hundreds if not thousands of unique monsters walking around and even if they don’t do anything the simply delight.

Personally I absolutely love this film to death. No it’s not an adult love- but one of the inner kid. This is the sort of film that if you show a kid at the right age you will damn them to loving the movies and monsters forever. I feel this way because Miike, a man who has made some of the most violent and ugly films ever has made a film with true child like magic and wonder.

God bless him and god bless this film.

Recommended for anyone who wants to see a film and be a wide eyed kid all over again.

Brief thoughts on Kiba: The Fangs of Fiction (2021) which plays at the Japan Society 8/26 and 28 Japan Cuts 2021

 

Amusing story about the efforts to safe a failing magazine by various people, many of whom have their own agenda.

When I watch films at Japan Cuts I make a list of the films I want to see when the slate comes out and then I just watch them blind. I love going into the films blind and with no expectations. This made for a great experience for me since I went into the film and had no clue where it was going. I laughed and smiled and had a grand time watching great actors going through their paces.

Recommended.

KIBA FANGS OF FICTION plays at the Japan Society AUgust 26 and 28 and is worth making the trip.

For tickets go here.

Brief word on four shorts and 2 feature films from Japan Cuts

Here's word on four of the  Japan Cuts shots

Red Table
Deeply disturbing animated film about a child playing with a railway. However the allegory of selling out and not caring about the people we hurt is truly bothersome. I have no idea what it all means, but on a purely subconscious and visceral level it has left me feeling extremely ill at ease.

Night Snorkeling
Documentary of a couple snorleing at night. It has some truly amazing images and made me want to do the same thing.

School Radio To Major Tom
A guy producing radio programs no one listens to during the day connects with a night student who discovers one of his programs and begins inter acting with him.A magical and lovely little film about two wonderful people.  It is a film that I wasn’t sure of but by the end it had me misting up. Recommended

Go Seppuku Yourselves
A samurai looks for a demon.A great looking film kind of rambles along to an uncertain purpose. Yes its well done, but I’m not sure it adds up to much.

And Brief word on two films

My Sorry Life
Is a good drama about a young woman trying to find her place in the world. The film has the feel of some of the better inde American dramas I’ve been running across lately and is worth a look.

Mari And Mari
Young man has his girlfriend disappear only to have another young woman appear claiming to be her. Intriguing drama might be a bit too clever for its own good but it still entertains.

Blue Danube (2021) Japan Cuts 2021

A town on a river is at war with it's neighbor. Everyday between 9 & 5 they fire volleys of bullets at each other. One of the soldiers is assigned to play the trumpet in the band. His view of the war begins to slowly change.

This is a mannered film that echoes the work of Ionesco, Kafka and Beckett that reals how bureaucracy and war are damning combination. Its a film that for all it's oddness seems right on target

As pointed as the film is the film is the running time of  almost two hours works against it. I am a fan of Beckett and Ionesco but at the same time I will be the first to admit that it is nigh impossible to do a film of their plays because in the real world of film, their mannered views of the film feels off. While BLUE DANUBE hits the right notes, there is a point where we disconnect from the film because  of the mannered nature.

Frankly I like the film a great deal. Indeed there are several moments that have been rolling around in my head for the last two weeks, but at the same over all it just hasn't stuck with me.

Japan Cuts Documentaries: WHY YOU CAN'T BE PRIME MINISTER, USHIKU and NO SMOKING

 This year as part of Japan Cuts the programmers  have scheduled three documentary features  covering differing topics.  All the films are good but some will be of more interest to some people over others.

WHY YOU CAN'T BE PRIME MINISTER is a look at politician Arata Oshima over a ten year period. It’s a film that follows his rise over a ten year period.  While this is a solid portrait of Oshima the film never fully grasped me. The problem is that I don’t really understand the Japanese election process, which is explained at the beginning of the film, nor do I really know who all of the players wandering through the film are.  I felt like I was on the outside of a grand party looking in.  While the film is good this is going to be best for some one who understands Japanese politics.

USHIKU is a tough film. It is the story of four people who went to Japan to see asylum and promptly found themselves locked up awaiting a decision. Japan only takes .04% of asylum seekers and the rest are deported back to their homelands even if there is a danger of them being killed. Shot on the sly the film largely consists of interviews with the various people where they talk about their situations and the treatment they received. How bad is the treatment of refugees? One of the detainees is asked to smile for a photograph to which he replied he no longer knew how to do it since the treatment was so bad he forgot how. This is a tough film and highly recommended.

NO SMOKING is a joy. One of my favorite films at Japan Cuts it’s a portrait of musician Haruomi Honso who talks about his life and music. It’s a joyous celebration that will delight you. Its so good that when it was done I was on Amazon trying to find CDs. Highly recommended

For more information on these or any Japan Cuts films go here.

2 from Japan Cuts 2021" B/B and ITO

 

B/B
This is a film about a girl with dissociative identity disorder being questioned by a therapist and police detective about a murder is going to be film you are either going to love or hate. As a technical achievement it is a masterpiece  with the editing and shot choices mirroring the various personalities of our heroine.  However as masterful the execution the actual result on the viewer can be jarring. I wasn’t sure what I was seeing and had to go back and read what the film was. Then when I went back and watch it knowing what I was getting into I found I stopped watching the narrative and was just watching the construction.  Its well done but not my cup of tea.

Recommended to the cinematically adventurous

ITO
This is a sweet little drama about Ito, a high schooler  who decides to go off the board of her small town life and take a job in a café in a larger city. The experience opens up the once withdrawn girl as she sees that there is more to life than she had thought. This is a marvelous charmer. This is exactly the sort of film that I love to find at Japan Cuts, something small scale, seemingly not my speed that ends up charming the pants off me to the point I go around and try to convince mt friends that they need to see the film.

Highly recommended

3 for Japan Cuts 2021 COME & GO, ARISTOCRATS, and GOLDFISH DREAMING OF THE SEA

 

ARISTOCRATS
The story of two women who meet while pursuing the same man. One is being pushed by her family to get married and raise a family while the other is pursuing her career as an event planner.

Exactly precisely the sort of story I dislike is actually a dynamite drama about some really cool people.  Blame my liking this film on the cast particularly Mugi Kadowaki and Kiko Mizuhara in the leads who turn their characters into something much more complex than what we would have seen in a Hollywood version of the same story. Between them they create women we feel we know and whose coming together is something other than just a plot device.

Recommended

GOLDFISH-DREAMING OF THE SEA
Less a film you want to read about and more one you want to experience. This is one of a number of recent movies that are better to see before you talk about. That may sound counter intuitive but director Sara Ogawa has created a film where the physical action of being in the space of the film creates a reaction in the viewer. Yes I can tell you that the film concerns a young woman in a group home watching over a new arrival and coming to terms with her past, but I can’t tell you about everything that happens around that, the looks, the gestures, the influence of the physical space the characters, all blend together to create a physical and emotional reaction that transcends simply discussing the plot.

This is a small quiet gem of a film and is recommended.

COME & GO
Epic tale of multiple characters from locals, tourists and outcasts all crisscrossing there way across Osaka

I’m going to punk out here and say just see this film. Reminding me like some kind of modern day Robert Altman film COME & GO is a lot of plot threads following lots of interesting people.  This is a film I needed to see separate and alone and not in the middle of a crush of festival films because it’s a film with too much going on to simply  toss off a half assed review. More to the point this is a film I want to see again now that I know how it all ends up.

DO yourself a favor and take some time and see COME & GO you will not be disappointed.

Town WIthout the Sea (2021) Japana Cuts 2021

Happiness is something you don't notice even if it is sitting right next to you

In a small town a two teenage boy tty to find happiness. While they talk about life, study and play the drum they try to make sense of things. One grandfather says that he will know happiness when he sees two smoke stacks bending over each other this sets him on the road to ty and figure out what that means.

While we have been down this road before, TOWN WITHOUT SEA  score points because of the great characters that inhabit it. We genuinely like everyone on screen and want to spend time with them. I had aa blast and when the film was done I went back and rewatched several sequences.

One of my favorite films at Japan Cuts.

For information on screening the film virtually go here.

Double Layered Town/Making a Song To Replace Our Positions (2021) Japan Cuts 2021

 

I don't know hw to describe this film simply. The Japan Cuts write up says the following:

Following the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear catastrophe of March 11, 2011, filmmaker Haruka Komori and painter and writer Natsumi Seo moved to live and work in the devastated city of Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture. Collaborating with workshop participants, this beautiful and utterly unique film presents four young travelers—all children a decade earlier at the time of 3/11—listening to local peoples’ stories and reciting what they learned in staged dialogues. This practice is braided together with a story written by Seo set another 10 years in the future in 2031, “Double Layered Town,” following the completion of land elevation work—creating a reflexive experimental documentary sensitive to the complexity of peoples’ lives while planting the seeds for new folktales.

The reality of what the film is something somewhere beyond words. A documentary mashed with an essay mashed with an experimental form DOUBLE LAYERED TOWN is a trip into another place. Its a trip into another mind set where we see and feel the melding of stunning photography with words that transport us somewhere else. 

Oh what must this be like in a theater where we can become completely untethered and drift off to this other place without distraction. I say this because five minutes in I closed the curtains and tuned off the light and tried as best as I could to shut out the outside world so I could drift off to the place on the screen.

Forgive me this is a film for which I have  no words. This is a film that is not about plot and details but being in the headspace it creates. This is a film that does what movies do so well which is take us some where else. But in this case the somewhere else is a place beyond words. its a film of feeling- and I want to discuss how I and you felt at cetin points- but since odds are when you read this you may not have seen this film having that discussion is pointless.

Do yourself a favor- go see this film at Japan Cuts then leave a comment about what you think.

The Pass: Last Days of The Samurai (2021) plays Japan Cuts 8/21 and 9/1

 

THE PASS is not what you expect.  Then again coming from director Takashi Koizumi who made AFTER THE RAIN, perhaps the greatest Samurai film I’ve ever seen it’s exactly what I should have expected. Like After the Rain this is a samurai film where the violence is not fully the point of the story.  Here there violence is the result of the course historical events and not the real focus of the film, its in the middle of the film and bookended by the important stuff the motions of the characters.

The film set in the literal last days of the Shogunate. The foreign powers are attempting to get a foothold in Japan. This sets up a move to end the Shogunate and restore the Emperor. As a result of this the country fragments and civil war is coming. Tsuginosuke Kawai the military head of Nagaoka is being pressured to pick a side. He doesn’t see that as advantageous for anyone and wants to solve the problem politically, however the forces are moving beyond him and he will have to take a side.

This is a very good historical drama.  It is a beautifully acted  film that tells a wonderfully human story of a man trying to do what he feels is the right thing.  I love that this is a film about the characters and not the battles. Indeed while the battle is good, its kind of less interesting than the maneuvering between the various characters.

If I have any real reservation about the film it’s the voice over sections that  explain the history in the film. While they are a necessary evil, they are presented much to academically with the reaction that they distance us from the story instead of bringing us in. It’s a minor flaw in an otherwise excellent and recommended film.

THE PASS plays Japan Cuts at the Japan Society on August 21 and September 1

Japan Cuts 2021 Starts Friday

With Japan Cuts days away I normally take time about now and wax poetic about the festival and the wonderful films they are screening. However, because the film gods are messing with us mortals they have bumped it up against not just the New York Asian Film Festival, its normal companion in the film year but also Fantasia Fest in Montreal, The Asian American International Film Fest and Chain Film Festivals in New York as well as Dances with Films in LA. This means I have had time to watch a whole bunch of films but I have not had time to do a proper curtain raiser.

Now before the Japan Society blasts me into space I do want to say that I'm going to be covering most of the films at the festival this year, however I am skipping a few because they just didn't appeal to me. (Yes I know it's a mistake because the best films at Japan Cuts tend to be the ones off your radar)

The festival is a hybrid. There are a few in person screening and a lot more that are streaming the whole festival- so go search the slate and buy tickets.

I do want to say because the festival overlapped Fantasia I have already run several reviews already

IT'S A SUMMER FILM (This is an absolute must see. One of the best of Cuts and one of 2021's as well)
BORN PISCES

The reality is I've liked every film I've seen from the fest except one so it's a no brainer to simply say buy tickets and watch. However if you need a few films to be pointed to beyond ITS A SUMMER FILM here are a few more:

GREAT YOKAI WAR GAURDIANS-Takashi Miike's sequel is not perfect but it has hundreds of monsters that will delight the 5 year old in you. It also has a moment that hit me like Iron Giant choosing to be Superman
LABYRINTH OF CINEMA- Obayashi's final film was available for steaming last year at the purely virtual Japan Cuts but the masterpiece needs to be seen on a big screen
THE PASS:THE LAST DAYS OF THE SAMURAI- masterful portrait of a samurai trying to avoid war and finding he has no choice. An atypical film from a director who doesn't do what we expect.
HIUKO THE GOBLIN Shinya Tsukamoto often over looked follow up to Tetsuo the Iron Man is a wild and crazy film of a different sort
DOUBLE LAYERED TOWN/MAKING A SONG TO REPLACE OUR POSITIONS is an experimental mix of narrative, documentary and essay that is impossible to full describe. It will not be for everyone but for those who click it will be a one of a kind cinema experience
NO SMOKING portrait of musician Haruomi Hosono is something magical. This is a film you will want to watch repeatedly until you can get to iTunes and download all his music. One of my favorites of this year's festival

And now back to watching movies.

Do yourself a favor and buy some tickets- you will not be disappointed. Tickets here

Born Pisces (2021) Fantasia 2021 Japan Cuts 2021

 

Midori is young girl dealing with the fact her father is away on business. Like her mother she has a sense of emptiness that she can't fill. Futa is a young boy living with his strict single mother and his sister. He wishes things were different. Each night Midori and Futa fall asleep hoping for something to change.

Okay short film feels more like the start of something rather than a complete film. While I liked what was here I got to the end of the film and wanted it to keep going.  

Worth a look in a short film collection, not so much on its own.

Its a Summer Film (2021) Fantasia 2021 Japan Cuts 2021

IT'S A SUMMER FILM is a lovely love letter to the movies. The story of three film loving friends who decide to make a movie.

Mixing genes and twisting into unexpected places this is on of the best surprises of the year. I was not expecting to fall so head over heels for this film. To be honest I wasn't planning on seeing it for either Fantasia or Japan Cuts but the fact both festivals programmed it made me curious.

This film is a delight. It works on so many different levels, from the straight forward one that will make anyone who walks into it fall in love with it, to the one that is full of cinematic references to Japanese cinema and culture that will make you smile knowingly at everything that happens.  I was so wrapped up in the film that I was talking at the screen with a running commentary about the cool way that director Soushi Matsumoto was blending all the ingredients together.

What an absolute joy.

If you love the movies this is a must see. Its also a must if you jut want to see a great film that will make you smile from ear to ear. Trust me- this is going to be a film you watch over and over again for yeats to come.

Wonderful Paradise (2021) Fantasia 2021 Japan Cuts 2021

Road accident film is either going to work for you or not. It didn't work for me to the point I really don't understand how any festival picked this up.

The plot of the film has an obnoxious family moving out of their huge home. As they don't pack their things, a holy an runs around, the movers show up, the daughter announces a party on social media, a wedding happens and things just go weird.

Operating without a real narrative this is a collection of odd events. People die, there is a blood soaked wedding, people behave badly, and the audience is left scratching their heads. I have no idea what the point of this is other than being strange and absurd. There is no reason for this to exist.

I was watching the first half hour and just stared at the screen wondering who made this mess and can we prevent them from ever doing so again. Yes there are moments- the wedding is the highlight.- but most of this is not worth the lost of the time from my life.

This movie should be flushed- and if not flushed avoided at all costs.