I would have liked to find out about this a bit sooner to report, but oh well.
The resurgence of Japanese cinema in the 1990s dramatically reconfigured the aspirations, practices and reception of one of the largest and most continuous film cultures outside of the United States. This three-day event features films by three contemporary Japanese filmmakers whose work has crossed national borders and been viewed outside of Japan, elsewhere, in the world: Shinji Aoyama, Shunji Iwai and Ryuhei Kitamura.
According to a forward by the USC Biological Sciences Blog, The School of Cinematic Arts and Visions and Voices will be holding a 3-day event showcasing 6 samples of Contemporary Japanese Cinema. The films are:
Baton
Hana & Alice
Air Doll
Azumi
Eureka
Sad Vacation
The event starts today Friday 19th, until Sunday 21st [more info on that website]. According to the information provided, there will be panels discussion. Today’s panel for Baton and H&A apparently includes Shunji Iwai. We would love to have a report on anyone attending the event. It would be awesome.
Found these ;P I think most of us know that Hana & Alice was expanded from the Kit Kat Anniversary CMs. xD Some cute moments here and there… if you haven’t seen the film, what are you waiting for?
I haven’t used a cellphone since someone stole mine nearly 3 years ago, but I’ve seen it moving towards it. I mean, I still think it’s gonna be tricky watching the show on my phone while making sure no one is following me to mug me.
Stories on forums that became premises for films, blogs that became books, etc. After all, everyone’s got something to say. Then came the days when Marketing caught up with technology, and we began with viral videos. We love viral videos, you’ve probably received thousands of emails from different people all sending you the same goddamn video.
Then there’s Mobile Phone Dramas. Sort of a hybrid between a series and commercials.. or other PR material, maybe a mix between short films and commercials that end up becoming a movie… like the Kit Kat short films by Shunji Iwai starring Yu Aoi and Anne Suzuki that became the film Hana & Alice. And so came Shunji Iwai again, this time with LISMO Channel and their nine 5-minute episodes titled Koibana ~ SUIKA to Bansoukou ~ (恋ばな ～スイカと絆創膏～) directed by Kodomo no Kodomo director Koji Hagiuda.
Iwai, who is producing, has mentioned the high quality of this drama, and seems to be interested in turning this idea into a feature film. In reality, anyone can say whatever they want to say, but if anyone can make a Phone Drama and turn it into a film is Iwai. I mean, after turning Kit Kat into Hana & Alice, I believe anything can be possible.
But how far have we gone… 45 minutes of Koibana may turn into a feature film, short stories become nearly-three-hour films… Facebook becomes a movie, episode recaps as if they were on Facebook. What’s next? Twitter movies? After all, there are Twitter accounts for television characters already. Yes, definitely… a Twitter movie in the future. Anyone wants to discuss a story idea?
There’s already people on LiveJournal doing roleplay (though with real people), we can make one work, right? Anyone want to pitch in? It’s casting time! LOL Just gathering people who have the time to pretend they’re a character, and see where we go. xD
While Asia is taking product placement and marketing to a whole new level, here… they try to shove ads and other silly commercials on printed media. And more commercial time. And more clicking banners.
Also, I might need to add a new category besides Television. xD
A regular person would have 8 or 9 films, on this video you’ll get to see clips for 27 films (though a few of those are just blink and miss them, or just a still). I’ve seen most but 6 films, I think. I’m still looking for 1980, and JUKAI.
Plus, this is the best way to choose what Yu film you wanna watch~ xD
check post tags for movie info. some missing because they’re not on this blog.
by the way, Ikechan looks sooooo weird. I wonder if the movie is any good.
I blame my cousin for this, because she watched Love Happens. Yes, she actually paid to watch Love Happens, which currently has a 16% freshness rate over at Rotten Tomatoes, and OMG I just checked a 0% from Top Critics hahahaha.
Buahahaha. Sorry, I’m still laughing.
Anyway… it reminded me about an Inside the Gold post, in which K was having trouble writing a review for Made of Honor.
Mostly, I was just getting angry about it for reasons I couldn’t understand… then it hit me. There was nothing original about the film. There was so little effort or originality that went into it, that I started to get upset that the film was even made.
That was followed by a request of Chick Flicks – of course, I added a bunch. Good and Bad, and the Guilty Pleasures, because that’s what was asked… which brings me back to now. I just got to see (500) Days of Summer, which you could say it’s one of those “hipster” films, but in reality it’s a romantic comedy. The movie is good, I liked it a lot… in fact, I can’t wait to get it on DVD xD It’s a not-a-love-story, and it’s sort of a chick flick, I think – and it’s good. So I don’t think it’s a doomed genre, there’s just a lot of crap around the genre for you to take seriously the really good ones.
In reality, Action films should suffer from the same. There’s a lot of crap action films out there that outnumber the really good action films. You can just say “oh, it’s another mindless action film.” but it still has a better tone to it than saying “it’s a chick flick.” – that simply sounds negative, without having the intention to.
I made a list of films by themes, and one of them was the “chick-centric” theme – it contained some really good films with female protagonists as mothers, daughters, granddaughters, friends, neighbors, girls, young women and women… etc, etc. – and from the 3 different themes I put together, “chick-centric” was the only one with no votes at all. So we do have a trigger that makes us think the word “chick” immediately means bad PMS mood swings, put your panties up in a bunch, and make your ovaries ache for that brooding-but-charming or geeky-but-charming hunk.
With female-centric films such as Linda, Linda, Linda – or Rachel Getting Married, One Million Yen Girl, The Guitar, Il y a Longtemps que Je t’Aime, Whale Rider, Hana & Alice… Hula Girls, Swing Girls, Kamikaze Girls~~~ or Romantic Dramas and Romantic Comedies like Shunji Iwai’s Love Letter. Perhaps American Chick Flicks should think of moving away from the frivolous girl meets boy, boy meets girl and they fall in love forever and always stories that they love to tell over and over again, and actually focus on another aspect of their protagonists lives.
A group of friends trying to make it to the school rock festival, a young woman trying to get one million Yen, a woman who just found out she’s about to die, a mother that comes out of jail, a girl trying to follow tradition in the opposite direction. Two friends who are growing up and perhaps growing apart, a group of girls trying to save their town, another group of girls who find something special in their lives, and two girls who find friendship in each other… etc, etc etc.
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