Archives For paprika

RIP Satoshi Kon

August 24, 2010 — 7 Comments

Another great one has gone.

Animated film director Satoshi Kon passed away from a heart attack. His animated gems included Perfect Blue, Tokyo Godfathers and Paprika. That alone with the news of Studio Ghibli wanting to close down doors, is just right down depressing.

via Fearnet.com

First, let me begin saying that I thought 2006 was a great year to watch films. Also, funny thing to point out — it was really, and I mean… REALLY tough to pick my Best Supporting Actress picks~

Many of my favorite films have a 2006 tag in them, so this list might seem a little bias, even though I really tried hard to not be. You might noticed how hard I tried not to be bias. LOL — check the Best Actress category~

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This is my last post for this blogathon, unless I can come up with something on time for tomorrow~

I was reading this post on Japanese Films and Women in Cinema– now, female in cinema is a big BIG subject. I’m not in the position to point out feminists or non-feminists films across the decades or countries. However, I have to admit that looking back at the films I’ve seen the past year, it feels like many (if not most of them) have a female protagonist. In general, I don’t know the reason – if there are more films about women, or if I’m watching them because I’m looking for them. What I do know is that I watched many Japanese films with female leads because I had been on the hunt for Juri Ueno and Yu Aoi projects – so that’s got to be at least 10 films led by a female, right?

So here it is… some~

Japanese Chick-centric Films or with Female Leads~

  • Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro)
  • Kiki’s Delivery Service
  • Hula Girls
  • Swing Girls
  • Hana to Alice (Hana & Alice)
  • Gaichu (Harmful Insect)
  • Kame wa Igai to Hayaku Oyogu (Turtles Swim Faster than Expected)
  • Kiraware Matsuko no Issho (Memories of Matsuko)
  • Quiet Room ni Youkoso (Welcome to the Quiet Room)
  • Linda Linda Linda
  • Kamikaze Girls
  • Shinku (The Deep Red)
  • Love Letter
  • Sakuran
  • Sasameyuki (The Makioka Sisters)
  • Rinne (Reincarnation)
  • Tenshi no Tamago (Angel’s Egg)
  • Wool 100%
  • Hyakuman-en to Nigamushi Onna (One Million Yen Girl)
  • GuGu Datte Neko de Aru (Gu Gu the Cat)
  • Kaze no Tani no Naushika (Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind)
  • Nishi no Majo ga Shinda (The Witch of the West is Dead)
  • Blood the Last Vampire
  • Pikunikku (Picnic)

Of course, there’s many animated films asides from the ones I’ve mentioned above like Paprika, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, The Milennium Actress or Perfect Blue. And yes, there are films in my list that are not quite remarkable… and we can also point out that there aren’t many female leads of over 30 or 40 (in some way, Matsuko which chronicles her life, The Makioka Sisters, GuGu, and The Witch of the West – who knew Shirley McLaine’s daughter spoke Japanese?), but then again… that’s a problem that seems to be common in Hollywood too. Does it happen much in Europe? Countries like France or Germany? Are there many films with female leads, or are they as hard to find??

In the end,  it was good to see Meryl Streep (Doubt),  Melissa Leo (Frozen River), Julie Christie (Away from Her), Laura Linney (The Savages), and to some degree Kate Winslet (The Reader) and Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose) getting recognition these past two years.

— EDIT June 21 —

I thought this was a great post on the subject. =D

Most often than not, there’s a lack of foreign films in the Animated Feature (and in any other) field~ So how many times must we pass over great animation (not only for kids) to open our eyes? I started out with a qucik search for 2006 released animation (because I was discussing that year with a friend), but that didn’t do anything except make me skim through an article stating that “2006 was a great year for animation” – NOT! That there were 2 or 3 animated (3d CG) films each months totaling more than a dozen films of pretty much crappy quality… and if they were lucky they were worth a straight-to-dvd release is NOT a great year for animation. That just makes it a great year for movie business…

2006 was the year I began hating 3d animation, because everyone seemed to be releasing their 3d films JUST to cash in.

I ended up at the Academy Awards site to search all animated films nominated since the category began in 2001 with Shrek (the original not sequels) won. I also ended up on IMDb and their ‘Power Search’ tool to search for animated films with feature releases from the year.

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What are the chances… really~~~ to become a fan of Juri Ueno and having the chance to watch Swing Girls at Centro Cultural Peruano Japones???

And now, what were the chances of watching Tekkonkinkreet not long ago… buying it online just a couple of days ago, and learning that it will be playing all throughout September on Cinemax Latin America??? So rejoice television surfers~~~ the zapping will end when being able to watch this, ‘coz it’s totally worth your viewing. Plus, it’s Yu Aoi… once you know Yu, her voice is very recognizable. Here’s what the Cinemax-LA website says about the film….

En la Ciudad del Tesoro, donde la luna sonríe y los niños pueden volar, la vida puede ser tan apacible como brutal. Allí dos huérfanos tratan de sobrevivir, mientras intentan proteger a sus habitantes de la mafia yakuza.

The two orphans, named Kuro (Black) and Shiro (White), make perfect compliments. Amy loves herself some compliments because it reminds her of symbols, and Amy loves symbols… for OBVIOUS reasons. xD Okay, maybe not so obvious… but whatever, that’s why they’re called “symbols” because they’re not obvious. LOL’

Anyway, knock yourselves out~~~ Here are the times for Cinemax Este and Cinemax Oeste – If you don’t have anything fancy (meaning just Cable Magico) you have Cinemax Oeste.

Cinemax-E 11:15 Sab 30/8/2008 | Cinemax-O 13:15 Sab 30/8/2008
Cinemax-E 15:45 Jue 4/9/2008
| Cinemax-O 17:45 Jue 4/9/2008
Cinemax-E 17:30 Vie 12/9/2008 | Cinemax-O 19:30 Vie 12/9/2008
Cinemax-E 14:15 Lun 15/9/2008 | Cinemax-O 16:15 Lun 15/9/2008
Cinemax-E 07:15 Dom 21/9/2008 | Cinemax-O 09:15 Dom 21/9/2008
Cinemax-E 14:00 Jue 25/9/2008 | Cinemax-O 16:00 Jue 25/9/2008
Cinemax-E 11:00 Mar 30/9/2008 | Cinemax-O 13:00 Mar 30/9/2008

Oh yeah, they are also showing Continue Reading…