Category: Films

  • The Lonely Girl Has Gone to Close Shinjuku Cinema Qualite Film Fest

    A few items on Yu Aoi’s upcoming film, which we are calling The Lonely Girl Has Gone, but it should be noted that IMDb has it listed twice— one as Japanese Girls Never Die, and the other as Haruko Azumi Is Missing. Therefore, there is no official English title for the movie, despite the book being listed with the name in YesAsia [1].

    yu-aoi-lonely-girl-has-gone-flyer

    According to Eiga.com, the film is set to close this year’s edition of the Shinjuku Cinema Qualite Film Festival (新宿シネマカリテの映画祭) in Tokyo, as part of the Qualite Fantastic! Cinema Collection 2016 (カリテ・ファンタスティック!シネマコレクション2016) presenting 71 films from 16 countries… including Taiwan’s Our Times [Trailer], which I totally recommend for a fresh rom-com.

    The collection will be presented from July 16th to August 19th. In addition, there will also be presentations at Cine Libre Umeda (シネ・リーブル梅田) in Osaka between August 6th to the 26th, and Nakagawa Corona Cinema World (中川コロナシネマワールド) in Nagoya, Aichi, between August 6th to September 2nd.

    I also ran…

    (more…)


  • Enchanted Throwback: You Make Me So Angry!

    My only ever memory of Enchanted was that when it finally opened in Lima, it was only presented in its Latino dub version and I was pissed. I didn’t watch it at the cinema because I refused to watch Amy Adams dubbed, and my doubts were confirmed when I tested the Latino audio on the DVD. xD

    I love the movie so much- the throwback, the modern spin on the princess story, the music and everything that I’ve seen it a number of times on my own DVD, I sometimes re-watch it when I catch it on TV, and I may or may have not watched the Japanese dub on the plane from Japan back home. However, my favorite scene in the whole movie definitely is the “you make me so angry” bit because it pushes the movie out of the Disney comfort zone without ever leaving it, and it’s perfect. It changes Giselle from Disney princess to actual modern-day woman within the Disney universe constrains.

    All the feels. In here and in the So Close number. And Giselle saves Robert. Most awesome princess movie.


  • First Look at Yu Aoi’s Azumi Haruko

    Last October I reported about Yu-chan returning to the leading-lady gig with Daigo Matsui’s AZUMI HARUKO wa Yukuefumei (アズミ・ハルコは行方不明). Twitter has just shown me a first still. There’s also a music video by Ishizaki Huwie (石崎ひゅーい) titled Flower Vase (花瓶の花, Kabin no Hana) attached to the press release on natalie.mu, but it’s geo-blocked :*(

    yu-aoi-azumi-haruko


  • Ten Years of Tekkonkinkreet

    I can’t believe it’s been ten years since~ To celebrate, Studio 4C is publishing a Tekkonkinkreet Artbook. 100 copies (which are already gone) signed by director Michael Arias. Another 292 copies that will come with a hand-drawn slip in between the book. Both priced at Y2980 JPY (at around $26 USD at current exchange rate). The shipping to South America is more expensive than that xD

    Anyway~ for those interested; here’s the LINK.

    tekkonkinkreet-sky-black-so-blue

    Kuro, when the sky turns black why do I feel so blue?

    *update*

    Also in 日本語!

    tekkonkinkreet-sky-black-so-blue-jp

    クロ、空の色が黒くなってくるとさ、なんだかシロは悲しい気持ちになるの、どして?


  • Anna May Wong: You cannot kill me. You cannot kill China.

    anna-may-wong-china-quote-lady-from-chungking

    You cannot kill me. You cannot kill China. Not even a million deaths could crush the soul of China, for the soul of China is eternal. When I die, a million will take my place, and nothing can stop them, neither hunger nor torture nor the firing squad.

    We shall live on until the enemy is driven back over scorched land and the armies of decency and liberty are on the march. China’s destiny is victory. It will live because human freedom will not perish. Out of the ashes of ruin and old hatreds, the force of peace will prevail until the world is again sane and beautiful.

    This quote is taken from Robert L. McLaughlin and Sally E. Parry’s We’ll Always Have the Movies: American Cinema during World War II because the audio of Lady from Chungking isn’t very clear.

    I don’t know what they’re waiting for to make an Anna May Wong biopic with Tang Wei, and Joan Chen as director.


  • My Life in Movies

    Will also keep this updated.

    *Updated every February 5th.

    Customary MUBI list.


  • The Fitoor of Begun Hazrat

    *dies*

    It really kills me that this movie is opening a few days after my birthday, and I can’t watch it. WHY DO YOU GUYS DO THIS TO ME?

    Sidenote: The Fitoor promotions have brought some interesting interview bits with Tabu- like she wants to be part of Golmaal 4 (I haven’t seen Golmaal, but that’s a Rohit Shetty movie, so… xD), she’s fishing for a comedy, she likes David Dhawan’s type of comedies (which are so 90s comedy style type of not my thing), and wants to do a movie with Govinda… who, if I recall correctly, actually doesn’t like many of the 90s comedy movies he did xD

    Comedy is such a particular genre, so difficult to please people.

    My type of comedy, I’ve found out, is in the realm of Roxana Avalos, Rosalind Russell, and Sandra Ng. I laugh quite a bit with Hong Kong/Chinese comedies.


  • In case you didn’t know Fitoor is coming~

    Though Fitoor might get trapped by remaking Alfonso Cuaron’s version of Great Expectations… I’m still looking forward to Tabu as Begum. I’m also looking forward to see Haminasto (aka. also romanized as Haminastu) [YouTube] because it’s my favorite track in the whole soundtrack, even though I’ve been butchering some of the other songs out loud late at night. xD I like the song so much that I ended up looking for Zeb Bangash, found Pakistani duo Zeb and Haniya, discovered Coke Studio [1][2][3][4][5 non-Zeb related], and downloaded the compilations on iTunes [S2][S6].

    It messed up my language library because there’s so much Punjabi, Urdu and Pashtu, and Turkish… I don’t know which is which xD

    ANWYAY~ OCD frustrations aside~

    Fitoor promotions are at full throttle~ and it includes the release of this micro clips of dialog, which I don’t understand at all… but Tabu’s just saying “Firdaus, Firdaus, Firdaus” gives me the chills.

    More: Duur, Qubool.


  • McDull: Me & My Mum: I love you with my intestines

    mcdull-me-and-my-mum

    An ode to all single mothers working multiple jobs.
    An ode to Mrs. McDull.

    Even when the whole world doesn’t trust you, I trust you. Even when the whole world doesn’t love you, I love you. I love you with my intestines. I trust you from head to toe.

    “What else can I say, I love my mom.”