Tag: japan

  • Screen Daily – Raiou Review

    I think this is the first time I post more than one review not of mine of a Yu Aoi film, maybe I’m getting better at finding info… or maybe more people are writing in English. Anyway, this second review of Raiou isn’t so kind either.

    I haven’t been able to find Box Office info on whether Raiou opened at #1, or a had weak opening — being a Period Romance, it should open at #1 for various reasons. Anyway~ here’s an excerpt:

    Although the charismatic Aoi Yu brings some sorely-needed life to the film with her portrayal of Rai/Yu, her counterpart Okada Masaki is never truly convincing as a man whose inner demons threaten to tear him apart.

    Via Screendaily.com

    I don’t think those comments will hurt the Okada Masaki fans, but let’s wait for those Box Office numbers~

    *EDIT*

    Got numbers~ They’re not that good. Raiou opened at #8 ~

    via Japan Now + Cinema Navi

  • Asia Pacific Screen Nominations 2010

    Never have followed the Asian Pacific nominations… mainly because it’s hard to, you know~~~ watch films from that part of the world for me. However, distribution is getting better – dvds are being launched so much faster, and many of them come with subtitles in English (when needed), and there’s a lot more people willing to fansub when needed.

    And YAY! Aftershocks has landed 6 nominations – including Best Film, Best Directing, Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay PLUS! Best Actor and Best Actress. Now, I’m trying not to be biased, I don’t think actor Chen Daoming was THAT good in Aftershocks, but actress Xu Fan completely deserves it.

    The other big nominee of the night is South Korea’s Poetry (Shi) – crap! I’m really that good at film recommendations for distributors, someone hire me ASAP! – which received 4 nominations for Best Film, Best Directing, Best Screenplay and Best Actress. While Taiwan’s Monga – see, I’m good – was nominated for 3 awards for Best Film, Best Directing and Best Cinematography.

    The APSA(wards) will be handed out December 2nd on a live webcast at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards site.

    All nominations below the break~

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  • Why Raiou Needs to Reach #1~

    Raiou, based on the novel by Mari Ueza about tragic lovers, is set to open next week on Friday the 22nd. It stars idol-in-the-rise Masaki Okada opposite established-idol-transitioning-to-actress Yu Aoi. What does Raiou mean to their careers?

    A rising-star and an established-idol starring in a period drama romance? If it succeeds, it means the rising-star will keep on rising, and the established-idol still has “it”. A period drama romance lays solely on its protagonists’ shoulders, and their chemistry. If it fails, it’s because of them. That’s a lot of scary thoughts right there~

    Why does Yu Aoi need Raiou to succeed? She is indeed an idol still. She sponsors products, and she makes a living selling products. She’s young — to westerners, anyway — she’s cute, youthful… the whole shebang. However, the life-span of a Japanese female idol is short, some of them have retired at 20! So Yu, having turned 25 already, isn’t… well, a young idol any longer. She’s been away of major mainstream entertainment, she’s had relationships, she’s been on tabloids as people discuss who she really is dating. Everything takes its toll. She’s now a woman. An actress who is still an idol. Will people support her passed her prime-early-twenty years like they did when the hit Hula Girls came out?

    Raiou holds Yu’s idol-hood future. Will it be a hit right away? Shoot to number one the first week to then drop the next? Will it slowly climb to number one in two or three weeks and stay there a week or two? Will it climb slowly up to stay there for several weeks? Will it never reach number one?? Whatever happens, it will change Yu’s bankability.

  • Hello, Goodbye YAM012~

    Hello to YAM012.

    Goodbye (sorta) to YAM PDF.

    Hello to yam-mag.com~

    Head over, for the last time, to my portfolio to download the latest and last issue.

  • The 65 Foreign Submissions are in + Documentary shorts

    I can feel it in the air. Award season is approaching. I think Indie Spirit Awards are also done with submissions, and their nominations should arrive come early December.

    In the meantime, the Academy Awards has released the list of the 65 countries (or not-countries… Greenland?) that will be competing for 5 spots as “Best Foreign” nominees, as well as their 8 short documentaries.

    Here are some of the reviews of the ones I’ve seen.

    Let’s talk wild guess predictions in here. Which countries will be the 5 chosen ones?

    Mexico’s Biutiful seems like an easy assumption.

    China’s Aftershocks seems to be a good candidate for several reasons besides “film”. Whatever your thoughts on melodrama are, I mean… you really need to be a sour grape not to feel something for the family in that film. Either that, or you’ve never been in a natural disaster. Having said that, it is because it’s a melodrama that it’s perfect for Oscar. Moving family drama that deals with catastrophe with a really powerful and magnificently handled Earthquake scene that was a box office hit in China. It’s just good business.

    Also, China being nominated is controversial. Anything to do with China since 2008 is controversial. Controversial always brings ratings. Also nominating China is just plain good business. If China gets nominated – I dunno, what are the chances of some state channel broadcasting the Oscar? Just imaging 2/3 of China’s internet population watches the Oscar that night. That’s 200 million viewers. Anything in China is big.

    If there’s no China, it must be another cheese movie… like South Korea’s A Barefoot Dream. An underdog story of a kiddie football team and a coach. It shall make you feel happy xD

    Canada’s Incendies?

    and… I dunno what else. Peru’s chances? From what I have seen, and what I’ve heard. It could very well get into the nine before they select the final five. I’ll have a better grasp once the 9 are out xD

  • SF Yu Aoi and Animation fans: Redline Opens this Week in your City

    I wish I had known sooner, but I just found out today.

    REDLINE will be opening in San Francisco this Friday 8th at 7.15pm at VIZ Cinema – at the same time as in Japan! And will continue showing the film throughout the week. I already added them to the Yu Aoi Events calendar.

    Friday 8th – 7.15pm
    Saturday 9th, Sunday 10th – 12.30pm , 2.45pm , 5pm , 7.15pm
    Monday 11th – Thursday 14th – 5pm , 7.15pm

    Admission is $10

    If you catch the show, let me know. Would love to hear your thoughts.

  • What Are Good Lyrics?

    Ah… English, such a direct language. I often have discussions with people about the nuances of the different languages. Friends tell me that French and Italian are great for flirting, and my mom keeps telling me that different dialects in Chinese have so many words to describe food flavors, impossible to describe in Spanish or English.

    The Beautiful Language.

    However, what about songs?

    My favorite songs, my favorite artists in English — 99% of the time, I try not to find the lyrics any longer. Whenever I have enjoyed the songs, looked for the lyrics, 90% of the time I’ve ended up disappointed.

    My first language is Spanish, however, I often find myself thinking in English – so, whenever I listen to music in Spanish, my brain begins translating lyrics into English. The repertoire of songs that I actually like in Spanish tend to be songs that are hard to translate literally into English.

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  • LAST ALLIANCE – WING

    Funny thing, while voting yesterday, I ran into the friend who helped with with the romanization of the lyrics of their Me and your Borderline album. Today I find they’ve come back.

    After nearly 2 years and a half, Japanese rock band LAST ALLIANCE will be releasing their new album Keep on Smashing Blue on October 27th. Their new single and video WING is directed by Niwa Takayuki (丹羽貴幸) and features professional boxer Tsuchiyama Naozomi. The band doesn’t even show up in the video, which is unusual in Japanese music videos.

    I have a bias against Jrock — but not as bad as against Jpop — It might sound bad for me to say this, but I often find myself saying stuff like “it sounds too much like anime music” which isn’t bad, as some songs are actually quite catchy and/or good enough to add to your iPod. LAST ALLIANCE actually sounds kind of okay… obviously, my friend is a bigger fan.

    WING fits that “the song is kinda good”, it certainly has a nice energy to it, and despite the actual concept for the video and trying to do something different and setting LA apart, I think the video’s biggest shortcoming was editing. Believe me, I have the same issues when having upbeat songs – I keep shots for too long, it sucks the energy out of it.

  • Omoideoyokocho by Tim Wilkinson

    Okay, do other people think of Oldboy when looking at this photo of the awesome Tim Wilkinson?

    Omoideoyokocho

    Just me? xD

  • Moi et le funky musique~~~

    So… today it’s voting Sunday. And I’ve also setup my About page… and got rid of my Favorites page because… well, it seemed redundant to have two pages about me. LOL

    In case you missed the post in which I talked about my taste in film, this is a similar post that talks about my history… or lack of history with music.

    When I was about 7, my dad opened a Karaoke bar (how Asian, non?). But by then, I had already grown up with the likes of the music of La Nueva Ola (the new wave) — you know, the type of Rock n’ Roll from The King… Jailhouse Rock or Houndog but in Spanish. My favorite tunes were probably La Plaga (the plage, the Spanish version of Little Richard’s Good Golly, Miss Molly), and La Mantequilla (the butter, the Spanish version of Cliff Richard and the Shadows’ Move It).

    Of course, I was a little kid going to Chinese/Peruvian school, so my repertoire also included the Cantonese Counting Song Yat Yi Sam, as well as the counting Elefantes song… as well as the Sukiyaki song. So from the very beginning… I had a predisposition for all types of music in many different languages.
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