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Yu Aoi for Tamatama Movie

August 25, 2011 — 5 Comments

I don’t… even know how she does it.

Or in general. How does Japan do it to not let anyone outside the production know that they’re making any type of movie? Because when they want you to, they make sure you know.

How is it possible that we find out Yu Aoi was shooting a movie in location in Ireland a little over a month before the movie is set to open? Yes, Yu Aoi’s new movie is called Tamatama (translated to “by chance”) and is set to open on October 15th.

Little details are known from this Tokyograph report:

The film’s main concept is “tamatama,” which means “by chance.” Aoi plays a young woman who travels to Ireland, and the fantasy story depicts her life there as she encounters different people and places, resulting in occasional “miracles.”

Except for the miracle part, it sounds a lot like One Million Yen Girl… sans the Bitter-bug. xD

The film marks the debut for CM and MV director Komatsu Mayumi (小松真弓).

Most fans outside Japan haven’t even been able to watch Raiou… let alone Yogashiten Coin de Rue, yet here comes the news that Hollywood might be preparing  their version already?

via Tokyohive

I’m trying not to have a biased, but remake news are getting ridiculous. At least wait a year before a remake, Hollywood. Coin de Rue hasn’e even been out for more than a month, and you do this. WHY?! xD You know allllllll those talks about how Hollywood is not original anymore? Well, this type of news ain’t making it any better.

Has any of you seen Coin de Rue?

What do you think of this?

Who would Yu Aoi fans cast in her role… since, you know, she doesn’t speak English. xD

Yay! And I can re-use the photo too~ LOL

Yoji Yamada was working on a new project based on the re-telling of beloved film Tokyo Story, which will be called Tokyo Kazoku (Tokyo Family). The cast has been announced as Bunta Sugawara, Etsuko Ichihara, Masashiko Nishimura, Yui Natsukawa, Shigeru Muroi, Shozo Hayashiya, Satoshi Tsumabuki and Yu Aoi.

Satoshi Tsumabuki (30) will play the younger son, with Yu Aoi (25) playing his girlfriend.

via Nippon Cinema

I know the reviews for About Her Brother, aka. Otouto, weren’t glowing, but I’m still giddy over the fact that Yoji Yamada decided to call Yu-chan once again. That must mean she’s a professional, and that people want to work with her more than once, right?

Shooting of Tokyo Kazoku starts on April 1st until late June, with a possible release (in Japan) by the end of the year… most likely early next year.

I think I’m too aware of awards this year, it’s just TOO MANY awards from around the world.

The NBR has named David Fincher’s The Social Network the Best Film of 2010, as well as Best Director for Fincher and Best Actor for Jesse Eisenberg who played MovieZuckerberg.

Don’t really know how I feel about The Social Network — I liked it fine, but didn’t completely love it. I would say it’s a good movie, but it really lacked a personal point for me.

Anyway~~~ here we go~

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They were held today at my worst possible timezone. I only made it to the Best Actress award… barely. I was already nodding off, but I had to stay up for that one.

I knew Yun Jeong-hee was pretty much a shoo-in for Best Actress for her amazing role on Poetry — what’s up with all these Korean ahjumas, they are fierce! — but I was secretly rooting for Fan Xu on Aftershocks because her role left me emotionally drained.

Also~~~ APSA > Oscar – why?

Please, awarding Aftershocks, Poetry and Caterpillar? Anyone who awards these, it’s on my good list — even if it’s not an “official” category, Shinobu Terajima winning the Jury Award is big. Oscars will never EVER nominate Shinobu Terajima for Best Actress — unless they surprise me. Please, surprise me  — and they will never ever nominated Yun Jeong-hee either. Considering Japan and Korea chose other films to send…

Anyway! So many awards, eh? Check the sidebar to keep up to date with the Award Season~~~

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It’s begun~~~ officially xD

and look! Another banner~~~ LOL

I generally like the Indie Spirits marketing. It’s a little more loose, but also generally more fun than the Golden Globes or the Oscar. And it’s certainly better than most Critics Choices…

This year’s nominations… don’t surprise much, actually. It seems those most nominated have been “big” independent films. You know, we’ve talked about this already — American independent films: There are different types of indie films~~~ The pseudo-indie, known in Hollywood as indie because they “only” cost $1M, there’s the more regular indie that could cost between a few thousand dollars, then there’s indie-indie of a couple of thousand dollars, and hardcore indie which… is, just really hardcore.

This year’s Indies seem more like pseudo-indie. Sadly… and at the same time exciting.

I hope we get good screeners. =D Last year we got a few good ones. The most elaborate one that time was Precious. Don’t worry, I didn’t vote because of the packaging.

I think it should be required for First Features, foreign, docus  and the John Cassavetes noms to send screeners, or allow screeners to be sent. But maybe that’s just me.

Anyway~~~ here are the nominees~~~

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You know, I was watching the last episode of Ryomaden on Sunday’s afternoon before lunch. Sorry, Ryoma-san ~~~ I didn’t feel ya. But I did feel Teruyuki Kagawa’s Iwasaki — frienemy of Ryoma. Just like I enjoyed Kiyomori’s grey relationship with Yoshitsune.

There’s something about not so good characters in history that’s just wayyyyy more interesting than the heroes. Heroes are boring. That’s why Atsuhime was so good! She was actually sent to manipulate the Shogun in favor of her clan… then she married the Shogun, and not-really turned on her family, but she didn’t do what she was sent to do.

Looking forward to Gou… as well as Kenichi Matsuyama’s starring on the 2012 NHK Taiga drama about the life of Kiyomori. That’s all sorts of awesome considering he’s gonna battle it out with Hiroshi Tamaki playing Yoshitsune’s father, Minamoto.

Yup, I just showed you all my samurai / taiga drama knowledge right there.

It’s like I know history! I feel knowledgeable ~~~

Yu Aoi and Satoshi Tsumabuki are set to star in Hideki Noda’s new play, Minami he (To South), at the Metropolitan Art Space from February 10 to March 31, 2011. Tickets will be on sale beginning January 8th.

via Nikkan Sports + Tokyo Stages

So Yu will be busy with the opening of Coin de Rue — opening the 11th — and this.

It’s like she knows is my birthday x’D

I could be wrong on this one, but this is the third time she does theater, right? First, Shakespeare playing Desdemona. Then Gakuya, and now this? Well, it’s not like I can attend the theater, since I won’t be understanding anything said xD

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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Film Business Asia is reporting that China Lion Film Distribution has made a deal with AMC to release Chinese films in the cities with most Chinese demographics in the United States and Canada the same day as the films open in China.

Now, that’s how you do distribution.

Sure, Hollywood’s kinda getting good in World Premiere business, but only the big-studio stuff. We actually have to wait a ton for a theater release, or the release of the DVD to catch a film that’s not mainstream. The Chinese film industry lacks distribution — only films that get distributed in the US, get distributed in Latin America. The last Chinese film I saw at the cinema was Curse of the Golden Flower~~~

So with this deal, China expands that ever-expanding Chinese film market with hopefully more than just Martial Arts Films and/or Arthouse Films. And HOPEFULLY, this will mean more Chinese films down here as well.

So guys! Get ready for Aftershocks (aka. After Shock) kicking off this new deal on October 29th in the cities of  New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Houston, Boston, Seattle, Toronto and Ottawa.