Archives For tetsuya nakashima

Aug 7

Are you feeling the new theme?

It has been a long time since I last did anything important to my blog… maybe a little over two years. I really didn’t know what to do while the WordPress coding has changed over the years. It seemed I needed a new theme with new capabilities… though I do think WordPress has begun acting a little too much like Tumblr~~~

There had been some very beautiful new WP themes (some you need to pay for), when I saw Matala I immediately thought “this is the one.” But I needed to change the graphics, as much as the original theme looked nice… I didn’t want to look like all the other blogs that might be using this theme.

So I was playing around Photoshop… without knowing exactly what I wanted, and ended up with this Dogville, Dancer in the Dark, and Memories of Matsuko mash-up — I call it “Suffering Heroines of Cinema” o “Heroinas Sufridas del Cine” in Spanish~ I almost added Amelie in it instead of Matsuko, but felt she was too off against these two Von Trier characters. LOL

I’m not completely feeling this theme, though. How about you?

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30th Hong Kong Film Awards: Best Song

Let’s start off by saying that my Chinese/Hong Kong film viewing… isn’t, just isn’t. LOL Of all the nominees, I have only seen two. Hahaha, I’m a little ashamed of that considering I’ve seen over 120 movies last year. Though, there were 3 other films I wanted to watch before the nominations were announced: Love in a Puff, Gallants, Under The Hawthorn Tree, and Detective Dee ;D

And I’ve decided I should watch Reign of Assassins with my dad, and Hot Summer Days with my mom. LOL

Also, Tetsuya Nakashima’s Kokuhaku was crowned as Best Asian Film, beating the likes of Aftershocks and Monga.

Anyway, we’re here because of the Best Song category, which had the most artists I was familiar with, and we’re going to be looking at each of them and their respective songs~ First, the winner:

Jun Kung’s Here to Stay from Merry-Go Round

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Posted on April 17, 2011 In Chinese, English, Films, Music, Music Videos, Sharing , , , , , , , ,
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34th Japan Academy Prize Noms

December 17, 2010 — 7 Comments

First, let me get this out of the way: All the foreign nominations are American films, which includes Avatar, Toy Story 3, Hurt Locker, Inception and Invictus. Those along are a mixed bag for me xD Invictus was rather insipid, wouldn’t you say? And to include Avatar in the same list as Toy Story 3 is… hmm, rather a pity xD

The 34th Japan Academy Prize is led by Sang-il Lee’s Akunin (Villain) with 15 nods in 13 categories. Followed by Yoji Yamada’s Otouto (Yougner Brother/About her Brother) and Takashi Miike’s 13 Assassins with 11 nods. Rounding up the best pictures is Izuru Narushima’s Kokou no Mesu (A Lone Scalpel) with 5 nods.

And forgive the bias, but Yu Aoi got a nod for Supporting Actress xD

Film
Akunin
Otouto
Kokuhaku
Kokou no Mesu
13 Assassins

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The 65 Foreign Submissions are in + Documentary shorts

October 14, 2010 — Leave a comment

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

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Foreign Submissions Update

September 29, 2010 — Leave a comment

Some very exciting news – First, it seems I’ve seen more than TWO of the Foreign submissions this year LOL. Of course that’s without considering the 9 films that will go through the other stage, and the 5 that will be chosen. I’ll probably get a 1/5 ratio at the most.

Second of all… China chose Xiaogang Feng’s earthquake drama Aftershocks to represent them. *jumpy claps* Now, this is my weakness. I love tear-jerking dramas. Anyone who’s lived through an earthquake should and will be affected by the story, anyone who’s lived through a hurricane, typhoon, any catastrophic natural disaster. Aftershocks is for you. But this is not to say that Aftershocks is exploitative of the tragedy, because this “earthquake” film is little about the earthquake and all about the people affected by it.

Considering the technical achievement this is, and how human and audience-friendly this drama is, I think this might have high chances of passing to the “chosen 9”. *crosses fingers*

Here are some of the submissions I’ve seen and reviewed:

The updated titles via Indie Wire!

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Top10 Recent East Asian Films that Should Be Released in Peru

September 11, 2010 — 1 Comment

Bam! I’m into making lists now. xD

To push distributors, and tickle their curiosity, as well as showing them it can also be good business to bring Asian flicks. Plus, cinephiles would love a little more variety in their local theaters, and I bet regular moviegoers wouldn’t mind one or two non-Hollywood blockbusters… after all, we already watch everything subtitled! We don’t have an issue with them like some… other… people.

If Americans (and Canadians) complain about the little variety of Asian films outside martial arts, or auteur cinema – well, really. Stop complaining. It’s even worse down here. If you got 5 releases a year (just an assumption), then we get one… if we’re lucky. Sorry, I’m not so campy with J-horror… I’m a little tired. I must be too old for it now. LOL

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Is it Oscar Time yet? Foreign Submissions

September 8, 2010 — 3 Comments

Look, I made a banner. LOL

While reading my usual news, I found out that Kokuhaku (aka. Confessions) by Tetsuya Nakashima has been chosen by Japan as their submission for the upcoming Academy Awards. I haven’t even seen the film, but I really thought they would choose something like Norwegian Wood, which seems to be getting in all the major festivals, while Kokuhaku… has been, well… doing well in Japanese Box Office. So it’s a surprise.

These are the other films sent for consideration:

  • Austria – La Pivellina
  • Hungary – Bibliothèque Pascal [Variety]
  • Iraq – Son of Babylon
  • Netherlands – Tirza
  • Peru – Undertow [review]
  • Poland – All that I Love/Everything I Love [Poland]
  • Romania – If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle [The Hollywood Reporter]
  • South Korea – A Barefoot Dream
  • Sweden – Simple Simon [The Hollywood Reporter]
  • Taiwan – Monga
  • Venezuela – Hermano

Any more? xD

Germany has a shortlist that include 3 Nazi-related dramas. Their pick will be announced in about 10 days.

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31-Day Movie Meme: Anomalous Edition

September 8, 2010 — 2 Comments

Ahh… I hope I can finish this post in less than 30min. LOL Or sure I’ll be whining with the people at Anomalous Material for posting so many Memes xD

But we’re lazy, so we’re doing a 31-day Meme into one post. Just like we did on the TV Meme… only with more pictures! Because I think that TV Meme needs photos, right?

1. A Sequel that Shouldn’t Have Been Made

You know there should be something wrong when all the sequels went straight to DVD. That’s a sad sad ending for a good cheesy film like Bring it On. The sequels bring so much shame when mentioning Bring it On, which by the way had Kirsten Dunst and Eliza Dushku… and Gabrielle Union. And cheers. I said Brrrr it’s cold in here! There must be some Clovers in the atmosphere~~~ LOL a perfect introduction to setup what the cheese will be about, and a more poppy-end-of-the 90s-rendition of Hey, Mickey!

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Yu Aoi at Japan Cuts Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema 2010

May 29, 2010 — Leave a comment

Not because she’s gonna be there, don’t get your hopes up, people.

LOL

From July 1 – 16, 2010 in NYC

The following Yu Aoi related films will be there:
Otouto (About her Brother/Younger Brother)
Hyakuman-en to Nigamushi Onna (One Million Yen Girl)

joining the line-up…

Ultra Miracle Love Story (Bare Essence of Life) with Kenichi Matsuyama
Dear Doctor with Eita
Memories of Matsuko by Tetsuya Nakashima
Kokuhaku (Confessions) by Tetsuya Nakashima (also at the NY Asian Film Fest)

more films and info via Nippon Cinema.

On Kokuhaku news, there was a little get together for the release of Nakashima’s film, which opens on June 5th, with the actors and actresses from his previous films. Yes, including Miki Nakatani (Memories of Matsuko), Kyoko Fukada and Anna Tsuchiya (Kamikaze Girls).

via Japan Now.

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Ip Man 2 and Kokuhaku at 2010 NYAFF

May 20, 2010 — 1 Comment

I am all over Ip Man at the moment. So really, there’s no better way to kick of the New York Asian Film Festival than with the American premiere of Ip Man 2, which its pure kick-ass and feeling for martial arts. Sammo Hung will also be there, so that’s pretty kick-ass too.

But the biggest news is that Tetsuya Nakashima’s latest film Kokuhaku (Confessions), which will open in Japan on June 5th, will be the Centerpiece presentation. According to Subway Cinema News, Kokuhaku has left dumbfounded at the market screening in Cannes. Must be the LSD on Nakashima’s film-making.

Can’t effing wait for it now.

via Nippon Cinema.

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