Last Quarter (下弦の月, 2004)

This 2004 film is an adaptation of the short manga series Last Quarter (Kagen no Tsuki, 1998-1999) by popular manga-ka Ai Yazawa (矢沢あい). The adaptation was released at the peak of Yazawa's fame as she had just wrapped up the series Paradise Kiss and was basking in the success of the Nana series. The film also garanteed a wide audience because it stars the lead singer of L'Arc en Ciel (ラルク アン シエル),...

Ask? Film Festival 2008

The Ask? Film Festival 2008 opens today and runs until September 6th. The programme includes films by Yoji Kuri and Tomoyasu Murata, among other filmmakers from Japan and abroad.ASK? Film Festival 2008Venue: ASK? Art Space KimuraSchedule: From 2008-08-25 To 2008-09-06Address: Kimura Bldg 2F, 3-6-5 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0031Phone: 03-5524-0771 Fax: 03-5524-0...

Franz Kafka's A Country Doctor (カフカ田舎医者, 2007）

Kōji Yamamura (山村浩二)'s most recent short animation, Franz Kafka's A Country Doctor (Kafuka Inaka Isha, , 2007) has been making a big splash at international festivals around the world this past year. It won the Grand Prize earlier this month at the Hiroshima International Animation Festival and has also scooped up the top prizes at the Ottawa International Animation Festival, Stuttgart's Internationales...

Yamamura Wins Grand Prix at Hiroshima

Koji Yamamura can add the Hiroshima International Animation Festival's Grand Prix to his long list of awards for Kafuka Inaka Isha (Kafka's A Country Doctor, 2007). The festival wound up yesterday and by all accounts was a great success.Other winners included Tsumiki no ie (La Maison en Petits Cubes, 2008) directed by Kunio Kato, who walked away with both the Hiroshima Prize and the Audience Prize....

Passing Fancy (出来ごころ, 1933)

While in Canada, I picked up Criterion’s Eclipse Series 10: Silent Ozu – Three Family Comedies. Watching Passing Fancy (Dekigokoro, 1933), I was reminded how one can always count on Ozu to serve up a perfectly balanced mixture of pathos, humour, and human interest. Passing Fancy has enough slapstick to make the audience laugh, but not so much that it falls into the realm of an unlikely farce (à la...

Kumo Ga Haretara (1987)

Although not an example of his best work, fans of Taku Furukawa's animation should check out Kumo Ga Harata (雲が晴れたら), a Minna no Uta animation with music by Etsuko Sai. The animation style is typical of Furukawa and the story fulfills the brief by convincingly animating the themes of the song. The only element lacking is the wit evident in Furukawa's independent work such as Jyōkyō Monogatari...