Showgate has released the full trailer for The Kirishima Thing, the latest by director Daihachi Yoshida (Funuke Show Some Love, You Losers!)
Based on a novel by Ryo Asai, the movie tackles the subject of high school hierarchies and the way kids quietly accept their role within that tightly-controlled social structure without question.
When a popular student named Kirishima suddenly decides to quit the very activities that placed him at the top tier of popularity, his classmates can’t seem to come to grips with it. Rumors begin to fly about why he made his decision, leading to misunderstandings, confusion, and misguided anger among his peers.
Meanwhile, the nerdier kids who have spent the entirety of their high school careers remaining relatively invisible also feel the effects of this shake-up as a boy named Ryoya Maeda (Ryunosuke Kamiki) begins documenting events for his film project.
Also featured prominently in the...
Based on a novel by Ryo Asai, the movie tackles the subject of high school hierarchies and the way kids quietly accept their role within that tightly-controlled social structure without question.
When a popular student named Kirishima suddenly decides to quit the very activities that placed him at the top tier of popularity, his classmates can’t seem to come to grips with it. Rumors begin to fly about why he made his decision, leading to misunderstandings, confusion, and misguided anger among his peers.
Meanwhile, the nerdier kids who have spent the entirety of their high school careers remaining relatively invisible also feel the effects of this shake-up as a boy named Ryoya Maeda (Ryunosuke Kamiki) begins documenting events for his film project.
Also featured prominently in the...
- 6/12/2012
- Nippon Cinema
The official website for Daihachi Yoshida’s Kirishima, Bukatsu Yamerutteyo has been updated with a 30-second teaser trailer.
Based on a 2010 youth novel by Ryo Asai, the movie stars Ryunosuke Kamiki as Ryoya Maeda, a student at a rural high school who lives a quiet existence at the very bottom tier of his class’s social structure. He’s also an aspiring director who wants to enter a film contest, but he hasn’t been able to find a partner among his classmates. The story is mostly shown from his perspective.
One day, volleyball club captain Kirishima suddenly quits the team. This unexpected decision causes shock waves with his classmates, eventually causing their well-established hierarchy to completely break down.
Ai Hashimoto (Confessions) plays a badminton club member named Kasumi. Suzuka Ohgo plays a brass band member named Aya who’s just as inconspicuous as Maeda. Other cast members include Masahiro Higashide,...
Based on a 2010 youth novel by Ryo Asai, the movie stars Ryunosuke Kamiki as Ryoya Maeda, a student at a rural high school who lives a quiet existence at the very bottom tier of his class’s social structure. He’s also an aspiring director who wants to enter a film contest, but he hasn’t been able to find a partner among his classmates. The story is mostly shown from his perspective.
One day, volleyball club captain Kirishima suddenly quits the team. This unexpected decision causes shock waves with his classmates, eventually causing their well-established hierarchy to completely break down.
Ai Hashimoto (Confessions) plays a badminton club member named Kasumi. Suzuka Ohgo plays a brass band member named Aya who’s just as inconspicuous as Maeda. Other cast members include Masahiro Higashide,...
- 3/19/2012
- Nippon Cinema
Kamui: The Lone Ninja
Stars: Ken’ichi Matsuyama, Koyuki, Koichi Sato, Ekin Cheng, Yuta Kanai, Suzuka Ohgo | Written by Sai and Kankuro Kudo | Directed by Yoichi San
It’s 17th century Japan and from a young age Kamui has been considered something of an outcast, even within his own ninja clan. Disillusioned with the laws and principles which dictate that he must use his skills to kill others, Kamui chooses to leave his past behind him and go in search of true freedom. But for a ninja freedom comes at a price and the only way to escape the bonds of the ninja brotherhood is to die.
Now a fugitive on the run from his clan, who are determined to hunt him down and eliminate him for his betrayal, Kamui finds himself constantly fighting for his life and unable to trust anyone. He eventually finds some solace when he meets...
Stars: Ken’ichi Matsuyama, Koyuki, Koichi Sato, Ekin Cheng, Yuta Kanai, Suzuka Ohgo | Written by Sai and Kankuro Kudo | Directed by Yoichi San
It’s 17th century Japan and from a young age Kamui has been considered something of an outcast, even within his own ninja clan. Disillusioned with the laws and principles which dictate that he must use his skills to kill others, Kamui chooses to leave his past behind him and go in search of true freedom. But for a ninja freedom comes at a price and the only way to escape the bonds of the ninja brotherhood is to die.
Now a fugitive on the run from his clan, who are determined to hunt him down and eliminate him for his betrayal, Kamui finds himself constantly fighting for his life and unable to trust anyone. He eventually finds some solace when he meets...
- 8/7/2010
- by Phil
- Nerdly
While the 1997 best-selling novel "Memoirs of a Geisha" was written by an American, Arthur Golden, he absorbed enough of Japanese culture in his years of travel and study to convey the mysterious world of the geisha as one of subtlety, discretion, ritual and tradition. The movie version, directed by "Chicago"'s Rob Marshall and written by Robin Swicord, has, frankly, Americanized the story. By this I mean the filmmakers make characters crasser, ignore nuances within geisha tradition and give characters attitudes and dialogue highly unlikely for Depression-era Japan. The heroine, who in time becomes a legendary geisha, is modeled in the film more after a willful, modern American teen than a young Japanese woman.
"Memoirs" has generated plenty of heat on its way to the screen. The novel reportedly has been translated into 32 languages and the film production criticized for the casting of three leading Chinese actors -- Ziyi Zhang, Michelle Yeoh and Gong Li -- as Japanese. So opening boxoffice grosses will be strong. As an exotic romance set in the lost world of prewar Japan, the film should have sufficient legs to become a hit this holiday season.
The controversy extends beyond the cast, which is a case of a major (Japanese-owned) studio covering an expensive bet with international stars. Here is a film about Japan made by Americans, shot mostly in the U.S. and, of course, in English. Once you accept these compromises in the name of international filmmaking, none is a real deterrent to enjoying this lush period film.
Designer John Myhre's meticulous re-creation of a 1930s hanamachi or geisha district with its rickety wooden houses, ancients streets and alleys, formal teahouses and sea of nighttime lanterns on a Southern California ranch is an accomplished and credible set. The lavish kimonos, a sumo match, geisha dances, John Williams' lyrical East-meets-West musical score and atmospheric cinematography by Dion Beebe emphasizing deep, dark colors all are hallmarks of classic Hollywood filmmaking. These are surface delights that might distract from Marshall's tendency to focus on melodrama over intimacy and emotional excess over restraint.
"Memoirs" tells the story of a young child sold to an okiya or geisha household in Kyoto in 1929. Chiyo (Suzuka Ohgo) initially resists her initiation into this new life despite her terror of the doyennes of the domicile, Mother (Kaori Momoi, whose whiny, sharp voice often grates) and Auntie (Tsai Chin). Adding to her misery, the house's breadwinner, the treacherous geisha Hatsumomo (Gong Li), takes an instant dislike to the young girl.
When Chiyo attempts to run away, Mother refuses to put any more money into her geisha training. This relegates her to the status of maid for life. At her lowest point, as she sobs near the city river, a wealthy man she knows only as the Chairman (Ken Watanabe) treats her to a sweet and has kind words for her. This encounter transforms her life. She also falls in love with the Chairman.
Later, the hanamachi's legendary geisha, Mameha (Yeoh), takes the youngster under her wing, seeing in the beautiful girl with haunting eyes (now played by Zhang) a possible means to rid herself of her hateful rival Hatsumomo. Mameha makes, in essence, a bet with Mother that all of Chiyo's debts to the okiya will be paid off by her 20th birthday.
So the race is on. The young girl, whose name is changed to Sayuri when she becomes an apprentice geisha, undergoes intense training. In the world of a geisha, a glimpse of flesh under a kimono or a rumor spread by a malicious rival can make or damage a reputation forever. Mameha takes her "younger sister" to teahouses and introduces her to all her clients just as Hatsumomo and her protege, Pumpkin (Youki Kudoh), do the same. At every turn, Hatsumomo tries to undermine her rivals. All things lead to the auctioning of Sayuri's mizuage (virginity) to her wealthy gentlemen patrons.
The man who displays the most interest, despite his dislike of geishas in general, is the industrialist Nobu (Koji Yakusho). To Sayuri's dismay, Nobu's best friend and partner is the Chairman. No man will pursue a geisha favored by his friend. The man who emerges as Nobu's rival is Dr. Crab Randall Duk Kim), nicknamed for his appearance, but not before the Baron (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), Mameha's patron, makes improper advances that nearly ruin Sayuri's career.
Naturally, Swicord's screenplay must eliminate characters and take shortcuts to stuff the major activity from the novel into the 144-minute movie. But these shortcuts run roughshod over subtlety. The chess game among these women is reduced to a cat fight. Hatsumomo is a much more formidable opponent than the movie gives her credit: She is clever, sharp and tenacious. The move version forces Gong to pay a spoiled drunk mad with jealousy.
Similarly, Sayuri is brought up to speed much too quickly. She performs a dance on her first night as an apprentice, something that would never happen. She makes sharp ripostes with her rival, dialogue more in tune with a '30s American film comedy than '30s Japanese culture. A dance performance at one point, choreographed by John DeLuca, feels like a modern Western interpretation imposed on Japanese tradition, more "Chicago" than Kyoto as it were.
The acting in all the major roles is astute. Zhang manages to seize the contradictory qualities of her character -- shyness and uncertainty coupled the defiance and iron will -- and mold them into a memorable female character. Yeoh brings just the right dignity and cautious calculation to the role of Sayuri's mentor. Gong puts the necessary sexuality into hateful Hatsumomo. Watanabe and Yakusho make strong impressions as wealthy men reduced to pandering to Yank occupiers after World War II.
The final third of the movie, rushing through the war and occupation, feels anti-climatic, even flat. Admittedly, the novel had a similar problem as this story is strongest when it enters the lost and secret world of women who never can pursue their own happiness.
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment present an Amblin Entertainment/Red Wagon Entertainment production
Credits:
Director: Rob Marshall
Screenwriter: Robin Swicord
Based on the novel by: Arthur Golden
Producers: Lucy Fisher, Douglas Wick, Steven Spielberg
Executive producers: Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber, Patricia Whitcher, Bobby Cohen
Director of photography: Dion Beebe
Production designer: John Myhre
Music: John Williams
Co-producer: John DeLuca
Costumes: Colleen Atwood
Editor: Pietro Scalia. Cast: Sayuri: Ziyi Zhang
Chairman: Ken Watanabe
Mameha: Michelle Yeoh
Nobu: Koji Yakusho
Hatsumomo: Gong Li
Pumpkin: Youki Kudoh
Mother: Kaori Momoi
Auntie: Tsai Chin
Baron: Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
Dr. Crab: Randall Duk Kim
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 144 minutes...
"Memoirs" has generated plenty of heat on its way to the screen. The novel reportedly has been translated into 32 languages and the film production criticized for the casting of three leading Chinese actors -- Ziyi Zhang, Michelle Yeoh and Gong Li -- as Japanese. So opening boxoffice grosses will be strong. As an exotic romance set in the lost world of prewar Japan, the film should have sufficient legs to become a hit this holiday season.
The controversy extends beyond the cast, which is a case of a major (Japanese-owned) studio covering an expensive bet with international stars. Here is a film about Japan made by Americans, shot mostly in the U.S. and, of course, in English. Once you accept these compromises in the name of international filmmaking, none is a real deterrent to enjoying this lush period film.
Designer John Myhre's meticulous re-creation of a 1930s hanamachi or geisha district with its rickety wooden houses, ancients streets and alleys, formal teahouses and sea of nighttime lanterns on a Southern California ranch is an accomplished and credible set. The lavish kimonos, a sumo match, geisha dances, John Williams' lyrical East-meets-West musical score and atmospheric cinematography by Dion Beebe emphasizing deep, dark colors all are hallmarks of classic Hollywood filmmaking. These are surface delights that might distract from Marshall's tendency to focus on melodrama over intimacy and emotional excess over restraint.
"Memoirs" tells the story of a young child sold to an okiya or geisha household in Kyoto in 1929. Chiyo (Suzuka Ohgo) initially resists her initiation into this new life despite her terror of the doyennes of the domicile, Mother (Kaori Momoi, whose whiny, sharp voice often grates) and Auntie (Tsai Chin). Adding to her misery, the house's breadwinner, the treacherous geisha Hatsumomo (Gong Li), takes an instant dislike to the young girl.
When Chiyo attempts to run away, Mother refuses to put any more money into her geisha training. This relegates her to the status of maid for life. At her lowest point, as she sobs near the city river, a wealthy man she knows only as the Chairman (Ken Watanabe) treats her to a sweet and has kind words for her. This encounter transforms her life. She also falls in love with the Chairman.
Later, the hanamachi's legendary geisha, Mameha (Yeoh), takes the youngster under her wing, seeing in the beautiful girl with haunting eyes (now played by Zhang) a possible means to rid herself of her hateful rival Hatsumomo. Mameha makes, in essence, a bet with Mother that all of Chiyo's debts to the okiya will be paid off by her 20th birthday.
So the race is on. The young girl, whose name is changed to Sayuri when she becomes an apprentice geisha, undergoes intense training. In the world of a geisha, a glimpse of flesh under a kimono or a rumor spread by a malicious rival can make or damage a reputation forever. Mameha takes her "younger sister" to teahouses and introduces her to all her clients just as Hatsumomo and her protege, Pumpkin (Youki Kudoh), do the same. At every turn, Hatsumomo tries to undermine her rivals. All things lead to the auctioning of Sayuri's mizuage (virginity) to her wealthy gentlemen patrons.
The man who displays the most interest, despite his dislike of geishas in general, is the industrialist Nobu (Koji Yakusho). To Sayuri's dismay, Nobu's best friend and partner is the Chairman. No man will pursue a geisha favored by his friend. The man who emerges as Nobu's rival is Dr. Crab Randall Duk Kim), nicknamed for his appearance, but not before the Baron (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), Mameha's patron, makes improper advances that nearly ruin Sayuri's career.
Naturally, Swicord's screenplay must eliminate characters and take shortcuts to stuff the major activity from the novel into the 144-minute movie. But these shortcuts run roughshod over subtlety. The chess game among these women is reduced to a cat fight. Hatsumomo is a much more formidable opponent than the movie gives her credit: She is clever, sharp and tenacious. The move version forces Gong to pay a spoiled drunk mad with jealousy.
Similarly, Sayuri is brought up to speed much too quickly. She performs a dance on her first night as an apprentice, something that would never happen. She makes sharp ripostes with her rival, dialogue more in tune with a '30s American film comedy than '30s Japanese culture. A dance performance at one point, choreographed by John DeLuca, feels like a modern Western interpretation imposed on Japanese tradition, more "Chicago" than Kyoto as it were.
The acting in all the major roles is astute. Zhang manages to seize the contradictory qualities of her character -- shyness and uncertainty coupled the defiance and iron will -- and mold them into a memorable female character. Yeoh brings just the right dignity and cautious calculation to the role of Sayuri's mentor. Gong puts the necessary sexuality into hateful Hatsumomo. Watanabe and Yakusho make strong impressions as wealthy men reduced to pandering to Yank occupiers after World War II.
The final third of the movie, rushing through the war and occupation, feels anti-climatic, even flat. Admittedly, the novel had a similar problem as this story is strongest when it enters the lost and secret world of women who never can pursue their own happiness.
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment present an Amblin Entertainment/Red Wagon Entertainment production
Credits:
Director: Rob Marshall
Screenwriter: Robin Swicord
Based on the novel by: Arthur Golden
Producers: Lucy Fisher, Douglas Wick, Steven Spielberg
Executive producers: Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber, Patricia Whitcher, Bobby Cohen
Director of photography: Dion Beebe
Production designer: John Myhre
Music: John Williams
Co-producer: John DeLuca
Costumes: Colleen Atwood
Editor: Pietro Scalia. Cast: Sayuri: Ziyi Zhang
Chairman: Ken Watanabe
Mameha: Michelle Yeoh
Nobu: Koji Yakusho
Hatsumomo: Gong Li
Pumpkin: Youki Kudoh
Mother: Kaori Momoi
Auntie: Tsai Chin
Baron: Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
Dr. Crab: Randall Duk Kim
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 144 minutes...
- 1/19/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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