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By the 1950s, Mikio Naruse had mastered his craft as a filmmaker and made one marvelous film after another. This consistency carried into his later years, as evidenced by his powerful masterpiece, “Yearning,” known in Japan as “Midareru,” which translates to “Confused.” Released in 1964, the feature stars Naruse regular Hideko Takamine, with a screenplay by her husband, Zenzo Matsuyama, with whom the director had worked previously, including on “Daughters, Wives and a Mother” and “A Woman’s Place.” Moreover, this was the auteur’s first of only two collaborations with singer-turned-actor Yuzo Kayama, the other being his final film, “Scattered Clouds.”

Sincerity is screening at Japan Society as part of the Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us program

The story begins in a neighborhood where we are introduced to Reiko Morita, a war widow who has been running a grocery shop in her late husband’s family home for 18 years.

Singaporean film director Eric Khoo has received numerous awards, including the Singapore Cultural Medallion and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French government. Since 1995, he has played a key role in reviving Singapore’s film industry and gaining international recognition. His notable works have been screened at prestigious film festivals including Berlin, Venice, and Cannes.

On the occasion of his latest film “Spirit World” screening at Tokyo International Film Festival, we speak with him about the casting of the movie and particularly Catherine Deneuve and Masaaki Sakai, his family’s involvement in the movie, surf music in Japan, the Japanese style of the film and other topics

The cast in the movie is one of its most impressive assets. Can you tell me how it worked and particularly how you managed to have Catherine Deneuve and Masaaki Sakai in the movie?

We were in contact with Catherine through our co-producer Matilde Incerti.

New York Film Festival stalwart Jim Jarmusch is the 61st New York Film Festival poster designer Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Film at Lincoln Center has announced that Jim Jarmusch is the designer of the 61st New York Film Festival poster with an “image of film star Yûzô Kayama.” Jim’s films that have screened at the New York Film Festival are Stranger Than Paradise (1984); Down By Law; ]Mystery Train (1989); Night On Earth (1991); Dead Man (1999); Broken Flowers (2005); Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), and Gimme Danger and Paterson (2016). Earlier it was announced that Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, a portrait of Elvis Presley’s (Jacob Elordi) wife, born Priscilla Ann Wagner (Cailee Spaeny) will be the Centerpiece selection of the festival. Todd Haynes’s May December, starring Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, and Charles Melton will be the Opening Night selection and Michael Mann’s...

Film at Lincoln Center has revealed the poster and poster artist for the 61st New York Film Festival, tapping Jim Jarmusch for the honor. The acclaimed filmmaker’s films have been selected by NYFF seven times in the past, with Down by Law opening the 24th edition of the festival in 1986.

As a poster artist for NYFF, Jarmusch joins the ranks of Andy Warhol, Richard Avedon, David Hockney, Diane Arbus, Martin Scorsese, Julian Schnabel, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Pedro Almodóvar, and John Waters. Jarmusch said in an official statement that “since arriving in New York City decades ago, attending the NYFF has been my version of going to church.”

The image for the poster, he continued…

“was pulled from the files of several thousand useless photographs I’ve taken since getting my hands on a camera as a teenager. I consider them to be useless not necessarily in a negative way, but...

The Japan Academy Film Prize Association held the 46th edition of its awards ceremony on March 10, 2023. The nominees are selected by industry professionals from the pool of film releases between January 1 and December 31, 2022 which must have screened in Tokyo cinemas. Award categories are modelled after Hollywood's Academy Awards®.

Following its success at the recent Blue Ribbon Awards, and leading with 13 nominations in 12 categories, Kei Ishikawa's “A Man” walks away with 8 Japan Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress. The full list of winners is described below.

Picture of the Year

A Man

Shin Ultraman

Phases of the Moon

Anime Supremacy!

Wandering

Team from A Man Animation of the Year

Inu-Oh

Lonely Castle in the Mirror

Suzume

One Piece Film Red

The First Slam Dunk

Director of the Year

Kei Ishikawa – A Man

Takashi Koizumi – The Pass: Last...

Mikio Naruse solidified himself as one of Japan’s most admirable filmmakers. His work is known for the pessimistic yet raw outlook on life, showing that the world is not a perfect place while focusing on human vulnerability. Much like Kenji Mizoguchi, he frequently gave women a voice in his work, notably working with beloved actress Hideko Takamine throughout his career. In addition, Naruse would sometimes create premises for narratives that sound surreal on paper yet would be executed wonderfully on film. Look no further than his final masterpiece, “Scattered Clouds,” also known as “Two in the Shadow.”

Released in 1967, this would be Mikio Naruse’s final film, as he would later pass away in 1969 from cancer. His health was already declining when he made this movie, yet that didn’t keep him down when directing this tragic love story. Fittingly writing the screenplay is Nobuo Yamada,...

Filmmaker Kihachi Okamoto, throughout his career, made it abundantly clear he hated war. He experienced the horrors on the battlefield firsthand during World War II and forever was disgusted by the atrocities committed by the Empire of Japan. Okamoto’s war movies boast an anti-war mindset while blending tragedy with dark comedy. His early projects, such as “Desperado Outpost,” primarily showed the director’s sense of humor, with western inspired elements thrown into the mix. Over time, these projects became more grounded and progressively darker. “Fort Graveyard” tells the tragic story of musician youths forced into combat, and “Japan’s Longest Day” recounts the terrifying final hours before the country’s surrender during the Second World War. With his ambitious and brutal epic “Battle of Okinawa,” audiences are reminded war spares no one.

Even with the budgetary issues the Japanese film industry was plagued with at the time, Okamoto would not be stopped.