News

With less than a month and a half remaining until the next annual New Year's Eve broadcast, the official website for Nhk's Kohaku Uta Gassen today unveiled the 41 artists who will form the long-running music show's 75th lineup. The accompanying number below indicates each artist's total selections for the program. Ten artists, three on Red Team (consisting of female artists) and seven on White Team (consisting of male artists), will be making their first appearance this year. Red Team aiko (15) Aimyon (6) Illit (Debut) Sayuri Ishikawa (47) Iruka (2) Hy (3) Fuyumi Sakamoto (36) Sakurazaka46 (4) Ringo Sheena (9) Superfly (8) Mariko Takahashi (6) tuki. (Debut) Yoshimi Tendo (28) Twice (5) Nogizaka46 (10) Me:i (Debut) Misia (9) Kaori Mizumori (22) Ryokuoushoku Shakai (3) Le Sserafim (3) White Team Omoinotake (Debut) Creepy Nuts (Debut) Glay (4) Hiromi Go (37) Kocchi no Kento (Debut) The Alfee (2) JO1 (3) Junretsu (7) Da-iCE (Debut) Tomorrow X Together (Debut) Number_i (Debut) Leon Niihama (Debut) Vaundy (2) Be:first (3) Masaharu Fukuyama (17) Fujii Kaze (3) Gen Hoshino (10) Mrs. Green Apple...

One of the prestigious national cinema awards in Japan presented by the Association of Tokyo Film Journalists, the 65th edition of the Blue Ribbon Awards announced its winners on February 24, 2023. The nominees are selected from movies released in 2022 within the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. Leading with 6 nominations, A Man by Kei Ishikawa, wins Best Film while Plan 75 by Chie Hayakawa picks up Best Director and Best Actress for Chieko Baisho. The full list of winners is described below.

Best Film

A Man

Kingdom 2: To Distant Lands

Small, Slow But Steady

Missing

Silent Parade

Dr Coto’s Clinic

Plan 75

Motherhood

Fragments of the Last Will

Wandering

A Man Best Director

Kei Ishikawa – A Man

Shinzo Katayama – Missing

Takahisa Zeze – Tombi: Father and Son; Fragments of the Last Will

Chie Hayakawa – Plan 75

Ryuichi Hiroki – 2 Women, Motherhood; Phases of the Moon

Best Actor

Sadao Abe – Lesson in Murder; I am...

Having a great cast in his hands, Shunji Iwai decided to take a trip down his own cinematic past this time, resulting in a rather nostalgic film that works on a number of levels, but also seems to fail to pack a punch. The script is based on his own novel, while in 2018 he directed a homonymous, Chinese film starring Zhou Xun.

Yuri is a middle-aged mother who has just returned to the area she grew up, along with her daughter, Fuka, to attend the funeral of her older sister, Misaki, who has just died, leaving her own daughter, Ayumi, with her grandmother, since her husband is out of the picture. When an invitation for a class reunion comes to the house, Yuri decides to attend, to inform her sister’s classmates of her death, but finds herself being confused with Misaki, to the point that an old boyfriend of hers,...

A Fistful Of Dollars Welcome to this week's Stay-At-Home Seven suggestions of films to catch on television and streaming services. As always, you can read last week's column here. Plus check out our Streaming Spotlight on cinematic battles that defy expectations.

Like Father, Like Son, Film4, 1.30am, Tuesday, November 17

Keita (Keita Ninomiya) is a bright six-year-old whose workaholic dad Ryota (Masaharu Fukuyama) likes control and order. He's not a bad man but he likes things to stay in place. So when the hospital where Keita was born calls to say they need to set up a meeting, he tells his wife Midori (Machiko Ono - who more or less bends to his every whim - "I hope it's nothing messy." Sadly for him, it's something very messy indeed - the news that his son is not really his son at all but rather a child belonging to provincial shopkeepers Yukari and Yudai.

Based on Keiichiro Hirano’s best-selling novel “Machine no Owari ni”, featuring a rather large budget that allowed Hiroshi Nishitani to cast Masaharu Fukuyama and Yuriko Ishida in the protagonist roles, and to shoot in Japan, Paris and New York, “At the End of the Matinee” had all the prerequisites of becoming a masterpiece. A number of issues, though, prevented it from reaching that level.

“At the End of the Matinee” is screening at Toronto Japanese Film Festival

Satoshi Makino is a brilliant classical guitarist who performs at the world’s top concert theaters, but he still is in constant search of musical perfection. Furthermore, he has a captivating persona and is quite popular, although he is not exactly a people’s person, with his only friends actually being his manager, Sanae, and Keiko, the representative of the record label he has a contract with. During one of his tours,...

The Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre’s unprecedented 9th annual Toronto Japanese Film Festival will be held online from Saturday, October 3 to Thursday, October 22 and features 22 films using the SHIFT72 festival platform. For the first time, Tjff is expanding its reach beyond Toronto to audiences across all of Canada, maintaining the festival’s sense of community while promoting friendship, understanding, and exchange between the Japanese and broader Canadian community. The festival has grown into one of the largest film events of its kind in the world and is recognized by the Japanese film industry as a vital conduit for bringing Japanese film to international audiences.

Tjff 2020 also presents major award winners for their Canadian premieres: Mitsuhito Fujii’s The Journalist which won the Japanese Academy Awards for Best Film, Best Actor (Tori Matsuzaka) and Best Actress (Eun-kyung Shim); Hirohiko Arai’s intense erotic odyssey It Feels So Good (Kinema Junpo Awards...

The concept of journalism and its role in the modern, social media era has been an issue addressed quite frequently, in films like “The Journalist” , “The Exclusive: Beat the Devil’s Tattoo” and even this year’s “Reiwa Uprising“. Based on Masato Harada’s 1985 feature, “Out of Focus, Scoop!”, Hitoshi One’s film throws its two cents about the concept through a rather entertaining approach that benefits the film the most.

Shizuka Miyakonojo is a 40-something paparazzi photographer, who is very skilled with camera, but also an irreparable gambler that has amassed a huge debt, which actually forces him to continue hunting celebrities for the latest scoop to sell to Sadako Yokogawa, chief editor of a tabloid magazine. Yokogawa seems to be more than an associate however, and somewhere amidst the rather peculiar relationship she has with Shizuka, she “forces” him to take Nobi Namekawa, a rookie reporter,...

Based on the homonymous and extremely popular samurai-themed manga (by Nobuhiro Watsuki) and anime, this live-action trilogy is the one that actually instigated the phenomenon of elaborate adaptations, particularly because it was one of the first (and one of the most successful) to make evident that in order for these kind of movies to actually work, a large budget is a necessity.

In case you do not know the story (shame on you btw), the trilogy revolves around the adventures of Himura Kenshin, a ronin who has abolished his past as an assassin (under the name of Hitokiri Battosai) of the shogunate, after the Imperialist forces won the battle of Toba-Fushimi. As the first film begins, ten years have passed and Kenshin now wanders around carrying a katana with a reverse blade, essentially deeming it useless as a murder weapon, since he has vowed not to kill again.

Japanese director Shunji Iwai most recent production “Last Letter” is set for release on January 17, 2020. The films stars Takao Matsuo, as a house wife who receives confession from her first love. Matuso, previously worked with director Shunji Iwai in the 1998 movie “April Story”.

In anticipation of the films release, Toho has made a trailer available, which can be viewed below. Recently, we got a chance to speak with director Shunji Iwai, you can read our interview here.

Synopsis

Yuri Kishibeno (Takako Matsu) is a housewife. She lives with her husband (Hideaki Anno) and their two children. Yuri Kishibeno then attends her sister Misaki Tono’s funeral. There, she meets her niece Ayumi (Suzu Hirose) for the first time in many years. Ayumi is still unable to accept her mother’s death and, because of this, she can’t open a letter left behind by her mother. Yuri Kishibeno attends her...

The Third Murder, the latest film from acclaimed filmmaker Kore-eda (Our Little Sister, After The Storm), hits Blu-ray and DVD on November 13. The thriller centers on Shigemori (Masaharu Fukuyama), a high powered attorney who is defending a murder-robbery suspect named MIsumi (Kōji Yakusho). Initially hesitant at taking the job since Misumi has given a full [...]

The post Kore-eda Thriller ‘The Third Murder’ Lands Blu-Ray Release In November appeared first on Hollywood Outbreak.

Hirokazu Koreeda’s effort to stray away from the various versions of the family drama, was, once again, crowned with success, winning most of the major awards from the Japanese Academy along with ones for Supporting Actor and Actress.

Shigemori and his law firm have been assigned to defend Misumi, a fired factory worker who has confessed to killing his former boss. Between the confession and Misumi’s former convictions, this seems a fairly cut-and-dry case for the defense team, whose job, as expected by the legal profession, is simply to reduce the charges and avoid the maximum punishment of the death penalty. But Shigemori starts detecting holes in Misumi’s statements, which have the unfortunate effect of both undermining the defendant’s credibility while raising doubts about his guilt. Is Shigemori’s only recourse to continue down the pragmatic line of “good legal strategy”? Or must...

The Third Murder Trailers

Hirokazu Koreeda‘s The Third Murder / Sandome no satsujin (2017) movie trailers stars Masaharu Fukuyama, Kôji Yakusho, Shinnosuke Mitsushima, Shinnosuke Mitsushima, and Mikako Ichikawa. The Third Murder‘s plot synopsis: “Misumi has a criminal record dating back many years and is now under the spotlight again. It looks like an open and shut case, [...]

Continue reading: The Third Murder Movie Trailers: A Prosecutor Searches for the Truth in a Horrific Courtroom Drama

The post The Third Murder Movie Trailers: A Prosecutor Searches for the Truth in a Horrific Courtroom Drama appeared first on FilmBook.

"His story changes every time I see him." Film Movement has released another new official Us trailer for Hirokazu Kore-eda's film The Third Murder, which premiered last year at the festivals in the fall. The acclaimed Japanese filmmaker went on to win the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival this year with his latest, titled Shoplifters. This court room thriller is being released in the Us before that one, since that one just premiered and will still play at festivals the rest of this year. Kore-eda's The Third Murder is about a court case involving a murder-robbery suspect named Misumi, played by Kôji Yakusho, who has confessed to the crimes. However, his defense attorney, played by Masaharu Fukuyama, has other ideas about this case, which could mean the difference between life and death for Misumi. The cast also includes Hirose Suzu. This looks like a very intriguing mystery with big twists and turns.

Originally reviewed at Tiff 2017, Manhunt debuts on Netflix today! Plot: A Chinese lawyer (Zhang Hanyu) working for a Japanese pharmaceutical company in Osaka, is framed for murder, and must clear his name, all the while being chased by a pair of assassins and a dogged cop (Masaharu Fukuyama). Review: Manhunt is director John Woo’s long-awaited return to hardcore action, after... Read More...

"The return of the maestro!" Woo is back!! Netflix has debuted a brand new official Us trailer for the release of John Woo's latest action film, titled Manhunt. It'll be available streaming starting this weekend, which is good news for those who want to see this totally crazy movie. Manhunt is about an innocent prosecutor who sets out on a mission to clear his name after being framed for crimes he didn't commit. Zhang Hanyu stars as the prosecutor, and the cast includes Masaharu Fukuyama, Qi Wei, and Ha Ji Won. This is actually a remake of the 1976 Japanese film Kimi yo Fundo no Kawa o Watare. It played at the Venice Film Festival, where I first saw it, and wrote a review about how it couldn't be more of a 90s action film - the kind you'd find on VHS in a video store and watch with friends.

Update: John Woo’s next film will be a remake of his own actioner The Killer, this time led by none other than Lupita Nyong’o in the assassin role originated by Chow Yun-fat, Deadline reports. Scripted by Eran Creevy, the Universal Pictures production will begin later this year in France and Germany. See the original story below.

While the summer will no doubt be met with disappointments in the action genre, the season will kick off with a new film from a master in the field, John Woo. Although it won’t be available on the big screen, his new thriller Manhunt will arrive worldwide on Netflix at the end of this week, and the company is finally now starting to promote it with the first trailer. Coming from the Hard Boiled and Face/Off director, it finds a lawyer teaming up with a detective after being framed for...

This is the review of The Third Murder, directed by Hirokazu Koreeda, and starring Masaharu Fukuyama, Kôji Yakusho, Shinnosuke Mitsushima, Mikako Ichikawa and Izumi Matsuoka. Written by Joshua Glenn for Pure Movies. Opening with a sudden and brutal act of violence, The Third Murder introduces its murderer with the same matter-of-factness with which he is viewed by the legal system. Walking along a river bed with a man we soon discover is his boss, Misumi suddenly snaps and clobbers his companion over the head. He continues to strike him once he’s down, before dousing him in gasoline and setting him alight. The fire illuminates Misumi’s face as he looks on with an implacable expression and wipes the blood from his cheek. From the off, the case is cut-and-dried. Misumi is guilty, there can be no doubt about that. He murdered a man. We saw it with our own eyes.

Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday (The answer to the second, “What is the best film in theaters right now?”, can be found at the end of this post).

This past weekend saw the release of Wes Anderson’s “Isle of Dogs,” a movie that was inspired by classic Japanese cinema (even if some feel that it may ultimately have been more informed by its director’s personal worldview).

The film is littered with references to revered old masters like Akira Kurosawa, Seijun Suzuki, etc., but movie-lovers the world over may be much less familiar with the more recent history of Japanese cinema.

This week’s question: What is the best Japanese film of the 21st century?

Joshua Rothkopf (@joshrothkopf), Time Out New York

The life-long, nourishing adventure of making one’s way through Ozu, Mizoguchi, Imamura and...

Following up his best film this decade, After the Storm, Hirokazu Kore-eda is continuing his usually prolific streak with a pair of dramas. Last fall saw the premiere of his murder mystery/courtroom drama The Third Murder and he’s now finishing up his next film, Shoplifters, in time for a summer release in Japan and likely Cannes premiere. Today brings the first look at the latter and a new trailer for the former.

First up, Shoplifters stars Lily Franky, Sakura Ando, Kengo Kora, Sosuke Ikematsu, Chizuru Ikewaki, Yuki Yamada, Yoko Moriguchi and Akira Emoto, the film follows a family of shoplifters who take in an orphan. Then we have a new U.K. trailer for The Third Murder, which follows a defense attorney (Masaharu Fukuyama) who has different ideas about the case than his client (Kôji Yakusho), who confessed. Check out both the first look and trailer (hat tip to First Showing) below,...

"No one here tells the truth." Arrow Films has released an official UK trailer for The Third Murder, the latest film from acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, who last brought us After the Storm just last year. The Third Murder premiered at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals last fall, and still doesn't have a Us release set yet. The film's story is about a court case involving a murder-robbery suspect named Misumi, played by Kôji Yakusho, who has confessed to the crimes. However, his defense attorney, played by Masaharu Fukuyama, has other ideas about this case, which could mean the difference between life and death for Misumi. The cast also includes Hirose Suzu. This received some solid reviews out of festivals last year, and it looks like a seriously compelling legal drama that brings up intriguing questions. See below. Here's the official UK trailer (+ poster) for Hirokazu Kore-eda's The Third Murder,...

“Manhunt”, which is a remake of the Japanese action classic from 1976 of the same name directed by Jun’ya Satô and the adaptation of the novel written by Jukô Nishimura, is the new film directed by the acclaimed action master John Woo, and stars Zhang Hanyu, Masaharu Fukuyama, Jun Kunimura, Tao Okamoto, Ha ji-won, Qi Wei and Angeles Woo among others.

“Manhunt” is the maestro’s return to his definitive style: the gun-fu, the heroic bloodshed. The master hasn’t directed a film of this style since “Mission Impossible 2”, and if you exclude that cool Hollywood mess, it is since “Hard Boiled” that he hasn´t made a Hong Kong action film. Fans of the director and of Hong Kong action cinema have been waiting for years for this moment to come, and it’s finally here.

It is impossible not to have expectations with a new film directed by John Woo,...

Known for his controlled and humanistic family dramas, acclaimed filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda tries his hand at the bread and butter of the Japanese mainstream, the murder mystery. The result, which he directed from his own script, is the ruminative and masterful The Third Murder, which weighs the meaning of justice and the value of life and features top-drawer performances from Masaharu Fukuyama and Koji Yakusho. A man walks behind another along a river bank at night, murders him in cold blood and sets fire to his corpse. The criminal is Misumi, a middle-aged man who was only recently released for a double murder 30 years in the past. He readily admits to his new crime, but a legal team is assigned to try and do...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

John Woo’s first contemporary action film produced in Asia for more than 20 years falls woefully short of the director’s best work. Shot entirely in Japan with a mostly local crew, Man Hunt pairs Zhang Hanyu and Masaharu Fukuyama as reluctant allies in a corporate conspiracy thriller involving an Osakan pharmaceutical giant. The heavyweight international cast, which also includes Jun Kunimura and South Korean actress Ha Ji-won, are forced to communicate in English for large portions of the film, which only accentuates an unintentionally hilarious script from no less than seven credited writers. Shot in a flat, lifeless fashion, Man Hunt often resembles a made-for-television pastiche of Woo’s style, edited so sloppily that even the film’s best action sequences are rendered dull and incoherent. ...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

After working on historical epics for more than a decade, John Woo has returned to the present day with “Manhunt.” The “Hard Boiled,” “Face/Off” and “The Killer” director’s latest just screened in Toronto, where the conspiracy thriller earned favorable reviews. Watch the trailer below.

Read More:‘The Wife’ Review: Glenn Close is Exquisite In This Literary Drama — Tiff

Here’s the synopsis, courtesy of Tiff: “Du Qiu (Zhang Hanyu) is a successful international lawyer from China who has long been working for Tenjin, a powerful Japanese pharmaceutical company. On the very night he announces his break with the company — at its lavish 65th-anniversary party — he is assaulted in his home, knocked unconscious, and wakes the next morning with a knife in his hand and a murdered employee of Tenjin in his bed. Pursued by authorities, including a police captain who begins to suspect his innocence (Masaharu Fukuyama), Du...

The Third MurderDear Danny and Fern,By the time you read this I will have already arrived back home, four days before Tiff's end. Attempting to cram everything into a shortened schedule was a struggle for me, but I’m very satisfied with what I’ve seen and those few people that I’ve met. I wish I could've stayed longer, and I hope to be back soon! As a newcomer, I found Tiff to be a welcoming space that merges the many fruits of Toronto-tourism, cinephile gatherings, and late night city walks. And many, many movies! Possibly too many, but better more than less! There were a few rough patches but they were more tied to my inexperience (forgetting to charge my phone, forgetting to check my schedule, forgetting to eat, forgetting to sleep…) than anything. The sheer magnitude of the event made even the easiest tasks feel like...

A harsh and largely unwelcome change of pace from Japan’s greatest living humanist filmmaker, “The Third Murder” finds Hirokazu Kore-eda abandoning the warmth of his recent family dramas (“Still Walking,” “After the Storm”) in favor of an ice-cold legal thriller that pedagogically dismantles the death penalty. It begins in a cold ditch on a dark night, as a man named Misumi (the great Kôji Yakusho) conks his boss on the back of the head and lights his body on fire. The killer is all too happy to confess that he committed the crime, but when he meets his defense team — a scraggly trio led by a suave lawyer named Shigemori (“Like Father, Like Son” actor Masaharu Fukuyama) — he starts to change his story.

Shigemori is perfectly fine with that; it’s his job to go with whatever version of the truth might spare his client the death penalty. However,...

Good LuckDear Danny and Fernando, This is my first time at Tiff! It is also my first time stepping foot on Canadian soil. These aren't first steps so much as limps, since I sprained my ankle two weeks ago. The escalators and streetcars have become some of my best friends here, and every time I sit in the theatre I'm filled with relief. An American friend of mine who accompanies me on this trip remarks that nearly everything Tiff-branded is likely state-funded, or invested in by some greater entities with large stakes involved. As you've both noted, this festival is an institution upheld by discrepancies. I certainly felt it when I was on my way back from a certain thriller about ex-pats in Thai cults and noticed a group of Lady Gaga fans in matching t-shirts celebrating the release of her Netflix documentary. But since I'm already exhausted by film festival gossip masked as dialectics,...

Something must have happened to John Woo in the last decade or so. It’s been well over a decade since his last full-blown, modern-day action film, having made the historical epics Red Cliff and The Crossing after leaving Hollywood, and Manhunt — his return to the genre that launched his career — feels like a new kind of John Woo. Now in his 70s, Woo has become fully self-aware, and in doing so seems to have challenged himself to create the most John Woo movie ever made. With Manhunt, he has indeed made the most John Woo movie possible, while also making a film that could just be described as “the most.” It’s a deliriously entertaining thrill ride from start to end, and sure to go down as one of the most enjoyable films of 2017.

Taking place entirely in Japan, Woo’s film follows hotshot Chinese lawyer Du Qiu (Zhang Hanyu...

He already directed one of the best films of 2017 with After the Storm — now streaming on Amazon Prime — and now Hirokazu Kore-eda will continue his prolific streak with the legal drama The Third Murder. Starring Masaharu Fukuyama and Koji Yakusho, the Venice- and Tiff-bound film centers on a criminal trial about a defense attorney who unravels a bigger conspiracy when it comes to his client’s murder case. While this most certainly won’t get a U.S. release this year, fingers crossed we see it early in 2018 and now a new trailer has landed.

“The Third Murder takes us to numerous locales, but its most riveting scenes unfold within a tiny room where Misumi and Shigemori speak from either side of the glass,” the Tiff description reads. “At times these scenes are framed so that we see what lies on both sides of the glass at once. Like most of Kore-eda’s films,...

He's back!! Media Asia has debuted a new international trailer for John Woo's latest action film Manhunt, being described as a return to his action roots in the vein of his 1989 classic The Killer. Let's hope that's all true, because we haven't really seen a great action movie from John Woo in a while. Manhunt is about an innocent prosecutor who sets out on a mission to clear his name after being framed for crimes he didn't commit. Zhang Hanyu stars as the prosecutor, and the cast includes Masaharu Fukuyama, Qi Wei, and Ha Ji Won. This is actually a remake of the 1976 Japanese film Kimi yo Fundo no Kawa o Watare. I'll be seeing this at the Venice Film Festival when it premieres there in a few weeks. The footage in this trailer looks very weird like it's straight from the 90s, but here's to hoping Woo is...

The 74th Venice International Film Festival (August 30 – September 9) has just announced the world premiere of John Woo’s action thriller Manhunt as part of its Out of Competition roster. The film is hotly anticipated as it marks the return of the Hong Kong director to the police thriller genre 25 years after his classic Hard Boiled, starring Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung and Anthony Wong.

Set in Japan, Manhunt is the story of a Chinese man wrongly convicted for rape and multiple murders. He becomes the target of a manhunt by the local Japanese police, while he sets out himself to find the real killers.

The film has Chinese star Zhang Hanyu (The Great Wall, Operation Mekong) and Japanese actor-musician Masaharu Fukuyama (Suspect X, Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends) in the lead roles. The predominantly Japanese supporting cast includes Yasuaki Kurata, Jun Kunimura, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, Nanami Sakuraba, Naoto Takenaka and Tao Okamoto.

Exclusive: Legal thriller starring Masaharu Fukuyama due to hit screens in Japan in September.

Japan’s Gaga Corporation and Wild Bunch are re-teaming to jointly sell Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s upcoming legal thriller The Third Murder.

Popular Japanese singer and actor Masaharu Fukuyama reunites with Kore-eda to play a lawyer who takes on a complicated murder case that will shake his very belief in the law.

Fukuyama starred in Kore-eda’s 2013 Cannes Jury Prize winner Like Father, Like Son, playing a successful businessman faced with a tough decision on discovering the child he brought up as his own was swapped with his biological son at birth.

Gaga will represent Asian territories and Wild Bunch is handling the rest of the world.

The new deal extends a collaboration begun on Kore-eda’s 2011 film I Wish and continued on his subsequent films Like Father, Like Son, Our Little Sister and After The Storm.

Toho Co., Ltd...

“The story is about an attorney, a murderer, and the family of a victim,” director Hirokazu Kore-eda told us earlier this year, referencing his upcoming feature The Third Murder. Following his stellar drama After the Storm, the Japanese director is shifting gears to more genre-focused fare, while seemingly still retaining a human core at the center, for his next film.

While it wasn’t ready for Cannes as editing is still underway, his next feature will arrive in Japan this September and the first teaser has arrived. Starring Masaharu Fukuyama and Koji Yakusho, the film centers on a crime trial about a homicide 30 years ago in which a president of a factory was killed, but now a lawyer has doubts about his client.

Check out the trailer below, courtesy of Cine Maldito, and see the director’s 10 favorite films.

There is a thrilling selection of Chinese-language titles at Filmart this year. Liz Shackleton picks out some of the most promising.

With very few Hong Kong or mainland Chinese sellers making the journey to this year’s European Film Market in Berlin, Filmart offers a chance for buyers to catch up with the Chinese-language titles that will be rolled out in the region for the rest of the year.

After serving up the biggest film of the Chinese New Year holiday — Kung Fu Yoga, starring Jackie Chan and directed by Stanley Tong — China’s Sparkle Roll Media has launched a Hong Kong-based sales arm that is selling Ding Sheng’s reboot of the A Better Tomorrow series.

Other high-profile action titles new to market include Distribution Workshop’s Extraordinary Mission, from the creative teams behind the Infernal Affairs and Overheard series, and Huayi Brothers’ crime drama Explosion, starring Duan Yihong.

Previously announced...

International festival favorite Hirokazu Kore-eda's new film will center on a court case in which Masaharu Fukuyama plays a successful lawyer defending a convicted murderer, played by Koji Yakusho (Memoirs of a Geisha).

Fukuyama also starred in Kore-eda's Like Father, Like Son, which won the grand jury prize at Cannes in 2013 and was picked up by Steven Spielberg, who headed the jury that year, for a DreamWorks remake.

Kore-eda's films have been selected for competition at Cannes four times, the most recent entry being Our Little Sister in 2015.

The story is based on an original script...

John Woo, the celebrated Hong Kong director behind such action masterpieces as A Better Tomorrow, The Killer and Hard Boiled, has begun prinicpal photography on Manhunt in Osaka, Japan. The Us$40 million Media Asia production is a remake of the 1976 film starring Ken Takakura, which itself was adapted from the novel by Kimi yo Funnu no Kawa o Watare by Juko Nishimura.  Woo's international cast includes mainland star Zhang Hanyu (The Taking of Tiger Mountain), Japanese actors Masaharu Fukuyama (Like Father, Like Son), Jun Kunimura and Tao Okamoto, South Korean actress Ha Ji-won (Duelist) and Mandopop star Qi Wei. The crew behind Manhunt is also an impressive mix of Chinese and Japanese talent, including producer Gordon Chan and cinematographer Takuro Ishizaka.   "Manhunt tells the...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Production has started on John Woo’s highly-anticipated action thriller Manhunt, starring Zhang Hanyu and Masaharu Fukuyama, in Osaka, Japan.

Korean actress Ha Ji-won and Chinese actress Qi Wei have also joined the cast of the $40m film, produced by Gordon Chan and Chan Hing-kai and backed by Hong Kong’s Media Asia.

The film’s ensemble cast also includes veteran and upcoming Japanese actors such as Yasuaki Kurata, Jun Kunimura, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, Nanami Sakuraba, Naoto Takenaka and Tao Okamoto.

Japanese crew have also been tapped for the film, including art director Yohei Taneda and cinematographer Takuro Ishizaka.

The cast and crew held a traditional Japanese kagami biraki ceremony to mark the start of production, also attended by local government officials. Osaka prefecture and the Japanese rail transit corporation are both supporting the shooting of the film.

Based on a novel by Juko Nishimura, about a lawyer wrongly accused of murder, the project...

Exclusive: Three stars Louis Koo, Wallace Chung and Vicki Zhao Wei.

Well Go USA has pounced on Johnnie To’s upcoming crime thriller Three, acquiring rights for North America, UK, Australia and New Zealand.

Hong Kong-based Media Asia is handling sales on the film, which stars Louis Koo, Wallace Chung and Vicki Zhao Wei and is in post-production.

Well Go is planning a theatrical release in North America day-and-date with China on June 24, 2016.

Produced by Media Asia, Milkyway Image and Shanghai Hairun Film & TV, Three revolves around a showdown in a hospital involving a criminal with a bullet in his head, a policeman and a surgeon.

Media Asia is screening a 45-minute documentary about the making of the film in the Cannes market, which is being sold as a stand-alone programme.

Media Asia’s Cannes slate also includes John Woo’s action thriller Manhunt, starring Chinese actor Zhang Hanyu and Japan’s Masaharu Fukuyama, which is scheduled...

Based on the novel “Kimi yo Fundo no Kawa o Watare” (translated as “Hot Pursuit”) by Juko Nishimura, the original film was screened on 1978, with Ken Takakura in the leading role, and became a massive hit as the first foreign film to be shown in post-Cultural Revolution China.

Japanese actor and singer Masaharu Fukuyama (Midsummer’s Equation, Like Father, Like Son, Suspect X) , China’s award-winning actor Zhang Hanyu (Assembly, The Taking of the Tiger Mountain) and actress Stephy Qi Wei (Coming Back, Broadcasting Girl) will lead the cast of John Woo’s upcoming film, that is set to screen in 2017.

The film, sees a prosecutor (Zhang) framed for robbery, rape and multiple murders set out to clear his name, while Fukuyama will play a detective chasing him.

The action-thriller is backed by Hong Kong’s Media Asia and will be produced on a budget of some $30 million. Shooting will largely take place in Osaka,...

Exclusive: Chinese star Zhang Hanyu and Japan’s Masaharu Fukuyama have been confirmed as the first leading cast for John Woo’s upcoming action thriller Manhunt.

Backed by Hong Kong’s Media Asia, the film is based on Japanese novel Hot Pursuit, from pulp fiction writer Juko Nishimura, about a prosecutor who is framed for robbery and rape and sets out on a mission to clear his name.

It was first adapted into a 1976 Japanese film, titled Kimi yo fundo no kawa wo watare, starring Ken Takakura.

Woo is directing the reboot from a script written by Chan Hing Kai (A Better Tomorrow) and Gordon Chan (Painted Skin). A third major cast member will be announced soon and production is set to begin at the end of May.

Zhang has starred in Chinese hits such as The Taking Of Tiger Mountain and Bodyguards And Assassins and will also appear in Zhang Yimou’s upcoming co-production The Great Wall, alongside...

Exclusive: Chinese star Zhang Hanyu and Japan’s Masaharu Fukuyama have been confirmed as the first leading cast for John Woo’s upcoming action thriller Manhunt.

Backed by Hong Kong’s Media Asia, the film is based on Japanese novel Hot Pursuit, from pulp fiction writer Juko Nishimura, about a prosecutor who is framed for robbery and rape and sets out on a mission to clear his name.

It was first adapted into a 1976 Japanese film, titled Kimi yo fundo no kawa wo watare, starring Ken Takakura.

Woo is directing the reboot from a script written by Chan Hing Kai (A Better Tomorrow) and Gordon Chan (Painted Skin). A third major cast member will be announced soon and production is set to begin at the end of May.

Zhang has starred in Chinese hits such as The Taking Of Tiger Mountain and Bodyguards And Assassins and will also appear in Zhang Yimou’s upcoming co-production The Great Wall, alongside...

Suspect X (Galileo) Movie ReviewStory66%Acting73%2016-01-2970%Overall ScoreReader Rating: (1 Vote)79%

Suspect X is a mystery/drama from Japan, the movie follows police officer Kaoru Utsumi (Kou Shibasaki) as she tries to solve the mystery of who strangled and mangled a man. However, as the mystery spirals out of control, she is forced to enlist the aid of the brilliant physicist Manabu Yukawa (Masaharu Fukuyama).

Although he is able to figure out that the actual crime was committed by the brilliant mathematician Tetsuya Ishgami (Shinichi Tsutsumi), figuring out how and why he did it, as well as proving it, becomes the battleground between two men who were once colleagues.

As the plot around the murder deepens, romance blooms very quietly between Kaoru Utsumi and Manabu Yukawa, culminating in a climax that requires all characters to apply their logic and intelligence in order to win the day.

However, this movie...

Great news UK readers and fans of Rurouni Kenshin! The final chapter of the live-action version of Nobuhiro Watsuki’s best-selling manga will finally hit the cinemas of the UK.

Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends, directed by Keishi Ohtomo, will be released on 17th April. The movie features Tekeru Satoh, Emi Takei, Munetaka Aoki, Kaito Oyagi, Tatsuya Fujiwara, among other actors. With a running time of more than two hours and some of the most incredible jaw dropping sword fight scenes this film will for sure please hardcore fans and noobies.

Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends

Director: Keishi Ohtomo

Screenwriter: Nobuhiro Watsuki (manga), Kiyomi Fuji, Keishi Ohtomo

Cast: Tatsuya Fijiwara, Tekeru Sato, Emi Takei, Masaharu Fukuyama, Min Tanaka

Photography: Takuro Ishizaka

Production: Japan | 2014

Original Title: Ruroni Kenshin: Densetsu no saigo-hen

Genre: Action | Adventure | Drama

Duration: 134 minutes

Release: 17th April, 2015 (UK)

The final battle is near. Shishio now armed...

The proverbial Top Ten List. A sacred tradition passed down by our cinematic elders. This is the fourth time I have partaken in this holy tradition, and one thing has remained constant is that this list is never set in stone. As we catch up with more films we missed or rewatch our favorites it causes us to like a movie more or less causing this list to change. In fact in 2012 and 2013 I ended up seeing my number one film of the year after I wrote up my Top 10. So the question becomes, “Why Do it?”. Well, for one it’s fun. At least I find it an enjoyable exercise as I try to break down the year that was. I watched 163 movies that were released in 2014. Narrowing that 163 down to a Top 10 is a challenge I enjoy.

Looking at 2014 as a whole it is evident it was a pretty good year.

Moviefone's Top DVD of the Week

"Like Father, Like Son"

What's It About? Two families are thrown into upheaval when it's discovered there was a mistake at the hospital where their respective sons were born. Ryota (Masaharu Fukuyama) has to decide what's more important to him, the relationship he's developed with the six-year-old child he thought was his biological son or his "real" son. Hirokazu Kore-eda explores what it means to be a family and a father in this intimate drama.

Why We're In: Kore-eda's a critically acclaimed filmmaker and beloved arthouse auteur whose work deserves to be seen on a wider scale. Don't let the subtitles scare you -- check it out!

Moviefone's Top Blu-ray of the Week

"Cry-Baby"

What's It About? Johnny Depp plays a swoon-worthy bad boy who falls for Allison (Amy Locane), a sweet girl who's feeling a little feisty. This doesn't sit well with Allison's...

Masaharu Fukuyama plays one of the dads in the wonderful Japanese flick Like Father, Like Son, and every time he appeared on the screen, I found myself catching my breath, he’s that gorgeous.

He seems to be mostly a TV actor in Japan, so I despair of ever seeing him on my movie screens again. This delicious nerdery appears to be from a show called Galileo, in which he plays “a genius physicist and university professor who solves unusual mysteries.” Sounds awesome.

He’s also a musician. Because of course he is:

So lovely.

And here’s a bonus extra photo, because it’s too adorable not to share. On the red carpet at Cannes last year with Like Father, Like Son, Fukuyama with Keita Ninomiya, who plays his son in the film:

(If you have a suggestion for someone we should female-gaze at, feel free to email me...

Stars: Masaharu Fukuyama, Machiko Ono, Yôko Maki, Rirî Furankî, Jun Fubuki, Shôgen Hwang, Kirin Kiki, Jun Kunimura | Written and Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda

When a family is having a baby one thing they do is trust the hospital they choose to look after the mother and baby. What if something happens in that hospital though and the babies are swapped? I know this is something we often see in “true life story” movies, but when the film comes from Japan and is from globally acclaimed director Hirokazu Koreeda you know get the feeling that you may be in for something just a little special. That is what you get with Like Father, Like Son (Soshite Chichi Ni Naru).

When Ryota (Masaharu Fukuyama) and Midori (Machiko Ono) receive a phone call from the hospital where their son was born their lives are turned upside down when they are told that the...

The renowned Indian actor Irrfan Khan received a Best Actor nomination at the prestigious Asian Film Awards (Afa) for his role in the critically-acclaimed film, The Lunchbox. The role had previously earned Mr. Khan a Best Actor award at the 2013 Saint Jean De Luz Film Festival Irrfan Khan will face stiff competition from 4 other nominees - Masaharu Fukuyama Japan, Like Father, Like Son), Song Kang-ho (Korea, The Attorney...

It's no surprise that director Hirokazu Kore-eda's "Like Father, Like Son" picked up the Jury Prize at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, and that jury president Steven Spielberg promptly bought the rights to a Us remake. This trenchant and humane family drama bears the mark of a master craftsmen whose sharp cinematic style never overshadows a sensitivity to the inner lives of everyday people.Though the setup, like the title, smacks of melodrama, the story unfolds believably as two sets of parents living in Tokyo learn from a blood test that their children were accidentally swapped at the hospital. For six years, Ryota (Masaharu Fukuyama), a workaholic architect, and wife Midori (Machiko Ono) have raised young son Keita (Keita Ninomiya). But he was never theirs to begin with.Keita biologically belongs to Yudai and Yukari, two shopkeepers who have Ryota's real son, Ryusei. Kore-eda wisely skirts the obvious cultural commentary...

New Release

The Legend of Hercules

PG-13, 1 Hr., 39 Mins.

The saga of brawny Greek demigod Hercules gets a Gladiator-style makeover in this rousingly schlocky sword-and-sandal spectacle. Twilight beefcake Kellan Lutz certainly knows how to fill out a toga, but when he’s not slashing his enemies to ribbons in the 300-inspired action smackdowns, he displays all the charisma of a broken lightbulb. Still, if it’s shirtless he-men squaring off in loincloths you’re after, you definitely won’t feel gypped. C+ —Chris Nashawaty

New Release

Like Father, Like Son

Not Rated, 2 Hrs.

In an austere Japanese tearjerker, a Tokyo...