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(Screened at the 2013 Raindance Film Festival) Controversial writer director Gen Takahashi returns with “Court of Zeus”, a courtroom drama which aims to lift the lid on corruption in the Japanese judiciary system. Gen is of course no stranger to such themes, having painted a less than favourable picture of the country’s police force in his superb 2006 offering “Confessions of a Dog”, a film which for many years struggled to earn the domestic release it undoubtedly deserved. Working again with director of photography Ryuji Ishikura and composer Jun Murakami, who scored his creatively morbid 2008 horror “Goth”, the film is another fiercely incendiary piece from the director, though this time one with a slightly different approach. Starring Hijiri Kojima (“The Love and Death of Kaoru Mitarai”), Shun Shioya (“Tokyo Noir”), Hironobu Nomura (“The Go Master”) and Jun Kawamoto, the film follows Kano, a fast-rising young judge and the perfect product of the court system,...

Third Window Films are pleased to have taken on board a big chunk of programming of the Way Out East Strand of the 21st Raindance Film Festival, one of the largest independent film festivals in the world. This year's festival will have a special focus on Japanese independent cinema with a strand called Way Out East featuring 13 films, of which 7 were programmed by the guys at Third Window Films. There will be UK premiers of its latest acquisitions: Sake-bomb and Shady, plus they will also be bringing over 5 directors from Japan to represent their latest works, so Raindance is the place to be in the UK for catching the latest and best independent cinema from Japan. Other highlights include, the world premieres of Court of Zues, with Q&A from director Gen Takahashi (Confessions of a Dog), The Kirishima Thing with Q&A from director Daihachi Yoshida (Funuke), A2-B-c...

WikiLeaks founder to judge films at the 21st Raindance Film Festival; 2013 line-up unveiled.Scroll down for full line-up of films

Julian Assange has joined the jury of the 21st Raindance Film Festival (Sept 25 - Oct 6), a London-based event that celebrates independent film in the UK and around the world.

The appointment is a controversial one. The Australian editor-in-chief and founder of WikiLeaks took refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning about sexual assault allegations.

It is understood that he fears Sweden would extradite him to the Us, where he believes he is wanted in relation to WikiLeaks’ disclosure of a significant amount of classified Us military and diplomatic documents.

Commenting on Assange’s appointment, Raindance founder Elliot Grove said: “Every year Raindance invites interesting people to join our jury. In the past we have had musicians like Mick Jones, Marky Ramone and [link...

“Aren’t you ashamed?” is a phrase oft repeated in Gen Takahashi’s blistering portrait of the Japanese police force, Confessions of a Dog, and it is one that is levelled as squarely at the audience as it is the ‘villains’ presented on screen. Over the course of just over three hours Takahashi paints a depressing picture of the widespread corruption in the Japanese police force and the way it infects every area from top to bottom.

Leading us through this murky world are a variety of police officers and journalists but key is the central character of Takeda, who gradually becomes absorbed into the corrupt police force and little by little loses any sense of right or wrong. Played by experienced character actor Shun Sugata, Takeda is a wonderfully sympathetic character in spite of his immoral behaviour. Conflicted and complex, Takeda is wonderfully written and Sugata’s performance, which...

Been meaning to link to this for a few weeks now, but Rupert Owen has posted up the slides from a talk he gave about starting a viable streaming video business. Of course, these would be much better with Owen talking along with them, but still very interesting to flip through and gives much to think about.News worth rejoicing over: Waylon Bacon’s putting together a compilation DVD of his amazing short films. He picked the best picture for the cover, too.Felix Vasquez Jr. of Cinema Crazed recently interviewed two of my favorite documentary people, Vic Zimet and Stephanie Silber of Random Lunacy fame.For the L Magazine, Mark Asch has a quick round-up of some of this year’s SXSW films, including the much anticipated The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye by Marie Losier. Asch says it’s “as intensely familiar to the doc’s core...

Gen Takahashi's Confessions of a Dog was a leap of faith by the director.  The Japanese police are a near bulletproof institution in their homeland, and to make a film criticizing them in such a brutal and searing way was certainly a risky operation.  Filming began the day after Christmas in 2004 with a projected 2006 release date.  However, upon completion, no cinema in Japan would touch it.  As Takeda, played with intense solemnity by Shun Sugata, says in the film, "there are two things no Japanese should question: the Emperor and the police".  Takahashi did the latter, and as a result, no one saw the film for almost five years.Confessions of a Dog is a story of police corruption of the most vile sort. ...

Jackass 3

DVD & Blu-ray, Paramount

Few movie franchises deliver the goods as consistently as the Jackass films. There's something reassuring, in these uncertain times, about the fact that when you sit down to watch a Jackass movie, a Jackass movie is exactly what you get. While their monstrously popular TV version spawned countless imitators, none of their copyists have followed them to the big screen. Why? Because none of them have either the brains or the balls to create something as randomly spectacular and dangerously playful as the fine work Johnny Knoxville and his cronies deliver. Kicking off with an introduction by the much missed Beavis and Butthead before launching into one of the best titles sequences to grace movie screens last year – candy-coloured, vari-speed footage of the gang pelted with paintballs, slapped with fish, etc – it then pummels the viewer with a torrent of quickfire mayhem. Some of it is...

[Our thanks to Christopher Bourne for the following review which initially appeared when the film screened at the New York Asian Festival. With the film appearing this weekend at the Shinsedai Festival in Toronto we present it again now..]

A very lengthy feature (three hours and fifteen minutes) which, like Ryosuke Hashiguchi's film All Around Us (also screening as part of Japan Cuts), deals with the criminal justice system in Japan, and that is as deliciously engrossing as it is disturbing, Gen Takahashi's Confessions of a Dog is perhaps the most devastating indictment of Japan's police ever committed to film. Following in the great tradition of, and likely inspired by, Sidney Lumet's stories of police corruption such as Serpico and Prince of the City (which this film is most analogous to), Confessions of a Dog maps out with surgical precision the anatomy of police crimes, and the system which supports and enables them.

A moment here to say a very public well done to Shinsedai Festival organizers Chris MaGee and Jasper Sharp. The complete festival lineup and schedule have been announced today and it's a stellar, diverse lineup of titles. Here's the announcement of the second block of titles:

The anticipation has been building for the past few weeks, but now we are very proud to announce the full line-up and screening schedule for the 2nd annual Shinsedai Cinema Festival taking place at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre in Toronto. Joining the already announced screenings of Kenji Mizoguchi's silent classic "The Water Magician" (with live musical accompaniment by Toronto's Vowls), the Canadian Premiere of Gen Takahashi's police epic "Confessions of a Dog" and the Toronto Premiere of the ward-winning concert documentary "Live Tape" are:

Kakera: A Piece Of Our Life (Toronto Premiere/ Opening Night Film): Haru (Hikari Mitsushima) is a...

The Toronto-based Shinsedai Festival got off to a roaring start in 2009 and though it hardly seems like a year has passed the first block of titles has already been announced for the 2010 edition.

Once again curated by Chris MaGee and Jasper Sharp, the festival will present the finest in Japanese independent film from the past year. And here's the initial announcement:

Since our inaugural year in 2009 so many great films have come out of Japan. Shinsedai Cinema Festival co-programmers Jasper Sharp (Midnight Eye) and Chris MaGee (Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow)have spent the past eight months watching as many of these films as humanly possible so that they can bring the best independent, and in many cases under-appreciated, Japanese films to movie audiences here in Toronto. From July 22nd to July 25th, 2010 the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre will be hosting this celebration of Japanese film, and while Sharp and MaGee are...

Serial killers, murder, mystery and a fascination with death. Gen Takahashi’s Goth (love of death) is heading stateside, with news that Wellgo USA are set to the release this dark little horror thriller on R1 DVD. A live-action adaptation of the award-winning novel by popular Japanese author Otsuichi, Goth stars Rin Takanashi and Kanata Hongo) in a disturbing tale of two teenagers with an unhealthy appetite for the macabre. Already adapted into a Manga, word is an American movie adaptation (though for once, it’s not allegedly going to be a direct remake of Takahashi's film) is already in the pipeline for 2011. Goth is released on Us DVD, May 11th, but region free savvy folk with an eye for a bargain should check out getting a UK copy of the movie. It’s been out there for quite a while, and copies are now going cheap. Kerching! Synopsis: A...

Serial killers, murder, mystery and a fascination with death. Gen Takahashi’s Goth (love of death) is heading stateside, with news that Wellgo USA are set to the release this dark little horror thriller on R1 DVD. A live-action adaptation of the award-winning novel by popular Japanese author Otsuichi, Goth stars Rin Takanashi and Kanata Hongo) in a disturbing tale of two teenagers with an unhealthy appetite for the macabre. Already adapted into a Manga, word is an American movie adaptation (though for once, it’s not allegedly going to be a direct remake of Takahashi's film) is already in the pipeline for 2011. Goth is released on Us DVD, May 11th, but region free savvy folk with an eye for a bargain should check out getting a UK copy of the movie. It’s been out there for quite a while, and copies are now going cheap. Kerching! Synopsis: A...

Distributor Well Go USA will be releasing Gen Takahashi's Goth on region 1 DVD on May 11. The film is based on an award-winning novel by Otsuichi which was later adapted to manga by Kendi Oiwa.

Kanata Hongo stars as a popular student at a suburban Tokyo high school named Itsuki Kamiyama who is secretly obsessed with death and human cruelty. One day he meets Yoru Morino (Rin Takanashi), a beautiful fellow student who goes largely unnoticed in school due to her quiet demeanor and tendency to keep to herself. However, her own fascination with death draws the pair together as they both take an interest in a series of recent killings. For some reason, the killer has been severing the left hands of his victims before carefully propping up their corpses in artistic scenes. When Morino finds the killer's notebook, she teams up with Kamiyama to get to each death scene before police,...

Fans of atmospheric Japanese murder and mystery should look no further than the upcoming release of Goth: Love of death. A live-action adaptation of the award-winning novel by popular Japanese author Otsuichi (Zoo), Goth is directed by Gen Takahashi (Confessions Of A Dog) and stars Rin Takanashi (Samurai Squadron Shinkenger) and Kanata Hongo (The Prince Of Tennis) in a disturbing tale of two teenagers with an unhealthy appetite for the macabre. The original source novel has already been adapted into a Manga by artist Kendi Oiwa and an American movie adaptation (interestingly, not a remake of Takahashi's film) is reportedly in the pipeline for 2011. Goth is release on UK R2 DVD, September 21st.

[Our thanks to Christopher Bourne for the following review.]

A very lengthy feature (three hours and fifteen minutes) which, like Ryosuke Hashiguchi’s film All Around Us (also screening as part of Japan Cuts), deals with the criminal justice system in Japan, and that is as deliciously engrossing as it is disturbing, Gen Takahashi’s Confessions of a Dog is perhaps the most devastating indictment of Japan’s police ever committed to film. Following in the great tradition of, and likely inspired by, Sidney Lumet’s stories of police corruption such as Serpico and Prince of the City (which this film is most analogous to), Confessions of a Dog maps out with surgical precision the anatomy of police crimes, and the system which supports and enables them.

Based on the horror novel of the same name written by Otsu-ich, the story is about two high school students fascinated by murder. The book is comprised of 6 short stories, and it's also been converted into a Manga. We reported earlier on the teaser here.

"High school students Itsuki Kamiyama and Yoru Morino share an odd fascination with human cruelty and murder. Kamiyama knew they would share a connection as soon as he noticed a cut mark on her wrist. Together they track a brutal serial killer in an attempt to find the latest two victims—not necessarily to help bring the killer to justice, but simply for their own morbid need to inspect his or her handiwork."

Trailer after the break. via nipponcinema.

Whew! Finally the elections are over, and no matter which side of the political fence you sit on, you can't deny that history has been made. The week of November 1-7, 2008, was full of highs and lows for me; while I was rejoicing at Obama's resounding success, I couldn't help but feel disheartened by the passage of Prop 8 in California and similar measures in other states. We've come so far; yet, there's still a lot of work to be done to ensure equal rights for all. But I know that's not what we're here to talk about. So let's rehash horror's wins and losses over the past seven days.

One upcoming flick that looks like a frontrunner is 100 Feet. Be sure to check out the new clip that showed up online. I don't know about you, but I get a real The Entity vibe off this thing. I can't wait to see if I'm right.

A while back you may recall a small bit of news about J.T. Petty (S&Man, The Burrowers) working on an adaptation of the popular Japanese book/manga Goth: A Novel of Horror. What may not have been mentioned was that Gen Takahashi was also working on one in the book’s homeland, as well, which is much further along.

The first teaser poster for Takahashi’s version showed up online recently, as did an official teaser trailer, which you can see below thanks to the guys at Twitch Film. Goth consists of six stories about Japanese youth gone wrong and features all kinds of things we never see depicted in North America, from attempted teen suicide to self abuse and all manner of bad teenage behavior. A synopsis for all six stories featured in the novel can be found right here.

So what of Petty’s version of Goth?...

Gen Takahashi’s Goth is a film we’ve been keeping an eye on since first hearing about it a few months back for a few reasons.

First, it’s the film adaptation of a very popular novel by a writer known simply as Otsuichi.

Second, it’s a prime example of the sort of youth-gone-wrong film that makes up a significant sub-genre in Japan while being almost entirely non-existent here in North America. Graphic scenes of attempted suicide, self abuse and teen on teen violence are included, thins that have never been real popular with the powers that be in North America and became pretty much verboten in the post-Columbine media environment.

Finally, and most intriguingly from my perspective, this novel is also being adapted right now by director Jt Petty (The Burrowers, S&Man), which will give audiences a very rare chance to see material adapted almost simultaneously...

Based on the horror novel of the same name written by Otsu-ich, the story is about two high school students fascinated by murder. The book is comprised of 6 short stories, and it's also been converted into a Manga. We don't have a synopsis for the film adaptation yet, but we do have a teaser which looks quite good. It starts off a bit slow, but, wait for it! Check it out after the break. Special thanks to The Gomorrahizer for the heads up.

Let's start with a simple explanation: Goth is a novel of horror written by Otsu-ich about two high school students fascinated by murder. It's comprised of 6 short stories, and it's also been converted into a Manga. Now herein lies the coming battle. Fox Atomic has announced an adaptation to be done by Jt Petty (The Burrowers) and according to this interview Jt had this to say:

"Goth felt like a remarkably honest way to do a coming of age / teen romance picture, you cancel out all the maudlin and excessively cute dross that usually clogs those kind of movies with a good dose of sociopaths and serial killers. I've never known a teenage boy who wasn't at least a little bit of a sociopath."

As far as we know, Petty's version is still in development. Now on to the next: Japanese director Gen Takahashi is doing his own version and according to IMDb,...