News

Mayu earned an Mfa from the Graduate Film Program at New York University. In 2006, her first fiction feature film, “The Summer of Stickleback” was premiered in the competition section at the Busan International Film Festival, and it was theatrically released in Japan. In 2012, Mayu directed the documentary feature film, “Lonely Swallows–Living as the Children of Migrant Workers” which follows Japanese-Brazilian kids struggling to survive in Japan and Brazil. The film won the Grand Prix in Documentary Features at the Brazilian Film Festival. In 2015, Mayu directed another documentary feature film, “Alone in Fukushima.” The film follows a man who stays in the nuclear zone with animals in Fukushima. The film was screened at the documentary section at Montreal World Film Festival, and it was theatrically released in Japan. Her writing credit includes “Tokyo Trial” which was nominated for the 45th Emmy Award in Best TV Movie/Mini-Series. Her latest work...

The concept of “bullying the bully” has been one that has been repeatedly explored in Japanese cinema with films like “Confessions” and “Liverleaf” being the first that come to mind. Mayu Nakamura, however, takes it to a whole new level, as this time, we have a story of ‘scamming the scammer’, which goes much further than one could have imagined.

“Intimate Stranger” is screening at Helsinki Cine Aasia

Yuji is a young phone-scam artist, who, under the instructions of Kenichi, is tricking old ladies out of their money, pretending to be their grandson, sick with Covid and in need of hospital fees, who are to be picked up by a friend. Of course, the friend is Yuji himself. During one of his “endeavors”, he stumbles upon Megumi, a middle-aged woman who is in search of her missing teenage son. Yuji claims that he has information about him, and gradually strips...

Japanese auteur Sion Sono has been Japanese cinema’s most subversive filmmaker for 30 years now. Now, the man behind the likes of 2001’s “Suicide Club” and 2010’s “Cold Fish” makes his English-language debut with a leading man who can match his provocative style: Nic Cage.

Read More: ‘Prisoners Of The Ghostland’: No Brains, But Big TesticaaAARRRGHLs [Sundance Review]

For those familiar with Sono’s filmography, “Prisoners Of The Ghostland” will feel right at home alongside the likes of “Tokyo Gore Police” and others.

Continue reading ‘Prisoners Of The Ghostland’ Trailer: Nic Cage Stars In Sion Sono’s English-Language Debuting In September at The Playlist.

Based on the novel “Real Onigokko” by Yusuke Yamada, which has spawned six other films, “Tag” is another bloodthirsty trip by one of the masters of the category, Sion Sono.

The film starts in a fashion expected from Sion Sono, as a bus filled with schoolgirls is torn in half along with them, by something that seems like wind, in a bloodbath that leaves only Mitsuko standing. The cutting in half of schoolgirls continues for a while, until Mitsuko arrives in a school where Aki greets her, although she cannot remember who she is. The story continues in that fashion, with the protagonist finding herself in different settings, in one as Keiko, a woman who is about to get married, and in another as Izumi, a runner. The rest of the movies is a sequence of battles and constant running, in a story that is quite hard to follow.

Although not as frequently as the Koreans, Japanese still manage to turn up a number of crime films, mostly based on the plethora of novels of the genre that are published in the country, as much as on actual stories. The Yakuza theme, that was so common in Japanese cinema during the previous decades, is no longer at large and organized crime has given its place to the individual one; however, the quality has not deteriorated at the least, and as we are about to see in the list below, a number of masterpieces of the category are still being shot.

With a focus on diversity, here are 20 great Japanese films, in chronological order, where crime is the main element of the story.

1. Late Bloomer

Go Shibata presents a film concerning inability that keeps its distance from the common triumph stories typically shot regarding this topic. Instead, “Late Bloomer” focuses...

More than 30 years after his first film, Sono Sion has established himself as a brilliant, prolific and chameleonic director. In the past decade alone, you can find some of his best work: a hilarious tribute to guerrilla filmmaking and 35mm, with yakuzas, samurais and martial arts, Why Don’t You Play in Hell?; brutally violent and sordid films, Cold Fish and Guilty of Romance; dramas alluding to the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Himizu and The Land of Hope; a crazy hip hop musical, Tokyo Tribe; and an emotional kaiju and Christmas film with catchy rock songs, Love & Peace. On the other hand, Nicolas Cage became one of the most prolific Hollywood actors, finding in recent years memorable roles in genre cinema that, beyond subversive,...

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

Last night, Prisoners of the Ghostland, the latest from trailblazing filmmaker Sion Sono, premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. The genre-bending post-apocalyptic actioner stars Nicolas Cage as a bank robber called “Hero,” who is tasked by a nefarious figure known only as “The Governor” to retrieve his granddaughter (played by Sofia Boutella), who has run away and gone off the grid. To take on the role of The Governor in Prisoners of the Ghostland, Sono brought on veteran actor and fan favorite Bill Moseley, who relished the opportunity to play the over-the-top bad guy, even if he wasn’t very familiar with the director’s work prior to becoming involved.

“My contact for Ghostland was the writer, Reza Sixo Safai,” Moseley explained. “We're pals here in Los Angeles, and he had talked about the movie and suggested I look into it. I didn't really know anything about Sion Sono, so...

Devereux Milburn’s Honeydew is set to have its world premiere at the esteemed Tribeca Film Festival as part of its Midnight Selection. Check out the film's synopsis and official poster after a brief introduction to today's stories in Horror Highlights. Also: production details on Yoshiki Takahashi's Rageaholic and release details for both The Films Have Eyes as well as M.O.M. (Mothers of Monsters).

Honeydew Poster, Images, and Premiere Details: "See the first look at Devereux Milburn’s feverish debut Honeydew ahead of the film’s World Premiere next month at the Tribeca Film Fest’s Midnight Selection.

Honeydew is a feverish horror film set in rural New England, where strange cravings and hallucinations befall a young couple after seeking shelter in the home of an aging farmer and her peculiar son.

Directed and written by Milburn and produced by Dan Kennedy and Alan Pierson, the film...

Principal photography wrapped today on Interfilm’s Rageaholic, from writer/director Yoshiki Takahashi. The picture marks the feature directorial debut of prolific Tokyo-based artist Takahashi, who is widely-known for scripting Sion Sono’s celebrated 2010 blockbuster Cold Fish.

Rageaholic, which is based on a story by Yuki Kobayashi (Death Row Family), stars Yohta Kawase, model Aya Saiki, Ryuju Kobayashi (August In Tokyo), and Manzô Shinra (Ichi The Killer). It is produced by Kazuto Morita, Yukihisa Higami, Kazunori Shibasaki, and Takehiko Ito.

Rageaholic follows Yakuza-busting police officer Fukama (Kawase), who, after allowing his overly-violent nature to get the better of him, botches an arrest and leaves several bodies in his wake. Disgraced and sent to America for psychotherapy, he returns to Japan years later to discover that the town he once cleaned up is now so clean that it has literally become sanitized – with death as punishment for those who do not conform.

Interfilm’s Rageaholic Wraps Photography in Japan Picture marks feature directorial debut of acclaimed artist and scripter Yoshiki Takahashi Principal photography wrapped today on Interfilm’s Rageaholic, from writer/director Yoshiki Takahashi. The picture marks the feature directorial debut of prolific Tokyo-based artist Takahashi, who is widely-known for scripting Sion Sono’s celebrated 2010 blockbuster Cold Fish. Rageaholic, which …

The post Interfilm’s Rageaholic Wraps Principal Photography Today in Japan appeared first on Hnn | Horrornews.net.

One of the most extravagant Japanese directors is back: Sion Sono, and this time with a product produced by Netflix. His new movie is titled “The Forest of Love,” and it has no loss. Those who are assiduous Sion Sono’s fans will appreciate here many of his hallmarks and style, because “Forest of Love” is a kind of “Greatest Hits” by Sion Sono, as if “Noriko’s Dinner Table”, “Cold Fish” and “Why Don’t You Play in Hell ” were put together on a cocktail shaker and this was the result. The film is undoubtedly a crazy and frantic journey of violence that will lead all the characters to the most absolute dementia, and it is totally worth it.

On the one hand we have Mitsuko (Eri Kamataki) and Taeko (Kyoko Hinami), two friends who have known each other since high school. They both lived a traumatic experience while...

Celebrated Japanese director Sion Sono Has completed production on his most recent project “The Forest of Love”. This will be the second project Sono has completed for a streaming service, having previously worked on “Tokyo Vampire Hotel” for Amazon Japan.

“The Forest of Love” is set for release October 11th, 2019 through Netflix streaming service. Netflix has released a trailer for the production, which can be viewed below.

Japanese director Sion Sono suffered a heart attack Thursday and has since undergone an operation. Sono’s representatives have told Japanese media that his life is not in danger.

His illness may delay production of Nicolas Cage-starring horror-action film “Prisoners of the Ghostland,” which was scheduled to begin shooting this spring.

Cage is to star as a criminal out to rescue a kidnapped girl who has fallen into a dark alternative universe. Imogen Poots has also boarded the film, which is Sono’s first in English.

“Our understanding is that he is in very good condition, and there’s no impact on ‘Ghostland’ or timeline,” producer Nate Bolotin of Xyz Films told Variety in an email.

Pushing boundaries of sex and violence while mixing in classical music, Christian imagery and black humor, Sono became an international cult favorite in the early years of the millennium. Among his best-known films abroad are “Suicide Club,...

Loosely based on the Saitama serial murders of dog lovers, a case of a married couple who owned a pet shop and murdered at least four people, “Cold Fish” gave Sono the opportunity to present his version of how a serial killer film ought to be like.

Buy This Title

Syamoto is a humble and guileless exotic fish shop owner who is taken advantage of by both his spoiled daughter, Mitsuko and his second wife, Taeko. His daughter is an underage delinquent who spends her time flirting and sometimes beating her stepmother. One night, a grocery shop attendant catches her stealing; however, a peculiarly friendly man, Murata, manages to convince the clerk not to call the police. Furthermore, he is also an exotic fish shop owner and offers to hire Mitsuko in his establishment, which is far larger than Syamoto’s. Moreover, when Murata, who has become a friend of Syamoto,...

Movie trilogies have emerged in world cinema during the last decade or so, as one of the most favorite medium of films, and probably, as a countermeasure to the growing popularity of TV series. Evidently, this does not mean that there have not been trilogies in the past, but it seems like, at the moment, this is where the movie industry is heading.

In Asian cinema, though, trilogies have been a favorite medium since the 50’s, with their impact continuing to these days, although not in the same extend as in Hollywood. Filmmakers of the magnitutde of Satyajit Ray and Yasuhiro Ozu felt that a single movie could not contain their vision, and proceeded on shooting trilogies that include some of the all time, international masterpieces.

The tendency continues to later decades, with a number of the most acclaimed Asian directors presenting their own, either loose (Park Chan-wook and Wong...

“Tsumetai Nettaigyo” is Sion Sono’s and Yoshiki Takahashi’s latest screenplay directed by Sono himself. I’ve always really liked the way Sono films his scenes. It often feels as if we, the audience, see what his characters see; kind of like seeing directly through their eyes, standing where they stand, etc. He manages to put you in the scene with his actors. Amazing technique.

“Cold Fish” is apparently based on a true story and it starts like this: Nobuyuki Shamoto, a tropical fish store owner (Mitsuru Fukikoshi); Taeko, his new wife (Megumi Kagurazaka); and his daughter Mitsuko (Hikari Kajiwara) line up for a cozy little supper. The daughter then goes out to meet her Pontiac-Firebird-driving boyfriend, the wife turns down her husband when he tries to get frisky and well, the poor guy goes out in secret to puke in his bathroom.

“Drring! Drring!” The phone rings, Nobuyuki...

Cold Fish (aka Tsumetai nettaigyo), a Japanese film directed by Sion Sono (Suicide Girls aka Jisatsu sâkuru) is now available on DVD and several VOD options. Cold Fish only showed in limited art house theaters since it was released unrated. Starting today you can grab Cold Fish on DVD, ITunes, VOD, Xbox, PS3, Amazon Instant, Vudu, Cinema Now and Zune. Starting September 23, 2011 you can see Cold Fish on TV VOD channels. Cold Fish stars Makoto Ashikawa (Ju-on 2), Denden (Ju-on) and Mitsuru Fukikoshi (Samurai Zombie). Cold Fish captures the macabre in a way that is both tounge-in-check and terrifying in its levity. I thought that Cold Fish was both brilliant and interesting. Horror freaks should>>...

Cold Fish (aka Tsumetai nettaigyo), a Japanese film directed by Sion Sono (Suicide Girls aka Jisatsu sâkuru), will begin playing in art house theaters on August 5, 2011. (See below for listing). The film will be available on DVD and iTunes August 23, 2011 and on VOD September 23, 2011 through November 22, 2011. Cold Fish stars Makoto Ashikawa (Ju-on 2), Denden (Ju-on) and Mitsuru Fukikoshi (Samurai Zombie). Cold Fish is not exactly horror, and not really a horror comedy, yet manages to capture the macabre in a way that is both tongue-in-cheek and terrifying in it’s levity. Cold Fish starts out as a bit of a farce, and seems to >>...

Cold Fish (aka Tsumetai nettaigyo), a Japanese film directed by Sion Sono (Suicide Girls aka Jisatsu sâkuru), will be making its way to the Us unrated. In the film Cold Fish mild-mannered Shamoto's teenage daughter gets caught shoplifting. A generous fellow fish-store owner and his wife appear to help resolve the situation by having her work at their fish store. The inspiration for Cold Fish came from real events known as the "Saitama serial murders of dog lovers". Cold Fish stars Makoto Ashikawa (Ju-on 2), Denden (Ju-on) and Mitsuru Fukikoshi (Samurai Zombie). Since Cold Fish will be presented unrated it have a limited art house release (see below for listing) >>...

After his last feature "Love Exposure" being screened in Berlin, yesterday night Sion Sono's newest work called "Tsumetai Nettaigyo" ("Cold Fish") had its world premiere at Venice's Pala Darsena as part of the fest's Orrizonti section. This time Sono brings a horrific murder story based on the Saitama murders from the eighties committed by a dog kennel owner. Sono however logically made interesting changes, for example by transferring it to January 2009 at a tropical fish shop and added other made-up parts to it, while he still "...wanted to remain faithful..." to what once happened.

Opening up with what seems to be a family dinner on a rainy night, viewers are introduced to the dysfunctional family of father & tropical fish shop owner Shamoto (played by Mitsuru Fukikoshi, "Twilight Samurai", "Love Exposure"), stepmother Taeko and daughter Mitsuko, three characters Sono made up for his film to so express all his feelings in them.