“When people finish their day and hurry home, my day starts”
Each 20-minute episode of the popular Netflix series “Midnight Diner” begins with an overview of the crowded streets of central Tokyo at night, the teeming walkways and the iconic lights of the skyscrapers; the Master’s warm voice over, recites those words, introducing the show.
As Netflix announces a second season to hit the channel next winter, it’s worth knowing that the love affair of the public with “Midnight Diner” has been going on for quite a while, well before Netflix Original placed its label on it.
Adapted from the manga Shinya Shokudō by Yarō Abe, “Midnight Diner” made the leap from paper to TV in 2009, with a first 10-episode season, aired late at night. A second and a third season followed in 2011 and 2014 with increasing success throughout Asia. Then came the movie “Midnight Diner” which marked the...
Each 20-minute episode of the popular Netflix series “Midnight Diner” begins with an overview of the crowded streets of central Tokyo at night, the teeming walkways and the iconic lights of the skyscrapers; the Master’s warm voice over, recites those words, introducing the show.
As Netflix announces a second season to hit the channel next winter, it’s worth knowing that the love affair of the public with “Midnight Diner” has been going on for quite a while, well before Netflix Original placed its label on it.
Adapted from the manga Shinya Shokudō by Yarō Abe, “Midnight Diner” made the leap from paper to TV in 2009, with a first 10-episode season, aired late at night. A second and a third season followed in 2011 and 2014 with increasing success throughout Asia. Then came the movie “Midnight Diner” which marked the...
- 7/3/2019
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
A stray Chabrol, the next Juno and more Toni Servillo brilliance are among this year's hidden gems on the festival circuit. Hunt them down now before they're buried for ever
Home festivaling is one of the few perks of losing mobility through a back injury. What better way to cover 300+ screen events across the UK for Empire Online's Festivals & Seasons page than letting them come to you? Much festival fare falls squarely into the three-star category. But, every now and then, a disc arrives in the post containing a gem that leaves you wondering how the distributors missed it. So here's a personal selection of the festival favourites that have either failed to secure a UK release in 2009 or are not currently on the schedule for next year.
10) Let's Dance (dir. Noémie Lvovsky, France)
Festivals are invariably stuffed with quirky ensemble pieces, with Laís Bodanzky's superbly choreographed The Ballroom...
Home festivaling is one of the few perks of losing mobility through a back injury. What better way to cover 300+ screen events across the UK for Empire Online's Festivals & Seasons page than letting them come to you? Much festival fare falls squarely into the three-star category. But, every now and then, a disc arrives in the post containing a gem that leaves you wondering how the distributors missed it. So here's a personal selection of the festival favourites that have either failed to secure a UK release in 2009 or are not currently on the schedule for next year.
10) Let's Dance (dir. Noémie Lvovsky, France)
Festivals are invariably stuffed with quirky ensemble pieces, with Laís Bodanzky's superbly choreographed The Ballroom...
- 12/21/2009
- by David Parkinson
- The Guardian - Film News
2007 Shanghai International Film FestivalSHANGHAI -- "Tokyo Tower: Mom, Me & Sometimes Dad" directed by Joji Matsuoka, the Japanese mother/son weepie that packed theaters and boosted tissue sales, finds a less tearful counterpart in "Bizan", directed by Isshin Inudou, a mother/daughter drama, also released domestically in May to coincide with Mother's Day. While the former panders both to maternal fantasies of the prodigal-son-made-good and male audiences with a mother complex, the latter handles subtle female emotions with elegant poise and heart-breaking tenderness.
While "Tokyo Tower" may attract more worldwide attention through plaudits in Japan and male lead Odagiri Joe's international fame, "Bizan" appeals more narrowly to a more mature, particularly female audience, especially in Asian countries with high emphasis on family values. Captured by fluid, top-notch camerawork, the spectacle of Awa odori, Japan's biggest traditional festival where thousands clad in traditional costumes and props take to the streets in a heart-pounding dance, may attract a specific audience interested in Japanese folk culture.
Sakiko (Nanako Matsushima), who works for a travel corporation in Tokyo, is recalled to her hometown Tokushima, when her mother, Tatsuko (Nobuko Miyamoto), is suddenly hospitalized. Old tensions resurface, then she receives a double shock. Not only does she learn that Tatsuko has only a few months to live, she discovers that her father, whom she has never met and thought to be long dead, is alive.
As she embarks on a trip to find him, his old love letters become her guide in retracing footsteps of her parents' romantic rendezvous. At the annual Awa odori summer dance festival, Sakiko fulfills her mother's last wish.
In tone and spirit, "Bizan" recalls another classic Asian mother/daughter drama, "Song of the Exile" (1990) by Ann Hui. Both are about women who become cultural or social exiles by uprooting themselves to settle in the hometown of their lost loves. Both deal with the rift between two generations, and their reconciliation through unlocking family secrets and understanding, literally, where the mother comes from.
However, while Hui does not go beyond genre conventions of making the protagonists speak daggers to each other, Inudou (who co-wrote the script with Yukiko Yamamuro from a novel by Masashi Sada) exercises restraint where emotional outpour is expected. Tatsuko diffuses tension and evades unwanted questions with beautifully enunciated lines from her beloved bunraku (puppet) plays. When Sakiko meets her father, they avert their eyes and exchange niceties with agonizing formality.
Like other strong, elderly characters that people Inudo Isshin films, such as "Across a Gold Prairie", "Shinibana" and "La Maison de Himiko", Tatsuko is played with commanding power by Miyamoto. Impeccably coiffed and ramrod straight in her kimono, she conveys a full register of emotions even with a face caked in an inch of white powder. Recently returning to the big screen after several years' absence, Matsushima ("Ring", "Murder of the Inugami Clan") also turns in a natural and nuanced performance.
BIZAN
Toho/Bizan Seisaku Iinkai
Credits:
Director: Isshin Inudo
Writers: Isshin Inudo, Yukiko Yamamuro
Based on the novel by: Masashi Sada
Producer: Endo Manabu
Director of photography: Takahiro Tsutai
Production designer: Yukiharu Seshimo
Music: Michiru Oshima
Editor: Soichi Ueno
Cast:
Sakiko: Nanako Matsushima
Tatsuko: Nobuko Miyamoto
Daisuke: Takao Osawa
Running time -- 120 minutes
No MPAA rating...
While "Tokyo Tower" may attract more worldwide attention through plaudits in Japan and male lead Odagiri Joe's international fame, "Bizan" appeals more narrowly to a more mature, particularly female audience, especially in Asian countries with high emphasis on family values. Captured by fluid, top-notch camerawork, the spectacle of Awa odori, Japan's biggest traditional festival where thousands clad in traditional costumes and props take to the streets in a heart-pounding dance, may attract a specific audience interested in Japanese folk culture.
Sakiko (Nanako Matsushima), who works for a travel corporation in Tokyo, is recalled to her hometown Tokushima, when her mother, Tatsuko (Nobuko Miyamoto), is suddenly hospitalized. Old tensions resurface, then she receives a double shock. Not only does she learn that Tatsuko has only a few months to live, she discovers that her father, whom she has never met and thought to be long dead, is alive.
As she embarks on a trip to find him, his old love letters become her guide in retracing footsteps of her parents' romantic rendezvous. At the annual Awa odori summer dance festival, Sakiko fulfills her mother's last wish.
In tone and spirit, "Bizan" recalls another classic Asian mother/daughter drama, "Song of the Exile" (1990) by Ann Hui. Both are about women who become cultural or social exiles by uprooting themselves to settle in the hometown of their lost loves. Both deal with the rift between two generations, and their reconciliation through unlocking family secrets and understanding, literally, where the mother comes from.
However, while Hui does not go beyond genre conventions of making the protagonists speak daggers to each other, Inudou (who co-wrote the script with Yukiko Yamamuro from a novel by Masashi Sada) exercises restraint where emotional outpour is expected. Tatsuko diffuses tension and evades unwanted questions with beautifully enunciated lines from her beloved bunraku (puppet) plays. When Sakiko meets her father, they avert their eyes and exchange niceties with agonizing formality.
Like other strong, elderly characters that people Inudo Isshin films, such as "Across a Gold Prairie", "Shinibana" and "La Maison de Himiko", Tatsuko is played with commanding power by Miyamoto. Impeccably coiffed and ramrod straight in her kimono, she conveys a full register of emotions even with a face caked in an inch of white powder. Recently returning to the big screen after several years' absence, Matsushima ("Ring", "Murder of the Inugami Clan") also turns in a natural and nuanced performance.
BIZAN
Toho/Bizan Seisaku Iinkai
Credits:
Director: Isshin Inudo
Writers: Isshin Inudo, Yukiko Yamamuro
Based on the novel by: Masashi Sada
Producer: Endo Manabu
Director of photography: Takahiro Tsutai
Production designer: Yukiharu Seshimo
Music: Michiru Oshima
Editor: Soichi Ueno
Cast:
Sakiko: Nanako Matsushima
Tatsuko: Nobuko Miyamoto
Daisuke: Takao Osawa
Running time -- 120 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 6/18/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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