Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.
Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.
A shortlist of 15 finalists is...
Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.
A shortlist of 15 finalists is...
- 9/5/2022
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.
Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.
A shortlist of 15 finalists is...
Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.
A shortlist of 15 finalists is...
- 9/2/2022
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
As predicted, Janus Films’ “Drive My Car” has claimed victory at the 2022 Oscars for Best International Feature Film. The prize was handed out during ABC’s Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday, March 27 — see the complete Oscars winners list.
This marks Japan’s fifth overall trophy in the Best International Feature Film category (which prior to 2020 was called Best Foreign Language Film). Back when the category was non-competitive, the country was awarded with three honorary Oscars for “Rashomon” (1951), “Gate of Hell” (1954) and “Samurai, The Legend of Musashi” (1955). “Departures” (2008) and “Drive My Car” are the two Japanese film to claim victory against nominees in the modern era.
See 2022 Oscar winners list in all 23 categories: Who won at 94th Academy Awards?
The three-hour movie from director Ryusuke Hamaguchi tells the story of a recent widower (played by Hidetoshi Nishijima) who is hired to direct a play and the young woman (played by Toko...
This marks Japan’s fifth overall trophy in the Best International Feature Film category (which prior to 2020 was called Best Foreign Language Film). Back when the category was non-competitive, the country was awarded with three honorary Oscars for “Rashomon” (1951), “Gate of Hell” (1954) and “Samurai, The Legend of Musashi” (1955). “Departures” (2008) and “Drive My Car” are the two Japanese film to claim victory against nominees in the modern era.
See 2022 Oscar winners list in all 23 categories: Who won at 94th Academy Awards?
The three-hour movie from director Ryusuke Hamaguchi tells the story of a recent widower (played by Hidetoshi Nishijima) who is hired to direct a play and the young woman (played by Toko...
- 3/28/2022
- by Marcus James Dixon
- Gold Derby
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car” has won Best International Feature at the 94th Academy Awards. The Japanese film is only the second film from that country to win this prize competitively, following 2008’s “Departures.” Japan previously won three Honorary Oscars before the (previously named) Best Foreign Language Film category was instituted for films from 1956. Those honorees were Akira Kurosawa’s “Rashomon,” Teinosuke Kinugasa’s “Gate of Hell,” and Hiroshi Inagaki’s “Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto.”
“Drive My Car” was far and away the the favorite to win Best International Feature this year, and it stands as not just one of the most acclaimed international features of the year, but one of the most acclaimed films full stop. It was up against Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated Danish submission “Flee,” Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Hand of God” (Italy), Bhutan’s entry “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom” by Pawo Choyning Dorji,...
“Drive My Car” was far and away the the favorite to win Best International Feature this year, and it stands as not just one of the most acclaimed international features of the year, but one of the most acclaimed films full stop. It was up against Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated Danish submission “Flee,” Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Hand of God” (Italy), Bhutan’s entry “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom” by Pawo Choyning Dorji,...
- 3/28/2022
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
The country of Japan has won the Best International Feature Oscar four times through the years, but only one of those, “Departures” (2008), was a competitive award. The first three — “Rashomon” (1951), “Gate of Hell” (1954) and “Samurai, The Legend of Musashi” (1955) — were honorary awards with no other nominees. Now, Culture Entertainment’s “Drive My Car” is predicted to become Japan’s fifth overall winner, according to Gold Derby’s Oscar odds.
Directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, “Drive My Car” tells the story of a recent widower (Hidetoshi Nishijima) who is hired to direct a play. A young woman (Toko Miura) is assigned to be his chauffeur, which initially frustrates him as he has a routine of driving himself. The three-hour movie began its awards run at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won statues for Best Screenplay (Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe), the Fipresci Prize and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. It’s...
Directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, “Drive My Car” tells the story of a recent widower (Hidetoshi Nishijima) who is hired to direct a play. A young woman (Toko Miura) is assigned to be his chauffeur, which initially frustrates him as he has a routine of driving himself. The three-hour movie began its awards run at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won statues for Best Screenplay (Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe), the Fipresci Prize and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. It’s...
- 1/27/2022
- by Marcus James Dixon
- Gold Derby
Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2022 Academy Awards.
Entries for the 2022 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry
The 94th Academy Awards will take place on March 27, 2022 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. This is the first time since 2018 that the ceremony will take place in March, having moved to avoid conflicting with the Winter Olympics.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly non-English dialogue...
Entries for the 2022 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry
The 94th Academy Awards will take place on March 27, 2022 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. This is the first time since 2018 that the ceremony will take place in March, having moved to avoid conflicting with the Winter Olympics.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly non-English dialogue...
- 10/11/2021
- by Ben Dalton¬Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
The film received a Cannes 2020 label and premiered at Toronto in September.
Japan has selected Naomi Kawase’s True Mothers as its entry for the best international feature film category at the Oscars.
The decision was made by the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan.
Kawase’s drama received a Cannes 2020 label earlier this year and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last month before screening at San Sebastian.
True Mothers is a drama in which a woman with an adopted child is contacted unexpectedly by the child’s birth mother.
This is the first time Kawase has represented...
Japan has selected Naomi Kawase’s True Mothers as its entry for the best international feature film category at the Oscars.
The decision was made by the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan.
Kawase’s drama received a Cannes 2020 label earlier this year and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last month before screening at San Sebastian.
True Mothers is a drama in which a woman with an adopted child is contacted unexpectedly by the child’s birth mother.
This is the first time Kawase has represented...
- 10/29/2020
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
by Cláudio Alves
Last time we explored the history of non-English speaking films at the Academy Awards, we looked at the success of Japanese cinema in the Best Costume Design category. In 1956, two years after the historical victory of Teinosuke Kinugasa's Gate of Hell, the Academy finally inaugurated the Best Foreign Language Oscar as a competitive category. Federico Fellini's La Strada was the first winner and, like Gate of Hell, it also scored a nomination in another category, Best Original Screenplay. This time around, though, the foreign film champion lost that additional statuette. However, it didn't lose to a Hollywood production or even an English-language one. Instead, that year's prize for Best Original Screenplay went to one of the weirdest Oscar winners of all time.
We're talking about a nearly dialogue-free French short film about a magical balloon directed and written by the creator of the Risk board game…...
Last time we explored the history of non-English speaking films at the Academy Awards, we looked at the success of Japanese cinema in the Best Costume Design category. In 1956, two years after the historical victory of Teinosuke Kinugasa's Gate of Hell, the Academy finally inaugurated the Best Foreign Language Oscar as a competitive category. Federico Fellini's La Strada was the first winner and, like Gate of Hell, it also scored a nomination in another category, Best Original Screenplay. This time around, though, the foreign film champion lost that additional statuette. However, it didn't lose to a Hollywood production or even an English-language one. Instead, that year's prize for Best Original Screenplay went to one of the weirdest Oscar winners of all time.
We're talking about a nearly dialogue-free French short film about a magical balloon directed and written by the creator of the Risk board game…...
- 5/22/2020
- by Cláudio Alves
- FilmExperience
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.
Alice (Josephine Mackerras)
It makes no sense. The night before saw Alice Ferrand’s (Emilie Piponnier) husband François (Martin Swabey) going out of his way to passionately make-out with her in front of their friends at a dinner party and now he won’t answer her calls. Despite his running out of the house earlier than usual without any explanation, however, there’s nothing to make her think something is wrong until a trip to the drugstore exposes a freeze on their finances. One credit card won’t work. Then another. The Atm won’t accept her sign-in and François still isn’t picking up his phone.
Alice (Josephine Mackerras)
It makes no sense. The night before saw Alice Ferrand’s (Emilie Piponnier) husband François (Martin Swabey) going out of his way to passionately make-out with her in front of their friends at a dinner party and now he won’t answer her calls. Despite his running out of the house earlier than usual without any explanation, however, there’s nothing to make her think something is wrong until a trip to the drugstore exposes a freeze on their finances. One credit card won’t work. Then another. The Atm won’t accept her sign-in and François still isn’t picking up his phone.
- 5/15/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
We shared a list of new to streaming titles and then polled you on which new-to-streaming titles that Nathaniel had never seen did he have to watch and write about? The winner by a considerable margin was Voyage of the Damned (1976). This all star WW II era drama about a ship carrying German Jewish refugees away from Nazi Germany was nominated for 3 Oscars (including Supporting Actress) and 6 Golden Globes (including Best Picture Drama) and is now streaming on HBO. So watch it this week and we'll discuss on Monday February 24th.
The vote totals if you're interested:
Voyage of the Damned (1976) - 40% of the votes The Tin Drum (1979) - 14% of the votes Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987) -14% of the votes The Island (2005) - 13% of the votes Footlight Parade (1933), Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974), Dirty Harry (1971), and Gate of Hell (1953) divvied up the remaining votes with under 5% each.
The vote totals if you're interested:
Voyage of the Damned (1976) - 40% of the votes The Tin Drum (1979) - 14% of the votes Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987) -14% of the votes The Island (2005) - 13% of the votes Footlight Parade (1933), Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974), Dirty Harry (1971), and Gate of Hell (1953) divvied up the remaining votes with under 5% each.
- 2/19/2020
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Machiko Kyo, an actress who starred in some of the most internationally acclaimed Japanese films of the postwar era, died in Tokyo on Sunday at age 95, her former studio Toho announced Tuesday. The cause of death was heart failure.
Born in Osaka in 1924 as Motoko Yano, she joined the Osaka Shochiku Girls Opera in 1936 and, using the stage name Machiko Kyo, the Daiei studio in 1949. Though viewed by studio boss Masaichi Nagata as a Japanese answer to the voluptuous Hollywood sirens of the era, she first came to attention of the world as the sexually assaulted wife of a murdered samurai in Akira Kurosawa’s “Rashomon” (1950). The winner of the Golden Lion at Venice, the film brought not only Kyo and Kurosawa but also Japanese cinema to the attention of the West.
Kyo followed up with starring roles in Kenji Mizoguchi’s “Ugetsu” (1953) and Teinosuke Kinugasa’s “Gate of Hell...
Born in Osaka in 1924 as Motoko Yano, she joined the Osaka Shochiku Girls Opera in 1936 and, using the stage name Machiko Kyo, the Daiei studio in 1949. Though viewed by studio boss Masaichi Nagata as a Japanese answer to the voluptuous Hollywood sirens of the era, she first came to attention of the world as the sexually assaulted wife of a murdered samurai in Akira Kurosawa’s “Rashomon” (1950). The winner of the Golden Lion at Venice, the film brought not only Kyo and Kurosawa but also Japanese cinema to the attention of the West.
Kyo followed up with starring roles in Kenji Mizoguchi’s “Ugetsu” (1953) and Teinosuke Kinugasa’s “Gate of Hell...
- 5/15/2019
- by Mark Schilling
- Variety Film + TV
Bradley Cooper‘s remake of “A Star is Born” has reaped bids with 12 of the 13 guilds that hand out awards but has yet to win with any of the six heard from so far. Cooper was widely expected to take home the Best First-Time Director prize at the DGA Awards on Feb. 2 but he lost that race to Bo Burnham (“Eighth Grade”). Is this losing streak a sign of things to come at the Academy Awards where it contends in eight categories?
It could well be. There is an Oscar curse on this classic tale of Hollywood. In all, the first three versions of “A Star is Born” earned 17 nominations but won just two. The original 1937 film claimed the screenplay award while the 1976 musical remake won Best Original Song (“Evergreen”) for its leading lady, Barbra Streisand. She was the first female composer to win this Oscar; Lady Gaga would be...
It could well be. There is an Oscar curse on this classic tale of Hollywood. In all, the first three versions of “A Star is Born” earned 17 nominations but won just two. The original 1937 film claimed the screenplay award while the 1976 musical remake won Best Original Song (“Evergreen”) for its leading lady, Barbra Streisand. She was the first female composer to win this Oscar; Lady Gaga would be...
- 2/4/2019
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
Bradley Cooper‘s remake of “A Star is Born” underperformed at Sunday’s Golden Globes winning just one of its five races: Lady Gaga shared in the prize for Best Original Song (“Shallow”). Could these shocking losses be a sign of things to come at the Oscars? Is there a curse on this classic tale of Hollywood?
Let’s take a look back at the results of how each of the first three versions of “A Star is Born” fared at the Academy Awards. Between them, they reaped 17 nominations but won just two. The original 1937 edition claimed the screenplay award while the 1976 musical remake won Best Original Song (“Evergreen”) for its star, Barbra Streisand. She was the first female composer to win this Oscar; Lady Gaga would be the 11th.
1937 version
This was a straight drama and was a loose retelling of the 1932 flick “What Price Hollywood.” It starred two...
Let’s take a look back at the results of how each of the first three versions of “A Star is Born” fared at the Academy Awards. Between them, they reaped 17 nominations but won just two. The original 1937 edition claimed the screenplay award while the 1976 musical remake won Best Original Song (“Evergreen”) for its star, Barbra Streisand. She was the first female composer to win this Oscar; Lady Gaga would be the 11th.
1937 version
This was a straight drama and was a loose retelling of the 1932 flick “What Price Hollywood.” It starred two...
- 1/7/2019
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
An Actor’s Revenge
Blu ray
Criterion
1963 / Color / 2.39:1 / 113 Min. / Street Date February 20, 2018
Starring Kazuo Hasegawa
Cinematography by Setsuo Kobayashi
Written by Daisuke Itô, Teinosuke Kinugasa
Edited by Shigeo Nishida
Directed by Kon Ichikawa
From Twelfth Night to Homicidal, casting calls for cross-dressers are a Hollywood tradition. The stories are alike in their differences; Katherine Hepburn was dodging the cops, Jack Lemmon was fleeing the mob, Dustin Hoffman was just an actor begging for work. Yukitarō, the enigmatic hero of An Actor’s Revenge, is gainfully employed but his motives are far more complicated than Hoffman’s needy thespian.
The story of a female impersonator’s vengeful killing spree, Kon Ichikawa’s 1963 film boasts a plot line John Waters would surely appreciate. But where Waters revels in the high comedy of lowlifes, Ichakawa’s movie is a ravishing melodrama set in the elevated atmosphere of death-dealing samurai, 19th century Kabuki...
Blu ray
Criterion
1963 / Color / 2.39:1 / 113 Min. / Street Date February 20, 2018
Starring Kazuo Hasegawa
Cinematography by Setsuo Kobayashi
Written by Daisuke Itô, Teinosuke Kinugasa
Edited by Shigeo Nishida
Directed by Kon Ichikawa
From Twelfth Night to Homicidal, casting calls for cross-dressers are a Hollywood tradition. The stories are alike in their differences; Katherine Hepburn was dodging the cops, Jack Lemmon was fleeing the mob, Dustin Hoffman was just an actor begging for work. Yukitarō, the enigmatic hero of An Actor’s Revenge, is gainfully employed but his motives are far more complicated than Hoffman’s needy thespian.
The story of a female impersonator’s vengeful killing spree, Kon Ichikawa’s 1963 film boasts a plot line John Waters would surely appreciate. But where Waters revels in the high comedy of lowlifes, Ichakawa’s movie is a ravishing melodrama set in the elevated atmosphere of death-dealing samurai, 19th century Kabuki...
- 3/27/2018
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Craig Lines Apr 5, 2017
Marvel? DC? They have their moments, but how about Shogun Assassin, and in turn, the Lone Wolf & Cub movies?
Like most western viewers, I came to the Lone Wolf & Cub series via Shogun Assassin – a recut/mash-up of the first two movies, trimmed to 90 minutes and dubbed into English by a pair of enterprising Andy Warhol acolytes. It was one of the original 'video nasties' in the UK, banned for years, so highly desirable to a kid like me. And it didn’t disappoint. In fact, it was probably the goriest movie on the list.
While it may seem criminal now to butcher a pair of bona fide Japanese classics and completely change their meaning and tone, Shogun Assassin got away with it by being so vibrant and hyperactive. The inappropriate score is a joyful synthesiser meltdown and the spirited dub goes full-pelt, even if what they...
Marvel? DC? They have their moments, but how about Shogun Assassin, and in turn, the Lone Wolf & Cub movies?
Like most western viewers, I came to the Lone Wolf & Cub series via Shogun Assassin – a recut/mash-up of the first two movies, trimmed to 90 minutes and dubbed into English by a pair of enterprising Andy Warhol acolytes. It was one of the original 'video nasties' in the UK, banned for years, so highly desirable to a kid like me. And it didn’t disappoint. In fact, it was probably the goriest movie on the list.
While it may seem criminal now to butcher a pair of bona fide Japanese classics and completely change their meaning and tone, Shogun Assassin got away with it by being so vibrant and hyperactive. The inappropriate score is a joyful synthesiser meltdown and the spirited dub goes full-pelt, even if what they...
- 4/4/2017
- Den of Geek
After the films from the area that won an Oscar, it is time to present the individual awards. As you will see, the winners are many since they have begun netting the golden statue since 1954.
Haing S. Ngor from Cambodia won in 1984 the Oscar for Actor in a Supporting Role, for “The Killing Fields”
Miyoshi Umeki from Japan won in 1957 the Oscar for Actress in a Supporting Role, for “Sayonara”.
Ang Lee from Taiwan won twice the Oscar for Best Director, in 2005 for “Brokeback Mountain” and in 2012 for Life of Pi. He was the first Asian to win in this particular category.
Peter Pau from Hong Kong won in 2000 the Oscar for Best Cinematography, for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”.
Timmy Yip from Hong Kong won in 2000 the Oscar for Best Art Direction, for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”.
Sanjo Wada from Japan won in 1954 the Oscar for Best Costume Design, for...
Haing S. Ngor from Cambodia won in 1984 the Oscar for Actor in a Supporting Role, for “The Killing Fields”
Miyoshi Umeki from Japan won in 1957 the Oscar for Actress in a Supporting Role, for “Sayonara”.
Ang Lee from Taiwan won twice the Oscar for Best Director, in 2005 for “Brokeback Mountain” and in 2012 for Life of Pi. He was the first Asian to win in this particular category.
Peter Pau from Hong Kong won in 2000 the Oscar for Best Cinematography, for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”.
Timmy Yip from Hong Kong won in 2000 the Oscar for Best Art Direction, for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”.
Sanjo Wada from Japan won in 1954 the Oscar for Best Costume Design, for...
- 2/28/2016
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The first successes of Asian films in the Oscars occured during the 50’s, when the award for Foreign-Language Film was not yet introduced and the Academy presented Special/Honorary awards to the best foreign language films released in the United States. Three Japanese productions received these awards during this decade.
1951. Rashomon, by Akira Kurosawa. A priest, a woodcutter and another man are taking refuge from a rainstorm in the shell of a former gatehouse called Rashômon. The priest and the woodcutter are recounting the story of a murdered samurai whose body the woodcutter discovered three days earlier in a forest grove. Both were summoned to testify at the murder trial, the priest who ran into the samurai and his wife traveling through the forest just before the murder occurred.
Three other people who testified at the trial are supposedly the only direct witnesses: a notorious bandit named Tajômaru, who allegedly...
1951. Rashomon, by Akira Kurosawa. A priest, a woodcutter and another man are taking refuge from a rainstorm in the shell of a former gatehouse called Rashômon. The priest and the woodcutter are recounting the story of a murdered samurai whose body the woodcutter discovered three days earlier in a forest grove. Both were summoned to testify at the murder trial, the priest who ran into the samurai and his wife traveling through the forest just before the murder occurred.
Three other people who testified at the trial are supposedly the only direct witnesses: a notorious bandit named Tajômaru, who allegedly...
- 2/28/2016
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
With the exception of several crowd-pleasing samurai epics (like Zatoichi and Three Outlaw Samurai) and a few bargain-priced historical costume dramas (such as The Ballad of Narayama and Gate of Hell), the flow of newly released Japanese art films by the Criterion Collection has slowed to a trickle over the past five years or so. (And for the sake of politeness and avoiding pointless controversy, I won’t invoke Jellyfish Eyes in this argument either.) We’ve obviously enjoyed a steady stream of chanbara, Ozu and especially Kurosawa Blu-ray upgrades during this past half-decade, and there have been several outstanding Japanese sets recently issued as part of the Eclipse Series as well, but we really haven’t seen much else along these lines in the main lineup since Kaneto Shindo’s Kuroneko came out in the fall of 2011. That’s over 200 spine numbers ago! But I’m happy to report...
- 2/16/2016
- by David Blakeslee
- CriterionCast
Each week, the fine folks at Fandor add a number of films to their Criterion Picks area, which will then be available to subscribers for the following twelve days. This week, the Criterion Picks focus on nine films where some of the most famous directors in the Criterion Collection first directed a feature in color.
Saturate yourself in the vivid stylings of some of our favorite directors, wielding a whole new spectrum of expression for the very first time.
Don’t have a Fandor subscription? They offer a free trial membership.
Dodes’ka-den, the Japanese Drama by Akira Kurosawa
The unforgettable Dodes’Ka-den was made at a tumultuous moment in Kurosawa’s life. And all of his hopes, fears and artistic passion are on fervent display in this, his gloriously shot first color film.
Equinox Flower, the Japanese Drama by Yasujirô Ozu
Later in his career, Yasujiro Ozu started becoming...
Saturate yourself in the vivid stylings of some of our favorite directors, wielding a whole new spectrum of expression for the very first time.
Don’t have a Fandor subscription? They offer a free trial membership.
Dodes’ka-den, the Japanese Drama by Akira Kurosawa
The unforgettable Dodes’Ka-den was made at a tumultuous moment in Kurosawa’s life. And all of his hopes, fears and artistic passion are on fervent display in this, his gloriously shot first color film.
Equinox Flower, the Japanese Drama by Yasujirô Ozu
Later in his career, Yasujiro Ozu started becoming...
- 1/26/2016
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
Teinosuke Kinugasa is best-known in the West for Gate of Hell (1953), with its court intrigues in luminous color, and for A Page of Madness (a.k.a. A Page out of Order, 1926), which can be considered as the Japanese Caligari, only with dynamic and disturbing camera movement thrown into the mix, making it seem much more modern and involving that Robert Weine's expressionist classic.
But Kinugasa directed 109 movies by the IMDb's count, and while no doubt many of the silents are now lost, it's a great shame so few of the survivors have had any kind of release outside of their homeland (or even inside their homeland).
Yoso (a.k.a. Bronze Magician, 1963) was Kinugasa's penultimate film, and shows his powers undimmed. In fact, in some sense they could be considered condensed and purified. Japanese cinema takes seriously the principle that each film should exist as a beautiful art object:...
But Kinugasa directed 109 movies by the IMDb's count, and while no doubt many of the silents are now lost, it's a great shame so few of the survivors have had any kind of release outside of their homeland (or even inside their homeland).
Yoso (a.k.a. Bronze Magician, 1963) was Kinugasa's penultimate film, and shows his powers undimmed. In fact, in some sense they could be considered condensed and purified. Japanese cinema takes seriously the principle that each film should exist as a beautiful art object:...
- 12/11/2013
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
Orc Wars Trailer. Kohl Glass‘ Orc Wars (2013) movie trailer, a film co-produced by Mem Ferda, stars Rusty Joiner, Masiela Lusha, Wesley John, Isaac C. Singleton Jr., and Maclain Nelson. Orc Wars‘ plot synopsis: “Orc Wars tells the story of a Marine (John Norton) who buys a ranch in remote [...]
Continue reading: Orc Wars (2013) Movie Trailer: Marine fights Monsters at Gate of Hell...
Continue reading: Orc Wars (2013) Movie Trailer: Marine fights Monsters at Gate of Hell...
- 8/30/2013
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
Innovative animator whose credits include Lady and the Tramp, Petroushka and Grease
The pioneering animator John David Wilson, who has died aged 93, launched his studio, Fine Arts Films, in 1955 and found success with his first short subject, an adaptation of a Japanese folk tale, Tara the Stonecutter, which was screened in America with Teinosuke Kinugasa's Oscar-winning samurai drama Jigokumon (Gate of Hell, 1953). Next came Petroushka (1956), for which Igor Stravinsky (despite negative feelings towards animation following Disney's Fantasia) was persuaded by Wilson to prepare a shortened score for the film and conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the soundtrack. Petroushka won several festival awards and was the first animated film to be accepted by the Venice film festival.
Wilson's diverse productions ranged from innovative TV commercials for Instant Butter-Nut Coffee, made with the actor and humorist Stan Freberg, to a groundbreaking 15-minute film, Journey to the Stars, for the United...
The pioneering animator John David Wilson, who has died aged 93, launched his studio, Fine Arts Films, in 1955 and found success with his first short subject, an adaptation of a Japanese folk tale, Tara the Stonecutter, which was screened in America with Teinosuke Kinugasa's Oscar-winning samurai drama Jigokumon (Gate of Hell, 1953). Next came Petroushka (1956), for which Igor Stravinsky (despite negative feelings towards animation following Disney's Fantasia) was persuaded by Wilson to prepare a shortened score for the film and conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the soundtrack. Petroushka won several festival awards and was the first animated film to be accepted by the Venice film festival.
Wilson's diverse productions ranged from innovative TV commercials for Instant Butter-Nut Coffee, made with the actor and humorist Stan Freberg, to a groundbreaking 15-minute film, Journey to the Stars, for the United...
- 7/2/2013
- by Brian Sibley
- The Guardian - Film News
Amazon is having a massive sale on Criterion Collection titles, virtually all of them listed at 50% off and I have included more than 115 of the available titles directly below along with a selection of ten I consider must owns. Titles beyond my top ten include Amarcord, Christopher Nolan's Following, David Fincher's The Game, Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory and The Killing, Roman Polansk's Rosemary's Baby, Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore and The Darjeeling Limited and plenty of Terrence Malick. All the links lead directly to the Amazon website, so click on through with confidence. Small Note: By buying through the links below you help support RopeofSilicon.com as I get a small commission for the sales made through using these links. Thanks for reading and I appreciate your support. Top Ten Must Owns 8 1/2 (dir. Federico Fellini) 12 Angry Men (dir. Sidney Lumet) The 400 Blows (dir.
- 6/6/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Amazon is having a massive sale on Criterion Collection titles, virtually all of them listed at 50% off and I have included more than 115 of the available titles directly below along with a selection of ten I consider must owns. Titles beyond my top ten include Amarcord, Christopher Nolan's Following, David Fincher's The Game, Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory and The Killing, Roman Polansk's Rosemary's Baby, Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore and The Darjeeling Limited and plenty of Terrence Malick. All the links lead directly to the Amazon website, so click on through with confidence. Small Note: By buying through the links below you help support RopeofSilicon.com as I get a small commission for the sales made through using these links. Thanks for reading and I appreciate your support. Top Ten Must Owns 8 1/2 (dir. Federico Fellini) 12 Angry Men (dir. Sidney Lumet) The 400 Blows (dir.
- 6/6/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Chicago – Beneath every honorable warrior is a cold-hearted opportunist hell-bent on dominating his victimized prey at all costs. That’s a theory indelibly illustrated by Teinosuke Kinugasa’s revered 1953 classic, “Gate of Hell,” a melodrama populated by such frustrating characters that it nearly loses the viewer’s interest before its admittedly splendid finale, when the tale takes on grand dimensions of Greek tragedy.
The real—and, regrettably, only—reason to seek out Criterion’s new release of this long-forgotten landmark is to marvel at the new digital master of a 2011 2K restoration that brought Kôhei Sugiyama’s vibrant color photography back to life. This was not only one of the first color pictures in Japanese cinema, but one of the first films to utilize color with the arresting vibrance of a truly painterly eye. The golds, reds and blues pop with such potency that they would’ve felt right at...
The real—and, regrettably, only—reason to seek out Criterion’s new release of this long-forgotten landmark is to marvel at the new digital master of a 2011 2K restoration that brought Kôhei Sugiyama’s vibrant color photography back to life. This was not only one of the first color pictures in Japanese cinema, but one of the first films to utilize color with the arresting vibrance of a truly painterly eye. The golds, reds and blues pop with such potency that they would’ve felt right at...
- 4/29/2013
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Teinosuke Kinugasa’s glorious and vibrant masterpiece, Gate of Hell, excitingly receives a Criterion digital remastering this month, a certifiable occasion because this not only recreates the film’s initial visual beauties, but the first time it will be widely available stateside (cinephiles were only previously privy to Eureka Entertainment’s UK Blu-ray release). Winner of the top prize at Cannes, as well as the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and Costume Design, Martin Scorsese names the film among one of the most beautiful color films of all time.
Based on the play Kesa’s Husband by Ken Kikuchi, the setting is 1159 Ad, known as the Heiji Era, and a rebellion has been staged against the royal family. Under siege, it is decided that a decoy must be used to distract the rebel army, and Lady Kesa (Machiko Kyo) assumes the responsibility, carted away by a group of samurais.
Based on the play Kesa’s Husband by Ken Kikuchi, the setting is 1159 Ad, known as the Heiji Era, and a rebellion has been staged against the royal family. Under siege, it is decided that a decoy must be used to distract the rebel army, and Lady Kesa (Machiko Kyo) assumes the responsibility, carted away by a group of samurais.
- 4/16/2013
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
When Gabriel Iglesias: Aloha Fluffy, whatever that is, is the top-selling new release at Amazon out of all the new releases this week you know it's not exactly a stellar line-up. That said, here's the small crop of titles the week has to offer. Naked Lunch (Criterion Collection) Blu-ray I have actually never seen David Cronenberg's Naked Lunch so I can't tell you anymore than the following synopsis: In this adaptation of William S. Burroughs's hallucinatory, once-thought-unfilmable novel Naked Lunch, directed by David Cronenberg, a part-time exterminator and full-time drug addict named Bill Lee (Peter Weller) plunges into the nightmarish Interzone, a netherworld of sinister cabals and giant talking bugs. Alternately humorous and grotesque--and always surreal-the film mingles aspects of Burroughs's novel with incidents from the writer's own life, resulting in an evocative paranoid fantasy and a self-reflexive investigation into the mysteries of the creative process. This has...
- 4/9/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Every month the folks at Criterion Collection select a number of classic and contemporary films deemed culturally and/or artistically significant and then take great pains to remaster them for a Blu-ray transfer to help preserve them for another generation of cinephiles. If you love film, then you can appreciate the public service Criterion Collection does for the medium when it offers us HD remasters of cinematic classics like 1984's Repo Man (starring Harry Dean Stanton and Emilio Estevez), the Teinosuke Kinugasa's samurai tale Gate of Hell, Laurence Olivier's take on Shakespeare's Richard III, and David Cronenberg's adaptation of William S. Burrough's drugged out head trip novel Naked Lunch led by Peter Weller. Additionally, this April, Criterion Collection has assembled a collection of 5 films by French filmmaker Pierre Etaix. For details on all of this month's releases, just keep reading.
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- 4/9/2013
- by Lex Walker
- JustPressPlay.net
This week: Bill Murray as President Franklin D. Roosevelt is the highlight of "Hyde Park on Hudson," which should in no way be considered a historically accurate account of Fdr's meeting with the King and Queen of England in 1939.
Also new this week are two Criterion Collection Blu-ray debuts: Laurence Olivier's "Richard III" ("My kingdom for a horse!") and David Cronenberg's "Naked Lunch" ("Exterminate all rational thought").
'Hyde Park on Hudson'
Box Office: $6.4 million
Rotten Tomatoes: 38% Rotten
Storyline: Based on the private journals and diaries of Margaret 'Daisy' Suckley (Laura Linney) that were found after her death, this biographical comedy drama takes a look at the events surrounding a pivotal historical meeting in upstate New York between President Franklin D. Roosevelt (Bill Murray) and the King and Queen of England on the eve of World War II. The British royals walk into an awkward domestic situation as Fdr's wife,...
Also new this week are two Criterion Collection Blu-ray debuts: Laurence Olivier's "Richard III" ("My kingdom for a horse!") and David Cronenberg's "Naked Lunch" ("Exterminate all rational thought").
'Hyde Park on Hudson'
Box Office: $6.4 million
Rotten Tomatoes: 38% Rotten
Storyline: Based on the private journals and diaries of Margaret 'Daisy' Suckley (Laura Linney) that were found after her death, this biographical comedy drama takes a look at the events surrounding a pivotal historical meeting in upstate New York between President Franklin D. Roosevelt (Bill Murray) and the King and Queen of England on the eve of World War II. The British royals walk into an awkward domestic situation as Fdr's wife,...
- 4/8/2013
- by Robert DeSalvo
- NextMovie
Moviefone's Blu-ray of the Week "Naked Lunch" Criterion Collection What's It About? William S. Borroughs's landmark ode to drug use was never going to be coherently adapted for the big screen, so visionary sci-fi director David Cronenberg did the next best thing with a surreal, meta take on the writer's own hallucination-filled life. See It Because: It's probably one of the most underrated movies of the 1990s and visually on-par with the weirdness of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"; the Criterion Collection upgrades the movie's rich color palette, and packs this edition with looks at the movie's unsettling special effects and its real-life inspiration. New on DVD & Blu-ray "Down the Shore" What's It About? James Gandolfini stars in a New Jersey-set drama about small-town lives, that sat on the shelf for years before finally finding its way on DVD; if you watch it, you'll see why. In or Out?...
- 4/8/2013
- by Eric Larnick
- Moviefone
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: April 9, 2013
Price: DVD $19.95, Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Criterion
The winner of two Oscars and the Grand Prix Prize at Cannes, Teinosuke Kinugasa’s (A Page of Madness) 1953 historical drama-romance Gate of Hell is a visually sumptuous, psychologically penetrating work.
In the midst of epic, violent intrigue in twelfth-century Japan, an imperial warrior falls for a lady-in-waiting. Even after he discovers she is married, he goes to extreme lengths to win her love. Nothing good can come of this…
A tragic story of obsession and unrequited passion, Kinugasa’s film was an early triumph of color cinematography in Japan. In fact, it’s reportedly the first Japanese film to employ a Western color process.
Presented in Japanese with English subtitles, the Criterion Blu-ray and DVD includes the following features:
• New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• New English subtitle translation
• A booklet featuring an...
Price: DVD $19.95, Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Criterion
The winner of two Oscars and the Grand Prix Prize at Cannes, Teinosuke Kinugasa’s (A Page of Madness) 1953 historical drama-romance Gate of Hell is a visually sumptuous, psychologically penetrating work.
In the midst of epic, violent intrigue in twelfth-century Japan, an imperial warrior falls for a lady-in-waiting. Even after he discovers she is married, he goes to extreme lengths to win her love. Nothing good can come of this…
A tragic story of obsession and unrequited passion, Kinugasa’s film was an early triumph of color cinematography in Japan. In fact, it’s reportedly the first Japanese film to employ a Western color process.
Presented in Japanese with English subtitles, the Criterion Blu-ray and DVD includes the following features:
• New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• New English subtitle translation
• A booklet featuring an...
- 1/22/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Photos for Fast Six, The Wolverine, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, and the cast of Mortal Kombat: Legacy 2.
Posters for The Sweeney, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Mood Indigo, Jack the Giant Slayer, Gambit, The Host, The End of Love, Epic, and the final episode of Fringe.
DC Comics has revealed a new 1:6 scale "Man of Steel" statue which offers a closer look at Henry Cavill's Superman costume. Click here to check out the statue.
"Criterion's April slate includes Alex Cox's 'Repo Man,' Laurence Olivier's 'Richard III,' Teinosuke Kinugasa's 'Gate of Hell,' a box-set featuring five films by French comedy filmmaker Pierre Etaix, and a Blu-ray version of David Cronenberg's 'Naked Lunch'…" (full details)
"'The Da Vinci Code' and 'Angels and Demons' author Dan Brown has announced 'Inferno,' his fourth novel featuring Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon.
Posters for The Sweeney, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Mood Indigo, Jack the Giant Slayer, Gambit, The Host, The End of Love, Epic, and the final episode of Fringe.
DC Comics has revealed a new 1:6 scale "Man of Steel" statue which offers a closer look at Henry Cavill's Superman costume. Click here to check out the statue.
"Criterion's April slate includes Alex Cox's 'Repo Man,' Laurence Olivier's 'Richard III,' Teinosuke Kinugasa's 'Gate of Hell,' a box-set featuring five films by French comedy filmmaker Pierre Etaix, and a Blu-ray version of David Cronenberg's 'Naked Lunch'…" (full details)
"'The Da Vinci Code' and 'Angels and Demons' author Dan Brown has announced 'Inferno,' his fourth novel featuring Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon.
- 1/16/2013
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
One of the many pleasures of the Criterion Collection comes in the form of their monthly newsletters, in which they make good on a series of crude drawings hinting at upcoming releases (which in 2012 gave us a Robert Downey Sr. retrospective, “Quadrophenia,” and “Harold and Maude” among many others). It's a fun, collaborative peek into the months ahead, and in their fourth-annual Mega-Clue drawing for 2013, the folks over at CriterionCast have parsed out what looks to be a promising year indeed. While much clearer and more stripped down than last year's installment, the New Years Hint still holds a number of contentious clues within. However, there are some near certainties, such as the candy-loving woman seen in Mike Leigh's film “Life is Sweet,” the flames of Teinosuke Kinugasa's samurai film “Gate of Hell,” the Pink Pearl giveaway of David Lynch's “Eraserhead,” and the huge clock's indication...
- 1/2/2013
- by Charlie Schmidlin
- The Playlist
★★★★☆ Winner of two Oscars and the Grand Prix Prize at Cannes, Teinosuke Kinugasa's arresting 1953 effort Gate of Hell was the first Japanese film to employ a Western colour process. Now, thanks to the hard work of the always reliable Masters of Cinema strand, Kinugasa's sumptuous hues and diverse palette have been gloriously reissued on Blu-ray, once again capturing the awe and magnificence of this visually spellbinding film. During an attempted coup in 12th century Japan, an attractive young woman, Lady Kesa (Machiko Kyo) volunteers to act as a decoy in order to help the lord's wife escape to safety.
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Read more »...
- 12/4/2012
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
It’s Monday, so we all know what that means! Yes, it’s time for another rundown of DVDs and Blu-ray’s hitting stores online and offline this week. It’s a jam-packed week, with plenty of movies waiting to take you money, so let us breakdown the new releases and highlight what you should – and shouldn’t – be buying from today, December 3rd 2012.
Pick Of The Week
The Dark Knight Rises (DVD/Blu-ray)
It has been eight years since Batman vanished into the night, turning, in that instant, from hero to fugitive. Assuming the blame for the death of D.A. Harvey Dent, the Dark Knight sacrificed everything for what he and Commissioner Gordon both hoped was the greater good. For a time the lie worked, as criminal activity in Gotham City was crushed under the weight of the anti-crime Dent Act. But everything will change with the arrival...
Pick Of The Week
The Dark Knight Rises (DVD/Blu-ray)
It has been eight years since Batman vanished into the night, turning, in that instant, from hero to fugitive. Assuming the blame for the death of D.A. Harvey Dent, the Dark Knight sacrificed everything for what he and Commissioner Gordon both hoped was the greater good. For a time the lie worked, as criminal activity in Gotham City was crushed under the weight of the anti-crime Dent Act. But everything will change with the arrival...
- 12/3/2012
- by Phil
- Nerdly
After causing a sensation during the silent era with undisputed classics such as A Page of Madness and Crossroads, Japanese director Kinusaga Teinosuke again wowed audiences decades later with this sumptuous drama. Martin Scorsese has hailed Gate of Hell (aka Jigokumon) as one of the ten greatest colour films of World Cinema, and thanks to Masters of Cinema's fantastic restoration, it's easy to see why. Gate of Hell is released on dual format Blu-ray/DVD in the UK today, in a newly restored and glorious HD transfer, newly translated optional English subtitles, and a 24-page booklet featuring a new essay by renowned critic Philip Kemp, vintage writing about the film by Carl Theodor Dreyer and rare archival imagery. To mark the occasion you can check out...
- 12/3/2012
- Screen Anarchy
Zombie Flesh Eaters | The Dark Knight Rises | The Bourne Legacy | The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp | Gate Of Hell
Zombie Flesh Eaters
We've just endured yet another summer of bloated, boring, blockheaded blockbusters. For all the hundreds of millions of dollars spent, did any of them offer up anything as singular and memorable as the scene in the low-budget 1979 Italian shocker Zombie Flesh Eaters where a zombie has a fight with a shark? Italian cinema is full of rip-offs and cash-ins. Most have been forgotten by all but the most dedicated trash connoisseurs, but this is something different.
Director Lucio Fulci had toiled for years making spaghetti westerns, giallo, comedies, war movies, etc, so it was easy for critics to dismiss him as, at best, a journeyman, and at worst, a hack. But here we are looking at a lovingly restored Blu-ray of a movie that's over 30 years...
Zombie Flesh Eaters
We've just endured yet another summer of bloated, boring, blockheaded blockbusters. For all the hundreds of millions of dollars spent, did any of them offer up anything as singular and memorable as the scene in the low-budget 1979 Italian shocker Zombie Flesh Eaters where a zombie has a fight with a shark? Italian cinema is full of rip-offs and cash-ins. Most have been forgotten by all but the most dedicated trash connoisseurs, but this is something different.
Director Lucio Fulci had toiled for years making spaghetti westerns, giallo, comedies, war movies, etc, so it was easy for critics to dismiss him as, at best, a journeyman, and at worst, a hack. But here we are looking at a lovingly restored Blu-ray of a movie that's over 30 years...
- 12/1/2012
- by Phelim O'Neill
- The Guardian - Film News
While it has already been announced that Ozu Yasujiro's Floating Weeds (Ukigusa Monogatari) and Kinusaga Teinosuke's Gate of Hell (Jigokumon) will be joining The Masters of Cinema series on 3 December, we now have a chance to catch a glimpse of these two visually ravishing productions, that arrive on Blu-ray in the UK for the very first time. 25 years after first telling the story, Ozu remade his silent classic Story of Floating Weeds in a stunning colour version. Nakamura Ganjiro plays Komajuro, an ageing actor who is reunited with his former lover and illegitimate son when his theatre troupe brings their show to a seaside port. The reunion is a mixed blessing for Komajuro, who arrives in town with his current mistress in tow....
- 10/14/2012
- Screen Anarchy
"Romanian films set in the era after the fall of Communism suggest the nation suffers a hell of a hangover from the ideology," writes Steve Erickson in Gay City News. "For instance, Corneliu Porumboiu's Police, Adjective attacks draconian drug laws left over from the old regime. Tuesday, After Christmas presents a very different vision of Romania. Its characters can afford to buy expensive Christmas gifts; one of them picks up a 3,300 Euro telescope. It may not be entirely accurate to call the film apolitical, but the most political thing about it is its avoidance of Eastern European miserabilism and its depiction of people who could be living much the same lifestyles in Western Europe."
Damon Smith introduces an interview with director Radu Muntean for Filmmaker: "Tuesday, After Christmas, which premiered at Cannes last year, opens on a dreamy scene: sunlight bathes a naked couple, middle-aged Paul (Mimi Branescu) and pretty,...
Damon Smith introduces an interview with director Radu Muntean for Filmmaker: "Tuesday, After Christmas, which premiered at Cannes last year, opens on a dreamy scene: sunlight bathes a naked couple, middle-aged Paul (Mimi Branescu) and pretty,...
- 5/26/2011
- MUBI
This year's president of the Festival de Cannes Robert De Niro will preside over jury members including fellow actors Jude Law, Uma Thurman and Martina Gusman, directors Olivier Assayas, Johnnie To and Mahamat Saleh Haroun, Chinese producer Nansun Shi and Norwegian critic and writer Linn Ullmann. The nine jury members will hand out the main prizes including the Palme d'Or amongst others for writing, directing and performances. They will follow the path of some of the greatest names in the history of cinema. Many accused Isabelle Huppert of playing favourites when Haneke finally won for his long overdue Palme. De Niro has worked with Brad Pitt and Sean Penn --- will the brotherhood remain intact with a vote going towards Malick? Unlike any other awards, the Palme d'Or is the most elusive and coveted of them all. The first prize handed out was the Grand Prix in 1949 at the third...
- 5/10/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
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