If you were wondering what Toyoda did between 2014 and “Crows Explode” and 2018, this documentary provides the perfect answer: He spent those years on the Ogasawara Islands, a Unesco World Heritage Site located 1,000 km south of the main Japanese archipelago, with “Tarzan of the Sea” Noritsugu Miyagawa. The 65-year-old is quite famous, as he was the man who created the world’s first swimming-with-dolphins tour, but in this particular film, he is the host of a number of people Toyoda invited to spent time on the island, namely didgeridoo instrumentalist Goma, actors Yosuke Kubozuka and Kiyohiko Shibukawa, drummer Tatsuya Nakamura, and guitarist Kazuhide Yamaji.
Toyoda directs a naturalistic documentary that seems to aim at highlighting both the beauties of the setting and the benefits of spending time in such a unique, but mostly secluded place. This last aspect is mostly represented by the segment dealing with Goma, which is the most lengthy one,...
Toyoda directs a naturalistic documentary that seems to aim at highlighting both the beauties of the setting and the benefits of spending time in such a unique, but mostly secluded place. This last aspect is mostly represented by the segment dealing with Goma, which is the most lengthy one,...
- 6/3/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
One doesn’t have to indiscriminately love rogue samurai films to appreciate a well-made entry in the genre, but one does have to be an unabashed Shinya Tsukamoto devotee to find either excitement or pleasure in “Killing.” Less profligately violent than recent works like “Fires on the Plain” or “Kotoko,” the film is a minor entry in the cult director’s hefty oeuvre, set in the 19th century and featuring a skilled lone ronin finding himself unwilling to kill. Most notable for its oddly murky visuals and unimpressive fight sequences, this stripped-down outdoor chamber piece wraps up after 80 minutes and will just as quickly be forgotten.
Reticent ronin Mokunoshin Tsuzuki helps a village of rice farmers with the harvest. To keep nimble, he uses wooden poles to practice his swordsmanship skills with young Ichisuke (Ryusei Maeda), who worships the footloose samurai and dreams of an adventurous life away from the paddies.
Reticent ronin Mokunoshin Tsuzuki helps a village of rice farmers with the harvest. To keep nimble, he uses wooden poles to practice his swordsmanship skills with young Ichisuke (Ryusei Maeda), who worships the footloose samurai and dreams of an adventurous life away from the paddies.
- 9/7/2018
- by Jay Weissberg
- Variety Film + TV
The 75th Venice International Film Festival has finally announced the line-up in a press conference in Rome, hosted by the President of the Biennale di Venezia Paolo Baratta and by the Director of the Cinema department Alberto Barbera.
The Venice International Film Festival has been welcoming in the past many Asian movies especially under the previous Director Marco Muller (2004-2011), a dedicated advocate and promoter of Asian Cinema, but this year the Asian presence is particularly poor. A bit surprising after the success in Cannes of Palme d’Or director Hirokazu Kore’eda with “Shoplifters” and Lee Chang-dong with “Burning”.
Only one film – Japanese director Shinya Tsukamoto’s new movie “Zan” – is in the Official Competition and few more “usual suspects” are scattered in the other sections. Chinese director Tsai Ming-Liang – a regular of the festival – is in the Out of Competition Section with his “Ni De Lian“, where other...
The Venice International Film Festival has been welcoming in the past many Asian movies especially under the previous Director Marco Muller (2004-2011), a dedicated advocate and promoter of Asian Cinema, but this year the Asian presence is particularly poor. A bit surprising after the success in Cannes of Palme d’Or director Hirokazu Kore’eda with “Shoplifters” and Lee Chang-dong with “Burning”.
Only one film – Japanese director Shinya Tsukamoto’s new movie “Zan” – is in the Official Competition and few more “usual suspects” are scattered in the other sections. Chinese director Tsai Ming-Liang – a regular of the festival – is in the Out of Competition Section with his “Ni De Lian“, where other...
- 7/31/2018
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Stars: Lily Franky, Tatsuya Nakamura, Yûko Nakamura, Dean Newcombe, Hiroshi Suzuki, Shinya Tsukamoto | Written and Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto
It seems these days, when some world leaders seem to enjoy the thought of war, we need to be reminded just what it is. War is hell, there is no positive side, even for the winners. This is something that Shinya Tsukamoto shows in Fires on the Plain…
In the final states of World War 2, the occupying Japanese army are losing ground in the Philippines. Fighting against local resistance and the American Army a few of the soldiers try to make their escape, but all they find is a hostile territory where friendship means nothing and hope is none existent.
At the start of the film we are introduced to an unnamed soldier (Shinya Tsukamoto) who is suffering from TB. Given no hope, he finds himself wandering through a desolate but beautiful landscape.
It seems these days, when some world leaders seem to enjoy the thought of war, we need to be reminded just what it is. War is hell, there is no positive side, even for the winners. This is something that Shinya Tsukamoto shows in Fires on the Plain…
In the final states of World War 2, the occupying Japanese army are losing ground in the Philippines. Fighting against local resistance and the American Army a few of the soldiers try to make their escape, but all they find is a hostile territory where friendship means nothing and hope is none existent.
At the start of the film we are introduced to an unnamed soldier (Shinya Tsukamoto) who is suffering from TB. Given no hope, he finds himself wandering through a desolate but beautiful landscape.
- 9/12/2017
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
If you ever wanted to watch a surreal metaphysical film that takes place in the realm of Japanese folklore, then Blood of Rebirth is definitely the film for you. Inspired by a tumultuous 5 year struggle that the director, Toshiaki Toyoda, has endured since being arrested for drug possession in Japan and then subsequently blacklisted from the very conservative Japanese filmmaking scene, the film in many ways is a love song to Toyoda’s unique point of view and style that defines him as a filmmaker to be reckoned with. It’s also Toyoda sticking up the middle finger to those that had praised him earlier, saying screw you for ruining the reputation he feels he deserves. After making cult hits like Tokyo Rampage, Blue Spring and 9 Souls, Toyoda was poised to breakthrough in the mainstream but was denied after his legal woes. With visuals the would make Jodorowsky proud, Blood...
- 7/1/2010
- by Raffi Asdourian
- The Film Stage
Though The Blood Of Rebirth isn't autobiographical, it is apparently indicative of director Toshiaki Toyoda's tumultuous past five years. What you know of his life and previous films will greatly affect how you view his latest, which by most accounts seems to be a creative and personal cleansing - indeed, something of a rebirth.
As for me.. well, this was my first Toyoda film, and I knew nothing of the stakes surrounding the production, nor it's director, until after I saw it - like for instance the shooting schedule was a mere ten days. For this reason I won't go into any more behind-the-scenes in this review, as it wouldn't be pertinent to my actual viewing experience (for further deets on that story I refer you to the better informed review by Chris Magee and Mark Saint-Cyr from April's Nippon Connection).
So the film, as a film... how is it?...
As for me.. well, this was my first Toyoda film, and I knew nothing of the stakes surrounding the production, nor it's director, until after I saw it - like for instance the shooting schedule was a mere ten days. For this reason I won't go into any more behind-the-scenes in this review, as it wouldn't be pertinent to my actual viewing experience (for further deets on that story I refer you to the better informed review by Chris Magee and Mark Saint-Cyr from April's Nippon Connection).
So the film, as a film... how is it?...
- 7/1/2010
- Screen Anarchy
[Our thanks go out to Chris MaGee and Marc Saint-Cyr at the Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow for sharing their coverage of the 2010 Nippon Connection Film Festival.]
In 2005 director Toshiaki Toyoda was poised to take his career to the next level. At that point only 35-years-old Toyoda had already gained a reputation as one of Japan's most promising filmmakers. Throughout films like "Pornostar (a.k.a. "Tokyo Rampage")", the Taiyo Matsumoto manga adaptation "Blue Spring", and the masterful ensemble prison break film "9 Souls" he showed that he could combine tongue-in-cheek comedy with brutal drama, but by mid-decade he was ready to release a film that would place him alongside the likes of international festival favorites Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Hirokazu Kore-eda. "Hanging Garden" was an unblinking look at the disintegration of the Japanese family starring Kyoko Kozumi and Itsuji Itao as parents who demand 100% honesty from each other and their children, but who end up holding damaging secrets from each other. Not since Yoshimitsu Morita's "The Family Game" had a filmmaker presented such a damning llok at the core of Japanse society.
In 2005 director Toshiaki Toyoda was poised to take his career to the next level. At that point only 35-years-old Toyoda had already gained a reputation as one of Japan's most promising filmmakers. Throughout films like "Pornostar (a.k.a. "Tokyo Rampage")", the Taiyo Matsumoto manga adaptation "Blue Spring", and the masterful ensemble prison break film "9 Souls" he showed that he could combine tongue-in-cheek comedy with brutal drama, but by mid-decade he was ready to release a film that would place him alongside the likes of international festival favorites Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Hirokazu Kore-eda. "Hanging Garden" was an unblinking look at the disintegration of the Japanese family starring Kyoko Kozumi and Itsuji Itao as parents who demand 100% honesty from each other and their children, but who end up holding damaging secrets from each other. Not since Yoshimitsu Morita's "The Family Game" had a filmmaker presented such a damning llok at the core of Japanse society.
- 4/17/2010
- Screen Anarchy
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