Film Review: Mukoku

A departure from director Kazuyoshi Kumakiri’s graphic, often ultra-violent style!

Kengo Yatabe (Gō Ayano) is a fifth dan Kendoka who used to be a Kendo instructor at the local high school. His father Shōzō (Kaoru Kabayashi), who he detests and loves in equal measure, was also his Kendo teacher and had a bad reputation for being a brutal practitioner of the technique associated with ‘satsujin ken’, a murderous sword, as opposed to ‘katsujin ken’, a life giving sword. His father is in hospital in a vegetative state after a dreadful incident involving both father and son and his mother has died, something he is struggling to come to terms with. He has given up his

Film Review: Boys For Sale – Bai Bai Bōizu

Premiered in the UK as one of the official selection at the 25^th Anniversary of the Raindance Film Festival 2017.

What might at first seem like a potentially titillating documentary on male prostitution in the Shinjuku 2-chome area of Tōkyō, reportedly the largest urban gay area in Asia, becomes something fascinating and shocking in equal parts. One wonders as the documentary progresses at what point the historical Japanese openness and acceptance of male-male sex as a necessary part of human life became something to be frowned upon and kept hidden. Adrian ‘Uchujin’ Storey, who

Interview: Film Director Akira Osaki

“My films won’t all be about losers, I do want to make something different in the future!”  – Akira Osaki

Akira Osaki is an independent filmmaker whose latest production, Obon Brothers, was screened in London (represented by Third Window Films) as part of the 23rd Raindance Film Festival. Hailing from Gunma prefecture in Japan, Osaki is a humble and friendly director, who has worked predominantly as an Assistant Director. Much like the lead character in his film, Takashi Kitano , Osaki was looking for his big break in the Japanese

Japan Foundation Director Talk: John Williams – Making Film In Japan

Date: 27 September 2012 from 6.30 pm

Venue: Japan Foundation, 6th Floor, Russell Square House, 10-12 Russell Square, London, WC1B 5EH

John Williams is the most celebrated – if not the only – British film director working in Japanese film today. Growing up in Wales and having lived in Japan for 20 years, Williams has written and directed a number of feature films, both in Japanese language and performed by Japanese actors, which have earned him international film awards as well as a nomination for Best New Director by the