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Chinese Film Pulled From Tokyo International Film Festival

I feared something like this would happen. Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) issued a statement that it canceled the screening of the Hong-Kong Chinese production, Yim Ho’s FLOATING CITY. “It is with great regret that we have to announce the cancellation of the scheduled screening of Floating City in the Winds of Asia-Middle East section at the 25th Tokyo International Film Festival due to certain reasons on the production side. Although we have strongly made request to those involved not to call off the plan to take part in the festival, the cancellation has unfortunately been finalized.” These “certain reasons …

 
'BOBTAIL' REVIEW / JAPANESE FILMS

Key of Life

An attempted suicide and a discreet assassination. A struggling actor and an underachiever of life in general, Sakurai can’t even succeed in hanging himself. He finds himself completely out of luck and money in the chaos of his room. Meanwhile, Kondo, a dark and smooth man of exquisite tastes, completes his mission again – an assassination of a successful businessman – in a perfect discretion. It is literally in a matter of seconds he finishes his job, without any trace. These two strangers meet, in all places, in a public bath. Ignited by one of the most poetic cinematic justice, …

JAPANESE FILMS

Musashino, the Landscape That Never Was (Part 2)

TOTORO Though it might sound odd to non-Japanese readers, THE LADY OF MUSASHINO reminds me of Hayao Miyazaki’s 1988 animated film, MY NEIGHBOR, TOTORO. This animation is notable for its charming atmosphere, its tranquility of the countryside and, most of all, the group of fascinating characters, including the mysterious troll of the neighborhood, TOTORO. On its surface, MY NEIGHBOR, TOTORO would seem to have little in common with the tormented sexual relationships in THE LADY OF MUSASHINO. The fictional location of Miyazaki’s work is said to be the composite of the landscapes of various locations in Japan, such as the …

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