Hayao Miyazaki’s animated film “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea” is Japan’s highest grossing domestic movie in 2008, while “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” tops the international list.
Japanese movies
Tokyo Film Festival 2008 opens with eco-theme
The 21st Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) kicked off Saturday (Oct 18) with Japanese prime minister Taro Aso among the ~300 guests that graced the opening event at Roppongi Hills [via Japantoday]
The theme of TIFF 2008 is “Ecology = Preservation of Earth’s Environment”, and the organiser replaced the usual red carpet with a green carpet made from recycled plastic bottles to exemplify the theme, which I doubt could bring any meaningful effect.
A total of 315 films from around the world will be shown during the nine-day event. Chinese movie “Red Cliff”, directed by Hong Kong director John Woo, was selected to kick start the screening; would be cute if the stars wore some green outfit during the green carpet to echo the theme lol.
The main cast of Red Cliff at TIFF 2008… (L-R) Vicki Zhao, Chang Chen, Takeshi Kaneshiro, director John Woo, Tony Leung, Zhang Fengyi and Lin Chi Ling (Image from Udn)
Koizora (2007) movie trailer
Trailer for Koizora (Sky of Love), a 2007 Japanese movie based on a popular novel by Mika, starring Yui Aragaki and Haruma Miura.
The story is about the romance and struggle of two high school students’ (and later adulthood), an evergreen niche in Japanese pop culture.
Yui Aragaki series – Next: Gakky looks best in Yukata
The first motion picture in Japan
Said to be of the first ever motion picture made in Japan, filmed in 1897 by French filmmakers using the newly-invented Lumiere camera [via Japanprobe]…
Sinking of Japan (2006) movie review
Sinking of Japan (日本沈没, Nihon Chinbotsu ) is a 2006 Japanese disaster movie directed by Shinji Higuchi. It’s a remake of a 1973 film which itself was an adaptation of a novel by Sakyo Komatsu. Both movies and the novel have different English titles but it’s the same in Japanese.
The 2006 film starred Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Kou Shibasaki, Etsushi Toyokawa, Mao Daichi and Mitsuhiro Oikawa etc. More details on cast and crew at end of the post.
The story is about Japan “sinking” into the sea because of tectonic plate motions. And time is running out for the Japanese people as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis begin to devour the country.
