The novels of Takuji Ichikawa are well known to numerous book lovers. His bestselling works have been adapted for the Japanese silver screen a couple of times; Be With You in 2004 by Nobuhiro Doi, and Heavenly Forest in 2006 by Takehiko Shinjo. The film adaptation of Be With You became a huge commercial success with its imaginative, beautiful and emotional love story…
Tag: Udine Far East Film Festival
20th Udine Far East Film Festival: In Conversation with Jang Hang-jun, Director of ‘Forgotten’
On the second, scorching hot film festival day in Udine, the audience enthusiastically welcomed the chilling screening of Forgotten (which available also on Netflix), the film that took us for a ride in more ways than one. Only a day later, still not over the tale that gave us all a good scare even though it was…
20th Udine Far East Film Festival: Forgotten Review
Several screams pierced the air – and the girl next to me even lost her shoe – in the Teatro Nuovo theatre on the humid Sunday night screening at the 20th Udine Far East Film festival; the audience was completely immersed in a roller-coaster viewing one can only expect from a true-to-the-bone South Korean thriller….
20th Udine Far East Film Festival: In Conversation with Steel Rain’s Kwak Do-won, Jung Woo-sung and Yang Woo-suk
In 2019, director Lee Han (Thread of Lies, Punch) made a return with a courtroom drama with elements of comedy and thriller that revolves around a defense lawyer (Jung Woo-sung) who is trying to get his client acquitted by getting the only witness to murder, an autistic girl (Kim Hyang-gi), to testify. Innocent Witness got screened during the…
20th Udine Far East Film Festival: Little Forest Review
Reflection, a slow pace of life… and life, dictated by the four seasons, are themes, rarely depicted in Korean cinema; instead, more viewers are attracted to the adrenaline-packed productions, full of well-known actors. But 2018 marked a change of tide – the leading female “auteur of Korean New Wave cinema” Yim Soon-rye adopted Little Forest, the two-volume…
Udine Far East Film Festival Reveals Its 20th Anniversary Edition Lineup
Today, a mere 9 days before the European audience finds its way to the little town in the Northeast Italy to explore the new and old jewels of Asian Cinema, Udine Far East Film Festival revealed its 2018 lineup. It was to be expected that the 20th anniversary edition of the festival would provide the…
In Conversation with Feng Xiaogang, the director of ‘I Am Not Madame Bovary’
Where to event start with Feng Xiaogang? He is a Chinese director, producer, screenwriter and actor, whose career has spanned for over 30 years. While bravely battling censorship, he has created a number of commercially immensely successful films, such as Be There or Be Square (Bújiàn búsàn, 1998), Cell Phone (Shŏujī, 2003), A World Without…
I Am Not Madame Bovary Review
David vs. Goliath seems to be the theme shrouding Feng Xiaogang’s newest feature, I Am Not Madame Bovary – there had been a lot of talk on what seemed to had been more than just a spat between the film director and the largest Chinese cinema chain, Wanda Cinema Line, who, at least according to…
19th Far East Film Festival: In Conversation with Naoko Ogigami, the director of ‘Close-Knit’
While LGBT characters seem to be present in almost every Japanese drama or film, the reality is far from that in fiction; the members of the LGBT minority more often than not face scorn and are often shunned in their everyday lives. This is what makes Naoko Ogigami’s newest feature, Close-Knit (2017), that much more…
19th Far East Film Festival: Close-Knit
Tomo has been abandoned by her mother, again. While this isn’t the first time it’s happened, and her mother has been more-or-less an absent parent since day one, it still hurts. Unable to live on her own, the eleven-year-old seeks refuge with her uncle Makio. He gladly accepts but he doesn’t live alone anymore, he…
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