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Bong Joon-ho easily has to be one of the best directors of the current generation. Over the years, he has been bending genres like a mad scientist, which feels unorthodox yet so right. Watching his movies is like a roller coaster ride; one moment, you are laughing till your stomach hurts, and the next, you end up gasping from whatever unexpected surprise he has planned for the audience.

He has mastered the art of blending social issues with genres like dark humor or sci-fi horror without making it a mess. Now, it’s hard for me to say how he does what he does. I’m sure there are people studying his movies as part of their thesis, but as someone who enjoys watching movies, I can guarantee you that you will be glued to the screen and won’t even realize where the time went by the time the movie is done.

At the forefront of the Korean New Wave is Bong Joon Ho, who has brought Korean cinema to mainstream audiences worldwide. He began his career directing successful domestic films in Korea that amassed cult followings and later transitioned into creating English-language films and works recognized by the Academy.

What sets Bong Joon Ho apart from many other critically acclaimed directors is the unpretentious nature of his films. Despite exploring incredibly dark themes, his movies always incorporate elements of fun and humor. This helps his movies to reach a wider audience while still feeling authentic to their core themes.

Tokyo! is an Unorthodox Collaboration of Directors

A film not often associated with Bong Joon Ho’s filmography, Tokyo! is an anthology of three short films made by three different directors. The final short film in Tokyo! is Shaking Tokyo, directed by Bong Joon Ho.

Shaking Tokyo is light on story and...

Bong Joon Ho, Michel Gondry, and Leos Carax are three bona fide oddballs of the international film scene, each iconoclasts with their own uniquely skewed perspective on the world. The idea of the three of these men in one room is crazy enough, let alone teaming up to make the same film, but that's what they did for the forgotten film Tokyo! in 2009. An anthology film centered on a collection of eccentric individuals getting touched by magical realist scenarios, each short story proves an ample playground for this trio to flex their styles.

Experience a ground-breaking two-week program and market from November 26 to December 10, 2024, showcasing Japan’s finest video content to the world! The platform brings together a vibrant mix of innovative, creative, and unique films, delivering laughter, tears, nostalgia, and fresh perspectives. From captivating storylines to unexpected twists, it offers something for everyone and meets the growing global demand for exceptional Japanese entertainment. Don’t miss it!

Read more on the official website Here.

Here are all the titles:

A Samurai in Time

Junichi Yasuda : Third Window Films

2024 | 131min | comedy, fantasy, period drama

Nobutora-Samurai Tiger

Shusuke Kaneko, Harumasa Miyashita : Miyaobi Pictures

2021 | 135min | period drama, history, Japanese traditional

Esports!! Real-Time Battle Shogi Edition

Tomari Seiya: Amarrar Inc

2024 | 100min | comedy, drama, family

“Hideyoshi” Works for a Start-up Company

Keisuke Yoshimura: Aichi Television Broadcasting Co.,Ltd.

2023 | 30min×3 | fantasy, drama

Traverse

Yuuki Okda: movie「Traverse」Produchtion Committee

2019 | 96min | action, japanese traditional, kangfoo

Ghost Bugs

Saku Sakamoto: zelicofilm,...

As she gets set to release her second movie, A Sacrifice, in theaters this weekend, Jordan Scott (IFC’s Cracks) recalls the best advice she received from her father, Sir Ridley Scott, from one director to another.

“I’m very lucky that I can pick up the phone and ask his advice on anything and I’m going to get the best answer. And his advice on everything is just: Preparation. Preparation. Preparation,’” Scott tells The Hollywood Reporter.

Inspired by Nicholas Hogg’s 2015 novel Tokyo, A Sacrifice from Scott Free Productions follows American social psychologist Ben Monroe (Eric Bana) as he investigates a local cult connected to a disturbing event in the German capital. While he immerses himself into his work, his rebellious teenage daughter, Mazzy (Sadie Sinke), gets involved with a mysterious local boy who introduces her to the city’s underground party scene. As these two worlds head towards an intersection,...

As Cannes Film Festival kicks off, the Paris-based international sales company MK2 Films has revealed it has acquired three films and made substantial investments in new restorations, set against the backdrop of a strong presence at Cannes Classics.

MK2 Films has entered into a collaboration with the Niki Charitable Art Foundation on the global rights (excluding the U.S.) for two films directed by artist Niki de Saint Phalle: “Un Rêve plus long que la nuit” (1976) and “Daddy” (1973). “Un Rêve plus long que la nuit” has been restored in 4K by L’Immagine Ritrovata (Bologna-Paris) under the supervision of Arielle de Saint Phalle and with funding from Dior. It was presented at Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna, New York Film Festival and the new Los Angeles Festival of Movies. “Daddy” will soon be available in a restored version. MK2 Films described it as a “unique feminist work by one of...

Grab your plug suit, strap in and hang on for Infinity Studio’s newest set of polystone collectibles. Now, you can defend Tokyo-3 with premium statues of Evangelion’s Unit-00 and Unit-01. Based on the “Operation Yashima” scene from the Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone. film, the new Premium Metallic Color version gives wannabe pilots an unexpected opportunity to grab this long sold-out release! Take the Shot, Shinji! Shinji’s purple Unit-01 nervously eyes up the Fifth Angel, Ramiel, with his Positron rifle. At close to 27 inches long and over 11 inches tall, this piece will take a commanding presence on your display shelf or desk. But is this too much pressure for the Third Child? The Unit-01 release comes equipped with the main figure, base, Positron rifle and a specially numbered serial code plate. All Hope Seems Lost When the first shot doesn’t destroy the Fifth Angel, Ramiel...

French filmmaker Leos Carax discussed the sacred nature of the image and the challenge of retaining its power on the big screen in the digital age in an on-stage conversation at the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra event on Monday.

The filmmaker said he had transitioned to shooting in digital in his segment of the 2008 feature Tokyo!, one of his first works after the death of his beloved cinematographer Jean-Yves Escoffier, who died age 52 in 2003.

Carax revealed this move had changed his filmmaking process as he took the decision to stop watching the dailies from then on, which resulted in him ditching his habit of doing multiple retakes.

The director admitted that 15 years on, he is not a huge fan of shooting in digital.

“I don’t come from there. I still feel It’s a bad thing, even for the eyes… it’s become such a problem with digital...

One of last year’s collaborations between Bloody Disgusting and Dark Star Pictures was Japanese crime thriller Missing, now nominated for the 51st annual Saturn Awards!

Deadline explains, “The Saturns, which honor the best in genre entertainment across film and television, are organized by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror.”

Missing has been nominated in the “Best International Film” category, alongside Madeleine Collins, The Origin of Evil, Ransomed, Speak No Evil and Sisu.

You can see the full list of Saturn Awards nominations over on Deadline.

Winners will be announced February 4, 2024.

In Missing from Bloody Disgusting and Dark Star Pictures…

“Depressed and in debt following the death of his wife, Santoshi (Jiro Sato) tells his young daughter he has found a way out. Pointing to a reward note, he vows to find the infamous serial killer ‘No Name’ (Hiroya Shimizu) and cash in, claiming to have seen the...

Leading filmmakers from China, Germany, Japan and the U.S. spoke of their admiration for Yasujiro Ozu as part of the celebrations at Tokyo International Film Festival for the 120th anniversary of the legendary Japanese director’s birth.

Wim Wenders opened proceedings by introducing a screening of a 4K digitally restored version of the 1959 comedy Good Morning, describing Ozu as “the master,” before a talk event featuring Jia Zhangke, Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Kelly Reichardt.

A passionate acolyte of Ozu, Wenders shot a documentary about the acclaimed director titled Tokyo-ga four decades ago, and 10 years later came to the Tokyo fest for his 90th anniversary celebrations.

Good Morning, the second film he shot in color, is a light but perceptive chronicle of family life in postwar Japan of the kind Ozu was so adept at creating.

“Watching Good Morning for the first time in a long time, I was struck...

Godzilla has fought numerous foes over the years, including a giant octopus, but the franchise became more about watching giant monsters punch each other. There have been many canceled Godzilla movies and proposed crossovers with other Toho beasts or characters from other studios, such as Godzilla vs. Cthulhu and a Pacific Rim/Godzilla crossover. Some of the most exciting Godzilla battles that never came to pass include Ghost Godzilla, Chamelegon, Gaira the Gargantua, and Mechani-Kong fighting Godzilla.

Godzilla has fought numerous foes over the years, and even more have been planned without ever coming to fruition. The beloved kaiju first appeared in 1954's Godzilla, a thoughtful and powerful monster-movie rumination on the horrors of the nuclear bomb. While the film did feature a scene where Godzilla fights a giant octopus, it was much more focused on the love triangle between its three central human characters and the ethics of developing super-weapons.

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI, and sign up for our weekly email newsletter by clicking here.NEWSLeos Carax in Holy Motors (2012).On Monday, SAG-AFTRA members voted 97.9 percent in favor of a strike if their contract negotiations stall. This sets the stage for an industry-wide work stoppage in solidarity with the Writers Guild, even after the weekend’s news that the Directors Guild had reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.Away from Hollywood, CG Cinema have confirmed that Leos Carax has wrapped production on a new film, C’est pas moi, set to release in 2024. This is a "free format" self-portrait, spanning the "major stations" of Carax's four-decade career amid "the political tremors of the time." The images shared by CG Cinema feature Denis Lavant in character as Monsieur Merde, made infamous in...

Projects from directors Martika Ramirez Escobar and Maung Sun among titles.

Full Circle Lab Philippines, the Southeast Asian project and talent development programme, has revealed the line-up for its upcoming fifth edition, including new features by Filipino filmmaker Martika Ramirez Escobar and Myanmar’s Maung Sun.

The labs will comprise 12 projects in development, three films in post-production, eight emerging producers and three story editors. A total of 45 participants and 14 mentors are set to participate in the in-person workshop, held in the Central Luzon region in the north of Manila from March 27-31, This will be followed by online sessions, which run until September.

With the rise of the streaming era and the dominance of social media came a keener awareness of if — and when — your new favorite show is going to get the axe. But knowing the end is coming doesn't make it hurt less. In fact, there's a growing resentment around shows that clearly have a fanbase, but that don't pull in subscribers in large enough numbers to satisfy executives. After the fates of Netflix's "The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance" and AMC's "Moonhaven," which was killed after a promising early renewal, we're having more trouble falling in love with new shows than ever before.

But there's something even worse than a brief fling with a great new series: getting a glimpse of one, and then never being able to watch any of it at all. It's tough for any new show, especially high-budget science fiction series, to get out of pilot episode limbo,...

There’s surely no feeling in the world quite like winning an Oscar– that heady, unfiltered hit of professional validation that so many actors desperately crave.

But what of those who aren’t so lucky? For every Oscar winner, there must be a handful of losers, deserving or sometimes undeserving also-rans whose work was collectively deemed to have fallen short.

While actors are often skilled at disguising their disappointment – this is show business, after all – sometimes they let their real feelings slip through.

Whether it’s via side-eye glances that seem to throw shade on the winner, or simply muttering expletives, there have been many Oscar losses that prompted reactions which live on in infamy.

These aren’t the sorest losers, necessarily, but rather actors who didn’t adhere to the staid conventions of dignified loserdom.

Sometimes, as in the case of Holly Hunter, or Cate Blanchett, the reactions seem entirely lighthearted; others,...

It was announced last week that Dark Star Pictures acquired the North American distribution rights to the crime thriller Missing as part of its ongoing collaboration with Bloody Disgusting.

After screening at several prestigious festivals including Busan International Film Festival, Fantasia, and the forthcoming Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, Missing will open in theaters on November 4, 2022, before making its way to VOD platforms on November 18th and Blu-ray on December 6th.

In the film…

“Depressed and in debt following the death of his wife, Santoshi (Jiro Sato) tells his young daughter he has found a way out. Pointing to a reward note, he vows to find the infamous serial killer ‘No Name’ (Hiroya Shimizu) and cash in, claiming to have seen the man in the flesh a few days earlier. Kaeda (Aoi Ito) cannot take her aloof father seriously. But when he goes missing without a trace, she starts to...

Selections include new projects from directors Farkhat Sharipov and Ash Mayfair.

The 3rd Tokyo Gap-Financing Market (Tgfm) has unveiled 20 projects selected for financing and development at Tiffcom, the affiliated content market of Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF).

Selections include new projects by known directors such as recent Berlinale Generation 14plus prize-winner Farkhat Sharipov (Scheme), Ash Mayfair (The Third Wife) and Tom Waller (The Cave).

Hong Kong’s Toe Yuen, known for Annecy prize-winner My Life As McDull (2001), also has a new animation in the lineup.

Organised by UniJapan, Tgfm will run as part of Tiffcom online October 25-27. The 35th...

Dark Star Pictures has acquired the North American distribution rights to the crime thriller Missing as part of its ongoing collaboration with Bloody Disgusting, we’re excited to announce today.

After screening at several prestigious festivals including Busan International Film Festival, Fantasia, and the forthcoming Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, Missing will open in theaters on November 4, 2022, before making its way to VOD platforms on November 18th and Blu-ray on December 6th.

In the film…

“Depressed and in debt following the death of his wife, Santoshi (Jiro Sato) tells his young daughter he has found a way out. Pointing to a reward note, he vows to find the infamous serial killer ‘No Name’ (Hiroya Shimizu) and cash in, claiming to have seen the man in the flesh a few days earlier. Kaeda (Aoi Ito) cannot take her aloof father seriously. But when he goes missing without a trace, she starts...

Exclusive: Fresh off strong notices for Darren Aronofsky’s Venice Film Festival drama The Whale, Stranger Things star Sadie Sink has been tapped to star with Eric Bana (Munich) and Sylvia Hoeks (Blade Runner 2049) in thriller Berlin Nobody, which got underway in the German capital today.

Rising German actor Jonas Dassler — who got his breakthrough as a 1970s murderer in Fatih Akin’s Berlin title The Golden Glove — and Sophie Rois (Tom Tykwer’s Drei and Der Architekt) have also joined the cast of Jordan Scott’s movie about American ex-pat and social psychologist Ben Monroe (Bana) who relocates to Berlin to further his research on the epidemic of cult mentality. While he immerses himself in German cultism, his rebellious teenage daughter, Mazzy (Sink), becomes entwined with a mysterious and enigmatic local boy (Dassler). The film is inspired by Nicholas Hogg’s 2015 novel Tokyo.

Produced by Scott Free’s...

Exclusive: Scott Free Productions has promoted Vera Meyer, Sam Roston and Rebecca Feuer and hired Avital Siegel to the company’s film division. The changes come at a busy time for the company as its founder, Ridley Scott, wraps production on his Napoleon film for Apple and the team preps an impressive slate of upcoming projects.

Roston has been upped to Senior VP of Film, Feuer has been promoted to VP of Film and TV, Meyer has been upped to Creative Exec of Film, and Siegel joins as Director of Development for Film.

Roston started at Scott Free in late 2015, where he served as a Director of Development and as a Vice President. He recently oversaw the development and production on Boston Strangler starring Keira Knightley, which is now in post-production for 20th Century Studios. Prior to that, Roston was a co-producer on Chase Palmer’s feature directorial debut Naked Singularity...

Actor Tetsuya Bessho, president of Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia (Ssff & Asia), one of Asia’s largest international short film festivals accredited by the Academy Awards®︎, paid a courtesy visit to Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building on Monday, May 23, 2022.

Upon hearing Bessho’s explanation that the theme of the festival, now in its 24th year, is “Meta Cinema”, Governor Koike said, “Continuity is strength. I think it is wonderful that we are celebrating the 24th anniversary this year. In addition, this film festival has become more and more well-known each year, and the number of people taking on new challenges has increased. Films enrich us, make us think, and give us opportunities. Feature films are interesting, but there are parts that are interesting only because they are short,” she praised and talked about the appeal of short films.

During the courtesy call, Governor Koike announced...

John Wick: Chapter 4 doesn’t hit theaters until March 24, but it didn’t stop the pic’s leading man Keanu Reeves and director Chad Stahelski from giving exhibitors at Caesars Palace Colosseum Theatre an early look.

The Tokyo-set trailer opens on John Wick training in a gym. Laurence Fishburne’s Bowery King enters, “Are you ready, John?” Natch, he answers, “Yeah.” It’s a new day, new bullies in town. What’s John to do? “I’m going to kill them all” — whether that’s swirling cars around or beating ’em up in art galleries. “I want you to find peace, John,” says Ian McShane’s Winston. “The only path this leads to is death.”

Said Lionsgate Chairman Joe Drake before bringing the duo onstage: “Chad, as you might know, was a stuntman first. It’s rare that people go from driving off cliffs to sitting in the director’s chair…...

When Kelley Wolf was first approached about reuniting with the cast of MTV’s “The Real World: New Orleans,” she was, she says, “extraordinarily skeptical.” While Wolf has remained somewhat of a public person as the wife of actor Scott Wolf — they met in 2002, two years after “New Orleans” first aired, and married in 2004 — she was deeply unsure she wanted to step back fully into the spotlight.

“You know, we are middle aged people,” she says. “I’m a mom. I don’t usually put on makeup in the day. It felt like a lot of things to kind of compartmentalize. The emotional side of it is massive. It’s a lot of vulnerability. And if I’m going to do something like that, I want to do it in my full self with my full truth — no masks, no pretending.”

After talking it over with former castmate Danny Roberts...

One of Disneyland’s most iconic rides, Space Mountain, is getting a major overhaul at one of the company’s popular parks. The attraction at Tokyo Disneyland Park will close in 2024 and reopen in 2027 after the renovation. The park’s Tomorrowland will also get an all-new plaza. The total cost of the makeover is expected to be about 436 million.

The news was announced by Oriental Land Co., Ltd., which owns and operates the Tokyo park.

Walt Disney Imagineering Producer Kathleen Davis said of the revamp, “It’s not only a whole new ride experience, but the story also has so much emotion. Through the queue and then on the ride, we see our connection to our planet and gain a new perspective for how special it is in all the universe. It’s a roller coaster with both thrill and heart.”

Purists should not fear, however.

“This entirely new attraction...

The BBC has acquired HBO Max’s Ansel Elgort-starring Tokyo Vice from Endeavor Content.

Written and created by Tony Award-winning playwright J.T. Rogers, the 8 x 60-minute crime drama series co-produced by HBO Max, Endeavor Content and Japanese broadcaster Wowow is based on U.S. journalist Jake Adelstein’s non-fiction first-hand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat.

It is one of HBO Max’s most high-profile early bets and also stars Academy Award nominees Ken Watanabe and Rinko Kikuchi alongside Rachel Keller, Ella Rumpf, Hideaki Ito, Show Kasamatsu and Tomohisa Yamashita.

The show, which counts Michael Mann as exec and pilot director, is the latest in a string of high-profile BBC buys including State of the Union, Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens and Luca Guadagnino’s We Are Who We Are.

The BBC has Tokyo Vice’s second window in UK and will air the show later this year,...

Ghostwire: Tokyo isn’t just developer Tango Gameworks’ long-awaited return to the horror genre after 2017’s underrated The Evil Within 2; it’s a pretty great excuse to check out some of the greatest J-horror movies ever made.

While Japanese horror films enjoyed a global “boom period” in the late ’90s and early 2000s (and we’ll certainly be talking about some of the movies from that era very shortly), some of the best horror movies of the last 70+ years are J-Horror films. The long history of Japanese horror movies includes quite a few films that truly challenged viewers just as they challenged the common perceptions of what horror cinema is capable of.

So far as that goes, it’s important to realize that this isn’t a list of the absolute best J-Horror movies ever made. If it was, I can assure you Audition would be somewhere on it. Instead,...

A TV adaptation of Jake Adelstein’s 2009 nonfiction book “Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan” has been in the mix for a decade. The memoir, a recounting of Adelstein’s years living in Tokyo as the first non-Japanese reporter working for one of Japan’s largest newspapers, originally inspired a project that would’ve seen Daniel Radcliffe facing off against the yakuza in the form of a feature film. Now in the hands of playwright J. T. Rogers (HBO film “Oslo”), the series stars Ansel Elgort in the role of Adelstein. The 10-part series finds Elgort’s character embedding himself within the Tokyo Vice police squad to expose corruption. The HBO Max Original drops April 7, with subsequent episodes each Thursday. Watch the trailer below.

The crime drama series, filmed on location in Tokyo, captures Adelstein’s descent into the neon underbelly of Tokyo in the late 1990s,...

At yesterday's PlayStation State of Play livestream, Tango Gameworks premiered the brand new launch trailer for Ghostwire: Tokyo!

"Ghostwire: Tokyo is an action-adventure game that challenges players to master the powerful arts of Ethereal Weaving while working to defeat the menacing Hannya and his followers, the Visitors, who have invaded Tokyo. These supernatural entities roam the stunning world of Ghostwire, creating a stunning atmosphere that is a love letter to Tokyo, its curiosities, and secrets.

Players who digitally pre-order the Deluxe Edition of Ghostwire: Tokyo from the PlayStation Store will gain early access to the game on March 22, 2022. They will also receive access to the Streetwear Outfit Pack, Shinobi Outfit, and Kunai Weapon.

Ghostwire: Tokyo will be available worldwide for PS5 and PC on March 25, 2022. For more information and news, stay tuned to our official website and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube."

The post Watch the Launch...

Exclusive: Eric Bana (Munich) and Kiernan Shipka (Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina) have been set to star in Ridley Scott-produced thriller Berlin Nobody, which Protagonist and Augenschein will be launching sales on at the virtual EFM next month.

Set to start shooting in September, the Berlin-set movie will follow American social psychologist Ben Monroe (Bana) who investigates a local cult connected to a disturbing event. While he immerses himself into his work, his rebellious teenage daughter, Mazzy (Shipka), gets involved with a mysterious local boy, who introduces her to the city’s underground party scene. As these two worlds head towards an intersection, Mazzy finds herself in great danger and Ben will need to race against the clock to save her.

Scott Free’s Ridley Scott — fresh off The Last Duel and House of Gucci — and Michael Pruss are producing alongside Augenschein’s Jonas Katzenstein and Maximilian Leo (Stowaway), and...

Gandia and Arturo, two of the biggest villains on Money Heist, weren’t even in the second half of Season 5, but their negative energy could still be felt as the series came to an end.

Tokyo died taking out Gandia, and hallucinations of Arturo, whom she nearly killed, caused Stockholm to slowly lose her mind and turn to morphine and antipsychotics to make him vacate her psyche. Enrique Arce, who played Arturo on the wildly popular Netflix series known as La Casa de Papel in its native Spain, said being one of the baddies on the drama had its drawbacks.

“Vera Dreams of the Sea,” Kaltrina Krasniqi’s semi-autobiographical drama about a sign-language interpreter who battles for her rights in an inheritance dispute, was awarded the Tokyo Grand Prix at the closing ceremony of the 34nd Tokyo International Film Festival on Monday. The prize is worth $30,000.

Set in Krasniqi’s native Kosovo and based on the real-life experiences of her mother, the film previously screened in Venice’s Orrizonti section.

A female-led story also claimed the second place Special Jury Prize. “La Civil,” by Romanian director Teodora Ana Mihai, is a drama about a woman who goes hunting for a daughter kidnapped by a Mexican cartel.

In the Asian Future section for films by up-and-coming Asian directors, the best film award went to “World, Northern Hemisphere,” Iranian director Hossein Tehrani’s drama about a 14-yar-old boy who supports his family following his father’s death.

The closing ceremony also saw...

Producers are Elşən Abbasov, Carlos Reygadas and Baydarov, with Danny Glover and Joslyn Barnes executive producing.

Screen can unveil the first trailer for Hilal Baydarov’s Crane Lantern, which is set to world premiere in the main competition at the 2021 Tokyo international Film Festival.

The film is about a law student’s interviews with a serial kidnapper whose female victims never press charges. The lead actors include Orkhan Iskandarli and Elshan Abbasov.

Producers are Elşən Abbasov, Carlos Reygadas and Baydarov, with Danny Glover and Joslyn Barnes executive producing. It a co-production between Azerbaijan’s Ucqar Film, Mexico’s Splendor Omnia Studios and US-based Louverture Films.

This Money Heist article contains Major spoilers for Season 5.

The long-awaited final season of Netflix’s most popular foreign language series Money Heist blew up everything we though we knew about the show. Every fan has been eagerly waiting to see Gandia (José Manuel Poga) get his just desserts for his cold-blooded killing of Nairobi (Alba Flores) last season. Season 4 ended with the gang chanting “For Nairobi!” at the end, a rallying cry for revenge. But the price of Gandia’s death was way too high. It cost the life of the show’s leading character, Tokyo (Úrsula Corberó), taking Money Heist in a completely new, much darker direction.

Tokyo’s Death

Tokyo’s death is one of the most daring character kills ever seen on television. It’s even more of a showstopper than the death of Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) in Game of Thrones. The Mother of Dragons...

Biff also announced 12 world premiere titles for its Korean Cinema Today - Vision section.

The 26th Busan International Film Festival has revealed 11 selections for its New Currents main competition, including Korea-Japan co-production Missing, directed by Katayama Shinzo, a former assistant director to Bong Joon Ho.

The New Currents competition is made up of directors’ first and second features. They will be eligible to win the two New Currents Awards, the New Currents Audience Award, the Netpac Award, and the Fipresci Award.

Katayama worked with Bong on his installment for the omnibus film Tokyo! (2008) and Mother (2009), both of which went to Cannes.

If there’s one thing that Money Heist has mastered, it’s the cliffhanger. The cancelled Spanish series that was reborn on Netflix took the world by storm, sparking a global revolution that has so many nail-biting edge-of-your-seat twists and turns that it’s nearly impossible not to binge it all once you’re hooked. The show is a relentless rollercoaster ride and oh so addictive. You never know who is going to live and who is going to die. In fact, not even the actors don’t know.

“It’s impossible, really difficult to know that because it’s also something they established from the start,” Úrsula Corberó (who plays Tokyo), said during the show’s appearance at the 2021 Television Critics Association summer press tour.. “Alex Pina, he’s a last-minute writer, and he’s obsessed as if this was linked with some kind of inspiration. I think it...

After weathering a pandemic, a tsunami, an earthquake and blistering heat, the Tokyo Olympics are coming to a close on Sunday.

When:

The Closing Ceremony will take place on Sunday, August 8, 2021. The final day will also feature medal-round competitions in Track & Field, Volleyball, Water Polo, Boxing, Handball and Basketball.

Where:

The National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan

How to Watch:

The Tokyo Olympics Closing Ceremony will take place on Sunday at 8:00 p.m. local time in Japan. It will air live on Peacock at 7:00 a.m. Et on Sunday while the primetime rebroadcast will air on NBC at 8:00 p.m. Et.

Here’s a list of all of NBC’s Closing Ceremony coverage on Sunday:

2 a.m. to 7 a.m. Et: End of Olympics programming – USA

7 a.m. Et: Live Closing Ceremony coverage – Peacock

7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Et: Coverage on Tokyo Gold – NBC

8 p.m. to 11 p.

Americanish Selected as Opening Night Film

Closing Night Selection The Girl Who Left Home to Screen Virtually and In-Person at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center

Dcapaff will run virtually from July 15 to 25

Dcapaff announced its full lineup, which features 55 films from 9 countries. These outstanding films tell stories from the many distinct cultures within the Aapi spectrum—including Filipino, Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, Singaporean, Pakistani, Kazakh-Russian, and Guyanese.

The 21st edition of the festival runs virtually from July 15 to 25. The Closing Night film The Girl Who Left Home, from Rockville native Mallorie Ortega, will screen at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, MD.

“We have always celebrated and been inspired by the work of Aapi filmmakers, but we are at a pivotal time in history for Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders,” says Melissa Bisagni, Dcapaff Festival Director. “We are committed to driving awareness...

He thrusted onto the film scene with Boy Meets Girl (1984), Mauvais Sang (1986) and The Lovers on the Bridge (1991) but it was 1999’s Pola X that made him a mainstay at the Cannes Film Festival. To celebrate an odd festival (re)opening, it made plenty of sense to open with Annette. Prior to the sing-a-long two plus hour film starring Adam Driver, Marion Cotillard and a marionette with a heart and singing voice, Carax saw was showcased twice in the Un Certain Regard section with invites in Mister Lonely (2007) and Tokyo! (2008) and obviously scored big in 2012 with Palem contender Holy Motors.…...

Yoshihiko Ueda is a director, photographer, and Professor of Department of Graphic Design at Tama Art University.

He was born in 1957 in Hyogo Prefecture. Among his many awards are the Photographic Society of Japan Lifetime Achievement Award, the Tokyo Art Directors Club Grand Prize, and the New York Art Directors Club Photography Award. In 2011 he launched Gallery 916. His most noted series/monographs include Quinault, a meditation on the eponymous sacred Native American rainforest; Amagatsu, a backstage study of Sankai Juku dancer-choreographer Ushio Amagatsu; at Home, intimate snapshots of the artist’s family; Materia, capturing primeval sources of life; and A Life with Camera, a collection of works from his massive oeuvre spanning over 30 years. Recently published are Forest: Impressions and Memories 1989-2017, capturing the three primeval forests of Quinault, Yakushima, and Nara Kasuga Taisha shrine, and 68Th Street, a memory of light and shadow falling on a single sheet of white paper.

Peacock will launch a Tokyo Olympics destination on July 15 featuring live coverage of some the games’ biggest events, including gymnastics, track and field and the U.S. men’s basketball team’s pursuit of their fourth straight gold.

The NBCUniversal streamer said Wednesday — ahead of a live NBC Sports press conference to introduce its broad coverage — that Peacock will feature new daily live shows, original programming, dedicated Olympics channels, full event replays and curated highlights. All of Peacock’s Tokyo Olympics programming will be available to stream for free with exception of USA Men’s Basketball live coverage that will be available to Peacock Premium subscribers.

Amber Ruffin, host, writer and executive producer of Peacock’s late-night series The Amber Ruffin Show, will be on the ground in Tokyo providing her own unique, comedic analyses of the competition, as well as a look-back at her own experiences in the world...

After the Covid-19 pandemic forced last year’s in-person festivities and competition to be cancelled, the Cannes Film Festival will be returning in full force this year, running from July 6 until July 17. The top prize there is the coveted Palme d’Or, and this will be the first time it’s awarded since 2019 when Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite” claimed it. That film would go on to win the Oscar for Best Picture, becoming the first to claim both prizes since “Marty” did it in 1955. This year’s jury will be headed by Oscar winner Spike Lee, who won the Grand Prix in 2018 for “BlacKkKlansman,” which went on to win him the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar.

The track record of a filmmaker at Cannes can sometimes offer tea leaves as to who might be in a good position to take the Palme. Eight of the entries this year come from...

You can’t see John Cena in the ring, but you can definitely catch the WWE superstar narrating a new show for Peacock. The former World Champion will lend his voice to the original series, WWE Evil.

The docuseries will be an “entertaining ‘psychological expose’ into the minds of the most diabolical antagonists in WWE history, and their impact on mainstream culture,” according to the official description. So, if you’ve been itching to find out what makes the WWE’s biggest on-screen villains tick, this show is for you.

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Tomo Hyakutake is a master of the horrific. For more than two decades, he has been working as special makeup effects artist, moldmaker, model designer, model marker, mask creator, for movies, music videos and commercials, having dozens of credits to his names, while also retaining a gallery with his own work.

We speak with him about his art and his creative procedure, working in movies, his cooperation with the likes of Takashi Miike, Takashi Shimizu, Hideaki Anno and many more, the art and movie scene in Japan and many other topics.

How did your interest in art, and particularly the art of the horrific, begin?

When I was a student, Screaming Mad George and Kazu Hiro were my professors at the university. I also learned a lot from my respected seniors, Yasushi Nirasawa, Takayuki Takeya, and Steve Wang. After graduating from school, they introduced me to the industry. In terms of Art-horror,...

Last night, Prisoners of the Ghostland, the latest from trailblazing filmmaker Sion Sono, premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. The genre-bending post-apocalyptic actioner stars Nicolas Cage as a bank robber called “Hero,” who is tasked by a nefarious figure known only as “The Governor” to retrieve his granddaughter (played by Sofia Boutella), who has run away and gone off the grid. To take on the role of The Governor in Prisoners of the Ghostland, Sono brought on veteran actor and fan favorite Bill Moseley, who relished the opportunity to play the over-the-top bad guy, even if he wasn’t very familiar with the director’s work prior to becoming involved.

“My contact for Ghostland was the writer, Reza Sixo Safai,” Moseley explained. “We're pals here in Los Angeles, and he had talked about the movie and suggested I look into it. I didn't really know anything about Sion Sono, so...

David Crow Feb 11, 2020

He just won the Best Director and Best Picture Oscars, so if you're a new Bong Joon-ho fan, here is a crash course of where to go next.

So you just saw history be made on Oscar night when Parasite won Best Picture, beating out the expected frontrunner 1917 and becoming the first non-English film to ever win that award. Maybe you were already a Bong fan or maybe this is your first introduction to the increasingly legendary filmmaker. Either way, you want to take a trip down memory lane and explore his previous work. So now what?

That’s where we come in! Below we have assembled the best places to stream his feature length films, Korean and English, theatrical and Netflix-produced. So get on that warm bullet train and hug your super-pig close, because we’re doing this.

Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000)

Here is Bong’s theatrical feature-length debut.

South Korean cinema auteur Bong Joon-ho has been dazzling audiences since the early aughts with his unique blend of horror, suspense, and science fiction. His breakthrough 2003 film, Memories of Murder, focused on a serial killer, achieved critical acclaim, launching him into a career as an internationally renowned film director.

Related: Parasite: 5 Reasons Why It's Bong Joon-ho's Best Movie (& 5 Why It's Not)

Memories of Murder was his second feature film, and since then, Bong Joon-ho has been at the helm of some of the most interesting and exceptional movies of the 21st century. His 2019 release, Parasite, won the coveted Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, compelling film lovers around the world to dig into his impressive filmography. Rotten Tomatoes finds nothing putrid about Bong Joon-ho's work. His worst rating, for the 2008 anthology film Tokyo!, is 76%. His best, for Parasite, is a coveted 99%. Here's a rundown of all Bong Joon-ho's films,...

Back in the mid-to-late Noughties, a spate of anthology films with contributions from world cinema auteurs painting a picture of a particular city were in demand. Films like “Paris Je T’aime” and “New York, I Love You” featured a number of directors with their respective shorts of much shorter lengths. One such film was “Tokyo!” which collected three short films of around 40-minutes by French directors Michel Gondry and Leos Carax as well as Korea’s Bong Joon-ho. Where most films tend to show the beauty of the cities and the lives of its citizens, “Tokyo!” is more interested in exploring places not usually on tourists’ itineraries- the tiny gaps between the buildings in the cities, the underground sewers of Tokyo and the confines of a Japanese house.

“Tokyo!” will be screened at Japan Society

First up is “Interior Design” by Michel Gondry (“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind...