Vertigo. Winter 07.

"Film-essayist Chris Marker's fascination for Japan, and in particular Tokyo, is most famously apparent in Sans Soleil (1983). But he had made a film-essay about Japan almost 20 years previously, a film that had slipped out of distribution - Le Mystère Koumiko or The Koumiko Mystery (1965). Swedish contemporary artist Magnus Bärtås traveled to Tokyo to investigate further." Ben Slater introduces an interview with Bärtås in the new issue of Vertigo.

"Though his name is not unheard-of in film circles, and most of his works have been quietly showcased at international festivals, Sono Sion has somehow never made an impact like his contemporary Kore-eda Hirakazu, or the younger Yamashita Nobuhiro, in spite of a distinctive vision and prolific output." A profile by Maggie Lee.

Go Hirasawa reports on the filming of "[o]ne of the most anticipated projects in recent Japanese cinema," Koji Wakamatsu's Jitsuroku rengosekigun Asama Sansou e no doutei ("Literal translation: The Allied Red Army's Passage to Asama Lodge - An Authentic Account"), which "encompasses the New Leftist Movement, tracing events that lead up to the incident at Asama Lodge, presented in the manner of a factual account. Even though the protagonists are members of the Allied Red Army, the film does not seek to recreate incidents as spectacles. Instead, it probes, from a historical perspective, asking why such a movement emerged in Japan and why revolution was thought to be necessary."

"On the face of it, it's Joe's most straightforward film: a linear narrative with no mysteries, dreams or non-sequiturs." Tony Rayns on how Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Blissfully Yours approaches "Buddhist virtues."

Jason Wood: "A key chapter in the history of cinema was closed on Boxing Day with the death of Andi Engel."

Posted by dwhudson at January 31, 2007 3:14 PM