Japan Cuts.

In the New York Sun, Martin Tsai argues that the lineup for this year's Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film "is reflective of how the country's film industry is grappling with its global reach while struggling to defend its home turf." Today through July 13.

The Voice's J Hoberman recommends catching United Red Army (and I'll second that), noting that "as the old radical [Koji] Wakamatsu is still barred from entering the US, the July 6 screening will be followed by a satellite Q&A."

Updated through 7/3.

Updates, 7/3: "What's most impressive about this year's Japan Cuts assortment is the enormous range and maturity of the filmmaking, along with the distinct sense that Japanese cinema continues to hew its own path," writes Andrew O'Hehir, introducing his coverage for Salon. "Yes, we live in a global information economy, and Japanese directors are influenced by both American and European film. But one could argue that the influences flow more from east to west these days, and a great many Japanese movies could have been made nowhere else." The focus of this entry: "[A]ny festival that could include films as radically different, and as marvelous, as Naomi Kawase's The Mourning Forest and Hitoshi Matsumoto's Dainipponjin (Big Man Japan) is worth noticing."

"Japan Cuts pays tribute to legendary director Kon Ichikawa who sadly passed away in February," notes Simon Abrams in the New York Press. "Skip Shunji Iwai's flashy but creatively challenged doc A Filmful Life and check out The Inugami Family, Ichikawa's influential 1976 whodunit and chase it with Murder of the Inugami Family, his recent 2006 remake. Ichikawa may be gone but thanks to Japan Cuts' diligent programming, his presence remains as vitally inventive as it was 32 years ago."

Nicolas Rapold previews Yasukuni and United Red Army for the L Magazine.

Posted by dwhudson at July 2, 2008 7:56 AM