Friday, Feb. 4, 2005
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| Jam Films S |
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Director: Masaki Hamamoto, Yuichi Abe, Ryo Teshima, Hitoshi Ishikawa, Ryuichi Takatsu, Kenji Sonoda and Daizaburo Harada
Language: Japanese
Currently showing |
| [See Japan Times movie listings]
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The third in a series of short films. The directors have been selected by Shunji Iwai and Isao Yukisada, who directed the first. Among those up in the lineup are computer-graphic artist Daizaburo Harada and commercial/music video director Kenji Sonoda. Among the seven episodes are "Suit," about an ordinary office worker chosen to save Japan from its economic crisis, and "Heaven Sent," which tells the fate of a man on his death bed who has been granted three wishes.
In the summer of 1940, Noah (Ryan Gosling) meets Allie (Rachel McAdams) and falls in love, forever. He remains deeply committed in spite of all obstacles, class differences (he's a lumberjack, she's from a wealthy Charleston family). Even old age and Alzheimer's won't deter Noah's path which just goes to show you: love is never having to say you forgot what happened in the summer of 1940. (Kaori Shoji)
"Ocean's Eleven" made heaps of cash for all involved, so along comes this sequel, which would have been better titled "Take the Money and Run." George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Julia Roberts are back, along with the same casino-heist premise and breezy "aren't we having fun?" vibe, but no doubt it was more fun to be in than to watch. The best joke in the whole movie is a Bruce Willis cameo, and that speaks volumes. (Giovanni Fazio)
Leaving Paris on a lark, a sidewalk artist named Sansa ends up traveling through 14 countries. Along the way he flirts with women, gets beaten up by security guards and befriends a famous violinist. Filmmaker Siegfried, a bohemian wanderer himself, did almost everything, including the scriptwriting, music composition and cinematography. The travelogue takes us to such places as Russia, Egypt, India and Japan. Now showing at the Tokyo Museum of Photography till Feb. 20. Closed Mondays. For more information, call (03) 3280-0098.
Writer Usagi Nakumura is well known for her tell-all stories, which document everything from her outrageous shopping sprees to her nightly escapades at host clubs. For this documentary, the camera gets up close and personal, detailing her cosmetic surgery. It even follows to the operation room where she gets breast implants. Currently showing at Uplink X. (03) 6821-6821. (Tuesdays to Sundays, 10:30 a.m.; Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays, 9 p.m.)
