Profile of TAKESHI KITANO As A Filmmaker

He was born January 18th ,1947 in Tokyo. He is one of Japan’s great filmmakers known to the world. Also he is a comedian, actor, film editor, presenter, screenwriter, author, poet, painter. Before he jumped into the world of entertainment, he had worked at the playhouse in Asakusa, Tokyo as an elevator boy. Here, I will introduce him as a filmmaker.

The first movie he directed is Sono Otoko, Kyoubou ni tsuki (English name is Violent Cop) in 1989. It stars himself. He likes violent movies, so he often makes Japanese gangster movie and Samurai movie. His way of making film is a little strange. He thinks of the violent scene first. Next, he makes stories and setting linking the scenes.

His first international success of movie was also violence, crime movie which called Sonatine in 1993. This movie won numerous awards. Four years later, he won the Golden-Lion award at the prestigious Venice Film Festival. In that festival, his movie received a standing ovation from all participants. After that, he has been making fabulous films, but he is still a famous as s entertainer not only a filmmaker. His newest movie, Outrage, will be released this year.

For his achievement, he was named a Commander of the Order of the Arts and Letters of France. Its purpose is the recognition of significant contributions to the arts, literature, or the propagation of these fields. He will publish his autobiography in France.

My Top 5 Horror Movie

I like horror movies. That’s why I chose this topic. I don’t want to meet real ghosts and scary scene, but sometimes I seek thrill. Many Japanese also like horror. Talking about the scary stories and a test of our courage are the things Japanese in summer night. So, there are lots of horror movies which have high quality in Japan. Some of them are so horrible that Hollywood remade them. Now, I’ll show you.

1 BATTLE ROYALE


Director – Shinji Fukazawa
The original novel – “Battle Royale” written by Kousyun Takami (1999)
Genre – Horror, Violent, Thrill
Release – 2000 in Japan
Tagline – Can you kill your best friend?
Casts – Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Beat Takeshi (Takeshi Kitano)

It was the megahit movie that raised social phenomenon. In those days when the movie was released in Japan, it was so shocking and brutal topic that the government prohibited under-18 children from watching it. This movie was based on Takami’s novel Battle Royale, but the setting is a little different between the movie and the novel. In the novel, people live in the imaginary country called the Republic of Daitoua (It was the old name of East Asia which Japanese called in the World War 2). In the movie, people live in future Japan. Here is the summary of the movie below:
In the future, Japan unraveled. Most children didn’t respect and believe adults, and have become delinquent. Then, the government enforced a law called the BR (Battle Royale) Law. It forced a ninth-grade class selected randomly to kill each other until one survives every year. This year, the class that Syuya Nanahara (Tatsuya Fujiwara) and forty-one other students belonged to was selected. They were taken to an isolated island. There was a former teacher (Beat Takeshi) as a director of this murder program. From now on, three days survival started….
Some people may say this movie is not horror. In general, it may be right, but I was so scared about the madness of normal people, even classmates. After I had watched it, many times I imagined what I would do if I were under the condition. I cannot kill my friends, NOW, but I don’t know if I were selected by the BR Law…. I’m afraid of that the future like this movie will come because it is possible! Actually, the most cruel and dangerous thing is human not ghost.


2 CHILD'S PLAY


Director – Tom Holland
Awards – Saturn Award 1 win/3 nominated
Genre – Horror, Thrill
Release – 1988 in America
Tagline – You’ll wish it was only make-believe
Casts – Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Alex Vincent

This movie has had four sequels until 2004, and a remake movie will release this year. The story is simple. A doll that has a murderer spirit kills people to obtain human body. The doll’s name is Chucky. The murderer who possesses the doll is Charles Lee Ray. It said that this name came from three real murderers. Incidentally, the doll made in Japan. I think the story is too fantastic, but really scary. Especially, the face of the doll is so horrible that it cannot be a doll for children. When TV showed this movie, I was a child. I couldn’t watch his face at close range. I watched it from the next room. Ever since, I has been afraid of dolls for a long time. Now, I ‘m OK.


3 RING


Director – Hideo Nakata
The original novel – “Ring” written by Kouji Suzuki
Genre – Horror, Mystery
Release – 1998 in Japan
Tagline – I didn’t expect that I was killed by a Videotape.
Casts – Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, Miki Nakatani

It was remade as The Ring in Hollywood, 2002. The core of this story is an urban legend about a videotape. It is, “Unless you have someone watch this videotape within seven days after you watched it, you will die.” A reporter Reiko Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima) found a videotape at a cottage in Izu. Two girls had stayed there before they were killed mysteriously. Reiko was investigating the reason of their death. She tried to watch the videotape, but it was the real videotape curse…
The scariest scene is when a woman ghost Sadako, who kills people comes out of TV. Her appearance became the representative of Japanese ghost. It was the first horror movie I felt scary. This movie treats an urban legend. It attracts people’s curiosity strongly because it is mysterious and is close their lives. A videotape is common electric equipments. (Currently, DVD is more common and popular, but…) It is not dangerous. However, it is a curse of serial killing in this movie. People may conceive how about their videotape after watching it. So, their fear continues even though the movie finishes. That’s why this movie succeeded.


4 CHAKUSHIN-ARI


Director – Takashi Miike
The original novel – “Chakusin Ari” written by Yasushi Akimoto
Release – 2004 in Japan
Genre – Horror, Mystery, Suspense
Casts – Kou Shibazaki, Shinichi Tsutsumi
“Chakushin” means receiving the call on a mobile phone in Japanese. Along with this title, the mobile phone is the key item of curse. I regretted that I had watched this movie on the big screen in the theater. The sound of curse calling was so terrible. There are 2 sequels and Hollywood remade it as One Missed Call in 2008. It is mystery, but it was confusing for me to understand. Anyway, I’ll introduce briefly:
Friends of Yumi Nakamura (Kou Shibazaki) died one after the other. They all had received the strange call on their mobile phone. The calls came from the future, and each character was called by their future self. Each character hears their own last words. Yumi also received the call. She started to search the mystery of the slaughter calls.…
The main topic that people received the call from the future will die is a creative idea matching the current social. Every people of today have a mobile phone. It is, rather, rare that you meet a person who doesn’t have it. However, the mystery part of this movie is difficult to understand. I couldn’t know why this curse happened and also the end of this movie (I can’t tell you). If you have a opportunity to watch it, please tell me!


5 I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER


Director – Jim Gillespie
The original – “I Know What You Did Last Summer” written by Lois Duncan
Genre – Horror, Thrill, Crime
Release – 1997 in America
Casts – Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Freddie Prinze Jr.

This film was big successful. It was nominated and won multiple awards such as nominated Saturn Award of Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films USA, and won ASCAP Award of ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards. There are two sequels. You can feel thrill as if you are chased by a killer. Don’t watch alone. Here is the general:
Two couples had an accident and killed a man last summer. They dumped the body into the ocean, and decided not to talk about that anymore. One year later, Jennifer got a letter written that “I know what you did last summer”. She visited her friends with same secrets about last summer.　However, the race with mysterious murderer was already started…
My heart pounded all the time I watched the movie. I don’t know when and from where the killer will appear. It was like a test of my courage. This movie doesn’t have theme. It only provides us thrill and fear. If you feel thrill, this movie is the best!

Review of Movie

SUMMER TIME MACHINE BLUES

Rating – 5/5
Director - Katsuyuki Motohiro
Based on - A stage played by theatre troupe Europe Kikaku
Genre – Science comedy
Release – 2005 in Japan
Tagline – It’s waste of using a time machine
Casts - Eita, Ueno Juri, Yoza Yshiaki, Dijiro Kawaoka,
Munenori Nagano, Tsuyoshi Muro, Youko Maki

Which age do you wanna go if you got a time machine? Past? Future? And why?

This movie is my most favorite movie I ever seen!! I like the director Motohiro’s other work, it is the mega-popular cop drama Bayside Shakedown series. He had taken a breather from supervising them. Finally, he started to direct new movie in 2005, Summer Time Machine Blues, which his fans had waited for a long time. Of course, I was one of them. I guess you have seen some time machine movies, such as Back To the Future. This movie is also one of them. It is smaller scale but more interesting and exciting. It is only two days occurrence in hot summer. The characters repeatedly go and back and forth between past and present, just to get the remote control for the air conditioner in their clubroom. Here is the brief story:

That summer, there was the heat wave. Takuma Koumoto (Eita), Masaru Niimi (Yoshiaki Yoza), Shunsuke Koizumi (Daijiro Kawaoka), Atsushi Soga (Munenori Nagano), and Daigo Ishimatsu (Tsuyoshi Muro) spent the whole day keeping themselves cool with an air conditioner in their clubroom, although it was summer vacation. They belong to the same college sci-fi club. Incidentally, they know the least bit about science fiction. Even the meaning of science fiction, they don’t know. Next the sci-fi clubroom, there is the photo club with only two female members, the bespectacled Yui Ito (Youko Maki), and her shutterbug pal Haruka Shibata (Juri Ueno). They also visited there often to develop their pictures.

On the hottest day, they broke the remote control of their air conditioner. They tried to find some electric fans, but all of them had been broken. Then, for some reason, a mushroom-hair man appeared in their clubroom unexpectedly. He escaped somewhere quickly. A peculiar machine remained…it was a time machine! They decided to go back to yesterday and to get the remote control. However, there was a serious problem about using time machine….

Do you think what would happen in the future if you changed the past? Maybe the future would also change. You might be forced to live in another future or to die. Although, only four of them noticed this problem after other three students already had gone to yesterday. Four students chased them to prevent them from changing past.... The main highlight of this movie is spectacle of time. In the end of the movie, you will be surprised and know what time is. At once, I am sure their short adventure will remind you of your youth age. It is comedy, but makes us sentimental mood. Especially, five sci-fi club guys are so funny and cute because they always romp as if they are merry children. Contrary to them, two girls are so smart and cool to calm childish men down. Funny exchanges between them are other highlight. Of course it's better to watch this movie in summer or just before summer.

Preview of Movie

THE OTHER GUYS

Director - Adam McKay, an American writer, director and comedian
Written by – Adam McKay, and Chris Henchy
Genre – action comedy
Release – August 6th in Canada, Greece, America
Casts – Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson,
Samuel L. Jackson


It’s an exciting action comedy of two guys. Allen Gamble (Will Ferrell) is a detective. He is a forensic accountant who's more interested in paperwork than being active. While, another detective, Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg) has been stuck with Allen as his partner. They are mismatched but good partners. They also respect the city's top cops, Danson and Manzetti (Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson). The two detectives seize an opportunity to step up like these ace cops. One day, Gamble and Hoitz stumbled into a seemingly innocuous case that no other detective wanted to touch. However, it could turn into New York City's biggest crime….

McKay has been selected to direct the film adaptation of the comic book, The Boys. It is an American creator-owned comic book series, written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Darick Robertson. Actually, Will Ferrell and he have teamed since the feature films Anchorman (2004) which is one of his notable works. They made two more masterpieces. So, I am sure that this movie will be also an excellent film!

Annoying Gifts

“Honno o shirushi de gozaimasu ga”
This is the typical greeting when Japanese gift someone. It means that “It only amounts to a symbol of my appreciation, but…”

Japanese really love exchanging gifts. I know some other countries people feel strange about this custom. In fact, my former English teacher from Australia really hated our giving present act because it has strict and confusing rules. Is it annoying or troublesome? Exactly it is annoying and troublesome, but it is the significant way of expressing our heart. We Japanese consider that we should care about our surroundings all the time. Plus, to tell our heart directly doesn’t suite the　disposition of the Japanese, who like to be polite and modest. Gift-giving is the proper way of expressing our feeling. I am proud of this traditional custom.

If you lived in Japan, you would often meet the scene that people present gifts politely. For main examples, the scene is marriage, entering school, and even someone leaves Japan for study abroad and etc. I can’t count. In fact, I also received some gifts from my relatives and friends before I left Japan. Even if the sad scene such as a sickness or a funeral, we never fail to give gifts included condolence. We convey congratulatory or encouraging or any feelings by gift-giving. Also, there are two big gift-giving seasons in a year. One is in summer, which called the Midyear Gift, and another is at the end of the year which called the Year-end Gift. During each two seasons, we give presents as our gratitude with any relationships that the people have been looking after us through a year such as our parents, relatives and so on. We include the hope their health and happiness in these gifts.

You will probably be surprised that there are so many complex rules. Maybe it is the biggest different point from gift-giving custom in other countries, and that is why other countries people feel annoyed about our custom. When I worked in a department store in Japan, I had to learn all the rules. For instance, I had to remember main kinds of noshi (a long, thin strip attached to gifts). We must change it according to the condition. The gift for a pleasant event requires red noshi, but for sad events it’s black. The design and the words written on noshi also have to be changed case by case. Sometimes I wrapped consumer’s gifts with incorrect noshi as well as I was confused about their questions of gift-giving rules. Moreover, we should be careful about visiting manners. Before visiting the house, you had better bring gifts in a bag from the shop where you bought it. You take it out of the bag when you meet the person you will give, and hand him/her it with your both hands. (Handing with single-handed is really impolite manner!) Then you can say the words I said at first of this essay. Naturally, he/she have to reciprocate with a present equivalent to a present you gave. Also, you should send a thank-you letter or call him/her soon after you receive a present. Mistaking of these rules or manners often occur misunderstanding and makes people who receive gift bad feeling.

Actually, sometimes this custom seems to be used as a bribery. Furthermore, it has been become just a ritual, not reflected in the heart. Some people think that such meaningless gift-giving must be needless. I also think so. In fact, many people, especially young people don’t care these complicated manners. So, the better way is to make these rules simpler such as just exchanging gifts without any manners. We can give anything we want to give, and we don’t need to care about strict manners. Nevertheless, annoying and strict gift-giving will have been one of important Japanese communications because we love annoying relationships.

If you want to learn this culture and manners more, check this web site.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etiquette_in_Japan#Gifts_and_gift-giving

Chase Your Own Mode!

Two beautiful women who have charming smile are wearing a colorful bikini. They seem to lead the fashion in the world. But it is written that their bikini tops are only $ 5.65. This is H&M ’s attitude.

In May 2008, the new and biggest H&M shop opened in downtown, Vancouver. It is only one of an international fashion chain which has about 2000 shops in 37 countries. We can find its posters or advertisements all over downtown and inside the Skytrain station.

Currently, not only women but men or children are getting to be particular about fashion. They always want to have the latest clothes, and high quality as well. H&M is the exact best hunter to hunt such those people. Their advantage is the latest design and speed. They catch the trend and change the displays in their shops earlier than any other competitors. They are also straining for fashionable and individual design and organic, sustainable material. Low quality is no longer modern fashion.

Don’t hesitate to enter there even if you are timid about your fashion. H&M is not an exclusive shop, and their targets is everyone who are interested in their style. Besides, their aim is to satisfy customers and satisfy them beyond their expectation by providing good quality with low-cost. Therefore, they have been loved by lots of fashion-conscious people from those who can spend a lot of money on their clothes to those who cannot.

Kitty cornered from Granville station, there is the new shop inside Pacific Centre. This location is along the one of Vancouver’s busiest streets, Granville Street. If you take the Skytrain, you can find it in a stride after you exit the Granville station.

Today was so hot. I was tired of walking under the strong sunshine. Besides, there were throngs on Granville Street. Then, I found the shop. Rhythmic music jumped into my ear as soon as the door opened. I went up the white steps leading to the main floor. As I ran up, my heart was beating. Standing on the top of the steps, I could see so many trendy clothes on the white twinkling floor, and surrounded by a glass wall, it was like a dressing room of fashion collection. Showy models were walking and chose their clothes, such as the neat blouse, a pair of short trouser, Asian style accessories and all that jazz. After selecting their costume, they went into the fitting room, to perform their own fashion show.

The main floor is only for women. It is divided into various types of clothes such as casual, formal, sexy and lingerie. You can find very cheap casual items in the center of this floor, it is a casual corner. Some kinds of T-shirts were just $ 6! Other clothes were also inexpensive approximately $ 15~20, which were similar to $ 40~50 clothes in exclusive shops on Robson Street, such as ZARA and BANANA REPUBLIC. Bags and accessories are next to the cash counter. I was surprised at not only their price but abundant sort of bags and accessories. There are about ten kinds of sunglasses, and the cost of all them is $ 6.

The second floor is for teenage girls, and for men and for kids. The main floor is stylish, while the second floor for teenage girls is boyish. There are ordinary clothes, for example jeans, parkas, sweat shirts. The sections for boys and kids are also so trendy and cool! You can choose clothes for your boyfriend or your husband, and kids which match your fashion.


Consistent style and originality is a significant point of fashion, but it is difficult to balance both. If you chase up the latest fashion constantly, your originality will vanish. Contrary, you might drift away in your quest for your own original fashion. However, H&M can solve this problem. Their style is fresh, and it includes the current mode.

I bought some bracelets and black short trouser. The total cost was about $20. I was satisfied with this price and quality. I have been wearing them frequently. Also, the staff in H&M were really friendly and properly stylish. If you don’t know what you should get, they can be a good example. If you want to become trendy with less money, visit H&M. It is easy to start to learn the latest fashion.

This shop is opened from 10 am to 7 pm on Monday and Tuesday and Saturday. From Wednesday to Friday, it is opened until 9 pm. Only Sunday is opened from 11 am to 6 pm.