Juliette Binoche finds rapture in the forests of Yoshino
Jeanne (Juliette Binoche) travels to Japan to search for the rare medicinal plant ‘Vision’, which according to legend only appears once every 997 years under special conditions. On her trip, she meets Tomo, a forest ranger, who joins her in her quest and helps retrace her past. Twenty years earlier, in the same forests of Yoshino where Jeanne now hopes to find Vision, she experienced her first true love.Read More »
Quote:
Tracking an independent film crew on a difficult field research trip in Southwest China, Sixth Generation writer-director Zhang Ming’s “The Pluto Moment” ponders the relationship between life and death, nature and society, art and commercialism. Unlike many films about filmmaking, which lend themselves to a kind of meta self-awareness, this deceptively simple yet quietly revelatory drama features engaging characters and offers wryly ironic comments on the unpredictable nature of film production.Read More »
IMDB:
The relationship between a director and an actress takes a turn when the lines between art and life are crossed.Read More »
This film is based on the eponymous book by Valery Osipov. Four geologists are searching for diamonds in the wilderness of Siberia. After a long and tiresome journey they manage to find their luck and put the diamond mine on the map. The map must be delivered back to Moscow. But on the day of their departure a terrible forest fire wreaks havoc, and the geologists get trapped in the woods.Read More »
Plot: Ryosuke (Koji Seto) runs a used car dealership in the sticks, some way outside Tokyo. He inherited the business, and doesn’t enjoy running it. When a girl (Jun Yoshinaga) is dumped by the driver of a car on the road outside his forecourt, his life starts to turn upside-down. (from Letterboxd)Read More »
Synopsis:
High in the desolate, windswept mountains of Tibet lives a shepherd named Tharlo. He tends his sheep and rides his motorcycle, passing his days in familiar and traditional routines far from the city lights. But when Tharlo travels to the city for an ID card photo and meets Yangtso, a modern young hairdresser, his monastic life will forever change.Read More »
Letterboxd wrote:
Brakhage’s hand carvings directly into the film emulsions are illuminated and textured by Solomon’s lighting and optical printing.Read More »
Hani’s subsequent work, Morning Schedule , combines his interest in contemporary youth with his continued interest in modern women. The story deals with two high school girls who decide to take a trip together. The fiction feature, which is narrated, was filmed in 8mm and each of the major actors was allowed to shoot part of the film. Further, the audience is informed of who is shooting, thereby acknowledging the filmmaker within the context of the work. The use of 8mm is not new for Hani. More than half of his fourth film was originally shot in 8mm. Likewise, the use of a narrator dates back to A Full Life. Throughout his career, Hani has concerned himself with people who have difficulty in communicating with one another. His documentaries, narratives on social problems, and dramas on emerging women have established his reputation as one of the foremost psychologists of the Japanese cinema.Read More »
Review:
Ox-driven carts full of native crafts line up at a concrete road. We painfully await each and every one of the caravans to finish their diagonal descent and disappear from Lav Diaz’s immobile frame. Ten minutes has passed by, then another fifteen of the same scene of nomadic crafts merchants travelling from one end of the screen to another. The amount of time forces you to observe the surroundings of the traveling group: You delight at the clouds who also move slowly from right to left, the wild grass swaying in relaxed abandon, the majestic view from atop the hill. Before you know it, you share with these crafts merchants the pristine value of time: since you have so much of it. At night, you listen to their songs over a bonfire, their tales of girlfriends throwing away their vows of love to leave with a Japanese man, their worries that their little ones might catch a fever. Diaz pleads you to take a few hours to immerse yourself with their lifestyle; it’s not exactly a harsh request as Diaz rewards you with beautiful scenery — the still scenes may be likened to black and white post cards of rural life in the Philippines.Read More »