TIFF thread - Asahi Shinbun article

[Aaron Gerow]

The second in the Asahi's series of articles on the TIFF appeared this 
morning, the theme essentially being that the Asian sidebar was better 
than the Competition. (Don didn't translate it, but the first article 
included an apology by Tanaka Chiseko for this year's poor selection.) 
It also included a jab at Japanese Eyes by noting the winner (again, 
The Cats of Mirikitani), but not mentioning a single other Japanese 
film, even the movie that Kora Kengo appeared in and won an award for. 
It ended with a quote from Yanagimachi complaining about the lack of 
energy of Japanese films compared to that of Asia.

I have a review of Japanese Eyes appearing in the Yomiuri this Saturday.

Also, the new Eiga geijtusu just came out with a whole bunch of 
zadankai complaining about the current crop of Japanese films (one 
includes KineJapan's Alex Zahlten). They echo the voices of a lot of 
other critics I've talked to: Japanese films may be experiencing an 
economic boom, but most of them suck.

Aaron Gerow
Assistant Professor
Film Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
Yale University
53 Wall Street, Room 316
PO Box 208363
New Haven, CT 06520-8363
USA
Phone: 1-203-432-7082
Fax: 1-203-432-6764
e-mail: aaron.gerow at yale.edu