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spotlighting unsung individuals in the Japanese independent film scene

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Latest Interview

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A Student of Contrasts – Nakano Ryota

by Ben Dimagmaliw

Greeting visitors of Nakano Ryota’s homepage is a photograph of the director standing with a resigned expressionlessness in an ankle deep river though his trousers are cinched up mid-thigh. Depending on the size of device display it is being viewed, a wider image reveals he is on location which only enhances the tragicomic quality of the photo. The image was undoubtedly chosen for concisely encapsulating the credo at the filmmaker’s core. Nakano was not, as many of his peers and forerunners may have, particularly enamored with movies or television when he was young. He was, however, conscious of a need to express himself and was attracted to the feedback received from entertaining people around him. In university, this manifested as a foray into music before setting on the road toward a filmmaking career post graduation. His award-winning early short movies as well as his debut feature wrapped somber themes or situations in a unique humor, and at their heart is the portrayal of family which has been central to all his movies perhaps a...

2020-01-07
Interview, Latest

Featured Interviews

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Insider Looking Out – Yamamoto Hyoe

by Ben Dimagmaliw

Becoming a filmmaker requires specific skills. An understanding of and practical experience with film production techniques is a matter of course, however a non-English speaking filmmaker will also need to become English proficient if they aspire to the world stage. Unfortunately, the language barrier is still a daunting and significant obstacle for a large majority of Japanese filmmakers in 2019. Yamamoto Hyoe perhaps innately...

2019-07-20
Featured, Interview
Indievisual-Interview-Asakura-Kayoko

Killer Smile – Asakura Kayoko

by Ben Dimagmaliw

There is a perceptual problem in cinema that women are not suited for or interested in directing genre movies. Making such an assumption about Asakura Kayoko based on her model-esque stature and charming smile would be a disservice to the well-versed director and passionate fan of genre fare. At the 2014 Etheria Film Night where Asakura’s slow burn horror short HIDE and SEEK screened, feminist...

2018-12-23
Featured, Interview
Indievisual-Interview-Furuta-Wataru

All In Due Time – Furuta Wataru

by Ben Dimagmaliw

If taken just on face value, the career of Furuta Wataru might seem inapplicable to a magazine about independent film directors. After all, the Shizuoka Prefecture native studied economics and computer programming at a Canadian university and upon graduation landed a job as a programmer for a computer company before being transferred to manage sales, advertisement, and promotion there. Only upon joining a production...

2018-02-13
Featured, Interview
Ogata-Takaomi-Interview-FeatureImage

Through a Theater Darkly – Ogata Takaomi

by Ben Dimagmaliw

The role of media in society has changed significantly over the last several years. It’s becoming more difficult to tell if media influences the masses or if the masses influence the media. Ogata Takaomi was becoming aware of this blurring of lines between sensationalism and journalism almost a decade ago. An avid lover of cinema since childhood, the Fukuoka native speaks of movies with...

2017-11-09
Featured, Interview

Backstory

“Canary” Screening

“Canary” Screening

In Taka Tsubota’s post-apocalyptic short, four high school boys are stuck together holed up in a forest cabin after most of the world has been overrun by giant, spider-like creatures. Despite the horrors outside, one of the boys named Alan has to contend with the monsters with whom he shares the cabin. And there is […]

BORDER

BORDER

Nakanishi Mai’s economical but effective new horror short is coming to the Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2023. Read my impressions.

NO NO GIRL

NO NO GIRL

Trailer for this drama about Japanese Americans wrestling with their family’s connection to the internment of their ancestors at the onset of the Pacific War.

HIDARI

HIDARI

Trailer for this fusion of analog stop-motion puppets carved out of wood and the thrilling action of Japanese anime.

“PLAN 75” Screening

“PLAN 75” Screening

Impressions of Hayakawa Chie’s thought-provoking debut feature starring Baisho Chieko which world premiered at Cannes.

“Swallow” Screening

“Swallow” Screening

SKIP City INTERNATIONAL D-Cinema FESTIVAL and Nakanishi Mai graciously allowed me to watch “Swallow”. Here are my thoughts.

Eye On

My Small Land feature image
Eye On

My Small Land

Sarya has lived in Japan since she was five. She pretends to be German to her friends, which is easier than telling the truth. In reality, Sarya’s parents are...

2022-05-23
Intimate Stranger feature image
Eye On

Intimate Stranger

46-year-old Megumi is a single mother who works at a baby clothing store. Her beloved 17-year-old son, Shinpei went missing a year ago, and she has desperately been looking...

2022-05-09
Nighthawk's First Love feature iamge
Eye On

The Nighthawk’s First Love

Graduate student Aiko has a conspicuous facial birthmark that made her a target of bullying as a child and sapped her confidence as a woman. When a book partly...

2022-05-09
Ito feature image
Eye On

Ito

Ito Soma is a high school student in Hirosaki City, Aomori. Her hobby is playing the Tsugaru shamisen, a three-string instrument that is popular in her home prefecture. She...

2022-05-09
Aristocrats feature image
Eye On

Aristocrats

Hanako and Miki come from different walks of life. While Hanako has enjoyed a privileged upbringing and a luxurious lifestyle, filled with social functions among Tokyo’s wealthy elite, Miki...

2022-05-09
Secret Breaths feature image
Eye On

Secret Breaths

Yuriko had been violently hurt by love and has given up on everything. She ends up wandering around an island where she meets a strange man, Iwai, who is...

2022-05-09
Until Rainbow Dawn Feature Image
Eye On

Until Rainbow Dawn

Takahashi Hana and Hoshino Ayumi are two deaf women who meet at a sign language society. Though bewildered by her attraction to someone of the same sex, Hana begins...

2021-12-12
I Quit Being Friends Feature Image
Eye On

I Quit, Being “Friends”

What is common sense to you, makes no sense to me. What is ordinary to me, is off-putting to you Worn out from reading too much into different situations,...

2021-12-09
On the Road to Love Feature Image
Eye On

On the Road to Love

One day, film director Ishii Tatsuya (now Tatsujo Kuya) began documenting his life, spurred by a phone call he received from Fukuda Mei, his girlfriend of two years who...

2021-12-09
The Sower Feature Image
Eye On

The Sower

Mitsuo suffered debilitating mental trauma after volunteering to clear out the debris in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. After spending three years at a...

2021-12-09

Special Report

Main Image for Story

25 Japanese Directors Talk Pandemic and Looking Ahead

Published by Ben Dimagmaliw

As 2021 opened much of the entertainment industry was still reeling from the impact brought on by the pandemic. Though productions are once again ramping up, they have to...

2021-07-04
Recent, Special Report
Main Image for Story

25 Japanese Directors Talk Pandemic and Looking Ahead II

Published by Ben Dimagmaliw

Following are more intriguing and candid responses by filmmakers who are striving to tell stories without compromise, but have had to take stock of what that will mean in...

2021-07-04
Recent, Special Report

Side Stories

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2022 Festival Season: Latter Half

by Ben Dimagmaliw

The first half of the festival season will often set trends (see the first part published on the blog site). Some of the movies featured at festivals early in the year will filter their way through various events held in the second half. Meanwhile, Japanese filmmakers will also be seeking entry into the late year festivals which are also searching to premiere yet undiscovered works, particularly many key domestic events as well as ones throughout Asia. There was a distinct celebratory air at many of the festivals which were putting their best foot forward toward a return to pre-COVID pageantry.

2023-06-27
Latest, Side Story
2022 Year In Review Feature Image
2023-04-03

2022 Year-in-Review

Looking back at the year that was 2022 now three months into 2023 feels somewhat akin to returning home...

by Ben Dimagmaliw
2021 Year-In-Review Main Image
2022-01-31

2021 Year-in-Review

Instead of publishing a year-in-review article at the outset of 2021, I wrote an article compiling together information which...

by Ben Dimagmaliw
Swallow Backstory Main
2021-10-02

Serving Up Horror: Nakanishi Mai shares the backstory of her sophomore short Swallow

In Swallow a striving actress is invited to a private, gourmet club only to discover her competition has prepared a horrifying...

by Ben Dimagmaliw
Story Feature Image
2021-02-02

2020 Belated News

2020 has been a year for the books. Aside from the political and social elephants in the room, this...

by Ben Dimagmaliw
Indie Forum 2020 OAFF Poster
2020-04-30

Indie Forum 2020

The 2020 Osaka Asian Film Festival took place under the shadow of COVID-19. Though at the time of this...

by Ben Dimagmaliw
2019 Year In Review Feature Image
2020-02-11

2019: Quality v. Quantity

The third full year of Indievisual brought much improvement in many areas and exciting developments personally for my writing...

by Ben Dimagmaliw

More Interviews

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The Adventuress Spirit – Nishikawa Fumie

Published by Ben Dimagmaliw

The poster for Nishikawa Fumie’s The Azemichi Road depicts a young girl in school uniform captured ecstatically jumping mid-air on a country dirt road. It’s a pastoral image processed...

2017-09-01
Interview, More
Supersaurus-OchiaiAtsuko-Feature-Image

Art of Persistence – Supersaurus

Published by Ben Dimagmaliw

For many, movies are manufactured reality, a stylized representation of it even if based on factual events. True situations are the purview of documentaries. However, the filmmakers at Supersaurus,...

2017-06-22
Interview, More
Daisuke-Miyazaki-Profile

Entertainer with a Cause – Miyazaki Daisuke

Published by Ben Dimagmaliw

Yokohama born Miyazaki Daisuke posseses a pensive quality not readily evident in his relaxed gaze and mild-mannered smile. Make no mistake, however, inside burns a well stoked fire for...

2017-04-06
Interview, More
Indievisual-100-Meter-Films-Feature

The Measure of Success – 100 Meter Films

Published by Ben Dimagmaliw

Synchrony is defined as “simultaneous action, development, or occurrence.” What better word to describe the connection between John Williams (no, not that one) and Shiozaki Shohei, the two principles...

2017-04-03
Interview, More

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