For as long as I can remember about buying DVDs, one of the best things I’ve enjoyed is getting to immers myself in the extensive behind-the-scenes featurettes. This especially attrributes to my love for action films since I enjoy seeing the creative process unfold, watching how the director, cast and crew work together between meetings and bustling on-set schedules.
In Red Snow, Masatoshi Nagase stars as a Kazuki, a varnish artist who works on bowls for a living with acrylic paints. He resides on a coastal northern island in Japan, afflicted by a past he can barely remember between his hazy memory and the lurid, snowdriven dreamscape he awakens from in the morning.
Shinya Tsukamoto’s latest film takes a toll on the senses with Killing, a chilling eight-minute chanbara drama that suitably provides a template on which the multi-hat wearing filmmaker gets to exhibit the more visionary ends of his craft.
Debut director Genta Matsugami takes the mantle this year with a striking teen drama in Demolition Girl. The film has already garnered some critical and awarded acclaim since beginning a festival run since late last year ahead of its release this August.
After screening at Marrakech late last year and releasing in February, Japan Cuts is proudly premiering newcome director Sayaka Kai’s searing mystery crime tale, Red Snow, which premieres on July 23 at Japan Society.
The thirteenth installment of Japan Cuts kicks off in New York City on July 19 and local folks will be more than pleased with this year’s illustrious and artful line-up, including debut director Genta Matsugami’s Demolition Girl.
Following last week’s announcement of Japanese cinema auteur Shinya Tsukamoto’s centerpiece ceremony for this year’s Japan Cuts, the official line-up is now online from Japan Society along with a robust new trailer. The line-up is ripe with the usual assortment of features host to colorful cinematic stylings from a raft of directors on the feature-length and shortfilm front, as well as Q&A segments with directors.
Japan Society’s 13th Japan Cuts festival is poised to kick off its nine-day event on July 19. Screening among nearly 30 feature films, ranging from a variety of titles amid multiple genres to be announced on June 11 will be the festival’ss Centerpiece Presentation: Japanese film auteur Shinya Tsukamoto whose new period sword drama, Killing, on July 24.
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