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Ready for some full- on Japanese sentimentality? Superlative tough guy Ken Takakura takes us deep into heartbreak territory in search of a happy ending. Yoji Yamada’s Hokkaido road epic throws together a trio of ‘drifters of the heart’ to see if they can solve each other’s romantic dilemmas.

The Yellow Handkerchief

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1978 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / Street Date November 14, 2017 / Shiawase no kiiroi hankachi / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 24.95

Starring: Ken Takakura, Chieko Baisho, Kaori Momoi, Tetsuya Takeda, Hisao Dazai, Makoto Akatsuka, Mari Okamato.

Cinematography: Tetsuo Takaha

Film Editor: Iwao Ishii

Original Music: Masaru Sato

Written by Yoji Yamada, Yoshitaka Asama

Produced by Toru Najima

Directed by Yoji Yamada

Americans can experience difficulty navigating the sometimes- confusing sphere of Japanese humor. Cartoons, children’s films, action movies often seem crude or cruel, but can also be unexpectedly delicate. And some cultural barriers are still there — nobody...

The 28th edition of the Tokyo International Film Festival took place from the 22th until the 31th of October in the great city of Tokyo. This ten day event is the only Japanese film festival accredited by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (Fiapf). It started in 1985 and since then it became one of the most important festival in the world. The festival offers the audience a great chance to see the very best film from around the world and bring them the best national productions.

Competition Section

Tokyo Grand Prix

Nise – O Coração da Loucura (Nise – The Heart of Madness) by Roberto Berliner – Brazil | 2015 – 109 min.

Special Jury Prize

Nous Trois ou Rien (All Three of Us) by Kheiron – France | 2015 – 102 min.

Award for Best Director

Mustafa Kara for his film Kalandar Soğuğu (Cold of Kalandar) Turkey, Hungary | 2015 – 139 min.

Award for Best Actress

Gloria Pires for the film Nise – O...

By Dean Brierly

Japanese actor Ken Takakura, iconic leading man in countless yakuza and action films, died at 83 of lymphoma on November 10 in Tokyo. He had long since achieved legendary status in Japan with his portrayals of brooding samurai, gangsters and hit men. The characters he portrayed were usually on the wrong side of the law but adhered to a chivalric code of honor that, while not reflective of reality, nevertheless struck a deep chord among Japanese filmgoers of the 1960s. Takakura was most familiar to American audiences for his roles in The Yakuza (1975), directed by Sydney Pollack and co-starring Robert Mitchum; Black Rain (1989), with Michael Douglas; and Mr. Baseball (1992), with Tom Selleck. In each of these he more than held his own against his high-powered American co-stars.

Born Goichi Oda in Nakama, Fukuoka, Takakura was witness to real-life yakuza street clashes during his formative years, which may have informed...

Word has just come over the news wires in Tokyo that legendary Japanese actor Takakura Ken has died. Probably most recognisable to Western audiences for his role as an Osaka cop assigned to babysit Michael Douglas in Ridley Scott's 1989 flick Black Rain, Takakura had a career spanning close to 50 years in Japan, creating numerous legendary screen characters and appearing nearly 150 films.Born Oda Goichi, Takakura became famous for his brooding, stoic portrayals of yakuza, samurai and detectives. Among his most famous films are Brutal Tales of Chivalry (Showa Zankyo-den, 1965), Abashiri Prison (Abashiri Bangaichi, 1965) and Too Late The Hero (1970). He worked with Yamada Yoji in 1977's brilliant road movie The Yellow Handkerchief, as well as in big budget action films such...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

It looks like Sean Penn is set for the director's chair for the fifth time in his career with "The Last Face," a drama starring Charlize Theron, Javier Bardem and "Blue is the Warmest Color" starlet Adèle Exarchopoulos. Theron will star as a doctor doing humanitarian relief work in Africa with the continent's violent political conflicts as a backdrop. Bardem will play another doctor and the story revolves around "tough moral decisions that must be made during time of civil unrest," according to Deadline. Exarcopoulos, the outlet reports, will play a journalist. The film is being produced by River Road and Bill Pohlad, who produced Penn's last film, "Into the Wild," and Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life," which starred the actor/director. Bill Gerber and Matt Palmieri are also on board as producers. "The Yellow Handkerchief" scribe Erin Dingam (who had a role in Penn's "The Crossing Guard") is writing.

Now that we've hit the January doldrums, it's a fine time to catch up on some movies on DVD and Blu-ray. This week Robert Rodriguez serves up his campy low budget action flick Machete starring Danny Trejo, along with new high-def releases of his Mexico Trilogy including El Mariachi, Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico. If that's not your cup of tea, there is also the summer comedy Dinner for Schmucks starring Steve Carell and Paul Rudd and the Eli Roth-produced horror flick The Last Exorcism, plus Renee Zellweger thriller Case 39, Allen Ginsberg biopic Howl starring James Franco, and the much talked about documentary Catfish. You can also catch up on previous seasons of Big Love and The Ricky Gervais Show before the new ones premiere on HBO later this month. Will you be buying or renting anything this week? Dinner for Schmucks [1] (+ Blu-ray [2]) Machete [3] (+ Blu-ray...

Please Note: The following rankings and remarks reflect my personal opinions and do/will not in any way impact my projections or analysis on this site, wherein I strive above all else to correctly forecast what will happen, not what I believe should happen. My demonstrated ability to do that over the years is what has led most of you to my site, and any failure to do that will undoubtedly lead you away from it, so you can rest assured that I mean it when I say that one has/will have no bearing on the other.

Scott Feinberg’s Top 10 Films of 2010

1. “The Social Network” (Columbia, 10/1, PG-13, trailer)

I distinctly remember sitting in a movie theater over the summer when the first teaser for “the Facebook movie” began playing, prompting groans and snickering all around me — stuff along the lines of, “What’s it gonna be about? A server crashing?...

So far I've collected six separate 2010 compilation videos looking back at the this year's collection of films. To the best of my knowledge, these six videos include clips from 303 films and together they total 34:34. I have included the complete list of films on the second page if you are interested. Let me know if I'm missing any, but I think it's pretty safe to say if you liked a film in 2010 one of these following videos will feature it.

So, have a watch and leave your thoughts on which one is your favorite in the comments below and if you find another one online that I should add to the collection shoot me an email.

By: Zack Young

By: The Sleepy Skunk

By: Matthew Shapiro

By: Gen I

By: Kees van Dijkhuizen

On the next page is one final compilation piece, but it plays automatically once the page is...

Each year around this time we get a mash-up of the best (and worst) cinematic offerings of the past 12 months. First out of the gate is YouTube’s Genrocks, with a great video mix. See it below and then check out the long list of films it uses, in order from Iron Man 2 to Hubble 3D, as well as the musical choices.

Music:

1. Ratatat – Nostrand

2. Kanye West – Power

3. Rooney – Not In My House

4. Apartment – Fall Into Place

5. Civil Twilight – Letters from the Sky

6. Sunbears! – Little Baby Pines

Films in Order of Appearance:

01. Iron Man 2

02. The Social Network

03. Saw 3D

04. Tron: Legacy

05. Never Let Me Go

06. Legion

07. The Book of Eli

08. Easy A

09. The Runaways

10. Farewell

11. Kick-Ass

12. Jonah Hex

13. Harry Brown

14. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

15. Percy Jackson & The Olympics: The Lightning Thief

16. Despicable Me

17. Stone

18. Dinner For Schmucks

19. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

20. Hereafter

21. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World...

If you were trapped under a rock this year (it happens) take six minutes to watch this YouTube short. Half music video, half trailer remix, “Filmography 2010″ cuts together the year’s hits, flops and everything in between to catchy music.

Even if you’re a jaded movie buff who hates year end schmaltz, the recap should pluck your heartstrings. So many great and touching moments this year, it’s enough to make you wonder how the Golden Globes managed to totally blow their nominations.

But we digress. Check out the video after the jump.

How many films do you recognize? Below is full list of the films in the order that they appear. Enjoy!

Music:

1. Ratatat – Nostrand

2. Kanye West – Power

3. Rooney – Not In My House

4. Apartment – Fall Into Place

5. Civil Twilight – Letters from the Sky

6. Sunbears! – Little Baby Pines

Filmography 2010

Films in Order of Appearance:

01. Iron Man 2

02. The Social Network...

Every December these ‘best of the year’ video montages make the last 12 months of cinema seem infinitely more pleasant to sit through than they actually were. Here’s the first of many that are sure to be made before the sand in the hourglass runs out on 2010, this one from a gal going by the name of Gen I, who sent in this effort to /film.

There’s 270 movies in this montage below ranging from all the well known blockbusters, to smaller docs, foreign fare and even some Japanese anime! I can’t begin to imagine how long or how much skill it takes to put something as high-quality as this together…

Full list of the tracks and films shown are below;

Music:

1. Ratatat – Nostrand

2. Kanye West – Power

3. Rooney – Not In My House

4. Apartment – Fall Into Place

5. Civil Twilight – Letters from the Sky

6. Sunbears! – Little Baby Pines

Filmography 2010

Films in...

Now that we're about two weeks till the end of 2010, the film industry will be looking back to figure out the best movies of the year and will pick winners during the many awards shows. Today, we have a video that captures 2010 pretty well by showing scenes from the year's 270 films, including some that have yet to hit theaters. There will likely be plenty more of these montages in the next few weeks, but the video is definitely one of the better ones that I have seen. Check out the six-minute video below, in addition to a full list of all the films that were used. Questions: How many of the films listed did you actually see in full? Video: Films in Order of Appearance: 1. Iron Man 2 2. The Social Network 3. Saw 3D 4. Tron: Legacy 5. Never Let Me Go 6. Legion 7. The Book of Eli 8. Easy A 9. The Runaways 10. Farewell 11. Kick-Ass...

It's getting closer and closer to the end of the year, and we've already seen a couple top 10 lists and critic choice awards announced. Since we began posting "best of the year" video montages a few years back, it seems a lot of new wannabe video editors have emerged. Maybe the software has become cheaper or more accessible, or maybe the coverage on sites like /Film and other movie blogs garnered interest in the task. Last year I received a dozen or so best of videos, most of them were not anything we would share on the site. I think we posted three in total last year, two of which were created by video editors we've featured in previous years [1]. Today I was sent the first "best of 2010" video montage of the season, from a video editor named Gen I. I'll admit that while I was expecting the worst, I came out pleasantly surprised.

Being first out of the gate often matters a lot in the Oscar derby. "Frozen River" and "Little Miss Sunshine" reaped top nominations in 2008 and 2006, respectively, after being the first DVDs shipped to academy members. This year, that distinction goes to two releases shipped by Sony Pictures Classics late last week: "Animal Kingdom" and "Mother and Child."

In his L.A. Times review, Kenneth Turan praised "Animal Kingdom," which won the world cinema jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival: "Faultlessly acted by top Australian talent, including Guy Pearce, Ben Mendelsohn and Jacki Weaver, 'Animal Kingdom' marries heightened emotionality with cool contemporary style to illustrate one of the oldest of genre truths: 'Crooks always come undone, always, one way or another.'"

Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert cheered "Mother and Child," which stars Annette Bening, Kerry Washington and Naomi Watts: "All have rarely been better .... Three mothers in need of a child.

By Kim Palacios

Hollywoodnews.com: Fans love Kstew for choosing parts in thought-provoking indies; but, her choice in film projects creates an access problem for fans eager to see her work. Her international mega-stardom alone makes it difficult for fans around the world to see even widely-distributed works like the Twilight films in a timely fashion. But, even U.S. fans have experienced narrow access to much of her indie work.

Take “The Yellow Handkerchief”. It first released at Sundance in January 2008. Subsequent releases (e.g., the San Francisco International Film Festival in May 2008, the Middle Eastern International Film Festival in October 2008, etc.) were a painfully slow burn. Festival circuit screenings culminated in a Los Angeles Theater release in December of 2008, nearly a year after its initial screening. Fast forward to 2010. Some 28 months following its initial release, “The Yellow Handkerchief” (amazingly) continues to add theaters to its list!

The good news for fans is that,...

You’re probably asking, “Who is this girl? Why does she think she knows ‘Twilight?’” Well, let me tell you a little about me and “Twilight”. Hopefully you’ll find it interesting enough to stick around.

I started out late in joining the “Twilight” fandom. This fact, however, makes me no less of a fan than anyone else. As a matter of fact, I would say it makes me a bigger fan because everything “Twilight” hit me like a tidal wave. As far as “Twilight-related” activities, here’s some of what I’ve done:

1) I read “Breaking Dawn” in 17 hours. Yes, 17 hours. I then read it again over the next two days.

2) I’ve seen “New Moon” 7 times (so far). I can’t even count the number of times I’ve seen “Twilight” (as a matter of fact I am going to throw it on after this post!)

3) To date,...

I am not an expert on children’s movies. Some classics will forever reside in my heart – “E.T”, “The Goonies”, and for Christmas “Home Alone” to name a few – and no, “Diary Of A Wimpy Kid” will not be one of them. But it did make me laugh more than once. It was definitely more solid than many of the adult productions that the year has dealt us and, as far as children’s Hollywood fare goes, it was a pretty entertaining movie that kept the best things of the book in place and will not bore the adults going along for the ride.

Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon) is a middle child caught between annoying baby brother Manny and abusive older brother Rodrick (Devon Bostick). His new life in middle school isn’t much better, and he has to complain about the morons around him in the new diary his mother gave him.

EW.coms Hollywood Insider has a great article posted from an interview they got to do with Chris Weitz. Chris talks about the New Moon DVD including his favorite part and finding time to do the commentary his thoughts on the switch in Eclipse directors his casts new projects and any last hope we have for him working on Breaking Dawn. Check out more belowSpeaking of editors we recently broke the news that they replaced the Eclipse editor with the editor on the first Twilight movie. What do you think about that?In many cases movies like this have two editors because of the sheer amount of footage. At the very beginning of the process I think Summit expected me to have two editors. But I had a huge amount of confidence in Pete we worked before on a cut of The Golden Compass that never saw the light of...

We checked in with New Moon director Chris Weitz in advance of the DVD release, which -- unless you are living under a rock -- you know begins tonight at midnight. Weitz told us about his favorite extras in the DVD and talked about the future of the series. Below are some highlights: Entertainment Weekly: What’s your favorite part of the DVD? Chris Weitz: The fun part for me was to talk through it with Peter Lambert, my editor, who is a very funny man. We were able to discuss quirky moments we had while putting the film together.

Mar 12, 2010

One should always be a little wary of a film that was shot three years before its release date. Sure, some movies merely take awhile to get through the production pipeline but when it's an independent drama like The Yellow Handkerchief, it probably means something is wrong. This character piece features three interesting performances but they're all fighting against a screenplay that values cliché over believability and a director who can't find the right rhythm or tone for the piece. What's most jarring about The Yellow Handkerchief is that it never feels like ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com...

Rather too long ago I promised a run-down from Kristen’s appearance on the Regis & Kelly Show back during the New Moon promo. I was lucky enough to get a ticket and, as potentially the most avid KStew fan out there, was trying my hardest to not fan-girl out – with such severe jet-lag, it’s all too easy to give in to the sleep deprived hysteria – especially being in the front row! They announce Kristen and the audience kicks it up to eleven, clapping like crazy as she struts out in super schmexy zipper boots and belted jersey dress. Looking gorgeously pale and kick-ass as usual with her jet black hair (<- see what I did there?!) back in a spunky pony-tail. Kristen recalled when it was all cropped off for The Runaways and it was literally picked it up over her head and chopped. Thankfully the mullet is finally...

Here are the new MPAA ratings from Bulletin No: 2093.

Acts Of Violence Rated R For strong bloody violence, torture, a brutal rape, language and some drug use. America The Beautiful: Edited Edition Rated PG-13 For mature thematic material, sexual content, disturbing medical images, and language. Brooklyn's Finest Rated R For bloody violence throughout, strong sexuality, nudity, drug content and pervasive language. Release Date: March 5, 2010 City Island Rated PG-13 For sexual content, smoking and language. Cold Storage Rated R For some violence, disturbing images and language. Cool Dog Rated PG For some mild rude humor, action and brief bullying. Crazy Heart Rated R For language and brief sexuality. Release Date: Tba 2010 The Deported Rated PG-13 For rude humor and language. Edge Of Darkness Rated R For strong bloody violence and language. Release Date: January 29, 2010 Flicka 2 Rated PG For some reckless behavior. Greenberg Rated R For some strong sexuality, drug use,...