Tag offers enough cryptic symbolism to fuel countless hours of discussion among cinephiles (be it in coffee shops or on reddit), while the movie’s violence ensures that gorehounds can turn off their brains and enjoy numerous well-choreographed blood baths.
Perhaps no other film making the rounds at Toronto After Dark is receiving as much buzz as Love & Peace
Here is a list of five must see films that will be screening at Toronto After Dark 2015.
Sion Sono’s ‘Love & Peace’ is one 2015’s best films and it demands to be seen
Delivering a brisk and fast-paced action comedy about the nature of reality, Sion Sono’s Tag stands out as among the best films so far this year. Sion Sono has never been a stranger to pushing boundaries – his films have consistently tackled taboo subjects through the gauze of the unreal. His most famous works operate on the tone of hysteria, as emotions and actions are amplified to create a surreal and fantastical landscape.
With Love & Peace, the director comes out of his comfort zone to deliver a startlingly touching and accessible film that the whole family can enjoy. Based on a screenplay he wrote two decades ago, Sion Sono gives the rock movie a makeover by fusing together slapstick, romance, politics, classic Hollywood Christmas movies, Tokusatsu films and stop-motion animation. A bizarre thing, this crazy movie is every movie you loved as a kid crammed into 117 minutes of cinematic lunacy.
Considered the world’s largest genre film festival and running over three weeks long, Fantasia is celebrating its 19th edition this year and the lineup is pretty incredible. This year’s fest runs July 14 through August 4 and will see over 130 feature films including more than 20 world premieres. Legendary filmmaker Sion Sono is delivering …
The 19th Annual Fantasia Film Festival is only a week away, beginning July 14 and running through August 4. And as promised for today, they’ve revealed their full line-up of films screening at 2015’s festival in Montreal. This year’s line-up boasts 22 World Premieres, 13 International Premieres, and 21 North American Premieres. Both Marvel’s Ant-Man and …
This year’s Festival du Nouveau Cinema is also about audacity and novelty. A perfect example is Sion Sono’s extravagant Hip-hop futuristic gangster musical presented at the opening night of the FNC’s 10 years old program “Temps O” , an adaptation of Santa Inoue’s 1993 manga Tokyo Tribe 2.
Foul-mouthed octogenarian rappin’ n’ scratching grandmothers. Abrasive, gold-laminated 3D holographic shamans. A scene -tealing human-beatbox waitress, buxom yakuza mistresses, sex-crazed adolescents, breakdancing ninja dervishes, and tank-wielding Shibuya henchmen. All these ingredients and more are present in the latest dish of neon-lit lunacy from Japanese provocateur Sion Sono, a filmmaker with a long and distinguished relationship with the London Film Festival following exposure for his earlier cult cuts Cold Fish, Exte: Hair Extensions, and Why Don’t You Play in Hell?. His latest film, Tokyo Tribe, is another one for the midnight movie crowd: a delirious contemporary musical based on the popular manga by Santa Inoue, it’s a phantasmagorical pop art pastiche of the American rhythms of Streets of Fire, West Side Story, and The Warriors.
Closing off the 2013 edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival is a new film by long time Fantasia favourite Sion Sono. Sion Sono is one of the few filmmakers to completely embody the ethos of Fantasia and he has been an almost constant presence at the festival since he won the award for most …
Kimyô na sâkasu (Strange Circus) Written by Shion Sono Directed by Shion Sono Japan, 2005 Twists and turns have been a point of contention for many a cinephile for some time now. There are countless blog posts about how much of a hack M. Night Shyamalan is simply because of his usage of twists in …
In this outrageous action opus from writer/director Sion Sono, an ambitious young film director Hirata (Hiroki Hasegawa) gets caught in the middle of a bloody Yakuza war sparked by the vengeful wife of a powerful crime boss who is sent to prison after massacring several of her husband’s rivals. The plot is so convoluted, your head will spin when trying to piece it all together. In short, it bounces back and forth between Mitsuko (Fumi Nakaido), a former child star and the daughter of the kingpin, and a group of independent, but talented guerrilla filmmakers who call themselves the FUCK Bombers. Mitsuko’s father, one of her biggest fans, wants to satisfy her dream of becoming a movie star before his wife is released from prison. Ten years after the young rebel filmmaker Hirata makes a prayer to the Movie God, his wish is finally answered when The FUCK Bombers are offered a chance of a lifetime to shoot an epic 35mm samurai/yakuza feature film starring Mitsuko. The F*** Bombers convince the Muto and Ikegama clans to settle their differences on camera. The two rival groups of gangsters agree and volunteer to be both the film crew and the extras. The film – and the film within a film’s climax — is a prolonged and elaborate bloodbath in which the men slaughter one another on camera for the benefit of a group of struggling filmmakers.
Fans of transgressive cinema were overjoyed to see Sion Sono’s latest atrocity appear on the London Film Festival schedule. The Japanese malcontent is almost as prolific as his countryman Miike Takashi, both of them delivering bold and challenging freshly wrought movies year in, year out. After satirizing emerging fads and consumerism in Suicide Club and taking a skewed look at teen romance, religion and the Japanese nuclear family in Love Exposure, he injects a further dysfunctional analysis throughout Cold Fish, a serial killer-themed tale on the surface that obscures a lurking lampoon on present notions of masculinity, progeny and the contemporary status of morality in Japanese society.
Acclaimed director Shion Sono may still be fresh off the debut of his Guilty Of Romance, which premiered at Cannes earlier this year, but only four months later, he is back again. This time around, Sono brings an adaption of Minoru Furuya’s psychological thriller manga Himizu, a twisted tale of a middle-school boy’s state of mind and how he deals with stressful situations. The good news is, Sono’s latest most resembles his four hour long countercultural romantic masterpiece, Love Exposure. The bad news is a good portion of the film’s running time is played at an almost unbearable high volume, with most of the cast shouting their dialogue. Needless to say, either bring some ear plugs or sit far away from the loudspeakers.
In Guilty of Romance, Sion Sono’s female protagonist, Izumi, is established as submissive. This quality permeates throughout the film and especially in the early scenes, she is presented as a docile and obedient housewife compliant to all of her husband’s desires. Sion Sono exaggerates and extrapolates on this quality, building his narrative around submission, masochism and sadism and one woman’s descent into depravity.
In this outrageous action opus from writer/director Sion Sono, an ambitious young film director Hirata (Hiroki Hasegawa) gets caught in the middle of a bloody Yakuza war sparked by the vengeful wife of a powerful crime boss who is sent to prison after massacring several of her husband’s rivals. The plot is so convoluted, your head will spin when trying to piece it all together. In short, it bounces back and forth between Mitsuko (Fumi Nakaido), a former child star and the daughter of the kingpin, and a group of independent, but talented guerrilla filmmakers who call themselves the FUCK Bombers.
A few days ago, I’d never been to an Alamo Drafthouse location, whereas I’ve now spent hours upon hours inside of one. I was in comically close proximity to roughly 2,000 people over the last week, the same 2,000 people. I had to not get even remotely awestruck when I walked into the men’s bathroom …
I’ve returned from Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, but the festival keeps on running until the end of the day tomorrow, September 26. And, like any self-respecting festival, there have been awards announced for various films and the people involved in their creation. The only award I can say I had even a slight hand …
Somehow, I survived my six-movie day yesterday at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas. My mind was amazed to have held firm throughout the day, but my body was basically operating on fumes if today was any indication. I stayed alert and awake through the four films I watched, but there were a couple of moments …
Closing off the 2013 edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival is a new film by long time Fantasia favourite Sion Sono. Sion Sono is one of the few filmmakers to completely embody the ethos of Fantasia and he has been an almost constant presence at the festival since he won the award for most …
In Kimyô na sâkasu there isn’t just a twist, there are a series of twists that culminate in one mamma jamma of a twist ending. Again, judgment of a twist comes down to how it is executed and how it affects the story. Kimyô na sâkasu is a film where every one of its twists is merited and makes for a far more interesting viewing experience.
Every thirty days, I like to post a list of my favorite films I’ve recently watched. Here are the best films I’ve seen throughout the month of September. This list is based on movies theatrically released here in Canada, and I do not include what I have seen at film festivals. **** 1: Beasts of …