Japanese Movies to Represent 2021, Selected by 7 Experts from Around the World
2021/12/24
The first person was confirmed infected with COVID-19 at the end of 2019, and the coronavirus is still impacting the movie industry in 2021. On the other hand, this year has seen plenty of happy news and outstanding films in the Japanese world of cinema, including Director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s "Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy" and "Drive My Car", which each won awards at the Berlinale and the Cannes Film Festival, respectively.
How do cinephiles around the world feel about this year’s Japanese films? Critics, film festival programmers, and others who are extremely knowledgeable about Japanese films take a look back and name their picks for Japanese Movies to Represent 2021.
Editor: Satomi Hara (CINRA, Inc.) Main photo: (c)2021 "Drive My Car" Production Committee
See 2020 film picks here:
Japanese Movies to Represent 2020, Selected by Seven Experts from Around the World
Director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s achievements can’t be avoided when discussing Japanese cinema in 2021 (Chris Fujiwara)
"Drive My Car" – Ryusuke Hamaguchi
"Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy" – Ryusuke Hamaguchi
"Nude at Heart" / "Odoriko" – Yoichiro Okutani
"Third Time Lucky" – Tadashi Nohara
"Just Remembering" – Daigo Matsui
On the whole 2021 must be considered a good year for Japanese cinema, mainly because of the release of two films by Ryusuke Hamaguchi. Both "Drive My Car" and "Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy" are concerned with betrayal, secrets, chance, and role playing; and both lead to redemptive conclusions.
This emphasis on redemption perhaps signals that Hamaguchi is afraid of pushing his audience too far. The films cover a lot of emotional territory, some of it abrasive, but they leave a mild and sweet aftertaste. Nevertheless, both films are triumphs because of the performances and because of the subtlety with which the director navigates the twists and turns of his stories.
A few other interesting films emerged this year to prove that there surely is hope for Japanese cinema. "Odoriko" and "Nude at Heart" are alternate versions of Yoichiro Okutani’s documentary portrait of Japanese strippers. The second version was recut by Hong Kong-born, Paris-based film editor Mary Stephen. The films have different emphases, but both provide absorbing views of a vanishing culture.
In "Third Time Lucky", director Tadashi Nohara avoids making his characters’ demanding psychological trajectories either so obvious as to be predictable, or so obscure as to be uninteresting, achieving a mix of delicacy and toughness that Japanese independent films often strive for but fail to achieve.
In Daigo Matsui’s "Just Remembering", a hint of sentimental nostalgia (for the pre-pandemic era) is well suited to a tale of missed opportunities, and the film boasts a charming performance by Sairi Ito as a taxi driver.
Chris Fujiwara
Chris Fujiwara is a film critic and programmer. He has written and edited several books on cinema and contributed to numerous newspapers, anthologies, and scholarly journals. Formerly the artistic director of Edinburgh International Film Festival, he has also developed film programs for various institutions, including the Athénée Français Cultural Center in Tokyo.
Anime that is mind-blowing in conception and luminous beauty (Maggie Lee)
"Belle" – Mamoru Hosoda
"Pompo the Cinephile" – Takayuki Hirao
"Fortune Favours Lady Nikuko" – Ayumu Watanabe
"Josee, the Tiger and the Fish" – Kotaro Tamura
"Gensan Punch" – Brillante Mendoza
After "Demon Slayer" slashed its way to historic box office dominance in 2020, a new batch of inventive works with dazzling visual panache, consolidates anime as Japan’s premier soft power.
Mamoru Hosoda’s "Belle" is mind-blowing in conception and luminous beauty. The story of Suzu, a shy teenage girl finding her voice through a glamorous avatar in the virtual world U, expands on Hosoda’s futuristic themes in "Summer Wars", to explore both light and dark sides of the metaverse.
His collaboration with world class creatives like Jin Kim, character designer of "Frozen"; British architect Eric Wong and Cartoon Saloon, the Irish studio that made such wondrous Oscar-nominated works as "Song of the Sea" and "Wolf walkers" is a milestone for Japan’s animation industry.
Takayuki Hirao’s "Pompo the Cinephile", adapted from Shogo Sugitani’s manga series about a hard-ass B-movie producer, is a playful meta-filmic homage to the dream factory. Combining fluffy flamboyance of "shojo" manga (manga mainly targeted for girls) with a pithy crash course in filmmaking, it’s a “kawaii” yet cult version of "La La Land".
The year’s best animations all sport a plucky teenage heroine who rises above natural disadvantages to forge their path and help others. Kumiko (Josee), the paraplegic protagonist of "Josee, the Tiger and the Fish" by Kotaro Tamura, refuses to let her physical condition define her, transforming her rich imagination into enchanting drawings.
Live action film "Gensan Punch" also addresses disability, but in the signature gritty, documentary-like style of Cannes multiple winner Brillante Mendoza. A winner of Busan International Film Festival’s Kim Ji-seok Award, it’s a stunning example of immersive, physical cinema.
This adaptation of amputee boxer Naozumi Tsuchiyama’s real life was originated by lead actor Shogen, both from Okinawa. Mendoza gained his first experience of filming in Japan when he made omnibus "Asian Three-fold Mirror" (2016). For this joint project ran by Japan Foundation Asia Center and Tokyo International Film Festival to foster film exchange around Asia, Mendoza shot in Hokkaido and Manila to depict two distinct fascinating horse-racing cultures.
Shot in Mindanao, the Philippines, Fukuoka and Okinawa,"Gensan Punch" points to exciting ways of engaging world-renowned auteurs to tell Japanese stories to a global audience.
Maggie Lee
Chief Asia Film Critic of US media Variety and former Asia Chief Critic of The Hollywood Reporter. She was Project Manager for Shorts Film Festival Asia, programming consultant for Tokyo Film Festival since 2010, Artistic Director for CinemAsia Film Festival (Amsterdam) until 2018, and programmer for Vancouver Film Festival since 2017.
2021 garnered attention with movies like "MINAMATA" addressing Japanese society and historical fact (Haochen Xu)
"ONODA—10,000 Nights in the Jungle" – Arthur Harari
"MINAMATA Mandala" – Kazuo Hara
"The Blue Danube" – Akira Ikeda
"The Sound of Grass" – Hisashi Saito
"Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time" – Hideaki Anno
COVID-19 has infected over 250 million people and continues its menacing presence even in 2021. However, compared to 2020 many countries, people, and industries have gradually transitioned to a lifestyle that lives with COVID-19 and are making every effort to move forward. In the world of cinema, too, numerous film festivals such as the Cannes Film Festival were held in the real world, and a succession of major Hollywood movies were released. 2021 was also arguably a banner year for Japanese cinema.
For starters, Director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s "Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy" and "Drive My Car" won successive awards at the Berlinale and Cannes Film Festival to become the face of the international film industry in 2021.
This year also saw heightened global interest in events that happened in Japan. That is embodied by Director Arthur Harari’s film, "ONODA—10,000 Nights in the Jungle" that depicts the former army lieutenant, Onoda who returns to Japan approximately 30 years after the end of the Pacific War. From an outside perspective, it serves as an allegory on life for modern society through the Onoda of Japan’s history and the Onoda as a Japanese person.
2021 also saw the release of the film, "Minamata" by the globally famous Johnny Depp about the pollution-related illness, Minamata disease. Later, almost as if planned, the ambitious "MINAMATA Mandala" by Director Kazuo Hara was launched into cinema history. Despite Director Hara’s advanced age, he obtained a diving license and spent 20 years diving in the sea to conduct research.
"The Blue Danube" from Director Akira Ikeda is a film about a town that carries out a well-regulated war from nine in the morning to five in the evening. That ability to sound a warning to humankind through a fictional world is suggestive of the Finnish master, Aki Kaurismäki. Director Hisashi Saito’s "The Sound of Grass" fully brings out the allure of the actor, Masahiro Higashide and depicts on film the city of Hakodate in Hokkaido that was drawn by Yasushi Sato, author of the original story.
Finally, Director Hideaki Anno deserves the highest respect for "Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time", which took in approximately 10.2 billion yen in box-office earnings. Watching the main character, Shinji Ikari, who has at last become an adult through several movie versions created since the anime series began in 1995, feels nostalgic as if saying goodbye to an era. I have high hopes for "Shin Ultraman" and "Shin Kamen Rider", which are slated for upcoming release, as well as for ‘Shin’ Hideaki Anno!
Haochen Xu
Movie journalist. Born in Shanghai in 1988. Contributes to Chinese movie magazine "Kan Dianying" and the Japanese movie website "eiga.com" and occasionally presents papers at the Beijing Film Academy. In 2020, he became the programming advisor for the Shanghai International Film Festival. He is the producer of the online talk show about movies, "Katsuben Cinema Club".
Many 2021 films were produced pre-pandemic. What will happen from next year? (Marion Klomfass)
"It’s A Summer Film!" – Soushi Matsumoto
"Wonderful Paradise" – Masashi Yamamoto
"A Balance" – Yujiro Harumoto
"Double Layered Town: Making A Song To Replace Our Positions" –Haruka Komori and Natsumi Seo
"Ushiku" – Ian Thomas Ash
Unfortunately, the pandemic is dominating our lives worldwide for the second year in a row. Also for filmmakers and cinemas in Japan the uncertain situation is still a big challenge. Not all films could be shown on a big screen, but some had their premiere only on a small monitor. Video-On-Demand platforms are still booming, a curse and blessing at the same time.
One film that somewhat lightens the gloomy mood in these difficult times is the comedy "It’s A Summer Film!" by Soshi Matsumoto. A wonderful film about a high school student’s unwavering passion for movies. Also a comedy, but definitely a wilder one, is the delightfully anarchic film "Wonderful Paradise" by Masashi Yamamoto.
I was particularly pleased this year that Yujiro Harumoto was invited to the Berlinale with "A Balance", a multi-layered drama about abuse and manipulation. I had already been very impressed by Harumoto’s debut film "Going The Distance", which we showed at our festival, Japanese Film Festival Nippon Connection in 2017. This year you could see again many strong documentaries from Japan.
In "Double Layered Town / Making A Song To Replace Our Positions", Haruka Komori and Natsumi Seo deal with the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in 2011. The experimental documentary by the two young female directors shows the traumas of the inhabitants of a destroyed city in a very haunting way.
One of the most important films this year for me was "Ushiku" by Thomas Ash, which won the Nippon Docs Award at our festival this year. Ash interviewed inmates in an extreme situation at the “Immigration Center” in Ushiku with a hidden camera, and indicts Japan’s uncompromising refugee policy.
Most of the films released in 2021 were made before the pandemic. I really hope that the difficult production conditions in the last two years will not affect the quality of future films too much.
Marion Klomfass
Marion Klomfass is the director of the Japanese Film Festival Nippon Connection in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. During her theatre, film and media studies she became one of the program directors at Exground Filmfest in 1993, where she established the “News from Asia” section. In 2000, she was one of the co-founders of Nippon Connection Film Festival, which shows around 100 films from Japan and has more than 17,000 visitors in six days.
Attention also turns to films by female directors such as Miwa Nishikawa and Satoko Yokohama (Mark Schilling)
"Blue" – Keisuke Yoshida
"Under the Open Sky" – Miwa Nishikawa
"Ito" – Satoko Yokohama
"One Summer Story" – Shuichi Okita
"You’re Not Normal Either" – Koji Maeda
This year marked the rise of Ryusuke Hamaguchi to international prominence with his win of a Berlin Silver Bear for "Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy" and a Cannes Best Screenplay prize for "Drive My Car", both honors well deserved.
Also worth noting, however, was Keisuke Yoshida’s "Blue", a gritty boxing film informed by the director’s own three-decade involvement with the sport. Instead of romanticizing its pugilistic heroes, it starkly dramatizes the harsh realities of their profession, while making us understand why they still love it.
Meanwhile, female directors moved to the forefront, most prominently Miwa Nishikawa with "Under the Open Sky", an incisive character study about an aging ex-con, played by Koji Yakusho, struggling to adapt to life outside the prison walls.
And Satoko Yokohama weighed in with "Ito", a heartwarming coming-of-age drama about a shy teenaged girl (Ren Komai) reluctant to follow in the footsteps of her deceased mother – a master of the "shamisen" (Japanese lute). Set in Yokohama’s native Aomori Prefecture, the film brings its heroine’s milieu to vibrant life, powered by the sounds of the fiery local Tsugaru "shamisen" style.
Shuichi Okita’s "One Summer Story" also centers on an unconventional heroine, a high school girl (Moka Kamishiraishi) who goes in search of her birth dad – the former guru of a religious cult. Rejecting the usual sentimentality in favor of wry observational humor and warm human drama, Okita once again shows why he is a distinctive voice contemporary Japanese cinema.
Also on the comic end of the spectrum is "You’re Not Normal Either", Koji Maeda’s screwball comedy about an unworldly cram school math instructor (Ryo Narita) and his sharp-tongued teenaged student (Kaya Kiyohara), who tries to educate him in the ways of “normal” heterosexual romance. Though the film’s set-up may sound problematic, its execution is any but, instead offering the delights of witty rapid-fire dialogue by the two principals who, in classic screwball fashion, bond as they battle.
Mark Schilling
Senior film critic at "The Japan Times", a leading English language newspaper in Japan, for more than 30 years. He is the Japan Program Advisor for the Udine Far East Film Festival. He is the author of "Art, Cult and Commerce: Japanese Cinema Since 2000" (2020).
Looking forward to many more fun, silly, tender and loving Japanese films in the coming years. (Alex Oost)
"Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes" – Junta Yamaguchi
"Love, Life and Goldfish" – Yukinori Makabe
"The Fable: The Killer Who Doesn’t Kill" – Kan Eguchi
"It’s a Summer Film!" – Soushi Matsumoto
"The Goldfish: Dreaming of the Sea" – Sara Ogawa
When starting programming for the 2021 edition of CAMERA JAPAN we were wondering what the impact of the first year of COVID-19 would be on film production. Though surely it had an impact on film production, there were still many great films produced.
A great example of having a tiny budget should not hamper anyone making a good film as long as one has great ideas is "Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes" by Junta Yamaguchi. A funny and clever take on time traveling.
Two other films which are both funny and with great and original ideas but which could not be more different are Yukinori Makabe’s quirky musical Love, "Life and Goldfish", and the at times fast paced action flick with a generous dose of deadpan humour "The Fable: The Killer Who Doesn’t Kill" by Kan Eguchi.
Filmmaking as a centre theme is an often recurring topic in Japanese cinema, and also 2021 was not an exception, a very fine example of this is "It’s A Summer Film!" by Soushi Matsumoto. The story might be a familiar one but the love for making (genre) films shines through even more brightly than similarly themed films.
Another at first glance familiar story but also extremely well executed is Sara Ogawa’s tender and loving debut feature film "The Goldfish: Dreaming of the Sea".
As long as there are talented and creative filmmakers like the aforementioned with a clear passion for making films, I am confident that we can look forward to many more fun, silly, tender and loving films in the coming years.
Alex Oost
Alex Oost is festival director and co-founder of CAMERA JAPAN, a Japanese cultural festival in Rotterdam and Amsterdam, which held its 16th edition in 2021. Besides a passion for Japanese cinema, with a small preference towards genre and classic cinema, he collects Japanese hardcore punk records and loves browsing the second hand record shops in Japan.
5 films that instill courage to face a world living with COVID-19 (Sanghyun Hong)
"The Goldfish: Dreaming of the Sea" – Sara Ogawa
"Ito" – Satoko Yokohama
"Last of the Wolves" – Kazuya Shiraishi
"The House of Flowers" – Ryuta Hayashi
"DIVOC-12" – Michihito Fujii, Shinichiro Ueda, Yukiko Mishima, Kio Shijiki, Hirokawa Hayashida, Miyuki Fukuda, Yu Nakamoto, Shinpei Yamasaki, Emi Saito, Kenichiro Hiro, Miyako Evans, Takuto Kato
Take note of the Japanese word, ‘tachiagaru’ that encompasses both the English expressions, ‘stand up and take action’ and ‘regain one’s strength.’ It can be applied to the path of Japanese cinema that demonstrates new hope amid the reality of the shaky circumstances of film as being something nonessential in this pandemic.
At the forefront of the timeline stands Sara Ogawa who has had an atypical career, first making her debut as an actor in order to become a director. In 2021, she directed "The Goldfish: Dreaming of the Sea". The film uses an analog sense of beauty to depict two girls who support and comfort one another. It’s set in the city of Akune in Kagoshima Prefecture, which is reminiscent of New Zealand, the setting for "The Piano" (1993) that won the Palme d’Or at the 46th Cannes Film Festival.
The film, "Ito" by Satoko Yokohama that was released in advance on the same day in Aomori also deserves special mention. Yokohama has endeavored for a style that harmonizes with the region and created a heartwarming story through an abundance of talent.
With "Last of the Wolves", Kazuya Shiraishi raked in even greater box-office success than the previous hit, "The Blood of Wolves". He entertained audiences who had tired of Western action movies distributed online with astounding action. The remarkable accomplishments of Japanese cinema continue. Ryuta Hayashi awakened to his identity as fourth-generation ethnic Chinese at age 15 and studied journalism in Kansas. "The House of Flowers", which deals with immigrants overcoming division due to the COVID-19 pandemic and being the key to becoming a society that embraces diversity, earned him an invitation to the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival where the ‘flowers’ bloomed.
The fruitful season of October saw dazzling work by an all-star team. With "DIVOC-12", Yukiko Mishima together with 11 colleagues of different ages and sexes declared they would combine forces to ‘knock COVID-19 on its head’ through love of cinema to take a look at today for a harmonious tomorrow.
Today we live at the intersection between anxiety and anticipation of living with COVID-19. If someone were to ask me, “Have we done what we can to protect our lives? Can we return to normal?,” I would recommend watching these five films and say, “We’ll push through without giving in to the ordeal, just like these people who never gave up.”
Sanghyun Hong
Sanghyun Hong is a management member of CoAR, the South Korean cinema web media, as well as an adviser of Jeonju International Film Festival and Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, and senior producer of Takasaki Film Festival. He holds a master’s degree in political science and visual arts, and studied abroad in Japan at The University of Tokyo (he was a member of the Shimizu seminar that works on a collaborative project with the Paris School of Economics). In 2008, the documentary film that he produced, "For The Islanders" was invited to be an opening film at the Jeju Film Festival. His serial interview articles on CoAR with Japanese people in the movie industry are popular in Korea.
