Film follows Keiko, deaf since birth, making her way in the ring when Covid-19 lockdown arrives in Japan and she must deal with confidence issues
The title is presumably meant to refer to the film’s fine-boned heroine Keiko Ogawa (Yukino Kishii), a scrappy boxer who has just turned professional, but it just as aptly describes the film itself: a delicate, atmospheric study that’s quite unlike most other fight movies. Based on a memoir by boxer Keiko Ogasawara, this very internal story unfolds during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, with a locked-down Japan adding a further layer of isolation to Keiko’s life. Thanks to Kishii’s luminous performance, Keiko comes across as a very self-sufficient but lonely figure, completely deaf since birth, who finds in fighting some kind of release and sensory thrill, even though her lack of hearing creates very specific challenges in the ring...
The title is presumably meant to refer to the film’s fine-boned heroine Keiko Ogawa (Yukino Kishii), a scrappy boxer who has just turned professional, but it just as aptly describes the film itself: a delicate, atmospheric study that’s quite unlike most other fight movies. Based on a memoir by boxer Keiko Ogasawara, this very internal story unfolds during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, with a locked-down Japan adding a further layer of isolation to Keiko’s life. Thanks to Kishii’s luminous performance, Keiko comes across as a very self-sufficient but lonely figure, completely deaf since birth, who finds in fighting some kind of release and sensory thrill, even though her lack of hearing creates very specific challenges in the ring...
- 6/27/2023
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Guardian - Film News
“Goze” is a term that stands for a woman, usually, but not necessarily blind, who works as a travelling musician and singer. The tradition dates at least back to the Edo period, and it was present in the rural areas from Kyushu island in the south to Yamagata and Fukushima prefectures in the north. It was active well into the second half of the 20th century when the last professional goze Haru Kobayashi retired from her work in 1978. “The Last Goze”, directed by Masaharu Takizawa, is a biopic about her, and too bad it is not a good movie.
“The Last Goze” is screening at Toronto Japanese Film Festival
The movie follows her from her birth, through her childhood and goze training and apprenticeships with different mentors, in the early adulthood and the beginning of her career as an independent artist, guild member and group leader. It starts with a warning printed on the screen,...
“The Last Goze” is screening at Toronto Japanese Film Festival
The movie follows her from her birth, through her childhood and goze training and apprenticeships with different mentors, in the early adulthood and the beginning of her career as an independent artist, guild member and group leader. It starts with a warning printed on the screen,...
- 6/21/2022
- by Marko Stojiljković
- AsianMoviePulse
Not since Alfred Hitchcock’s 1927 silent “The Ring” has there been a boxing film quite so quiet as “Small, Slow But Steady,” a gentle but hard-edged study of a flyweight female pugilist in suburban Tokyo. More concerned with the wear and tear of everyday life than pummeling sound and fury, director Shô Miyake’s measured, unsentimental adaptation of a memoir by Keiko Ogasawara — who turned professional despite the difficulties of lifelong deafness — turns out to be somewhat aptly described by its own title, though none of those adjectives quite conveys its rare and delicate grace. A highlight of the Encounters program at this year’s Berlinale, this unassuming gem should turn the heads of specialist distributors and further festival programmers, despite its general avoidance of crowd-courting tactics.
In adapting Ogasawara’s book “Makenaide!” — which translates, with an imperative urgency the film doesn’t share, as “Do Not Lose!” — Miyake and...
In adapting Ogasawara’s book “Makenaide!” — which translates, with an imperative urgency the film doesn’t share, as “Do Not Lose!” — Miyake and...
- 2/24/2022
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
So here we are, almost at the fountain where everything started. “Eyecatch Junction” is the second film directed by Takashi Miike, but was released prior to his first motion picture, “Lady Hunter: Prelude to Murder” (1991), which makes this the first Miike material presented to a broad audience.
“Eyecatch Junction” is a police comedy about three women who decide to establish a secret crime-fighting unit, because all the interesting cases are done by their male colleagues. By joining the police fitness club, they find a perfect cover for their activities. The investigation of a panty thief at the local women’s dormitory leads them to a serious murder case.
Besides fighting criminals in colorful gymnastic outfits, the main part of the film consists of girls being watched by perverts and some minor efforts of solving the actual crime. “Eyecatch Junction” is playful, silly and contains a lot of comical notes.
“Eyecatch Junction” is a police comedy about three women who decide to establish a secret crime-fighting unit, because all the interesting cases are done by their male colleagues. By joining the police fitness club, they find a perfect cover for their activities. The investigation of a panty thief at the local women’s dormitory leads them to a serious murder case.
Besides fighting criminals in colorful gymnastic outfits, the main part of the film consists of girls being watched by perverts and some minor efforts of solving the actual crime. “Eyecatch Junction” is playful, silly and contains a lot of comical notes.
- 2/5/2019
- by Alexander Knoth
- AsianMoviePulse
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