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Bryan Hartzheim
Authors
AsiaPacific Arts has a team of authors who have contributed original material to the publication.
Articles by Bryan Hartzheim
Nikkatsu American Porno
Eclipse's Nikkatsu Noir boxset showcases Nikkatsu Studio's crime capers from the 1950s-60s, which borrow heavily from American noir films but -- with the help of charismatic stars and innovative filmmakers -- become exemplars of Japanese style and creativity. It's enough to get any film geek off.
Published on: 9/4/2009
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Gurren Lagann Movie: Not Enough Pleasing
Gainax Has Done It Again!... if by "done it again," you mean they managed to pack hard-paying Japanese and hundreds of otaku at AX into theaters for an extended "best of" episode of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
Published on: 7/17/2009
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Your One Stop Shop for the Seedy Underbelly of Japan: a review of Ryu ga Gotoku (Yakuza 3)
Why the newest Kiryu Kazuma vehicle Ryu ga Gotoku 3 (Yakuza 3) is the biggest Japanese game ever made.
Published on: 6/19/2009
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APA Top 10: Craziest Moments from the Dragon Ball Anime
Hollywood's live-action Dragon Ball is no evolution in the classic franchise. APA counts down ten reasons to stick to the original.
Published on: 4/17/2009
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Master of More: An Interview with Kiyoshi Kurosawa
One of Japan's most respected directors steps away from horror and into Japan's long tradition of family melodrama with his latest picture, Tokyo Sonata. Kiyoshi Kurosawa sits down with APA to discuss the film, his definitions of horror and melodrama, and his hopes for a brighter future.
Published on: 4/3/2009
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Best of 2008: Yojiro Takita's Departures
Saying goodbye to Japanese cinema 2008: or, why Yojiro Takita's Departures deserves its own top 10.
Published on: 1/2/2009
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AFM 2008: short reviews (part 2: Japanese films)
This year's American Film Market gives us a peek at the best of contemporary Japanese cinema, though that's hardly representative of the industry as a whole.
Published on: 11/28/2008
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East of Japan, West of America
Japanese scholar Rebecca Suter shows how Haruki Murakami not only bridges Japan and the U.S., but, somewhat unexpectedly, politics and pleasure as well.
Published on: 10/3/2008
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Rethinking and Reviewing Early Japanese Cinema
Bryan Harzheim takes a look at a few recently published academic books on Japanese cinema: Nippon Modern, The Attractive Empire, and The Japanese Period Film.
Published on: 10/3/2008
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Tears in Heaven
Criterion's edition of Keisuke Kinoshita's 1954 masterpiece opens our eyes not only to the traumas of war, but also to one of Japanese cinema's lesser-known classics.
Published on: 8/22/2008
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Breaking Borders: The Fusion Films of Nikkatsu Action
Featuring films by Takashi Nomura, Toshio Masuda, and others, the "Nikkatsu Action" program takes Japanese cinema beyond borders, and 1960s action to the limits.
Published on: 6/27/2008
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No Rage Against the 'Machine'?
The Machine Girl seems to be the only movie in the history of the movies to have garnered nearly unanimous praise despite every single reviewer acknowledging that it's bad.
Published on: 6/27/2008
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松本潤へのインタビュー
English-language interview with Jun Matsumoto, translated into Japanese by Bryan Hartzheim.
Published on: 5/2/2008
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樋口監督へのインタービュー
English-language interview with Shinji Higuchi, director of Hidden Fortress, translated into Japanese by Bryan Hartzheim.
Published on: 5/2/2008
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Finding Fortress
Shinji Higuchi's Hidden Fortress: The Last Princess, the Toho-backed remake of Akira Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress (titled more suggestively in Japanese as "The Three Bad Ones of the Hidden Fortress"), and which just premiered last weekend at an absolutely rabid screening at the University of Southern California, is a fascinating cinematic phenomenon on several levels.
Published on: 5/2/2008
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The Bad Guy Behind the Fortress
Director Shinji Higuchi is a notable name in the field of, well, you name it. Anime, special effects, and now live-action movies, Higuchis IMDb credits list is about as diverse as you can get.
Published on: 5/2/2008
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Gaudi and Hi(roshi)
A new DVD of Hiroshi Teshigahara's Antonio Gaudi puts two men's art on display.
Published on: 3/21/2008
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AFM 2007: Capsule Reviews (part 1)
Bryan Hartzheim gives us the skinny on some of the highlights of Japanese cinema (and one Chinese picture) screened for industry professionals at the American Film Market.
Published on: 11/16/2007
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Anno's Next "Genesis"
Fans rejoice and cash registers ding as Neon Genesis Evangelion becomes the big-screen blockbuster Evangeliwon 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone 1.0.
Published on: 10/19/2007
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Edo-era's Whorehouse of Mirth
It ain't a man's world in Mika Ninagawa's Sakuran, one of the best films of the first half of 2007, which recently hit the top of the Japanese DVD rental charts. English readers: rev up those region-free players.
Published on: 9/21/2007
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Japanese Cinema 2006: Highs and Lows
The past and present, the beautiful and the profane, the ridiculous and the sentimental all converge in a year celebrated for cumulative box office growth, but undistinguished in its artistic output.
Published on: 1/12/2007
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Bromides from Iwo Jima
Clint Eastwood and Paul Haggis's Letters from Iwo Jima is less the "Japanese perspective" as it is a bit of the same old American posturing.
Published on: 12/20/2006
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Fantasies on Repeat
Video games have come a long way, and for the past ten years, the Tokyo Game Show has showcased its stylistic and industrial change. But has that journey seen growth or stasis? Bryan Hartzheim reports.
Published on: 10/25/2006
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Fantasies on Repeat - Part II
Video games have come a long way, and for the past ten years, the Tokyo Game Show has showcased its stylistic and industrial change. But has that journey seen growth or stasis? Bryan Hartzheim reports.
Published on: 10/25/2006
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Fantasies on Repeat - Part III
Video games have come a long way, and for the past ten years, the Tokyo Game Show has showcased its stylistic and industrial change. But has that journey seen growth or stasis? Bryan Hartzheim reports.
Published on: 10/25/2006
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