Disabilities + Poor Acting = Another SMAP Success
Wow. SMAP’s Kusanagi Tsuyoshi is not so skilled of an actor, at least not skilled enough to play a “blind masseuse” without looking like a 1950s parody of the differently-abled. This movie Yama no Anata seems to be aiming for a certain nostalgic bittersweet, and yet, they had to throw the lead role to someone whose entire “acting” career was built on his management company’s economic extortion of the media.
Also, I love the fact that if you go to the press conference page, there are no pictures of the main actor. (This is why.) Is there anywhere else on earth that films are not allowed to use images of the STAR in the online promotional materials??? (Nevermind, he’s on the web page for the official site. Must be that he has his eyes closed and no one would want to steal this picture.)
April 16, 2008 at 9:43 am
You’ve got the wrong link. The official site does have pics of its Johnny’s Jimusho star, for a change.
http://yamano-anata.jp/
April 16, 2008 at 11:37 am
Indeed. I’ll fix that up.
April 16, 2008 at 1:04 pm
There was an interesting article last month about Johnny’s crumbling (?) reign, with comments from outspoken director Izutsu Kazuyuki (“Pacchigi!”).
http://www.j-cast.com/2008/03/19018045.html
Johnny’s has “relaxed” usage of photos in the last year, but now also employ a bizarre photo-realistic art technique for print materials. Which explains why Inagaki’s face kind of looked “off” in the billboard advertising the pilot of “Sasaki Fusai No Jingi Naki Tatakai,” for example.
http://www.j-cast.com/2008/02/03016268.html
April 16, 2008 at 2:27 pm
You know, I thought that Ninomiya was pretty good in Letters from Iwojima. I kind of get depressed every time I see him on an Arashi poster.
April 16, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Luckily he’s got natural talent, because most of the smaller agencies here didn’t even have the option of sending out actors to audition for that film. Ninomiya was excellent in a pretty terrible 2003 movie called The Blue Light (Ao no honoo) directed by theatre legend Ninagawa Yukio.
April 16, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Jesus,this is unbearable to watch…
The original Shimizu Hiroshi version is one of my favourite and look what they’ve done!
April 16, 2008 at 8:45 pm
“The original Shimizu Hiroshi version is one of my favourite and look what they’ve done!”
I felt the same thing seeing Oda Yuji in Sanjuro. Oda Yuji is fine on the small screen but he has next to no screen presence (Odoru Daisosasen does not work at all without Yanagiba… or Patlabor to rip off). Mifune had such an amazing screen presence that the contrast is just laughable.
Meanwhile, in defense of SMAP, Kimutaku didn’t do bad in Bushi no Ichibun. He’s no Sanada Hiroyuki, but that was part of the point, I think….
April 17, 2008 at 1:58 am
Sanjuro-Remake,Huh?
Wait and see until Higuchi Shinji mess up “The Hidden Fortress” remake “The Last Princess” Starring Matsumoto Jun of Arashi!
BTW,NHK-BS is showing now series of Kurosawa film to commemorate the decade since he passed away.
And I saw “Rashomon” remake “The Outrage”.I thought it wasn’t bad especially the cinematography by James Wong-Howe.Paul Newman doing the role of Mifune as Mexican bandits was not so nice,though.
February 4, 2009 at 1:35 am
what happened to the article about Obama and change ? dissapeared ?