The Midnight Eye Guide to New Japanese Film

by Tom Mes, Jasper Sharp, Hideo Nakata (Foreword)

An eye-opening portrait of a vibrant film culture, The Midnight Eye Guide to New Japanese Film is the most comprehensive study of the Japanese filmmaking scene yet written. Tom Mes and Jasper Sharp explore the astounding resurgence of Japanese cinema, both live action and animated, profiling 19 contemporary Japanese filmmakers, from the well-known (Kitano, Miike, Miyazaki) to the up-and-coming (Naomi Kawase, Satoshi Kon, Shinya Tsukamoto) and reviewing 97 of their recent films. With 100+ images from behind and in front of the camera, this is a book any film lover will savor. Foreword by Hideo Nakata, director of Ring . Tom Mes (in Paris) and Jasper Sharp (in Tokyo) co-edit Midnighteye.com , the premier English-language website on Japanese cinema.

Genres: Film, Japan, Nonfiction, Media Tie In, Japanese Literature, Reference

376 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2004

About the author

As a film critic he has contributed to publications that include Film Comment, Sight and Sound, Rue Morgue, De Filmkrant, Kateigaho and many others. He has provided liner notes and audio commentaries for numerous DVD releases of Japanese films around the world. He also has a background in animation as a scriptwriter and storyboard artist.

Tom Mes is a writer and translator of books.

Reviews

[Patrick McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Midnight Eye Guide To New Japanese Film by Tom Mes and Jasper Sharp is an invaluable source for recent Japanese film. There are several books that cover the golden age of Japanese film from Mizoguchi to the new wave filmmakers of the 60s. But this books fills in the gaps with people like Seijin Suzuki and Kinji Fukasaku. Then it brings the reader up to date with the biggest names in contemporary film like Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Takeshi Kitano, Takashi Miike, Hirokazu Kore-eda, and Naomi Kawase. There are several other more mainstream directors, a section on studio Ghibu, as well as reviews of other important films that encapsulate other significant directors like Junzo Itami in their review of Tampopo, the late Satoshi Kan in their review of Perfect Blue, and Oshima’s last film Gohatto. All in all it contains reviews of 97 films and profiles 20 contemporary filmmakers. It has given me several directions in which to enlarge my knowledge and appreciation for contemporary Japanese film. It is an extremely useful reference book.

[Alejandro Valadez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recurso invaluable si estás interesado en el cine japonés contemporáneo; Mes y Sharp recorren su historia desde el inicio de la Nueva Ola a finales de los 50's hasta la actualidad, perfilando a variedad de directores (Miike y Tsukamoto, por ejemplo) y reseñando una gran cantidad de películas. El sitio de Midnight Eye, así como el trabajo de Mes y Sharp como críticos, historiadores y sobre todo como fanáticos es increíble.