'Licorice Pizza' Director Paul Thomas Anderson Responds to Backlash for Scenes with Fake Asian Accent

EXCLUSIVE: Japanese director Hikari is to helm Netflix’s dramedy Beef.

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentThe release of Japanese film “Confession,” set for March 25, has been indefinitely postponed due to allegations of sexual assault leveled against the director new Sakaki Hideo by several actresses and published on Wednesday by a leading Japanese tabloid. No legal charges have been filed against the director.Ark Entertainment, which is handling the local release and international sales, announced the postponement on the film’s official website.Sakaki also issued an apology on the site, saying: “I am very sorry for the inconvenience caused by the article to the producers, staff, cast members, and other people who worked hard to create the film, and above all, the audience who are looking forward to its release of the film.

Clayton Davis The “Cinderella” story for “Drive My Car” has been one of the award season’s most enlightening. The Japanese submission captured a nom for best international feature, best picture, director and adapted screenplay.

Cartoon Movie Croissants Breakfast – a video clip prompting approving whoops and hollers – Spanish-French animated feature “Unicorn Wars” saw its poster and first stills unveiled at the presentation which looks like an early highlight at this year’s meet. Yohann Comte, co-founder of Charades, the film’s sales agent, also confirmed at the unveil that “Unicorn Wars” has sold to Japan’s Riskit. UFO Distribution handles the feature’s release in France, Barton Films distributes in Spain.The film is just a few weeks off completion, said Miñambres.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorMitski, the National and the Roots will headline the Pitchfork Music Festival when it returns to Chicago’s Union Park, running from Friday, July 15 through Sunday, July 17.The Festival kicks off on Friday with The National, who played Pitchfork Music Festival’s first year in 2006, Spiritualized, Parquet Courts, Tierra Whack, Amber Mark, Dawn Richard, Tkay Maidza, Indigo De Souza, Spirit of the Beehive, Spellling, Camp Cope, Wiki, Ethel Cain, and CupcakKe.The festivities continue on Saturday with Mitski, Japanese Breakfast, Lucy Dacus, Low, Magdalena Bay, Dry Cleaning, Karate, Iceage, yeule, Arooj Aftab, The Armed, Chubby & the Gang, Hyd, and Jeff Parker & the New Breed. Closing day features The Roots, Toro y Moi, Earl Sweatshirt, Noname, BadBadNotGood, Cate Le Bon, Tirzah, Xenia Rubinos, Erika de Casier, Injury Reserve, Kaina, L’Rain, Sofia Kourtesis, and Pink Siifu.“This year’s lineup is a celebration of the rising indie class, and those who continue to pave the way for innovation,” said Puja Patel, editor in chief of Pitchfork.

At Contenders Film: The Nominees, Deadline presented a panel with the director and star of perhaps the most historic nominated film at this year’s Oscars, Drive My Car, which represents Japan’s first-ever Best Picture nomination. It’s an astounding feat for a three-hour Japanese-language film, about a stage director’s personal crisis interweaved with his trip to Hiroshima to direct a production of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya.

Pusha T and Nigo have shared a new collaboration together, ‘Hear Me Clearly’ – listen to it below.The track, which comes in at just under two-and-a-half-minutes, features a chorus that interpolates Jay-Z’s verse on Rick Ross‘ 2010 track ‘Free Mason’.Pusha T took to Twitter to share the artwork for the track. It’s a simple polaroid shot of the rapper signed by Nigo with the words ‘Day Uno Family’ written in the corner.‘Hear Me Clearly follows the previously-released singles ‘Want It Bad’ with Kid Cudi and ‘Arya’ with A$AP Rocky.

Brad Pitt is engaged in an epic battle royale on a high-speed train in director David Leitch’s highly anticipated “Bullet Train”.

The Shinkansen, or as it’s known in English, the Japanese bullet train, is a high-speed railway that connects every region of Japan to its capital, Tokyo. It’s one of the busiest railway lines in the world, and there’s never been a single derailment or collision in its history.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorSony is effectively merging its two anime streaming services, announcing that Crunchyroll subscribers will have access to library and simulcast content previously available exclusively on Funimation starting March 1.The move brings more than 1,600 hours from more than 50 newly added titles in Funimation’s lineup to Crunchyroll, while Sony said it won’t be raising prices on Crunchyroll’s packages (for now). The company said future new series will be exclusive to Crunchyroll starting April 1, and Funimation will only continue to add new episodes of current series.Sony’s Funimation Global Group bought Crunchyroll for $1.175 billion in cash from AT&T, a deal that closed in August 2021 — bringing together to former rivals.

Pocketpair, the studio behind Palworld, has given staff a paid holiday today (February 25) so they can stay at home and play Elden Ring.FromSoftware’s open-world action role-playing game is out today and according to Pocketpair’s CEO Takruo Mizobe, he believes staff will be “unable to focus on work”.The company announced the “Elden Holiday” in a company wide email, which was later shared on Twitter.ポケットペアは、全社員対象者にエルデン休暇を支給します！エルデの王は金、月は出勤する必要はありません！ pic.twitter.com/HforPa0TkN— ポケットペア公式 – Craftopia/クラフトピア (@PocketpairJapan) February 22, 2022Rumour has it that the Dragon Quest series is so popular in Japan, that developer Square Enix now releases its games on Saturdays to prevent kids from skipping school and adults from calling in sick to work to play the game.And last year, Japanese tech developer Mark-On Ltd announced a ‘Monster Hunter Holiday’ for all non-executive employees to coincide with the launch of Monster Hunter Rise after CEO Masaki Hiyama received an overwhelming number of holiday requests for that day.Elden Ring launched earlier today. Steam reviews for the PC version of the game are currently “mixed” due to performance issues and missing features. Bandai Namco has since released a post about the issues in Elden Ring, stating that it is “constantly working to improve the game so that it can be played comfortably on various PC environments and platforms.” In a five-star review of the game NME wrote: “Trying to summarise all of Elden Ring‘s successes, trying to pinpoint why it feels so special, is a gargantuan task.

Naman Ramachandran “Adipurush,” starring Prabhas (the “Baahubali” films), is one of the most anticipated Indian films of 2022. It is directed by Om Raut, who directed Ajay Devgn-starring “Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior,” the biggest Indian box office hit of 2020 with $50 million.“Adipurush” is Raut’s take on Indian mythological epic “Ramayana,” which has been adapted for film and television numerous times in India, including a series which ran for several years on state broadcaster Doordarshan.

EXCLUSIVE: Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook Studios has acquired worldwide rights to Japanese series We Can’t Work Together and is developing an English-language remake of the project in partnership with Japanese company Akimoto Project as part of their strategic alliance.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe Osaka Asian Film Festival has unveiled its biggest ever program – a total of 76 films – to unspool next month (March 10-20, 2022).Its competition section includes the acclaimed Korean debut film “Aloners,” which offers an exacting critique of the alienating effects upon life of modern capitalist economies; Hong Kong biopic “Anita”; the world premiere of “Angry Son,” which combines LGBT and mixed race themes in a heartwarming comedy; Kong Dashan’s new take on “Journey to the West,” as a ragtag group of people on a UFO hunt; “Mama’s Affair,” the second film by Kearen Pang, whose 2017 debut “29+1” won Osaka’s audience award, “No Land’s Man” from Mostofa Sarwar Farooki and festival circuit hit “Barbarian Invasion.” The spotlight section includes ten titles. Among them are “The Ground Beneath her Feet” from Bangladesh’s Mohammad Rabby Mridha; “A Room of Her own” from China’s Xie Yiran; and Carlo Francisco Manatad’s “Whether the Weather is Fine.”The largest component section is the twenty-title Indie Forum, a platform for Japanese indie films that allow the winner to claim the Japan Cuts Award.

Clayton Davis Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car” defied expectations last week when it nabbed Oscar nominations for best picture, director, adapted screenplay and international feature. The Japanese movie, released domestically by venerable art-house distributor Janus Films, surpassed titles with more robust campaigns, including Amazon’s “Being the Ricardos” and Netflix’s “Tick, Tick … Boom!”Even Hamaguchi was surprised by the noms.“I could have never imagined that I would be a realistic contender,” he tells Variety, speaking through Stacy Lee, a Japanese interpreter.

Super Mario RPG has said that if he could, he would like a sequel to be his final game.Speaking to MinnMax, with transcriptions from NintendoLife, Super Mario RPG director Chihiro Fujioka spoke about the development of the Square Enix produced JRPG, and also noted that he would like to make a follow-up to the game. “Yeah, I would absolutely love to make one,” Fujioka responded when asked if he wanted to work on a Mario RPG again.