James Hadfield

Facade of Madrid’s Cine Dore

Auditorium at Madrid’s Cine Dore

Realised on our final day in Madrid that we were staying near the venerable Cine Doré, so naturally that’s where we ended up spending the evening. Watched the restored version of José Antonio Nieves Conde’s EL INQUILINO, which was a cracker (even with my cruddy Spanish comprehension).

That thought was probably best nipped in the bud, tbh. Hope it doesn’t get too ugly out there today.

Jesus, talk about harshing the vibe…

Unsound turns Osaka into a laboratory of avant-garde music Long-running Polish music festival Unsound channels Expo ’70 at its first Japan edition.

I filed a hastily written report on Unsound Osaka for The Japan Times, which you can read here: www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2025...

And here’s a snippet from yesterday’s closing performance by Jim O’Rourke, Eiko Ishibashi and Piotr Kurek at the Ohtsuki Noh Theatre. Kicking myself for not grabbing any video of Jim and Eiko’s Włodzimierz Kotoński remix set on the first night, as that was great too.

Here’s another one.

Kakuhan and Adam Golabiewski at Unsound Osaka. Videos are a bit crap, but this was one of the highlights of the festival for me.

Given what was happening in the non-pink theatre, I can only imagine.

Striking a pose in front of a hand-painted poster for 28 Years Later at Shinsekai in Osaka

How did you guess…?

Quite possibly. It was proper Goodbye, Dragon Inn stuff (dodgy toilets and all). I didn’t realise places like that still existed in real life.

When I finally got up to tell them there was a problem, they restarted the film, but some of the old geezers in the audience still seemed kind of restless. Turns out it was a cruising spot.

I’m staying in Osaka this weekend and had time to kill, so I went to watch 28 Years Later at a rundown cinema near my hotel. Thought there was something amiss when they played the first 10 minutes of the film with the sound and visuals way out of sync and nobody got up to complain.

“Successful” isn’t a word that I’d associate with Memoirs of a Geisha, but I think I see what he’s getting at.

Oh, and Kaname is totally right about Kokuho. I don’t think it would have done nearly as well at the box office if they’d actually made it Japan’s answer to Farewell My Concubine.

Yeah, that’s a good point (and then you’ve got all the financiers and producers peering over the writer’s shoulder with concerned looks on their faces).

Yeah, I can see that with Kokuho, though I haven’t read the novel so can’t say how much they shaved off the interesting bits to make it more accessible. Haru pointed out that the lives of real-life kabuki actors are way more scandalous (and interesting) than what you see in the film.

‘How Dare You’ turns environmental activism into a youthful adventure In her latest film, director Mipo Oh brings a serious edge to the lighthearted hijinks of three kids trying to save the world from environmental collapse, one prank at a time.

Since I seem to spend most of my time on here talking shit about Japanese films, let me just say that Mipo Oh's HOW DARE YOU? (ふつうの子ども) is delightful, and gets surprising mileage out of a 6-year-old Greta meme. Here's Mark's review: www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2025...

The New Literalism Plaguing Today’s Biggest Movies Buzzy films from “Anora” to “The Substance” are undone by a relentless signposting of meaning and intent.

Not sure if you read the New Yorker piece I mentioned. It’s a great thesis that gets less convincing with each example the author cites, but I still think she’s on to something. www.newyorker.com/culture/crit...

Oh, I disagree with Mark about most films. It would be awfully dull otherwise.

Netflix Japan 10 year anniversary ad featuring Pierre Taki in The Naked Director, Tokyo Swindlers, House of Ninjas and Sanctuary. The actor hasn’t been seen on any of Japan’s terrestrial TV channels since being arrested for suspected cocaine use in March 2019.

Good to see Netflix Japan acknowledging one of its proudest legacies: keeping Pierre Taki in regular work when the big TV networks wouldn’t touch him.

Don’t let me put you off! I know other people who liked it a lot more than I did.

The elusiveness of Ishiguro's novel, including its wonderfully ambiguous ending, is all gone. Ishikawa spells everything out as clearly as possible, then goes back through the story with a marker pen to make sure you got it all.

Ishikawa's adaptation of the Kazuo Ishiguro novel is terrifically acted and does some interesting things on a surface level, but it also seems terrified of asking the audience to do any work.

映画『遠い山なみの光』 『遠い山なみの光』広瀬すず 二階堂ふみ 吉田羊 原作：カズオ・イシグロ「遠い山なみの光」（ハヤカワ文庫） 監督・脚本・編集：石川慶　9.5（金）

Kei Ishikawa's A PALE VIEW OF HILLS comes out in Japan this week, and it's a good example of the "new literalism" Namwali Serpell wrote about in that notorious New Yorker article from earlier in the year (probably better than most of the examples Serpell actually cited). gaga.ne.jp/yamanami/

Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes and River were both delightful, and I seem to remember Love Nonetheless being pretty good. Hiroshi Okuyama’s Jesus perhaps comes closer to the Taste of Tea vibe.

Excerpt from the penultimate page of Shame by Annie Ernaux (translated by Tanya Leslie)

Weird bit of synchronicity today, when the book I was reading on the way to the cinema contained a reference to the source novel of the film I was about to watch.

Yeah, I’ve read Light in August and The Wild Palms. In retrospect, it’s weird how little exposure I had to the greats of American fiction when I was at school, even studying English at A-level. I feel like I’m still catching up.

He was probably one of those people who make a point of laughing loudly at the jokes when they go to watch Shakespeare at the theatre.

Ooh, good call. I’ve read a couple of Faulkner’s later novels though for some reason skipped that one.

It’s astonishingly good. Brilliantly observed, great characters, but also an absolute joy to read on a sentence level.