Talking About Monsters, Children, and Movies with Takashi Murakami

Rich Juzwiak · 07/15/15 03:24PM

Who do you look at when you’re conducting an interview with someone who speaks in a foreign language—the subject or the translator? That remained unclear throughout my 30-minute discussion with Japanese visual artist Takashi Murakami and his translator Yuko Sakata earlier this week at the Criterion offices in New York. Close Criterion associate Janus Film is distributing Murakami’s first movie, Jellyfish Eyes, which Murakami was in town to promote. My eyes mostly darted back and forth between Murakami and Sakata as I asked questions about his work and movie, an ‘80s-esque tale about a boy and his fantastical pet that he uses to battle his classmates’ similarly fantastical pets in Pokemon fashion. To do so, they use controllers (“Devices”) issued by a local research center that’s actually run by an ominous bunch (the Black-Cloaked Four) who are stealing the children’s negative energy. Jellyfish Eyes is at once conventional by owing much of its plot and spirit to countless films and shows that came before it, and utterly insane. It’s by no means perfect, and often rests on cute—a fact of which Murakami himself seems to be aware. “Although the theatrical version may appear somewhat rough on the edges, I believe, for a first film, I have managed to create something with a solid structure,” he says in an interview provided in the movie’s press notes.

Oh Hell Yeah Ben Affleck Just Bought a $90,000 Hot Rod

Allie Jones · 07/15/15 09:45AM

Nigh three weeks ago now, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner announced that after three kids and 10 years of marriage, they’re getting divorced. Why? Well no one knows exactly, but names like Margot Robbie, J.Lo, Blackjack, and Blake Lively have been thrown around in the tabloids as reasons the Afflecks could no longer make it work.

Trainwreck Is the RomCom Amy Schumer Made, Not the Movie She Deserves

Rich Juzwiak · 07/15/15 09:30AM

At first blush, you might think that Trainwreck is not your average romantic comedy. At its center is a female protagonist whose habits include getting drunk, getting high, fucking, and breaking hearts. She’s surrounded by feminized males who enjoy tea-party settings, Downton Abbey, and cuddling. That it’s all been thought up by and stars Amy Schumer may be all you need to believe that Trainwreck has the potential to be something truly special. Well, it isn’t.

Kristin Chenoweth Likes Her Boyfriend

Kelly Conaboy · 07/14/15 02:48PM

Of all the unfair things in the world, perhaps the most unfair is the belief held by some that a person in the public eye retains the right to—for months—not tell us about her boyfriend and whether or not she likes him. Tell us. Women—tell us. It is our right and your duty.

Trans Sex Work Comedy Tangerine Is the Most Overrated Movie of the Year

Rich Juzwiak · 07/14/15 10:53AM

Sean Baker’s Sundance hit Tangerine was shot on iPhones, and it looks like it. Its colors are nauseatingly saturated and its angles are often strange and unflattering. It stars non-professional actors and it shows. Leads Kitana Kiki Rodriguez (she plays Sin-Dee) and Mya Taylor (Alexandra) recite their lines in a stilted manner, frequently pausing too long between cues to seem natural. Its primary plot is so simplistic it’s insulting: Sin-Dee searches for and then abducts Dinah (Mickey O’Hagan), the biological woman (“real fish”) with whom Sin-Dee’s pimp/fiance Chester (James Ransone) had sex while Sin-Dee was in jail.