- Ghibli World delivers what is likely to be one of the biggest scoops of the year, the announcement of Hayao Miyazaki’s latest feature! Entitled Gake no ue no Ponyo (roughly, “Ponyo On A Cliff“), the film came about after Miyazaki seriously reflected on his relationship with his son, film director Goro Miyazaki. The main character, 5-year old Sosuke, is modelled after Goro.
- Speaking of animation, some of you may (or may not) remember My Life as McDull, a rare animated feature from Hong Kong that did big box office in 2001. Now word comes via Twitch that writer Brian Tse is helming another animated feature, rejecting Miyazakian themes of feminism, environmentalism and family in favor of… poo. Tse’s next project will be the 3-D animated (!) Wee-Wee the Poop, a film title so utterly fantastic that I am going to stop typing right now before I spoil the moment.
- The 1st Annual Asian Film Awards, previously reported on in this column, came to a close yesterday, with Bong Joon-Ho‘s inescapable The Host taking top honors. A full list of winners is posted at MonkeyPeaches.
- On a sad note, famed Japanese actor Eiji Funakoshi passed away yesterday – it was his 84th birthday. Funakoshi may be best remembered for his performance as Dr. Hidaka in the original Gamera, but his greatest role was undoubtedly that of Tamura in Fires on the Plains, released on DVD by Criterion just last week. He also starred opposite novelist Yukio Mishima in 1960’s Afraid to Die, and is absolutely brilliant as the titular sadist in the exploitation classic Blind Beast. There is an excellent obituary and career retrospective posted at SciFi Japan.