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story
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Japan Japan - reviews Excerpts: ''Brilliant, cutting-edge'' Howard Feinstein, IndieWIRE review on New Directors/New Films | English | pdf / weblink ''One of the most striking films of the entire festival season'' Kelly Vance, EastBay Express review on Frameline32 | English | pdf / weblink ''Filmmaker Lior Shamriz distinguishes himself with a quiet style reminiscent of Lynne Ramsay or Sofia Coppola, while he effectively captures the angst of the modern age... Those looking for innovative filmmakers that stand up to any audience of progressive cinephiles should head to Japan Japan an Israeli film that mixes kaleidoscope imagery with understated, impressive acting and a fresh style of filmmaking.'' Conor Fetting-Smith, Filmmaker Magazine review on Newfest | English | pdf-1 / weblink-1 / pdf-2 / weblink-2 ''The 'problem' with this semi-improvised, post-everything riff on apathetic Tel Aviv hipsterdom is precisely its chief value: a defiant disregard for narrative nicety and tonal consistency... The thing's got real vision and vitality'' Nathan Lee, Village Voice review on New Directors/New Films | English | pdf / weblink ''Shamriz's film reinvents the concept of appropriation using a palette consisting of digital images whose origin has lost its importance: The digital is within an easy reach of any filmmaker (...) A film that seems to be the culmination of that utopian ideology of 'Do It Yourself', which was always the dream of independent cinema: the dystopia of the cinematography industry.'' Jaime Pena, Cahiers du Cinema review on Locarno Film Festival | Spanish | pdf ''(...) An original, creative and touching film that no other beginning or established filmmaker in Israel has ever done before'' Gitit Ginat, Akhbar Ha'ir (City Mouse) | Hebrew | pdf / weblink ''Charming... wonderful... fascinating in form and content...'' Yossi Brauman, Time-Out Tel Aviv | Hebrew | pdf / weblink ''(...) The first new work I caught was a low-fi Israeli effort called 'Japan Japan' (reportedly made for $200) from young, Berlin-based director, Lior Shamriz. The opening shot of an erect penis confirmed the rumour that things were going to get explicit but didn’t prepare this viewer for a scene involving a large group of Asian men lathering themselves in each other’s ejaculate. However, what at first feels like juvenile punk nihilism soon blossoms into a fresh and tender study of teenage world-weariness, cleverly exploiting its own limitations by featuring songs, images and corporate logos which could never be secured legally. There’s scant chance it will ever be released, but here’s hoping it has a rich and full following online. (...) 'Japan Japan' caused jaws to drop in Reykjavik.'' David Jenkins, Time-Out London review on the Reykjavik Film Festival (RIFF) | English | pdf / weblink ''(...) (this) provocative docu-fiction hybrid collapses the boundaries between video art, sex journal, and autobiographical narrative film. '' Filmcatcher | English | pdf / weblink ''Japan Japan admirably crams more male nudity and cinema theory into its first sixty seconds than any film in Frameline history.'' Frameline Film Festival's Program, Corey Eubanks | English | pdf / weblink ''(...) Lior Shamriz describes the existence of a disoriented guy who with an escape to Japan wishes to find an escape from his current self. An Israeli who moved to Berlin, and who directed the series of 6 short movies 'Return to the Savanna', Lior Shamriz realised in 'Japan Japan' a film densed with irony and significance, avoiding all the clichés about the place where the protagonists live. At the end, it seems that the dream of escaping is for the Israeli people the only way out of a daily conflicted reality. One of the more beautiful films of the section dedicated to the filmmakers of the present.'' Roberto Rippa, Cinemino | Italian | pdf / weblink ''(...) A naughty chronicle of a Tel-Avivian who longs to Japan. With fast-motions, inserts and improvisation he reaches a great lightness, without losing the sight of earnestness.'' Wilfried Geldner, Teleschau review on the Locarno Film Festival | German | pdf / weblink ''(...) The director Lior Shamriz works with collage of styles and pours from every-day life and from the world of phantasy and dreams to create a totally unique and entertaining film. On the background of the hard political situation in Israel, Imri wants to find his own way outside his internal exile. (...)'' Nana A.T. Rebhan, ARTE.TV review on the Locarno Film Festival | German | pdf / weblink ''(...) An example of the horror of the digital format when it falls into the wrogn hands (...)'' Carlos Pumares, La Razon | Spanish | pdf / weblink |
sneak peek
images page
reviews excerpts
presskit in english or in french (.pdf)
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Lior Shamriz | Japan Japan | Lior Shamriz | Japan Japan | Starring Imri Kahn, with Tal Meiri, Irit Gidron, Naama Yuria