Cinema Around the World: Japan

2 months ago 16th Jul 13:39

In recent years Hollywood has been flooded with remakes of Japanese horror movies such as Dark Water and The Grudge, which all seem to pale in comparison to the original counterparts.

And while Japanese horror may not reach mainstream Western audiences their animation is becoming increasingly popular.

Studio Ghilbli has been producing movies for over twenty years and it was only 2001's Spirited Away that made it on a major international level.

But as audiences grow tired of the Dreamworks/Pixar fight for supremacy in the animation genre older Studio Ghibli movies have been re-packaged, re-dubbed with the voices of well known actors and have finally found an audience.

Like most countries that were making movies in the early part of the twentieth century Japan too had a very successful silent era. However they were still producing those silent movies well into the thirties when the likes of Hollywood had progressed onto sound.

Matsunosuke Onoe was one of the first stars of Japanese cinema who appeared in over 1000 movies.

The 1950s was a golden era for Japanese film as the likes of Rashomon, Seven Samurai and Tokyo Story were all released, the Seven Samurai went on to become the influence behind the movie The Magnificent Seven.

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