Table of Contents

Introduction by the Editor

Film of the Year
Achilles and the Tortoise

Festival Focus
Nippon Connection

Industry Spotlight
The Arts Theatre Guild

Cultural Crossover
Art & Film

Directors
Takeshi Kitano
Satoshi Kon
Akira Kurosawa

Alternative Japan

Anime / Animation

Chambara / Samurai Cinema

Contemporary Blockbusters

Jidaigeki & Gendaigeki / Period & Contemporary Drama

J-Horror / Japanese Horror

Kaiju Eiga / Monster Movies

Nuberu Bagu / The Japanese New Wave

Pinku Eiga / Pink Films

Yakuza / Gangster

About the Author

John Berra is a writer and researcher specializing in contemporary Film Studies. His Ph.D thesis was on American Independent Cinema and its industrial networks, and he published his first book, Declarations of Independence: American Cinema and the Partiality of Independent Production (Intellect) in 2008. He is currently editing the forthcoming Directory of World Cinema: American Independent (Intellect, 2010).

Reviews

'Editor John Berra announces in the acknowledgments that ‘this volume was never intended to be a conventional film guide’. Rather than the A-Z run through of titles, or a year-by-year account of the highlights, Berra’s Directory offers instead a series of chapters mainly grouped around genres. There is also, though, a section on three key directors (Takeshi Kitano; Satoshi Kon and Akira Kurosawa), a nod to the film of the year (Achilles and the Tortoise) and a chapter on ‘The Art Theatre Guild’.[...] There are also, however, many formal observations and little details of character from the writers that make the book worthwhile, no matter its limitations, none more so than Bob Davis’s astute comments on Oshima’s Boy, with its useful analysis of colour in the film. ' Edinburgh Review 'Editor John Berra announces in the acknowledgments that ‘this volume was never intended to be a conventional film guide’. Rather than the A-Z run through of titles, or a year-by-year account of the highlights, Berra’s Directory offers instead a series of chapters mainly grouped around genres. There is also, though, a section on three key directors (Takeshi Kitano; Satoshi Kon and Akira Kurosawa), a nod to the film of the year (Achilles and the Tortoise) and a chapter on ‘The Art Theatre Guild’.[...] There are also, however, many formal observations and little details of character from the writers that make the book worthwhile, no matter its limitations, none more so than Bob Davis’s astute comments on Oshima’s Boy, with its useful analysis of colour in the film. ' – Tony McKibbin, Edinburgh Review
'The writing throughout is of a consistently high standard, incorporating a range of analytical approaches (be it social-political, aesthetic, or genre-based) according to the writers’ preferences. By focussing mainly on the cultural import of films within specific genres, the directory presents a very catholic selection. Admirably un-snobbish in its treatment of all the covered films, the articles are always marked by the sense that those writing are genuine fans.' 
*Edinburgh Review*

 
*Subtitled Online*