With digital products like Instagram and TikTok influencing the world in a superficial, hyper-visual direction, Woman of the Photographs offers valuable and poetic commentary on how social media twists self-perception. Along the way, the film contrasts the photographer’s detached nature against the model’s sociability, while also exploring the dichotomy between mental versus physical selves. Instead of recoiling at each other, the two begin an unlikely romance-that slowly becomes more unsettling.
In Woman of the Photographs, a misogynistic middle-aged photographer bumps into an Instagram model when she falls out of a tree. Japanese Title: 写真の女 | Director: Takeshi Kushida | Starring: Hideki Nagai, Itsuki Ōtaki, Toshiaki Inomata | Genre: Drama, Romance, Thriller, Horror Fukushima 50, Sacrifice) that process the trauma of the Tohoku earthquake almost a decade after its occurrence. The film elegantly balances humor and pathos, and is part of a small smattering of 2020 Japanese movies (ex. In the process, he rediscovers the value of pictures and family. At first, Masashi gains fame after taking staged photos of his family pretending to have their “dream jobs.” However, after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, Masashi volunteers to take photos of victims’ families. The film’s title comes from the surname of Masashi Asada, a real photographer whose life the film is based upon. With screenings at the Busan International Film Festival and Beyond, The Asadas! also received appreciable international attention in late 2020.
We kick off our list of 2020’s top Japanese movies with The Asadas! This is the latest film from Japanese director Ryota Nakano, known for past tear-jerking hits like Her Love Boils Bathwater and A Long Goodbye (the latter is on our 2019 list). Japanese Title: 浅田家! | Director: Ryota Nakano | Starring: Kazunari Ninomiya, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Jun Fubuki | Genre: Family, Drama