Wild Tour   

ワイルドツアー「Wairudo Tsua-」

Running Time: 67 mins.

Release Date: Summer 2018

Director:  Sho Miyake

Writer: Sho Miyake (Screenplay),

Starring: Honoka Ito, Ryutaro Yasumitsu, Osuke Kuribayashi, Takamasa Yamazaki,

Website IMDB

http://www.oaff.jp/2019/en/program/if10.html

Sho Miyake made waves with his 2012 sophomore feature Playback (2012), a time slip drama shot in monochrome which was officially screened at the 65th Locarno International Film Festival and won him international attention. Since then he has refused to conform to any one genre and dabbled in a myriad of projects with no common theme. 2014 saw him make the hip-hop documentary THE COCKPIT and that was followed by a 2017 period drama, The Courier. His most recent feature, the human drama And Your Bird Can Sing (2018), based on a novel by Yasushi Sato, was played at last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival and this year’s Berlinale. He has another film from 2018 and it goes somewhere else entirely as it combines a documentary about a scientific club with stories of first love.

From 2017-18, Sho Miyake took part in a residency at the Yamaguchi Centre for Art and Media (YCAM) and produced the video installation work World Tour which was a video diary shot on smartphone by Miyake and edited together with images recorded by YCAM staff and non-professional collaborators. He builds on this for the fiction film Wild Tour which was, again, made in collaboration with the YCAM team and local students, all non-professional actors.

There is a plot linking everything together and it follows college freshman Ume Nakazono (Honoka Ito) who joins YCAM to take part as a facilitator in a workshop called “Field Guide to the DNA of Yamaguchi”. The workshop participants are mostly high schoolers like Shun and his friend Take who are led by senior scientists and volunteers like Ume and her ex-boyfriend Yamazaki. Groups seek to document the flora native to Yamaguchi by going out to various places such as mountains and beaches to collect plant samples and return to the centre to test DNA all while recording their experiences on smartphones and cameras. The narrative takes place over the course of a few months so, as the fauna blossoms, so do the relationships between people as some fall in and out of love.

Miyake’s approach is graceful in combining the documentary footage with the conventional romance narrative. As we accompany the students out on their expeditions and see the work going on in the labs, people and how people react to places are being recorded all of the time. There is a sense of youthful energy as the kids roam around the countryside and have fun under the watchful eye of Ume and Yamazaki who display a warmth and enthusiasm for what they do. The colour of their love for each other and where they live emerges over time.

Although non-professionals have taken the roles, how people feel about each other can be intuited through their acting which strikes a clear and believable note in what turns out to be a series of quietly bittersweet romantic dramas. Enthusiasm for documenting the word around them, capturing the samples of flora clinging on to pavements or on rocks on beaches, gives way to watching footage of someone else on the project to enjoy their reactions until the emotions cannot be held in check and a confession must be heard.

A lot of varying types of footage is woven together through the more conventional narrative into a coherent whole and it shows how people in contemporary society engage with media and each other through technology.

We see the world from the perspective of the characters as everything is recorded on smartphones and helmet-mounted cameras just as much as through more conventional cameras on tripods. This leads to changes in screen size such as when things are viewed through a microscope and techniques such as direct to camera interviews. The constant changes are easy to digest and replicate what audiences will be familiar with in the real world as we record and send videos and pictures in all sorts of ways. The more conventional camera work is saved for the plot’s through-line which is used to show the characters talking about relationships and confessing love.

From this mixture sprouts an interesting adventure in the spread of information and Miyake seems to be pushing the limits of what film can achieve in telling a story as, while the youngsters have a myriad of takes on the world and different roiling thoughts and desires, these perspectives are shared via the internet as well as in-person and edited together via technology and emotion. It is easy to navigate as we hop between in this film and it is all brought together in a convincing whole as Miyake continues to dodge conformity. In all, we get a sense of a community and the people on this project, how the roots of technology bind people together and help our enjoyment of the world blossom in this small but interesting film where our fondness for characters and places builds steadily.

The Eternity Between Seconds   

Running Time: 83 mins.

Release Date: 2018

Director: Alec Figuracion

Writer: Alec Figuracion (Screenplay)

Starring: Yeng Constanino, TJ Trinidad,

Website IMDB

There is something about liminal spaces such as airports which allows the mind to wander loose from the moorings that reality keeps us grounded with. While there, free from commitments to family or work, it is possible to drift in a sea of strangers as we travel from one location to the next which is when we reassume responsibility. We can take a break from ourselves and be open, not just to a change in place but also thinking. This is an idea explored realistically and relatably in The Eternity Between Seconds, a Filipino film where two weary souls meet and offer respite from life’s worries.

We are first introduced to Andres (TJ Trinidad), a successful motivational speaker and self-help author who seems to have lost his own motivation after reaching his early 40’s. Despite fame leading him to a book signing in Korea, he finds himself sinking deeper into his melancholia. Calls from his wife and editor seem to weigh him down and he tries to dodge a big change on the horizon. As he prepares to leave for home he drifts around Incheon airport where he meets Sam (Yeng Constanino), a twenty-something Korean-Filipino who is about to meet her estranged Korean father for the very first time. Despite there being something of a meet-cute between the Andres and Sam after she purchases his latest book at an airport store, she zeroes in on the distance between the ideal he presents on the page and the tired man in reality. Too exhausted to play games, he talks honestly with her and finds out that she too is buffeted by her anxieties, something to be expected from the momentous occasion of a family reunion which she puts off.

The film foregrounds each person separately at different moments as they wander around the airport, each avoiding big existential questions in the large and impersonal, though comfortable, confines of airport lounges and stores. We listen in while Andres carries out phone conversations with the sort of placating tone used to turn away from emotionally difficult moments. The seriousness of Sam’s turmoil is given with her various calls to her grandmother conducted in a bathroom stall. These climb the scales of emotional intensity but the young lady is always put back on an even keel with her K-pop loving grandmother’s jokes and reassurances. Both face big existential questions and the answers are not easy, especially for Sam whose sense of alienation and fear of fitting in with her father’s culture and what she might find in the man is pointedly made when we see her compare Korean women with their whiter-than-white complexions and practice the language.

The narrative cleanly builds up their inner conflicts so we understand why they spend time delaying having to make tough choices. Illumination is provided by conversations that gradually eke out thorny family histories and see how they help pull each other out of their respective holes.

The chief delight of the film is in their relationship which acts like a balm against the rough transitions of life they are about to endure and it makes this an easily digestible film which glides on the performances of TJ Trinidad and Yeng Constantino. Trinidad plays Andres exhausted and he says his dialogue with a jaded tone. It’s the sort of recognisable jaded that occurs in people who have been around the block enough times. In contrast, Sam is more forceful but in fitful moments. She has the charming spark of youth but also shows naivete and fear. We dread the inevitable moment when they will have to split apart and face reality again as Andres must catch a flight and Sam must meet her father.

The jaded older guy and uncertain younger woman finding solace in each other’s company is familiar character set-up, probably most famous (for Western audiences) from something like Lost in Translation or Columbus. It doesn’t reach those heights but sets itself up distinctly through the technical aspects, especially the clean and gorgeous cinematography by Rommel Sales. It also does well to remain realistic about the situation by not bothering with being enigmatic or erotic or getting too lost in the cultural quirks of a foreign country. It sticks to the crises that Andres and Sam face which are easy to understand and offers up a real answer to the problem: these two characters will have to just keep going and hopefully find blue skies again.

What comes out of the film is a certain longing for a pause between big decisions being played out. Negative feelings are sated not by being romantic or angry but by offering a friendly ear to listen to others, through camaraderie and comfort as the film realistically expands male-female on-screen relationships.

Side note:

I got the director’s autograph after the screening and thanked him for making the film.

For fans of Asian animation in the English-speaking world, Korea is a bit of an unknown quantity. Despite a few brave bloggers trying to keep track of various titles that get released, actually getting to see the films is pretty hard to do. So, if you are interested in Korean animation and are in Japan, this event will be perfect for you.

With the onset of Spring, cherry blossom petals will shower the streets whilst on cinema screens will be the delightful sight of Korean animation. Throughout April, at three different locations, the Korea Independent Animation Film Festival will take place.

Osaka goes first from April 06^th to the 10^th at the Planet +1 cinema, which is located in the bohemian neighbourhood of Nakazakicho near Umeda,

Tokyo gets it from April 19^th to the 21^st at the Uplink Theatre in trendy Shibuya,

Nagoya is a bit later from July 06^th to the 07^th at the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, near Sakae station.

A collection of 29 films will be screened and there will be talks over the course of the festival. The films consist of two programmes dedicated to Korean animated shorts, a programme of shorts from creators based in Asia, and a feature film. These are mainly award films of “Indie-AniFest2018”, which took place in Seoul, and there’s a real variety to the techniques used in animation from stop-motion to 2D in various artistic styles, 3D, CG and even rotoscoping. Each of the shorts programmes and the feature clocks in at around an hour, making this an easily digestible series of screenings. Furthermore, the Osaka run has special guests and a special programme dedicated to the Kansai region – Kansai short program (62 minutes / 8 films) “Kansai Resident! Animator Special Feature”!

Here are the details of the programmes:

Korean Short Programme 1: “The Power of Reality”  69 min / 9 works

Monster Picture – Dir: Park Se-hong

The Perfect Picture – Dir: Ga Soo-yun

Sigh of Sighs – Dir: Gim Bo-seong

Hell Gate – Dir: Kim Il-hyun

Just Walking – Dir: Han Su-bien

For Her – Dir: Kim Jun-ki

Dancing Frog – Dir: Kim Jin-man

The Armpit Hair Girl – Dirs: Jeong Da-hee, Kwon Young-seo

Saturday’s Apartment – Dir: Jeon Seung-bae Guest

Korean Short Programme 2: “Pieces of Love” 70 min / 9 works

Love Spark – Dirs: Choi Yu-jin, Kim Myung-ju

An Old Dog – Dir: Choi Min-ho

Youtopia – Dir: Ahn Gahyeon

Lovely Girl – Dir: Park Ye-na

Skin and Mind – Dir: Park Jee-youn

Sweet Sweat – Dir: Kim Jung-hyun

Jeom – Dir: Kim Kang-min

Our Spring – Dir: Park Jae-in

Relay <The Last Message> – 7 Directors including 2 Japanese directors

Asian Short Programme: “The Shape of Asia” – 68min / 10 works – consists of ten works by filmmakers from around Asia including:

My Little Goat – Dir: Tomoki Misato – guest at the Tokyo venue

A Fly in the Restaurant – Dir: Xi Chen, Xu An

Death of a Father – Dir: Somnath Pal

Feature Film:

I’ll Just Live in Bando 

반도에 살어리랏다

Release Date: 2017

Running Time: 85 mins.

Director: Lee Yong-sun

Writer: Lee Yong-sun (Screenplay)

Starring: Lee Seung-haeng, Choi Chae-in, Kang Sung-woo, Kang Ye-sol, Lee Yoong-woo, Park Jin-Young,

IMDB Korean Film

Lee Yong-sun filled in on many positions for this animated film made for $42,000. It has won praise, especially for its script, after appearing at Annecy and the Ottawa International Animation Festival and tackles issues around family dynamics, gender relations and more. Here’s a good review from Variety which effectively sums up what viewers can expect.

Synopsis: Oh Jun-koo (Lee Seung-haeng) is an unemployed actor who hasn’t worked in a while. With an ambitious wife and two kids to take care of, stress is mounting so when he gets two job offers at once, one offering financial stability as a professor and the other offering a dream role in a soap opera, he has to make a tough decision. With family in mind, the stable teaching position seems more inviting so he decides to compromise his dream but when the old professor who offered the job risks being accused of sexual assault, it seems Oh Jun-koo might have to compromise his morals…

As mentioned earlier, there are also talks at Shibuya. On April 20th of the Tokyo run at 17:40, audiences for the first set of shorts will be able to see an animator talk with Jeon Seung-bae and Japanese animator Shin Hosokawa. The two, who have specialised in 3D models and stop-motion animation, will talk about the differences between Japanese and Korean animation. The second talk at the festival involves freelance animator Tomoki Misato, who is at the festival with his film My Little Goat which is touring the film festival circuit and winning lots of praise. He brings his film to this festival and will talk about it on the 21^st from 17:40.

The Hanahiraku Korean Animation screenings have been taking place since 2008 and this is an exciting line-up. 

To find out more, please head to the website (link).

Notes:

Jeon Seung-bae is a graduate of Chung-ang University of Advance Imaging Science, Multimedia & Film, who works at Toyville Animation Studio as an animation director. He has worked on multiple titles and his latest, Saturday’s Apartment plays here and at other big festivals.

Here’s his Korean Film Biz page (link).

Shin Hosokawa, a graduate of Tama Art University Art and Design and now an associate professor at Tokyo Polytechnic University as well as a working animator.

Here’s an example of Shin Hosokawa’s work (link)

Tomoki Misato is a graduate from Musashino Art University, Department of Visual Communication Design in 2016. He holds a master’s degree from the Department of Animation at Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School of Film and New Media and was featured in the 08^th Graduation works DVD put out by the school which was actually played at Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival in 2017. He currently works as a freelance animator.

Here’s Tomoki Misato’s Vimeo page (link)

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Main: https://anikr.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/koreanimation/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hanakoriJP
Hanakori’s Trailer: https://vimeo.com/325110448

Ireland will get a slew of the latest cinematic delights from Japan when the Japanese Film Festival Ireland gears up for its latest run. It all starts on April 6th and last until the 20^th with screenings of a selection of films at venues in Dublin, Galway, Tipperary, Limerick, Cork, Sligo, Waterford and Dundalk.

There are many highlights, many of which have set screens ablaze at the likes of Japan Cuts 2018, three of the biggest titles to get a release in 2019 from Third Windows Films and the latest anime to be licensed Anime Limited. There is also a slew of indie films, only a couple of which have been screened at something like the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2019.

As is always the case, whether new or old, whether confirmed for a home format release or not, seeing these films on the big screen and sharing it with others is an exciting proposition and I hope you can find something that sparks your imagination.

Here are the films:

Diversity from Third Window Films

2018/9 has been a phenomenal year for Third Window Films what with the ongoing mega success of One Cut of the Dead which has charmed audiences around the world (including this reviewer) and won many, many major awards. This is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser that you can take anybody along to see so it’s a definite highlight of the festival. That loving tributes to B-movies aside, here are two films which the label will release later on in 2019 which show how willing they are to bank on diverse stories.

Killing     

斬、 「Zan」

Running Time: 80 mins.

Release Date: November 24th, 2018

Director: Shinya Tsukamoto

Writer: Shinya Tsukamoto (Screenplay),

Starring: Sosuke Ikematsu, Yu Aoi, Shinya Tsukamoto, Tatsuya Nakamura, Ryusei Maeda    

Website    IMDB

Shinya Tsukamoto is back writing, directing, editing and producing his own films after a short spell acting in features like Shin Godzilla and Over the Fence. I’m a big fan of his works thanks to Nightmare Detective(2007), Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989), Tokyo Fist (1995), and Vital (2003) and his film A Snake of June, which was given the Special Jury Prize at the 2002 Venice Film Festival. 

Synopsis: The ronin Mokunoshin Tsuzuki (Sosuke Ikematsu) is alive during the end of the Edo period where many samurai like him are finding their way of life losing its edge as the country exists in a state of peace. He lives in the suburbs of Tokyo where he helps out farmers and is acquainted with one farmer’s son named Ichisuke (Ryusei Maeda) who dreams of being a samurai. Tsuzuki spends his days farming and sparring with Ichisuke but, despite the tranquillity, Tsuzuki’s heart is in tumult because he is concerned about the questions of whether he could follow a lord’s orders and kill a man and, more importantly, passions are brewing as he is falling in love with Ichisuke’s sister Yu (Yu Aoi). Passions from further afield are also growing as the country is on the verge of a civil war when a mild-mannered and skilful ronin Jirozaemon Sawamura (Shinya Tsukamoto) arrives in town looking for warriors to take to Edo.

Legend of Stardust Brothers / Hoshikuzu kyodai no densetsu    

星くず兄弟の伝説 「Hoshikuzu kyodai no densetsu 」

Running Time: 100 mins.

Original Release Date: June 15^th, 1985

Director: Macoto Tezuka

Writer: Macoto Tezuka (Screenplay), Haruo Chikada (Original Story)

Starring: Ryosuke Miura, Kohei Takeda, Tadanobu Aasano,, Shingo Kubota, Kan Takagi, Kyoko Togawa, Issay, Kiyohiko Ozaki, Miwako Fukushima, Mie Akatsuka, Motoko Arai,

Website IMDB

This one has been licensed by Third Window Films and it has played at a couple of festivals already. As the release dates above show, it originally comes from 1985 and got a re-release last year. It was directed by Macoto Tezuka, son of manga legend, Osamu Tezuka.

Synopsis from Third Window Films: In 1985, Macoto Tezuka met musician and TV personality Haruo Chicada who had made a soundtrack to a movie which didn’t actually exist: The Legend of the Stardust Brothers. At the time Macoto was just 22 years old, a film-student with many short experimental films under his belt, but, with Chicada as producer, Tezuka would make his feature-film debut by adapting this “fake soundtrack” into the real movie story of “The Stardust Brothers”.

With inspiration from “Phantom of the Paradise” and “Rocky Horror Picture Show”, Tezuka assembled a cast of some of Japan’s most famous musicians of the time, including such greats as Kiyohiko Ozaki, ISSAY, Sunplaza Nakano and Hiroshi Takano, alongside many famous names in Manga such as Monkey Punch (Lupin the 3rd), Shinji Nagashima (Hanaichi Monme), Yosuke Takahashi (Mugen Shinsi) and even many upcoming film directors of the time such as Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Tokyo Sonata, Cure) and Daihachi Yoshida (The Kirishima Thing, The Scythian Lamb). The resulting film “The Legend of the Stardust Brothers” is the exact definition of a cult film. Despite the huge array of talent on board with a large budget, the film is totally unknown even to this day in both Japan and worldwide. More than 30 years since its release, The Stardust Brothers will finally make itself known worldwide with a new master and a brand new Director’s Cut!

Highlights of the Film Festival Circuit

There are quite a few titles that have popped up at places like Japan Cuts 2018 and the Glasgow International Film Festival as well as the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2019. At least one was at last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival, as well. Essentially, auds in Ireland are getting some of the choicest picks of films that have earned their stripes and been shown around the world. Titles like Mori, the Artists Habitat, Tremble All You Want, and Ten Years Japan. There’s also The Blood of Wolves which won many awards for acting at the recent Japan Academy Awards (here’s my review). While I haven’t seen Mori or Ten Years, I highly recommend the ones I have highlighted below because they will enrich your soul and make you feel better about the world:

Of Love & Law    

愛と法　「Ai to hou」    

Running Time: 94 mins.

Release Date: 2018

Director:  Hikaru Toda

Writer: N/A

Starring: Kazuyuki Minami, Masafumi Yoshida, Yae Minami, Kazumi Tsujitani, Rokudenashiko, Hiroko Tsujitani, Masae Ido, Natsuo Yamamoto,

Website     IMDB    JFDB

Hikaru Toda is a documentary director/editor based in London and Osaka who has had her worked screened on BBC Storyville, France Televisions, NHK, The Guardian and at major international film festivals, including Hot Docs, CPH DOX and Melbourne International Film Festival. Hikaru moved back to Japan for the first time in 22 years to make Of Love & Law. Here’s my review. This is a truly wonderful film and one of my favourites of last year.

Synopsis: Fumi and Kazu are partners in love and law; they run the first law firm in Japan set up by an openly gay couple. Together for 15 years, the lawyers want to raise a family of their own in a country where their partnership has no legal recognition or protection. Driven by their own experience of being ‘outsiders’, they attract a range of clients who reveal the hidden diversity of a country that prides itself on its obedience, politeness and conformity. Tired of being silenced and made to feel invisible, the lawyers and their misfit clients expose and challenge the archaic status quo.

Born Bone Born   

洗骨 「Senkotsu」

Running Time: 111 mins.

Release Date: February 09th, 2018

Director:  Toshiyuki Teruya

Writer: Toshiyuki Teruya (Screenplay),

Starring: Ayame Misaki, Eiji Okuda, Michitaka Tsutsui, Yoko Oshima, Akira Sakamoto, Kyutaro Suzuki, Mariko Tsutsui,

This film was originally a short before being expanded into a feature film. It explores the “senkotsu ceremony”, an Okinawan custom involving the cleansing of the bones of the dead by relatives and loved-ones in seawater or sake after burial in the ground or open air, and then re-burying the bones. This ceremony passes on life from the dead to the living and the film uses it to show how a matriarch unites a family even in her death. Here’s my review. It stars Ayame Misaki, a former model who is making waves as an actor as seen in Hikari (2016).

Trailer for the feature:

Here’s one for the short:Born Bo

Synopsis: Yuko Shinjo (Ayame Misaki) has taken a vacation from her job as a hairdresser in Nagoya to head home. She is pregnant and alone but that’s not going to stop her journey to Aguni Shima, a small island which lies to the west of the Okinawa. It is here that Senkotsu is still performed even though it is a tradition that has largely died out. Her mother Emiko recently passed away and so she will perform the ceremony with her family, her father Nobutsuna (Eiji Okuda), who is quietly devastated and nursing his grief with alcohol while living alone, and her argumentative older brother Tsuyoshi (Michitaka Tsutsui). Rumours swirl around the family but friends come to their defence as the trio find the time to face each other and themselves and overcome their individual hardships.

ANIME

There are three anime at the festival, a drama and two fantasies. The drama, I Want to Eat Your Pancreas, which is based on a novel and has already been turned into a live-action drama, has an anime adaptation which is getting cinema screenings. Word is that this is good although you might want to take a hanky. There’s also Penguin Highway which is supposed to be a lot of fun. There’s one film I can definitely recommend:

Mirai of the Future    

未来のミライ 「Mirai no Mirai」

Running Time: 100 mins.

Release Date: July 20th, 2018

Director:  Mamoru Hosoda

Writer: Mamoru Hosoda (Screenplay/Original Work)

Starring: Haru Kuroki (Mirai-chan), Moka Kamishiraishi (Kun-chan), Gen Hoshino (Father), Koji Yakusho (Father), Kumiko Aso (Mother), Mitsuo Yoshihara (Mysterious Man), Yoshiko Miyazaki (Grandmother)

Animation Production: Studio Chizu

Website ANN MAL

This charmed audiences at last year’s Cannes film festival and was one of the top Japanese films at the festival. Much like his compatriot, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Hosoda delivered a film that pretty much takes all of the themes and animation techniques he has worked with in the past and wrapped it up into an easy to understand story.

Synopsis: A family living in a small house in a corner of a Yokohama dotes on a spoiled four-year-old boy named Kun-chan. When he gets a little sister named Mirai, he feels that his new sister stole his parents’ love from him. Jealousy and resentment well up until he meets an older version of Mirai, who has come from the future and takes him on an adventure.

A Rare Screening Has Been Sighted…?

These next films are ones that are not going to get home releases and, as far as I am aware, have not been picked up at many other festivals (at least in the UK) so this makes Japanese Film Festival Ireland your best chance to see them!

The Gun       

銃 「Juu」

Running Time: 97 mins.

Release Date: November 17th, 2018

Director:  Masaharu Take

Writer: Masaharu Take, Hideki Shishido (Screenplay), Fuminori Nakamura (Original Novel)

Starring: Nijiro Murakami, Alice Hirose, Lily Franky, Kyoko Hinami, Risa Niigaki, Junpei Goto, Moemi Katayama, Amane Okayama,

Website IMDB

This one played at last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival and earned plaudits from critics. It’s by the director of 100 Yen Love.

Synopsis: University student Toru Nishikawa (Nijiro Murakami) has one think on his mind and that is Yuko Yoshikawa (Alice Hirose), a pretty girl on the same campus. His attention is diverted when he finds a gun by a river one rainy day. Instead of turning it in to the police he takes it home and becomes fixated by it. He gets a sense of euphoria looking at it and thrills over having it. Then he is visited by a detective (Lily Franky) whose presence pushes him to make a bad decision…

The Chrysanthemum and the Guillotine    

菊とギロチン　女相撲とアナキス 「Kiku to Girochin Onnazumo to Anakisuto」

Running Time: 189 mins.

Release Date: July 07th, 2018

Director: Takahisa Zeze

Writer:  Takahisa Zeze, Toranosuke Aizawa (Screenplay),

Starring: Hanae Kan, Masahiro Higashide, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Maho Yamada, Takashi Yamanaka, Yoko Kamon, Shun Sugata, Shohei Uno, Yota Kawase,

Website    

Synopsis: This is billed as Takahisa Zeze’s first original project in eight years and takes place in Tokyo in the Taisho era, immediately after the Great Kanto Earthquake. A group of women join a female sumo wrestler stable to escape bad backgrounds such as domestic violence and prostitution and they practice hard with the intention of “becoming stronger and living with their own power”. Anarchist groups and those who advocate “an equal society without disparity” are fascinated by the female wrestlers’ fighting and support them.

Jesus   

僕はイエス様が嫌い 「Boku ha Iesu sama ga kirai」

Running Time: 76 mins.

Release Date: May 31st, 2019

Director:  Hiroshi Okuyama

Writer: Hiroshi Okuyama (Screenplay),

Starring: Yura Sato, Kenichi Akiyama, Mari Hatsumi, Yuko Kibiki, Masayasu Kitayama, Chad Mullane, Kouichi Nihei, Hinako Saeki,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: When nine-year-old Yura moves from the city to a small town, he immediately feels lonely and isolated in his new environment. All that changes during a school prayer session. Yura opens his eyes, and spots a small, silent Jesus Christ dancing on the altar. The miniature Jesus, who nobody else can see, quickly becomes a regular presence in the young boy’s life. He also starts answering Yura’s prayers – including one for a new friend. However, the miraculous changes in Yura’s fortunes don’t last forever. After events take an unexpected turn for the worse, he finds himself questioning how effective his prayers really are.

75 Years in Japan

Running Time: 99 mins.

Release Date: N/A

Director: James Creedon

IMDB

Synopsis:One of Ireland’s last missionary nuns, Sr. Paschal (Jennie) O’ Sullivan, returns to her homeland after 75 years in Japan. Just after her 100th birthday, her young cousin embarks on a year-long voyage retracing her life story in a bid to capture the end of an era in Irish history. What began as a simple interview became a life-changing journey for them both.

Hana   

Running Time: 13 mins.

Release Date: 2019

Director: Mai Nakanishi

Writer: Mai Nakanishi (Screenplay), 

Cinematography: Jun-sang Lee 

Starring: Jeong-bi Lee, Hee-Jin Jean, Do-Eun Kim,

Website IMDB

This is a re-write of my review that was published on V-Cinema a month ago. Corrections and a bit more thoughtful analysis were made as well as references to favourite directors. I want to see more from Mai Nakanishi.

Hana is a Korea-Japan co-production from newbie director Mai Nakanishi. Originally from Tokyo, she has spent much of her career abroad working in various roles on a wide range of international projects including working as an assistant director for Eric Khoo and as producer for Sion Sono. Nakanishi has also worked as producer on the Japanese segments for the horror anthology ABCs of DEATH 2. Most tellingly, she is a founder and director of Scream Queen FilmFest Tokyo, the only female-centric genre film festival in Asia. In short, she is a horror fan, and when she was selected by the Busan International Film Festival to be a fellow at the Asian Film Academy 2016, she produced this short film under the mentorship of the world-renowned Taiwanese master Tsai Ming-Liang. The final product is very much rooted in horror, her favourite playground, and is an effective short.

A home is a reflection of who lives there and how it is decorated and lived in says a lot about a person and how they want to shape their lives (which is why it can be terrifying entering one if you stop and think about it long enough). Couple that idea with the existential one of how we can never truly know another person, pressures and desires and all, then someone seemingly normal can actually be stranger than imagined which is what happens in this neat horror short.

At first glance, the apartment that Su-jin, a new babysitter, enters seems innocuous enough. White walls, spartan in terms of furnishings, clean, a few pieces of high end furniture. Blank. It’s perfect for some executive who spends more time in the office and her client is a businesswoman. However, this is the place where she has gone for a part-time babysitter interview so eagle-eyed audience members may wonder where is the child’s presence?

The first person Su-jin meets is Mrs. Lee, a hard-working single mother who needs a babysitter to look after her four-year-old daughter Hana. She is desperately looking for someone to take care of her child and it seems Su-jin is a last resort. Mrs. Lee is dressed in a fancy suit and her manner is all brusque and business-like, something probably honed from her life being a constant whirlwind of activity. She is in a rush so Su-jin is hired on the spot to start right away and, despite a strange warning from Mrs. Lee to look after her daughter, everything seems normal but soon after Su-jin is left alone with Hana, spooky things start to happen…

The best way to describe this film is to use the word austere. OAFF 2018 screened Ordinary Everyday (2017) which was an atmospheric experience due to the excess of style where every aspect of sound and visual design was used to maximum effect to create a unique psycho-thriller. Hana is the opposite as it works with a minimalist set, sound-design and visuals so this modern apartment, seemingly visited by de-cluttering expert Marie Kondo, becomes alien through slight changes to the environment and in the soundscore. Like a Kiyoshi Kurosawa film (I’m thinking Pulse or Loft), Mai Nakanishi focuses on her controlled use of camera placement and keen observation for effect and these are enough to raise the level of creepiness and tension as they capture things happening around the protag. A door swings open slowly, a creepy illustration on Hana’s bedroom wall, the sound of a child on the move, a bed sheet with a human shape etc.

Mai Nakanishi’s script has Su-jin run after Hana and investigate in a logical fashion which gives the character believable behaviour in such a situation even if the audience is primed for shocks. However, what is unexpected is the shock at the end as we discover that this apartment is a scene of a tragedy.

The film is very controlled in its initial storytelling but eschews screams for pathos at the end as it offers a pointed commentary on parenting in competitive capitalist countries like Korea where, in order to get ahead, one must cut ties to anything that gets in the way of a career and that includes family. Busy Mrs Lee is certainly the subject of a haunting and this hangs around her like a guilty conscience. Ultimately. perhaps the scariest thing about the film is how mother and child cannot be separate but also cannot be together…

Whatever the case, this is good for 15 minutes with a satisfying gauntlet set up in the environment for the babysitter to run around in and a fitting denouement but Nakanishi is currently working to turn Hana into a feature with prominent arthouse auteur, Eric Khoo.

Still Human 淪落人   

Running Time: 115 mins.

Release Date: Summer 2018

Director: Oliver Siu Kuen Chan

Writer: Oliver Siu Kuen Chan (Screenplay),

Starring: Anthony Wong, Crisel Consunji, Sam Lee, Cecilia Yip, Himmy Wong,

IMDB

http://www.oaff.jp/2019/en/program/c12.html

The city state of Hong Kong has been the setting for big emotions found in heroic bloodshed actioners, crime thrillers, romantic dramas, and martial arts extravaganzas. However, one of the most satisfying films to come out of the place in recent years is a small-scale drama about the friendship between a disabled man and his carer. Still Human is the debut feature film from Oliver Siu Kuen Chan and it has won accolades such as Best New Director at the 2019 Asian Film Awards, the Netpac Award at the Hawaii International Film Festival 2018 and the Audience Award at the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2019. With a mixture of assured storytelling and great acting, it provides a moving drama that is sure to win over anyone who watches it. Just keep a hanky ready.

Anthony Wong gives an award-winning performance as Cheung-wing, a paralyzed divorcé who lives alone somewhere in the upper floors of a public housing complex. He is mostly reliant upon others for day-to-day needs after an accident left him unable to move any part of his body beneath his chest. Washing, feeding and clothing himself, everything requires help but despite his situation, or perhaps because of it, he has developed a cantankerous attitude that borders on belligerent and we don’t need to wonder why his previous carers have left his employ. When we first meet him, he is greeting his latest live-in domestic helper, a former nurse named Evelyn (Crisel Consunji). Barking orders might be more accurate as his face exhibits a permafrown, which clearly intimidates his new guardian who simply wants to get on with caregiving.

In an economical use of screen time, within 15 minutes of the title, their daily routine is established. The pasts of both characters are hinted at for further attention later on as are the different worlds inhabited by the carers and those they care for. This is sketched on the screen with Evelyn’s visits to three lively Filipina friends at Statue Square, a place where fellow domestic workers hang out in real life.

As expected, things don’t get off to a great start for the pair, especially as she doesn’t speak any Cantonese. Further conflict of the cultural and personal variety arises as the two get used to living together but so too does the chance for deeper connections as Cheung-wing’s grumpiness, an emotion so hard to maintain, gives ground to teasing and then acceptance and he opens up about life’s hardships. This is to be expected since Evelyn is the only person he talks to regularly apart from his best friend Fai (Sam Lee) and his sometime loyal but bitter-for-a-reason-later-explored younger sister named Jing-ying (Cecilia Yip). The spectres of loneliness and isolation hover around Cheung-wing as he is cut off from family but through Evelyn’s ministrations we see a new side to the man who turns into a caring, if rough, older brother figure.

As Cheung-wing is revealed, mostly through neatly handled flashbacks which dovetail nicely into scenes, so too is Evelyn, who is in quite a predicament with an extremely messy life back in the Philippines. As he learns of her own situation of trying to escape a bad marriage which shackles her to him and has forced her to give up on her passion of photography, he softens up in a movie-like way. More cynical audience members might feel a sense of contrivance in the narrative as people change but the characters are developed and played in a restrained manner and there is always a sharp sense of humour to go with any pathos and this pathos will have a direct line to the empathy of the audience thanks to the acting.

In the face of adversity, Consunji essays a good-hearted person trying their best. She radiates softness and determination very well and this offers a fantastic springboard for Wong who puts in a persuasive performance and gives a real sense of vulnerability and despondency. His physicality is examined through how he cannot move and how this contrasts with his fantasies of being able-bodied. We appreciate the full physicality of the man and everything he has lost in dream sequences that are perfectly contrasted with his reality. There is pleasure in seeing him come back to life and hope again, much like the case with Evelyn and any disappointments and betrayals will rock audience member’s hearts as we want the two to not give up on life or each other, despite the hardships. The film reveals both to be victims of circumstance, which has made them defensive, an emotion that, in both cases, masks their good side. But shared friendship brings out the best in them and gets them to dream once more as Evelyn re-engages with photography and Cheung-wing reconnects with his family.

At times mawkish, Still Human is nonetheless charming as we see trust, friendship, and self-confidence build in the characters before our eyes. Two sincere people, both of whom have had to put their dreams on hold because of circumstances, can dream again and the film will remind audiences that dreaming is important. She may be a domestic worker and he may be disabled, but the two are still human. Seeing them discover and enjoy their shared humanity enriches the screen.

My review was published on V-Cinema on April 09th, 2019.

The Crossing 

Running Time: 99 mins.

Release Date: March 15th, 2019

Director:  Bai Xue

Writer: Bai Xue (Screenplay),

Starring: Huang Yao, Sunny Sun, Carmen Soup, Ni Hongjie, Elena Kong, Kai Chi Liu, Jiao Gang,

Website IMDB

The Crossing is a coming-of-age film set to the background of a smuggling ring operating between Hong Kong and mainland China. It is a remarkably confident debut from writer/director Bai Xue and captures a new form of living what with the vagaries of living a transnational life and the opportunities travel affords.

Sixteen-year-old Peipei (Huang Yao) is a kid who lives in Shenzhen with her mother (Ni Hongjie) but attends a high school in Hong Kong, a privilege granted by her father (Kai Chi Liu) who comes from the island. As a result of her parent’s former union, Peipei can catch a train between cities, effectively crossing a border every day. Customs officials pay her little mind because of her school uniform, innocent face and quiet demeanour.

Peipei may look unworldly but she is ambitious and she earns money from small rackets such as making phone covers she sells to classmates. However, this is chump change and she needs cash fast because she has to fund a Christmas trip to a hot spring in Japan being organised by her best friend Jo (Carmen Soup), a girl from Hong Kong’s wealthier milieu. A part-time waitressing job in Hong Kong and pocket money from her father isn’t going to cut it but Peipei’s fortunes change when she meets Jo’s boyfriend Hao (Sunny Sun), a handsome working-class lad who works as a smuggler. With a foot on both sides of the border, Peipei is the perfect vessel to smuggle iPhones to mainland China and she is taken under the wing of the leader of the smuggling operation, Sister Hua (Elena Kong). Thanks to Hua’s ruthless running of the gang and the rough-hewn motherly attention she gives Peipei, the girl gains confidence and money with increasingly important jobs but Peipei loses sight of the dangers of her activities.

This is a story of crossings as Peipei becomes an individual and tries to make the crossing from being dependent upon others to independence.

Peipei’s growth comes turns into a challenge over conventional gender roles as Xue contrasts Peipei with her mother, who is dependent upon men she meets while gambling, and a best friend whose affluence has blunted her own ambitions and made her dependent upon her family who provide her money. It is a point hammered home by the fact she bonds with Sister Hua, someone who remains independent of men and in charge of the gang.

Initially inspired to earn money for her holiday in Japan, Peipei finds her view of the world growing with the gang and so enriches herself monetarily and in terms of her own sense of self by seizing on whatever assets she has which will help her earn money. Those assets are a sensible attitude, smarts, and her school girl look which she utilises during smuggling runs. Already at an age where she is trying to carve out her own identity free from others, smuggling offers an opportunity to be independent and we see her grow in confidence with each small job that she does. The fact she insists on keeping it small and even rebuffs any potential romance as she stays focussed is another indication of how in control of herself she is. However, circumstances intervene sometimes and her vulnerability is laid bare by a rocky family background and moments in her illicit activities when she is threatened by men. That she comes through these moments is a testament to her character but it all adds up to damage to her character which frays later in the story.

For all this, Bai Xue’s smart direction ensures we never lose sight of the fact that this is a girl we are watching and how her changes are powered by youthful ambition and desires all teens have. Material objects and freedom await those with the grit and intelligence and daring to take them as shown in montages and cross-cutting where the smuggling jobs that Peipei does are linked to the rewards she gets. The addictive risk-reward factor comes out in the bouncy rhythm and moments when the soundtrack is awash with upbeat electronica as well as the visuals but we are aware that the biggest reward for Peipei is her change in character, moments which are highlighted when there are freeze frames on her face as she commits to a momentous decision. The handheld camera, so useful for those tense scenes where she passes customs agents, capture Peipei’s face and body language as she begins to master herself and understand the world around her and a determination becomes evident.

There is an exciting energy to this newfound freedom which is highlighted by the bright lights of Hong Kong and it is easily relayed by perfectly by Bai Xue’s confident and controlled direction which delivers this universal story of growth and an increasingly universal story of transnational life in an absorbing manner. That this is a debut film marks out Bai Xue as someone to follow.

The Udine Far East Film Festival 2019 runs from April 26th to May 4th and has a lot to offer audiences eager for the latest in Asian cinema. This year’s edition has a special on retrospective on Korean cinema entitled ‘100 Years Of Korean Cinema’, which has 23 films programmed, and organisers are also going to hand Hong Kong star Anthony Wong the Golden Mulberry Award for Outstanding Achievement. Two of his film, Wong’s debut My Name Ain’t Suzie (1985) and the recent Still Human (2018), will also be screened.

Indeed, there are a few films I’ve already seen as part of work in Osaka with The Crossing and Still Human being my absolute must-recommends. From Japan, there are nine films in total, a few from the festival circuit such as a collection of political dystopian tales, Ten Years Japan, and Melancholic, an acerbic workplace comedy involving onsen and contract killers.

On top of film screenings, there’s also the industry side of things and Focus Asia 2019, a section where 15 projects are mainlined for international co-productions by a group of judges, has selected two Japanese projects, the first an offshoot of Ten Years Japan, Plan 75, by Chie Hayakawa and produced by Eiko Mizuno-Gray, and the second looks totally new. The Convenience Store features the film critic Mark Schilling (Japan Times), producer Emi Ueyama (Wasted Eggs, At the Terrace) and director Satoshi Miki (Adrift in Tokyo).

That was an unwieldy paragraph. On to the trailers!

Here is what on offer:

Every Day A Good Day   

日日是好日 「Nichinichi Kore Kojitsu」

Running Time: 100 mins.

Release Date: October 13th, 2018

Director: Tatsushi Ohmori

Writer: Tatsushi Ohmori (Screenplay), Noriko Morishita (essay)

Starring: Haru Kruoki, Mikako Tabe, Kirin Kiki, Shingo Tsurumi, Mayu Tsuruta, Mayu Harada, Saya Kawamura, Chihiro Okamoto,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Noriko (Haru Kuroki) is a 20-year-old university student who has lost her way in life. Noriko’s mother suggests that she attends a Japanese tea ceremony near her house with her cousin Michiko (Mikako Tabe). Michiko is enthusiastic about it but Noriko doesn’t seem so certain. However, once there, Noriko learns from the teacher, Takeda (Kirin Kiki) and experiences a whole new world. It stays with Noriko throughout her life, during frustrations while job hunting, moments when she suffers a broken heart, and during the death of someone important. The tea ceremony always offers her something to return to…

Dare to Stop Us   

止められるか、俺たちを 「Tomerareruka, Oretachi wo」

Running Time: 119 mins.

Release Date: October 13th, 2018

Director: Kazuya Shiraishi

Writer: Junichi Inoue (Screenplay),

Starring: Mugi Kadowaki, Arata Iura, Hiroshi Yamamoto,Soran Tamoto, Katsuya Maiguma, Shinobu Terajima. Sousuke Takaoka, Kisetsu Fujiwara,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Political/pink film director Koji Wakamatsu died six years ago but his presence is still felt in the Japanese film industry as acolytes and collaborators still operate. This film takes a year of his life but frames it through the eyes of someone else, 21-year-old Megumi (Mugi Kadowaki), who joins Wakamatsu Production in the hope of becoming someone worthwhile. There, she meets Wakamatsu (Arata Iura) who has a cadre of young talents dedicated to movie making. Megumi’s world opens up…

Lying to Mom 

鈴木家の嘘 「Suzukike no Uso」

Running Time: 133 mins.

Release Date: November 16th, 2018

Director:  Katsumi Nojiri

Writer: Katsumi Nojiri (Screenplay),

Starring: Ittoku Kishibe, Hideko Hara, Mai Kiryu, Ryo Kase, Nahoko Yoshimoto, Shohei Uno, Chiaki Kawamo, Nao Omori, Kayoko Kishimoto,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: The Suzuki family is pretty modest. There is father Yukio (Ittoku Kishibe), mother Yuko (Hideko Hara), son Koichi (Ryo Kase) and daughter Fumi (Mai Kiryu). Koichi is a hikikomori but at least he’s alive. Then, one day, he isn’t. Without the least warning he drops dead and throws everyone into confusion. Yuko is so shocked by her son’s death she loses her memory which leads Fumi to lie to her in order to preserve her sanity. That lie is pretty big, “Koichi stopped being a hikikomori, got better and now works in Argentina”. How does one keep up that story???

jam    

Running Time: 102 mins.

Release Date: December 01st, 2018

Director:  SABU

Writer: SABU (Screenplay),

Starring: Sho Aoyagi, Keita Machida, Nobuyuki Suzuki, Shintaro Akiyama, Mariko Tsutsui, Yuta Ozawa, Kanta Sato,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Members of the entertainment group EXILE take the lead roles in a film. The first is Hiroshi (Sho Aoyagi), an idol who wows his non-existent fans on the stage and feels empty inside. One fan named Masako doesn’t care about his psychological condition because she captures him and takes him home. Then there is Takeru (Keita Machida) whose partner was in a terrible accident. He prays for her recovery and performs good deeds every day in the hopes she will wake up. Last but not east is Tetsuo (Nobuyuki Suzuki), a man who wants to take revenge on the yakuza who sent him to prison. Due to the fact that they live in the same city, their stories will cross from time to time.

Hardcore    

ハード・コア 「Ha-do Koa」

Running Time: 124 mins.

Release Date: November 23rd, 2018

Director: Nobuhiro Yamashita

Writer: Kosuke Mukai (Screenplay), Takashi Imashiro (Original Manga),

Starring: Takayuki Yamada, Takeru Satoh, YosiYosi Arakawa, Kei Ishibashi, Suon Kan, Takako, Matsu, Kisetsu Fujiwara,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Deep in the hills and mountains of Gunma Prefecture dwells a pure hearted man by the name of Ukon Gondo (Takayuki Yamada). Ukon has a handsome brother, Sakon (Takeru Sato), who works for a trading company but Ukon prefers to be free from society and tries to make a living by mining for gold. He finds it difficult to communicate with others apart from another man who joins him in his excavations, Ushiyama (YosiYosi Arakawa). They are soon to be joined by a third teammate, a robot they discover at an abandoned factory that Ushiyama lives in. Once their team is complete, they resolve to change their lives.

Melancholic   

メランコリック  「Merankorikku」

Running Time: 113 mins.

Release Date: N/A

Director: Seiji Tanaka

Writer: Seiji Tanaka (Screenplay),

Starring: Yoji Minagawa, Yoshitomo Isozaki, Mebuki Yoshida, Makoto Hada, Hiroko Shinkai, Keiji Yamashita, Takanori Minagawa

Website IMDB

Seiji Tanaka’s debut feature Melancholic won him a share of the best director prize in the Japanese Cinema Splash section at last years Tokyo International Film Festival (Masaharu Take also won for his film, The Gun (2018)) and one can see why as it manages to combine a number of tones and genres to create a film that feels fresh and original as well as socially conscious. It’s a real treat with a great lead performance from Yoji Minagawa.

Synopsis: Kazuhiko (Yoji Minagawa) graduated from the prestigious halls of Tokyo University you would expect him to be in some high-flying job but since leaving academia he has moved back home with his parents and lived the life of a slacker. A chance encounter with a girl he knew at high school at a bathhouse leads to him taking a job there as an attendant and he quite likes it, not least because he can talk to the girl. However, what seems like a normal onsen turns out to be a killing space for yakuza-ordered hits and when Kazuhiko stumbles upon this he ends up getting dragged into the criminal underworld…

Tonde Saitama   

翔んで埼玉 「Tonde Saitama」

Running Time: 107 mins.

Release Date: February 22nd, 2019

Director:  Hideki Takeuchi

Writer: Yuichi Tokunaga (Screenplay), Mineo Maya (Manga)

Starring: Fumi Nikaido, Gackt, Yusuke Iseya, Masaki Kyomoto, Kumiko Aso, Haruka Shimazaki, Naoto Takenaka,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Tokyo is where all the beautiful people live and it is run by the father of Momomi Hakuhodo (Fumi Nikaido), a male high school student who looks like a girl. Saitama is where all the peasants live, as we all know, and people from there are persecuted. However, one day, Momomi meets mysterious male transfer student Rei Asami (Gackt) and they fall in love but Asami is from Saitama Prefecture…

10 Years Japan    

十年Ten Years Japan 「Juunen Ten Years Japan」

Running Time:99 mins.

Release Date: November 03rd, 2018

Producer: Hirokazu Kore-eda

Website IMDB

Three years ago, we had the award-winning indie omnibus film 10 Years Hong Kong (wikipedia) which offered some speculative fiction about the island territory’s future 10 years in the future. It was made at the time of student protests over the encroaching power of Mainland China so the stories have a mostly dystopian setting. Other Asian countries have got in on the act with Thailand and now Japan being up next.

Here, Hirokazu Kore-eda helps produce the stories of five young directors who bring different episodes together into one film that will be released in November.

The Air We Can’t See (Sono Kuki wa Mienai その空気は見えない)

Director: Akiyo Fujimura

Writer: Akiyo Fujimura (Screenplay)

Starring: Chizuru Ikewaki

Akiyo Fujimura was at the 2016 Osaka Asian Film Festival with Eriko Pretended (2016), a drama that got great reviews. I saw one of her short films recently and was impressed by the drama. Her story is about a girl named Mizuki who has been forced to relocate underground with the rest of the population of Japan due to pollution. She dreams of the surface world when one of her friends goes missing.

Four Our Beautiful Country (Utsukushii Kuni 美しい国)

Director: Kei Ishikawa

Writer: Kei Ishikawa (Screenplay)

Starring: Taiga, Hana Kino

Kei Ishikawa is probably famous for Gukoroku – Traces of Sin (2017), a disturbing crime drama. Here he is examining a Japan with conscription into the military is compulsory for everyone and the moral dilemma an advertising agency worker named Watanabe has when he is given the assignment of designing a poster.

PLAN 75

Director: Chie Hayakawa

Writer: Chie Hayakawa (Screenplay)

Starring: Satoru Kawaguchi, Kinuwo Yamada, Kazue Mitani, Motomi Makiguchi,

This story takes place in a Japan struggling to cope with the elderly. The government implements Plan 75 whereby elderly people who are sick or poor are recommended for death by public officials. One man, Itami, struggles with this while his wife is dealing with her own mother who has Alzheimer’s.

Mischievous Alliance (Itazura Domei いたずら同盟)

Director: Yusuke Kinoshita

Writer: Yusuke Kinoshita (Screenplay)

Starring: Jun Kunimura, Seiya Okawa, Bako Tsujimura, Ryu Nakano,

A group of schoolboys living in an area that has been transformed into a special IT zone play a prank on an old horse that is about to be put down.

DATA

Director: Megumi Tsuno

Writer: Megumi Tsuno (Screenplay)

Starring: Hana Sugisaki, Tetsushi Tanaka, Oshiro Maeda, Masaki Miura,

A girl inherits the digital memories of her mother and discovers a different side to her.

JK☆ROCK   

ジェイケイ☆ロック 「Jeikei Rokku」

Running Time: 92 mins.

Release Date: April 06th, 2019

Director: Shunji Muguruma

Writer: Kaoru Tanimoto (Screenplay),

Starring: Shodai Fukuyama, Ryuosuke Yamamoto, Ryota Kobayashi, Kaito Kumagai, Masahiko Nihimura, Yuina, Chihiro Hayama, Yukino Miyake,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Jyo Kaieda (Shodai Fukuyama), Jyo Kodukai (Ryosuke Yamamoto), Harunobu Syoji (Ryota Kobayashi) and Subaru Jinbo (Kaito Kumagai) hit the big time with their rock band JoKers but the group mysteriously broke up.

A year later and Jyo Kodukai is a rock star in America while Jyo Kaieda gave up on music to study law at university. Harunobu and Subaru hope to revive the band and turn to rock cafe owner Teruo (Masahiko Nishimura) who hatches a plan to get Jyo Kaieda inspired with music again: turn him into the tutor of a newbie rock outfit called Drop Doll, a three-piece consisting of female high school students Sakura (Chihiro Hayama), Mao (Yuina) and Rina (Yukino Miyake). Far from being a bunch of pretty faces, these girls are talented and Jyo trains them hard. He clashes with Sakura but gets the best out of them but just as he gets along with the girls before their big concert, Jyo Kodukai returns to Japan and the reasons for the JoKers break up are revealed…

Only the Cat Knows 

初恋～お父さん、チビがいなくなりました 「Hatsukoi Otoosan, Chibi ga inakunarimashita」

Running Time: 104 mins.

Release Date: May 10th, 2019

Director: Syoutaro Kobayashi

Writer: Yuka Honcho (Screenplay), Eiko Nishiki (Original Novel)

Starring: Chieko Baisho, Tatsuya Fuji, Mikako Ichikawa, Ryuji Sato, Katsuya Kobayashi, Mio Yuuki,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Masaru (Tatsuya Fuji) and he and his wife Yukiko (Chieko Basho) are an elderly couple living with their cat, Chibi. Yukiko feels he has been a cold husband who has not returned her love and dedication and when Chibi dies and Masaru doesn’t express any feelings at all, it seems that that is the final straw as she demands a divorce. This demand triggers Masaru to confess a secret he has kept for years.

Kampai! Sake Sisters

カンパイ！日本酒に恋した女たち    「Kampai! Nihonshu ni Koishita onnatachi」

Running Time: 104 mins.

Release Date: N/A

Director: Mirai Konishi

Writer: Mirai Konishi

Starring: Miho Imada, Chizuko Hane, Hiromi Yamagami, Maysaki Kobayashi, Kosuke Kuji,   

Website    IMDB

Synopsis thanks to Nine Film (European distributor) website: Journalist-turned-filmmaker Mirai Konishi made the documentary Kampai! For the Love of Sake back in 2014 and he has returned with another doc and this one is dedicated to showing three of a new generation of women involved in making sake and changing this once male-dominated world. Together, their stories offer captivating insight into how women in Japan are transforming ancient traditions and contribute to shaping a new era of sake.

And that seems to be it! I hope you find something you like!

Happy weekend, people!

This is my first trailer post since being in Japan, travelling to Himeji and other cities in Hyogo Prefecture as well as places like Nara and Kyoto, working at the Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF) and then travelling to Kamakura, Tokyo and places in central Japan that I will probably never visit again because I like Tokyo and Kansai more and time is always short.

Apologies for the radio silence in terms of trailers but I have cranked out reviews from OAFF and I’m still working on interviews with a friend. When it’s all done, it will come to 24 or 25 pieces, which isn’t bad. I’m most pleased that I will be able to get everything released by mid-May. Most of it came out during the festival period back in March. It has been quick. I can see where further improvements can be made so if I get another shot at this, it’ll be better.

You can see the current reviews and one interview over at V-Cinema by clicking on this link.

For this blog, I have posted:

 A preview article, Nunchaku and Soul, Randen, Sisterhood, Hana, The CrossingStill Human, The Eternity Between Seconds, and Wild Tour.

As well as OAFF, I posted about the Japanese Film Festival Ireland , The Korea Independent Animation Festival, and Udine Far East Film Festival and, over at Anime UK News, an article for Kickstarter for a cool stop-motion animation that tells a supernatural tale called The Depth of Yagen. I’ll post more information on here at some point.

Rambling over. You’re here for the trailers for films released this week. Here they are:

Just Only Love   

愛がなんだ 「Ai ga Nanda」

Running Time: 123 mins.

Release Date: April 19th, 2019

Director: Rikiya Imaizumi

Writer: Rikiya Imaizumi, Kaori Sawai (Screenplay), Mitsuyo Kakuta (Original Novel)

Starring: Yukino Kishii, Ryo Narita, Mai Fukagawa, Ryuya Wakaba, Mariko Tsutsui, Ayumu Nakajima, Noriko Eguchi,

Website IMDB

Synopsis:Love makes people lose perspective. Take, for example, Teruko (Yukino Kishii), a 28-year-old office lady helplessly in love with Mamoru (Ryo Narita). When we join her, she is in a downward spiral as she neglects her work and friends and chases after his affection. It’s a shame he takes her for granted…

Kingdom 

キングダム 「Kingdom」

Running Time: 134 mins.

Release Date: April 19th, 2019

Director: Shinsuke Sato

Writer: Shinsuke Sato, Tsutomu Kuroiwa (Screenplay), Yasuhisa Hara (Manga/Screenplay)

Starring: Kento Yamazaki, Ryo Yoshizawa, Masami Nagasawa, Kanna Hashimoto, Kanata Hongo, Shinnosuke Mitsushima, Jun Kaname, Takao Osawa, Shinnosuke Abe, Tak Sakaguchi, Jun Hashimoto,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Shinsuke Sato is an action movie director who you may have heard of thanks to live-action versions of multiple manga like Gantz, I Am a Hero, and Inuyashiki. He tackles a historical epic with Kingdom which is set in Qin Dynasty China during the warring states period. Where the central protag, Shin (Kento Yamazaki), a war orphan, meets a young king named Eisei (Ryo Yoshizawa) and gets involved with the man’s plan to unify all of China.

Naminori Office e Yokoso   

波乗りオフィスへようこそ 「Naminori Office e Yokoso」

Running Time: 108 mins.

Release Date: April 19th, 2019

Director: Tomoyuki Akaishi

Writer: Tomoyuki Akaishi (Screenplay),

Starring: Tomohiro Sekiguchi, Ryudo Uzaki, Yui Ueda, Yuu Mashima, Shuji Kashiwabara, Koutaro Tanaka, Yuki Ito, Sachi Ishimaru,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Gentle dramedy where Kenshi Tokunaga (Tomohiro Sekiguchi) moves his IT company from Tokyo, where competition for workers is fierce, to his hometown of Minami in Tokushima Prefecture.

Crayon Shin-chan Movie 27: Shinkon Ryokou Hurricane – Ushinawareta Hiroshi   

映画クレヨンしんちゃん 新婚旅行ハリケーン ~失われたひろし~ 「Eiga Kureyon Shin chan Shinkon Ryokou Harike-n – Ushinawareta Hiroshi」

Running Time: 100 mins.

Release Date: April 19th, 2019

Director: Masakazu Hashimoto

Writer: Kimiko Ueno, Munenori Mizuno (Screenplay), Yoshito Usui (Original Creator)

Starring: Yumiko Kobayashi (Shinnosuke Nohara), Miki Narahashi (Misae Nohara), Satomi Koorogi (Himawari Nohara), Toshiyuki Morikawa (Hiroshi)

Website MAL ANN

Synopsis: This is movie 27 in the franchise and it is set in Australia. The Nohara family are on an inexpensive and family-friendly honeymoon trip that goes sideways as a treasure hunter kidnaps Hiroshi in order to get her hands on a fortune. Obviously the family go to rescue him.

Hibike! Euphonium Movie 3: Chikai no Finale   

劇場版 響け！ユーフォニアム～誓いのフィナーレ～ 「Gekijouban Hibike! Yu-foniamu – Chikai no Fina-re-」

Running Time: 100 mins.

Release Date: April 19th, 2019

Director: Tatsuya Ishihara

Writer: Jukki Hanada (Screenplay), Akito Matsuda (Original Creator)

Starring: Ayaka Asai (Hazuki Kato), Tomoyo Kurosawa (Kumiko Omae), Yuri Yamaoka (Yuko Yoshikawa), Ayaka Nanase (Mirei Suzuki), Chika Anzai (Reina Kosaka),

Website MAL ANN

Synopsis from Anime News Network: Kumiko is now a second year and one of the senior players of the euphonium section. With new underclassmen joining the concert band, Kumiko will have to learn new things in order to deal with awkward and difficult underclassmen. She and third-year trumpeter Tomoe Kabe have been chosen to lead the new underclassmen members. Among the new members to Kumiko’s bass section are euphonist Kanade Hisaishi, whose appearances are deceiving; tuba player Mirei Suzuki, who cannot adapt to her new environment; tuba player Satsuki Suzuki, who wants to get along with Mirei; and double bassist Motomu Tsukinaga, who cannot talk about himself. Between the Sunrise Festival, chair placement auditions, and the competition, a number of problems quickly begin to arise.

Itsuka kagayaite ita kanojo wa   

いつか輝いていた彼女は 「Itsuka kagayaite ita kanojo wa」

Running Time: 35 mins.

Release Date: April 19th, 2019

Director: Seira Maeda

Writer: Seira Maeda (Screenplay),

Starring: Ao Ogura, mahocato, Nanami Hidaka, Rina Satouchi,

Website

Synopsis: Newbie director Seira Maeda and rock band “MINT mate box” are paired thanks to MOOSIC Lab 2018 to make a story about the bonds between classmates in high school. Ao Ogura, “Miss iD 2018”, plays the protagonist while the band take support roles. Then there’s Nanami Hidaka who turned in a good performance in Sayounara, another MOOSIC Lab collab, and was absolutely unpleasant.

Chronos Jaunter 

クロノス・ジョウンターの伝説 「Kuronosu Jounta- no Densetsu」

Running Time: 87 mins.

Release Date: April 19th, 2019

Director: Kentaro Hachisuka

Writer: Kentaro Hachisuka, Ryoma Ota (Screenplay), Shinji Kajio (Original Creator)

Starring: Hiro Shimono, Hiroe Igeta, Uso Ozaki, Hidetoshi Iwato, Kento Igarashi, Maki Teraura,

Website

Synopsis: The last time I wrote about director Kentaro Hachisuka was 2014 for Alice in Dreamland which was a stop-motion animation. This one is based on a science fiction novel written by Shinji Kajio, a popular author. Main protag Kazuhiko Fukihara, a researcher who falls in love with flower shop worker named Kumiko Fuki, uses his time-travel device to head to the past to save her life after she dies in a sudden accident. What he doesn’t anticipate is that the device has a hidden drawback…

Godot of the Emotos 

柄本家のゴドー 「Emoto-ke no Godo-」

Running Time: 64 mins.

Release Date: April 20th, 2019

Production: Yutaka Yamazaki

Writer: N/A

Starring: Akira Emoto, Tasuku Emoto, Tokio Emoto,

Website

Synopsis: A documentary that follows the Emoto family who tackle the Samuel Beckett play “Wait for Godot”. Yutaka Yamazaki, put a camera in the rehearsal space and shows how a father and his two sons develop the play and the bonds between them as they pursue art.

Centre line   

センターライン 「Senta-rain」

Running Time: 67 mins.

Release Date: April 20th, 2019

Director: Takuo Geko

Writer: Takuo Geko (Screenplay),

Starring: Marina Yoshimi, Yutaka Hoshino, Takeshi Kurahashi, Meiri Mochizuki,

Website

Synopsis: This near-future court suspense drama shows a world where self-driving cars are common but a fatal accident leads to a court case where the prosecutors try to prove the AI killed the occupants of the car deliberately. The writer/director is a software engineer in real life.

Maggie   

메기

Running Time: 88 mins.

Release Date: October 2018

Director: Yi Ok-seop

Writer: Yi Ok-seop, Koo Kyo-hwan (Screenplay),

Starring: Lee Ju-young, Moon So-ri, Koo Kyo-hwan, Lee Ju-yeong, Mun So-ri, Koo Gyo-Hwan, Myeong Gye-nam, Kim Kkobbi Flowerain,

IMDB

http://www.oaff.jp/2019/en/program/c09.html

Winner of the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2019’s Grand Prix (Best Picture Award) as well as Busan International Film Festival 2018’s CGV Art House Award and Citizens’ Critic Award, Maggie heralds a new directing talent in Yi Ok-Seop, someone who brings a lively verve to her examination of how doubt can infect everything and how such an infection should be cured by seeking the truth. It’s a large topic tackled with a disparate range of elements from a talking catfish to mysterious seismic activities and audiences will be forgiven for having doubts of their own as to how everything links up and if it will be satisfying but it works in the end.

The titular Maggie is the aforementioned talking catfish. She narrates throughout the film and can also predict seismic disasters. We discover this just as Seoul is hit by a wave of sinkholes but lead protagonist, nurse Yoon-young (Lee Joo-young), has bigger fish to fry. She doesn’t know the catfish can talk and the sinkholes aren’t her problem. That’s something her layabout boyfriend Sung-won (Koo Kyo-hwan) has to deal with as he finally gets a job filling them in. Yoon-young’s more concerned about keeping her own job because an x-rated x-ray of a couple having sex is making the rounds through the wards of the hospital she works at and the management have suspicions that it is her. She has her doubts as to whether it is her and Sung-won playing doctors and nurses but she decides it is better to quit than face censure. However, just as she is about to resign, her boss, Dr. Lee (Moon So-ri), is having a crisis of faith in humanity as nearly the entirety of the hospital staff have called in sick and she suspects they are lying. Dr. Lee doubts and so Yoon-young convinces her to check out a few of the staff to see if they are telling the truth. Yoon-young gets Dr. Lee to agree to make a deal to trust everyone and everything from that day forward if the staff have genuinely come down with an illness en masse. What Yoon-young doesn’t expect is to have to question her trust in her boyfriend…

This synopsis doesn’t spoil much because the film is split into multiple vignettes that seemingly go off on tangents before everything comes back together in an examination of its central themes and it sort of works. It never feels cohesive especially as the pacing between sections varies – things grow very slack during the meandering middle section when Sung-wan’s boyfriend becomes the focus of the narrative. The early and late sections are definitely the highlight as a sprightly pace is maintained through various quirky misadventures and quirk is what makes everything hang together as the performances and atmosphere are whimsically odd with characters increasingly driven by various instances of needling doubt that balloon out of proportion.

This is a character-driven piece full of confident performers taking characters to a heightened place somewhere joyful between philosophical and silly and the actors become foils for each other.

The strongest parts of the film involve the charismatic Lee Joo-young as nurse Yoon-young whose low voice and laid-back demeanour hide a rebellious character. She won Actress of the Year at Busan for this work and she provides an attractive centre to follow. Acting as a contrast to the nurse wanting to trust is the more experienced Moon So-ri as Dr. Lee, an acerbic and doubtful presence who finds herself pulled along into situations she doesn’t want to be in by her younger co-worker. She always has a funny cynicism that is a great contrast to the proposed idealism. Koo Kyo-hwan, also the film’s producer, has an easy energy that makes him seemingly sweet-natured and even charming but, as the vignettes unfold, we discover that this could hide a rather dubious layer which plays into the themes of doubt.

Despite story and pacing issues, Yi Ok-seop shows her skill by using the full range of cinema to ensure the atmosphere is consistently stylised and whimsical, creating a world one-step removed from our own. Within the opening 30 minutes, I was enjoying everything she was throwing at me and felt delight through most of the narrative. The soundtrack runs counter to the scene to offset audience expectations and the physical movement of camera and actors, the framing, staging, quick cuts all act as a springboard for great punchlines so it’s quite common to get a laugh as things pop into frame or a chuckle from a pan or cut to another camera angle to reveal the whole of a scene. In Yi Ok-seop’s world even the most mundane objects and sequences take on great import and get cinematic treatment and that makes the film fun to watch as she plays with and subverts expectations.

Overall, Yi Ok-seop’s directorial sensibilities and her cast make this film a charmingly offbeat analysis of the huge topic of doubt. They connect random story elements to create a film that is unique and delivered with a wry sense of humour and visual style even if it is uneven.

I recently had a news tip about an interesting Kickstarter for a stop-motion indie horror film from Japan called “The Depth if Yagen” by animator and author Shigeru Okada, an animator and educator who has a YouTube channel dedicated to the art of stop-motion animation. I reported it on Anime UK News (AUKN) and V Cinema. It looks like something really unique due to the style of animation and the story it tells. Here is the Kickstarter campaign trailer: 

The story draws upon Japanese history and mythology and mixes in themes of family and betrayal:

Once upon a time in Japan, there was a poor couple living with their only daughter. One day, the father, an avid gambler, sells his daughter to human traffickers in order to settle his gambling debts. The traffickers, on their way back to the village with the man’s daughter, decide to take a shortcut by entering the forbidden mountain. The girl’s mother pursues the traffickers into the mountain in a bid to reclaim her daughter. The mother begins a terrifying transformation as the curse of the mountain settles on her. Yet, she continues her pursuit to save her daughter…

As can be seen in the video, the transformation is really creepy and you can expect the model work to be exquisite in order to deliver the body-horror, a transformation that would make Junji Ito proud. What is the depth of a “yagen”, you may be wondering? Well the yagen is the mortar which the creature is seen using. How this plays into the story will have to be discovered.

Stop-motion animation is expensive and time consuming so a Kickstarter campaign will be needed to help finance everything and funds will need to be raised by June 10th. The money raised will be used on the production but will also be used to create a set of “making-of” materials ranging from a book to a film. This film will detail the fabrication of puppets and props, lighting, animation and editing processes, all of which Okada is doing. Both the film and the materials are something Okada hopes to use to inspire aspiring animators and he will do so by putting them online for people to access. There’s actually a demonstration video online to give people a taste of how in-depth it will be:

The anime Okada is working on will be split into five episodes. It will be animated in 2019 and released in 2020 in two versions, one a shorter, atmospheric version that forgoes any graphic images – each episode lasting three minutes and released for free on Okada’s YouTube channel NARIOMARUDARKSIDE – and the other version will be completely uncut and last 7-8 minutes. This one  will be made available on payable video viewing sites, such as VIMEO (One episode: 300JPY. All five episodes: 1,500JPY). Subtitles will be available in Japanese. English and Spanish.

Anybody who backs this project will get the chance to own it (either digitally or on DVD depending upon the tier you select) and, if you pledge enough, you can appear in the film as a model. This is a great way for Okada to use his skills as an animator to teach and get people involved in the project.

The minimum Kickstarter pledge is £3 and that gives a person access to all five episodes. After that, rewards keep increasing including access to a PDF version of the “Making-of Book”, a physical version of the “Making-of Book” and a DVD copy of the anime and the higher tiers include an invitation to the film’s cinema screening and the aforementioned model. 

Now, anime on Kickstarter tends to have a good reputation (at least, better than video games) and my experience with it is with Under the Dog and Mai Mai Miracle, both of which I got a film at the end of the process so I’m fairly confident you’re guaranteed to get a product and this guarantee is good because Okada is an experienced animator and is actually currently involved in the Netflix production of Rilakkuma which is making waves around the internet. He has a YouTube channel (NARIOMARUDARKSIDE) which shows examples of his works so you get an idea of what the end product will be like and, judging by the work.., he has the skills to deliver. 

As I stated in the AUKN report, stop-motion isn’t as common as 2D animation and horror stories told by stop-motion are even rarer. The last time I saw something like this was Junkhead which played at the Raindance Film Festival a few years ago.

This sounds good to me so I plan on contributing. There are 46 days left to help out so if you like the look of the work and want to get involved, head to the Kickstarter page.

Happy weekend, people!

I hope you are all well.

I think I’ve survived but I’m still on the move. It’s day 6 of my work week and I’m exhausted after running around every day at my day job. The upside is my hyperactivity has made people happy and one couple thanked me for being cheerful when leaving a gallery. Work tomorrow. Outside of my regular job, I’ve been ploughing on with exercise every morning and the interviews from the Osaka Asian Film Festival with a friend and we’ve got a lot done with one published this week – Akiyoshi Koba, director of Nunchaku and Soul. Also from OAFF was my post about Maggie (2018) and I’ve completed three out of four reviews for another film festival. I also posted about a Kickstarter campaign for a stop-motion horror anime. I’ve got a fresh new interview conducted with the director of that project waiting to be translated. So, yeah, this trailer post has been knocked together at short notice.

In terms of what I have watched this week, everything takes on a distinctly American indie bent with Patterson, The Limits of Control, Funny Haha, Mutual Appreciation. I also re-watched the Sono film Tag and the Hosoda film The Boy and the Beast.

What is released this weekend?

The Peers   

ピア　まちをつなぐもの 「Pia machi wo tsunagumono」

Running Time: 99 mins.

Release Date: April 26th, 2019

Director: Shinya Ayabe

Writer: Shinya Ayabe (Screenplay),

Starring: Yoshihiko Hosoda, Wakana Matsumoto, Maki Mizuno, Asuka Kawatoko, Ryosuke Takei, Takeshi Masu, Junki Tozuka, Toshinori Omi,

Website IMDB

I saw this one at the Osaka Asian Film Festival. It was a cute film about community. Super-manufactured in every aspect but well-intentioned and more about learning how healthcare works.

Synopsis: After his father Keizo falls ill, Masato Takahashi reluctantly quits medical university to take over his family’s clinic. Masato has his pride and had been intent on advanced medical research, not giving care to local patients and their families, and he doesn’t hide his feelings on the subject when working with colleagues and care workers like the care manager Natsumi Sato. This leads to him being isolated at work but he begins to change his attitude after meeting patients and starting to understand the value of home medical care.

This human drama depicts the challenges of an ageing society and gives the limelight to some of the hardest working people in society, care workers and medical professionals.

HOMIE KEI Chika-no natta Nihonjin   

HOMIE KEI チカーノになった日本人 「HOMIE KEI Chika-no natta Nihonjin」

Running Time: 73 mins.

Release Date: April 26th, 2019

Director: Kimasa Sakama

Writer: N/A

Starring: KEI

Website

Synopsis: The titular Kei is a Japanese man who ran wild as a yakuza but, when in America, got locked up in prison where he encountered Chicano gangs. He was inducted into one, quite a feat for a Japanese and it had a big impact on him. However, when he got out of prison, he reunited with his family and set up a charity to help kids with problems. This documentary is about him.

Birthday Wonderland     

バースデー・ワンダーランド 「Ba-sude- Wanda-rando」

Running Time: 115 mins.

Release Date: April 26th, 2019

Director: Keiichi Hara

Writer: Miho Maruo (Screenplay), Sachiko Kashiwaba (Original Creator)

Starring: Mayu Matsuoka (Akane), Akiko Yajima (Doropo), Anzu (Chi), Keiji Fujiwara (Xan Gu), Kumiko Aso (Midori),

Website MAL ANN

Synopsis from MAL: A movie adaptation of the 1981 children’s book Chikashitsu kara no Fushigi na Tabi.

A wonderful and mysterious birthday adventure, one that you will never forget. Beyond the basement door in Aunt Chi’s antique shop lies a world beyond your wildest imagination…

Akane Uesugi is a shy 6th grader who has trouble telling other people how she feels.

The day before her birthday, her mother, Midori, sends her on an errand: to go get her birthday present from her free-spirited Aunt Chi’s antique shop. But a strange man named Hippocrates the Alchemist, who calls her the “Green Goddess”, together with Pipo the fairy, takes her on a journey to “The World Beyond” from a door in the basement where she embarks upon an adventure to save a land in crisis.

The next four films are part of the Toei Manga Matsuri:

Recycle Zoo 

りさいくるずー 「Risaikuru zu-」

Running Time: 99 mins.

Release Date: April 26th, 2019

Director: Benpi Neko

Writer: Coyote (Original Work)

Starring: Benpi Neko, Eriko Matsui, Hiroki Gotou,

Website

Synopsis from Gigazine: Yamaori and Tanioli are two explorers made of recycled corrugated cardboard and they ho on adventures looking for treasure.