Berserk Golden Age Arc II: The Battle for Doldrey   

ベルセルク　黄金時代篇 II　ドルドレイ攻略  「Beruseruku Ogon Jidai-Hen II: Doldrey Koryaku」

Release Date: June 23^rd, 2012

Running Time: 93 mins.

Director: Toshiyuki Kubooka

Writer: Ichiro Okouchi (script), Kentaro Miura (original manga)

Starring: Hiroaki Iwanaga (Guts), Takahiro Sakurai (Griffith), Toa Yukinaru (Casca), Aki Toyosaki (Charlotte), Kenta Miyake (Nosferatu Zodd), Takahiro Fujiwara (Pippin)

Studio: Studio 4°C

Website   ANN   MAL

There are three entries in the Berserk Golden Age Arc and this review follows on from one I wrote in 2012 after watching Berserk: Golden Age Arc I: The Egg of the King at a cinema.

This trilogy of films adapts Kentaro Miura’s on-going manga which has reached 38 volumes at the time of this review. It has already been adapted into a twenty-five episode TV anime in 1997/98 and a new series is going to air in the summer. The three films adapt around twelve volumes of the manga and cover the same ground as the TV anime. A quick flashback at the beginning of the second film sets the scene but it’s best to watch the opener so you can figure out what is going on and who each character is. Essentially…

The saga follows Guts a strong mercenary with a huge sword and little direction in life other than survival. As he travels he fights and as he fights he tries to find meaning in every battle. All of that changes after he meets Griffith, leader of a group of mercenaries named Band of the Hawk who are working for the Kingdom of Midland in their war against the Chuder empire. Griffith is charismatic, highly intelligent, physically beautiful and skilled and he is possessed by the belief that he will rule everything. Guts is swayed by Griffith and throws his lot in with the mercenaries and finds himself becoming the right hand man of Griffith making the other commanders in Band of the Hawk jealous. This trust that Griffith places in Guts results in him being asked to assassinate a rival general who has tried to kill Griffith.

With the general dead, the second film focusses on a pivotal point in the war between Midland and Chuder as the Band of the Hawk rises in importance for the Kingdom of Midland which is fighting a series of battles to push Chuder forces back to their stronghold of Doldrey Castle. During one of these battles Guts and Casca are separated from their comrades and forced to fight overwhelming odds together, a challenge that gets the two to learn more about each other and come to an understanding. After the two survive that experience they are thrust into an epic battle to seize Doldrey Castle, a place thought impregnable and home to an elite band of troops known as the Holy Purple Rhino Knights. The Band of the Hawk, with 5000 horsemen, faces off against 30,000 troops under the leadership of the physically terrifying General Boscogn. As Griffith martials his forces to further his ambitions for power, Guts finds himself contemplating his place in the world, still thinking of Griffith’s speech about a person living for their dreams. A rupture in their friendship appears…

The second film continues to tell the epic story of the Golden Age arc at its break-neck pace as it races towards conclusion of the trilogy but problems emerge in the writing.

I remember giving the first film high marks, praising Ichiro Okouchi’s script for being able to pack in so much into the movie’s short run time but such praise was misplaced because upon viewing the second film there is a lack of emotional weight behind the characters which was present in the original manga and the TV anime.

Much of what makes Berserk great is the depiction of people pursuing or fighting destiny. This is shown by the different characters drawn together by the thread and needle of fate which weaves a bloody tapestry binding Guts, Griffith, Casca and the Band of the Hawk together in what increasingly becomes a titanic clash of egos and swords on the battlefield. The relationships all centred on the charismatic presence of Griffith, a military and political genius and beautiful person who is able to draw people to him and free them from their traumatic memories. These memories provided backstories told in haunting flashbacks that added so much flavour and world-building to the present-tense narrative which is overflowing with huge battles and court intrigue. As we saw the players gravitate around Griffith we understood the power he holds over others, particularly Casca and Guts who effectively fought with each other, eager to prove themselves to their leader the extent of their loyalty and love. Through their internecine rivalry and through facing the threats from outside their group together the characters changed unconsciously and subtly losing their dependence on Griffith and maturing into stronger people with their own ambitions and ideas. Just as importantly, we cared about what was going on in battle and in politics because of these changes. When it comes to the movie, this doesn’t happen and it all rests on the script.

Okouchi’s decision to excise subplots, remove characters, and simplify the dialogue results in all of the compelling parts such as the supernatural elements, importance of class and politics in Midland, and the complex and richly detailed relationships are jettisoned. This means that what should be a compelling character study is shorn of all the profound emotional connections that holds an audience through the story. There is a lack of emotional depth, the story loses a lot of dramatic meaning and so events feel plot driven and that plot is boring. It seems like a perfunctory trip through stereotypical medieval action scenes. We should have reason to care that Guts and Casca grow closer whilst becoming independent of Griffith but it doesn’t quite come off and it is hard to tell this is happening from the limited time given to their development. The story relies on the audience inferring situations and developments with very little to go on in the first place thanks to hollowed out storytelling. The famous cave scene where Guts nurses Casca back to full health from her fever is limp rather than sensual. Despite their nakedness both physical and emotional there is a lack of erotic and psychological tension between the characters. Griffith’s near-suicidal battle tactics at Doldrey come off as foolhardy rather than well thought out. His tactics were originally based on an understanding of the psychology of the enemy governor as revealed in flashbacks to Griffith’s past encounters with the depraved old man but those were cut. Forget about character development for the rest of the Band of the Hawk beyond a few quips on the battlefield. Without the emotional beats of pre and post battle banter, confessions and arguments on balconies and just giving time for members of the Band of the Hawk to talk and act, the film loses a lot of emotional freight. What remains is a fearsome battle anime and as an action title it does a good job.
Each slice of combat is blood-thirsty, sweat-stained and expertly framed.  Sieges feature lumbering towers and ladders heading towards castle walls carrying soldiers who are toppling through the air as withering enemy fire punches holes in them. The sweeping cavalry battles are a real highlight with wide and low angle shots of framing Chuder’s heavy cavalry racing towards the heroes. The camera weaves in and out of these thunderous cavalry charges and races alongside arrows zooming through the air. Armies wheel across meadows, cavalry with their lances lowered and flags snapping in the wind, the thunderous sound of hooves and the equally thunderous sound of armoured knights hitting the dirt once they clash. Swords rending steel, blood curdling cries can be heard. Sword fights are breath-taking, especially Casca going one on one with an enemy general, dancing along Doldrey’s battlements! Blood spatters the camera, bodies are trodden under hooves, and the characters look magisterial as the sun glints off armour. The direction from Kubooka is fierce and fun, he knows how to show a battle and you never lose track of what is going on thanks to that skill. There is also the awesome scene where Guts fights against a hundred men where he dashes and slices his way through knots of crossbowmen and knights, taking out his foes like a berserker their bodies crumpling under his sword.

The actual animation itself still looks good although there will always be detractors who don’t like the CG. The character designs in close-up are well detailed and the landscapes they move through are beautiful at times. Not as beautiful as the first film but still enjoyable to looks at.

If this were about the fights and looks alone then this film would be impressive but it lacks in the story department. Perhaps a casual fan might enjoy this as an action romp but franchise fans will be disappointed because the emotional content is almost absent. That negativity doesn’t completely sink the film but the lack of investment in the drama is felt in the action.

3/5

Berserk: Golden Age Arc III: Advent                       

ベルセルク　黄金時代篇III:降臨　 「Beruseruku Ogon Jidai-Hen III: Kourin」

Release Date: February 01^st 2013 (Japan)

Running Time: 112 mins

Director: Toshiyuki Kubooka

Writer: Ichiro Okouchi (script), Kentaro Miura (original manga)

Starring: Hiroaki Iwanaga (Guts), Takahiro Sakurai (Griffith), Toa Yukinaru (Casca), Aki Toyosaki (Charlotte), Kenta Miyake (Nosferatu Zodd), Takahiro Fujiwara (Pippin)

Studio: Studio 4°C

Website   ANN   MAL

There are three entries in the Berserk Golden Age Arc and this review follows on from one I wrote in 2012 after watching Berserk: Golden Age Arc I: The Egg of the King at a cinema. It was released on Blu-ray and DVD alongside the second film, Berserk Golden Age Arc II: The Battle for Doldrey, and third film, Berserk Golden Age Arc III: Advent.

This trilogy of films adapts Kentaro Miura’s on-going manga which has reached 38 volumes at the time of this review. It has already been adapted into a twenty-five episode TV anime in 1997/98 and a new series is going to air in the summer. With this film…

The Golden Age arc is coming to an end.

One year has passed since Guts left the Band of the Hawk and Griffith has fallen from grace after he was imprisoned by the Kingdom of Midland for deflowering princess Charlotte. The Band of the Hawk has been branded criminals and constantly harried by Midland’s soldiers. They are held together by Casca’s leadership and she plots to rescue Griffith but hers is a tough task since she and the troops she commands are relentlessly pursued. When all seems lost, Guts returns from his journey…

Despite initial hostility Casca opens up her heart to Guts and the two finally become lovers. Guts temporarily re-joins the Band of the Hawk and helps Casca who leads a small force to where Griffith is imprisoned, the oldest building in Wyndham Castle, the Tower of Rebirth. The sight that greets them when they reach Griffith is horrific. Beauty destroyed, tongue cut out, body emaciated, Griffith is a skeletal figure who inspires pity and fear rather than love and awe. The escape goes well but Griffith is filled with rage, sadness, and despair as his dreams of ruling the Kingdom seem shattered much like his body. It is these emotions that activate the crimson Behelit, a trinket he has had since childhood. This piece of jewellery summons infernal creatures from a supernatural plane of existence. The God Hand ascends from the earth and a blood-curdling scene of sacrifice is about to unfold as a horde of demonic apostles trap the Band of the Hawk in an evil ceremony… It is time for the Advent. The birth of the fifth guardian, Femto, and the beginning of an age where darkness swallows the land.

An argument can be made that when it came to setting this story up, a lot of resources and efforts were poured into making the third film the gruesome highlight of the trilogy in order to pull off such an important, even legendary part of the story. It works. The series of films has been a tough ride at times, merciless when it came to delivering harsh emotions and violence, showy in depicting deaths and savage in its cruelty, but nothing audiences will have seen will prepare them for what comes in the final film in the Golden Age arc.

The world depicted so far was a terribly human one full of emotions easy to understand, the unbridled ambitions, jealousies and the will to commit brutal and vicious acts. It believably acted as a world where characters forged and shattered feelings for each other in the white hot heat of battle and politics and in the downtime when emotions could unspool, times of great beauty and deprivation (if only the trilogy of films had the time and confidence to build on it more). The characters piled corpses to create cobblestones on the road in heading towards what they believed to be destiny but their actions may have been manipulated by some higher being or story. Exquisite darkness emerged as those characters came to fit perfectly into a jigsaw puzzle dedicated to the dreams of power. Those dreams turn into nightmares in the third film as the destinies of our main characters drop into a fiery furnace of hell and carnage.

We don’t get to this until the halfway point. What precedes it is a rip-roaring rescue as Griffith is freed from the darkest dungeon in Midland by the Band of the Hawk. Guts steals the show yet again, busting down doors and cleaving people in two, throwing hapless guards from great heights into stygian abysses and shedding more blood than ever before, driven by pure rage and guilt over his actions at the tail end of the second film. Throughout the early moments of the third film the script doubles-down on the relationships as well as the action so we get slightly more character-building than has come before. Emotional connections are delved into with side-characters given a chance to vent their frustrations for more than a line or two as previously seen.

More complex desires and ideas finally come into play in the second half of the film and just in time as the eclipse occurs!

There was always a dark supernatural heart beating underneath every event, a sense of a transcendental force guiding everyone to some grim fate which the characters struggle vainly against. The unnerving crimson behelit was a taste, the fight between Guts and Nosferatu Zodd in the first film was a spike of horror (Zodd was a victim of cuts in the second film). It is here, during the eclipse, that Studio 4°C unleashes a literal version of hell on unsuspecting audiences crafting a surreal landscape of tortured faces and disturbing colours, most prominent being blood red which is perfect for the grotesqueries that emerge. Those already familiar with this traumatic event will be simultaneously thrilled and sickened at seeing Kentaro Miura’s hideous creatures brought to life and the violence they inflict upon characters we have spent so much time with. Viewers will not be prepared for the depths of depravity and the visual horror that takes place as the bloodbath begins and the Band of the Hawk are sacrificed.

The second half of the film (almost an hour!) is devoted to this horrifying event and the fallout as all characters have their relationships inverted, chief amongst them being Griffith the saviour who becomes Griffith the despoiler in scenes that go way into disturbing territory. Having written about the lack of emotion felt for the characters in the second film, watching the third makes one wonder how much emotional freight could have been coupled to this visually stunning massacre.

Alas, if only the development of the characters had come sooner because the lack of characterisation earlier on in the first two films hurts everyone. Pippin finally becomes a character just before he meets a sticky end. Corkus had moments that made him sympathetic in the TV anime and manga but after two movies, here he is offensive and his death comes across as a relief – no more whining. More tragically, is the sacrifice of Judeau for efficiency where his love for Casca is barely felt not least because lines get cut(!). Ricket is memorable mostly because he survives. The issues of characterisation, or lack of, is not catastrophic and probably sounds churlish when you consider all that was managed to be packed into three films but fans of the manga and TV anime will agree that these changes take some of the heart out of the final tragedy and yet again, what is left is visual spectacle. What a stunning spectacle it is.

Whatever complaints one might make of the story the film looks good – as long as you can accept the CG used. Although the direction feels unsteady at points – cutting between scenes feels choppy and disrupts the rhythm of the film – it captures the beautiful tragedy at play as characters we care about struggle to survive, get betrayed and fight for all they are worth – or run. Every scene is packed full of motion and detail and there is no reliance on panning across still images. The film achieves moments of great beauty, especially the scene where Casca and Guts have sex. It’s handled respectfully with nudity tastefully done. This stands in complete contrast to the depraved horror show at the end. The combat scenes are a highlight once again and the whole eclipse sequence allows Studio 4°C to engage their 2001 A Space Odyssey artiness for some sequences. While the visuals are on point, one last thing worth mentioning is that Susumu Hirasawa’s music is not surpassed.

Overall, the film holds up the trilogy very well. The three films are never boring or bad but long-time fans will find they lack the time to develop the characters and make the drama more powerful. As a primer for an audience new to the franchise it is a solid work but they should check out the source.

4/5

I recently landed a role as contributor to V-Cinema and I have reviewed a number of films for the website. I have been something of a fan and enjoyed listening to their podcasts when they have covered Japanese cinema so I’m pretty excited to be a part of the team and helping to highlight Japanese cinema. Writing reviews is something I enjoy doing and I hope people enjoy reading my reviews!

My first review for V-Cinema is of Tokyo.Sora, a film from Hiroshi Ishihara. He has three films under his belt and this is his debut. This is just a snippet of the review with images and links to a little research. The full review can be found through a link at the bottom:

Tokyo.Sora   

Tokyo.Sora「Tokyo.Sora」

Release Date: October 29^th, 2002

Running Time: 127 mins.

Director: Hiroshi Ishikawa

Writer: Hiroshi Ishikawa

Starring: Yuka Itaya, Haruka Igawa, Manami Honjou, Ayano Nakamura, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Sun Cheng-Hwa, Keishi Nagatsuka,

IMDB

Hiroshi Ishikawa has had a long career in filmmaking but only has a few features films to his name. His work as a TV commercial and music video director stands in stark contrast to the slow moving dramas he writes and directs where not a lot is said out loud and the audience is expected to tease out just what is going on from the accretion of detail in slow-paced films. From this, his debut, to his more current film, the world of his characters inhabit is a very lonely place.

You can read the full review over at V-Cinema. I gave this (3.5/5). Here are more images:

I recently landed a role as contributor to V-Cinema and I have reviewed a number of films for the website. I have been something of a fan and enjoyed listening to their podcasts when they have covered Japanese cinema so I’m pretty excited to be a part of the team and helping to highlight Japanese cinema. Writing reviews is something I enjoy doing and I hope people enjoy reading my reviews!

My second review for V-cinema was for the film Su-ki-da which is the second film from Hiroshi Ishikawa. It’s an improvement on the first film and has a great performance from Aoi Miyazaki. Ishikawa makes a slightly more conventional film in the shape of a romance but with Ishikawa’s long game way of storytelling. I’m going to write about all three of Ishikawa’s films. This is just a snippet of the review with images and links to a little research. The full review can be found through a link at the bottom just before a bunch of images:

Su-ki-da    

好きだ,　「Sukida,」

Release Date: February 25^th, 2006

Running Time: 104 mins.

Director: Hiroshi Ishikawa

Writer: Hiroshi Ishikawa

Starring: Aoi Miyazaki (Yu – teen), Hiromi Nagasaku (Yu – adult), Eita (Yosuke – teen), Hidetoshi Nishijima (Yosuke – adult), Sayuri Oyamada, Ryo Kase, Maho Nonami,

IMDB   Website

Human emotions are complicated and it is hard to translate them into concrete cognitive actions that another person may understand and accept. Emotions can easily go awry or go unsaid, piling up to create the peaks and valleys of human interaction and this is a landscape that writer and director Hiroshi Ishikawa loves to explore. Over the course of his three feature films he has refined the way he tells tales of people trying to bridge emotional chasms between each other and their profoundest emotions. Witness the protagonists of Ishikawa’s sophomore feature Su-ki-da (2006). They play out a love story that lasts from their teens well into their adulthood, the slow ache of their love informing every scene in this beautifully shot film.

You can read the full review over at V-Cinema. I gave this (4/5). Here are images:

I recently landed a role as contributor to V-Cinema and I have reviewed a number of films for the website. I have been something of a fan and enjoyed listening to their podcasts when they have covered Japanese cinema so I’m pretty excited to be a part of the team and helping to highlight Japanese cinema. Writing reviews is something I enjoy doing and I hope people enjoy reading my reviews!

Here’s a snippet of my review of the film Petal Dance (2013) images plus a link to the full review follow. The film itself is a further refinement of Hiroshi Ishikawa’s style which is all about long takes, unscripted dialogue, minimalist aesthetics, and a love of showcasing huge skies and Aoi Miyazaki’s acting.

Petal Dance            

ペタル　ダンス「Petaru Dansu」

Release Date: April 30^th, 2013

Running Time: 90 mins.

Director: Hiroshi Ishikawa

Writer: Hiroshi Ishikawa

Starring: Kazue Fukiishi, Sakura Ando, Aoi Miyazaki, Shiori Kutsuna, Shunsuke Kazama, Mariko Goto, Hanae Kan, Masanobu Ando, Tsutomu Takahashi

Hiroshi Ishikawa is the writer and director of popular films like Tokyo Sora and Su-ki-da and I have read good things about Petal Dance – it has gotten a good review at the Japan Times and I thought it was a great drama with strong performances from a top group of actors, some of the most recognisable leading ladies in Japan right now.

Four women who have suffered sorrow in life are on a road trip lasting one night and two days and full of memories and hope of a new start. Jinko (Aoi Miyazaki) and Motoko (Sakura Ando) have been friends since they attended the same university and it is they who start this road trip when they hear that a former classmate named Miki (Kazue Fukiishi) ran into the sea. The rumour ends with Miki getting out safely but is that all there is to it? Haraki (Shiori Kutsuna) met Jinko at the library she works at and joins the trip as a driver.

I gave this film a 4/5 and the full review can be read at V-Cinema. Here are more images:

I recently landed a role as contributor to V-Cinema and I have reviewed a number of films for the website. I have been something of a fan and enjoyed listening to their podcasts when they have covered Japanese cinema so I’m pretty excited to be a part of the team and helping to highlight Japanese cinema. Writing reviews is something I enjoy doing and I hope people enjoy reading my reviews!

Here’s a snippet of my review of the film Twisted Justice (2016) which plays at the New York Asian Film Festival. You can find more images plus a trailer and a link to the full review further down the post.

Twisted Justice   

日本で一番悪い奴ら 「Nihon de Ichiban Warui Yatsura」　

Running Time: 135 mins.

Release Date: June 25^th, 2016

Director: Kazuya Shiraishi

Writer: Junya Ikegami (Screenplay), Yoshiaki Inaba (Original Non-fiction Novel)

Starring:  Gou Ayano, Shido Nakamura, Young Dais, Pierre Taki, Haruna Yabuki, Munetaka Aoki,

Website   IMDB

The opening film for the New York Asian Film Festival has two titles: Twisted Justice is the international one while the Japanese title literally translates as The Worst Bad Guys in Japan. Both are apt as we witness the career of a seriously corrupt and seriously dim cop that spans 26 years and covers many crime trends which the central protagonist struggles to exploit.

Twisted Justice is based on the 2011 non-fiction novel Hajisarashi Hotsukaidoukei Akutoku Keiji no Kokuhaku by Yoshiaki Inaba, a former detective who blew the whistle on criminal wrong-doing sanctioned by his own bosses.

This is the latest film from Kazuya Shiraishi who last made The Devil’s Path (2013) and it has a similar style of storytelling.

You can find the full review over at V-Cinema.

I recently landed a role as contributor to V-Cinema and I have reviewed a number of films for the website. I have been something of a fan and enjoyed listening to their podcasts when they have covered Japanese cinema so I’m pretty excited to be a part of the team and helping to highlight Japanese cinema. Writing reviews is something I enjoy doing and I hope people enjoy reading my reviews!

Here’s a snippet of my review of the film A Bride for Rip Van Winkle (2016), the latest from the auteur Shunji Iwai. It is one of three films directed by him at the New York Asian Film Festival which is where he will pick up a lifetime achievement award. You can find more images plus a trailer and a link to the full review further down the post.

A Bride for Rip Van Winkle   

リップヴァンウィンクルノ花嫁 「Rippu van winkuru no hanayome 」　

Running Time: 180 mins.

Release Date: March 26^th, 2016

Director: Shunji Iwai

Writer: Shunji Iwai (Screenplay/Novel),

Starring:  Haru Kuroki, Gou Ayano, Cocco, Soko Wada, Nana Natsume, Hideko Hara,

Website   IMDB

“A Bride for Rip Van Winkle” (2016) is one of three films at this year’s New York Asian Film Festival directed by Shunji Iwai who will be present at the screening to pick up a life-time achievement award. It is a well-earned accolade considering he enjoys a respected international reputation built on a career defined by constant change as he flits between genres, jobs and mediums as demonstrated by his novels, acting, manga, music, and many films. Iwai’s work tend to appeal to women thanks to his preference of having women in lead roles and his stories analysing female characters through slowly and sensitively shared scenes that describe contemporary life.

 “A Bride for Rip Van Winkle” centres on Nanami (Haru Kuroki). She works as a part-time junior high school teacher and as a convenience store cashier. She drifts through an apathetic life, mercilessly teased by her students because of her quiet voice and timid ways. The film opens with long sequences in which audiences are given demonstrations of how much of an awkward loner Nanami is: she stands alone in a crowd and avoids looking directly at people. Haru Kuroki plays her as a non-presence dominated by others and her surroundings, a blank space too nervous to leave a mark in a colourful world of swirling energy, a little too helpless at times but never irritating.

You can read the rest of the review on VCinema.

I recently landed a role as contributor to V-Cinema and I have reviewed a number of films for the website. I have been something of a fan and enjoyed listening to their podcasts when they have covered Japanese cinema so I’m pretty excited to be a part of the team and helping to highlight Japanese cinema. Writing reviews is something I enjoy doing and I hope people enjoy reading my reviews!

Here’s a snippet of my review of the film Miss Hokusai (2015), the latest from Keiichi Hara Colorful (2010). It tells the story of one of Katsushika Hokusai’s daughters, O-Ei, who was an artist in her own right. It is a historical tale played with some comedy and a touch of fantasy and rich in period detail.

The film is based on a manga from an award-winning creator Hanako Sugiura who is an interesting person. She was the daughter of a kimono merchant and

made her manga debut in 1980 in the experimental magazine Garo, the place where artists Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Oji Suzuki, and Usamaru Furuya all came to fame. The website Prominent People of Minato City states that Sugiura defined her work with intricately researched historical stories about Japan’s Edo period with a focus on customs and manners and her unique storytelling won the Japan Cartoonists’ Association Award in 1984 and the Bunshun Manga Award in 1988. She retired from being a manga artist in 1995 and became a regular participant on NHK’s television program Comedy: Oedo de gozaru (Comedy; This is Edo) and was popular as the expert guide who gave interesting easy-to-understand commentaries about Edo culture. She passed away in 2005 at the age of 46.

Miss Hokusai   

百日紅 ～Miss HOKUSAI～  「Sarusuberi ～Miss HOKUSAI～」

Release Date: February 20th, 2015

Running Time: 89 mins.

Director: Keiichi Hara

Writer: Miho Maruo (Screenplay), Hinako Sugiura (Original Creator),

Studio: Production I.G

Starring: Anne Watanabe (O-Ei), Yutaka Matsushige (Tetsuzo/Katsushika Hokusai), Shion Shimizu (O-Nao), Kumiko Aso (Sayogoromo), Kengo Kora (Utagawa Kuninao),  Gaku Hamada (Zenjiro/Keisai Eisen), Jun Miho (Koto), Michitaka Tsutsui (Katsugoro/Totoya Hokkei), Danshun Tatekawa (Manjido), 

ANN   MAL  IMDB   Website  

The history of art is dominated by men. For much of history women were denied educational opportunities in the arts and some those who dared to create works found their careers were painted over in the grand narratives of art history (usually written by men). There were some female artists such as Berthe Morisot, Artemisia Gentileschi, Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, and Angelica Kauffmann who defied social mores to create, inspire, and amaze during their professional careers but for many more female artists, their works and lives remain waiting to be discovered, not least in Japan, a part of the world which has had a profound effect on the development of art.

When you think of Japanese art, chances are that you are familiar with the celebrated ukiyo-e artist Katsushika Hokusai whose woodblock prints of subjects such as Mount Fuji have become representative images of Japan. His most famous is “The Great Wave off Kanagawa,” that features a huge wave of blue surging water topped by white foam framing Mount Fuji. It is an image that can be found in galleries, on posters, and other types of merchandise and it is images like these that inspired some of the stylistic techniques of the French Impressionists. Would it surprise you to hear that Katsushika Hokusai had a daughter who was also an artist? That she created works in her own right? That some scholars suggest she was more than just her father’s assistant but a close collaborator who played a major role in his art as he neared 90 and had palsy? Like many a female artist it seems that her contribution to art has been forgotten about by history, something which the anime “Miss Hokusai” seeks to redress.

Here’s the link to the rest of the review on VCinema and here are some pictures:

Wild Berries    

蛇イチゴ 「Hebi Ichigo」

Release Date: September 06^th, 2003

Running Time: 119 mins.

Director: Miwa Nishikawa

Writer: Miwa Nishikawa (Screenplay),

Starring: Hiroyuki Miyasako, Miho Tsumiki, Sei Hiraizumi, Naoko Otani, Toru Tezuka, Moeko Ezawa, Susumu Terajima, Matsunosuke Shofukutei, Shota Sometani,

Website    IMDB

This is a huge review because I really like the film. It goes into detail without spoiling anything but you may want to watch the film before reading any further. A quick summation of the review: this is a debut movie? It’s perfect! Miwa Nishikawa is a genius!

Since her emergence as a director in 2003 Miwa Nishikawa has proven to be one of Japan’s most talented auteurs. She is, amongst other things, a novelist and an award winning independent film director and her talents have firmly planted her as an international film festival favourite leading a wave of female filmmakers finding drama in everyday lives. Wild Berries, her debut feature, is a perfect example. It tells the tale of a middle-class family whose act of normality is a façade that covers up a long history of deceit.

The story takes place over a few days in a suburb in Tokyo and the players at the centre of the action are the Akechi family. The father, Yoshiro (Sei Hiraizumi), is an engineer supposedly slaving away at an office day and night. Akiko (Naoko Otani) is the mother and has taken on the role of loyal housewife. She has the thankless role of looking after her senile father-in-law Kyozo (played by the famous rakugo master Matsunosuke Shofukutei). The household is rounded off by the prim and proper Tomoko (Miho Tsumiki), a teacher who is bringing her boyfriend Kamata (Toru Tezuka) home to meet the folks who might be his future in-laws.

It all goes well.

Kamata is charmed by what he perceives to be a traditional hard-working family with everyone fulfilling their social roles and working hard. Yoshiro is polite and Akiko fawns over Kamata and Kyozo is just a little senile rather than a huge embarrassment while at the dinner table. As soon as Kamata and Tomoko are out the door the true faces of the Akechi’s are revealed by spiteful comments and hurtful remarks. Worse is to come.

Yoshiro doesn’t have a job. He just pretends to go to work and has accrued huge debts to keep up the façade of a working man earning money. Akiko is at breaking point with Kyozo and her family. They pay little attention to the efforts she makes around the house and Kyozo is getting too much to handle. The senile old man is lost in memories of his time in the imperial army and making a mess everywhere. Tomoko is the only one with her act together, making a stern and effective teacher. She has no idea how bad things are at home until her mother Akiko snaps and she lets the old man die…

Secretly, Yoshiro and Akiko are relieved. The public face they put on during Kyozo’s funeral is of an honourable, responsible, and grieving family but that public face slips when Yoshiro’s creditors come calling to collect on his debt and wreck proceedings. Humiliation threatens to swallow this once respectable bourgeois family but in steps a mischief-maker named Shuji (Hiroyuki Miyasako), the wandering son once cast out for being a swindler who swindled his own family!

He arrives, making a stylish entrance pretending to be a lawyer who helps Yoshiro dodge the loan sharks and save face. He brings money and street smarts and offers to save his parents if they listen to him and follow his instructions. Tomoko was a victim of Shuji’s trickery on a few occasions and so, sensing danger, Tomoko tries to save the family from her brother.

Wild Berries is exquisitely directed and written by Nishikawa it seems she came into the world of cinema perfectly formed but she has earned her stripes. She has worked in indie films and on projects helmed by Horikazu Koreeda, most notably when she acted as assistant director on the film Distance (2001). Koreeda has returned the favour by becoming a close collaborator and helping Nishikawa establish herself by acting as producer of her films starting with Wild Berries.

The film’s story is like a dissection of typical middle-class family values as people play up to the social roles that society puts on them and are ultimately found lacking, unable to fulfill them and family demands. The plot twists and character development is quietly devastating and watching the changes sucks audiences into this murky world of deception and cynical actions. The script lays bare the faults of these characters allowing people to pick apart the gears and levers that make the characters work, looking at the massive pressures and expectations on people and while this sounds serious it leads to a degree of black comedy. Exposing the trickery and deceit each character performs leads to a comedy of errors which becomes mordantly amusing the bigger the chaos becomes. At its heart, however, is a sad tale of a family who have grown so far apart and become so morally compromised that they cannot trust each other and communicate.

There is a lot that holds this family together, not just lies. There are moments when family members connect with each other. Yoshiro and Tomoko commute together and talk changes in modern society. Mother and son, Akiko and Shuji josh around, talking about madcap schemes. Brother and sister Shuji and Tomoko whistle the same nursery rhyme, a light-hearted tune with a lot of emotional weight that shows the long connection between the two. However in trying to fulfil roles like mother and father, breadwinner and caregiver, these people have become emotionally enervated and disconnected. Despite occupying the same house, the same space, their alienation from each other has resulted in the façade of civility which covers up growing hostility over the lack of care and attention they show each other. This is made intense by the simultaneous loneliness and closeness they share and it paints a sad picture.

The film rolls by at a quiet and gentle pace, each character getting the time to develop. Long takes and careful editing create a texture that is considered and the simplicity of the filming style foregrounds the acting which allows the audience full view of the characters and so, as Nishikawa strips back the layers of lies from the characters in her script the actors are given the time and space to change their behaviour and help switch the tone of the film and suggest a deeper subtext. The parents initially upright and somewhat sanctimonious soon become physically and psychologically erratic and sluggish with every humiliating revelation while the kids become sharper and more determined as their parents relinquish control of the situation. Perhaps this is a veiled commentary on relations between the generations in Japan, the elders soon give up power, looking the other way as their sins come crashing down on their children who will dictate the future. It is a credit to Nishikawa and her cast that these changes feel absolutely natural rather than forced.

This is great ensemble piece since the actors have a lot of chemistry. There is a wonderful stability, however fake it is, between the Akechi’s with each actor fulfilling their role. Matsunosuke Shofukutei is scarily overbearing and unbearable as Kyozo playing up the grossness of his actions, Sei Hiraizumi as Yoshiro puts up a stern front and knows when to fold like the paper tiger he is and Naoko Otani’s front as a caring woman is wonderfully undercut by her revelation of bitterness and anger. Hiroyuki Miyasako as Shuji is all flash and charm and brings a lot of coolness to his role and it is easy to see people sucked into his scam but he also suggests deep care for his sister Tomoko who is brilliantly portrayed by a controlled performance as Miho Tsumiki.

As the film comes to a close the true leads of the story emerge as brother and sister compete for the future of the family. The lawful upright Tomoko is the only faultless character on screen and she confronts her swindler of a brother and yet even towards the end, after all we have seen, the film gives the audience little clarity on who is right or wrong. It offers hints and suggestions, tugs at the heart with emotions while the head is clouded with suspicions, but offers nothing concrete and remains ambiguous until its very last moment when the titular wild berries appear.

The final scene is simple and yet packed with breath-taking amount of emotion. You realise you have become engaged in this domestic drama where people have had to deal with the idea that they cannot trust and love their nearest and dearest with this image and the final tumultuous emotions felt by Tomoko whose character has been the moral bedrock of the family and the one character who has controlled herself despite disappointments in this sorry fiasco. When she finally crumbles after a revelation it is hard not to join her in a scene perfectly delivered by Miho Tsumiki. It is a harrowing and given heart by a powerful performance by Tsumiki who opens up herself up through her body language after containing herself to show her character’s unravelling. The sense of family ties frayed beyond repair and an unexpected betrayal and the realisation that there was a moment of genuine behaviour caps a story full of nuanced drama.

It is hard to think of a debut so well constructed as this. Wild Berries is a joy to watch and it is hard not to want to go back and watch it again and, after that, imagine what happens to this family. It is deceptively simple, its execution unfussy and its script sticking to a small time frame with a moderately sized cast is profound in what it reveals about this family and, to an extent, Japanese society. Audiences will pick favourite characters, analyse themes and just enjoy this film and they will find a new favourite director. Miwa Nishikawa won me over with Sway, now I’m even more of a fan after watching Wild Berries!

5/5

Dear Doctor    

ディア・ドクター  「Dea Dokuta-」

Release Date: June 27^th, 2009

Running Time: 127 mins.

Director: Miwa Nishikawa

Writer: Miwa Nishikawa (Screenplay/Original Novel)

Starring: Tsurube Shofukutei (Dr. Osamu Ino), Eita (Keisuke Soma), Kimiko Yo (Akemi Ohtake), Teruyuki Kagawa (Masayoshi Saimon), Kaoru Yachigusa (Kaduko Torikai), Haruka Igawa (Ritsuko Torikai), Ryo Iwamatsu (Lieutenant Yoshifumi Okayasu), Yutaka Matushige (Sergeant Hatano),

Website    IMDB

Miwa Nishikawa follows up her perfect twisted Tokyo-based family drama Wild Berries with this title about a countryside doctor who may not be what he appears to be. Despite the bucolic setting replacing Tokyo the themes are much the same as in her debut film, deception and desperation.

Dear Doctor takes place in a remote town in the middle of the countryside. It’s nighttime and creatures lurking in the rice fields croak and murmur in the darkness.  A man riding into town on a bicycle along a poorly lit road stops and puts on a doctor’s coat he finds lying on the ground. He continues cycling all the way to the clinic where a cluster of elderly villagers and police officers question him. Where did he find the coat? Where’s the doctor it’s normally attached to?

Lieutenant Yoshifumi Okayasu (Ryo Iwamatsu) and Sergeant Hatano (Yutaka Matushige) are on the case. The man they are looking for is Dr. Osamu Ino (Tsurube Shofukutei), a fifty-something unassuming-looking chap and he has been the town’s only doctor for a few years.

He works long hours either in the town’s small clinic or making house calls and treating the ailments of the elderly residents. He knows the intimate details of the town, the social and medical histories of every family, and he knows he is the only doctor around and seems to relish it until a diagnosis gets complicated. Fortunately he is more than ably assisted by a loyal nurse named Akemi Ohtake (Kimiko Yo) who takes on a lot more responsibility than her position demands. She has had experience in emergency rooms and seems more confident in more technical situations than doctor Ino himself and occasionally takes the lead. Even Ohtake has no idea where Ino has gone or why. Nobody in town knows and they are desperate to get him back including a new young medical intern named Keisuke Soma (Eita).

Keisuke is the son of a rich doctor and rode into town in a flashy red BMW convertible with the expectation of staying in what he regards as hicksville for a couple of months for an easy assignment looking after old folks. Despite his money, city-slicker bravado and fancy transport he is someone looking for a road to follow in the medical profession. His stay with Ino gives him that inspiration. Here is a traditional doctor working selflessly for others. However, the more Keisuke works with Ino the more he begins to have suspicions that the man may not be as qualified to serve as a doctor as he should be. There are hesitations during treatments and he notices that Ino hands work to him as well as Ohtake. Is a doctor dodging tough calls really the best person to learn from? Keisuke puts those issues aside as he is swept up in Ino’s charismatic presence and the need to believe in something other than making money from medicine.

So why did Ino, the much-loved doctor, disappear?

Miwa Nishikawa gradually delivers answers by splitting the narrative into two parts, one set in the past and the other in the present. Flashbacks to a month before the disappearance inform the present and these glimpses of the past are invoked through the police investigation as Okayasu and Hatano question the townsfolk and discover Ino isn’t as innocent or as qualified to be a doctor as he seems and maybe the residents weren’t as duped by his performance as they pretend to be.

The film uses the investigation as a lens to look at the characters and environment so the central performance from Tsurube Shofukutei and understanding the dynamics of the town is equally important. What looks like a case of a good doctor driven to disappearing by depression is gradually undermined from witness testimonies. Audiences will initially be charmed by Ino’s image of dedication in medicine. Shofukutei plays up his character’s jovial and confident demeanour which helps put his patients at ease. His bedside manner is inspirational but Shofukutei leaves enough markers to make us doubt the man and so the more the detectives dig the more we pick up how uncomfortable he is in the position especially when his patients ask him to make potentially fatal decisions.

On the surface he is calm but he is struggling to maintain himself. Nishikawa uses the power of cinema to pick up on this. The camera closely frames each character and we see cracks. Every diagnosis Ino makes is flawed and he is reliant on nurse Ohtake and Keisuke to back him up. Ohtake in particular holds together the façade of confidence that Ino projects as the increasingly complicated emergency procedures they face are done under her guidance through hand signals and glances. When Keisuke praises Ino he unwittingly unearths the guilt and self-hatred that Ino has accrued from being in his position and fears of relatives rumbling him.

Ino sort of enjoys his position and the reliance people have in him but the increasingly deadly medical situations weigh more and more on him while those around him need his performance to keep them going . The elderly love the attention he gives them which keeps loneliness at bay, the mayor can claim to be doing his job after getting a doctor for a town that went without one for years and Masayoshi (a nicely duplicitous performance from Teruyuki Kagawa), a pharmaceutical rep, can make a lot of money from constant orders he gets from Ino. No wonder they want to find the man. There is a delicious ambiguity to both the doctor and the community that comes from the constant stream of witness statements that the detectives gather and what emerges is a complex picture of dependency and disappearance.

There is definitely some social observation in the film as we follow Ino in his duties visiting people and see a village populated mostly by the elderly, the young having emigrated to Tokyo and beyond for work. Katsumi Yanagijima, the cinematographer, last mentioned here for the review of Dolls, does a good job illustrating the sense of abandonment of the town. The gorgeous countryside Ino travels is made up of grassy hills and well-maintained fields which are all underpopulated. When a person does appear they are usually old and usually asking for Ino’s help. The lack of resources and contact from relatives are then revealed through the people suffering from an acute case of loneliness while said relatives feel guilt.

Nishikawa’s film is profound but relaxed, a feeling brought through by her familiar carefully composed aesthetic. The understated acting prevents the film from becoming a comedy at the expense of the elderly, some of whom are suffering the ill-effects of old age such as senility. The treatment of the elderly is an aspect adding a dose of complexity and acidity to a film which feels almost light and easygoing. Ino’s actions may be illegal but there’s no self-interest. He genuinely cares about his patients as evidenced from the constant check-ups, studying, and friendliness. His technical skills are flawed but his bedside manner is impeccable and he is valuable for that when you see the wider situation of the community.

4.5/5

Apologies for the long review. The film is a lot better than it may sound and I highly recommend watching it. I didn’t reveal any major spoilers so there’s a lot to enjoy, the acting in particular.

Dreams for Sale                                  

夢売るふたり  「Yume Uru Futari」

Release Date: September 08^th, 2012

Running Time: 137 mins.

Director: Miwa Nishikawa

Writer: Miwa Nishikawa (Screenplay/Original Novel)

Starring: Takako Matsu, Sadao Abe, Lena Tanaka, Sawa Suzuki, Tamae Ando, Yuka Ebara, Tsurube Shoufukutei, Tae Kimrua, Teruyuki Kagawa, Yusuke Iseya, Kanji Furutachi,

Website    IMDB

“Dreams for Sale” is the award-winning fourth feature film from Miwa Nishikawa and it was released in 2012 after having travelled around international film festivals such as the London Film Festival and the Toronto Film Festival. It follows on from her previous film by being a tale of a family riven by deceit and compromised morals but it is far darker than “Wild Berries” and “Dear Doctor”, this feels more akin to “Sway”, tougher.

“Dreams for Sale” begins as most Nishikawa films do with a simple set-up of a family unit before tearing it apart. The film is driven by the relationship between a man named Kanya (Sadao Abe) and his beautiful wife Satoko Ichizawa (Takako Matsu). They are happily married and running and a successful Izakaya. They seem to be that sort of loving couple who could grow old together with their small Izakaya being the focal point of a neighbourhood. Their celebrations for the fifth anniversary of their restaurant start well but end with the place burning down and their customers injured.

This disaster torches their finances and jobs and it brings out their true colours. Satoko soldiers on, the tougher of the two, and takes on a job at a noodle shop. Kanya, a fully qualified sushi chef, takes the loss far worse and gets depressed, angry at his wife, and does what most Japanese men do when in such a situation in films: drink and gamble the night away at pachinko parlours. Taking on the role of the strong wife the ever-loyal Satoko rebuffs the advances of other men as she alternates between searching and waiting for Kanya as he spends longer away from her.

One morning he storms home with tears of joy and an envelope full of cash he claims he got from a friend. Satoko isn’t buying it. Kanya makes the fatal mistake of hugging Satoko to get her to stop thinking and she smells the scent of another woman. She gets him to confess it was money earned from comforting a lonely and angry woman who was left by her lover. Kanya provided her with a one-night stand and a face to punch.  Satoko is furious. Scarily so. In one of the best emotional switches in film history Takako Matsu breaks our initial impressions of her character Satoko and displays the cold kind of fury where a person will knowingly hurt someone and make them suffer and it is understandable – her loyalty has been betrayed. She is utterly terrifying. After some mild torture involving hot water poured into Kanya’s bath, she realises the full potential of the money and an even scarier and more calculating side emerges as she realises this is a chance to get money together to re-open their restaurant…

This is where the film makes a sharp turn, heading into a shadowy valley of a psychodramedy.

Satoko wonders if they can make more money through a scam involving Kanya picking up lonely ladies and soothing their heartache with a promise of marriage? There is potential and so the two embark on a series of sham relationships.

Satoko and Kanya find work in an upscale restaurant and she picks on the most emotionally vulnerable customers in their new workplace for him to charm. Some viewers will be bemused at the sight of the thoroughly average-looking Sadao Abe charming a whole restaurants worth of women but it happens and it all develops organically.

Kanya meets women at the restaurant who are nursing heartache or grievances and offers the right amount of comfort, a kind word, a thoughtful gesture or just attention. Those little moments of human kindness add up for the women who fall for Kanya. They go on dates and sex is usually involved and he scores money after telling them of his dream of building a new restaurant. Then he leaves.

Surely it won’t go that smoothly?

As it turns out, it doesn’t and it’s because of the delicious push and pull tension between vengeance and love that Satoko and Kanya feel. Kanya takes to going out with many women and Satoko organises things with ruthless efficiency (she even writes scripts for Kanya to read over the phone!). They tell each other it is for their dream of a new restaurant but the film shows another, more human side to their characters – Kanya is following his wife’s orders out of guilt and Satoko is punishing him out of anger and they remain together because they still love each other despite which fuels a growing hatred.

Kanya becomes a pathetic character as he plays along with these lies and the guilt he feels towards the women over his deception complicates things even further, driving a delicious dramatic wedge between himself and Satoko. I can imagine that most viewers will be chilled to the bone by Takako Matsu’s switch earlier in the film as her warm understanding smile drops and a frigid mask of anger and retribution emerges but those chills will turn into revulsion as she scouts increasingly vulnerable women to fleece.

Initially there’s a level of sympathy for the couple that is high enough for the film to make light of the situation but the film always runs the risk of audiences starting to hate the central couple for being so duplicitous and thus alienating people, making them want to stop watching. It is a testament to the skill of Nishikawa that this never quite happens and her writing can invoke some sympathy for Satoko and Kanya as we remain invested in their twisted relationship and understand their motivations, strengths and weaknesses.

Much more admirably the women Satoko marks as victims of the scam are humanised and given lives of their own. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, fears and desires, and all have jobs such as writers and call girls. Audiences will definitely empathise with them rather than pity, laugh at or forget. These women add rocks for Kanya and Satoko’s floundering relationship to gradually break up on but they are people themselves and not just plot points or narrative boosts. The best example of this is Yuka Ebara’s character Hitomi, an overweight high school teacher training for the Olympics. Her character was sensitively handled, and her experiences shown, she was not forgotten about or reduced to the butt of a joke. When she reveals her inner-most angst over her looks we see years of body shaming emanate but there’s also a wonderful strength and good-nature which she shows through her training, something which Kanya respects even as he and Satoko use her. This respect proves to be a wedge between the couple, one amongst many.

Takako Matsu and Sadao Abe are strong in the lead roles (especially Takako Matsu who is amazing) but sometimes their characters are a little too opaque drawn from a Japanese trait of being fuzzy on issues rather than being open and engaging in conflict plus some in the audience may have a hard time seeing why a guy as average-looking as Sadao Abe is able to woo the hearts of women and get them to sign over substantial sums of cash. These are minor complaints because the drama of the relationship holds a viewer’s attention even after a second viewing. Crisply filmed and well-acted, this proves to be another great film from Miwa Nishikawa.

4/5

The principal cast are led by Takako Matsu (9 Souls, Confessions, April Story) and Sadao Abe (Paikaji Nankai Sakusen, After Life). They are supported by Teruyuki Kagawa (Tokyo Sonata, Key of Life, Sway), Sawa Suzuki (Loft), Tae Kimura (My House, Kaidan, Starfish Hotel, Infection, Zero Focus), and Tamae Ando (Noriko’s Dinner Table, Phone Call to the Bar).

Third Window Films are releasing a series of films by Takeshi Kitano on Blu-ray since Office Kitano are updating their titles with 2K masters. Regular readers will know that I have reviewed Hana-bi and Kikujiro and Dolls, and the latest release is A Scene at the Sea which comes out on September 12^th.

I saw this one for the first time around five or six years ago and was bowled over by it. The story is simple but profound as it looks at the love and problems of a unique set of characters, especially the two leads. It has some of that comedy and tragedy present in all of Kitano’s films minus the director himself who usually takes a star role. This one features another great score by Joe Hisaishi.

Here’s some info from a press release!

A Scene at the Sea     

あの夏、いちばん静かな海「Ano natsu, ichiban shizukana umi」

Release Date:  October 19th, 1991 (Japan)

UK Release Date: September 12^th, 2016

UK Distributor: Third Window Films

Running Time: 101 mins.

Director: Takeshi Kitano

Writer: Takeshi Kitano (Screenplay),

Starring: Claude Maki, Hiroko Oshima, Sabu Kawahara, Susumu Terajima, Naomi Kubota, Toshio Matsui,

IMDB

This is a trailer for an older Japanese release.

Synopsis

When deaf garbage man Shigeru (Claude Maki) finds a broken surfboard on one of his runs, it piques his curiosity, even though he has no experience with surfing. So he repairs the board and, with loyal girlfriend Takako (Hiroko Oshima), who also is deaf, he sets out to learn how to ride the waves. He goes through mishaps and the locals mock him. But, with the help of a shop owner who once was a surfing legend, Shigeru may finally have a chance to become one with the sea and the surfing community.

Featuring a new 2K remaster from Office Kitano!

The first time the film has been available on bluray in the world!

Extras:

The first 1000 copies feature a limited cardboard slipcase with new illustrated artwork by Marie Bergeron

Featuring a new audio commentary by film critic Jasper Sharp

Takeshi Kitano – Biography

The success of HANA-BI has confirmed Takeshi Kitano as a leading figure of international cinema. Among its numerous awards, HANA-BI won the Golden Lion at the 1997 Venice Film Festival and was named Best Non-European Film at the 1997 European Film Academy Awards. HANA-BI was cited on numerous “Best Films of the Year” lists, often in the premiere position.

Whether as director, actor, writer, artist, TV personality or stand-up comic, Takeshi Kitano has not simply sought out to challenge his audiences. He has always sought out challenges for himself.

With 1989’s VIOLENT COP, Kitano made his directorial debut unexpectedly. When the scheduled director dropped out, Kitano, the project’s leading actor, was signed on for replacement. Without previous directorial experience, Kitano revised the script entirely and imposed a sharp and ironic style, later acclaimed for its maturity and its sense of space and framing.

VIOLENT COP, and other Kitano-helmed films such as BOILING POINT (1990) and SONATINE (1993), centred around yakuza gangster characters. Although they became international cult favourites, they also branded the director-writer with a burdensome trademark for graphic violence and Kitano cool. In retaliation with A SCENE AT THE SEA (1991), GETTING ANY? (1995) and KIDS RETURN (1996), however, Kitano earned praise for his daring changes in directorial style and subject.

With A SCENE AT THE SEA, Kitano’s on-screen presence was absent, as well as the violence which had highlighted his first two films. The poignant story of a deaf adolescent and his passion for surfing showed other facets of Kitano’s talent — a discreet emotional sense and a tender point of view toward young people, innocence and marginal existence. A SCENE AT THE SEA also marked the debut of what was to become a long-time collaboration with musician-composer Joe Hisaishi, whose haunting melodies perfectly complement the filmmaker’s universe.

Alice in Earnestland    

Release Date: August 13th, 2015

Running Time: 90 mins.

Director: Ahn Gooc-Jin

Writer: Ahn Gooc-Jin (Screenplay)

Starring: Lee Jung-Hyun, Lee Hae-Young, Seo Young-Hwa, Lee Joon-Hyuk, Bae Je-Ji, Ji Dae-Han, Jung Young-Ki,

Alice in Earnestland is the debut feature-length film from Ahn Gooc-Jin, a dark and at times horrific tale of a woman who is brutalised as she is forced to survive and commit increasingly deadly acts of violence as she disappears down the rabbit hole of savagery.

The young woman at the centre of the story is Soo-Nam (Lee Jeong-hyun). When we first see her she has tied up Kyung-Sook (Seo Young-Hwa), a therapist who has been specifically chosen to listen to Soo-Nam’s tale of woe which is told through a lengthy flashback sequence. Soo-Nam starts off as something of an innocent abroad who marries for true love but eventually emerges as a bloody angel of retribution as she endures bad luck, money problems, and power-hungry greedy people who try to derail her happiness which she is determined to hold onto and it all links back to the local therapist in a neat way.

It starts when Soo-Nam is the age of 16. She is a star student and gifted beyond compare but her dextrous hands and “boobs as big as her hopes” make her a more attractive prospect physically and it quickly becomes clear that her small-town education was a waste that has left her ill-equipped for the big city, a world which is full of computers and better educated people. However, she perseveres and lands a job in a local factory where she finds true love with fellow factory-worker, a handsome and caring man named Kyu-Young (Lee Hae-young) who happens to be deaf. The two dream of getting a house and raising children together but despite their hard work happiness is not guaranteed and searching for a cure to his deafness leads to a shoddy operation conducted by greedy surgeons and this leads to him losing his fingers, his job and their hopes of buying a house.

It is pretty desperate stuff for Soo-Nam but despite being knocked down so many times she perseveres. To overcome these problems she works multiple jobs, her physical gifts coming in handy for delivering newspapers and cleaning. Soo-Nam manages to get their dream home but Kyu-Young, feeling depressed after his accident, attempts suicide and is left in a coma which adds to Soo-Nam’s debts. She proves her love is true by keeping him alive and continuing to work hard and when her house is in an area scheduled for urban redevelopment it looks like she will get a hefty compensation payment but this puts her on a collision course with residents in a neighbouring area who want the money for themselves and so Soo-Nam’s series of unfortunate events continues and becomes increasingly bloody, brutal, and bathetic as puffed up enemies emerge and get taken down by this cute but deadly woman who is willing to work hard to lead a good life.

Soo-Nam’s story is one of overcoming obstacles and there is mordant humour in seeing it executed. The set-up is a series of punchy sequences that shoot down her optimism and introduces a little social satire about how hard life is in contemporary Korea whether it is education or home ownership. The most impressive moments and things about the film emerge in the opening forty minutes because of the director’s eye for visuals and grasp on the films rhythm.

There is a sense of pace that keeps the film engaging as the action flows. The editing is inventive with things like screen wipes achieved through a character turning the page of a magazine onto the next scene while the camera is usually placed in interesting angles to capture the action. The texture of the film is sublime in parts, thanks to the strong mise-en-scene. Each shot, scene and sequence has a distinct look through art direction and set decoration you might expect from the likes of Park Chan-Wook. This is not kept up for the second half of the film when the violence begins to take up so much screen time. The pace drags and the way scenes unfold feels unexceptional for long stretches and this allows the audience to see past the dazzling visuals and see the banality of the plot emerge from the story.

The script starts off strong as one woman’s journey through contemporary Korea but it becomes flaccid as the stylised characters are merely hollow shells including the central protagonist. The comparison to Park Chan-Wook comes back to haunt the director Ahn Gooc-Jin since despite basing so much of the film on violent plot twists he is unable to match the operatic levels of other Korean directors. The black humour and melancholy characters emerge but are underwritten and so they are also lacking. Soo-Nam’s story is told at the expense of all other characters so events lose their impact. You inference things like she was sexually exploited (her teacher is a faceless monster a la the beasts of Silent Hill, who comments on her breasts) and you feel a vague sense of threat from some characters but there is never the motivation present or the sense of an interior emotional life for any of the characters which means the love story between Soo-Nam and Kyu-Young feels flat and the satire disappears.

There are still great visual gags such as Kyu-Young’s lopped off fingers dumped in Soo-Nam’s pocket, a man with anger management problems positioned in front of a kettle blowing steam, Soo-Nam hurling a deadly piece of paper across a street, and Soo-Nam sat between two burly detectives in her cramped apartment and these are enough to sustain the film through its more conventional parts.

While there is some satisfaction in seeing how things tie up with the start and the therapist’s role in events is uncovered there isn’t quite enough to sustain interest in the characters beyond a superficial level and it will be easy to forget this feature film especially since the look of the film and the story lose cohesion. Some of the events are brutal and over the top and much more visual outlandishness is needed to deliver the events but the film runs out of energy. This is a solid debut which shows that the director has the potential to be brilliant but more work is needed to make it that much more engaging and meaningful.

3/5

The psychological thriller manga Museum is getting a live-action adaptation. I wrote about it back in November last year and had a search for the manga but couldn’t find it. A teaser trailer came out in June and I tweeted about it but I want to blog about it because it looks good. Japan has seen a spate of gritty films recently but the teaser suggests this one has the atmosphere while the people in front of and behind the camera promise that this is going to be decent at the very least. Just look!

Museum   

ミュージアム 「My-jiamu」

Release Date: November 12^th 2016 (Japan)

Running Time: N/A

Director: Keishi Ohtomo

Writer: Ryosuke Tomoe (Script), Izumi Takahashi (Original Manga)

Starring: Shun Oguri, Shuhei Nomura, Machiko Ono, Mikako Ichikawa, Nao Omori, Tomoko Tabata, Masato Ibu, Tomomi Maruyama,

Website   IMDB

Synopsis: The story involves police detective Hisashi Sawamura (Shun Oguri) who is drafted into an investigation of a serial-killer who calls himself vigilante and wears a frog mask. He only strikes when it is a rainy day and his attacks are based on themes such as the ‘Dog Food Punishment’. The killer leaves a trail of horrific crimes that leaves the country stunned but Sawamura is determined to catch him until he realises that his investigation puts his own family of a wife, Haruka (Machiko Ono) and son in danger…

The film is produced by Warner Bros Japan and this outfit have produced a lot of good films (see some reviews at the end of the post). It is helmed by Keishi Ohtomo, the director of the recent live-action Rurouni films (here are reviews of the first and Kyoto Inferno) and the lead actor is Shun Oguri who has been reviewed here on The Woodsman and the Rain (2012), Tajomaru (2009) and Ghost Train (2006). He is supported by Shuhei Nomura Puzzle (2014), Machiko Ono Like Father, Like Son (2013), Nao Omori Mushishi (2006) Mikako Ichikawa Rent-a-cat (2012).

The writer is Izumi Takahashi and the only films of his I have watched and reviewed are The Devil’s Path (2013) and Vanished (2007) and I didn’t really like them. Hopefully he does a better job here.

The manga is the creation of Ryousuke Tomoe and it was serialised in Kodansha’s Young Magazine between 2013 and 2014 before it was collected into three volumes.

Source

Here are reviews of films from Warner Bros. Japan and each one is an adaptation of a manga:

Berserk: Golden Age Arc The Egg of the King

Berserk: Golden Age Arc The Battle for Doldrey

Berserk: Golden Age Arc The Descent

Wild 7

Black Butler

Rurouni Kenshin

Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno

Ninja Kids!!!

Tajomaru

Higanjima

The award-winning novel/live-action film The Great Passage (2013) is getting an anime adaptation which is due to air in October this year as part of Fuji TV’s Noitamina. It is being animated by Zexcs (Aku no Hana) and directed by Toshimasa Kuroyanagi (director on Say “I love you.”) and the series scripts are being overseen/written by Takuya Sato (writer/director on NieA_7 and Strawberry Marshmallow and storyboard artist on And Yet the Town Moves and Kino’s Journey). The big name for a lot of anime fans isn’t necessarily the writer/director but the character designer/manga author Haruko Kumota who won fans for her series Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu.

My review was super positive on how good the movie is and that went on to clean up at the Japan Academy Awards 2014. The anime looks classy and mature so I’m hoping to enjoy it as my re-entry into the world of anime after three months off.

The Great Passage   

舟を編む「Fune wo Amu」

Airing Date: October 2016

Episodes: N/A

Director: Toshimasa Kuroyanagi

Writer: Takuya Sato (Series Composition), Shion Miura (Original Novel),

Studio: Zexcs

Starring: Takahiro Sakurai (Mitsuya Majime), Hiroshi Kamiya (Masashi Nishioka), Maaya Sakamoto (Kaguya Hayashi),

ANN   MAL  Website

Synopsis: The Genbu Shobō publishing company will launch a new dictionary titled The Great Passage (Daitokai). Araki, who is a veteran editor for the dictionary department, is looking for a successor now that he’s approaching retirement age and he finds one in Mitsuya Majime — a salesman who loves work but who is also a poor talker. Fortunately, much like the meaning of his name Majime (dedication) he perseveres and by meeting new co-workers like Masashi Nishioka — a good talker, sociable fellow, and frivolous person who doesn’t really care about dictionaries – Majime begins to grow as a person and express himself better. This happens just in time because his land-lady’s daughter Kaguya Hayashi, a sushi chef, might be interested in him and he has fallen head over heels for her…

I write PR for a film festival that takes place in Wales. The festival has grown over the last few years and this edition has a large slate of some of the latest films. I’ll be in Japan when it takes place but I want to promote it here because I think there will be a lot for people to enjoy:

KOTATSU JAPANESE ANIMATION FESTIVAL 2016

Chapter

24th & 25th September 2016

Box Office: +44 (0)29 2030 4400 email: enquiry@chapter.org

Aberystwyth Arts Centre

15th October 2016

Box Office: 01970 62 32 32 email: artstaff@aber.ac.uk

The Largest Festival of Japanese Animation in Wales Announces Dates, Locations and Select Confirmed Films for 6th Annual Instalment

The Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival returns to Wales for its sixth year. Events kick off in Cardiff at Chapter Arts on September 24th before moving to Aberystwyth. Audiences at each venue will be able to enjoy a programme made up of the latest and very best in anime both mainstream and independent as well as a plethora of cultural activities related to Japan. This year’s line-up of films proves once again that Japan is the home to some of the best animation in the world and Japanese artists continue to make daring and experimental works that go beyond 3D CGI Hollywood movies.

With two venues holding the event there are different programmes available. This one covers Chapter Arts which takes place over two days and features workshops, musical performances and a marketplace.

Saturday 24^th

10:30 AM Miss Hokusai

Japan/2015/90 mins/PG. Dir: Keiichi Hara. With Anne Watanabe, Yutaka Matsushige, Shion Shimizu.

There are several feature films announced so far with Keiichi Hara (Colorful) providing the festival with a strong opening film, Miss Hokusai, an award-winning anime that has featured at many international film festivals. Audiences will be treated to great historical accuracy as they are taken back to 19^th Century Japan to get a glimpse of the life of the daughter of Katsushika Hokusai as she trains to be an artist and experiences life in a gorgeously recreated historical setting.

O-Ei is the third daughter of Katsushika Hokusai, the most sought after artist in Japan and the man who would inspire the French Impressionists. O-Ei helps her father with his art and very often she paints instead of him when not making art of her own. This is the untold story of O-Ei, a free-spirited woman overshadowed by her larger-than-life father, who tries to perfect her own art in Edo period Japan, a place which is teeming with peasants, samurai, merchants, nobles, artists, courtesans, and perhaps even supernatural things.

12:50 The Murder Case of Hana & Alice  

Japan/2014/110 mins/PG. Dir: Shunji Iwai. With: Yu Aoi, Anne Suzuki, Ryou Kazuji.

The next film is a thoroughly contemporary tale of two girls bonding over the world’s smallest murder case. Newly arrived in small-town suburbia with her divorced mother, school girl Tetsuko Arisugawa (‘Alice’ for short) finds herself the victim of bullying by her classmates and seeks solace through dance. She soon learns of an urban myth about a mysteriously vanished former student called Yuda (Japanese for ‘Judas’) who was allegedly murdered by four of his classmates. Hana, a reclusive girl who lives in a house next door, seems to hold the key to the mystery, and together the pair soon embark on a wild and unpredictable series of suburban escapades.

The Murder Case of Hana and Alice is the prequel movie to the much beloved coming-of-age live-action drama Hana and Alice. Written and directed by Shunji Iwai, one of the most gifted directors working in contemporary Japanese cinema, this animated film was shot with the original actors but with rotoscoping utilised to ensure that movements and looks are fluid and original which makes the comedy and the touching relationship between the two titular girls feel so lifelike and charming.

A children’s workshop run by the artist Asuka Bochenska Tanaka which is dedicated to teaching the art of drawing manga will take place allowing kids the chance to create their own comic books and get closer to the art form they love.

17:30 Music

Japanese musician Kina Miyamoto will play a special concert combining a special short film and her piano composition.

18:20 Genius Party

Japan/2007/124 mins/PG/Dir: Shoji Kawamori, Shinichiro Watanabe, Masaaki Yuasa. With: Rinko Kikuchi, Tomoko Kaneda, Yuya Yagira.

Genius Party is a diverse anthology of visually spectacular films from some of the leading names in contemporary Japanese animation like Masaaki Yuasa (Ping-Pong: The Animation, The Tatami Galaxy) and Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo). With multiple talents with strong visions and tales as diverse as a girl who summons a boy to her dimension making her own explode, the existential drama of a salaryman trapped in an endless cycle of work, and a boy who finds a device who can make his own drawings come to life just in time for an alien invasion.

There will be a number of short films from independent and student animators that will showcase the inventiveness and originality that thrive in Japan. Oldman and Youngman, SPOON, I Wanna be Your Friend will be screened around the film Genius Party which is itself an anthology film made up of many shorts from creative talents.

20:50 Psycho-Pass The Movie

Japan/2015/120 mins/15/Dir: Katsuyuki Motohiro, Naoyoshi Shiotani. With: Kana Hanazawa, Ayane Sakura, Tomokazu Seki.

The first day ends with Psycho-Pass the Movie, directed by Katsuyuki Motohiro and Naoyoshi Shiotani and animated by Production I.G. It is the continuation of their massively popular sci-fi tale of a world where people are highly regulated by a computer system which constantly monitors their psychological states. Expect great action and heavy philosophising in the vein of Philip K. Dick in this exciting sci-fi action tale.

The year is 2116 and Japan has become the safest country on the planet due to the Sibyl System, technology which monitors the mental stability of every citizen who is registered. The Japanese government wants to export the Sibyl System throughout the world but terrorists slip into Japan to halt these plans and attack from within. Akane Tsunemori, a leading police officer must stop the violence before it topples the country.

Sunday 25^th

11:00 Anthem of the Heart

Japan/2016/119 mins/PG. Dir: Tatsuyuki Nagai. With: Inori Minase, Kouki Uchiyama, Sora Amamiya.

The second day begins with Anthem of the Heart, a touching drama directed by Tatsuyuki Nagai and written by Mari Okada, two people who specialise in dramas. In this sensitively crafted tale a young girl named Jun must overcome a childhood trauma that has literally locked away her voice and work together with fellow students to make a school play. Things will be difficult since each student has problems of their own but perhaps these difficulties will aid Jun in growing as a person. Audiences get to watch what happens in this movingly told and beautiful-looking film which has charmed many people worldwide.

Jun was once a happy girl but her family broke up after she carelessly uttered some words and she believed she was to blame. After that incident the ‘egg fairy’ appeared in front of her and sealed away her ability to talk in order to stop her from hurting anybody else. Since this traumatic experience, Jun only communicates through e-mail messages on her phone. She has reached the second year of high school like this but things change when Jun is appointed to play the main lead in a musical whose cast all suffer emotional trauma like Jun. Friendship creates bonds and Jun may find her voice again.

The artist Asuka Bochenska Tanaka will run a workshop dedicated to teaching the art of drawing manga to children. This will allow kids the chance to create their own comic books and get closer to one of the art forms they love.

The festival then ends with a one-two punch from two of the sci-fi infused tales of Project Itoh. Empire of Corpses and Harmony form two-thirds of an ambitious triptych of novels that the writer Satoshi Itoh crafted just before his tragic death at the age of 34 due to cancer, something that informed his writing.

15:15 Harmony

Japan/2015/120 mins/12a. Dir: Michael Arias, Takashi Nakamura. With: Miyuki Sawashiro, Akio Ohtsuka, Reina Ueda.

Following a massive nuclear war humanity has rebuilt itself and utopia has finally been achieved thanks to medical nanotechnology and government surveillance but this perfect world of totalitarian kindness and super-medicine has its enemies. Tuan Kirie once tried to commit suicide to escape this new society but now she is a disaffected agent for the World Health Organization trying to escape her doubts through work but she is forced to face her past as she tracks a terrorist who may be a friend who she thought was dead. With deep philosophical themes and gorgeous imagery there is plenty for audiences to analyse and enjoy.

17:45 Empire of Corpses

Japan/2015/120 mins/15/Dir: Ryuotarou Makihara. With Yoshimasa Hosoya, Akio Ohtsuka, Kana Hanazawa.

It is the 19th Century and “corpse reanimation technology” has revolutionised the British Empire but trouble is brewing as foreign empires seek to surpass this science. Brilliant medical student John Watson is recruited by the British government to search for the legendary writings of Victor Frankenstein which allegedly detail the technology behind a more sophisticated reanimated corpse – the original – that could speak and even had free will. Accompanied by Friday, a corpse which records all his activities, Watson will go on a globe-trotting mission, fighting foreign agents for those papers.

Empire of Corpses is a rip-roaring alternate history adventure made up of equal parts horror and action, this is a fine ending to a festival with many different contrasting stories and styles.

Running alongside the film screenings are a series of Japanese-themed events such as a special music performance and a Japanese market place which sells things such as food, model kits, video games and manga. Just before the final film screening the results of the annual raffle will be announced with prizes such as film flyers signed by Michihiko Suwa, the producer of the extremely popular Detective Conan anime series, on offer.

For further information contact: 

info@kotatsufestival.com

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About Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival

Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival has been running since November 2010 at the Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff, where it has brought Japanese animé and culture to a widening audience. Now in 2014, we are expanding the festival to include the Aberystwyth Arts Centre, where the same great films can be seen. Hopefully next year we can bring some of the other events to Aberystwyth such as the Workshops, Marketplace and Raffle, so you too can have the full Kotatsu Festival experience.

http://kotatsufestival.com/index.html

Venues:

Chapter

24th & 25th September 2016

Chapter, Market Road, Canton Cardiff, Wales UK CF5 1QE

Box Office: +44 (0)29 2030 4400 email: enquiry@chapter.org

About Chapter Arts

Chapter is regarded as one of the first arts centres in the UK that brought together different art forms under one roof. For 40 years Chapter has been the heartbeat of creativity in Cardiff and through its unique venue it presents, produces and promotes international art, live performance and film alongside a dynamic social space with over 800,000 visitors welcomed every year.

www.chapter.org/

Aberystwyth Arts Centre

15th October 2016

Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3DE

Box Office: 01970 62 32 32 email: artstaff@aber.ac.uk

About Aberystwyth Arts Centre

Aberystwyth Arts Centre is an award winning organisation that has a wide-ranging artistic programme which includes drama, dance, music, visual arts, applied arts, film, new media, and community arts. Aberystwyth Arts Centre is a department of Aberystwyth University and sits at the heart of the university’s campus, with stunning views over the town of Aberystwyth and along the coastline of Cardigan Bay.

http://www.aberystwythartscentre.co.uk/

The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) launches soon and lasts from September 29^th to October 14^th and, as is usually the case, there are a heck of a lot of great films from East Asia with some top-notch Japanese content programmed. There is a strong line-up of films for the Japanese cinema specialist with titles new and old, some seen at festivals like Cannes and Nippon Connection and others that got their premiere at Toronto.

The VIFF website has had a facelift and you can track down the titles with a quick search or by selecting the relevant stream from the myriad of cool-sounding options.

Thanks go out to the programmers of the VIFF for picking a good selection of films and I hope you, dear reader, can find something that interests you!

Here’s the line-up!

GATEWAY

This strand, better known as Dragons & Tigers, has feature-films and shorts from East Asia and the Japanese contingent is made up of titles that have been at Berlin and Cannes with festival favourites Koreeda and Fukada showing up. As is usually the case there are a number of short films from Japan and they play with the features. To find out more head to the festival site.

The Long Excuse   

永い言い訳 「Nagai Iwake」

Running Time: 124 mins.

Director: Miwa Nishikawa

Writer: Miwa Nishikawa (Original Story, Screenplay)

Starring: Masahiro Motoki, Pistol Takehara, Maho Yamada, Eri Fukatsu, Haru Kuroki, Sosuke Ikematsu, Keiko Horiuchi,

IMDB  Website

I haven’t updated this blog in quite a while but the last major set of films I reviewed came from Miwa Nishikawa who has established a career as a novelist and director. She started her career working on the films of Hirokazu Koreeda before making her debut with the excellent (I can’t praise it enough) Wild Berries. She followed it up with Dear Doctor and Sway. Her last feature-film was Dreams for Sale which came out in 2012. This one, her latest, is getting great reviews after showing up in the Toronto International Film Festival. I’ll be in Tokyo when it’s released in Japan!!!

Synopsis from IMDB: The writer Sachio Kinugasa (Masahiro Motoki) loses his wife Natsuko (Eri Fukatsu) in a bus accident. The couple didn’t love each other but he must act broken-hearted in public. Sachio begins to experience real emotions when he meets a truck driver named Yoichi Omiya (Pistol Takehara) who was also turned into a widower following the accident and has to support two kids. Sachio offers to help look after Yochio’s children seeing the despair the other man feels.

After the Storm   

海よりもまだ深く 「Umi yori mo mada fukaku」

Running Time: 117 mins.

Director: Hirokazu Koreeda

Writer: Hirokazu Koreeda (Original Story, Screenplay)

Starring: Hiroshi Abe, Kirin Kiki, Lily Franky, Sosuke Ikematsu, Yoko Maki, Satomi Kobayashi, Isao Hashizume, Taiyo Yoshizawa

IMDB   Website

Hirokazu Koreeda (Kiseki) is one of the most consistently brilliant storytellers in modern Japanese cinema. His last film, Our Little Sister (2015) proved very popular and earned a worldwide release and followed up the also equally adored Like Father, Like Son.

Synopsis from IMDB: Dwelling on his past glory as a prize-winning author, Ryota (Hiroshi Abe) wastes the money he makes as a private detective on gambling and can barely pay child support. After the death of his father, his aging mother (Kirin Kiki) and beautiful ex-wife (Yoko Maki) seem to be moving on with their lives. Renewing contact with his initially distrusting family, Ryota struggles to take back control of his existence and to find a lasting place in the life of his young son (Taiyo Yoshizawa) – until a stormy summer night offers them a chance to truly bond again.

Harmonium      

深田晃司　「Fuchi ni Tatsu」

Running Time: 118 mins.

Director: Koji Fukada

Writer: Koji Fukada

Starring: Mariko Tsutsui, Tadanobu Asano, Kanji Furutachi, Taiga, Takahiro Miura, Momone Shinokawa,

IMDB   Website

Koji Fukada’s stars Kanji Furutachi (au revoir l’ete, The Woodsman & the Rain) and the awesome Tadanobu Asano (Watashi no Otoko, Vital, Bright Future, Survive Style 5+). This is a psychological mystery where audiences try to understand the characters.

Synopsis from IMDB: Toshio (Kanji Furutachi) and Akie (Mariko Tsutsui) and their daughter Hotaru (Momone Shinokawa) live a quiet life which is disrupted when Toshio hires old-friend Yasaka (Tadanobu Asano) to work in his workshop. This old acquaintance, who has just been released from prison, begins to meddle in Toshio’s family life with a threat of violence but Tishio owes Yasaka a large debt.

While the Women are Sleeping    

女が眠る時「Onna ga nemuru toki」　

Running Time: 103 mins.

Director: Wayne Wang

Writer: Michael Ray, Shinho Lee, Mami Sunada (Screenplay) Javier Marias (Original Story)

Starring:  Beat Takeshi, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Sayuri Oyamada, Lily Franky, Shiori Kutsuna, Makiko Watanabe, Hirofumi Arai,

Website IMDB

This is another film with a stellar cast – Hidetoshi Nishijima (License to Live), Beat Kitano (Hana-bi), Lily Franky (Like Father, Like Son), Makiko Watanabe (Love Exposure) – and it has an interesting story which I think you can read on the New Yorker magazine website. The trailer looks great and the story involves obsession, lust, love, danger and all those good things that make thrillers. Ghosts, too, apparently!

Synopsis: Kenji (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and Aya (Sayuri Oyamada) are spending a week at a hotel over the summer and they encounter a strange couple amongst the other guests. There is the considerably older man, Doctor Sahara (Beat Takeshi), and a there is a younger woman, Miki (Shiori Katsuna). Sahara records Miki every night with his video camera and while the women are asleep, he discusses Miki’s life and death with Kenji who is sucked into Sahara’s weird fantasies and concerned about Miki’s safety. Is it all a game or something deadlier?

Suffering of Ninko       

仁光の受難 「Ninko no junan」

Running Time: 70 mins.

Director: Niwatsukino Norihiro

Writer: Niwatsukino Norihiro (Screenplay)

Starring: Masato Tsujioka, Miho Wakabayashi, Hideta Iwahashi, Yukino Arimoto, Tomoko Harazaki, Qyoko Kudo,

IMDB  Website

End on a high! This one looks highly entertaining. Take a gander at the trailer and see what respected film critic Tony Rayns has to say!

To see the trailer, head here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuKQ-zvgumU

Synopsis from the festival site: We’re in the ancient Japan of the Hyaku-monogatari (the classical ghost-story anthology The Hundred Tales), but you’ve never seen a Japanese period movie like this before. Ninko is a virtuous Buddhist monk who’s embarrassed to discover that he’s irresistible to many women (and some men). After a particularly troubling encounter with a masked woman, he undertakes a journey to “purify” himself, hoping that this will equip him to rebuff sexual advances. He meets the samurai Kanzo and hears of a village decimated by the rapacious mountain goddess Yama-onna, who kills men to absorb their energy. Finally Ninko has a quest to fulfill…

Niwatsukino’s wildly enjoyable debut is crammed with humour and visual surprises. At a time when 95% of Japanese indies are about the emotional and sexual-identity problems of young people, it is (to say the least) refreshing to find a movie that goes for broke with a subject that blows genre conventions apart while offering gutsy storytelling, vivid performances and a fabulous sense of cinema’s possibilities. Buddhists will love it, but so will most everyone else.

M/A/D

This strand of the festival focuses on the intersection of music, art, and design in a mixture of fiction and documentary films which seek to harness exhibitions and live performances to highlight their subjects. Two Japanese or, to be more exact, films with Japanese subject-matter are here!

We are X   

Running Time: 99 mins.

Director: Stephen Kijak

Starring: Yoshiki, Toshi, Pata, Hiroshi Morie, Sugizo, Gene Simmons, Wes Borland,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: This is a rock documentary about X-Japan, one of the biggest bands working today. The group started out as childhood friends who formed a musical unit in 1982 and survived over thirty years of hard rock, death, cults, and stratospheric fame to continue today. With a worldwide fan-base, their rock music has captivated audiences worldwide thanks to the awesome music and their stylish costumes and stage sets and the doc ends with a show at Madison Square Garden. Yoshiki, leader of the band, guides us through the history.

Yohji Yamamoto  |  Dressmaker     

Running Time: 79 mins.

Director: Ngo The Chau

Starring: Yoji Yamamoto, Fumi Yamamoto, Masao Nihei, Tadashi Kubo, Alan Blizerian,

Website IMDB

To see the trailer, head here: youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHaciTcVx4s

Synopsis: Yohji Yamamoto is a fashion designer and tailor based in Paris and Tokyo and at 73 years of age he is internationally famous for a long career based on unique designs combining Japanese design aesthetics and imaginative use of shape and texture which create strange but stylish clothes for both men and women. This documentary gives us a behind-the-scenes look at his studio and interviews with the man himself so we understand his design philosophy. His clothes were featured in the Takeshi Kitano film Dolls so it will be interesting to see if he mentions the creative process behind them.

The BFI London Film Festival (LFF) has reached 60 years of age and this year’s edition launches on October 05^th and ends on October 16^th. There are 274 films and Japanese filmmakers have contributed six to that number. Festival favourites Hirokazu Koreeda and Kiyoshi Kurosawa are in town with two features while there are a couple of documentaries, an anime and an anime short named Achoo to make up the rest of the numbers. Some of these have been previewed already for the Vancouver International Film Festival, Cannes, and Berlin and this is a decent line-up for cinephiles who love Japan and those who want to get into a Japanese film or two.

Here’s the line-up!

After the Storm      

海よりもまだ深く 「Umi yori mo mada fukaku」

Running Time: 117 mins.

Director: Hirokazu Koreeda

Writer: Hirokazu Koreeda (Original Story, Screenplay)

Starring: Hiroshi Abe, Kirin Kiki, Lily Franky, Sosuke Ikematsu, Yoko Maki, Satomi Kobayashi, Isao Hashizume, Taiyo Yoshizawa

IMDB   Website

Hirokazu Koreeda (Kiseki) is one of the most consistently brilliant storytellers in modern Japanese cinema. His last film, Our Little Sister (2015) proved very popular and earned a worldwide release and followed up the also equally adored Like Father, Like Son.

Synopsis from IMDB: Dwelling on his past glory as a prize-winning author, Ryota (Hiroshi Abe) wastes the money he makes as a private detective on gambling and can barely pay child support. After the death of his father, his aging mother (Kirin Kiki) and beautiful ex-wife (Yoko Maki) seem to be moving on with their lives. Renewing contact with his initially distrusting family, Ryota struggles to take back control of his existence and to find a lasting place in the life of his young son (Taiyo Yoshizawa) – until a stormy summer night offers them a chance to truly bond again.

Creepy   

クリーピー「Kuri-pi-」　

Running Time: 130 mins.

Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Writer: Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Chihiro Ikeda (Screenplay), Yutaka Maekawa (Original Novel)

Starring:  Hidetoshi Nishijima, Teruyuki Kagawa, Yuko Takeuchi, Masahiro Higashide, Haruna Kawaguchi, Toru Baba, Misaki Saisho,

Website IMDB

This is Kiyoshi Kurosawa best film this year out of the two he has made (the other is Daguerrotype and reviews are mixed). He has worked on great films with lead actors Hidetoshi Nishijima (License to Live) and Teruyuki Kagawa (Tokyo Sonata) separately and the two actors have collaborated on great doramas together (Mozu, Double Face). There’s also Masahiro Higashide (The Kirishima Thing) and Haruna Kawaguchi (POV: A Cursed Film). Reviews for this one have been excellent.

Synopsis: Detective Inspector Takakura (Hidetoshi Nishijima) decides to quit the force after a psychopath almost kills him. He takes up work as a university lecturer in criminal psychology and delves into cold cases, one involving a missing family where only one person survived, Saki (Haruna Kawaguchi). Life changes when Takakura and his wife Yasuko (Yuko Takeuchi) move house and introduce themselves to their next door neighbour Nishino (Teruyuki Kagawa) who hides his wife and daughter from the outside world. Nishino is suspicious enough as a person but when his “daughter” confronts Takakura and tells him that she has no idea who her “father” is, things get really dangerous…

Your Name  

君の名は。 「Kimi no Na wa.」　

Running Time: 106 mins.

Director: Makoto Shinkai

Writer: Makoto Shinkai (Screenplay/Original Story)

Starring:  Ryunosuke Kamiki (Taki Tachibana), Mone Kamishiraishi (Mitsuha Miyamizu), Kana Hanazawa (Yukari Yukino), Masami Nagasawa (Miki Okudera), Kanon Tani (Yotsuha Miyamizu)

Website MAL ANN

Makoto Shinkai is an anime auteur that everyone bills as the next Miyazaki despite the two men having different styles and Shinkai’s films all focussing on the pain of loneliness and relationships. This one is blazing the charts in Japan and people tell me that it’s excellent. It has attracted so much attention that even the BBC reported on it. As soon as I started roaming around Tokyo I saw ads for these and took some posters from a JR station. I aim to see it at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Synopsis from the festival site: Two teenagers’ lives are changed forever when the first visible comet for a thousand years approaches Japan. Mitsuha lives in a rural area and longs to leave, whilst Taki waits tables in Tokyo when he’s not studying. Despite never having met, they both begin to dream about each other, imagining that somehow they have exchanged bodies and are existing in parallel lives. As this phenomenon continues, they start communicating with each other via messages left on smartphones and resolve to meet to make sense of what is happening to them. Despite the fun body-swap vibe that our heroes initially experience, a dark journey lies ahead.

We are X   

Running Time: 99 mins.

Director: Stephen Kijak

Starring: Yoshiki, Toshi, Pata, Hiroshi Morie, Sugizo, Gene Simmons, Wes Borland,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: This is a rock documentary about X-Japan, one of the biggest bands working today. The group started out as childhood friends who formed a musical unit in 1982 and survived over thirty years of hard rock, death, cults, and stratospheric fame to continue today. With a worldwide fan-base, their rock music has captivated audiences worldwide thanks to the awesome music and their stylish costumes and stage sets and the doc ends with a show at Madison Square Garden. Yoshiki, leader of the band, guides us through the history.

Mifune: The Last Samurai

Running Time: 80 mins.

Director: Steven Ozaki

Director: Stuart Galbraith IV, Steven Okazaki

Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Kyoko Kagawa, Haruo Nakajima, Martin Scorses, Steven Spielberg, Keanu Reeves, Koji Yakusho, Shiro Mifune,

IMDB

Synopsis: Keanu Reeves narrates a documentary about one of the most famous, if not the most famous Japanese actor in the history of cinema: Toshiro Mifune. People who have watched him in Yojimbo and Throne of Blood will attest that he is a massive screen presence and we get to see what made him special through archive footage as well as enjoying the reminisces of collaborators and fans inspired by the man. The story starts with his childhood through his military service and his career as an actor.

We’ll end on an image from the short anime Achoo which is in a section of animation dedicated to children. It’s directed by Yuki Hirakawa and looks delightful.

The London East Asia Film Festival debuted last year with a preview event, an episode 0 if you will, which marked out its territory and lived up to its name by showcasing films from East Asia. With a focus on bringing directors over and premiering the latest titles to emerge from Japan, Korea, China, and Hong Kong, this festival is an exciting addition to London’s line-up of film-related events.

This year’s event takes place from October 20th to the 30th.

The Korean part is super-strong with a retrospective dedicated to the films of Park Chan-Wook who will be in attendance for Q&As but there are also a number of great Japanese films with the directors coming for Q&As as well!

Here’s the festival trailer:

Here’s the line-up:

Creepy   

クリーピー「Kuri-pi-」　

Running Time: 130 mins.

Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Writer: Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Chihiro Ikeda (Screenplay), Yutaka Maekawa (Original Novel)

Starring:  Hidetoshi Nishijima, Teruyuki Kagawa, Yuko Takeuchi, Masahiro Higashide, Haruna Kawaguchi, Toru Baba, Misaki Saisho,

Website IMDB

This is Kiyoshi Kurosawa best film this year out of the two he has made (the other is Daguerrotype and reviews are mixed). He has worked on great films with lead actors Hidetoshi Nishijima (License to Live) and Teruyuki Kagawa (Tokyo Sonata) separately and the two actors have collaborated on great doramas together (Mozu, Double Face). There’s also Masahiro Higashide (The Kirishima Thing) and Haruna Kawaguchi (POV: A Cursed Film). Reviews for this one have been excellent and Kurosawa will be in attendance for a Q&A.

Synopsis: Detective Inspector Takakura (Hidetoshi Nishijima) decides to quit the force after a psychopath almost kills him. He takes up work as a university lecturer in criminal psychology and delves into cold cases, one involving a missing family where only one person survived, Saki (Haruna Kawaguchi). Life changes when Takakura and his wife Yasuko (Yuko Takeuchi) move house and introduce themselves to their next door neighbour Nishino (Teruyuki Kagawa) who hides his wife and daughter from the outside world. Nishino is suspicious enough as a person but when his “daughter” confronts Takakura and tells him that she has no idea who her “father” is, things get really dangerous…

Harmonium   

深田晃司　「Fuchi ni Tatsu」

Running Time: 118 mins.

Director: Koji Fukada

Writer: Koji Fukada

Starring: Mariko Tsutsui, Tadanobu Asano, Kanji Furutachi, Taiga, Takahiro Miura, Momone Shinokawa,

IMDB   Website

Koji Fukada’s stars Kanji Furutachi (au revoir l’ete, The Woodsman & the Rain) and the awesome Tadanobu Asano (Watashi no Otoko, Vital, Bright Future, Survive Style 5+). This is a psychological mystery where audiences try to understand the characters. The film is popular with critics that I read and it sounds like a good choice.

Synopsis from IMDB: Toshio (Kanji Furutachi) and Akie (Mariko Tsutsui) and their daughter Hotaru (Momone Shinokawa) live a quiet life which is disrupted when Toshio hires old-friend Yasaka (Tadanobu Asano) to work in his workshop. This old acquaintance, who has just been released from prison, begins to meddle in Toshio’s family life with a threat of violence but Toshio owes Yasaka a large debt.

Hee   

火 Hee「Hi Hee」　

Running Time: 72 mins.

Director: Kaori Momoi

Writer: Kaori Momoi, Miyuki Takahashi, Daisuke Kamijo (Screenplay) Fuminori Nakamura (Original Story)

Starring:  Kaori Momoi, Yugo Saso, Ayako Fujitani, Brian Sturges, Melody Thi,

IMDB

Director Kaori Momoi is a trailblazer in Japanese film if this interview is anything to go on. She has worked with Akira Kurosawa (Kagemusha), Takashi Miike (Sukiyaki Western Django), Shunji Iwai (Swallowtail Butterfly) and others and has appeared in all sorts of films. She is making films (writing, directing) all around the world as well as in Japan. Kaori will be attending the festival for a Q&A.

Synopsis: The film’s story involves a psychiatrist named Dr. Sanada (Yugo Saso) investigating an old patient named Azusa (Kaori Momoi) who thinks she is crazy and blames herself for the death of her parent’s in a fire. The reason he is investigating is because he has come into contact with her again after he is called to Los Angeles where she is a prostitute accused of murder. Sanada must decide whether Azusa is mentally ill or not and whether he failed her.

There will also be three episodes of the dorama Shinya Shokudo (Midnight Diner) and the director Joji Matsuoka will be in attendance for a Q&A.

Here’s a trailer for the film that was released last year:

Here’s the write-up from the festival site:    

From its humble beginnings in its late-night time slot in Japan, Midnight Diner – Tokyo Stories – became a growing sensation with each episode and is now a big hit across Asia.

Based on the Yaro Abe manga Midnight Diner (currently serialized in Shogakukan Big Comic Original, a Japanese magazine) winner of the 55th annual Shogakukan Manga Award and the 39th annual Japan Cartoonists Association Grand Award, the bestselling manga has sold over 5 million copies worldwide.

The live-action drama stars Kaoru Kobayashi as the Master and features a lineup of talented, unique actors as the diner’s regulars. On the staff are seasoned veterans in the world of film, headlined by director Joji Matsuoka of the Japanese Academy Award-winning Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad; fellow directors Nobuhiro Yamashita, Shotaro Kobayashi, Tatsushi Omori, Yasuhiro Yoshida and Fumio Nomoto; and production designer Mitsuo Harada. The upcoming season will feature a guest appearance by talented Korean actress Go Ah-sung (The Host, Snowpiercer) and, in a first for the series, shooting on location outside Japan.

The human drama that unfolds at a small diner will be portrayed with a greater sense of fulfillment than ever before.

Third Window Films will release Takeshi Kitano’s brilliant coming-of-age drama Kids Return (1996) at the end of October. This is the latest film to be released on Blu-ray by Third Window Films thanks to Office Kitano updating their titles with 2K masters.

Regular readers will know that I have reviewed Hana-bi and Kikujiro and Dolls, but I missed the last release, A Scene at the Sea.  This is the second film he directed but does not star in after A Scene at the Sea (1991) and much like that one, it is one of his best as it charts the relationship between two friends at high school who face tough choices in life. It has an excellent story and a fantastic soundtrack by Joe Hisaishi. Here’s a track.

Here’s some information from the press release:

Kids Return          

キッズ・リターン 「Kizzu Rita-n」

Release Date:  May 09th, 1997 (Japan)

UK Release Date: October 24th, 2016

UK Distributor: Third Window Films

Running Time: 107 mins.

Director: Takeshi Kitano

Writer: Takeshi Kitano (Screenplay),

Starring: Masanobu Ando, Ken Kaneko, Yuko Daike, Ryo Ishibashi, Susumu Terajima, Atsuki Ueda, Mitsuko Oka, Michisuke Kashiwaya, Hatsuo Yamaya,

IMDB

Here’s an old trailer:

Synopsis: Takeshi Kitano’s sixth film, Kids Return, is a cinematic tale about Shinji (Masanobu Ando) and Masaru (Ken Kaneko), two high-school dropouts, growing up in a Tokyo suburb. Shinji and Masaru are playful, self-centred and irresponsible. They wag school, ridicule their teachers and bully other students, and spend most of their time at the local coffee house and noodle shop. Shinji pursues an amateur boxing career, but does not have the strength or determination to succeed amidst the cutthroat competition. Masaru joins a yakuza gang, quickly rising in the ranks of the local mob, but due to his lack of discipline, he too soon loses his position. Three years later, Shinji and Masaru meet again and return to their old school.

Featuring a new 2K remaster from Office Kitano!

The first 1000 copies feature a limited cardboard slipcase with new illustrated artwork by Marie Bergeron