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According to Our Butler, The Confidence Man JP: The Movie, Iwane: Sword of Serenity, Fafner THE BEYOND, Masui, Saihate Risutorante, Moratorium, Boku to Keanin to obaachan-tachi to., Yukiko-san no Ashioto Japanese Film Trailers

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Happy weekend!

Eyes of the Spider Nijima (Aikawa) the Office Drone

Get hyped!

Time to watch films. I have four Korean titles lined up for this weekend, one of which I watched well over a decade ago (The Host). I tried watching some films earlier in the week but didn’t get far into them before turning them off due to other demands. Anyway, a news story and an interview I did were published over at Anime UK News at the tail end of last week and two reviews I wrote for V-Cinema were also published – Minidoka and Alternative Facts: The Lies of Executive Order 9066. I also posted a review of the short film Slowly here and then an interview I did with the director and producer of that film, Momoko Fukuda and Jumpei Inoue.

What is released this weekend?

According to Our Butler    According to Our Butler Film Poster

うちの執事が言うことには Uchi no Shitsuji ga Iu Koto niwa

Running Time: 103 mins.

Release Date: May 17th, 2019

Director:  Shinji Kuma

Writer: Takeshi Aoshima (Screenplay), Shiina Takasato (Original Novel)

Starring: Ren Nagase, Sho Kiyohara, Yuta Jinguji, Mio Yuki, Fuju Kamio, Toshihiro Yashiba, Jun Murakami, Hideko Hara, Mitsuru Fukikoshi,

Website IMDB

 

Synopsis: Kaei Karasuma (Ren Nagase) is the scion of a great family and subject to a deadly plot, but with the help of his butler Soma Kisaragi (Sho Kiyohara), he and his family will be protected from the conspiracy.

The Confidence Man JP: The Movie  The Confidence Man JP The Movie Film Poster

コンフィデンスマンJP Konfidensu Man JP the movie

Running Time: 116 mins.

Release Date: May 17th, 2019

Director:  Ryo Tanaka

Writer: Ryota Kosawa (Screenplay),

Starring: Masami Nagasawa, Masahiro Higashide, Fumiyo Kohinata, Yuko Takeuchi, Haruma Miura, Lisa Oda, Yosuke Eguchi, Atsuko Maeda,

Website IMDB

 

Synopsis: Dako (Masami Nagasawa), Boku-chan (Masahiro Higashide) and Richard (Fumiyo Kohinata) are professional con artists who have travelled to Hong Kong to attempt to steal a diamond from Ran Riu (Yuko Takeuchi), a member of the Hong Kong triad. They have a rival in a handsome conman Jessie (Haruma Miura) who tries to get in on the action.

Iwane: Sword of Serenity    Iwane Sword of Serenity Film Poster

居眠り磐音 Inemuri Iwane

Running Time: 121 mins.

Release Date: May 17th, 2019

Director:  Katsuhide Motoki

Writer: Yuki Fujimoto (Screenplay), Yasuhide Saeki (Original Novel)

Starring: Tori Matsuzaka, Fumino Kimura, Kyoko Yoshine, Tasuku Emoto, Pierre Taki, Akira Emoto, Naomi Zaizen,

Website IMDB

 

Synopsis: Iwane Sakazaki (Tori Matsuzaka), Kinpei Kobayashi (Tasuku Emoto) and Shinnosuke Kawade (Yosuke Sugino) are childhood friends who have risen to the rank of samurai together. Their bond is strengthened by the fact that Kinpei’s younger sister Mai is married to Shinnosuke and Iwane will marry Nao (Kyoko Yoshine). Their bond is shattered when Shinnosuke kills Mai after hearing allegations of an affair and then Kinpei takes revenge. The final act is to be Iwane Sakazaki executing his friend…

Fafner THE BEYOND    Fafner THE BEYOND Film Poster

蒼穹のファフナー THE BEYOND Soukyuu no Fafner THE BEYOND

Release Date: May 17th, 2019

Running Time: 85 mins.

Director: Takashi Noto

Writer: Tow Ubukata (Screenplay),

Starring: Satsumi Matsuda (Kaguya Minashiro), Souma Saitou (Maris Excelsior), Risae Matsuda (Sakuya Minashiro),

Animation Production: XEBECzwei

ANN MAL Website

Synopsis: “Fafner” are humanoid mobile weapons “Fafner” and their pilots are teens who battle creatures called “Festum” It’s a long-running franchise and a new series is starting so the first three episodes of the 12 episode series will be screened. 

Masui  Masui Film Poster

魔睡 Masui

Running Time: 121 mins.

Release Date: May 17th, 2019

Director:  Kazuto Kuramoto

Writer: Tomomi Ikeda (Screenplay), Mori Ogai (Original Story)

Starring: Kazuko Iwamoto, Yuki Nakamura, Masami Suga, Yohei Nozaki, Natsuko Kimura, Mizuho Yoshida,

 

Synopsis: This one reminds me of the film Cure considering its story is based on a novella written by the writer, Mori Ogai, on the theme of crime using hypnosis, this is a story of a university professor whose wife, Yuriko, is being hypnotised by a student at the university. His evidence is how his wife is becoming increasingly vague during the day and suffers strange dreams at night…

Saihate Risutorante    Saihate Risutorante Film Poster

最果てリストランテ Saihate Risutorante

Running Time: 91 mins.

Release Date: May 18th, 2019

Director:  Keita Matsuda

Writer: Keita Matsuda (Screenplay),

Starring: Ryota Murai, Jun Q, Hazuki Mamiya, Takayuki Suzuki, Anna Konno, Yuuki Izawa, Mei Sakai,

Website

 

Synopsis: Ryota Misaki (Ryouta Murai) and Han Ji-Seok (Jun Q) run a mysterious restaurant that people normally visit only once in their lives when they are about to eat their last meal. This is based on a TV series of the same name.

Boku to Keanin to obaachan-tachi to.    Boku to Keanin to obaachan-tachi to Film Poster

僕とケアニンとおばあちゃんたちと。 Boku to Keanin to obaachan-tachi to.

Running Time: 70 mins.

Release Date: May 18th, 2019

Director:  Kosuke Sasaki

Writer: N/A

Starring: N/A

Website

 

Synopsis: A documentary at a nursing facility in Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture depicting the care workers and the residents they help try to live happy lives.

Moratorium    Moratorium Film Poster

モラトリアム Moratoriaumu

Running Time: 85 mins.

Release Date: May 18th, 2019

Director:  Shinichiro Sawa,

Writer: Shinichiro Sawa (Screenplay)

Starring: Makoto Shinada, Aki Nakagawa, Minae Omi, Chie Oiishi, Shino Uemura,

Website

 

Synopsis: A university student who struggles to interact with people finds inspiration in a clown who performs in a park. Seeing an audience laugh at the figure makes the student return time and again to see the performance but one day the clown is gone. Instead, the student meets a man who asks if she would like to be a clown. In order to better communicate with others, she decides to give it a go…

The Landlady    Yukikosan no Ashioto Film Poster

雪子さんの足音 Yukiko-san no Ashioto

Running Time: 112 mins.

Release Date: May 18th, 2019

Director:  Sachi Hamano,

Writer: Houki Yamazaki (Screenplay) Kumi Kimura (Original Story)

Starring: Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Nahana, Hisako Ookata, Manzo Nomura, Kenta Kiguchi, Masaaki Takarai,

Website

 

Synopsis: A story of a group of people who are drawn to a western-style house where there is a place for them to gather. It is run under the auspices of a woman named Yukiko.


World Animation Theater 2019: 13 Animated Documentary Films by Female Directors

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Documentaries and animation meet in a special event called World Animation Theater (WAT2019).

13 animated documentary films by female directors from Japan, Korea and Sweden will be screened in a number of venues across Japan, starting in Tokyo before heading west throughout 2019/20. The stories cover a wide range of experiences from the deeply personal to global politics.

JAPAN

Birth – Weaving Life and Birth -Dancing Life is an animated documentary omnibus film based on six experiences of child delivery as told by different women during interviews. The films have been directed by Arisa Wakami, Chie Arai, Atsuko Koguma, Bak Ikeda and Hirofumi Ohashi. Three of the films come from a 2016 omnibus called “Birth: Tsumugu inochi” (IMDB) while the other three are from “Birth: Odoru inochi”.

KOREA

8 shorts from South Korea:

You Are My Sunshine – Dir: Hwangbo Sae-byul – A love story for a beloved dog and the owner’s reaction after it suddenly dies.

My Father’s Room Dir: Jang Nari – A woman abused by her father also has some compassion for him in this short.

A Hole in the Door – Dir: Ha Soohwa – A beautiful paint-on-glass animation for commemorating the director’s dead grandmother.

Hopebus a Love Story – Dir: Park Sung-mi – A stop-motion animation story showing solidarity displayed by female workers in a real labor via LEGO blocks.

Mrs. Romance – Dir: Han Byung-a – A dream or a fact? a middle-aged housewife meets a good-looking Italian boy on a trip.

A Letter That Bloom Flowers – Dir: Jude Kang – The real voices of two young women who have escaped from North Korea and now live in South Korea.

The River – Dir: Kim Hee-seon – A young director interviews people along the border of North and South Korea to examine lives lived in the divided peninsula.

Feruza – Dirs: Kim Ye-young and Kim Young-geun – A road movie chronicling the meeting between a couple of Korean film directors and an Ethiopian girl who dreams to go to Korea and continuing her studies after graduating from junior high school but got married. How will the directors change her life?

SWEDEN

Unkilled, Chapter 1” – Dirs: Hanna Heilborn & David Aronowitsch.

A documentary film project told in chapters about the global system of detention of migrants that has evolved from their previously animated documentary films “Hidden”, “Slaves” and “Sharaf”. It has been animation by Kaoru Furuko.

Andra stranden” and “Still Born” – Dir: Åsa Sandzén (Japan Premiere)

This is an animated documentary of a spiritual world where death is encountered firsthand. Kaoru Furuko took part in the animation production.

To find out more, head over to the site.

The films will first be screened in Tokyo‘s Shimokitazawa Tollywood from June 29 through to July 26, 2019 – details already available – and then the event will tour Kyoto (Kyoto Demachiza), Himeji (Himeji Animation Runs!) and Nagoya (Nagoya Theater Cafe) until the end of June 2020 – no details announced as of yet.

This collection of unique examinations of social issues points to an exciting burst in creativity and diversity in the type of filmmakers bringing their work to the screen and the organisers point to the #MeToo movement as being a catalyst. Indeed, the Korean animations in particular have a heavy political focus as they address a lot of issues in animated form, although animated documentaries have a bit of a longer history in Europe as exemplified by the filmography of Hanna Heilborn who specialises in interviewing young people who have fled conflict and poverty and found themselves refugees trapped in immigration systems. To get the inside story, it’s best to go to the events because some of these animators/directors will be at some of the screenings.

This leads neatly into the next point because there is a crowdfunding campaign underway at Motion Gallery to help with WAT2019’s theatrical release. Funds will be used to cover travel costs and operation expenses, publicity and possibly add another venue the films will be screened at.

To help gather funds there are a series of rewards look like tickets to the events including director talks, a clear folder and other stationary with illustrations from the animators, postcards with an autograph and other things. The biggest reward will be helping these animators in their careers as they can show their films far and wide to more audiences.

To find out more, head to the official website – Japanese / English

A Preview of Nippon Connection 2019

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Nippon Connection Logo

Nippon Connection returns to the German city of Frankfurt from 28th May to 2nd June and the organisers have programmed around 100 feature and short films as well as many cultural activities. It is a veritable feast of things to do and see and eat so I’m going to list things and offer some highlights, films that might be to find outside of the festival. Tickets are already on sale so, without further ado, here are the films on offer.

Nippon Cinema

Room Laundering Film Image

There is a rich variety of stories about love for people to get lost in. Love at Least features a lead character with bipolar disorder trying to fix her relationship with her boyfriend while Marriage Hunting Beauty sees a woman with poor taste in men look for a husband. There is a downbeat Yasushi (writer of Sketches of Kaiten City, Over the Fence) Sato story in And Your Bird Can Sing where the friendship of three friends falls apart. Asako I & II is also about wayward romance as a young woman finds herself torn between two guys who both look the same. At the bombastic end of the scale is Fly Me to the Saitama, a colourful comedy fro where the people of Saitama are oppressed by Tokyoites.

There are plenty of youth stories such as the historical drama Dare to Stop Us takes auds into the radical atmosphere of the 60s with a young woman who works with Koji Wakamatsu on films while Dawn Wind in my Poncho features three friends take a last roadtrip before graduating from college. The characters of It’s Boring Here, Pick Me Up want to hit the road and escape small town Japan while in Ramen Shop, a ramen chef travels to Singapore to find out more about his late mother. And then there’s a shogi film from Toshiaki Toyoda in The Miracle of Crybaby Shottan.

Here are the ones I’d like to highlight!

Another WorldHalf the World Film Poster

半世界 Hansekai

Running Time: 120 mins.

Release Date: February 15th, 2019

Director:  Junji Sakamoto

Writer: Junji Sakamoto (Screenplay),

Starring: Goro Inagaki, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Hiroki Hasegawa, Chizuru Ikewaki, Miyako Takeuchi, Aki Sugawara, Keisuke Horibe, Renji Ishibashi,

Website IMDB

This one was at the 2018 Tokyo International Film Festival and it took the Audience Award. It is by veteran director Junji Sakamoto (Face, The Projects) and has a good cast especially Chizuru Ikewaki who is great in Being Good and The Light Shines Only There. She is partnered with Hiroki Hasegawa who is so good in Love and Peace, Why Don’t You Play in Hell? and Double Life as well as Before We Vanish. They support Goro Inagaki, a former member of SMAP.

Synopsis: Hiroshi (Goro Inagaki) listlessly lives his life in a small town in Japan after taking over his father’s charcoal kiln. He uses it as an excuse to ignore his wife (Chizuru Ikewaki) and his teenage son who is going through a rebellious phase. To take his mind off things, he goes drinking with childhood friend Mitsuhiko (Kiyohiko Shibukawa), a laidback guy who sometimes tells Hiroshi off for ignoring his gamily. One day, Hiroshi’s ex-friend Eisuke (Hiroki Hasegawa) comes back to his hometown after a long time in the self-defense force. Eisuke brings a truckload of old wounds back for Hiroshi but he has worries about the soundness of his own mind following his job which makes Hiroshi look at his life again…

Room Laundering Room Laundering Film Poster

ルームロンダリング Ru-mu Rondaringu

Running Time: 109 mins.

Release Date: July 07th, 2018

Director: Kenji Katagiri

Writer:  Kenji Katagiri, Tatsuya Umemoto (Screenplay),

Starring: Elaiza Ikeda, Joe Odagiri, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Miho Tsumiki, Eri Watanabe, Tomorowo Taguchi, Kaoru Mitsumune,

Website    IMDB

Tsutaya, the film rental company are involved with backing this title from a newbie director. It looks quirky as heck and features a fantastic cast including Elaiza Ikeda (Minna Espa Dayo!) and Joe Odagiri (Mushishi),

Synopsis: Miko Yagumo (Elaiza Ikeda) has a strange job: she stays in the apartments of people who have just died in them. Murder, suicide, she’ll stay there. Why? Landlords must tell potential tenants if someone has died in the property they are planning to rent but the law is a bit fuzzy as to how many people down the line landlords need to inform. So in steps Miko, at the behest of her uncle Goro (Joe Odagiri) who got her into the gig, and she spends time at these places. Lately, she has begun to see ghosts. It kinda makes sense because Miko’s recently-disappeared mother had the same ability. Miko begins to act as an exorcist and a councillor for a variety of people who aren’t quite ready to give up the ghost on their apartments…

The Chrysanthemum and the GuillotineThe Chrysanthemum and the Guillotine Film Poster

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

Running Time: 189 mins.

Release Date: July 07th, 2018

Director: Takahisa Zeze

Writer:  Takahisa Zeze, Toranosuke Aizawa (Screenplay),

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

Website    

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

InuyashikiInuyashiki Film Poster

いぬやしき Inuyashiki

Running Time: 127 mins.

Release Date: April 20th, 2018

Director: Shinsuke Sato

Writer: Hiroshi Hashimoto (Screenplay), Hiroya Oku (Original Manga)

Starring: Noritake Kinashi, Takeru Satoh, Kanata Hongo, Fumi Nikaido, Yuki Saito, Yusuke Iseya, Mari Hamada, Ayaka Miyoshi, Nayuta Fukuzaki,

Website IMDB

This is based on a manga series by Hiroya Oku, the guy who created the super-disturbing horror sci-fi Gantz. Inuyashiki was turned into an anime that turned out to be pretty good. The live-action version is a fun spectacle and a change of pace from the other highlights. Takeru Satoh (Rurouni Kenshin and Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno) stars as the bad guy. Here’s my review.

Synopsis: Ichiro Inuyashiki (Noritake Kinashi) is a salary-man on his way out. Unappreciated at work and at home and freshly diagnosed with cancer, his life looks miserable but things take a drastic turn when he is involved in an explosion. When he regains consciousness, he discovers that he has been transformed into a cyborg. Far from freaking out, he has a new lease of life and decides to use his powers to help those in need. Meanwhile, Hiro Shishigami (Takeru Satoh), a high school student, was also involved in the very same explosion and has gained the very same the powers. He just wants to see the world burn. Two super-powered people do battle in Japan!

 

Legend of Stardust BrothersThe Legend of the Stardust Brothers Film Poster

星くず兄弟の伝説 Hoshikuzu kyodai no densetsu

Running Time: 100 mins.

Original Release Date: June 15th, 1985

Director: Macoto Tezuka

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

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

Website IMDB

This one has been licensed by Third Window Films and it has played at a couple of festivals already and anyone following their twitter feeds will see that audiences really love the experience. As the release dates above show, it originally came out in 1985 and got a re-release in Japan last year. It was directed by Macoto Tezuka, son of manga legend, Osamu Tezuka.

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

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

Lying to Mom The Suzuki_s Family Lie Film Poster

鈴木家の嘘 Suzukike no Uso

Running Time: 133 mins.

Release Date: November 16th, 2018

Director:  Katsumi Nojiri

Writer: Katsumi Nojiri (Screenplay),

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

Website IMDB

Synopsis: The Suzuki family is pretty modest. There is father Yukio (Ittoku Kishibe), mother Yuko (Hideko Hara), son Koichi (Ryo Kase) and daughter Fumi (Mai Kiryu). Koichi is a hikikomori but at least he’s alive. Then, one day, he tries to commit suicide and ends up in a coma which throws everyone into confusion. Yuko is so shocked by her son’s state that she loses her memory which leads Fumi to lie to her in order to preserve her sanity. That lie is pretty big, “Koichi stopped being a hikikomori, got better and now works in Argentina”. How does one keep up that story???

jam   jam Film Poster

Running Time: 102 mins.

Release Date: December 01st, 2018

Director:  SABU

Writer: SABU (Screenplay),

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

Website IMDB

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

Hard-core  Hardcore Film Poster

ハード・コア Ha-do Koa

Running Time: 124 mins.

Release Date: November 23rd, 2018

Director: Nobuhiro Yamashita

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

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

Website IMDB

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

Films by Shinya Tsukamoto, 2019’s Nippon Honour Awardee

Tetsuo: The Iron Man and Tokyo Fist will be screened in celebration of Shinya Tsukamoto and there will also be a screening of his latest film. Here’s my biography of the man.

KillingKilling Film Poster

斬、 Zan

Running Time: 80 mins.

Release Date: November 24th, 2018

Director: Shinya Tsukamoto

Writer: Shinya Tsukamoto (Screenplay),

Starring: Sosuke Ikematsu, Yu Aoi, Shinya Tsukamoto, Tatsuya Nakamura, Ryusei MaedaZen Killing Film Poster

Website    IMDB

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

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

Nippon Visions

Tourism Film Image 3 Nina Endo and SUMIRE

So I often talk up diversity a lot and in the indie film section we get a nuclear power plant-based black and white horror film in Ahum, Ren Osugi’s last role in The Chaplin where he plays the eponymous prison chaplain, illegal immigrant drama Complicity and Sea where a man is plagued by guilt over not doing anything to prevent a rape. Also playing is Jesus where a 10-year-old boy is forced to attend a Christian school and doesn’t really like it and then there is Life Finds a Way, the latest from Hirobumi Watanabe where we see his struggles with creativity.

Also in this strand are a special screening of Memento Stella, PIA Film Festival Shorts, Nippon Connection Shorts, and the Skip City D Festival Shorts

Here are the highlights:

Tourism    Tourism Film Poster

Running Time: 77 mins.

Release Date: 2018

Director: Daisuke Miyazaki

Writer: Daisuke Miyazaki (Screenplay),

Starring: Nina Endo, Sumire, Takayuki Yanagi,

IMDB    Website

Daisuke Miyazaki is a director to watch. With a distinct set of indie films that includes Yamato (California) (2017) and Tourism, Miyazaki has something to say about modern life and youth culture and he shows no signs of stopping. Tourism was the second of a two-part video installation commissioned by the ArtScience Museum in Singapore and Singapore International Film Festival that blossomed into a feature film that could be the first instalment of a longer series. It’s quirky and features a winning performance by Nina Endo. Here’s my review of the film and here’s a link to an interview I did with him.

Synopsis: Nina and Sue live with a male room-mate in a sharehouse somewhere in Yamato City, Kanagawa Prefecture. Life is quiet and somewhat uninspiring for the three. Like many young people, they work part-time in stores like Tsutaya and Book-Off, study in their spare time, and chase vague dreams of a better life. However, some excitement enters their world when Nina wins two tickets for a free trip abroad. A different locale might usher in some excitement.

Melancholic 

メランコリック  Merankorikku

Running Time: 113 mins.

Release Date: N/A

Director: Seiji Tanaka

Writer: Seiji Tanaka (Screenplay),

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

Website IMDB

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

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

Blue Hour    Blue Hour Film Poster

ブルーアワーにぶっ飛ばす Buru- Awa- ni Buttobasu

Running Time: 92 mins.

Release Date: October 11th, 2019

Director:  Yuko Hakota

Writer: Yuko Hakota (Screenplay),

Starring: Kaho, Shim Eun-Kyung, Daichi Watanabe, Denden, Kaho Minami, Kyusaku Shimada, Daisuke Kuroda, Yusuke Santamaria,

Website IMDB

I’ve seen a couple and a half of roadtrip movies this year and this one has caught my attention based purely on the trailer and a desire to see what newbie writer/director Yuka Hataoka can turn in.

Synopsis: Sunada (Kaho) is a 30-years-old CM director living in Tokyo. She is unhappy about the direction of her life and decides to return to her hometown of Ibaraki where her grandmother is in hospital. Accompanying her is her best friend Kiyoura (Shim Eun-Kyung).

Call of Zon   Call of Zon Film Poster

ゾンからのメッセージZon Kara no messe-ji

Running Time: 117 mins.

Release Date: August 11th, 2018

Director: Takuji Suzuki

Writer: Takeshi Furusawa (Screenplay),

Starring: Ryudai Takahashi, Ryo Nagao, Shogo Ishimaru, Masahito Karakama, Maya Ino, Ritsuko, Hiromi Furukawa, Kenji Yamauchi,

Website

Here’s a film from someone else with something to say. I met Takuji Suzuki at the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2019 and interviewed him for the upcoming release of Randen and found him to be a very thoughtful and philosophical guy intent on pushing the boundaries of indie cinema. This looks to be a very unique title.

Synopsis: In this sci-fi film, the inhabitants of a small town full of nostalgia-inducing things found their habitat surrounded by a mysterious phenomenon called “zon” 20 years ago. Now they live in a dream-like village where it is as if time has stopped. This is down to “zon” because the weird atmosphere represented by the strange flickering patterns in the air act as a barrier. People who cross it, never come back, and now there is nobody willing to go beyond “zon” and nobody knows what the outside world looks like. Things begin to change when a mysterious VHS tape arrives in their little world.

Nippon Animation

Nippon Animation brings some of the top titles released over the past year and the big guest is director Hiroyasu Ishida who will present his debut feature film Penguin Highway as well as a selection of his earlier short films. Okko’s Inn promises to show some supernatural fun for kids. There are more great titles on offer from more Naoko Yamada and Mamoru Hosoda and two short film programmes, Transience – The Best of Recent Indie Animation and the regular Tokyo University of the Arts: Animation Shorts, which aims give an insight into Japan’s independent animation scene.

Mirai of the FutureMirai of the Future Film Poster

未来のミライ Mirai no Mirai

Running Time: 100 mins.

Release Date: July 20th, 2018

Director:  Mamoru Hosoda

Writer: Mamoru Hosoda (Screenplay/Original Work)

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

Animation Production: Studio Chizu

Website ANN MAL

This charmed audiences at last year’s Cannes film festival. Much like his compatriot, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Hosoda delivered a film that pretty much takes all of the themes and animation techniques he has worked with in the past and wrapped it up into an easy to understand story about family. I guess you can call him the anime equivalent of Kore-eda.

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

Liz to Aoitori   Liz to Aoitori Film Poster

リズと青い鳥 Liz to Aoitori

Running Time: 110 mins.

Release Date: April 21st, 2018

Director:  Naoko Yamada

Writer: Reiko Yoshida (Script),

Starring: Atsumi Tanezaki (Mizore Yoroizuka), Nao Toyama (Nozomi Kasaki), Ayaka Asai (Hazuki Kato), Chika Anzai (Reina Kosaka), Yuri Yamaoka (Yuuko Yoshikawa), Moe Toyota (Sapphire “Midori” Kawashima), Shiori Sugiura (Ririka Kenzaki),

Animation Production: Kyoto Animation

Website ANN MAL

Synopsis: Mizore Yoroizuka and Nozomi Kasaki are best friends who are both in their school’s brass band club. Mizore plays the oboe and Nozomi plays the flute. Despite being in the final year of high school, they are so very happy–until the club begins to practice songs inspired by the fairy tale Liz und ein Blauer Vogel (Liz and the Blue Bird). Immersed in this story, they begin to realise that there may be no such thing as being together forever.

Nippon Docs

Nippon Docs goes into all sorts of issues which are affecting us all, from ageing and Alzheimer’s in Naoko Nobutomo’s affecting film about her parents, I Go Gaga, My Dear to death in Sending Off, the latest work from Ian Thomas Ash which looks at a doctor and her team who offer hospice care to patients in their homes. LGBT representation in Japanese society gets a look through the photographer’s lens in Portraits of the Rainbow and From All Corners is about the unique cardboard-based art of a young man. Tower of the Sun look at Taro Okamoto’s Tower of the Sun in Osaka and lastly are the Japanese Documentaries Presented by NHK World-Japan, the first following Hayao Miyazaki over 10 years while the second is about a Syrian musician’s discovery of a piano which survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

Here are some highlights.

Boy Soldiers: The Secret War in OkinawaBoy Soldiers The Secret War in Okinawa Film Poster

沖縄スパイ戦史 Okinawa Supai Senshi

Running Time: 114 mins.

Release Date: July 28th, 2018

Director: Chie Mikami, Hanayo Oya

Website   

Synopsis: The battle of Okinawa claimed 240,000 lives, both American and Japanese. It was hard-fought on both sides not least because many Okinawans committed suicide rather than be captured. This documentary which looks absolutely fascinating talks about an unknown or little-known aspect of the battle, the Gokyotai, Okinawan teenage boys who were drafted into guerilla units led by officers from the mainland and tasked with attacking US forces. These units were cruel, making the boys execute the wounded and sick or anyone considered to be a spy. There are also other stories of how people were forcibly moved by Japanese forces to islands known for disease. It’s all told in archive footage, still-photographs and interviews with the veterans which makes this powerful stuff, especially since it gets information from both sides, civilians and military, too. Mark Schilling gave it a glowing review.

Mawari Kagura – Kagura Troupe on the BeatMawari Kagura Film Poster

廻り神楽 Mawari Kagura

Running Time: 94 mins.

Release Date: January 20th, 2018

Director: Mirao Osawa, Kano Endo

Website

Synopsis: Kagura is a traditional performance done by people across Japan. The community at the heart of this film are on the Sanriku coast of Iwate prefecture and they suffered due to the Great East Japan Earthquake. Despite this, the troupe travel around the beaches, performing in honour of the dead and the Gods who have existed in the land and the sea for hundreds of years.

Shinjuku TigerShinjuku Tiger Film Poster

新宿タイガー  Shinjuku Taiga-

Running Time: 83 mins.

Release Date: March 22nd, 2019

Director: Yoshinori Sato

Starring: Shinobu Terajima, Norito Yashima, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Midori Suiren, Noboru Iguchi, Shinji Kubo

Website IMDB

Receiving its world premiere at the Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF) 2019, Shinjuku Tiger details a colourful character in Shinjuku. Here’s my review and here’s an interview I conducted with the director.

Synopsis: Tokyo has many colourful characters who have become internet sensations but the Shinjuku Tiger (a.k.a. Tiger Mask) is one that many international audiences may not have heard of. Tokyoites are more familiar with the chap because he has been a feature of Shinjuku since he found his tiger mask at Kabukicho’s Inari Kiou Shrine in 1972 and decided to wear it every day to bring some joy to the world. Yoshinori Sato follows Tiger as he goes through his daily routines. 

Ayako Wakao – Magnificent Icon of Japanese Cinema

Ayako Wakao is one of the banner actresses of Japanese cinema. A recipient of the Kinema Junpo Award along with the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Actress in the years 1962 and 1966, in 2010 she was proclaimed “All Time Best Actress” by the Japanese film journal Eiga Hiho. Initially a girl next door figure, her beauty and character drew admirers and, for those easily scared by ambition, haters, as she picked more complicated roles such as calculating single-mothers, abused wives and independent women that described the ever-changing precarious position of women. She worked with some of the great directors of the Golden Age and those who made the leap into the New Wave.

The focus is on Ayako Wakao’s frequent collaborations with Yasuzo Masamura, with films like The Goddess of Mercy, where a bored middle-class housewife falls for someone who she meets at art class – played by Wakao – to The Red Angel where she is a nurse during the war and Seisaku’s Wife, about a young woman who falls in love with a soldier after a life spent as an outsider. She also collaborated with Yuzo Kawashima (Room for Let) in geisha dramedy Women are Born Twice and she worked with Ozu on Floating Weeds. The three I am highlighting are from three major directors and show her range as an actor.

The Blue Sky Maiden (aka The Cheerful Girl)

青空娘  「Aozora Musume」  Blue Sky Maiden FIlm Poster

Release Date: October 08th, 1957

Running Time: 88 mins.

Director: Yasuzo Masamura

Writer: Yoshio Shirasaka (Screenplay), Keita Genji (Original Novel)

Starring: Ayako Wakao, Keizo Kawasaki, Kenji Sugawara, Ryuji Shinagawa, Yuko Yashio, Keiko Fujita,

IMDB

Synopsis: This colourful, cheerful satirical Cinderella story was the first in a string of collaborations between Ayako Wakao and Yasuzo Masamura. She plays an illegitimate daughter who travels to Tokyo to live with her father, only to find his house a seething nest of suspicion and resentment.

Elegant BeastThe Graceful Brute Film Poster

しとやかな獣  Shitoyakana kedamono

Running Time: 96 mins.

Release Date: December 26th, 1962

Director:  Yuzo Kawashima

Writer:  Kaneto Shindo (Screenplay),

Starring: Ayako Wakao, Yunosuke Ito, Hisano Yamaoka, Manamitsu Kawabata, Yuko Hamada, Eiji Funakoshi, Kyu Sazanka, Chocho Miyako, Hideo Takamatsu,

IMDB

This is one of Kawashima’s best films, a breathtakingly cynical analysis of post-war Japanese social mores and a decline in morality.

Synopsis: The film almost exclusively takes place in the fifth floor apartment of the Maeda’s, a seemingly traditional and stable family unit of two conservative parents (who wear kimono and listen to traditional music) and their hip son and daughter (who are frequently out on the town in Ginza’s bars) but as the narrative unfolds we see the depth of their duplicity, selfishness, and materialistic behaviour which unites them as they scam people in their social circle but, as the narrative unfolds, the it turns out that they will meet their match in a single mother that the son has designs on.

An Actor’s Revenge

雪之丞変化   「Yukinojo Henge」

Release Date: January 13th, 1963

Running Time: 114 mins.

Director: Kon Ichikawa

Writer: Otokichi Mikami (Newspaper Serial), Daisuke Ito, Teinosuke Kinugassa (Adaptation), Natto Wada (Screenplay),

Starring: Kazuo Hasegawa, Fujiko Yamamoto, Ayako Wakao, Eiji Funakoshi, Saburo Date, Kikue Mori,

IMDB

Kon Ichikawa’s take on this classic tale is not the first and the film marked the 300th film appearance of the actor Kazuo Hasegawa. Ichikawa was quite visually inventive and here he mixes illusion and reality, historicity and contemporaneity via use of vivid colours and unique sets where the stage setting is kept but the boundaries between on- and offstage become blurred and he soundtrack blends tradition music with jazz.

Synopsis: Set in 1863, main character Yukinojo (Hasegawa), is become a well-known ‘onnagata’ (a man playing female roles) in a travelling Kabuki troupe which heads to Edo (the old name of Tokyo) where he discovers and sets out to take revenge on three local officials who drove his parents to suicide. He wants to ruin them and aiding him is the daughter of one of the officials who has fallen for him…

 

As mentioned earlier, Nippon Connection takes place in Frankfurt, Germany from 28th May to 2nd June and tickets are already available via the official website where you can also find full details on all the films.

RANDEN: The Comings and Goings on a Kyoto Tram, Violence Voyager, Monchan, Aircraft Carrier Ibuki, Musashi, Sadako, Little Love Song, Tannisho wo Hiraku, Promare, Seiyuu yururi tabi ~ Furukawa Makoto no ki nasse! Kumamoto, Portrait of Brothers, Sakubee-san to Nihon o horu, Hitori no Dansu Japanese Film Trailers

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Happy weekend!

I hope everyone is fine!

I’m in the middle of a 12 day week after going back to doing fun overtime in work but I managed to do a lot of writing as well. I posted about a special screening of animated documentaries by female directors – World Animation Theatre 2019 – and also a preview for Nippon Connection 2019.

A real mixed bag of trailers this week.

RANDEN: The Comings and Goings on a Kyoto TramRANDEN The Comings and Goings on a Kyoto Tram Film Poster

嵐電 Randen

Running Time: 114 mins.

Release Date: Summer 2019

Director:  Takuji Suzuki

Writer: Takuji Suzuki, Hiroshi Asari, (Screenplay),

Starring: Arata Iura, Ayaka Onishi, Tamaki Kubose, Satoko Abe, Kenta Ishida, Hiroto Kanai,

Website   IMDB

I saw this at the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2019 and interviewed the director. I enjoyed it a lot as my review shows and I hope others enjoy it as well.

Synopsis: A writer from Kamakura named Eisei Hiraoka (Arata Iura) is researching supernatural stories but finds himself revisiting memories from a previous visit to his wife’s home town. Kako Ogura (Ayaka Onishi), a shy local woman, is asked to help an actor from Tokyo practice speaking with Kyoto intonation and after the lesson, he asks her to show him around Arashiyama. Nanten Kitakado (Tamaki Kubose), a high school girl from Aomori, shows a one-track mind when she falls for a train nerd who sees nothing but trams. The love of three couples is carried along together by the famous trams and a little of Kyoto’s special magic and folklore. The course of true love rarely runs smooth but if fate places you on a Randen tram, then you will at least get a scenic ride amidst the history and wonderful sights of the city in this charming fairy-tale film that breathes the culture and atmosphere of the city.

Violence Voyager          Violence Voyager Film Poster 2

バイオレンス・ボイジャー 「Baiorensu Boijya-」               

Release Date: 2019 (Japan)

Running Time: 84 mins.

Director: Ujicha

Writer: Ujicha (Screenplay)

Starring: Aoi Yuki, Naoki Tanaka, Shigeo Takahashi, Tomorowo Taguchi, Daisuke Ono, Saki Fujita,

Kyoto Saga Art University graduate Uji Cha is a talented animator. His last work was The Burning Buddha Man (2012) which I wrote about back in 2013. It went on a festival tour because of its impressive creation. Ujicha used hand-made and painted paper cutouts, animated by hand, to tell a horror story. He has dubbed it “Geki-mation” and directs, writes, draws, edits, his own work and it is clear to see his skill is undeniable. It’s good to have him back with Violence Voyager. This played at Japan Cuts last year.

Synopsis: An American boy named Bobby and his friend Akkun head to the mountains to build a secret base but when they encounter a group of scared kids stuck in a mysterious amusement park called Violence Voyager, they soon find themselves under attack by robot-like humanoids!

Aircraft Carrier Ibuki    Aircraft Carrier Ibuki Film Poster

空母いぶき  Kuubo Ibuki

Running Time: 134 mins.

Release Date: May 24th, 2019

Director: Setsuro Wakamatsu

Writer: Yasuo Hasegawa, Kazunori Ito (Screenplay), Kaiji Kawaguchi (Manga)

Starring: Hidetoshi Nishijima, Kuranosuke Sasaki, Tatsuya Fuji, Jun Murakami, Hiroshi Tamaki, Koichi Sato, Tsubasa Honda, Mai Fukagawa,

Website IMDB

It doesn’t happen so much these days but in the past Chinese fishing fleets would often act as a vanguard for a military force or as a “militia” operating on behalf of the government (link). This manga may have been inspired by that. It does look very jingoistic and it looks kind of bad on the basis of the trailer…

Synopsis: The Japanese government has ordered Aircraft Carrier Ibuki to head to the southernmost islands of Japan after a coastguard crew are detained by the owners of fishing boats who have occupied some land.

Musashi    Musashi Film Poster

武蔵 むさし  Musashi

Running Time: 120 mins.

Release Date: May 25th, 2019

Director: Yasuo Mikami

Writer: Yasuo Mikami (Screenplay),

Starring: Yoshihiko Hosoda, Ken Matsudaira, Maki Mizuno,

Website IMDB

Synopsis:  The story of Musashi Miyamoto and his rivalry with Kojiro Sasaki.

Sadako    Sadako Film Poster

貞子  Sadako

Running Time: 120 mins.

Release Date: May 24th, 2019

Director: Hideo Nakata

Writer: Noriaki Sugihara (Screenplay), Koji Suzuki (Novel)

Starring: Elaiza Ikeda, Takashi Tsukamoto, Hiroya Shimizu, Himeka Himejima, Ren Kiriyama, Rie Tomosaka,

Website IMDB

It has been six years since films had Sadako crawling out of screens. The monster, once so terrifying, has lost her edge but has she been rehabilitated? The cast doesn’t look like it’s made up of serious actors, the plot has been updated to give a nod towards current viewing habits of teens and the poster is awful. However, Hideo Nakata is back on board! Although it has been a while since he made a good film… What does the trailer say? I’m not in any hurry to see this one.

Synopsis: A girl with amnesia (Himeka Himejima) is being treated by a psychologist named Mayu (Elaiza Ikeda) who is trying to find out more about her background. Mayu’s younger brother Kazuma (Hiroya Shimizu) is a YouTuber eager for views who, on the advice of a friend, heads to a burnt out apartment where 5 people died which is the scene of psychic trauma and he accidentally catches Sadako. Mayu must stop a new curse from breaking out.

Little Love Song    Little Love Song Film Poster

小さな恋のうた  Chiisana Koi no Uta

Running Time: 123 mins.

Release Date: May 24th, 2019

Director: Kojiro Hashimoto

Writer: Kenya Hirata (Screenplay),

Starring: Hayato Sano, Yuki Morinaga, Anna Yamada, Gordon Maeda, Jin Suzuki, Claire Tomiko, Misa Shimizu, Hiroko Nakajima, Kozo Sato, Kazuhiko Kanayama,

Website IMDB

Japan’s fascination with high school films produces the occasional good title but speaks to a myopia amongst creatives and their financial backers. The only thing that makes this stand out is the setting of Okinawa and the presence of a mixed-race actor which broadens things out. 

Synopsis: A high school band from a small town in Okinawa are having a good time charming their neighbours with their music and things only get better when they get a record deal with a major label based in Tokyo but a car accident causes a tragedy. When a girl from the nearby US military base appears with a demo tape of a song, things change for the better

Promare    Promare Film Poster

プロメア 「Puromea

Release Date: May 24th, 2019

Running Time: 111 mins.

Director: Hiroyuki Imaishi

Writer: Kazuki Nakashima (Screenplay/Original Work),

Starring: Ayane Sakura (Aina Ardebit), Kenichi Matsuyama (Galo Thymos), Taichi Saotome (Lio Fotia), Ami Koshimizu (Ellis Ardebit), Arata Furuta (Deus Prometh), Mayumi Shintani (Lucia Fex),

Animation Production: Trigger

ANN MAL Website

Synopsis: The anime’s protagonist is Galo, a new recruit in a rescue team. The anime will have mechs called “Matoi-Tech,” named after the “matoi” banners that Edo-period firefighting units used.

Tannisho wo Hiraku    Tannisho wo Hiraku Film Poster

歎異抄をひらく 「Tannishou wo Hiraku

Release Date: May 24th, 2019

Running Time: 98 mins.

Director: Kazuhisa Ouno

Writer: Kiyoto Wada (Screenplay), (Original Work),

Starring: Koji Ishizaki (Shinran), Toshiki Masuda (Yuien), Kentaro Ito (Meihobo), Mitsuhiro Ichiki (Gonpachi), Rina Honnizumi (Asa),

Animation Production: Paradise Cafe

ANN MAL Website

Synopsis from My Anime List: An official website launched for an anime movie adaptation of Tannishou wo Hiraku (Tannisho). The movie will premiere in Japanese theaters on May 24. This is the second movie in the Naze Ikiru Series, following Naze Ikiru: Rennyo Shounin to Yoshizaki Enjou which premiered in May 2016.

Tannishou wo Hiraku is a buddhist reference book by Tenritsu Takamori published in 2008. It is based on Tannishou, which was written in the Kamakura period, happening between 1185 and 1333, and follows Yuinen as he contemplates why bad people are spared more often than good people. He studies under the Buddhist monk Shinran and records his teachings. Since then people from around the world have followed Tannishou, Takamori included. He details Tannishou in Tannishou wo Hiraku, which is separated into three parts; The first includes original text and translation, the second is explanation, and the third is original text only.

Monchan

もんちゃん Monchan

Running Time: 30 mins.

Release Date: February 24th, 2018

Director: Jinhong Kim

Writer: Jinhong Kim (Screenplay)

Starring: Yuuki Ito, Tsuyoshi Ito, Yuuki Sato, Mami Hashimoto,

Website

Synopsis: A young boy is picked up by his father’s lover when he falls ill in school. When he slips out of the house, he encounters strange girls.

Seiyuu yururi tabi ~ Furukawa Makoto no ki nasse! Kumamoto    Seiyuu yururi tabi ~ Furukawa Makoto no ki nasse! Kumamoto Film Poster

声優ゆるり旅 古川慎の来なっせ!熊本  Seiyuu yururi tabi ~ Furukawa Makoto no ki nasse! Kumamoto

Running Time: 61 mins.

Release Date: May 24th, 2019

Director: Kojiro Hashimoto

Writer: Kenya Hirata (Screenplay),

Starring: Makoto Furukawa, Daiki Kobayashi,

Website

Synopsis: Makoto Furukawa invites voice actor Daiki Kobayashi from Osaka to take a trip around Kumamoto, his hometown. The two voice actors see famous places such as Kumamoto Castle and Mt. Aso as well as eat local cuisine and visit hot springs. A DVD version of this journey is released in a month’s time.

Portrait of Brothers    Portrait of Brothers Film Poster

兄消える  Ani Kieru

Running Time: 104 mins.

Release Date: May 25th, 2019

Director: Nobuhiro Nishikawa

Writer: Akito Inui (Screenplay),

Starring: Shinichi Yanagisawa, Choei Takahashi, Takako Tsuchiya, Toru Emori,

Website

Synopsis: Tetsuo (Choei Takahashi) is a  76-year-old man and single who has just buried his father. Then, one day, his  older brother Kinnosuke (Shinichi Yanagisawa) returns home out of the blue and with a younger woman Juri (Takako Tsuchiya) and they live together…

Sakubee-san to Nihon o horu    Sakubee-san to Nihon o horu Film Poster

作兵衛さんと日本を掘る  Sakubee-san to Nihon o horu

Running Time: 111 mins.

Release Date: May 25th, 2019

Director: Hiroko Kumagai

Writer: Akito Inui (Screenplay),

Starring: Fumi Inoue, Tadatoshi Inoue, Emi Ogata, Kazue Morisaki,

Website

Synopsis: Fukuoka has a strong coal-mining tradition and Sakubei Yamamoto comes from a mining family who worked in the pits at the height of the industry. He later turned to art after a career underground and his art depicted the lives of workers even after Japan weaned itself off coal and onto other energy source.  You can see more about him, the subject of this documentary, in this UNESCO webpage.

Hitori no Dansu    Hitori no Dansu Film Poster

1人のダンス  Hitori no Dansu

Running Time: 58 mins.

Release Date: May 25th, 2019

Director: Ryo Anraku

Writer: Ryo Katayama (Screenplay),

Starring: Ryo Anraku, RYUICHI, Shunsuke Idekura, Mutsumi Sato, Mizuho Osu, Ryo Katayama, Masashi Omiya,

Website

Synopsis: The story depicts the clash between friends, both creatives, but one of whom is an MV director who has lost sight of what he wants to do in life and his own creativity. 

Shinjuku Tiger 新宿タイガー Dir: Yoshinori Sato (2019) Osaka Asian Film Festival 2019

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Shinjuku Tiger  Shinjuku Tiger Film Poster

新宿タイガー  Shinjuku Taiga-

Running Time: 83 mins.

Release Date: March 22nd, 2019

Director: Yoshinori Sato

Writer: N/A

Starring: Shinobu Terajima, Norito Yashima, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Midori Suiren, Noboru Iguchi, Shinji Kubo

Website IMDB

http://www.oaff.jp/2019/en/program/if06.html

Receiving its world premiere at the Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF) 2019, Shinjuku Tiger (2019) is a return to the world of documentary filmmaking for director Yoshinori Sato. Although he has a background in television documentaries, he will probably be best known for his 2016 sophomore feature about capital punishment and guilt, Her Mother, an intense film where the mother of a murder victim seeks to prevent the execution of the murderer. It won plaudits for the acting at different festivals including Busan 2016 and OAFF 2017. After a fairly bleak and heavy drama about coming to terms with murder, Sato steps back into documentaries with a film about a flamboyant guy who is all about spreading love and happiness.

Tokyo has many colourful characters who have become internet sensations but the Shinjuku Tiger (a.k.a. Tiger Mask) is one that many international audiences may not have heard of. Tokyoites are more familiar with the chap because he has been a feature of Shinjuku since he found his tiger mask at Kabukicho’s Inari Kiou Shrine in 1972 and decided to wear it every day to bring some joy to the world.

His ethos is “love and peace” and his method in spreading these feelings is to dress in bright colours and wear accessories like a pink-feather headdress, fake flowers, stuffed animals and his distinctive yellow tiger mask. He does so whenever in public, whether while doing his newspaper delivery job or while partying it up with pretty women in one of the many bars of Shinjuku’s Golden Gai district. This man is also a film fan who often goes to the cinema even while dressed as a Tiger. He has spent decades doing this and has built a network of friends and acquaintances, especially amongst the bar owners and film creatives who hang out at the same spots he does. His efforts have caught the attention of onlookers and advertising execs alike and he has become a fondly thought-of person.

Audiences will be wondering just who he is and why he does these things and while the film offers a peek behind the man’s mask to give some answers, it resists being anything like an expose as Sato chooses to celebrate the Tiger as a character and what he means to the area and the city.

Shot over the course of a year and sculpted into form from 200 hours of footage, the film displays Shinjuku Tiger’s four core passions: films, beautiful women, sake and romance. These passions become themes that allow the film to have structure as it becomes segmented through showing the Tiger pursuing these things as Sato and crew track him and the people he encounters with handheld cameras during his delivery job as well as when he goes to the cinema, performs epic bar crawls that last well into the morning with plenty of karaoke and drinking, and talks romantically to beautiful women. Why he performs as this character remains something of an enigma and could be troubling to some audience members who take exception to the way he behaves but it is clear that the people who Shinjuku Tiger interacts with are on easy terms with the man and the people who pass him by during their everyday routines take delight in his presence, although some do look at him suspiciously.

Audiences may initially be suspicious too but should enjoy listening to him as he talks love, life and films and by focussing on that, the filmmakers fulfil their intention not to reveal the truth behind the persona. It is clear that he has established relationships with everyone and everything on screen as seen in numerous interviews with celebrities and bar owners and the fact that Tiger leads the filmmakers into a variety of bars, cinemas, theatres and other entertainment places in Shinjuku and Asakusa. This gives an interesting insight into the nightlife of Tokyo and the entertainment world, although one gets the sense that with 200 hours of footage, what isn’t shown may have been equally fascinating! The film also uses his character to approach the history of Shinjuku from a unique angle.

Shinjuku Tiger’s reminiscences of Tokyo’s social history gives the film something of an air of historical document and Sato laces in culturally and politically important moments. Tiger, alongside other interviewees, express enough thoughts on them to give a fuller sense of the changes and, far from being convoluted, the film remains interesting and sleek thanks to having Tiger as the lead character. Indeed, delving into different decades gives the film its unique music score, cool jazz by Osaka-based musicians Riku Horimoto and Misaki Umase which allows the film to slide along smoothly and matches Tiger’s character, something helped, no doubt, by Shinobu Terajima’s delightful tone as she narrates things.

Overall, Sato and his team perfectly put together an easy-to-follow documentary through excellently captured moments shot on location as well as with interviews with a variety of people from filmmakers to JR Shinjuku Station workers whose opinions help to explain the appeal of the man so even if we don’t understand every aspect of his character, we can still enjoy his full persona. The abiding image of the film will be of a man who clearly enjoys life and the sight of his happy face in a cinema as he watched Roman Holiday is truly moving.

The Yoshinori Sato’s desire to celebrate Tiger as a persona captures him at his most energetic whilst also ensuring he remains enigmatic because to life the mask too much would spoil the magic.

Interview with Yoshinori Sato, director of the documentary “Shinjuku Tiger” [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2019]

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YoshinoriSatoOAFF19

I interviewed a number of people at the Osaka Asian Film Festival and these interviews are being published over at V-Cinema. This interview was the first to go online on March 28th.

Yoshinori Sato was born in Aichi, Japan on February 1975. After graduating from high school, he travelled to the US to study filmmaking at the University of Southern California. Since graduating, he has worked as a director in Japanese television while also making independent films. His film credits include Bad Child (2013) and Her Mother, which played at international film festivals including the 21st Busan International Film Festival and the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2017.

Sato returned to Osaka to give the world premiere of his documentary, Shinjuku Tiger, a fascinating look at a flamboyantly dressed and inspiring man who wears a tiger mask and, since the 70s, has practically lived in the bars and cinemas of Shinjuku as he pursues good films, beautiful woman, and delicious sake. It is all part of a fiction he has created to “spread love and peace” and the film shows the character in action as he works his normal job in newspaper delivery and goes on epic bar crawls that rope in celebrities and friends. This films borders on hagiography but gains depth as Sato uses the life of the man to examine the changes and events that Shinjuku has seen through the decades so we get some sense of the culture of one of Tokyo’s most famous wards.

Sato kindly gave an interview after the Q&A that followed the second screening of Shinjuku Tiger at the festival. The interview was conducted in English but we were joined by interpreter Keiko Matsushita who offered some interesting questions and insights.

Jason Maher: Thank you for making the film and thank you for agreeing to do this interview. When I watched Shinjuku Tiger, I was immediately dazzled by the man’s energy, his lust for life. I had never heard of him before. How did you discover him?

Yoshinori Sato: My producer found him. My producer goes to the cinema in Shinjuku a lot and every time he went there, he saw Shinjuku Tiger and he became interested in finding out what kind of guy he is. Actually, my producer is the one who distributed Her Mother and he told me, it would be great to make a documentary about him.

You’ve directed dramas in the past, is this your first documentary film?

Yes.

Did you have any concerns about making a documentary?

Actually, I directed some documentaries for TV before, so I kind of know how to make documentaries but this time I shot over almost a year. That’s a long period. For TV, I only worked over a short period so I had a lot of time to think about it while shooting. So I observed him. When it comes to fiction, I make it in my head but in documentary I observed him and I tried to find out what he’s thinking.

You shot over the course of a year, how long was an average day with the Shinjuku Tiger?

Five or six hours a day.

How many days a week?

Actually, the Shinjuku Tiger remembers how many days I spent shooting the film and he told me it was 36 times. (LAUGHTER) He remembered. I don’t remember.

Presumably you have hundreds of hours of footage.

I have 200.

Was it difficult to find a unifying theme for the film?

He is very talkative so it was hard to find a theme so I watched the footage many times and I tried to write down a plot, connections. I got four main themes and then I connected the conversations to those four main themes.

Movies, sake, and beautiful women. Did you ever go to his home?

He didn’t want me to enter his room.

So Shinjuku Tiger is a performance and he just wants people to see the performance?

Actually, at first, I wanted to know what kind of person he is like as a human but when I was editing, I began to think I didn’t want to know him as a human, I wanted to protect his vision, what he’s doing. He’s living in fiction. I wanted to protect his fictional world.

What do you think he symbolizes?

He said love and peace, right? To be honest, I don’t know how serious he is about that. It’s like art, right? It depends upon how people feel about him but one thing I am sure about is he is, I don’t know if this is the right word, but he is against common sense.

His appearance is almost absurd. His costume and bright pink hair and the dolls are very eye-catching and to live like that is very brave because he stands out.

He has a peaceful and cheerful way to express himself. For example, if he thinks he is a tiger and wants to express it, he doesn’t do so directly, he wants to make people think.

Through the positive energy he gives out?

Yeah, that’s right. He doesn’t want to be negative. He’s always positive.

Which is pretty hard to maintain when you’re tired or frustrated, so he must have a lot of energy.

He’s 71 years old and very energetic.

Was it very exhausting keeping up with him when he was going to bars all night long?

I was so exhausted. One time he started drinking from 6pm to 4pm (laughter). At 3am, he was singing karaoke. 30 songs.

Was it difficult to keep your positivity up in those situations? (laughter)

Yes, it was very hard.

He must be really inspirational, as well. Did you ever encounter anybody with a negative opinion about him?

When he started wearing his costume, he said people were against him and there was a guy who smashed a beer bottle over his head but he never fought back.

One scene that stood out was the actor Shibukawa Kiyohiko’s random appearance. It seemed like he was surprised. How did that encounter happen?

It was by accident. When Shinjuku Tiger was collecting money for the newspapers, I was following him and then Shibukawa was riding along on a bicycle and the Tiger said, “Hey!” It was very surprising.

Such a funny scene but the Shinjuku Tiger has the energy to make it a fun scene. Why did you get Terajima Shinobu to narrate?

My producer worked with her before and he asked her to add narration. Shinjuku Tiger is weird for people who don’t know about him so I think the producer wanted someone with a voice we can trust to do the narration.

She has a good voice that fits the film. The music also fits the film. Could you explain a little more about the selection?

I wanted to use jazz for the music because this movie is also about the 60s and 70s in Shinjuku and a lot of people at that time listened to jazz. Do you know Charles Mingus? His jazz music has a very dubious atmosphere and the Shinjuku Tiger is kind of a dubious guy at first. Charles Mingus makes jazz music that feels a little dubious.

Who did you get to compose the music?

They are students, a guy and a girl, [Riku Horimoto and Misaki Umase]. They are like 22, 23. I met them when I screened Her Mother here in Osaka and so I asked them for music and they gave me a demo. I liked their music and I asked if I could use it.

It’s a very interesting way of looking at the history of Tokyo. Did you find having Shinjuku Tiger made it easy to examine the changes over the decades?

He has lived in Shinjuku for almost 50 years so I thought I could describe the history of Shinjuku as well as his story.

He acts as a focal point in the film for you to look at figures like Wakamatsu Koji and the student protests.

He said that he didn’t join the student protests. I think he was affected by the student movement but he didn’t join. I think his way of living is like the yakuza way. Like a Ken Takakura movie. Ken Takakura played a yakuza who protected people but he has his own way of behaving. I think Tiger lives in that way.

Shinjuku Tiger is like a movie character.

He’s very influenced by movie characters. There are many movies that describe the ideal person and when we see a movie, it’s great if we can live like that but we never try because it’s too hard and we think, “ah, that’s fiction so he can live that way”. In the real world, it is hard to live that way but he lives like that. Very pure.

He’s admirable. Could you ever imagine someone of our generation or a younger generation becoming the next Shinjuku Tiger or is he totally unique?

I hope someone tries to be like Tiger but I think he’s the only one who can do that. We can learn from how he lives, his beliefs. I am influenced by him. I don’t put on a tiger mask but I want to live like him. I hope that when people see this movie, there are some who want to live like him. I think he’s a rare person and I like him a lot.

Irreplaceable.

Yes.

Thank you very much for the interview. Hopefully people will be inspired by Shinjuku Tiger.

Shinjuku Tiger was shown on March 10 and 14 at the Osaka Asian Film Festival.

Orphan’s Blues, Jesus, Parallel World Love Story, Farewell Song, A Long Goodbye, Black Maiden: Chapter Q, Lupin the IIIrd: Mine Fujiko no Uso, Life on the Longboard 2nd Wave, Zubu nurete inukoro, Ninomiya Kinjirou Japanese Film Trailers

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Happy weekend, everyone!

I hope you are all well!

I have just completed a 12-day work week and have two days off so I’m going to spend this weekend watching films. I went out with work colleagues/friends to a Chinese restaurant and a bar, the first time I’ve done that in months, and it felt good. I’ll be going out more now that proofing work has died down and film work has gone back to various things I have watched although I still have reviews and interviews from the Osaka Asian Film Festival to go. No films watched this week, just a review for Shinjuku Tiger and an interview with its director, Yoshinori Sato.

Here’s what’s released this weekend.

Orphan’s Blues      Orphans Blues Film Poster

オーファンズ・ブルース  O-fanzu Buru-su

Duration: 89 mins.

Release Date:May 31st, 2019

Director: Riho Kudo

Writer: Riho Kudo (Screenplay),

Starring: Yukino Murakami, Takura Kamikawa, Nagiko Tsuji, Sion Sasaki,Tamaki Kubose, Yu Yoshii,

Website

This one has played at the Nara International Film Festival and the Tokyo International Film Festival and has received a strong review over at the Hollywood Reporter after taking the Grand Prize at the Pia Film Festival 2018.

Synopsis: A young woman named Emma lives by herself and works as a bookseller. Recently she has become forgetful. As her memory loss progresses she takes notes to record every little thing and she also becomes desperate. One day, she gets a painting from her childhood friend Jang, who has been long missing. They grew up together in an orphanage and he was her best friend and possibly more… Emma decides to search for him and encounters various people connected to him all while her memory continues to fade away…

JesusJesus Film Poster

僕はイエス様が嫌い Boku ha Iesu sama ga kirai

Duration: 76 mins.

Release Date: May 31st, 2019

Director:  Hiroshi Okuyama

Writer: Hiroshi Okuyama (Screenplay),

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

Website IMDB

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

Parallel World Love Story    Parallel World Love Story Film Poster

パラレルワールド・ラブストーリー  Parareru Warudo Rabusutori

Duration: 108 mins.

Release Date: May 31st, 2019

Duration: Yoshitaka Mori

Writer: Lion Hitoshizuku (Screenplay), Keigo Higashino (Novel)

Starring: Yuta Tamamori, Riho Yoshioka, Shota Sometani, Michitaka Tsutsui, Rie Mimura, Hiroya Shimizu, Ron Mizuma, Nicole Ishida, Tomorowo Taguchi,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Takashi (Yuta Tamamori) and Tomohiko (Shota Sometani) have been close friends since university and both work together at a company which does brain research. One day, Tomohiko introduces his girlfriend Mayuko (Riho Yoshioka) to Takashi who is astonished because, when he was in university, he would see her riding a train everyday and became attracted to her. Things take a twist because, one day, Takashi wakes up and he is greeted by his girlfriend Mayuko. It’s like he has slipped into another reality, one where he and Mayuko live as a couple. It seems too perfect to be true and Takashi begins to have doubts and when Tomohiko disappears, he soon can’t discern if his memory is real or imaginary.

Farewell Song    Farewell Song Film Poster

さよならくちびる  Sayonara Kuchibiru

Duration: 116 mins.

Duration: May 31st, 2019

Director: Akihiko Shiota

Writer: Akihiko Shiota (Screenplay),

Starring: Nana Komatsu, Mugi Kadowaki, Ryo Narita, Skinobu Shinoyama, Marika Matsumoto, Takaya Aoyagi, Makita Sports, Yukiko Shinohara,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Haru-Reo are an indie band made up of Haru (Mugi Kadowaki) and Reo (Nana Komatsu) and their roadie Shima (Ryo Narita). Just as they hit the height of their popularity they decide to break up and go on one last tour. During this period, the feelings that Haru has for Reo come out…

A Long Goodbye    A Long Goodbye Film Poster

長いお別れ  Nagai Owakare

Duration: 127 mins.

Release Date: May 31st, 2019

Director: Ryota Nakano

Writer: Ryota Nakano, Toshiya Ono (Screenplay), Kyoko Nakajima (Novel)

Starring: Yu Aoi, Yuko Takeuchi, Chieko Matsubara, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Yuito Kamata, Rairu Sugita, Tomoya Nakamura, Yukiya Kitamura, Akiko Kurano, Kurukmi Shimizu,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Shohei (Tsutomu Yamazaki) is a retired middle school principal who has just hit 70 and found out that he has Alzheimer’s disease. He tells his wife Yoko (Chieko Matsubara), eldest daughter Mari (Yuko Takeuchi), a housewife, and youngest daughter Fumi (Yu Aoi), a singleton seeking a path in life. The three women can only think of themselves and their own lives and are embarrassed for Shohei who is losing his memory but he still remembers what they have forgotten, precious family memories which are brought out as his memory fades and he regresses back to an earlier time.

Black Maiden: Chapter Q    Black Maiden Chapter Q Film Poster

黒い乙女Q  Kuroi Otome Q

Duration: 116 mins.

Release Date: May 31st, 2019

Director: Sakichi Sato

Writer: Sakichi Sato (Screenplay), Kyoko Nakajima (Novel)

Starring: Nana Asakawa, Kana Kita, Soko Wada, Yoko Mitsuya, Ryota Matsushima, Harumi Syuhama, Toshifumi Muramatsu, Natsu Ando, Ririne Sasano,

Website

Synopsis: The wealthy and kind Uda family has adopted an orphan girl named Mei (Nana Asakawa). She lives with them and gains a new sister in the shape of their other adopted daughter Rana (Kana Kita). When the Uda family’s business collapses, love becomes hate since they can only keep one of the daughters. Cue violence…

Lupin the IIIrd: Mine Fujiko no Uso    Lupin the IIIrd Mine Fujiko no Uso Film Poster

LUPIN THE IIIRD 峰不二子の嘘  Lupin the IIIrd: Mine Fujiko no Uso

Duration: 56 mins.

Release Date: May 31st, 2019

Director: Takeshi Koike

Writer: Yuuya Takahashi (Screenplay), Monkey Punch (Original Creator),

Starring: Miyuki Sawashiro (Fujiko Mine), Kanichi Kurita (Lupin III), Kiyoshi Kobayashi (Daisuke Jigen), Mamoru Miyano (Binkam), Tomoe Hanba (gene),

Animation Production: Telecom Animation Film

Website ANN MAL

Synopsis: This is the latest in the “Lupin III” spin-off movies which focusses on the side characters. This one has Fujiko Mine calling the shots who gets involved in a heist that reveals a twisted family history…

Life on the Longboard 2nd Wave    Life on the Longboard 2nd Wave Film Poster

ライフ・オン・ザ・ ロングボード 2nd Wave  Raifu on za rongu bo-do 2nd Wave

Duration: 112 mins.

Release Date: May 31st, 2019

Director: Ichiro Kita

Writer: Ichiro Kita, Hiroko Kanasugi (Screenplay),

Starring: Hisashi Yoshizawa, Fumika Baba, Karina, Ken Tateishi, Hisako Ookata, Shigeru Izumiya, Nayu Matsubara,

Website

Synopsis: Kotaro Umehara is a middle-aged man who has quit his job and followed his passion for surfing off the coast of Tanegashima. He followed an old surfer like a disciple but when the old man dies, Kotaro and the old man’s daughter Mika come into conflict…

Zubu nurete inukoro    Zubu nurete inukoro Film Poster

ずぶぬれて犬ころ  Zubu nurete inukoro

Duration: 100 mins.

Release Date: June 01st, 2019

Director: Takayoshi Honda

Writer: Fumiko Yamaguchi (Screenplay), Kenichi Yokota (Original Work)

Starring: Kenta Kiguchi, Souta Moriyasu, Takashi Nishina, Keiko Yagi, Kaho Harada,

Website

Synopsis: Souta Moriyasu plays a junior high school student who faces extreme bullying but thanks to haiku and the inspiration of a priest of True Pure Land Buddhism, he changes his life.

Ninomiya Kinjirou    Ninomiya Kinjirou Film Poster

二宮金次郎  Ninomiya Kinjirou

Duration: 113 mins.

Release Date: June 01st, 2019

Director: Sho Igarashi

Writer: Michio Kashiwada (Screenplay), Michio Mitooka (Original Work)

Starring: Masashi Koda, Misato Tanaka, Atsushi Narita, Kyo Hasegawa, Makiya Yamaguchi,

Website

Synopsis: A biographical drama depicting a lesser-known half-life of Kinjiro Ninomiya, a legend in Japanese history who arose from a peasant family and profoundly changed the way of life of so many people, placing farming and community at the centre of his work as he rose through the ranks of society. One of the episodes depicted in this film is him fighting against conservative reactionaries and moneyed interests, he played a big role in staving off a famine that would have been borne by normal people.

Japanese Films at Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2019

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“If I had to name one country with a true culture of animation, it would definitely be Japan.”

This quote was made by French director Georges Lacroix in 1999, the year when the Annecy Festival celebrated Japanese animation for the very first time. Since then, the fest has been packed with Japanese animation, many of which have often taken awards, and now, twenty years later, Annecy celebrates Japan again by packing in classics and new titles and giving space for much of the talent working today to shine.

The Annecy International Animation Film Festival is back from June 10th to the 15th and it’s packed with anime feature films, TV anime, and conferences because the organisers have chosen this year to celebrate 100 years of Japanese animated films (1917 – 2017). This celebration spans classic shorts never before seen outside of Japan to forthcoming works that are being pitched to producers and distributors around the world. Netflix has a presence here thanks to their positive contribution to anime and the student graduation works look equally enticing. With WWII propaganda films, adaptations of classic western novels, animated documentaries, 80s sci-fi, and more going to be screened, festival-goers are in for an exceptional and exciting collection of films that shows what Japan can do.

As per usual, titles contain links to the festival and sources used for information range from the festival site itself to My Anime List (MAL) and Anime News Network (ANN). Let’s start with…

Feature Films in Competition

Ride Your Wave    Ride Your Wave Film Poster

きみと、波にのれたら  Kimi to, Nami ni Noretara

Duration: 94 mins.

Release Date: June 21st, 2019

Director: Masaaki Yuasa

Writer: Reiko Yoshida (Screenplay/Original Creator),

Starring: Rina Kawaei (Hinako Mukaimizu), Ryota Katayose (Minato Hinageshi), Honoka Matsumoto (Yoko Hinageshi), Kentaro Ito (Wasabi Kawamura)

Animation Production: Science SARU

Music: Michiru Oshima

Website   ANN   MAL      

Synopsis: Hinako moves to a coastal town to attend university. While there she can indulge her passion for surfing, something which washes away her uncertainty about her future. When a fire wreaks havoc in the town, Hinako encounters the young firefighter Minato. As they surf and spend more time together, Hinako feels drawn to someone like Minato who devotes himself to helping other people. Hinako also holds a special place in Minato’s heart, and when he suddenly drowns while out surfing alone, he comes back to her as a ghost trapped in water. As everyone else gets over Minato’s death and tries to move on, Hinako comes to depend on his spirit.

Birthday Wonderland     Birthday Wonderland Film Poster

バースデー・ワンダーランド Ba-sude- Wanda-rando

Duration: 115 mins.

Release Date: April 26th, 2019

Director: Keiichi Hara

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

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

Website MAL ANN

This is a movie adaptation of the 1981 children’s book “Chikashitsu kara no Fushigi na Tabi”. Director Keiichi Hara (Miss Hokusai) and character designer Ilya Kuvshinov will be present for a signing session.

Synopsis: Akane Uesugi is a shy 6th grader who has trouble telling other people how she feels. The day before her birthday, her mother, Midori, sends her on an errand: to go get her birthday present from her free-spirited Aunt Chi’s antique shop. But a strange man named Hippocrates the Alchemist, who calls her the “Green Goddess”, together with Pipo the fairy, takes her on a journey to “The World Beyond” from a door in the basement where she embarks upon an adventure to save a land in crisis.

Relative Worlds ashita sekai ga owaru toshitemo film poster

あした世界が終わるとしても 「Ashita Sekai ga Owaru Toshitemo

Release Date: January 25th, 2019

Duration: 108 mins.

Director: Yuhei Sakuragi

Writer: Yuhei Sakuragi (Screenplay),

Starring: Yuuki Kaji (Shin Hazama), Maaya Uchida (Kotori Izumi), Yoshiki Nakajima (Other Shin), Sayaka Senbongi (Kotoko Izumi), Aoi Yuki (Miko), Nana Mizuki (Yuri), Inori Minase (Riko)

Animation Production: Craftar

ANN MAL Website

Synopsis: Shin and Kotori have been friends since childhood but ever since Shin lost his mother he has developed a tendency to close himself off from others. These two high-schoolers find themselves confronted with other versions of themselves when two teens from another Japan appear in front of them.

Feature Films Contrechamp in Competition

This is a sort of “Out of Competition” section to acknowledge various different voices in animation.

Children of the Sea   

海獣の子供  Kaijuu no Kodomo

Duration: 111 mins.

Release Date: May 19th, 2019

Director: Ayumu Watanabe

Writer: Daisuke Igarashi (Screenplay/Original Creator),

Starring: Mana Ashida (Ruka Azumi), Hiiro Ishibashi (Umi), Seishuu Uragami (Sora), Goro Inagaki (Masaaki Azumi), Yuu Aoi (Kanako Azumi), Win Morisaki (Anglade),

Music: Joe Hisaishi

Animation Production: Studio 4°C

Website ANN MAL

Synopsis: Ruka is a young girl whose parents are separated and whose father works in an aquarium. When two boys, Umi and Sora, who were raised in the sea by dugongs, are brought to the aquarium, Ruka feels drawn to them and begins to realize that she has the same sort of supernatural connection to the ocean that they do. Umi and Sora’s special power seems to be connected to strange events that have been occurring more and more frequently, such as the appearance of sea creatures far from their home territory and the disappearance of aquarium animals around the world. However, the exact nature of the boys’ power and of the abnormal events is unknown, and Ruka gets drawn into investigating the mystery that surrounds her new friends.

TV Films in Competition

Dino Girl Gauko “Dad’s Secret” – Akira Shigino Naoko Watanabe is a typical 14 year old, except that she possesses a strange gift and curse. When her anger exceeds a maximum level she turns into Gauko, the fire breathing dinosaur girl!

Commissioned Films in Competition

Powder “New Tribe” by AC-bu This is supposedly based on the true life story of Powder, a Tokyo-based dance music producer and DJ, who is leading a double life: as a corporate employee during the day, and working as a musician at night.

There are a number of competition sections featuring Japanese short films such as Off-Limits where Leaking Life by Shunsaku Hayashi and the main competition section where Mirai Mizue’s Dawn of Ape, the world’s first animation made to be watched by chimpanzees, is amongst other titles.

Graduation short Films in Competition has Japan-based animator Jari Vaara (TAMA ART UNIVERSITY) has a tale of a Hunter’s day going wrong in Hunter and then there’s romance dying in Somewhere Soft by Satoe Yoshinari (GEIDAI) which is her interpretation of heartbreak. Also from GEIDAI is Takahiro Shibata’s Keep Forgetting is all about learning to accept not being accepted by others and then there is The Act of Breathing by Hana Yamazaki who is based in Hungary an a graduate of VOLDA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE.

The most interesting-looking title in this section is Bath House of Whales from Kiyama Mizuki (GEIDAI), an animator who uses paint on glass and has worked on the end credit animation for Mob Psycho 100. She uses her background to depict the differences in behaviour between Japanese and Koreans in bath houses.

 

Screening Events

Ponoc Short Films Theater: Volume 1 – Modest Heroes   Ponoc Short Films Theater Volume 1 – Modest Heroes Film Poster

劇場版 七つの大罪 天空の囚われ人Chiisa na Eiyū – Kani to Tamago to Tōmei Ningen

Release Date: August 24th, 2018

Duration: 54 mins.

Director/Writer: Hiromasa Yonebayashi (Kanini & Kanino), Akihiko Yamashita (Invisible), Yoshiyuki Momose (Samurai Egg)

Starring: Fumino Kimura (Kanini), Rio Suzuki (Kanino), Joe Odagiri (Invisible Man), Machiko Ono (Mama). Min Tanaka (Blind Man), Sota Shinohara (Shun), Kentaro Sakaguchi (Doctor, The Father),

Animation Production: Studio Ponoc

MAL ANN Website

Synopsis: Modest Heroes consists of three short films lasting around 15 minutes each and they were made by three directors:

Kanini & Kanino” is a fantasy adventure story about two crab siblings.

Samurai Egg” is about the love between a mother and a boy.

Invisible” is about the struggle of an invisible man.

Human Lost  Human Lost Film Poster

人間失格  Ningen Shikkaku

Duration: 116 mins.

Release Date: July 19th, 2019

Director: Katsuyuki Motohiro

Writer: Tow Ubukata (Screenplay), Osamu Dazai (Original Creator), 

Starring: Mamoru Miyano (Yozo Oba), Haruka Chisuga (Tsuneko), Jun Fukuyama (Takeichi), Kana Hanazawa (Yoshiko Hiiragi), Miyuki Sawashiro (Madam),

Animation Production: Polygon Pictures

Website ANN MAL

Synopsis: Tokyo, 2036, and society is deeply divided between the rich and poor. It is only the rich who can access a revolutionary medical discovery involving the use of nanomachines to prolong human life to 120 years and remove the possibility of illness. A poor man by the name of Yozo has no hope of accessing this. However when he joins a friend’s biker gang he finds himself drawn into a conspiracy that unlocks new parts of him…

Special Programmes contains all sorts of sections such as one dedicated to food which is where the 2012 short Futon by Yoriko Mizushiri is located and more:

Annecy Classics is a strand that features shorts in a section called 100 Years of Japanese Animation and one feature and recently restored animated films such as Tadanari Okamoto’s Tabi wa Michizure Yo wa Nasake (1973), Taku Furukawa’s Carigraphity (1982), Renzo Kinoshita’s Pica-don (1978), and Phenakistoscope (1975).

Venus Wars    Venus Wars Film Poster

ヴィーナス戦記  Bi-nasu Senki

Duration: 100 mins.

Release Date: March 11th, 1989

Director: Yoshikazu Yasuhiko

Writer: Yoshikazu Yasuhiko (Original Creator/Manga/Screenplay), Yuichi Sasamoto (Screenplay),

Starring: Katsuhida Uekusa (Hiro), Eriko Hara (Susan), Houchou Ohtsuka (Will), Yuuko Mizutani (Maggie), Yuko Sasaki (Miranda), Konami Yoshida (Cathy), Daisuke Gouri (Game Announcer), Goro Naya (Gary),

Animation Production: Triangle Staff

Music: Joe Hisaishi

ANN MAL

Synopsis: Following the collision of an ice asteroid, Venus was terraformed and colonists from Earth tamed the hostile world and have thrived for four generations but after peace for so long a war is about to break out amongst the settlers. The country of Ishtar launches an attack on Aphrodia and it draws in people such as Hiro Seno, a hotshot motorcycle jockey, and a journalist from Earth named Susan who wants to document everything.

The White Snake Enchantress The White Snake Enchantress Film Poster

白蛇伝 「Hakujaden

Release Date: October 22nd, 1958

Duration: 78 mins.

Director: Taiji Yabushita

Writer: Shin Uehara, Taiji Yabushita, Seiichi Yashiro (Screenplay)

Starring: Hisaya Morishige, Mariko Miyagi,

Animation Production: Toei

MAL Website IMDB

This is the first animated feature film in colour from Japan and it has been given a 4K scan and restoration job by Toei Animation Company and the National Archive of Japan to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Japanese animation and 60th anniversary of this film’s original theatrical release. Only two voice actors were cast for the film which would be one of the first three anime features released in North America.

Original negative, 35mm print, tape materials, and animation cels were used by Toei lab tech and Toei digital centre to produce restored data which is in 2K. It was screened at the Cannes Film Festival last month.

Synopsis from ANN: As a young boy, Xu-Xian is forced to free his pet, a small snake. Unbeknownst to him, the snake is actually a young snake goddess named Bai-Niang and she is in love with him. Many years later, when they are both adults, the princess is magically transformed into a human and sets out to find her love. But the local wizard believes her to be a vampire, and banishes Xu-Xian from the village in order to save him. Xu-Xian’s pet pandas Panda and Mimi set out to save him and bring him, in the process becoming leaders of an animal gang.

The Little Norse Prince      The Adventures of Horus Prince of the Sun Film Poster

太陽の王子 ホルスの大冒険  Kaijuu no Kodomo

Duration: 82 mins.

Release Date: July 21st, 1968

Director: Isao Takahata

Writer: Kazuo Fukazawa (Screenplay),

Starring: Hisako Okata (Hols/Horus), Etsuko Ichihara (Hilda), Mikijiro Hira (Grunwald), Asako Akazawa (Piria), Eijirou Touno (Ganko), Hisashi Yokomori (Hols’ Father. Toto the White Owl),

Animation Production: Toei Animation

ANN MAL

Synopsis from ANN: As a baby, Horus was saved by his father from their burning northern village, after the village was attacked by a powerful demon. Several years pass, and on his deathbed the father bids Horus to return to his people. Horus goes on a journey and quickly finds a village plagued by a monster. After slaying the monster, he one day finds, in another ruined village, a cute girl, singing in a heavenly voice. He brings the girl to his new home, but soon finds that there was a good reason for her being alone in the wasteland…

Midnight Specials

Midnight Specials are strands festivals dedicate to the extreme and bizzaro films and Annecy has assembled some features and shorts including Shota Shimizu’s Good Luck Yonpey (which you can watch on the Shimizu’s Vimeo channel) and Sawako (queen of weird animation) Kabuki’s Gokiburi Taisou  or Cockroach Callisthenics in English. Here’s a truly unnerving trailer where you can get mesmerised by the dancing cockroaches (shudder):

No Sawako Kabuki, no animation festivals, I once said. It’s good to see her back. She features again in the Annecy programme.

Here are the features in the Midnight Specials strand:

Promare    Promare Film Poster

プロメア 「Puromea

Release Date: May 24th, 2019

Duration: 111 mins.

Director: Hiroyuki Imaishi

Writer: Kazuki Nakashima (Screenplay/Original Work),

Starring: Ayane Sakura (Aina Ardebit), Kenichi Matsuyama (Galo Thymos), Taichi Saotome (Lio Fotia), Ami Koshimizu (Ellis Ardebit), Arata Furuta (Deus Prometh), Mayumi Shintani (Lucia Fex),

Animation Production: Trigger

ANN MAL Website

Synopsis from Annecy: After burning half of the planet to the ground, Mad Burnish, a terrorist group of ruthless pyromaniacs, has decided not to stop there. To counter their attacks, an elite brigade of firefighters is created and equipped with latest generation of mechas. This is the “made in Japan” scientific decor that Studio Trigger designed for their latest creation. With Hiroyuki Imaishi at the helm, known for his work on speed, shapes, and colors, Promare stays true by providing explosive and fast-paced excitement. A blazing nighttime screening for sure.

Aragne: Sign of Vermillion      Aragne Sign of Vermillion Film Poster

アラーニェの虫籠Aragne no Mushikago

Release Date: August 18th, 2018

Duration: 75 mins.

Director: Saku Sakamoto

Writer: Saku Sakamoto (Screenplay),

Starring: Kana Hanazawa (Rin), Ayana Shiramoto (Nasuha), Yosuke Ito (Tokiyo), Fukujuurou Katayama (Saion), Shuogo Batari (Mikaya)

Animation Production: zelicofilm

Website   ANN Kickstarter

Saku Sakamoto has taken on direction, writing, composing the music, CG and more roles to get this film made. It’s an epic undertaking that looks different from the usual anime not least because of the animation style and designs, some of which are extremely creepy.

Synopsis: Rin (Kana Hanazawa) is an 18-year-old university student who is shy and anxious and a new arrival at her apartment complex. It’s a rundown and unfriendly place where crimes are occurring. There’s something darker stirring in the place, something supernatural and sinister and Rin begins to investigate instead of moving the heck out.

Tribute to Japanese Animation

“To celebrate its 100 years of existence, the Association of Japanese Animations (AJA) has created ANIME NEXT 100. Centered around themes like heritage, training and the industry’s future, the project is totally dedicated to promoting the diverse possibilities that Japanese animation has to offer.”

This is a major strand that features some of the oldest animated films to come from Japan to some of the new talent emerging and everything in between. It’s a veritable hodgepodge.

Anne of Green Gables  Anne of Green Gables Film Poster

赤毛のアン グリーンゲーブルズへの道  Akage no Anne: Green Gables e no Michi

Duration: 100 mins.

Release Date: 1989

Director: Isao Takahata

Writer: Akira Isomura, Shigeki Chiba, Seijirou Kouyama, Isao Takahata (Screenplay), Lucy Maud Montgomery (Original Novel)

Starring: Eiko Yamada (Anne Shirley), Fumie Kitahara (Marilla Cuthbert), Ryuuji Saikichi (Mathew Cuthbert), Michio Hazama (Narrator),

Animation Production: Nippon Animation

Website ANN MAL

A recap film of the first 6 episodes of the TV series. 

Synopsis from MAL: Anne is an orphan full of imagination. When she arrives at her new home she learns that sometimes you have to be a sensible person too; at the same time her unique character changes, or at least attracts, the people around her. The story covers Anne’s growth from about eleven to seventeen years old as she makes friends, goes to school and studies. At a difficult point in her life, Anne will have to make a hard choice and perhaps find a new dream.

There are plenty of shorts spanning from 1917 to the newest titles showing us the range of methods and voices throughout Japanese animation history.

Treasures from Early Japanese Animation (1917-1946) has 9 titles including Jun-ichi Kouchi’s charming chambara comedy The Dull Sword. Japan also has a history of puppet animation and that is brought to the screen in a tribute to Tadahito Mochinaga (1919-1999) and Tadanari Okamoto (1932-1990). There is a tribute to two animators who have been winning awards more recently:

Atsushi Wada's Great Rabbit

A tribute to Atsushi Wada shows 10 different films dedicated to an artist who, to quote the website,

“creates more than just animated stories, he makes viewers feel movement, emotion, and jolts to their subconscious. Through minimalist works derived from Noh theater, and based on music and dance, the director unveils a poetic look at human relationships. He uses only what is essential, nothing superfluous, and nothing extra.”

There are two stand-out films amidst the 10, the first, In a Pig’s Eye, won the Excellence Prize at the Japan Media Arts Festival. The second, The Great Rabbit, won the Silver Bear award at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Tribute to Japanese Animation: Kôji Yamamura: “Mt. Head”, and afterwards? has 12 films on offer. He should be famous for his short film Mount Head which was winner of the ‘Best Animated Short Film’ Cristal at Annecy and nominated for ‘Best Animated Short Film’ Oscar in 2003. He has had many more projects since then although I only first encountered him at a post for the London International Animation Festival.

We get to the newer directors with Anime Tamago which was established to replace Anime Mirai which was established by the Japanese government as a training ground for young animators and a way of staving off outsourcing of work to overseas studios. They’d be better off tackling bad pay in the industry. A Board Overview of Contemporary Japanese Animation newbie directors and still-students and it’s an eclectic mix of styles and topics. New Motion – Directors has four people already in the industry and there are four shorts/TV anime episodes with Hiroko Utsumi presenting Banana Fish and Kiyotaka Oshiyama presenting an episode of Space Dandy amongst others. Honestly, SPACE DANDY IS THE BEST!

New Motion – Shorts Films

This section is dedicated to inventive, ambitious, and experimental shorts that push the boundaries of taste and imagination and are very unique. , we encourage you to explore the limits of this truly singular format. There are twelve films, including these two gems:

Rabbit’s Blood (UK/Japan 2017 Dir: Sarina Nihei 5 mins)  Website.

Tokyo-based Sarina Nihei is a graduate of London’s Royal College of Art and now works as a freelance animator and illustrator. She has won awards and her RCA graduate work, Small People with Hats was the first student film to win the Ottawa International Animation Festival’s top prize for short films. She is inspired by entertaining and surreal films and lists the work of David Lynch and David Cronenberg as favourites in this  interview. Check out her Vimeo channel.

This was made for Channel 4 in the UK.

Two rival groups battle for survival underground – sinister cloaked men and neutralist rabbits.

Waaah「えーん, 2018, Dir: Sawako Kabuki, 1 min.Website

Everyone is born crying and as they grow up they continue to cry. And then what? There is no substitute for the ultimate pacifier.

Open-Air Screenings

Imagine seeing the following classics on the big screen in such a beautiful locations… Well, Jin-Roh may work better in a cinema, but imagine seeing that on the big screen!

Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro Lupin III Castle of Cagliostro Film Poster

ルパン三世 カリオストロの城  「Rupan Sansei Kariosutoro no Shiro」

Release Date: December 15th, 1979

Duration: 96 mins

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Writer: Yasuo Otsuka (Screenplay), Haruya Yamazaki, Hayao Miyazaki (Script), Monkey Punch (Original Manga)

Starring: Yasuo Yamada (Arsene Lupin III), Makio Inoue (Goemon Ishikawa), Kiyoshi Kobayashi (Jigen Daisuke), Goro Naya (Inspector Zenigata), Eiko Masuyama (Fujiko Mine), Sumi Shimamoto (Lady Clarisse de Cagliostro)

Website

This is one of those Miyazaki films that was animated before the formation of Studio Ghibli but it features collaborators and techniques he would work with in the following years. This is a super-fun tale of cat burglars (descended from his French namesake) and princesses which you can take the family to see.

Synopsis: Lupin and best-pal/partner in crime Jigen, search for a counterfeiter who has rendered their latest casino heist a waste of time. They discover that the counterfeiter is in the secluded country of Cagliostro and that a wicked count is holding a beautiful and innocent princess in a tower…

Mary and the Witch’s Flower  Mary and the Witch_s Flower Film Poster

メアリと魔女の花 Meari to Majo no Hana

Running Time: 102

Release Date: July 08th, 2017

Director:  Hiromasa Yonebayashi

Writer: Riko Sakaguchi, Hiromasa Yonebayashi (Screenplay), Mary Stewart (Original Novel),

Starring: Hana Sugisaki (Mary), Ryunosuke Kamiki (Peter), Yuki Amami (Madam Mumblechook), Fumiyo Kohinata (Doctor Dee), Hikari Mitsushima (The Red-Haired Witch), Eri Watanabe (Miss Banks), Shinobu Otake (Great-Aunt Charlotte),

Animation Production: Studio Ponoc

Website ANN MAL IMDB

Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi (Arrietty, When Marnie Was There) and animated by the talented people at Studio Ponoc, many formerly from Studio Ghibli, this is a solid family fantasy.

Synopsis: When Mary is sent to live with her great aunt in the countryside she had no expectations about going on a magical adventure but when she ventures into the woods with her loyal cat Tib, she discovers a mysterious blue flower that only appears once every seven years, and an old broomstick which can fly. Soon Mary is soaring through the sky and deposited at the door of the Endor College of Magic which is run by the mysterious Madam Mumblechook. It seems like a nice place at first but she discovers dark experiments and Tib’s life is in danger!

Jin-Roh – The Wolf Brigade    Jin-Roh-The-Wolf-Brigade Film Poster

人狼  Jin Roh

Duration: 101 mins.

Release Date: June 06th, 2000

Director: Hiroyuki Okiura

Writer: Mamoru Oshii (Screenplay/Original Creator),

Starring: Yoshikatsu Fujiki (Kazuki Fuse), Sumi Mutoh (Kei Amemiya), Hiroyuki Kinoshita (Atsushi Henmi), Yoshisada Sakaguchi (Hachiroh Tohbe), Eri Sendai (Nanami Agawa)

Animation Production: Production I.G

 ANN    MAL

Synopsis: After witnessing the suicide bombing of a terrorist girl, Constable Kazuki Fuse becomes haunted by her image, and is forced to undergo retraining for his position in the Capital Police’s Special Unit. However, unknown to him, he becomes a key player in a dispute between Capital and Local Police forces, as he finds himself increasingly involved with the sister of the very girl he saw die.

 

Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem    Interstella 5555 The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem Film Poster

インターステラ5555  Inta-sutera 5555

Duration: 67 mins.

Release Date: December 01st, 2003

Director: Leiji Matsumoto, Kazuhisa Takenouchi

Writer: N/A

Starring: The music of Daft Punk and the animated character designs of Leiji Matsumoto/Masaki Sato

Animation Production: Toei Animation

Music: Daft Punk

ANN MAL

Synopsis: Back in the early 2000s, the French electro duo Daft Punk were releasing music videos featuring four blue-skinned alien musicians to go with their album “Discovery”. These videos were from a film inspired by their childhood love for anime and was the result of their collaboration with Leiji Matsumoto. Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem is the result and has a story of an extraterrestrial adventure where the musicians have been kidnapped by an unscrupulous music executive who uses them as the Crescendolls, forcing them to take on human appearances and play a concert tour… Until a mysterious groupie tries everything in his powers to save them!

Works in Progress

This section has two anime, Eden which is a sci-fi show set in the far future where humans have vanished and robots have created the perfect utopian society. Things are going swimmingly until a human baby is discovered… Then there is Makoto Shinkai’s latest work:

Weathering With You    Weathering With You Film Poster

天気の子  Tenki no ko

Duration: 116 mins.

Release Date: July 19th, 2019

Director: Makoto Shinkai

Writer: Makoto Shinkai (Screenplay/Original Creator), Kyoko Nakajima (Novel)

Starring: Nana Mori (Hina Amano), Kotaro Daigo (Hodaka Morishima),

Animation Production: CoMix Wave Films

Website ANN MAL

Synopsis: “This is a story about the world’s biggest secret. The secret that only she and I know.” The story centers around a boy and a girl choosing their own way to live through the twist and turns of fate in the world where the climate is losing its balance.

There is a Masterclass with veteran animator Yoichi Katabe as well as a talk about his work with Isao Takahata on the TV anime 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother (Anime News Network link) Looking for Marco and a class about Correcting Sakuga by Kiyotaka Oshiyama, animation director on shows like Space Dandy and Dennoh Coil as well as films like A Letter to Momo.

There are numerous talks about Japanese animation such as the recent boom in shows, a key reason being Western studios who are investing in IP and, reflecting this, is a discussion about how Netflix has changed the anime landscape which will involve a range of talkers including Shinji Aramaki and Kenji Kamiyama in a studio focus slot. There’s also one dedicated to Spider-man: Into the Spider Verse from Sony Studio.

Looking to the future, there is a talk with Japan, the New Generation where four young Japanese filmmakers — Ryo Orikasa, Sarina Nihei, Keita Onishi and Kiyotaka Oshiyama — talk about their influences, production conditions making short films in Japan and their visions of the future.

MIFA has lots of industry talks and pitches and there’s a lot going on. One event has six celebrated Tokyo-based animation studios showcase their newest works at Mifa 2019 in Focus on Tokyo. The newest of the new, the stuff that will be seen on screens in the months to come, will be at the Feature Film and Market Screenings section and titles include Pandora & Akubi and sci-fi ninja actioner Black Fox.

All good festivals have something cultural to go along with the film screenings and there is the Japannecy event where kids can get involved with manga, origami and watch the stop-motion adventures of Tsuneo Goda and Hirokazu Minegishi’s wonderful Komaneko. There is also Japanohara, which is in the Exhibitions section.

Celebrating the land of the rising sun, the Annecy Festival 2019 edition is exhibiting the works of four Japanese artists at the haras. In collaboration with the Annecy association imagespassages, a local player who is actively involved in the moving images’ contemporary art field, the exhibition “Japonohara” presents four artists with four different universes of video works all offering unique experiences:

Yuki Kawamura and her surrealist work Nova in My Hand, an immersion between the depths of the ocean and to the Milky Way

Ikuru Kuwajima and his experimental exploration of Kazan in City of Transformers

Akino Kondoh and her animated nostalgic childhood themes in KiyaKiya

Momoko Seto and her organic film to experience in VR, Planet 

 

Past coverage:

Annecy International Animation Festival 2015

Annecy International Animation Festival 2016

Annecy International Animation Festival 2017

Anime wins awards at Annecy 2017

Annecy International Animation Festival 2018


Japanese Films at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2019

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The Edinburgh International Film Festival takes place between 19th and 30th June. There are around 121 new features from 42 countries across the globe. Japan makes up a tiny fraction, perhaps the smallest. It could be that I have missed titles in the line-up but I did scour the catalogue. The films do look good, though.

Here they are:

Samurai Marathon 1855   

サムライマラソン Samurai MarasonSamurai Marathon Film Poster

Duration: 104 mins.

Release Date: February 22nd, 2019

Director:  Bernard Rose

Writer: Hiroshi Saito, Bernard Rose (Screenplay), Akihiro Dobashi (Manga)

Starring: Takeru Satoh, Shota Sometani, Mirai Moriyama, Nana Komatsu, Munetaka Aoki, Hiroki Hasegawa, Etsushi Toyokawa, Naoto Takenaka, Danny Huston, Junko Abe, Mugi Kadowaki, Mariko Tsutsui,

Website IMDB

Whoa! Bernard Rose, the guy who directed Candyman and Paperhouse has travelled to Japan to do this jidaigeki! It’s produced by Jeremy Thomas (Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence) and has a score by American composer Philip Glass! There’s an awesome star-studded cast who should need no introduction, as well. Here’s some background on the film over at Variety. It’s also based on real history (link).

Synopsis: It is the 1850s and feudal Japan is thrown into chaos as Americans led by Commodore Perry (Danny Huston) have parked their battleships off the coast and demanded the country open up. Katsuaki Itakura (Hiroki Hasegawa) is a feudal lord who runs Annaka-han and to toughen up his warriors for potential attacks, he holds a marathon that runs along a mountain path for about 58 kilometres. Samurai of all stripes are expected to take part but so has the lord’s rebellious daughter, Princess Yuki (Nana Komatsu) who escapes the castle to take part in the dangerous marathon. What is a simple exercise is mistakenly viewed as an act of treason by the central Edo government. Jinnai Karasawa (Takeru Satoh) is a ninja who has infiltrated Annaka to masquerade as a samurai in the service of Katsuaki Itakura and spy but he realises the mistake by his government and tries to stop assassins already making their way to the lord’s castle.

Ponoc Short Films Theater: Volume 1 – Modest Heroes Ponoc Short Films Theater Volume 1 – Modest Heroes Film Poster

劇場版 七つの大罪 天空の囚われ人Chiisa na Eiyū – Kani to Tamago to Tōmei Ningen

Release Date: August 24th, 2018

Duration: 54 mins.

Director/Writer: Hiromasa Yonebayashi (Kanini & Kanino), Akihiko Yamashita (Invisible), Yoshiyuki Momose (Samurai Egg)

Starring: Fumino Kimura (Kanini), Rio Suzuki (Kanino), Joe Odagiri (Invisible Man), Machiko Ono (Mama). Min Tanaka (Blind Man), Sota Shinohara (Shun), Kentaro Sakaguchi (Doctor, The Father),

Animation Production: Studio Ponoc

MAL ANN Website

Synopsis: Modest Heroes consists of three short films lasting around 15 minutes each and they were made by three directors:

Kanini & Kanino” is a fantasy adventure story about two crab siblings.

Samurai Egg” is about the love between a mother and a boy.

Invisible” is about the struggle of an invisible man.

There are also two international co-productions involving Japan on offer in the short strand Image is Memory here.

Here’s coverage of past Edinburgh International Film Festivals:

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2013

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2014

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2015

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2016

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2017

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2018

Japan Foundation’s Free London Screenings of “The Night is Short Walk on Girl” and More

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The Japan Foundation in London have set up their annual Summer Explorers films season with a fun build-up of titles that feature titles from masterful directors both old – Takeshi Kitano and Seijun Suzuki – and new – Masaaki Yuasa. There is even a fun indie film thrown in. It’s really diverse and totally free! All you need to do is book your place!

Here’s some hype and information from the Japan Foundation:

“From wacky time-travel to ancient Rome (Thermae Romae) and a musical extravaganza set in feudal Japan (Princess Raccoon), to a slapstick twist on the film noir genre of the 60’s (Murder Un-Incorporated) – our annual Pre-Summer Explorers season aims to make you shake and cry with laughter while presenting the multi-faceted and unique sense of humour in Japanese cinema!”

Dates: 26 June 2019 – 30 June 2019
Venues:
Screen 1, The Soho Hotel, 4 Richmond Mews, W1D 3DH London

and

Prince Charles Cinema, 7 Leicester Place, WC2H 7BY London

See the Japan Foundation website for more information or click on the links below.

What are the films?

June 26th

The Night is Short, Walk on Girl

夜は短し歩けよ乙女 「Yoru wa Mijikashi Aruke yo Otome」

Release date: April 07th, 2017    The Night is Short, Walk on Girl Film Poster

Duration: 93 mins.

Director: Masaaki Yuasa

Writer: Masaaki Yuasa, Reiko Yoshida (Screenplay) Tomihiko Morimi (Original Novel),

Animation Production: Science SARU

Starring: Kana Hanazawa (Kurokami no Otome), Gen Hoshino (Senpai), Kazuya Nakai (Seitarou Higuchi), Yuuko Kaida (Ryouko Hanuki), Nobuyuki Hiyama (Johnny), Aoi Yuuki (Princess Daruma), Junichi Suwabe (Nise Jougasaki),

MAL     IMDB    Website

The Night is Short, Walk on Girl is the latest film from anime auteur Masaaki Yuasa and his studio Science Saru. One of two award-winning movies he released in 2017 (the other being Lu Over the Wall which took top prize at Annecy), this film is the very definition of the word exuberant in terms of story and style and should cement Yuasa as one of the best anime directors around. This is my second recommendation for the film festival. It was programmed at a fest I work for and I can say, without a doubt, that the audience has a riot of a time! Here’s my review!!!

Book tickets here

Synopsis: The narrative is simple: a girl with black hair (voiced by the ubiquitous and super-talented Kana Hanazawa) is attending the wedding reception of a friend. As far as she is concerned the party doesn’t have to end there and she follows the Komagawa river and walks around the streets of Kyoto at night. From the alleyways and izakayas of Pontocho to the university campus, she makes detours along the way to many hidden events. She is pursued by a male admirer, Sempai (voiced by the musician Gen Hoshino who also played the hapless lover of Fumi Nikaido’s gangster girl in Why Don’t You Play in Hell?), who tries to catch her attention by appearing before her as often as possible. As this rather one-sided romantic dance unfolds they experience surreal magical-realist moments that grow increasingly absurd thanks to a cast of unique characters, all of which tests Sempai’s resolve in love and the girl’s capacity for drink and fun because all the while, everyone keeps drinking and having a good time.

June 29th

Fuku-chan of Fukufuku Flats      Fuku-chan of FukuFuku Flats Film Poster

福福荘の福ちゃん  「Fukufuku-sou no Fuku-chan」

Release Date: November 08th,  2014

Running Time: 111 mins.

Director: Yosuke Fujita

Writer: Yosuke Fujita (Screenplay)

Starring: Yosiyosi Arakawa, Miyuki Oshima, Yuuki Tokunaga, Asami Mizukawa, Takeshi Yamamoto, Kanji Furutachi,

Website    IMDB

Fine, Totally Fine (2008) is one of my favourite films ever. It is so funny with characters I can relate to so when I was at the Raindance Film Festival a few years ago and I went to see Fuku-chan of FukuFuku Flats, which is by the same director Yosuke Fujita, I was super excited. The film did not disappoint and is a real contender for my film of the year thanks in no small part to a fantastic performance from Miyuki Oshima and some classic songs. Even better is the fact that I got to talk to Yosuke Fujita and tell him how much I loved Fine, Totally Fine. I just wish I asked better questions! Anyway, this is packed with comic stars like Yosiyosi Arakawa who was in Fine, Totally Fine as well as the very funny in the 2014 comedy Judge!. Here’s my review.

Book tickets here

Synopsis: Tatsuo is a nice guy and has the nickname ‘Fuku-Chan’. He lives and works in “FukuFuku Flats”, a run-down apartment complex where he paints kites as a hobby. Despite being such a nice fellow he finds it hard to socialise with people and, despite his friend Shimacchi trying to set him up with a girl, he refuses all attempts at romance. This is down to the fact he suffered a prank in junior high school and the reappearance of a girl named Chiho who was at the centre of the prank signals that he may change…

 

Princess Raccoon    Princess Raccoon Film Poster

オペレッタ狸御殿  Operetta Tamekigoten

Release Date: May 28th, 2005

Duration: 111 mins.

Director: Seijun Suzuki

Writer: Yoshio Urasawa (Screenplay),

Starring: Ziyi Zhang, Joe Odagiri, Hiroko Yakushimaru, Mikijiro Hira, Taro Yamamoto, Saori Yuki, Miwako Ichikawa, Hibari Misora,

IMDB

Seijun Suzuki’s charming and off-beat operetta stars Zhang Ziyi and Joe Odagiri (Mushishi) in a magical and fun romance

Book tickets here

Synopsis: Princess Tanuki (Zhang Ziyi) and her romance with Prince Amechiyo (Joe Odagiri). They meet deep in the Sacred Mountain, where he was abandoned by his father Lord Azuchi Momoyama (Mikijiro Hira) after the man learns that his son will soon be more handsome than he. The young couple are soon madly in love but various obstacles arise, not least the differences between humans and spirits. 

Thermae Romae

テルマエ・ロマエ 「Terumai Romai」

Release Date:  April 28th, 2012 (Japan)テルマエ&スパワールド

Duration: 108 mins.

Director: Hideki Takeuchi

Writer: Mari Yamazaki (manga), Shogo Muto

Starring: Hiroshi Abe, Aya Ueto, Masachika Ichimura, Kai Shishido, Kazuki Kitamura

IMDB

The live-action adaptation of Mari Yamazaki’s fun manga of the same name has time travel, culture clash comedy and a great set of actors. It was partly filmed in Cinecitta in Rome but features Japanese actors playing Roman characters. This looks like a lot of fun and the anime adaptation wasn’t too bad.

Book tickets here

Synopsis: Roman bath house architect Lucius (Hiroshi Abe) is a perfectionist and traditionalist who gets fired from his architectural practice. In order to cheer him up, a friend takes him to a bathhouse but Lucius slips through a time portal and ends up in modern day Japan. Although initially bewildered Lucius takes inspiration from modern day Japanese baths and implements the designs in his Roman bathhouses. This sees him become favoured by Emperor Hadrian (Ichimura) but clash with emperor-in-waiting Antoninus (Kazuki Kitamura). Lucius soon finds himself caught up in political intrigue in between his time travel adventures but it is not all bad as he has met a beautiful aspiring manga artist named Mami (Ueto) who loves to sketch him.

Getting Any?   Getting Any Film Poster

みんな~やってるか!Minna~ Yatteru ka

Release Date: February 11th, 1995

Duration: 108 mins.

Director:  Takeshi Kitano

Writer: Takeshi Kitano (Screenplay),

Starring: Dankan, Moeko Ezawa, Takeshi Kitano, Susumu Terajima, Kanji Tsuda, Yurei Yanagi, Ren Osugi, Taka Guadalcanal, Hakuryu, Yojin Hino, Yoneko Matsukane,

IMDB Website

Takeshi Kitano is an auteur known for films like Fireworks, Kikujiro and Dolls, but many fans in Japan preferred to see him as Beat Takeshi, the comedian. In response to the insistence on seeing his funny side he came up with this series of bizarre, over the top and absurd slapstick sketches full of silliness and never ending gags that stem from one guy’s quest to get laid. Getting Any? embraces the spirit of Kitano’s early stand-up and television work and as such it offers a genuine inside look into his true personality while working as a satire of Japanese society and popular cinema. Here’s my review.

Book tickets here

Synopsis: The story follows the lazy middle-aged guy named Asao (Dankan), a professional daydreamer, whose one and only goal in life is to get laid. Asao embarks on a series of slapstick adventures in search of fulfilling his ultimate fantasy – having wild passionate sex with a woman. His quest for sex lands him in a series of absurd situations, involving armed robbery, chambara movie productions, yakuza wars and a scientific experiments with unexpected results…

June 30th

Murder Un-Incorporated    Murder Unincorporated Film Poster

大日本殺し屋伝  Dainippon koroshiya den

Release Date: August 25th, 1655

Running Time: 85 mins.

Director: Hiroshi Noguchi

Writer: Kobako Hanato, Akira Saiga (Screenplay),

Starring: Jo Shishido, Kon Ohmura, Kiyoshi Hitomi, Taro Hiratsune, Juro Sacho, Toru Yuri, Yoko Yamamoto, Kanbi Fujiyama, Juro Sasa,

IMDB

Book tickets here

Synopsis from the Japan Foundation: When the mysterious ‘Joe of Spades’ (Jo Shishido) assassinates one of the bosses of a powerful crime syndicate, the rest of its leadership, fearing they’ll meet a similar fate, call on the services of an assassin agency. The ragtag cadre of hired guns begin hunting down the unknown executor and employ some of the most peculiar killing tactics with mixed results… A rare opportunity to see the most famous Japanese comedians of the time on one screen.

Children of the Sea, The Garden Apartment, Almost a Miracle, Erica 38, Rent A Friend, Saint Young Men Second Century, Voice Actor Bowling Grand Prix 3, 99-sai haha to kuraseba, Mangetsu no yoru ni wa omoidashite, Bad Women Good Job Japanese Film Trailers

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Happy weekend!

We made it to another one!

I’m starting the post with a great AMV. I used to make those, once upon a time.

We had big news at the start of the week with the marriage of Yu Aoi to the comedian Ryota Yamasato. It caught everyone off-guard because their dates went under the radar but they’ve known each other for a long time. Her smiles say a lot so let’s hope they continue to be happy.

In terms of this blog, I wrote about the Japanese films at this year’s Annecy International Animation Festival and the Edinburgh International Film Festival. I also wrote about the Japan Foundation’s Pre-Summer Explorer’s film event where a selection of great titles including The Night is Short, Walk on Girl, Getting Any? and Fuku-chan of Fukufuku Flats are going to be screened.

What is released this weekend?

Children of the Sea   

海獣の子供  Kaijuu no Kodomo

Release Date: May 19th, 2019

Duration: 111 mins.

Director: Ayumu Watanabe

Writer: Daisuke Igarashi (Screenplay/Original Creator),

Starring: Mana Ashida (Ruka Azumi), Hiiro Ishibashi (Umi), Seishuu Uragami (Sora), Goro Inagaki (Masaaki Azumi), Yuu Aoi (Kanako Azumi), Win Morisaki (Anglade),

Music: Joe Hisaishi

Animation Production: Studio 4°C

Website ANN MAL

Synopsis from ANN: Ruka is a young girl whose parents are separated and whose father works in an aquarium. When two boys, Umi and Sora, who were raised in the sea by dugongs, are brought to the aquarium, Ruka feels drawn to them and begins to realize that she has the same sort of supernatural connection to the ocean that they do. Umi and Sora’s special power seems to be connected to strange events that have been occurring more and more frequently, such as the appearance of sea creatures far from their home territory and the disappearance of aquarium animals around the world. However, the exact nature of the boys’ power and of the abnormal events is unknown, and Ruka gets drawn into investigating the mystery that surrounds her new friends.

 

The Garden Apartment    garden apartment film poster

ガーデンアパート Ga-den Apa-to

Release Date: June 07th, 2019

Duration: 77 mins.

Director: Umi Ishihara

Writer: Umi Ishihara (Screenplay),

Starring: Yukari Shinomiya, Kaori Takeshita, Kiyoshiro Ishida, Yu Suzumura,

Website    IMDB

Umi Ishihara is an artist whose award-winning work has been featured around the world from Brazil to Australia and Japan. Some words straight from her website:

The major themes of her work centre around love, personal memories and society. Her work adopts a mix of documentary and fiction, muddying the waters of believability.”

This one was at last year’s Osaka Asian Film Festival in the Indie Forum section.

Synopsis: Hikari has just gotten pregnant with Taro who is cohabiting with her. Their relationship seems to be floundering because, since both have graduated from university, they have had trouble finding employment. As financial problems emerge, so do further relationship problems. Taro has a secret. He relies on his “aunt” Kyoko who has been acting strangely since she lost her husband at a young age. When Hikari meets her for the first time, it seems they may not get along but Hikari starts to visit Kyoko in secret and is introduced to a world where lost young people are free to act out their wild side. This could spell doom for her relationship with Taro as Hikari attracts the attention of Kyoko’s young boyfriend…

Almost a Miracle    Almost a Miracle Film Poster

町田くんの世界  Machidakun no Sekai

Release Date: June 07th, 2019

Duration: 119 mins.

Director: Yuya Ishii

Writer: Yuya Ishii, Sho Kataoka (Screenplay), Yuki Ando (Manga)

Starring: Kanata Hosoda, Nagisa Sekimizu, Takanori Iwata, Mitsuki Takahata, Atsuko Maeda, Taiga, Sosuke Ikematsu, Erika Toda, Koichi Sato,

Website IMDB

This is a super-amazing cast of talents and actors. Sosuke Ikematsu, Mitsuki Takahata and Taiga (both great in Japanese Girls Never Die), Atsuko Maeda (Seventh Code), Koichi Sato, and Erika Toda. They have all been assembled by Yuya Ishii (The Great Passage, The Tokyo Night Sky is Always the Densest Shade of Blue).

Synopsis: High school student Hajime Machida (Kanata Hosoda) is a bit flaky when it comes to studies and sports but he’s a lovable guy who gets along well with other people. His polar opposite is classmate Nana Inohara (Nagisa Sekimizu) who doesn’t like people. Opposites attract as they begin to have feelings for for each other.

Erica 38    Erica 38 Film Poster

エリカ38  Erika 38

Release Date: June 07th, 2019

Duration: 103 mins.

Director: Yuichi Hibi

Writer: Yuichi Hibi (Screenplay),

Starring: Miyoko Asada, Miu Suzuki, Kirin Kiki, Nahana, Juri Manase, Hajime Yamazaki, Shizuo Yamazaki, Hinako Saeki, Takehiro Hira,

Website IMDB

This, I believe, is the last role we will see Kirin Kiki after her passing and it’s an interesting looking drama.

Synopsis: Satoko Watabe (Miyoko Asada), a 60-year-old con woman, and her new lover Ikuo Hirasawa (Takehiro Hira) defraud people in an investment scam and make a lot of money but the deceiver is deceived when she discovers that her boyfriend has other girlfriends. Satoko Watabe ups and leaves with the cash and goes to Thailand and passes herself off as a 38-year-old woman named Erica before returning to Japan where she cons an elderly man out of a large house and calls her mother (Kirin Kiki) at a nursing home to live with her but Erica cannot continue her crooked ways…

Rent A Friend    Rent A Friend Film Poster

月極オトコトモダチ  Tsukigime Otoko Tomodachi

Release Date: June 08th, 2019

Duration: 78 mins.

Director: Mayu Akiyama

Writer: Mayu Akiyama (Screenplay),

Starring: Eri Tokunaga, Atsushi Hashimoto, Sumire Ashina, Tomoko Nozaki, Hiroaki Morooka, Kana Yamada,

Website

There are a slew of Moosic Lab 2018 dramas and they all look good. I only saw one, this year, Sayounara, and it was okay. The others that have been released like Life Finds a Way, Hitori no Dansu, and this one, look more interesting to someone of my nature.

Synopsis: Nasa Mochizuki (Eri Tokunaga) works as an editor for a web magazine. One night, at a bar, she meets Sota Yanase (Atsushi Hashimoto), who tells her that he makes a living by renting himself out as a friend and refuses to have romantic relationships. In order to test his claim, Nasa rents Sota Yanase as a friend.

Saint Young Men Second Century    Saint Young Men Second Century Live Action Film Poster

聖☆おにいさん 第II  Sei oniisan dai II nori

Release Date: June 06th, 2019

Duration: N/A

Director: Yuichi Fukuda

Writer: Yuichi Fukuda (Screenplay), Hikaru Nakamura (Manga)

Starring: Kenichi Matsuyama, Shota Sometani, Yuuki Yamada, Umi Yamano,

Website

The live-action adaptation of Hikaru Nakamura’s popular manga Saint Young Men gets a movie instalment executive produced by Takayuki Yamada (actor in 13 Assassins). It stars, Kenichi Matsuyama (Shindo, Detroit Metal City) and Shota Sometani (Himizu) who play Jesus and Buddha respectively. The manga has already been subject to an anime movie adaptation.

Synopsis: In this slice-of-super-saintly-life comedy, the dynamic duo, who share a room in Tachikawa, Tokyo, go to Akihabara, a sacred place for otaku and somewhere “computer-geek” Jesus has always wanted to visit. Miracles happen and comedy ensues.

Voice Actor Bowling Grand Prix 3    Voice Actor Bowling Grand Prix 3 Film Poster

声優ボウリングランプリ Seiyuu Bouringu Guran Puri 3

Release Date: June 07th, 2019

Duration: 70 mins.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

Starring: Atsushi Abe, Tsubasa Yonaga, Kento Hama, Takuya Sato, Yuki Iwai,

Synopsis: Voice actors do some competitive bowling with punishment games involved in the third bowling grand prix of this type. This is a limited release ahead of a DVD.

99-sai haha to kuraseba    99-sai haha to kuraseba Film Poster

99歳 母と暮らせば  99-sai haha to kuraseba

Release Date: June 08th, 2019

Duration: 92 mins.

Director: Akira Tanimitsu

Writer: N/A

Starring: Chieko Tanimitsu, Ken Tanimitsu, Akira Tanimitsu, Ikuko Tanimitsu,

Website

Synopsis: This documentary was made to capture the final days between Chieko Tanimitsu, a 99-year-old woman who has dementia. She lives with her son, Akira (a documentarian last featured here in 2014), who takes care of her and we see the hardships as well as the good times, love and care between them.

Mangetsu no yoru ni wa omoidashite    Mangetsu no yoru ni wa omoidashite Film Poster

満月の夜には思い出して  Mangetsu no yoru ni wa omoidashite

Release Date: June 08th, 2019

Duration: 68 mins.

Director: Yumeki Kawakita

Writer: Yumeki Kawakita (Screenplay),

Starring: Erika Tokiyoshi, Momoko Takeuchi, Kenya Nojima, Tomomi Shindo, Mina Otsuki, Tomoki Kimura,

Website

This is another work from MOOSIC LAB 2018 and it comes from Yumeki Kawakita whose previous work, Kawaranai de. Hyakunichisou, was at the Kanazawa Film Festival 2017.

Synopsis: Three university kids and their friends who are part of the film club, theatre club and music club are making a final film before graduation but face the decision of whether to chase their dreams or face reality and get a normal career.

Bad Women Good Job    Warui onna wa yoku kasegu Film Poster

悪い女はよく稼ぐ  Warui onna wa yoku kasegu

Release Date: June 08th, 2019

Duration: 89 mins.

Director: Takahito Hara

Writer: Kanako Kizaki, Hiroshi Kashiwabara (Screenplay),

Starring: Naomi Hase, Asami Kumakiri, Haruyuki Mizuguchi, Koji Nishiyama, Ooshiba Ru, Emi Aoki,

Website

Synopsis: Naomi Hase and Asami Kumakiri play international con-artists who find themselves back in Japan and forced to work together to defraud another con-artist.

The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil 악인전 Dir: Lee Won-Tae (South Korea, 2019)

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The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil    TheGangsterTheCopTheDevil_Poster

악인전  Akinjeon

Release Date: May 15th, 2019

Duration: 110 mins.

Director: Lee Won-Tae

Writer: Lee Won-Tae (Screenplay),

Starring: Ma Dong-Seok, Kim Moo-Yul, Kim Sung-Kyu, Yoo Seung-Mok, Choi Min-Chul, Kim Yoon-Sung, Heo Dong-Won, Oh Hee-Joon, Kim Gyu-Ri,

IMDB

“Don’t let the devil win!” reads the tag-line of the film and it’s down to two bad guys to catch the worst man in this glossy thriller where a gangster and a loose-cannon of a cop team up to catch a serial killer.

Apparently based on a true story, the film is set in 2005/6 (best shown by the flip-phones and stubby cameras) and opens with the Devil (Kim Sung-Kyu) cruising the streets of Cheonan city looking for a victim for his murderous impulses. We see his M.O. of rear-ending cars on lonely roads and viciously knifing the unsuspecting driver when pretending to check on their safety. The narrative then shuffles him into the background to quickly sketch out the rivalry between two rogues, hulking gang boss Jang Dong-Su (Ma Dong-Seok aka Don Lee) and loud-mouth Detective Jung Tae-Seok (Kim Moo Yul). Jang Dong-Su is seen amidst business negotiations and turf rivalries, usually settling things with his boulder-like fists, while Jung Tae-Seok is a brash character who refuses bribes and has keen detective skills as evidenced by the fact he is the only one to sense that a serial killer is on the loose.

Their workplace travails play out to show the line between the criminal underworld and the cops isn’t so clear and it is something only guaranteed to get murkier after Jang Dong-Su is violently attacked by the killer on a rainy night. It’s a nervy fight as the mobster battles back from repeated stabbings and barely escapes with his life. What doesn’t survive is his reputation as a feared gangster which is shredded by the killer. The only way to restore his image is to find his attacker and exact revenge and to do this Jang teams up with Jung Tae-Seok to find the assailant who they name “K”.

Having morally compromised characters chase someone pure evil is hardly new territory with Na Hong-Jin’s 2008 film The Chaser coming to mind but while that film resolutely remained grim viewing writer/director Lee Won-Tae’s film ducks and dives between genres with a breathless ease. The film is built like a serial-killer thriller but contains a gangster politics with every big brawl that breaks out amidst the business of running illegal gambling parlours and then there will be elements of a police procedural with squad rivalries and forensic shenanigans involving crime scene investigator Cha Seo-Jin (Kim Gyu-Ri from Memento Mori). Sometimes the film slows at these more precise moments but the narrative layers add important details to keep the plot twisting and to keep audiences on tenterhooks as to whether the devil can be defeated. More satisfying than the police work is seeing how Detective Jung is forced to use Jang’s gangster resources to track down the killer which leads to some funny culture clash moments as police and mobsters team up. Everything meshes together well to vary the tone and keep the audience guessing what will happen next as the “heroes” go to extreme lengths to catch the killer.

The-Gangster-The-Cop-The-Devil-Don-Lee-Strikes

The biggest thrills come with moments of extreme action staged with flare typical of Korean cinema in fights involving blades and fists. The damage is very visceral as people dance into and out of range of flurries of stabs and punches and in this aspect it is Ma Dong-Seok who makes the biggest impact. Audiences will probably be most aware of him from Train to Busan (2016) in which his tough and noble character clears out carriages of zombies. Here he plays the bad guy with a sense of honour and does a great job of showing how his character has to calculatedly channel every fibre of his being into the persona of a mob boss to maintain his reputation and stay in control. His massive physicality is a screen-stealing plus as he gets into frequent fights and dominates proceedings, literally swatting opponents out of the air as if they were flies at times. Not even doors stop him from punching in the face of a target in the film’s most satisfying fight. Kim Moo Yul provides a fun and sparky counterpart and their rough-and-tumble and blackly comic dynamic adds a lot of fizz-bang flavour. Kim Sung-Kyu’s serial killer is more lightly sketched although he does have an air of menace as he physically comes off a little like a younger and more active version of Anton Chigurh from the film No Country for Old Men (2007).

This is writer/director Lee Won-Tae’s sophomore film and it shows a lot of confidence and panache in staging. He is adept at inter-cutting between characters and there are the occasional notable long takes as the camera moves in and out of the crime scene and we see detective Jung demonstrate his skills and then there are the many fight scenes and foot chases that take place in the neon-lit streets and karaoke boxes of Cheonan city but the real highlight is a breakneck-speed and car chase through narrow alleys involving the three characters.

The-Gangster-The-Cop-The-Devil-Detective-Jung

Korean filmmakers often have the canny ability to sneak some social commentary into their films but not here. This is more of a popcorn film and in that regards it succeeds thanks to the bravura lead performance from Ma Dong-Seok who steals scenes in the more energetic action sequences. A Hollywood remake is coming soon courtesy of Sylvester Stallone’s Balboa Productions and that involves Ma Dong-Seok. See the original and for a cool action fix.

My review was first published on VCinema on June 08th.

Whole Dir: Bilal Kawazoe (2019) Osaka Asian Film Festival 2019

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Whole

Duration: 45 mins.

Release Date: 2019

Director: Bilal Kawazoe

Writer: Usman Kawazoe (Screenplay),

Starring: Usman Kawazoe, Aoi Ibuki, Kai Hoshino Sandy,

Website IMDB   OAFF

This review was first published on V-Cinema on March 14th

In recent years, the rise of mixed-race Japanese has become a hot topic with “hafu”, a word which is taken from the English word “half”, becoming more visible thanks to sports and entertainment personalities like tennis champ Naomi Osaka and 2015’s Miss Universe Japan Ariana Miyamoto. Even if Japan is pretty ethnically mixed, hafu are visibly different and are often presented as glamorous and fashionable by advertising execs. This ignores the reality of discrimination and ostracisation they face, something which Bilal Kawazoe’s film, WHOLE examines as one of the few recent Japanese efforts to look at this issues surrounding being biracial in a homogeneous society.

There are two protagonists living in the pretty cosmopolitan city of Kobe whose travails make the whole of the movie. The first is Haruki, a biracial student from the suburbs who has quit his overseas college course and returned to Japan to find his identity. Unfortunately, this has been something he has long struggled with and having parents who, judging by the dialogue which indicates they are mostly absent even if they are there, don’t take the time to support him. He bottles things up as can be seen on his downhearted face. Haruki then meets Makoto, a construction worker raised in the projects of Kansai who is also biracial. Ostensibly more confident, he has two guys he hangs out with and shows less fear when travelling in public, laughing off accusations he is a foreigner and joining in with the “banter”. Although Haruki and Makoto are complete opposites in terms of personality and class, they quickly form a friendship full of understanding and sympathy which helps them bridge the gap across the emptiness of being an outsider so they can go from being half a person to a whole.

The tone of the film is clear and concise, told with tight direction and confidence in its spare design and writing which makes it a perceptive evocation of searching for an identity.

The narrative has them almost becoming the best friend that they needed at just the right time. Their camaraderie isn’t immediate and it has some form of pity but the two are on the same wavelength and help each other gain some self-esteem in what could be seen as a harsh environment as shown by Kawazoe’s direction which astutely captures the sense of being an outsider with it observing people observing the protagonists and the looks of alienation on their faces. There is a range of situations to let audiences understand that prejudice can take on all manner of forms from the typical “micro-aggressions” that Westerners take to social media to lament such as praise for fluency in Japanese and using the chopsticks and then there are the galling scenes where someone will display the flat-out disbelief that these two kids could be anything but Japanese. With every scene, we see ways people are made to feel like outsiders and a lot of comments, even if no ill-will is meant, are clearly draining for the characters as shown by the way the two actors display disconsolate faces, “shouganai” shrugs of the shoulders and forced humour. Throughout the story, Makoto’s inner struggles mount so he can no longer laugh off the prejudice and opens up to Haruki who initially took things more to heart but finds a constructive output thanks to his friend. More than that, the film is not afraid to speak up and challenge society, most potently shown in a scene where Haruki vents his frustrations. The dialogue and performances are nuanced and clear enough to get across the longing to find a settled identity without being too blunt.

One thing worth pointing out are the two supportive characters, Makoto’s mother and Haruki’s female friend. Equal parts stern and caring, they keep the guys on an even keel and it is people like these who can make the difference in life just by being there.

Ultimately strength comes from knowing your roots or being prepared to be an individual in a society, something not easy to do in a country where the group mentality is everything, but the film ends on an open and hopeful note as the two young men are able to sincerely face these issues thanks to their friendship with each other and support from two loyal women.

Identity is not solely about how we look but that is something many people struggle to understand. This film helps with that process. After premiering in Osaka, who knows where this film will go next, but the film has international resonance and can travel outside of the specialist festivals dedicated to Japan. Most importantly, Bilal Kawazoe tries to create something affecting and relevant in our age of miscommunication and conflict and in the field of Japanese films dealing with the mixed-race experience, it is a welcome addition.

A Preview of Japan Cuts 2019 (JULY 19–28)

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Japan Cuts 2019 is back with its annual showcase of the latest in Japanese films carefully curated by its team of programmers. It is due to kick off in New York in a month’s time and runs from JULY 19–28. The selection looks good and there’s a handy trailer to build up anticipation by revealing a glimpse of all the films on offer!

There is a distinctly youthful and fresh feeling to the roster of directors and writers as well as the stories they tell. Lots of directors are, or were, making their debuts after cutting their teeth in various production roles or they are at the indie end of the spectrum and under-exposed on the festival circuit. Then there is a lot of youth-oriented stories with a lot of coming-of-age tales. That’s not to say that the older generations are forgotten as a documentary and some legendary filmmakers are also on board with Shinya Tsukamoto in New York to show Bullet Ballet as well as his latest film Killing and there is also a doc called I Go Gaga, My Dear about an elderly couple which is getting a lot of play at different fests so that’s a good sign. I’ve seen quite a few of these films, mostly at this year’s Osaka Asian Film Festival, and so I’ll put links to my reviews if you want to read them.

Some of these films are going to be accompanied by directors and actors and a full list plus bios can be found here. This year’s recipient of the CUT ABOVE Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film is Shinya Tsukamoto, one of the first directors I went and wrote a biography for and reviewed a whole bunch of his films (my favourite being Vital). He is just one of many guests so please check the official website to find out more.

All information comes from old trailer posts and the JAPAN CUTS website.

Here is what has been programmed!

Friday, July 19th

Japan Cuts 2019 opens on Thursday, July 19th, with Dance With Me, a lovely-looking musical number:

Dance With Me    Dance With Me Film Poster

ダンスウィズミー  Dansu Uizu Mi-

Release Date: June 07th, 2019

Duration: 103 mins.

Director: Yuichi Hibi

Writer: Yuichi Hibi (Screenplay),

Starring: Ayaka Miyoshi, Yuu Yashiro, Chay, Takahiro Miura, Tsuyoshi Muro, Akira Takarada,

Website IMDB

Q&A with director Shinobu Yaguchi and star Ayaka Miyoshi

Synopsis: Shizuka is a salarywoman preparing for a big meeting but after visiting a shady hypnotist and left under a spell which causes her to break into song and dance whenever she hears music, even if it’s just a ringtone. Shizuka needs to get her head fixed for the meeting and goes on the hunt for the hypnotist who has disappeared and so starts a road-trip musical!

Saturday, July 20th

The Island of Cats    Neko no Jiichan Film Poster

ねことじいちゃん Neko to Jiichan

Release Date: February 22nd, 2019

Duration: 103 mins.

Director:  Mitsuaki Iwago

Writer: Fumi Tsubota (Screenplay), Nekomaki (Manga)

Starring: Shinosuke Tatekawa, Kou Shibasaki, Kaoru Kobayashi, Tasuku Emoto, Yuki Katayama, Toshie Kobayashi,

Website IMDB

Seasoned thesps such as Kaoru Kobayashi and Toshie Kobayashi work alongside the quietly brilliant Kou Shibasaki here.

Synopsis: Daikichi (Shinosuke Tatekawa) is a 70-year-old widower who lives on a small island with his cat Tama. The island is overrun with cats and mainly populated by the elderly so it’s an easy-going place. Daikichi’s son Tsuyoshi (Takashi Yamanaka), who lives in Tokyo, is worried about his father living alone on the island, especially as his physical condition worsens with age. Daikichi and Tama’s daily life begins to change when a woman named Michiko (Kou Shibasaki) opens a cafe for the island’s mostly elderly residents…

Whole

Release Date: 2019

Duration: 45 mins.

Director: Bilal Kawazoe

Writer: Usman Kawazoe (Screenplay),

Starring: Usman Kawazoe, Aoi Ibuki, Kai Hoshino Sandy,

Website IMDB   OAFF

Bilal Kawazoe’s film, WHOLE looks at as one of the few recent Japanese efforts to look at this issues surrounding being biracial in a homogeneous society. Here’s my review.

The film will be preceded by the short Tokyo Kurds (2018. 20 min.) directed by Fumiari Hyuga, a doc that follows one of a number of undocumented Kurds living in the country.

Q&A with director Bilal Kawazoe and stars Kai Hoshino Sandy and Usman Kawazoe

Synopsis: There are two protagonists living in the pretty cosmopolitan city of Kobe that make the whole of the movie. The first is Haruki, a biracial student from the suburbs who has quit his overseas college course and returned to Japan to find his identity. Unfortunately, this has been something he has long struggled with and having parents who, judging by the dialogue, are mostly absent even if they are there, don’t take the time to support him, he bottles things up as can be seen on his downhearted face. Haruki then meets Makoto, a construction worker raised in the projects of Kansai who is also biracial. Ostensibly more confident, he has two guys he hangs out with and shows less fear when travelling in public, laughing off accusations he is a foreigner and joining in with the “banter”. Although Haruki and Makoto are complete opposites in terms of personality and class, they quickly form a friendship full of understanding and sympathy which helps them bridge the gap across the emptiness of being an outsider so they can go from being half a person to a whole.

I Go Gaga, My DearBokemasukara, yoroshiku onegaishimasu Film Poster

ぼけますから、よろしくお願いします。 Bokemasukara, yoroshiku onegaishimasu

Release Date: November 03rd, 2018

Duration: 102 mins.

Director:  Naoko Nobutomo

Writer: N/A

Starring: N/A

Website

Synopsis from Japan Cuts: The first theatrical feature by veteran television director Naoko Nobutomo is a personal documentary chronicling the enduring love, resilience and struggles of her nonagenarian parents in Kure, Hiroshima as her mother’s Alzheimer’s-related dementia gradually worsens. With a great abundance of footage taken over several years, Nobutomo interweaves direct documentation with intimate home movies of her parents, including their support during her battle with breast cancer. A small film that was a surprise box office hit purely through word-of-mouth, I Go Gaga, My Dear opened in one small Sapporo cinema and eventually expanded to 70 screens nationwide for over three months.

Being Natural    Being Natural Film Poster

天然☆生活 Tennen Seikatsu

Release Date: March 23rd, 2019

Duration: 96 mins.

Director: Tadashi Nagayama

Writer:  Tadashi Nagayama, Yuriko Suzuki (Screenplay),

Starring: Yota Kawase, Kanji Tsuda, Natsuki Mieda, Tadahiro Tsuru, Shoichiro Tanigawa,

IMDB

It starts off as a gentle comedy where we follow Yota Kawase’s good-natured lead character and then goes completely off the rails. The ending is absolutely bonkers.

Q&A with director Tadashi Nagayama and stars Yota Kawase and Natsuki Mieda

Synopsis: Taka is a simple chap and lives a quiet life in his rural town in his uncle’s house as he takes care of the old man with dementia. He spends his days playing games when not looking after others but his peaceful life changes when a couple from Tokyo arrive in the area with plans to open a coffee shop.

10 Years JapanTen Years Japan Film Poster

十年Ten Years Japan Juunen Ten Years Japan

Release Date: November 03rd, 2018

Duration: 99 mins.

Producer: Hirokazu Kore-eda

Website IMDB

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

Here, Hirokazu Kore-eda helps produce the stories of five young directors who bring different episodes together into one film.

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

Director: Akiyo Fujimura

Writer: Akiyo Fujimura (Screenplay)

Starring: Chizuru Ikewaki

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

For Our Beautiful Country (Utsukushii Kuni 美しい国)

Director: Kei Ishikawa

Writer: Kei Ishikawa (Screenplay)

Starring: Taiga, Hana Kino

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

PLAN 75

Director: Chie Hayakawa

Writer: Chie Hayakawa (Screenplay)

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

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

Mischievous Alliance (Itazura Domei いたずら同盟)

Director: Yusuke Kinoshita

Writer: Yusuke Kinoshita (Screenplay)

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

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

DATA

Director: Megumi Tsuno

Writer: Megumi Tsuno (Screenplay)

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

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

Sunday, July 21st

Samurai Shifters      Samurai Shifters Film Poster

引っ越し大名!  Hikkoshi Daimyo!

Release Date: August 30th, 2019

Duration: 120 mins.

Director: Isshin Inudo

Writer: Akihiro Dobashi (Screenplay),

Starring: Gen Hoshino, Gaku Hamada, Yutaka Matsushige, Issey Takahashi, Mitsuki Takahata, Yukiyoshi Ozawa, Masahiko Nishimura, Mitsuhiro Oikawa, Yasuko Tomita,

Website IMDB

Synopsis from Japan Cuts because it’s brilliant: In 17th century Japan, the Tokugawa shogunate ensures political dominance by forcing lords to move their clans from domain to domain. When the Echizen Matsudaira clan is called upon to make a particularly tough relocation, the undesired role of relocation officer falls to Harunosuke Katagiri (Gen Hoshino), a socially inept samurai librarian. Under the threat of forced harakiri, Harunosuke takes to the near impossible task with the help of a loudmouth swordsman (Issey Takahashi) and the former relocation officer’s daughter (Mitsuki Takahata).

The ChaplainKyoukaishi Film Poster

教誨師 Kyoukaishi

Release Date: October 06th, 2018

Duration: 114 mins.

Director: Dai Sako

Writer: Dai Sako (Screenplay),

Starring: Ren Osugi, Reo Tamaoki, Setsuko Karasuma, Takeo Gozu, Noboru Ogawa, Kenji Furutachi, Ken Mitsuishi,

Website

This was Ren Osugi’s last film before he passed away in February last year. He produced this project. Can you imagine being one of the actors selected by him to play one of these roles? It would be an honour.

Synopsis: Saeki (Ren Osugi) is a prison chaplain who works with death-row inmates. He is good at communicating with them and uses this skill to try and reform them but he agonises over whether he makes a difference in their lives and whether he is doing the right thing. He also tries to avoid facing an incident in his past…

 

The Kamagasaki Cauldron War  The Kamagasaki Cauldron War Film Poster

月夜釜合戦 Tsukiyo kama gassen

Release Date: March 09th, 2019

Duration: 115 mins.

Director:  Leo Sato

Writer: Leo Sato (Screenplay),

Starring: Naomichi Ota, Yota Kawase, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Kazu, Makoto Nishiyama, Shoji Omiya,

Website IMDB

This is a film to take a risk on. Chances of seeing it outside of a specialist fest like JAPAN CUTS are slim. It was filmed on location in the poorer areas of Osaka and, judging by the trailer, seems to have captured the vibe of the places. You can’t talk about Osaka without mentioning food such as okonomiyaki and takoyaki and the short film Takoyaki Story (2018, 2 min.) directed by Sawako Kabuki will be played before this feature.

Q&A with star Yota Kawase

Synopsis from Japan Cuts: A boisterous comedy produced in beautiful color 16mm following the hard-knock characters stirred up by the theft of a cauldron used in yakuza ceremonial rites. Set in Kamagasaki—home to the working poor of Osaka under constant threat of erasure by local government—Leo Sato’s dramatic debut follows his documentary Nagai Park Elegy (2009) on local people’s struggle against forced displacement. Magnetic character actor Yota Kawase centers this delightful ensemble of professionals and amateurs, a timeless scrappy vision of radical humanism, rendering the neighborhood’s day laborers, sex workers, union activists and street performers with empathy and respect.

Monday, July 22nd

Shorts Showcase: ndjc, vol. 1

Free Entry – first-come first-served

Since 2007, the New Directions in Japanese Cinema scheme has been training new talents by giving them the chance to make films on 35mm film. I had the pleasure of seeing the ones playing at JAPAN CUTS at the Osaka Asian Film Festival earlier this year.

Last Judgement / Saigo no Shinpan    Saigo no Shinpan Film Poster

最後の審判 Saigo no Shinpan

Release Date: March 02nd, 2019

Duration: 29 mins.

Director:  Shinya Kawakami

Writer: Shinya Kawakami (Screenplay)

Starring: Ren Sudo, Hitome Nagase, Asuka Kurosawa, Kiyomi Aratani,

Website

Of all the various films produced in this run of NDJC, this was the one that made me sit up and take notice. The use of cinema to convey a story, at once comedic and intensely dramatic, was magnificent as sharp editing and camera movement produced the needed reactions. This one features students who are battling to get past a test and into Tokyo University of Art. It’s a fierce fight with a class full of talented students. Rival students played by Ren Sudo and Hitome Nagase  are full of charm and have great chemistry.

SEE THIS FILM! ESPECIALLY BECAUSE IT IS FREE TO ATTEND!

Hazure Kazoku no Saaya    Hazure Kazoku no Saaya Film Poster

はずれ家族のサーヤ Hazure Kazoku no Sa-ya

Release Date: March 02nd, 2019

Duration: 30 mins.

Director:  Mikiko Okamoto

Writer: Mikiko Okamoto (Screenplay)

Starring: Naho Yokomizu, Mei Kurokawa, Sue Masukoshi, Taijirou Tamura, Yurito Mori,

Website

A girl named Mitsuki used to live with her mother but now stays with her father and grandma while her mother lives with her new partner and son. Mitsuki is jealous so when she buys an old wooden from a man who sells toys, she discovers a mysterious force and wishes for her step-brother to disappear…

Kumori tokidoki hare    Kumori tokidoki hare Film Poster

くもり ときどき 晴れ Kumori tokidoki hare

Release Date: March 02nd, 2019

Duration: 30 mins.

Director:  Motoyuki Itabashi

Writer: Motoyuki Itabashi (Screenplay)

Starring: Megumi, Miyoko Asada, Kenji Mizuhashi, Masashi Arifuku,

Website

I had a negative reaction to this one. For the first time in a while I was dismissive of a film. It’s down to the story: a woman named Haruko who lives with her mother discovers that her father, a horrid man who had left home ages ago, is in a hospital. She decides to visit him but wonders whether it is the right thing to do. 

Demolition Girl  Demolition Girl JK Elegy Film Poster

JK エレジー JK Ereji-

Release Date: 2019

Running Time: 88 mins.

Director: Genta Matsugami

Writer: Yoshitaka Kasui, Genta Matsugami (Screenplay),

Starring: Aya Kitai, Hiroki Ino, Yota Kawase, Haruka Imo, Yura Komuro,

Website IMDB

Winner of the JAPAN CUTS Award at this year’s Osaka Asian Film Festival, Demolition Girl is a great slice of socially-conscious filmmaking as it shows the lives of working-class people in Japan and the options open to them in terms of social mobility. It has a great lead performance from Aya Kitai who is a natural screen presence. Here’s my review and an interview I did with the director Genta Matsugami.

Q&A with director Genta Matsugami and star Aya Kitai

Synopsis: Cocoa Umeda lives in a small rural city. It feels like a slow and tranquil place where the biggest events are the seasonal festivals but for Cocoa and her friends things are getting intense as they approach their final exams and high school graduation. Cocoa could go on to higher education because she has potential but her options are limited by her financial situation. With a gambler for a father and a lazy brother sponging off her, Cocoa is resigned to spending the rest of her existence in her hometown but when she discovers her mother left her money to go to university, she begins to dream of an escape

And Your Bird Can Sing   Kimi no tori wa utaeru Film Poster

きみの鳥はうたえる Kimi no tori wa utaeru

Running Time: 119 mins.

Release Date: September 01st, 2018

Director: Sho Miyake

Writer: Sho Miyake (Screenplay), Yasushi Sato (Novel)

Starring: Shota Sometani, Tasuku Emoto, Shizuka Ishibashi, Makiko Watanabe, Ai Yamamoto,

Website IMDB

A film based on a novel by Yasushi Sato is usually something to take notice of after a series of good to great adaptations. Nobuhiro Yamashita’s Over the Fence is good, while Sketches of Kaitan City by director Kazuyoshi Kumakiri, and Mipo Oh’s The Light Shines Only There are great. The three are set in the author’s native city of Hakodate in the north of Japan but this film was originally set in Tokyo before being relocated to Hakodate. There’s a great cast with Shota Sometani (Himizu), Shizuka Ishibashi (The Tokyo Night Sky Is Always the Densest Shade of Blue), and Tasuku Emoto (Dynamite Graffiti).

Synopsis: The unnamed protagonist (Tasuku Emoto), simply referred to in the credits as “Boku” is a slacker who works at a bookstore while sharing an apartment with his unemployed friend, Shizuo (Shota Sometani). “Boku” begins dating his co-worker Sachiko (Shizuka Ishibashi) and she gets roped into his hang-about life, but Shizuo soon gets involved and a love triangle develops…

A Step Forward    a step forward bokushi to inochi no gake film poster

牧師といのちの崖 Bokushi to inochi no gake

Running Time: 100 mins.

Release Date: January 19th, 2019

Director:  Atsushi Kasezawa

Writer: N/A

Starring: Yoichi Fujiyabu,

Website

Surprise inclusion but a welcome one as it tackles a complex subject.

Q&A with director Atsushi Kasezawa

Synopsis: Yoichi Fujiyabu is a pastor at Shirahama Baptist church in Shirahama Kaigan, Wakayama Prefecture and he works with his church to prevent suicides at a cliff which is a beauty spot. He saves lives and gets people back into society through offering a community to support them. He talks about his experiences and the reasons why people commit suicide such as relationship breakdowns, pressures felt by young people, and a myriad of other things. Through this, he questions the meaning of life.

Tuesday, July 23rd

His Lost Name    his lost name film poster

夜明け Yoake

Release Date: January 18th, 2019

Duration: 113 mins.

Director:  Nanako Hirose

Writer: Nanako Hirose (Screenplay),

Starring: Kaoru Kobayashi, Yuya Yagira, Young Dais, Tsunekichi Suzuki, Keiko Horiuchi,

Website IMDB

Lost Name is the first feature film made by female director Nanako Hirose. She is part of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Bun-buku group and has worked on the films Like Father, Like Son and Our Little Sister as well as Miwa Nishikawa’s The Long Excuse.

Q&A with director Nanako Hirose

Synopsis: Tetsuro (Kaoru Kobayashi) is a widower who runs a woodworking shop. One day, while walking along the riverside, he finds a young man lying collapsed on the ground. Despite knowing nothing of the man, Tetsuro takes him to his home and takes care of him. When the young man awakens he tells Tetsuro that his name is Shinichi (Yuya Yagira). Tetsuro allows Shinichi to stay with him and teaches him skills but when a certain incident happens, the local community become suspicious. It turns out that Shinichi isn’t his real name and he has a secret. Tetsuro also has a secret, too.

Red Snow    Akai Yuki Film Poster

赤い雪 Akai Yuki

Release Date: February 01st, 2019

Duration: 106 mins.

Director:  Sayaka Kai

Writer: Sayaka Kai (Screenplay),

Starring: Masatoshi Nagase, Nahana, Arata Iura, Yui Natsukawa, Koichi Sato, Ken Yoshizawa,

Website

A fantastic cast full of familiar actors (Masatoshi Nagase (Sweet Bean, Vision), Arata Iura, Yui Natsukawa (Still Walking), Koichi Sato (Starfish Hotel) and a story that looks intriguing makes this a film to take a risk on.

Synopsis: A young boy’s brother disappears and his memory of the event leads to a confused investigation. Despite this, the police arrest a local outcast with a pretty bad criminal record so it seems like justice has been done. Not quite. The man is found not guilty. 30 years later, an investigative reporter (Arata Iura) finds anomalies and the boy, now a man (Masatoshi Nagase), has his own doubts. The two meet and are brought into contact with the suspect’s daughter (Nahana) and something unexpected happens…

Wednesday, July 24th

KillingKilling Film Poster

斬、 Zan

Release Date: November 24th, 2018

Duration: 80 mins.

Director: Shinya Tsukamoto

Writer: Shinya Tsukamoto (Screenplay),

Starring: Sosuke Ikematsu, Yu Aoi, Shinya Tsukamoto, Tatsuya Nakamura, Ryusei MaedaZen Killing Film Poster

Website    IMDB

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

Q&A with director Shinya Tsukamoto 

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

Thursday, July 25th

Bullet Ballet                                                  Bullet Ballet Film Poster

バルット バレエ 「Barutto Baree

Release Date: March 11th, 2000

Duration: 87 mins.

Director: Shinya Tsukamoto

Writer: Shinya Tsukamoto

Starring: Shinya Tsukamoto, Kirina Mano, Tomorowo Taguchi, Tatsuya Nakamura, Kyoka Suzuki, Hisashi Igawa, Takahiro Murase, Keisuke Yoshida, Hiromi Kuronuma

This release is special because it has been digitally restored by Shinya Tsukamoto, master filmmaker behind the Tetsuo films and Tokyo Fist has personally selected this work to show at Japan Cuts and it will be screened via 35mm.

Q&A with director Shinya Tsukamoto

Synopsis: Goda (Shinya Tsukamoto) is a thirty-something filmmaker. While his work may seem intriguing to some his life is absolutely average – long hours at the office, drinks after work, an equally busy girlfriend, Kiriko, that he’s been with for a decade. No surprises. No detours. No shocks. That is until he returns home one night to find police cars and ambulances surrounding the entrance to his apartment building. When he gets upstairs he’s told that Kiriko has committed suicide. If this wasn’t devastating enough Goda also learns that she killed herself with a gun. With Japan having some of the strictest set of gun control laws on the books not only is Goda left with the yawning, black hole of “why” behind Kiriko’s suicide, but also a whole other set of mysterious “hows”, “wheres” and “whos”. How did Kiriko get a handgun in the first place? From where? And most importantly from who? Goda goes on a quest into the gritty criminal underworld of Tokyo in order to answer these questions, and maybe inhabit the last days of Kiriko’s life.

Erica 38    Erica 38 Film Poster

エリカ38  Erika 38

Release Date: June 07th, 2019

Duration: 103 mins.

Director: Yuichi Hibi

Writer: Yuichi Hibi (Screenplay),

Starring: Miyoko Asada, Miu Suzuki, Kirin Kiki, Nahana, Juri Manase, Hajime Yamazaki, Shizuo Yamazaki, Hinako Saeki, Takehiro Hira,

Website IMDB

This, I believe, is the last role we will see Kirin Kiki after her passing and it’s an interesting looking drama.

Synopsis: Satoko Watabe (Miyoko Asada), a 60-year-old con woman, and her new lover Ikuo Hirasawa (Takehiro Hira) defraud people in an investment scam and make a lot of money but the deceiver is deceived when she discovers that her boyfriend has other girlfriends. Satoko Watabe ups and leaves with the cash and goes to Thailand and passes herself off as a 38-year-old woman named Erica before returning to Japan where she cons an elderly man out of a large house and calls her mother (Kirin Kiki) at a nursing home to live with her but Erica cannot continue her crooked ways…

Friday, July 26th

The day begins with a fascinating panel discussion entitled The Current State of Film Restoration in Japan which goes into detail of how the Japanese film industry are restoring classics.

JesusJesus Film Poster

僕はイエス様が嫌い Boku ha Iesu sama ga kirai

Duration: 76 mins.

Release Date: May 31st, 2019

Director:  Hiroshi Okuyama

Writer: Hiroshi Okuyama (Screenplay),

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

Website IMDB

This one has appeared at a couple of festivals and is a dark horse. I don’t know anything about it other than the director’s short film Tokyo 21st October (2018. 12 min) will precede it.

Q&A with director Hiroshi Okuyama

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

Melancholic 

メランコリック  Merankorikku

Release Date: N/A

Duration: 113 mins.

Director: Seiji Tanaka

Writer: Seiji Tanaka (Screenplay),

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

Website IMDB

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

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

Saturday, July 27th

Experimental Spotlight: Palm of the Hand Cinema is a collection of short films told in different mediums.

The Miracle of Crybaby Shottan   The Miracle of Crybaby Shottan Film Poster

泣き虫しょったんの奇跡 Nakimushi Shottan no Kiseki

Release Date: September 07th, 2018

Duration: 127 mins.

Director: Toshiaki Toyoda

Writer: Ayako Kato (Screenplay), Shoji Segawa (Autobiographical Novel)

Starring: Ryuhei Matsuda, Yojiro Noda, Shota Sometani, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Takako Matsu, Hirofumi Arai, Kiyohio Shibukawa, Kento Nagayama, Kaoru Kobayashi, Jun Miho, Jun Kunimura, Tatsuya Fujiwara, Itsuji Itao, Shizuka Ishibashi, Yuya Endo, Chihiro Okamoto,

Website IMDB

Directed by Toshiaki Toyoda (Blue Spring) and with a cast to die for, I’ve read a lot about how people really fall for this one’s story.

Synopsis: Shoji Segawa (Ryuhei Matsuda) was on the path from being a quit kid to a Shogi champion butwhen he hits the age of 26, he finds his time might be over and a new generation of shogi players are about to take over. However, with the support of his peers, he makes a comeback and a miracle happens…

Jeux de Plage 

浜辺のゲーム Hamabe no Ge-mu

Release Date: May 04th, 2019

Duration: 77 mins.

Director:  Aimi Natsuto

Writer: Aimi Natsuto (Screenplay),

Starring: Haruna Hori, Shinsuke Kato, Juri Fukushima, Otsuka Nanaho, Donsaron Kovitanitcha,

Website IMDB

I saw Jeux de Plage at the Osaka Asian Film Festival. It is the debut feature of Aimi Natsuto who turns in a Gallic-inspired romantic disasterdy that takes place in a lovely coastal setting. It’s very reminiscent of Eric Rohmer’s oeuvre.

Here’s my review.

Synopsis: Three college students, Sayaka (Haruna Hori), Yui (Juri Fukushima) and Yui’s best friend Momoko (Nanaho Otsuka), head to the seaside town of Shonan (in Natsuto’s home prefecture of Kanagawa) and stay in a large guest house which is where numerous romantic waifs and strays wash up including a louche goofy guitarist named Akihiro (Shinsuke Kato) who tries to bed every girl in sight, a horny film professor, and Korean students Min Jun and the girl he is crushing on, Yona. Things get rather confused as multiple people become attracted to each other…

The Journalist    The Journalist Film Poster  

新聞記者  Shimbun Kisha

Release Date: June 28th, 2019

Duration: 113 mins.

Director: Michihito Fujii

Writer: Akihiko Takaishi (Screenplay), Kosuke Kawamura, Isoko Mochizuki (Original Non-fiction Book)

Starring: Shim Eun-Kyung, Tori Matsuzaka, Tsubasa Honda, Amane Okayama, Tomohiro Kaku, Seiya Osada, Hina Miyano,

Website IMDB

This seems to be based on a real-life scandal involving Japan’s current Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, and his right-wing government. Suicide involving public officials and government-funded schools. Do the characters have what it takes to risk their careers for the truth?

Synopsis from Japan Cuts because it’s great: Yoshioka (Eun-kyung Shim) is a Tokyo reporter with truth-seeking zeal haunted by her father’s destroyed journalism career and subsequent suicide. Meanwhile, Sugihara (Tori Matsuzaka) is a bureaucrat on a glide path to promotion who comes upon a shady government-funded school that could point to a historic cover-up. Together, they must decide what to do when doing the right thing feels like self-sabotage. Based on journalist Isoko Mochizuki’s book, Michihito Fujii’s thriller recalls All the President’s Men in its depiction of journalism’s civic duty, replete with bustling newsrooms, late night leak intercepts and whirring printing presses.

Legend of Stardust Brothers / Hoshikuzu kyodai no densetsu    The Legend of the Stardust Brothers Film Poster

星くず兄弟の伝説 Hoshikuzu kyodai no densetsu

Release Date: June 15th, 1985

Duration: 100 mins.

Director: Macoto Tezuka

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

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

Website IMDB

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

Q&A with director Macoto Tezka

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

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

Sunday, July 28th

Night Cruising    Night Cruising Film Poster

ナイトクルージング  Naito Kuru-jingu

Release Date: March 30th, 2019

Duration: 144 mins.

Director: Yuichi Hibi

Writer: Yuichi Hibi (Screenplay),

Starring: Hideyuki Kato, Koichi Yamadera, Nobutoshi Canna, Mamiko Noto, Hiroya Ishimaru, Arno LeGall, Toshimitsu Kokido,

Website IMDB

Q&A with director Makoto Sasaki, producer Miyuki Tanaka and subject Hideyuki Kato 

Synopsis: NIGHT CRUISING follows congenitally blind musician Hideyuki Kato as he pursues the realization of an expansive sci-fi short called Ghost Vision, a film within its own making-of documentary. Working with a media production team and wide range of collaborators—including color experts, facial roboticists, hair stylists, voice actors, fight choreographers and VFX engineers—Kato directs the execution of his story about a non-sighted fighter and a telepath searching for a mysterious ghost in a future world. His pursuit becomes a deep interrogation of how sensory environments are perceived and rendered, offering new ways for viewers to think through their own assumptions about cinema and imagination. Check out the website which has a neat effect: initially black, your cursor will sweep away the darkness and reveal the options beneath.

RANDEN: The Comings and Goings on a Kyoto TramRANDEN The Comings and Goings on a Kyoto Tram Film Poster

嵐電 Randen

Release Date: May 17th 2019

Duration: 114 mins.

Director:  Takuji Suzuki

Writer: Takuji Suzuki, Hiroshi Asari, (Screenplay),

Starring: Arata Iura, Ayaka Onishi, Tamaki Kubose, Satoko Abe, Kenta Ishida, Hiroto Kanai,

Website   IMDB

I saw this at the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2019 and interviewed the director. I enjoyed it a lot as my review shows and I hope others enjoy it as well.

Synopsis: A writer from Kamakura named Eisei Hiraoka (Arata Iura) is researching supernatural stories but finds himself revisiting memories from a previous visit to his wife’s home town. Kako Ogura (Ayaka Onishi), a shy local woman, is asked to help an actor from Tokyo practice speaking with Kyoto intonation and after the lesson, he asks her to show him around Arashiyama. Nanten Kitakado (Tamaki Kubose), a high school girl from Aomori, shows a one-track mind when she falls for a train nerd who sees nothing but trams. The love of three couples is carried along together by the famous trams and a little of Kyoto’s special magic and folklore. The course of true love rarely runs smooth but if fate places you on a Randen tram, then you will at least get a scenic ride amidst the history and wonderful sights of the city in this charming fairy-tale film that breathes the culture and atmosphere of the city.

Shorts Showcase: ndjc, vol. 2

Free Entry – first-come first-served

Quiet Hide-and-Seek    Uchi uchi no men-tachi (tsura-tachi) wa Film Poster

うちうちの面達(つらたち)は。 Uchi uchi no men-tachi (tsura-tachi) wa.

Release Date: March 02nd, 2019

Duration: 28 mins.

Director:  Kan Yamamoto

Writer: Kan Yamamoto (Screenplay)

Starring: Kanau Tanaka, Hiromasa Taguchi, Mari Hamada, Mayu Ogawa, Shun Yamamoto

Website

Mari Hamada has comedic potential that is rarely tapped. An elastic face with a big grin is the thing that first attracts attention and director Kan Yamamoto does his best with this title, a short and simple comedy about a mother who disappears from her family for a break after an argument between a domineering father and a fed-up mother.

Farewell Family      Sayonara Kazoku Film Poster

サヨナラ家族 Sayonara Kazoku

Release Date: March 02nd, 2019

Duration: 30 mins.

Director:  Kohei Sanada,

Writer: Kohei Sanada (Screenplay)

Starring: Hoshi Ishida, Toshie Negishi, Yui Murata, Shiori Doi, Kazuhiro Sano, Yosuke Saito,

Website

I first encountered Kohei Sanada’s work at the 2017 edition of the Osaka Asian Film Festival. The title was, Icarus and Son, and its story of a father reconnecting with his son left me cold because it lacked focus in terms of characterisation and there was zero atmosphere. Sanada continues to mine father-son relationships in this short film which is the first of the five titles to screen for NDJC 2018 which I saw at this year’s Osaka Asian Film Festival. It’s a massive improvement because the atmosphere is heady and macabre and the story better thought out:

A Tokyoite named Yohei (Hoshi Ishida) is plagued by menacing visions of people’s doubles. It is linked to seeing his father die a year ago in the family home in some rural town. As the time to commemorate his father’s passing approaches, Yohei’s visions intensify and he must confront his visions and his father’s death. 

Orphan’s Blues      Orphans Blues Film Poster

オーファンズ・ブルース  O-fanzu Buru-su

Duration: 89 mins.

Release Date: May 31st, 2019

Director: Riho Kudo

Writer: Riho Kudo (Screenplay),

Starring: Yukino Murakami, Takura Kamikawa, Nagiko Tsuji, Sion Sasaki, Tamaki Kubose, Yu Yoshii,

Website

This one has played at the Nara International Film Festival and the Tokyo International Film Festival and has received a strong review over at the Hollywood Reporter after taking the Grand Prize at the Pia Film Festival 2018. It has the actress Nagiko Tsuji who is brilliant in comedic roles. I’m interested in seeing her in a dramatic role.

Synopsis: A young woman named Emma lives by herself and works as a bookseller. Recently she has become forgetful. As her memory loss progresses she takes notes to record every little thing and she also becomes desperate. One day, she gets a painting from her childhood friend Jang, who has been long missing. They grew up together in an orphanage and he was her best friend and possibly more… Emma decides to search for him and encounters various people connected to him all while her memory continues to fade away…

Blue Hour    Blue Hour Film Poster

ブルーアワーにぶっ飛ばす Buru- Awa- ni Buttobasu

Release Date: October 11th, 2019

Duration: 92 mins.

Director:  Yuko Hakota

Writer: Yuko Hakota (Screenplay),

Starring: Kaho, Shim Eun-Kyung, Daichi Watanabe, Denden, Kaho Minami, Kyusaku Shimada, Daisuke Kuroda, Yusuke Santamaria,

Website IMDB

I’ve seen a couple of road-trip movies this year and this one has caught my attention based purely on the trailer and a desire to see what newbie writer/director Yuka Hataoka can turn in.

Q&A with director Yuko Hakota and stars Kaho and Eun-kyung Shim

Synopsis: Sunada (Kaho) is a 30-years-old CM director living in Tokyo. She is unhappy about the direction of her life and decides to return to her hometown of Ibaraki where her grandmother is in hospital. Accompanying her is her best friend Kiyoura (Shim Eun-Kyung).

With summer comes mind-boggling rises in temperature so what better way to keep cool than to sit in a cinema and enjoy a great selection of films!

We Are Little Zombies, To the Ends of the Earth, Don’t Cry, Mr. Ogre, For Whom the Alchemist Exists, Shiba Park, Junichi, Love Drives You Crazy, Uta no☆Prince-sama♪ Maji Love Kingdom Movie, Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya: Prisma Phantasm, Handling Method for Grumpy Woman, Rascal Does Not Dream of Dreaming Girl the Movie, Girlz und Panzer das Finale Part 2, Aitachi no Gakko, Toureppu “Kaiju no Kodomo” wo sagashite, Dance! Horror Restaurant, Moeyo! Shippai Joshi Japanese Film Trailers

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Happy weekend!

The-Gangster-The-Cop-The-Devil-Detective-Jung

I hope you are all well.

This weekend’s trailer post is an epic one as lots of titles are released on Friday and Saturday. My week in blog posts started with a review of the Korean film The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil (2019) and then a review of Whole (2019) which I wrote back in March and then a preview of the films that have been programmed for Japan Cuts 2019 – a great selection!

What is released this weekend?

To the Ends of the Earth      To the Ends of the Earth Film Poster

旅のおわり世界のはじまり  Tabi no Owari Sekai no Hajimari

Release Date: June 14th, 2019

Duration: 120 mins.

Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Writer: Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Screenplay),

Starring: Atsuko Maeda, Ryo Kase, Shota Sometani, Tokio Emoto, Adiz Rajabov,

Website     IMDB

Kiyoshi Kurosawa teams up with a great cast to make a movie which is a co-production between Japan and Uzbekistan to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. Two of the leading actors have worked in his films, Atsuko Maeda being the lead in Seventh Code and Shota Sometani having a supporting role in Real.

Synopsis: Yoko (Atsuko Maeda) is a reporter for a TV variety program and her assignment is to find a mythical fish in a huge lake in Uzbekistan, a country that once flourished as the centre of the Silk Road. Things don’t quite go according to plan for Yoko and her crew and, one day, drawn by a mysterious voice, she departs from their company and loses herself in the wonders of the country…

We Are Little Zombies   We Are Little Zombies Film Poster

ウィーアーリトルゾンビーズWi a Ritoru Zonbizu

Release Date: June 14th, 2019

Duration: 120 mins.

Director:  Makoto Nagahisa

Writer: Makoto Nagahisa (Screenplay),

Starring: Keita Ninomiya, Satoshi Mizuno, Mondo Okumura, Sena Nakajima, Masaaki Akahori, Eriko Hatsune, Sosuke Ikematsu, Rinko Kikuchi, Yuki Kudo, Seiko Ito, Akito Inui, Nobue Iketani, Chai,

Website IMDB

This has won awards and plaudits at Sundance and it was at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year. It has an otaku aesthetic with 8-bit computer games being a big influence. Some really great actors are in this one and it has a lot of buzz from people who have seen it.

Synopsis: When their parents are die, four 13-year-olds, Hikari, Ishi, Yuki and Ikuko, find they cannot cry. What do you do in such a situation? Well they make a rock band to search for their emotions. While doing that, they meet the far-our residents of a junk yard and hit the big time!

 

Don’t Cry, Mr. Ogre  Don’t Cry Mr. Ogre Film Poster

泣くな赤鬼  Nakuna Akaoni

Release Date: June 14th, 2019

Duration: 111 mins.

Director: Atsushi Kaneshige

Writer: Atsushi Kaneshige (Screenplay), Kiyoshi Shigematsu (Original Short Story)

Starring: Shinichi Tsutsumi, Yuya Yagira, Rina Kawaei, Ryo Sato, Yumi Asou, Ryo Ryusei,

Website IMDB

Atsushi Kaneshige has worked as first assistant director on Hush! (2001), Detroit Metal City (2002), and Kore-eda’s films Like Father, Like Son (2013), Our Little Sister (2015), and After the Storm (2016). He has two great actors in the lead roles, Shinichi Tsutsumi (Why Don’t You Play in Hell?) and Yuya Yagira (Nobody Knows, Destruction Babies).

Synopsis: When Takashi Obuchi (Shinichi Tsutsumi) was a high school baseball coach he had a fierce reputation for being tough and passionate with his students. This, coupled with his tanned face, earned him the nickname “Red Demon Teacher”. That was a while back. Now Takashi is middle-aged and a little more mellow. He isn’t the only one to change. Tomoyuki Saito (Yuya Yagira) was a talented member of the baseball team before he dropped out of school but now he is a responsible adult married to a woman named Yukino (Rina Kawaei) and he has a baby. However he only has only 6 months left to live due to having terminal cancer. Takashi regrets that he was so strict with his students and plans something for Tomoyuki.

For Whom the Alchemist Exists  For Whom the Alchemist Exists Film Poster

劇場版 誰ガ為のアルケミスト  Gekijouban Ta ga Tame no Arukemisuto

Release Date: June 14th, 2019

Duration: 118 mins.

Chief Director: Shoji Kawamori, Director: Masanori Takahashi

Writer: Toshizo Nemoto (Screenplay),

Starring: Inori Minase (Kasumi Nagasaka), Ryota Ohsaka (Edgar L. Leonhart),

Production Studio: Satelight

Website ANN MAL

Synopsis: Shoji Kawamori is a director famous for mecha anime. He worked on the opening video for the smartphone game this movie is based on. The story takes place on the continent of Babel, where the Tower of Babel looms large over seven nations. The invention of alchemy led to a war that brought humanity to the brink of extinction. An uneasy peace was called and alchemy was banned from use for hundreds of years since until another war broke out in Continental Year 911. The nation of Lustrice assembled an army bolstered by alchemy but the others rallied together to beat them. However, the alchemy is still in use and chaos is brewing…

Shiba Park    Shiba Park Film Poster

柴公園  Shiba Koen

Release Date: June 14th, 2019

Duration: 99 mins.

Director: Shinya Ayabe

Writer: Yuji Nagamori (Screenplay),

Starring: Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Shima Ohnishi, Masaru Mizuno, Yuki Sakurai, Jiro Sato, Wakana Matsumoto

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Three middle-aged men with Shiba dogs meet up in a park everyday and have casual conversations about whatever is on their minds.

Junichi    Junichi Film Poster

潤一  Junichi

Release Date: June 14th, 2019

Duration: N/A

Director: Eiji Kitahara, Nanako Hirose,

Writer: Mami Sunada (Screenplay), Areno Inoue (Original Creator)

Starring: Jun Shison, Mina Fujii, Kaho, Noriko Eguchi, Aju Makita, Marika Itou, Mieko Harada,

Website

Hirokazu (After the Storm) Kore-Eda and Miwa (Wild Berries, Dreams for Sale) Nishikawa’s  BUNBUKU production company are engaged in a variety of projects which are coming to light. Director Nanako Hirose is at Japan Cuts next month with the film His Lost Name and she is credited as one of the directors of this drama.

Synopsis: Junichi Ito (Jun Shison) is a young man who wanders around Japan with seemingly no home. He does possess the ability to fascinate women (probably because he’s super handsome) and in this drama changes the lives of six different ladies who are all unsatisfied with their lives.

Love Drives You Crazy    Mimi o kusara seru hodo no ai Film Poster

耳を腐らせるほどの愛  Mimi wo kusara seru hodo no ai

Release Date: June 14th, 2019

Duration: 90 mins.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

Starring: Yusuke Inoue, Aoi Morikawa, Norito Yashima, Mario Kuroba, Kasumi Yamaya, Yuu Nobue, Mijika Nagai,

Website

Akira Ishida and Yusuke Inoue are a hugely popular comedy duo who have made a murder-mystery combined with love and comedy.

Synopsis: Suzukichi Suzuki was super-popular before he was super-murdered by someone amongst a group of people he led to a hotel on an island. An investigation unfolds with Suzuki, a talking corpse narrating things, at the centre of a love quadrangle because he was involved with many women in the group. Drama ensues and gets blown at of proportion as strangers show up.

Uta no☆Prince-sama♪ Maji Love Kingdom Movie  Uta no☆Prince-sama♪ Maji Love Kingdom Movie Film Poster

劇場版 うたの☆プリンスさまっ♪ マジ LOVE キングダム  Gekijouban Uta no Purinsu sama Maji LOVE Kingudamu

Release Date: June 14th, 2019

Duration: 84 mins.

Chief Director: Takeshi Furuta, Director: Tomoka Nagaoka

Writer: Noriyasu Agematsu, Broccoli (Original Creator)

Starring: Hiro Shimono (Sho Kurusu), Junichi Suwabe (Ren Jinguji), Kenichi Suzumura (Masato Hijirikawa), Kousuke Toriumi (Cecil Aijima), Tsubasa Yonaga (Nagi Mikado),

Production Studio: A-1 Pictures

Website ANN MAL

Synopsis: The otome game “Uta no Prince Sama ♪” debuted on the PSP in 2010 before getting an anime adaptation. This is the first movie adaptation. The story takes place in a school for unique people who aim to be an idol. Lessons are focused on making the best musical performance so expect lots of singing and dancing and high-quality stage production.

Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya: Prisma Phantasm  Fate kaleid liner Prisma Illya Prisma Phantasm Film Poster

Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya プリズマ☆ファンタズム  Gekijouban Ta ga Tame no Arukemisuto

Release Date: June 14th, 2019

Duration: 63 mins.

Director: Shin Oonuma

Writer: Hazuki Minase, Kenji Inoue (Series Composition), Hiroshi Hiroyama, Type-Moon (Original Creator)

Starring: Kaori Nazuka (Miyu Edelfelt), Mai Kadowaki (Ilyasviel von Einzbern), Chiwa Saito (Chole von Einzburn)

Production Studio: SILVER LINK

Website ANN MAL

Synopsis: Hiroshi Hiroyama takes the Fate/stay night characters such as Illyasviel von Einzbern and imagines them not as deadly warriors locked in a serious and mysterious life-and-death competition for magical dominance but as magical girls involved in slapstick comedy.

Handling Method for Grumpy Woman  Handling Method for Grumpy Woman Film Poster

女の機嫌の直し方  Onna no Kigen no Naoshi Kata

Release Date: June 15th, 2019

Duration: 107 mins.

Director: Shunsuke Arita

Writer: Naomi Hiruta (Screenplay), Ihoko Kurokawa (Original Essay)

Starring: Akari Hayami, Yuta Hiraoka, Rena Matsui, Daichi Saeki, Erena Mizusawa, Goki Maeda,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Ai Majima (Akari Hayami) studies AI at a university and is collecting data for her graduation thesis which is about finding what makes it difficult for men and women to understand each other and how to overcome it. The theme of her thesis is”way to make women feel better according to differences of the brain between men and women” and for research on her thesis, Ai Majima begins to work part-time at a wedding hall. Alongside Wedding Planner Seiji Aoyanagi (Yuta Hiraoka), she is in charge of a wedding for a couple where all kinds of problems between bride and groom and their family and friends occur!

 

Rascal Does Not Dream of Dreaming Girl the Movie    Rascal Does Not Dream of Dreaming Girl the Movie Film Poster

青春ブタ野郎はゆめみる少女の夢を見ない  Seishun Buta Yarō wa Yume-Miru Shōjo no Yume wo Minai

Release Date: June 15th, 2019

Duration: 89 mins.

Director: Soichi Masui

Writer: Masahiro Yokotani (Script), Hajime Kamoshida (Original Creator)

Starring: Asami Seto (Mai Sakurajima), Kaito Ishikawa (Sakuta Azusagawa), Atsumi Tanezaki (rio Futaba), Inori Minase (Shoko Makinohara), Maaya Uchida (Nodoka Toyohama),

Production Studio: CloverWorks

Website ANN MAL

Synopsis: Sakuta Azusagawa is a high school student with “puberty syndrome” who has visions of a bunny girl. The girl is Mai Sakurajima, Sakuta’s upperclassman and also a famous actress who has gone on hiatus from the entertainment industry. Sakuta is the only one who sees Mai as a bunny-girl figure and so he sets out to solve this mystery, and as he spends time with Mai, he learns her secret feelings. Other heroines who have “puberty syndrome” start to appear in front of Sakuta.

Girlz und Panzer das Finale Part 2      Girls und Panzer das Finale Part 2 Film Poster

ガールズ&パンツァー 最終章 第2話 「Ga-ruzu & Pansha- Saishuushou dai 2 go 」

Release Date: June 15th, 2019

Duration: 54 mins.

Director: Tsutomu Mizushima

Writer: Reiko Yoshida (Screenplay),

Starring: Ai Kayano (Saori Takebe), Mai Fuchigami (Miho Nishizumi), Ikumi Nakagami (Yukari Akiyama), Mami Ozaki (Hana Isuzu), Yuka Iguchi (Mako Reizei),

Production Studio: Actas

Website ANN MAL

Synopsis: The film will depict the finale of the battle between Ooarai Girls Academy and other schools where girls operate tanks.

 

Aitachi no GakAitachi no Gakko Film Posterko

アイたちの学校  Aitachi no Gakko

Release Date: June 15th, 2019

Duration: 99 mins.

Director: Yuu Kosan

Writer: N/A

Starring: N/A,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: The exchange of people and languages between Korea and Japan has been going on for a long time and it has been a fractious history at times with plenty of conflict and hatred. After the war, Koreans in Japan were able to get education at state-funded Korean schools and universities but in 2010, the Japanese government removed the Korean school from the high school grant system, and local governments also cut off subsidies one after another. The long history of Koreans in Japan is unearthed through unknown historical material and testimonials and shows the battle against 100 years of discrimination.

Turep “Kaiju no Kodomo” wo sagashite    Turep “Kaiju no Kodomo” wo sagashite Film Poster

トゥレップ 「海獣の子供」を探して  Toureppu “Kaiju no Kodomo” wo sagashite

Release Date: June 15th, 2019

Duration: 85 mins.

Director: Nobutaka Yamaoka

Writer: N/A

Starring: Win Morisaki, Daisuke Igarashi, Shinichi Nakazawa, Haruo Saji, Ai Futaki, Yuko Tajima

Website

Synopsis: This is a live-action film produced by STUDIO 4°C, the animation production company that created the anime “Children of the Sea” (released last week and screened at this year’s Annecy). A man disappeared, leaving six videotapes. The tapes titled “The Sea Beast”, “The Sea”, “Life”, “Mythology”, “Dialogue” and “Space” are interviews with experts in different locations about each title. These are interspersed with voice memos of the missing man as he ponders “the possibility of mankind living in the sea”. This question leads the man to Micronesia where there is a seventh tape without a title and what that tape shows… Voice actor Win Morisaki, one of the cast for Children of the Sea, plays the missing man but real scientists and experts are interviewed.

Dance! Horror Restaurant  Dance Horror Restaurant Film Poster

踊る!ホラーレストラン  Odoru! Hora- resutoran

Release Date: June 15th, 2019

Duration: 82 mins.

Director: Seiki Watanabe

Writer: Seiki Watanabe (Screenplay)

Starring: Daijirou Harada, Midori Otsuka, Hina Izumi, Kaoruco, Makoto (Stardust Brothers) Tezuka, Akemi Ishii,

Website

Synopsis: When the owner of restaurant Kagami, a world-renowned gastronomic researcher, he discovers that his once-popular Michelin star rated business is empty… until a strange man appears and shows him what has happened. Which appears to be dancing… Everything is served up with a side-order of dancing… truly a horrifying development for a restaurant experience.

Moeyo! Shippai Joshi  Moeyo! Shippai Joshi Film Poster

燃えよ!失敗女子  Moeyo! Shippai Joshi

Release Date: June 15th, 2019

Duration: 107 mins.

Director: Masaaki Shindo

Writer: Udai Iwasaki (Screenplay)

Starring: Honoka Akimoto, Nao Sakura, Yusuke Ogura, Haruna Sakamoto, Mayumi Sato, Frogman (Narration),

Website

Synopsis: A youth movie based in Aichi and Nagoya with the idol group “TEAM SHACHI”. These four girls have different dreams such as being an actress or a dancer and must contend with troubles in their everyday life as they follow their chosen path.


A Preview of the New York Asian Film Festival 2019

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The New York Asian Film Festival 2019 launches at the end of the month and there are 11 films from Japan to get excited about.

New York Asian Film Festival 2019 Film Festival PosterThe films that come from Japan range from an exciting-looking jidai-geki based on real history to adaptations of manga based in contemporary times. A lot of films are currently on the festival circuit but there are a couple that have yet to be released anywhere, even Japan. The styles and stories are all varied and seem to give a good idea of what mainstream Japanese cinema is creating.

It’s exciting to see that two of SABU’s latest films, jam and MR LONG, are on the programme as both films have idols but put them through their acting paces in action-packed and dramatic tales. Fly Me to the Saitama is said to be a heck of a lot of fun as it mixes great comedy and theatricality with a satire of Japanese society. There is a noir with The Gun which took a top prize at last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival. Then there is The Fable which looks absolutely bananas – an adaptation of a hitman manga which is worth reading!

There are also guests coming from Japan such as Nana Komatsu who is the joint recipient of the Screen International Rising Star Asia Award so do make sure to make them feel welcome.

Also programmed are a selection of films from across the rest of Asia and these include some great titles like Maggie (South Korea) – winner of the Audience Award and the Grand Prix at the Osaka Asian Film Festival – and its director Yi Ok-Seop will be in New York. Still Human (Hong Kong) also plays at the fest and lead actress Crisel Consunji is attending. Also, legendary action choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award.

What are the Japanese films programmed?

The Fable    The Fable Film Poster

ザ・ファブル  Za Faburu

Release Date: June 21st, 2019

Duration: 123 mins.

Director: Kan Eguchi

Writer: Yusuke Watanabe (Screenplay), Katsuhisa Minami (Original Essay)

Starring: Junichi Okada, Fumino Kimura, Koichi Sato, Mizuki Yamamoto, Kai Inowaki, Jiro Sato, Sota Fukushi, Ken Mitsuishi, Yuya Yagira, Ken Yasuda,

Website IMDB

I have been reading the manga of The Fable on and off for a year and I was sceptical that the film version would live up to the hard-boiled story but the trailer is dripping with action. It has been published in Kodansha’s Young Magazine since 2014 and is still going. The movie version has a good cast with Junichi Okada taking the lead and a great supporting cast with the likes of Ken Mitsuishi, Koichi Sato (Starfish Hotel), Ken Yasuda, Yuya Yagira (Destruction Babies) taking roles. There’s also Sota Fukushi. He starred with Okada in the Library Wars live-action adaptations.

The director is in town for the screening of his film.

Synopsis: Fable is a legendary contract killer who was trained to be a killer when he was a young boy. He is ordered to lay low for one year and tries to live a normal life in Osaka as an ordinary person with the name of Akira Sato but there’s always someone ready to drag him back…

Samurai Marathon 

サムライマラソン Samurai MarasonSamurai Marathon Film Poster

Duration: 104 mins.

Release Date: February 22nd, 2019

Director:  Bernard Rose

Writer: Hiroshi Saito, Bernard Rose (Screenplay), Akihiro Dobashi (Manga)

Starring: Takeru Satoh, Shota Sometani, Mirai Moriyama, Nana Komatsu, Munetaka Aoki, Hiroki Hasegawa, Etsushi Toyokawa, Naoto Takenaka, Danny Huston, Junko Abe, Mugi Kadowaki, Mariko Tsutsui,

Website IMDB

Whoa! Bernard Rose, the guy who directed Candyman and Paperhouse has travelled to Japan to do this jidaigeki! It’s produced by Jeremy Thomas (Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence) and has a score by American composer Philip Glass! There’s an awesome star-studded cast who should need no introduction, as well. Here’s some background on the film over at Variety. It’s also based on real history (link).

The director, Bernard Rose, will make an appearance at the festival.

Synopsis: It is the 1850s and feudal Japan is thrown into chaos as Americans led by Commodore Perry (Danny Huston) have parked their battleships off the coast and demanded the country open up. Katsuaki Itakura (Hiroki Hasegawa) is a feudal lord who runs Annaka-han and to toughen up his warriors for potential attacks, he holds a marathon that runs along a mountain path for about 58 kilometres. Samurai of all stripes are expected to take part but so has the lord’s rebellious daughter, Princess Yuki (Nana Komatsu) who escapes the castle to take part in the dangerous marathon. What is a simple exercise is mistakenly viewed as an act of treason by the central Edo government. Jinnai Karasawa (Takeru Satoh) is a ninja who has infiltrated Annaka to masquerade as a samurai in the service of Katsuaki Itakura and spy but he realises the mistake by his government and tries to stop assassins already making their way to the lord’s castle.

jam    jam Film Poster

Release Date: December 01st, 2018

Duration: 102 mins.

Director:  SABU

Writer: SABU (Screenplay),

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

Website IMDB

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

 

MR LONG  Mr Long Japanese Film Poster

ミスター・ロン 「Misuta- Ron」   

Release Date: December 16th, 2017

Duration: 129 mins.

Director: SABU

Writer: SABU

Starring: Chen Chang, Sho Aoyagi, Yiti Yao, Runyin Bai, Masashi Arifuku, Taro Suwa, Tetsuko Okusa, Shiiko Utagawa, Yusuke Fukuchi, Tetsuya Chiba,

Website

Synopsis: Mr. Long (Chang Chen) is a Taiwanese hitman who uses knives to take out his targets. However, one assignment in Tokyo goes wrong and he finds himself wounded and on the run. He ends up in a run-down part of the city where he meets a young boy named Jun (Runyin Bai) who brings him clothing and water. Mr. Long soon meets Jun’s mother, Lily (Yiti Yao), a former prostitute and he suddenly finds his life changes as he gets to know his neighbours and wins them over with his cooking. However, the past will soon catch up…

Hard-core    Hardcore Film Poster

ハード・コア Ha-do Koa

Release Date: November 23rd, 2018

Duration: 124 mins.

Director: Nobuhiro Yamashita

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

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

Website IMDB

Director Nobuhiro Yamashita (The Drudgery Train) is a director who can bring out all sorts of different tones in stories and the story for this one is truly bizarre but it is also sorrowful according to write-ups. It also has a cast is to die for! Takako Matsu (Dreams for Sale), Takayuki Yamada (13 Assassins), Takeru Satoh (Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno) and YosiYosi Arakawa (Fine, Totally Fine).

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

Fly Me to the Saitama   Tonde Saitama Film Poster

翔んで埼玉 Tonde Saitama

Release Date: February 22nd, 2019

Duration: 107 mins.

Director:  Hideki Takeuchi

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

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

Website IMDB

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

Complicity    Complicity Film Poster

コンプリシティ Konpurishitei

Release Date: January 2020

Duration: 116 mins.

Director: Kei Chikaura

Writer: Kei Chikaura (Screenplay),

Starring: Yulai Lu, Tatsuya Fuji, Sayo Akasaka, Kio Matsumoto, Fusako Urabe,

IMDB

This China-Japan co-production seems to be a continuation of the director’s short film Signature which also stars Yulai Lu. That short featured him playing a Chinese immigrant wandering around Shibuya.

Synopsis: A Chinese man named Chen Liang (Lu Yulai) left China and his ill mother and elderly grandmother to live in Japan. He wanted to escape his responsibilities and have a new life but he finds himself experiencing the hardships that come with living illegally in Japan but it looks like things might change for the better when he takes a phone call meant for someone else and accepts a job at a traditional Japanese soba restaurant run by an elderly chef (Tatsuya Fuji). He takes to learning the art of soba-preparation, however, his illegal status could put things in jeopardy.

The Gun       The Gun Film Poster

Juu

Release Date: November 17th, 2018

Duration: 97 mins.

Director:  Masaharu Take

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

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

Website IMDB

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

Dare to Stop Us   Dare to Stop Us Film Poster

止められるか、俺たちを Tomerareruka, Oretachi wo

Release Date: October 13th, 2018

Duration: 119 mins.

Director: Kazuya Shiraishi

Writer: Junichi Inoue (Screenplay),

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

Website IMDB

Mugi Kadowaki, a strong actress as can be seen in Double Life (2016) and Hanagatami (2017), is our entryway into the heady world of radical filmmakers of the 60s and 70s.

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

 

Lying to Mom  The Suzuki_s Family Lie Film Poster

鈴木家の嘘 Suzukike no Uso

Release Date: November 16th, 2018

Duration: 133 mins.

Director:  Katsumi Nojiri

Writer: Katsumi Nojiri (Screenplay),

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

Website IMDB

Nojiri Katsumi will be at the festival.

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

5 Million Dollar Life    5 Million Dollar Life Film Poster

五億円のじんせい  Gooku Yen no Jinsei

Release Date: July 20th, 2019

Duration: 112 mins.

Director: Moon Sung-Ho

Writer: Naomi Hiruta (Screenplay),

Starring: Ayumu Mochizuki, Anna Yamada, Ryu Morioka, Satoru Matsuo, Sumire Ashina, Junko Emoto, Naomi Nishida, Taro Suwa,

Website IMDB

Director Moon Sung-Ho will be on hand to talk about his film.

Synopsis: Mirai Takatsuki (Ayumu Mochizuki) had a life threatening disease as a child but he was saved thanks to public donations totalling five hundred million yen. This made him something of a celebrity and as he has grown up he has struggled to “repay” the life-saving moment given to him by the public. As an alienated high school student he decides to commit suicide and writes down his intentions on SNS which is how he receives a message from a stranger which states “if you want to die, you need to return the five hundred million yen first.” This challenge changes Mirai’s perspective on life.

Interview with Akiyoshi Koba [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2019]

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I interviewed a number of people at the Osaka Asian Film Festival and these interviews are being published over at V-Cinema. This one was the first to go online on April 23rd.

Akiyoshi Koba is a graduate of Taisho University’s Japanese Language and Literature course. He now works as a part-time lecturer at Nagaoka Zokei University and indie filmmaker. His oeuvre is a series of titles that my be low on budget but are big in heart and invention. Koba strives to find what is special in small-town locations, collaborates with actors who feel like they are drawn from everyday life but have some unique feature, and uses set dressing and costuming that exudes a DIY aesthetic. Works like Slippers and Summer Moon (2015), Psychics Z (2016), and Tsumugi’s Radio (2017) typically mix comedy and sci-fi as well as drama. They have a charming simplicity and a love for their characters.

His latest title, Nunchaku and Soul (2019) is a continuation of this lo-fi storytelling and it is his best work to date. It features a mismatched pair of middle-aged guys, a nerd named Numata (Masahiro Kuroki) and a soul man named Soma (Atsushi Takahashi), who are determined to change their lives for the better by entering a dance competition. The differences in character and their reasons for entering are mined for low-key drama and lots of belly laughs. It also features a funky soundtrack. Nunchaku and Soul was recently screened at the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2019 in the Indie Forum section. Despite its humble origins, it proved to be a hit with most of the audience who were treated to post-screening nunchaku demonstrations by lead actor Masahiro Kuroki and dancing given by director and cast.

After the screening and nunchaku action, director Akiyoshi Koba sat down for an interview. This interview was mostly conducted in English but additional help was given in translation and transcription with the help of interpreters Keiko Matsushita and Takako Pocklington.

Jason Maher: Thank you very much for doing the interview and making the film. I’ve seen three of your previous films, Tsumugi’s RadioSlippers and Summer Moon and Psychics Z and I’m very interested in your style. It’s like a celebration of normal people in normal towns. Could you describe your filmmaking style?

Akiyoshi Koba: I want to focus on people who are uncool, those who are a bit nerdy or tend to be made fun of but they do have interesting characteristics and charms. I wanted to make a film which cheers for such people and depicts the uniqueness of humans.

How did you come up with the idea for this film?

I wanted to make a music film and I like soul music and dance. I cannot dance but I really like soul dancing like on “Soul Train”. I think it’s very cool. But someday, I want to make a soul music film. Nunchaku are something I also love. The generation before mine was inspired by Bruce Lee. I think Bruce Lee is cool. I had been thinking of ideas and stories for ages, but I couldn’t get any ideas — it was always a blank. But suddenly I got an idea – Nunchaku and Soul! I had a eureka moment.

How did you come up with the character of Numata?

Numata is like me. Very shy. When I was young, I would get extremely nervous in front of people. Now I’m okay. Numata is myself. I cannot use nunchaku but I think many people used to get into using nunchaku. Many people, while growing up, may find that experiences or skills like these are useless – skills such as nunchaku, riding a unicycle or video games, whatever. But I think it depends upon each person to make these experiences useful or useless and picking up some kind of skills in childhood might become useful when the person grows up. It happened to me as well. I think everyone has this aspect. Everyone, like the main character has the same feeling.

Atsushi Takahashi, the second lead in the film, is in the band Suga Pimps. Are you a fan of the group?

When I told my producer about my idea, he introduced me to the music of the Suga Pimps and I thought their music and dance were very cool. I watched them and I thought, “I want them to appear in the film”.

They were perfect for the soul part. For the nunchaku part, you got Masahiro Kuroki. Why did you cast him?

I looked for an actor who could use nunchaku but there weren’t any. Some people can use nunchaku but don’t fit the image of the character. I used Facebook and asked people, “Do you know anyone who can play this character?” So a director I am familiar with suggested, “Kuroki in Kyoto.” I travelled from Tokyo to Kyoto by night bus and I talked with Kuroki and decided to cast him.

That’s dedication. What would you say the charm points of the two lead actors are?

Kuroki-san is very humble. He gave me an impression of earnestness. When I saw him in a coffee shop, after we talked the role over and got outside, he said, “I will show you nunchaku” and he did it in front of a bank. I got nice feeling at that time. Takahashi-san, I also talked to. He had never acted before but when I asked him if he would like to do it, he said yes. As he hadn’t had acting experience, I asked him to read the script. He was very good. He is from an older generation, so he can use nunchaku as well as dance. He has actually done things I think are cool.

How long was the training with the nunchaku and dancing?

It was a very short time. Almost 10 days for the entire shoot and we had short rehearsals. I don’t remember much about it. Kuroki-san was training very hard.

The Interpreter: Did you give a nunchaku to people and ask them to practice on their own?

The dancing team and action team were practising individually as a group. Kuroki-san’s dance was hard but he only had a short time, so he practised intensively. As for the final dance, Takahashi-san (the dance instructor) instructed them and we created choreography – I cannot dance but I researched dance steps, inserted simple steps into the sequences and then discussed it with Takahashi-san. I was sure that the Soul dance could be very simple but look cool. So, even though there was a short practice time, it went okay. But I wanted more time and another cameraman. That final scene was shot with one cameraman and it was very difficult.

What would you say the theme of the film is?

What is important for life is to take one step forward. Just attempting the first step opens the future. Numata hesitated over whether to go to dance school but he did it and that’s the important thing.

It’s a very enjoyable and inspirational film and the soundtrack is a lot of fun as well. Could you explain a little more about the making of the music?

We had a very minimal budget so we could not license any music. I wanted to use something like James Brown. I worked with a musician who is a conductor and composer who focuses on classical music. But he said, “I can make anything”, and I said, “Can you make soul music,” and he said, “Okay!” but, when I heard it, my reaction was like, “No!” He cannot use guitars or anything so we had to remain in constant communication and we managed to make the music. There were many times when I said, “More soul! More soul! (more soulful)”. I found soul music in YouTube videos and sent them to him for reference.

Is there a director’s cut of this film with the music of James Brown?

Uummm… I would use something like Earth Wind & Fire. I like The Blues Brothers and so on.

Could you describe some of the influences for this film?

I like The Blues Brothers but I cannot make something that because I don’t have the budget to make a film that crazy. I like The Full Monty a little bit. It’s a dance film. Do you know Soul Men? Not a popular film but it stars Samuel L. Jackson and it is a kind of soul music video and I got some inspiration from it.

Could you describe your favourite directors?

Of course, Akira Kurosawa, and there is one who really affected me, Robert Altman, director of The Player. Aki Kurasmaki. I like fantasies and I really like Brazil, Monty Python by Terry Gilliam. Wes Anderson. George A. Romero and Sergio Leone. I like westerns, too. Macaroni (spaghetti) westerns. There are lots and lots …Edgar Wright.

My final question is, if you had a big budget, what sort of film would you make?

I want to make science fiction or a fantasy western. There are lots of things I want to make if I have enough money. I want to make more action movies or dance movies. I would remake Nunchaku and Soul with a bigger budget. If I could only choose one, I would say I want to make something like Mad Max! and… Star Wars.

[LAUGHTER], Sounds awesome. Thank you for making Nunchaku and Soul. The audience loved it as well.

Nunchaku and Soul was shown on March 9 and 12 at the Osaka Asian Film Festival.

Interview with “Sisterhood” Director Takashi Nishihara and Star Manami Usamaru [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2019]

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Takashi-Nishihara-and-ManamiUsamaru-OAFF19

I conducted a number of interviews at the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2019 and they were published over at VCinema. This one was published on June 06th and it is with the director and star of the film Sisterhood.

With inequality on the rise worldwide and identity politics a hot topic issue, filmmakers everywhere have their work cut out trying to keep up with the changes in their respective societies and there is a desire on the part of this writer to see films that tackle these issues from Japanese creatives. More social realist dramas and politics, to be blunt, especially in an era where the rise of individualism and poverty unbalances traditional notions of collectivism. Takashi Nishihara is a name that has cropped up quite often in this regard. Born in 1983 in Toyama, he is a graduate from the Department of Arts and Film at Waseda University in Tokyo. His filmography flits between documentary and drama but he usually focuses on those who find themselves made outsiders by the status quo of society and does so with a social realist bent.

His 2016 documentary About My Liberty chronicled a wave of mass protests held primarily by students who were worried about against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s conservative government’s controversial state security bills that would give legal consent to the military participating in overseas conflicts for the first time since the Second World War. His dramas Blue Ray (2011) and Starting Over (2014) explored wider issues through the travails of outsider characters on the bottom rung of society, people yearning for love while being forced to care for others but finding their desire just out of reach due to economic and social circumstances. With his latest film Sisterhood, he mixes fact and fiction in a film that shows some of the voices asking for change to mainstream of Japanese society.

The film features two projects interwoven together: a series of interviews and documentary footage with a semi-fictional story of a Tokyo-based documentary film director going about this in a work about the emergence of feminism. Nishihara’s “docufiction” captures the lives of young women living in Tokyo in various circumstances. Real life actors, musicians, and models including Nina Endo, Mika Akizuki, BOMI and Manami Usamaru play fictional variations of themselves and each gives their perspective on contemporary society as they talk about issues such as gender politics in long-take sequences full of naturalism for a realistic snapshot of modern youth shot in monochrome. As with Genta Matsugami’s Demolition Girl, it positions women front and center, making them powerful characters, and captures some of the social realist spirit I am interested in.

Nishihara’s works have been featured at Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF) twice with Blue Ray, which was screened at OAFF 2013, and Starting Over, which was at OAFF 2015. He attended OAFF 2019 with lead actress, nude model Manami Usamaru, and sat down to talk with me after a screening of their film to give background on the making of it. The interview was done with the help of Keiko Matsushita and later translated and transcribed by Takako Pocklington.

Jason: Thank you very much for making the film. It was very interesting. It feels very relevant for today’s conversations about identity, especially gender relations. I believe it is based on a documentary you started four years ago. What was that documentary originally about?

Takashi Nishihara: Four years ago, I started shooting Manami Usamaru. I found her photos on Instagram. In one photo, she was holding a flower and was naked. I thought it was very beautiful so I contacted her and met her in a cafe. We had a conversation and we started this project. First of all, I wanted to capture women’s lives in Tokyo. Women who may have trouble in life or who are struggling with identity so I wanted to shoot a portrait or photograph in film. And BOMI, the singer, I was introduced to by my friend. When I watched her live performance, she looked stunningly lively and I wanted to make a documentary about women who engage themselves in expressing something. That was my initial idea.

So you were inspired by her. Her footage in the film, the atmosphere, feels very different from the rest of the film. Did you want to keep what you originally shot and put it into your new film? Could you explain more about why that is?

Takashi Nishihara: I have been shooting documentary films. I made About My Liberty, a film about SEALDs (Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy-s) -a student activist group – and their demonstrations. Japan is one of the greatest developed countries in the world, but capitalism in Japan has so progressed that it has created circumstances which makes us feel as if we are in a deadlock. I wanted to capture the lives of women who are living under these circumstances.

So how capitalism makes all of us a product in some way. That was sort of like the root, you wanted to explore or depict in the film?

Takashi Nishihara: Japanese society is male dominated, that may be true in all modern societies though. I have a vague idea that women living in this kind of society might be feeling it is tough to live in Japan, so I wanted to make a documentary about women who live in the urban city of Tokyo.

What do you think audience reactions have been so far? Have people been willing to talk about capitalism or different, alternative economic systems?

Takashi Nishihara: That was sort of my aim for making this film. As a film, it had started from there (evoking audiences to talk/think about capitalism) but it turned out to be a film which has focused on individual’s happiness.

The feedback from audiences is something like the film has given them a chance to rethink their own happiness or to re-acknowledge awkwardness about the current male dominated society. It seems that the film has made lots of audience members think about their own happiness.

How did the fiction part of the film come about?

Takashi Nishihara: In 2017, the #MeToo movement happened in Hollywood, like the Weinstein case, and this was at a time when Donald Trump became president. Women became angry and went on demonstrations like the Women’s March in Washington DC which I watched on CNN or the internet. I wanted to cheer that movement and include it in my film so I decided to make a fiction part with the character of the director Ikeda and combine it with Manami’s documentary to make a mixed film.

Would you say the character of Yuto Ikeda is a representation of yourself, perhaps?

Takashi Nishihara: Yeah (laughter), maybe half and half. I assume some women will ask why a male director would make a film like this so I wanted to be honest with myself so that is why I created the character of Ikeda. He was very honest with me. Every director wants their real experience to inform their films so that’s why.

So, the criticisms Ikeda suffered at the start of film are some of criticisms that you might have to face. You were addressing it to audience. This is an interesting technique and I felt like, as a male, it’s telling me to listen more to the women around me. What would you hope men take away from this film?

Takashi Nishihara: Mr.Ikeda considers himself a feminist but he doesn’t understand his girlfriend, who was the closest person to him. It is a cliché. With this film, I wanted to capture women’s voices because Japanese society is built on male supremacy.

Very Interesting. Usamaru-san, how much input did you have into the filmmaking process?

Manami Usamaru: In fiction? Not much. The director asked me to be play the role as Usamaru Manami. I didn’t research about feminism or think about social problems for this role.

Just be yourself. Is this an honest interpretation of your own character on the screen?

Manami Usamaru: There’s not much difference between the “me” in the documentary and fiction parts.

Did you feel any reservations or caution about displaying your life on screen?

Manami Usamaru: In the interview scene at the university, I tried to be honest and express myself in the present. We tend to brace ourselves up for interviews, don’t we? I also tensed during the interview but wanted to speak with my true words and not to hide anything about myself.

Do you have any expectations of changes in gender relations in Japan any time soon?

Manami Usamaru: I dislike the words ‘feminism’ and ‘gender’. I want those words and things connected to them to disappear.

[To Nishihara] Mika Akizuki and Nina Endo, you have worked with before. You asked them to play variations on their characters. What preparation did you ask them to do?

Takashi Nishihara: Both Mika and Nina starred in my film, Starting Over, so I have a connection with them. Back in 2018, I decided to make the fiction part to this film and wrote a script. Their faces came up in my mind so I sent the script and told them about the film, a story of young women struggling to live in Tokyo. They didn’t have any idea about feminism and gender but they had some interest in my project so we worked together again.

Do you think something like feminism is going to become much more accessible/ interesting to people in Japan?

Takashi Nishihara: Because of things like sexual harassment? Last year, there was big news that a government bureaucrat sexually harassed a TV reporter so, I think that people are becoming aware of gender or feminism more than before, like the #MeToo movement or participating in demonstrations. For example, yesterday was International Women’s Day, so there was a women’s march in Tokyo. 200 people attended.

And in the past, that might not have happened?

Takashi Nishihara: Yes, in Japan, you seldom see demonstrations.

Usamaru-san, do you have any interesting stories about feminism?

Manami Usamaru: During the #MeToo movement, one model named Kaori who worked with the photographer Araki Nobuyoshi wrote negative comments about him and people also spoke ill of him. However, when reading her article, I couldn’t stand by Kaori-san because I guess there must have been a trust relationship between them and they had been working closely together in sharing their artistic will. Despite that, just because they were not getting on well with each other, she posted such a negative article about him. I couldn’t understand her action and it made me feel sad.

For you, encountering feminism was something connected to the #MeToo movement a few years ago?

Manami Usamaru: Yes.

What is your hope for the future?

Takashi Nishihara: This film combines documentary and fiction so my next project, I have already written a script, is about a female journalist in Japanese society. She has some trouble in the male dominated society but she wants to pursue real journalism and reporting to cover Japanese society.

Manami Usamaru: Lately I’m getting more acting jobs but I basically like taking photographs so I want to pursue photography.

One last question… why did you choose to shoot in monochrome?

Takashi Nishihara: This film started in 2015 so I spent four years on it. I wanted all scenes to be equal in look (to now and four years ago) so that time becomes meaningless. One viewer after a screening said to me, “Why black and white? Men are blue and women are red”. People tend to look at humans with colour. She also said that these colours become meaningless. What she said was a surprise for me

So, everything is equal. Not just time but people as well.

Takashi Nishihara: Yes

Sisterhood was shown on March 9 and 13 at the Osaka Asian Film Festival.

The Fable, Ride Your Wave, Meiji Tokyo Renka, Final Fantasy XIV: Dad of Light, Philosopher King Lee Teng-Hui’s Dialogue, Tribe Called Discord: Documentary of GEZAN, Twilight, Aru machi no takai entotsu, Ai ga soi de koi, One Letter First Introduction The Strongest Kung Fu Boy vs Hell’s Murder Karate, Okinawan Blue, Kasuriko, Gekieiga Okinawa, Cinema Kabuki Bando Tamasaburo Sagi Musume, JUNG YONG HWA: FILM CONCERT 2015-2018 “Feel the Voice”, Women’s Baseball Three out! Play Ball Whistle, Cinema Kabuki hidakagawa iriai zakura Japanese Film Trailers

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Happy weekend!A Double Life Film Image

I hope you are all well.

I posted about the New York Asian Film Festival 2019’s selection of Japanese films, the interview I conducted with Takashi Nishihara and Manami Usamaru from the film Sisterhood and an interview I conducted with Akiyoshi Koba, director of Nunchaku and Soul. This weekend’s trailer post has been bananas in terms of the number of films released.

What is released this weekend?

The Fable    The Fable Film Poster

ザ・ファブル  Za Faburu

Release Date: June 21st, 2019

Duration: 123 mins.

Director: Kan Eguchi

Writer: Yusuke Watanabe (Screenplay), Katsuhisa Minami (Original Essay)

Starring: Junichi Okada, Fumino Kimura, Koichi Sato, Mizuki Yamamoto, Kai Inowaki, Jiro Sato, Sota Fukushi, Ken Mitsuishi, Yuya Yagira, Ken Yasuda,

Website IMDB

I have been reading the manga of The Fable on and off for a year and I was sceptical that the film version would live up to the hard-boiled story but the trailer is dripping with action. It has been published in Kodansha’s Young Magazine since 2014 and is still going. The movie version has a good cast with Junichi Okada taking the lead and a great supporting cast with the likes of Ken Mitsuishi, Koichi Sato (Starfish Hotel), Ken Yasuda, Yuya Yagira (Destruction Babies) taking roles. There’s also Sota Fukushi. He starred with Okada in the Library Wars live-action adaptations.

This film is going to be screened at the New York Asian Film Festival later this month.

Synopsis: Fable is a legendary contract killer who was trained to be a killer when he was a young boy. He is ordered to lay low for one year and tries to live a normal life in Osaka as an ordinary person with the name of Akira Sato but there’s always someone ready to drag him back…

Ride Your Wave    Ride Your Wave Film Poster

きみと、波にのれたら  Kimi to, Nami ni Noretara

Duration: 94 mins.

Release Date: June 21st, 2019

Director: Masaaki Yuasa

Writer: Reiko Yoshida (Screenplay/Original Creator),

Starring: Rina Kawaei (Hinako Mukaimizu), Ryota Katayose (Minato Hinageshi), Honoka Matsumoto (Yoko Hinageshi), Kentaro Ito (Wasabi Kawamura)

Animation Production: Science SARU

Music: Michiru Oshima

Website   ANN   MAL      

This was screened at the Annecy International Animation Festival earlier this year.

Synopsis: Hinako moves to a coastal town to attend university. While there she can indulge her passion for surfing, something which washes away her uncertainty about her future. When a fire breaks out in town, Hinako encounters the young firefighter Minato. As they surf and spend more time together Hinako feels drawn to someone like Minato who devotes himself to helping other people. Hinako also holds a special place in Minato’s heart, and when he suddenly drowns while out surfing alone, he comes back to her as a ghost trapped in water. As everyone else gets over Minato’s death and tries to move on, Hinako comes to depend on his spirit.

Final Fantasy XIV: Dad of Light    Final Fantasy XIV Dad of Light Film Poster

ファイナルファンタジーXIV 光のお父さん  Fainaru Fantaji- XIV Hikari no Otosan

Release Date: June 21st, 2019

Duration: 114 mins.

Director: Teruo Noguchi (live-action), Kiyoshi Yamamoto (game)

Writer: Kouta Fukihara (Screenplay), Mighty (Original Blog)

Starring: Kentaro Sakaguchi, Kotaro Yoshida, Yui Sakuma, Maika Yamamoto, Ryuta Sato,

Website

Kotaro Yoshida takes over from Ren Osugi in portraying a man who reconnects with his son through playing Final Fantasy XIV on the PlayStation 4.

Synopsis: Years ago, Akio’s (Kentaro Yoshida) father purchased a Nintendo Famicom and Final Fantasy III for him and the two enjoyed playing the game together. This created a fond memory for them both and it proves to be an inspiration for Akio when he wants to find out why his father quit his job and stays at home all the time. Akio purchases a PlayStation 4 and Final Fantasy XIV for him and with the help of his Free Company and friends in the game, Akio befriends his father online and the two grow close once again.

Meiji Tokyo Renka    Meiji Tokyo Renka Film Poster

明治東亰恋伽  Meiji Tokyo Renka

Release Date: June 21st, 2019

Duration: 89 mins.

Director: Hiroshi Soejima

Writer: Satoko Akazaki (Screenplay), MAGES./LOVE&ART (Original Work)

Starring: Rikka Ihara, Shuto Miyazaki, Makaha Takahashi, Shota Matsushima, Toman, Yuki Kubota, Tetsuya Iwanaga,

Website

Based on a visual novel, this story was treated to an anime version in the spring and a drama series.

Synopsis: High school student Mei Ayazuki (Rikka Ihara) has travelled back in time to Meiji period Tokyo, a place where she follows a mysterious magician named Charlie (Yutaka Kobayashi), the person who brought her to this alternate version of Tokyo. It is here that she meets various historical figures, all handsome men, and also discovers she is a Tamayori, a person who can see ghosts. Being a Tamayori changes her relationship with the men and the flame of love flickers in Mei but should she return home or allow her love to roar into life even though she is a girl out of time…?

Cinema Kabuki Bando Tamasaburo Sagi Musume  Bando Tamasaburo Sagi Musume Film Poster

シネマ歌舞伎 坂東玉三郎 鷺娘  Bando Tamasaburo Sagi Musume

Release Date: April 15th, 2006

Duration: 31 mins.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

Starring: Tamasaburo Bando

Website

Synopsis: Tamasaburo Bando was a legendary onnagata and performed many times at the Kabukiza. This performance was filmed in May 2005, and in it he plays a girl who is the embodiment of the spirit of white rabbit Hakuho…

Cinema Kabuki hidakagawa iriai zakura

シネマ歌舞伎 日高川入相花王  Shinema Kabuki hidakagawa iriai zakura

Release Date: April 15th, 2006

Duration: 31 mins.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

Starring: Tamasaburo Bando, Kikunosuke Onoe, Kudanji Ichikawa,

Website

Synopsis: This is a famous story retold for the kabuki stage. The story is about Kiyohime, a woman madly in love with Emperor Suzaku who is travelling disguised as a monk named Anchin after a rebellion breaks out. Suzaku already has a lady, Odamaki, and so he leaves Kiyohime to travel to Dojoji Temple. Kiyohime pursues but when she reaches the Hidaka River, the ferryman refuse her passage on Suzaku’s orders and so she throws herself into the water, transforms into a serpent and pursues Suzaku.

Philosopher King Lee Teng-Hui’s Dialogue    Philosopher King Lee Teng-Hui’s Dialogue Film Poster

哲人王 李登輝対話篇  Tetsujinou Lee Teng Hiu Taiwahen

Release Date: November 16th, 2018

Duration: 97 mins.

Director: Hideto Sonoda

Writer: Hideto Sonoda,

Starring: Momoka, Masaki Terasoma,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Director Hideto Sonoda’s grandfather worked in the administration of Lee Teng-hui, the 8th and 9th President of Taiwan, at a time when the country transitioned to democracy. Told via animation and a live-action docudrama, Hideto Sonoda celebrates the former president in a unique way by having Lee Teng-hui’s spirit comfort a student contemplating suicide.

Tribe Called Discord: Documentary of GEZAN    Tribe Called Discord Documentary of GEZAN Film Poster

トライブ コールド ディスコード  Toraibu Ko-rudo Disuko-do

Release Date: June 21st, 2019

Duration: 88 mins.

Director: Karou Kamiya

Writer: N/A

Starring: Mahito the People, Eagle Taka, Carlos Ozaki, Roskaru Ishihara, Karou Kamiya,

Website

Synopsis: GEZAN is the name of an underground band that was formed in 2009 and this documentary records their American tour, helped by Steve Albini, who raised funds through the crowdfunding “BODY VUILDING project”. However, the band see a harsh reality of the locations they travelled to and responded…

Twilight    Twilight Film Poster

薄暮  Hakubo

Release Date: June 21st, 2019

Duration: 52 mins.

Director: Yutaka Yamamoto

Writer: Yutaka Yamamoto (Screenplay, Original Creator)

Starring: Hiyori Sakurada (Sachi Koyama), Seishiro Kato (Yusuke Kijinami), Ayane Sakura, Hiro Shimono, Kana Hanazawa, Kaori Fukuhara, Sora Amamiya, Sumi Shimamoto,

Animation Production: Twilight Studio

Website ANN MAL

Hiroshi Yamamoto, director of Wake Up, Girls!, generally doesn’t seem to be having fun making anime and promises to retire after this film which was crowdfunded.

Synopsis: The story is about a high school girl named Sachi who lives in Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture. She suffered a heartache due to the Great East Japan Earthquake and has lived indifferently to people and love by keeping her distance from friends and family since then. She has played the violin since she was young, and she belongs to the music club in high school where she is practices daily to perform as part of a quartet at a cultural festival. Keisuke, is another student who has been forced to return leave home due to the earthquake and was evacuated to Iwaki City. He has lost a lot himself but is determined to capture the beautiful landscapes he sees through painting which he hopes to show at an exhibition. One day, while painting a picture of a sunset, he meets with Sachi…

The Tall Smokestack in a Certain Town    Aru machi no takai entotsu Film Poster

ある町の高い煙突  Aru machi no takai entotsu

Release Date: June 22nd, 2019

Duration: 130 mins.

Director: Katsuya Matsumura

Writer: Katsuya Matsumura, Yoshinori Watanabe (Screenplay), Jiro Nitta (Original Novel)

Starring: Dai Watanabe, Asato Ide, Riria Kojima, Koji Kikkawa, Tatsuya Nakadai, Shinya Oowada, Ayako Kobayashi, Hiroyuki Watanabe,

Website 

Synopsis partially adapted from the Japan Times interview: A town in southern Ibaraki Prefecture finds itself deluged by pollution from the nearby factories owned by Hitachi Kozan, a lead manufacturer that started operating in the region in 1905. Smog and sulphur toxins clogged the air, was blamed for crop failure and made the environment dangerous to live in. Things began to change in 1910 when locals demanded that Hitachi do something. In comes a team of Hitachi’s engineers led by Junpei Kaya (Dai Watanabe) who works with the villagers, represented by Saburo (Asato Ide), the young grandson of the village elder (Tatsuya Nakadai), and he supervises the building what was then the tallest chimney in the world at 155.7 meters and a meteorological centre alongside the chimney to monitor the weather and wind, factors in controlling the amount of smoke released into the atmosphere. As a result, the once pollution-infested air cleared up dramatically and the chimney became a model for manufacturers across Japan.

Ai ga, soi de, koi  Ai ga, soi de, koi Film Poster

あいが、そいで、こい  Ai ga, soi de, koi

Release Date: June 22nd, 2019

Duration: 115 mins.

Director: Keisuke Shibata

Writer: Kanon Murakami (Screenplay),

Starring: An Ogawa, Yusuke Takahashi, Tsutomu Osabe, Hiroshi Furukawa, Yuki Hirose, Ayaka Nakagouchi, Masato Yamada,

Website

Synopsis: In the summer of 2001, in a seaside town, Akira and his high school friends are spending the last of their summer vacation by the sea which is where he encounters Lynn, an international student from Taiwan who is there learning to become a dolphin trainer. First love blooms.

One Letter First Introduction The Strongest Kung Fu Boy vs Hell’s Murder Karate    One Letter First Introduction The Strongest Kung Fu Boy vs Hell's Murder Karate Film Poster

一文字拳 序章 最強カンフー少年対地獄の殺人空手使い  Ichimonji Ken joshō saikyō kanfū shōnen tai jigoku no satsujinkarate tsukai

Release Date: June 22nd, 2019

Duration: 66 mins.

Director: Yuu Nakamoto

Writer: Yuu Nakamoto (Screenplay),

Starring: Yuuta Chatani, Shin Shirahata, Kyohei Kurata, Nanami Oya, Takashi Ooya, Kousuke Hirai,

Website

Synopsis: No CG, no undercranking and no wire-work and lots of awards at Pia and Kanazawa film festivals last year.

This is a mash-up of 80s youth movies and a tribute to Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee, and incorporating the tastes of the youth films of the 1980s. The world’s strongest martial artist Yuta, who had travelled to the United States to train warriors, returns to Japan after hearing about the sudden death of his beloved brother. Revenge takes a demonic turn as he faces a demon practising hell’s murder karate…

Okinawan Blue    Okinawan Blue Film Poster

ココロ、オドル  Kokoro, Odoru

Release Date: June 22nd, 2019

Duration: 96 mins.

Director: Tsukasa Kishimoto

Writer: Tsukasa Kishimoto (Screenplay),

Starring: Shogen, Taeko Yoshida, Rino Nakasone, Takashi Nishina, Masaya Kato,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: This is a tale of three families on a remote island. A foreign couple who end up staying at an old inn; a man who comes back to the island for his own son despite of being a fugitive; and a stepfather and his stepdaughter who have been left behind by the wife who took off with her lover. It is the story of these three families, and their awkward attempts at seeking love. Hardened hearts are eventually soften by both the natural surroundings and the kind people of the beautiful Kerama Islands.

Kasuriko    Kasuriko Film Poster

カスリコ  Kasuriko

Release Date: June 22nd, 2019

Duration: 114 mins.

Director: Masatsugu Takase

Writer: Takuji Kuniyoshi (Screenplay),

Starring: Tamotsu Ishibashi, Shin Takuma, Ikuji Nakamura, Kaori Takahashi, Chouei Takahashi, Kazuma Yamane, Tarou Kamakura,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Tosa in Kochi Prefecture is the location for a drama about a man named Keiichi Okada who loses his restaurant after gambling too much. A yakuza gives him an offer – take care of a place called “Kasuriko”, an establishment in the gambling area the yakuza run. Keiichi has no other option and works hard and discovers more about the people who frequent the area…

Gekieiga Okinawa    Gekieiga Okinawa Film Poster

劇映画 沖縄  Gekieiga Okinawa

Release Date: May 26th, 1970

Duration: 195 mins.

Director: Atsushi Takeda

Writer: Atsushi Takeda (Screenplay),

Starring: Ai Sasaki, Takeo Chi, Yoshi Kato, Kanemon Nakamura, Choko Iida,

Website

Synopsis: It is 50 years since this movie was first released and it depicts a story of resistance against the US bases in Okinawa as characters suffer under their influence as well as prosper by using the black market that sprang up from their presence and selling American goods and weapons.

JUNG YONG HWA: FILM CONCERT 2015-2018 “Feel the Voice”  Jung Yong Hwa Film Concert 2015-2018 “Feel the Voice”

Release Date: June 22nd, 2019

Duration: 140 mins.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

Starring: Jung Yong Hwa

Website

Synopsis: Jung Yong Hwa of the Korean rock band CNBULE can be seen performing solo in this concert documentary.

Women’s Baseball Three out! Play Ball Whistle    Women's Baseball Three out! Play Ball Whistle Film Poster

スリーアウト! プレイボール篇  Suri- Auto! Purei Bo-ru hen

Release Date: June 22nd, 2019

Duration: 82 mins.

Director: Ryo Moroe

Writer: Masahiro Muramatsu (Screenplay), Jun Furuta (Original Book)

Starring: Manami Arai, Misa Kubota, Minami Sengoku, Makiho Tatsuya, Kayoko Takata, Rii Sakurai, Natsuki Taktsuka, Naoko Okamoto,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Women’s baseball is the arena for a bunch of idols to play in. Aki (Manami Arai), a girl who has been playing baseball since she was a child, especially with the encouragement of her brother who loves baseball, is no longer allowed to play in the mixed boys and girls teams when she enters high school. Indeed, there’s no girl’s team. So she sets out to start one!

A Preview of the Kanazawa Film Festival 2019 in Kanazawa’s 21st Century Museum of Art (July 12-15)

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The Kanazawa Film Festival 2019 will take place this year from July 12th (Friday) to the 15th (Monday) at 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. 26 films from 132 submissions have been selected and will be screened over three days and all are in the running for the Grand Prix and Audience Award among other accolades.Kanazawa Film Festival 2019 Poster

This is a very badly translated series of film synopses of really obscure indie films but I find that there may be some value later. Sometimes, when doing trailer posts, I find myself linking to the Kanazawa Film Festival post from 2017 because directors may have had their works screened there and since I want to explore indie films, posts like this work out pretty good because it fulfils my general goal with this blog. Right, I hope you and I get some use out of this information and from the images, all of which have been taken from the film festival’s website.

Here is a run-down of the films that will be screened:

The opening film on the 12th is…

Papyrus

パピルス  Papirusu

Release Date: 2019

Duration: 52 mins.

Director: TANYŪ

Writer: TANYŪ

Starring: Mon, Kyuu, CHOU VETCH B, YO-CHIN

I have been following the website of the director for quite a while now and it’s full of neat posts that show the creativity, especially the sketches and designs! These are always fun to looks at.

Indie films are bursting with the sort of charming lo-fi creativity that is easy to relate to and respect and this one is no different. The film’s set production and props and lighting sell the world created. The shooting of the movie took place entirely in the living room of a rented apartment and is full of handmade props that sell the world of the film.

Synopsis: Deep underground is a train that travels long distances. Travelling in this underground world is not that exciting because there is only darkness outside so the passengers are getting very bored …

Director: TANYŪ was born in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1996. She studied painting from childhood and started making films in junior high school.

Baka no hone

馬鹿の骨  Baka no hone

Release Date: 2019

Duration: 54 mins.

Director: Yuta Nemoto

Writer: Yuta Nemoto (Screenplay),

Starring: Kento Sato, Kana Kurihara, Yusuke,

Synopsis: A lonely and depressed man who works as a delivery drive finds his melancholy days are brightened by the possibility of love when a new woman enters his life but…

Director: Yuta Nemoto was born in Saitama Prefecture in 1993. He works for a real estate company and, in his spare time, he makes movies and music.

Short Film Programme A

Coming Back

カミング、バック  Kamingu, bakku

Release Date: 2019

Duration: 33 mins.

Director: Sheik M Harris

Writer: Sheik M Harris (Screenplay),

Starring: Sheik, M Harris, Ayaka Funakoshi,

Synopsis: Billed as an “Islamic Thriller”, the story concerns a man and a woman who have lived together for half a year but find themselves divided by religion when he returns from helping his mother who had fallen and he has converted to Islam…

Director: Born in Tokyo in 1994, Sheik M Harris is half-Japanese and half-Pakistani. He started film-making in university and is currently studying at the New Cinema Workshop while working at a cinema in Tokyo.

Yamada

山田  Yamada

Release Date: 2019

Duration: 20 mins.

Director: Arisa Mabuchi

Writer: Arisa Mabuchi

Starring: Iwamu, Tomoki Tsuji,

Synopsis: A man who wants to commit suicide heads to the mountains where he meets a man who rescues him while desperately fighting against something in the wilderness.

Director: Arisa Mabuchi was born in Tokyo in 1995 and became a director of the movie club at Aoyama Gakuin University where she started to make independent films. She graduated this March.

Short Film Programme B

Director: Ryota Koyama was born in 1984 in Tokyo. He has worked in V-cinema and indie films and has two films in the fest.

Flat Sum

平らな和  Tairana wa

Release Date: 2019

Duration: 40 mins.

Director: Ryota Koyama

Writer: N/A

Starring: Momoka Kobayashi, Rikuto Kumaki,

Synopsis: A strange story about a hikikomori and a yakuza who are surrounded by strangers in the city.

Kuni no inu

國の狗  Kuni no inu

Release Date: 2018

Duration: 22 mins.

Director: Ryota Koyama

Writer: N/A

Starring: Juzo Kakei, Shinji Sonoda, Rikuto Kumaki,

Synopsis: A man who runs a small town factory and some police officers who are more likely to break the law are brought together by “a thing”.

OLD DAYS

Release Date: 2018

Duration: 54 mins.

Director: Nobushige Suematsu

Writer: Nobushige Suematsu

Starring: Haruki Kono, Tetsuya Oda, Yuya Okutsu

Synopsis: Three former bikers are drawn back together on the anniversary of their friend’s death. Their reconnection reminds them of their former youthful behaviour…

Director: Nobushige Suematsu was born in 1983 in Tokyo and started his career in the film industry as an actor. He has appeared in numerous films, theatre productions, commercials and artist’s PVs.

The opening film on the 13th is…

The Idiot’s Back

バカヤロウの背中  Bakayarou no senaka

Release Date: 2019

Duration: 67 mins.

Director: Sho Fujimoto

Writer: Sho Fujimoto

Starring: Yuya Honjo, Nanami Hatokawa, Megumi hikuni, Xiyu Wang, So Nakae,

There’s a lot of information on this one because it is also playing at the Skip City Digital Cinema Festival which is where I the following comes from…

Synopsis: Shun and Yuki are getting married soon and live in a rundown share house, with neighbours including a Chinese student. Kiyoko, Shun’s ex-girlfriend, shows up and starts living in the house and he begins to suffer from pressure and despair.

Director: Sho Fujimoto began working in theatre in 2012. While studying sculpture at Kanazawa College of Art, Fujimoto directed several plays and participated in theatre festivals with various pieces. He also works as a music composer for theatre performances and travelled to Russia and Korea to perform his music. In 2017, he transferred to Musashino Art University to study film-making. He currently works in design and video images at a production company.

Short Film Programme C

Hime to Muruko

ヒメとモル子  Hime to Muruko

Release Date: 2019

Duration: 25 mins.

Director: Chika Kuboyama, Rosa Yamamoto

Writer: Chika Kuboyama, Rosa Yamamoto (Screenplay),

Starring: Chika Kuboyama, Rosa Yamamoto, Nozomi Arai, Yuki Sugimiya, Manyu,

Twitter

Synopsis: Hime and Muruko are two 30-year-old women with no boyfriends. They head to bars in search of men. It’s a persistent struggle which

Directors: Chika Kuboyama was born in Fukuoka in 1987 and works as an actress. She has appeared in many films including A Crimson Star (2018).

Rosa Yamamoto was born in Tokyo and works as a model and actress. Her appearances include Dias Police (2016) and Hard-Core (2018).

Nakamuraya Saketen no Kyoudai

中村屋酒店の兄弟  Nakamuraya Saketen no Kyoudai

Release Date: 2019

Duration: 45 mins.

Director: Daichi Shiraisho

Writer: Daichi Shiraisho,

Starring: Kisetsu Fujiwara, Takuma Nagao, Nagako Fujishiro,

 

Synopsis: A man returns from Tokyo to the family’s sake shop. As he and his brother spend time together, two sense something is different and are puzzled by the ever-changing present.

Director: Hakuto Daiichi was born in Tokyo in 1996 and has worked as an actor since the age of 17. This is his first directed work based on a screenplay.

Short Film Programme D

Terrarium Locker

テラリウムロッカー  Terariumu Rokka-

Release Date: 2019

Duration: 30 mins.

Director: Rika Aoi

Writer: Rika Aoi (Screenplay),

Starring: Kanako Miyashita, Anju Oda, Tokunaga Osuke, Takashi Okado,

Twitter

Synopsis: An office-lady working in a third-rate trading company finds her only happiness is the “terrarium” which she has in her locker and in which she has secretly grown plants. It heals her heart but when she meets a gardener with a strange aura…

Director: Rika Aoi was born in Aichi Prefecture in 1992. She started acting in high school and started making films in university. She currently works as a manga editor at a publisher.

Ono Komachi disappeared from history

歴史から消えた小野小町  Rekishi kara kieta Ononokomachi

Release Date: 2019

Duration: 27 mins.

Director: Candice Mana Ono

Writer: Candice Mana Ono

Starring: Yuta Ishikawa, Nanami Takizawa,

Synopsis: Komachi Ono was a real-life poet and in this film she is a person who does not exist in history. A girl visits her aunt’s house in Yuzawa City, Akita Prefecture and she meets the ghost of Komachi. The hidden history of Komachi is uncovered while travelling around the city of Yuzawa.

Director: Ohno Kandice Mana was born in Chiba Prefecture in 1998 and is currently studying at Tokyo University of the Arts. She was affected by film from a young age, with an especial love for the works of Tim Burton. This is the first movie she has made.

Blood Pressure

血筋 핏줄  Chisuji

Release Date: 2019

Duration: 73 mins.

Director: Ryuichi Tsunoda

Writer: N/A

Synopsis: This documentary follows the director searching his family history:

I was born in Yanji, China, and I moved to Japan when I was 10 years old. When I reach 20 years old, I started looking for my father who was a painter. I ask my relatives in China about where my father is, but no one knows… 

Director: Ryuichi Tsunoda was born in China in 1993. A graduate from Niigata Prefectural University, he shot, and produced this work and later edited and completed it while spending six months at Daitokuji Temple in Kyoto.

Hitokuzu

ひとくず  Hitokuzu

Release Date: 2019

Duration: 119 mins.

Director: Yudai Uenishi

Writer: Yudai Uenishi

Starring: Mika Tokutake, Ai Furukawa, Kirari Kominami,

Synopsis: A girl who loves her mother despite being abused by her. The mother has a history of being abused. A criminal enters their lives and they attenot to live together like a real “family”.

Director: Yudai Uenishi was born in Osaka in 1964 and works as an actor, scriptwriter, representative of entertainment production and more.

The opening film on the 14th is…

Misora

みそら  Misora

Release Date: 2019

Duration: 81 mins.

Director: Yuta Kurosawa

Writer: Yuta Kurosawa (Screenplay),

Starring: Sakiko Katou, Kyoko Miyauchi, Hiroto Kanai, Yujiro Hara

Twitter

Synopsis: A woman who has been cheating on her boyfriend is fired from her job. Her lover is untrustworthy and her boyfriend hurt. Three people’s stories are told. 

Director: Yuta Kurosawa was born in Miyagi Prefecture in 1992 and has experience with ENBU seminar in the production of movies, commercials and music videos.

Yokosuka Kitan

横須賀綺譚  Yokosuka Kitan

Release Date: 2019

Duration: 85 mins.

Director: Nobukazu Ootsuka

Writer: Nobukazu Ootsuka

Starring: Yota Kawase, Shijimi, Ryuju Kobayashi,

Synopsis: A man who gets information that an old lover who he thought died in an earthquake is alive goes to Yokosuka based on that information…

Director: Nobukazu Ootsuka was born in Nagasaki Prefecture in 1980. After graduating from university, he studied under Kazuhiko Hasegawa. He began preparing for this film before his children were born. His son is now 4-years-old.

Roar

轟音  Gooun

Release Date: 2018

Duration: 99 mins.

Director: Ryo Katayama

Writer: Ryo Katayama

Starring: Ryo Anraku, Mie Oota, Shoji Omiya, Mari Kishi,

Synopsis: When his brother commits a crime, a man finds his family is shattered as his father commits suicide over the issue and the mother leaves home…

Director: Ryo Katayama was born in Fukui in 1980 and works as an actor. He has appeared in films like Ringside Story (2017), directed by Masaharu Take. This is his feature-film debut.

Short Film Programme E

#000

Release Date: 2019

Duration: 39 mins.

Director: Koji Uehara

Writer: Koji Uehara (Screenplay),

Starring: Nobushige Suematsu, Hitomi Uneda, Taku Tamiya,

Synopsis: Can you change your destiny?

Can you change people?

Did you change?

An omnibus movie of three episodes on the theme of “Can you change people?”

Director: Koji Uehara was born in Osaka in 1978 and this is his directorial debut.

Miyata Busters Co., Ltd.

宮田バスターズ()  Miyata Basuta-zu (kabu)

Release Date: 2019

Duration: 20 mins.

Director: Atsushi Sakata

Writer: Atsushi Sakata (Screenplay),

Starring: Naoya Watanabe, Mizuho Osu, Akira Kurihara, vocational monster Camereol

Twitter

Synopsis: Miyata Busters, Inc. is a company which protects the citizens of Japan from space creatures but with the advancement of extermination technology, the demand for the company is falling steadily. That is, until the arrival of a new kind of space creature that is not affected by the latest equipment!

Director: Atsushi Sakata was born in Osaka in 1999 and works in various aspects of film production.

Mudman’s Drama

泥マンのドラマ  Doroman no dorama

Release Date: 2019

Duration: 75 mins.

Director: Taro Yamanaka

Writer: Taro Yamanaka (Screenplay),

Starring: Noriyuki Tokunaga, Kei Furukawa, Reiko Nishikawa

Synopsis: A middle-aged man gets caught up in a Yakuza struggle and is buried in a mountain. It turns out that the burial site is land cursed by the mud gods and the man comes back as a mud monster… “Mudman”.

Director: Taro Yamanaka was born in Hyogo Prefecture in 1993 and works as a freelance video producer. This work is his first feature film.

The opening film on the 15th is…

Buzz

びっぐすり~  Biggusuri

Release Date: 2018

Duration: 56 mins.

Director: Shi Yuasa

Writer: Shi Yuasa, Shuhei Fukushima

Starring: Yuusuke Nakamura, Takuya Inoue, Asuka Sakai, Kohei Tokita,

Synopsis: After graduating from high school, a manzai trio named “Biggusuri” enters a comedy training centre in Osaka. Their future looks bright but they soon face struggles…

Director: Shi Yuasa was born in Osaka in 1996 and a graduate from the Department of Image Arts at Osaka Art University. He currently works as an assistant at the university.

Mirumemireru Me

ミルメミラレル目  Mirumemireru Me

Release Date: 2019

Duration: 63 mins.

Director: Atsushi Nakamura

Writer: Atsushi Nakamura

Starring: Kousuke Akama, Mina Katahira, Sho Nagasawa

Synopsis: A woman living with swimming goggles and a man taking photos somehow climb Tateyama in Toyama.

Director: Atsushi Nakamura was born in Toyama Prefecture in 1993. After quitting Fuji TV, he set up a theatre company called Aogane.

Ai utsutsu

愛うつつ  Ai utsutsu

Release Date: 2018

Duration: 70 mins.

Director: Kosei Hana

Writer: Kosei Hana

Starring: Takeshi Hosokawa, Kazuho Yamamoto, Takehito Sato, Minori Inoue,

Synopsis: A human drama based on the director’s own experiences and questions over the form of love and sex. A woman who wants to be embraced by a man who cannot be embraced because he loves.

Director: Kosei Hana was born in Hiroshima Prefecture in 1992 and attended the Film School New Cinema Workshop Creator Course. He works as a production director for WEB and TV commercial production.

Short Film Programme F

Jamais vu

Release Date: 2019

Duration: 35 mins.

Director: Kazuhiro Taira

Writer: Kazuhiro Taira,

Starring: Yuki Oshiro, Shogen, Yuuko Deguchi, Tamotsu Ooshiro,

Synopsis: A story of fear and love where a mysterious man who suddenly appears in the living room of a house makes a woman’s life go crazy.

Director: Kazuhiro Taira was born in Okinawa Prefecture in 1989. He makes local dramas but aims to become a film-maker.

Subarashiki kusottarena ao

素晴らしきクソッたれな青  Subarashiki kusottarena ao

Release Date: 2019

Duration: 16 mins.

Director: Kuniaki Kamiya

Writer: Kuniaki Kamiya

Starring: Daisuke Kosei, OZworld a.k.a R’kuma, Tamayori NatariMiyu, Watanuki ka na,

Synopsis: Kuniaki Kamiya endeavours to tell an Okinawan story with Okinawan actors and the story concerns a young man who lives at the bottom of society.

Director: Kuniaki Kamiya was born in Okinawa in 1988. He currently works at a movie production company in Okinawa.

Mipo Rin

みぽりん  Mipo Rin

Release Date: 2019

Duration: 124 mins.

Director: Daiju Matsumoto

Writer: Daiju Matsumoto

Starring: Asami Kakio, Haruka Tsuda, mayu, Yuki Inoue,

Website Twitter

Synopsis: A tale of horror where an idol who is bad at singing is abducted by the suspicious voice trainer Mipo Rin.

Director:Daiju Matsumoto was Born in Hyogo in 1983. This work is her first self-produced film.

Here is the timetable for the films:

Tickets went on sale on Sunday 09th June and can be bought at Kanazawa’s 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art’s shop and it’s a good idea to buy in advance since they only cost 1000 yen. Tickets are 1200 yen on the day.

One day pass – 4500 yen

Festival pass – 17000 yen

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