Bleached Bones Avenue

白骨街道「Hakkotsu kaidō」

Release Date: 2020

Duration: 16 mins.

Director: Akio Fujimoto

Writer: N/A

Starring: Pu paul pau, Lang Za Khup

OAFF

Screened at the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2020, Bleached Bones Avenue is the latest title from director Akio Fujimoto and, on the face of it, this short is a curious follow-up film to his previous work, the family drama Passage of Life (2017), which was shown at the festival back in 2018. However, it continues to examine the human links between Japan and Myanmar in its own unique way.

Akimoto’s latest film takes place in Myanmar’s Chin state and observes the work of a team from the Zomi tribe who recover the remains of Japanese soldiers who died during the battle of Imphal. We watch as these men, each clad in simple tracksuits, hoodies and t-shirts, prepare for their work then travel by SUV to some remote area. A stream of sequences flow by where the action consists of the team traversing steep mountains, dense with trees, where they dig with simple tools. The only sounds are of bird cries, the voices the men and the tools they use as they gouge out chunks of earth in the hope of bones surfacing from the past. Although the environment looks as if it has remained untouched by human hands, the scars of war are gradually unearthed. This is most potently evidenced in the memories of wartime atrocities passed on from older members of the team to the younger ones and the wreckage of a tank which forms the focal point of a valley. As with the digging, human connections resurface from the river of time and the natural landscape.

On first viewing, Bleached Bones Avenue feels like a documentary. The camera observes everything without any visual or aural ostentations to distract. There are some poetic visuals due to the sheer natural beauty of the landscape but the art happened on the location just as much as in the editing. However, while the film records and displays vital history, this is no documentary. Every cut naturally flows into the next so spontaneous moments of play when younger members throw stones off the mountain seamlessly move into the sober moments of reflection when the elders pass on the memories of people who encountered soldiers and witnessed atrocities during the war. Camera placement and framing of subjects by Akimoto and cinematographer Kentaro Kishi (Hammock), generates an almost visceral atmosphere – it is as if a single current is pulling everything along throughout the film’s 16 minutes.

Full theatricality is seen when the film takes on the point of view of a Japanese soldier who observes the team digging, as signaled by the screen turning black and white and a shot of an eye observing the action. It creates a poignant feeling since this POV belongs to a ghost of the past conjured up by the digging, adding another layer to the idea of past and present being connected by the team. The film’s location already gives it an ethereal atmosphere but these theatrical moments enhance the sense of a haunted atmosphere.

As we travel with the team through the mountain paths and gaze over vast distances covered with jungle, audiences will begin to appreciate the hardship the soldiers and local tribes had to suffered through. Its this experiential factor is what makes the film different from others that have tackled the history of Imphal as Bleached Bones Avenue zeroes in on the local environment and people, connecting viewers to the past through how it has influenced the action of people in the present.

Bleached Bones Avenue was shown at the Osaka Asian Film Festival on March 10 and 14.

My review was first published on V-Cinema on July 07th.

The battle of Imphal may have been an important moment in World War II but the history of it and the human suffering involved is at risk of being forgotten as generations move on and consume films and TV with the action in the Pacific War and the European theatre as subjects. While the tactical errors form the basis of the documentaries out there, fiction films tend to be in short supply and seem to have stopped some time in the 60s. Notable titles using Myanmar as a backdrop include the Errol Flynn actioner Objective, Burma! (1945), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and Kon Ichikawa’s Burmese Harp (1956). A memorable one is the bleak British film The Long the Short and the Tall (1961) which starred Lawrence Harvey. Bleached Bones Avenue takes a different tack entirely as it is shot in the country in the present but reverberates with the echoes of the past and gives a sense of the actual physical hardship and the privations of the soldiers and civilians who suffered through that period of time.

Bleached Bones Avenue is director Akio Fujimoto’s follow-up to his drama Passage of Life (2017). It is another film that looks at the shared links between Japan and Myanmar but this time, instead of a family drama, it is unearthing history.

Deep in the hills of Myanmar’s Chin state, Fujimoto and his crew met with a group of people who are dedicated to recovering the bones of Japanese soldiers who died during the Imphal campaign. It was a reckless attack by poorly supplied soldiers who were forced into a gruelling retreat through tough terrain and severe monsoon rains. Beset by malaria and dysentery, a lack of food and medical supplies, many men became sick and many perished, their bodies decomposing in the places they fell. The route they took became known as Hakkotsu Kaido, Bleached Bones Avenue in English. The local hill tribes who experienced these events have passed on their memories to their descendants who Fujimoto and his crew observe for this 16 minute film that connects past and present in a unique way.

The film’s director Akio Fujimoto, actor and cinematographer Kentaro Kishi and producer Kazutaka Watanabe sat down to discuss their work and went into fascinating detail.

This interview was conducted with the help of Kazutaka Watanabe’s lively interpretation.

Thank you for doing the interview. Why did you go to Myanmar to make films?

Akio Fujimoto: I first went to Myanmar because of the Passage of Life project. Kazutaka Watanabe’s company put out a call for different projects that could be shot in Myanmar. I applied and was chosen. It was actually the first South East Asian country that I visited.

So Passage of Life was your first collaboration together and just like that film, this one feels like a cross between documentary and fiction. How did you hear about the Zomi people and why did you want to film them?

Fujimoto: When we were doing fieldwork for Passage of Life in 2013, we met an old lady who sold vegetables and we interviewed her. She told us about how, during the war, she met some Japanese soldiers and she saw them killing her family so she had to flee into the mountains. She also told us how we were the first Japanese people she had met since the war. Hearing this, I felt like, “the war happened here.” In Japan, we only hear about the war from the Japanese point of view so this was my first time thinking about the war from the local people’s point of view and how they relate to Japanese people. That was my first motivation.

We told the old lady we were going to shoot Passage of Life here and the old lady prayed for us. After I received the prayer, I felt a little like I needed to reply. Maybe this is me thinking about the war from my point of view and that would be like a reply to the prayer.

Our cinematographer, Kentaro Kishi’s grandfather died in the battle of Imphal. Kishi-san’s father was still in his mother’s womb so he never met his father and only heard about him in stories. We knew that Kishi-san also had a special feeling about this battle and Myanmar so I wanted him to come with us to do something using what he feels and what he can do in the field.

Also, there is a lot of footage reproducing how the war was but I wanted to do research and fieldwork from the present and not in the past.

Why did you choose a short film format?

Fujimoto: My first motivation was not to make the film but to know. To see the environment and listen to the people who were alive during that period. They are old and we know that they will die pretty soon so we wanted to go there and see the place and learn from the people rather than just “shoot the film.” I was also thinking about the people who are in Japan, the relatives of those who died in Myanmar. I heard that they occasionally plan to travel to Myanmar to pray but they cannot go deep into the mountains. When we had the chance to go there, we wanted to record images and take it back for the relatives so that was another reason to go.

We had one week of interviews where we were going to various villages and then we shot the film for a day and a half but we wanted to see how they dig up the bones so they said that they could gather the staff. Then I started writing the script and started shooting the process of them digging for a day and a half. The way we shot was we asked for specific locations and asked them to proceed. The digging and stuff, we left it to them. We didn’t tell them to wear costumes and shoes so when we shot, we see them with sandals while digging. It’s dangerous but it’s their style so we shot it.

When we were shooting the footage, it was from Kishi-san’s point of view. He has a special feeling so his camera expresses something unique. In that sense, you can say the film itself is his own document. This isn’t a documentary, it is him recording his feeling in the film as a cameraman. So there is the first scene, shot in black and white and with the sound of breathing. That is Kishi’s breathing. That moment is like him with nobody around. He thought he wanted to shoot it as if he is his grandfather reaching that point and seeing the beautiful scenery after the war ends. Like, he has to go back and he is starving and maybe he is sick, but still, he goes to a point with beautiful scenery. He’s not just a cinematographer at that moment, he’s also acting. He felt, when watching the footage, like he’s really there.

Kishi: When I was contacted, I was not asked to be there just as a cinematographer but as a person who lost his grandfather there so I was open to doing different things that spontaneously came up in my mind. That leads to the first scene. The director felt that this act itself is a cinematic act.

The first scene was done after the last scene which was shot from a high position, so I had to climb down the hill and reach the point from which we see the beautiful view. At that point I felt, “oh, maybe this is a moment my grandfather saw.” That sense led me to record the video and I was moved to tears while shooting.

Fujimoto: The act of digging the bones is like digging the past. This is connecting the past and the present. The way we shot the first scene is like thinking about the past and bringing it into the present. This is the structure. The local Zomi people and the audience are watching the same scenery. This is overarching everything. We are recalling everything because of the land. This made me feel like this production itself is very interesting. We weren’t aiming for a short film but when we reviewed all of the material it became a 16 minute film.

[To Kentaro Kishi] As a cinematographer, did you make any plans before the shoot?

Kishi: I didn’t really have a shooting plan in mind, it was more like, how we were going to make this film. We saw the main theme as being like a prayer for the soldiers and people who died. After we decided to shoot, we initially talked about the various ways we could finish the film, such as a shot of Japanese soldiers going into the river, but when we started shooting we forgot everything.

The terrain is mountainous. How difficult was it to shoot there?

Fujimoto: There was one point, when we were in a deep valley, there was the wreckage of a tank, and the guides really wanted to take us there so all of the staff went except me. Even Kishi-san went with his heavy camera since he was shooting. I was the only one who couldn’t make it there [laughter]. He was like, “where is the director, where is the director?” and he gave up [laughter].

When I heard war stories, it never felt real in my body and my mind, but after experiencing how difficult it was going into deep valleys, these stories are even more unreal for me. I cannot imagine how the soldiers were in the jungle.

Kishi: Where we were shooting, there is a road. The landscape hasn’t changed much, but in those days there was no road and thousands of people travelled along that route to Imphal and they were carrying equipment weighing 20 kilos along that route. The tanks were dismantled into many parts and everyone had to carry something. They also had cows, but they lost most of them on the way. So, together they went the whole way. To get to the point where we shot, near the border of India and Myanmar, by car, that’s like 10 hours. We went from a hub city that has an airport that is located at the foot of the mountains. When we went back. it was 12 hours. It’s hard to express in words what it must have been like for the people back then.

Fujimoto: I don’t know how much the audience can feel it but in the last scene, the last line of dialogue as we look from a mountain into the distance is, “That’s India.” That means, Imphal is over there so we have to go down through all of the clouds and through the dense jungle. It’s a cruel thing. The scenery is so beautiful but if you imagine walking all the way to India from where we shot, the path contains a lot of death.

At one point you have a shot of a soldier watching the Zomi people so that was also to bring the fallen soldiers of the past back into the present?

Fujimoto: That was exactly the vision I had. I am amazed you can tell it is a soldier because there are many that cannot tell. You mentioned that it is a fallen soldier, however, as it is a film it could be anything in the way audience imagines it. Another thing is, when we were shooting, Kishi-san was always saying he felt like somebody was watching us. He felt that many times during the production. That was an influence.

Kishi: I felt that there was someone, somewhere, in a place that cannot be seen. Maybe it was an animal but I felt something.

Fujimoto: [Laughter] When he felt something was looking at us, he shot the image. That place itself is very strange. When we put just one cut of the image there, it makes the cut even more unique and strange and interesting.

Kishi: The image of the eyes, we shot in Tokyo.

Jason: Ooooooohhh… [Laughter]

Fujimoto: We dug a deep hole near Kishi’s house. It was during a cold winter and we asked a friend that looked like a Japanese soldier from the war. He was half-naked and we shot him coming out of the hole. It took many hours to dig the hole and shoot a lot of footage but the only footage that we used was the eyes.

Watanabe: I was not there but our filmmaking is like that. We plan and we prepare things but sometimes we don’t use them. Sometimes the situation changes so we spontaneously jump on new possibilities even if we have been working on something for many hours. That’s our style. We are just trying to be sincere to what we need to shoot.

Jason: The final result feels organic and captures the subject in a new way.

Watanabe: The image of the eyes really makes the film organic but it’s based on how Kishi-san felt and how Fujimoto director utilised that feeling so it’s all built up to make the image. Maybe that’s why you feel it’s organic. Maybe if we didn’t have the image of the eyes it would make us feel like this just a series of footage so it would have been difficult to know how this film wants to tell itself and how we want to convey the message.

Jason: It’s giving it a dimension of linking back to the past. It’s not just dry facts and figures that you can get in a textbook.

Fujimoto: This was my first time doing this much spontaneous acting and directing. It was strange. I felt like it was vague. We went from fieldwork to shooting straight away like there’s no real divide. I’m shooting and learning at the same time. We weren’t aiming to do the production, it just happened.

Watanabe: There were only five Japanese members of staff, us three, Yuuki Yaei for sound and Yuki Kitagawa as associate producer. Half of the cast were real but we were putting in extras from the drivers and people we knew. Everyone is acting so natural so it is hard to tell the difference between people, but we shot it like that. We asked everyone to gather on that day and then we shot.

Jason: Will you ever revisit the subject again?

Fujimoto: A real digging project goes on. It takes three months. They do research and dig in places, and once they find the bones, the Japanese client comes and they complete the project. Whenever there was a chance, I wanted to go and participate in the digging project and maybe shoot. That’s, not necessarily my intention, but something I want to do in the future. I don’t know whether it’s going to be a documentary but it’s something I want to observe. I want to see how local people meet and communicate with the Japanese association staff.

Jason: The bones and objects, the relics of the war, were they discovered during the shoot?

Watanabe: No, they already had them and they were stored.

Jason: How did you find interacting with the Zomi people?

Fujimoto: In 2019 I lived and worked in Yangon for one year so I was communicating with many people and most of them are from Burmese tribes. There are many indigenous tribes in Myanmar, they say more than 130, and Zomi are one of the more local indigenous people but they are small in number compared to Burmese tribes. They are like locals in the countryside who live simple lives. After communicating with them, I could imagine how their characteristics might not have changed so much over time and how they would be during the war and I could see why Japanese soldiers would ask a lot from them and how these villagers would react to them the same way they react to us.

Jason: What do you hope audiences take away from the film?

Kishi: Film is a special format when compared to things like TV programmes and dramas. The important factor is that films can light up places that people don’t see. They can provide more access and information and help people learn experiences by re-performing what happened in the past and what is going on in the present. From that aspect, this film could be a precious experience for the audience. This can mean a lot for Japanese people. Not only Japanese people but, as you told us how you felt, this can affect different audiences.

Watanabe: For me, this is produced from an Asian perspective, shot in an Asian country and relating to the relationship between Asians. It’s so natural, so in the end, the film becomes unique.

Many different elements affected the production but the motivation that they have is so pure and that pure motivation can make something organic and that organic stuff is what stays. The style we do, the way we shot, is already interesting and the material we have is so precious.

Fujimoto: In this film, I don’t emphasise anything with close ups or special effects. It is only the cloud scene where the audience might think we are focussing on something in particular. That means we have some kind of distance between the objects and the actions. That leads the audience to various ways of comprehension. I expect the audience to comprehend and understand in their own way. I have already explained about the dialogue but even with that, the audience can hear a simple meaning like “there’s India,” but, through the images, you can show something deeper like “imagine walking there.” In this way, there are simple elements used but if you imagine and comprehend each element, then you can feel and use your imagination in your own way. When audiences watch the film, they may not imagine a lot, but after watching the film their imagination will work with their memory to interpret it. That’s the part I also enjoy. It’s not really a message but I feel like that.

From July 17th – 30th, Japan Cuts will launch for its 2020 edition which is going to be an entirely online experience. There are 30 features and 12 shorts that will be shown across 14 days with filmmaker video introductions, live virtual Q&As and panel discussions for audiences across the entire United States (yes, this fest is geo-locked, much like the upcoming Fantasia festival).

The selection is, as ever, good as it covers indies and mainstreamers, features and shorts, anime and live-action and all covering a diverse array of subjects. I’ve covered all of these in other festival posts and seen quite a few and will be plugging my own reviews and interviews in this highlight post which has been split up into the following sections, all of which, I hope will help people decide what they want to see:

 Opening Film | Centrepiece Presentation | Animation |Feature Films | Shorts | Documentaries | Tora-san

Opening Film

Special Actors   

スペシャルアクターズ　 「Supesharu Akuta-zu」

Release Date: October 18th, 2019

Duration: 109 mins.

Director: Shinichiro Ueda

Writer: Shinichiro Ueda (Screenplay) 

Starring: Hiroki Kono, Takuya Fuji, Ayu Kitaura, Yosuke Ueda, Yaeko Kiyose,

Website IMDB

Japan Cuts 2020 gets going with the latest film from Shinichiro Ueda, director of One Cut of the Dead, who once again. makes an ensemble comedy with a cast gathered from a workshop.  

This one is only available in the US

Synopsis: Kazuto is a timid young guy who prefers to stay indoors to watch the adventures of the psychic hero Rescueman instead of being stressed outside. He had wanted to be an actor but a certain medical condition that causes him to faint at the first sign of stress affects him. Despite this, thanks to his brother, he joins an acting agency where he takes on small roles such as being a stand-in at a funeral. The stakes are raised when he ends up being recruited for a real life drama when a young woman named Yumi asks for help from the Special Actors to save her family’s inn from being sold to a brainwashing cult and it turns out that the Special Actors devise a complex plan that depends upon Kazuto…

Centrepiece Presentation

Fukushima 50   

フクシマ フィフティー　 「Fukushima 50」

Release Date: March 06th, 2020

Duration: 122 mins.

Directors: Setsuro Wakamatsu

Writers: Youichi Maekawa (Script), Ryusho Kadota (Original Book)

Starring: Koichi Sato, Ken Watanabe, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Narumi Yasuda,

Website IMDB

This one is available in the US only

Synopsis: Based on reality, when a magnitude 9.0 earthquake strikes the Tohoku region of Japan on March 11, 2011, it triggers a giant tsunami which hits the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The workers struggle to control the situation with the manager Masao Yoshida (Ken Watanabe) doing his best to communicate between the 50 workers on the ground, thee company, the Japanese government and thee military. Can they prevent a devastating nuclear disaster?

Animation

Bath House of Whales (8 mins. Dir: Mizuki Kiyama)

For this award-winning short, Kiyama used a paint on glass technique to render a young girl’s visit to a neighbourhood sento (bath house) with her mother. Available worldwide.

On-Gaku: Our Sound   

音楽　 「Ongaku」

Release Date: January 11th, 2020

Duration: 71 mins.

Director: Kenji Iwaisawa

Writer: Hiroyuki Ohashi (Screenplay), 

Starring: Kami Hiraiwa (Morita), Shintaro Sakamoto (Kenji), Ren Komai (Aya), Naoto Takenaka (Oba), Tateto Serizawa (Asakura), Tomoya Meno (Ota),

Animation Production: N/A

Website ANN MAL

Adapted from the manga by Hiroyuki Osashi, this was seven years in the making with director Iwaisawa doing a lot of the animating himself.

The film won Best Feature Film at the Ottawa International Animation Festival where it won Grand Prize for Feature Animation and this year’s Annecy International Animation Festival where it won the award for Best Original Music. Here’s a review over at the Japan Times has given it 5 out of 5!

Available in the US only.

Synopsis: One summer’s day, three outsider high school students who haven’t touched an instrument in their lives decide to form a band to express their teenage angst and impress girls. Does it matter that Kenji and his friends have never played an instrument before? Of course not – he’s got a guitar at home and his friends have a bass and drums in theirs so in the true spirit of punk, with blind confidence and absolutely minimal effort they start to make friends and influence people.

Feature Films

Extro   

Ekisutoro　 「エキストロ」

Release Date: March 13th, 2020

Duration: 89 mins.

Directors: Naoki Murahashi

Writers: Hirohito Goto (Script), Mariko Kikuchi (Original Book)

Starring: Kozo Haginoya, Koji Yamamoto, Yuki Saito, Tatsumi Fujinami, Ryo Kato, Riho Kotani, Nobuhiko Obayashi,

Website

This one is available for thee US only

And here’s a music video:

Synopsis: This is a mockumentary that follows real-life bit-part player Kozo Haginoya (Kozo Haginoya), a man who works as an extra for drama series and movies. He is 64-years-old and while he works as a dental technician and part-time farmer in Ibaraki Prefecture,, his true passion is for acting. The camera follows him around the set of a period drama shot in a film studio and things go slightly awry when two cops on the hunt for a drug dealer go undercover in the same production.

Kinta and Ginji   

金太と銀次 「Kinta to Ginji」

Release Date: N/A

Duration: 84 mins.

Director: Takuya Dairiki, Takashi Miura

Writer: Takuya Dairiki, Takashi Miura (Script),

Starring: Takuya Dairiki, Takashi Miura

Available to watch worldwide

Synopsis: A sci-fi roadmovie with a weird atmosphere where Kinta and Ginji, a tanuki and a robot, roam forests and fields. They sometimes like each other, some times hate each other, but always get back on course and chat in their Kansai dialect. As the two friends explore their environment, they encounter other talking entities and situations.

Life: Untitled   

タイトル、拒絶　 「Taitoru, kyozetsu」

Release Date: N/A

Duration: 98 mins.

Director: Kana Yamada

Writer: N/A

Starring: Sairi Ito, Yuri Tsunematsu, Reiko Kataoka, Denden, Aimi Satsukawa, Kokoro Morita, War Marui, Aika Yukihira,

Website

This one is only available to view in the US

Synopsis: Based on a stage play by the director, this film stars Sairi Ito (Love and Other Cults) as Kanou, one of a number of young women working in a Tokyo escort service operating from a rundown office where the women all wait for calls and becomes a witness to others between their visits to local love hotels.

Mrs. Noisy   

ミセス・ノイズィ　 「Misesu Noizi」

Release Date: N/A

Duration: 98 mins.

Director: Chihiro Amano

Writer: Chihiro Amano (Screenplay), 

Starring: Yukiko Shinohara, Yoko Ootaka, Takuma Nagao, Chise Niitsu, Masanari Wada, Yoriko Doguchi, Raiki Yanemoto,

Website

This one is only available for audiences in the US only

Synopsis: Maki Yoshioka is a novelist and mother. She’s suffering a slump in her work and things get worse when her neighbour, Miwako, begins harassing her by beating her futons at all hours of the day. After an argument, Maki gets inspiration and makes Miwako a character in her novel but that causes the fight between the two to spiral out of control as the media and internet get involved…

Sacrifice   

サクリファイス　 「Sakurifaisu」

Release Date: N/A

Duration: 76 mins.

Director: Taku Tsuboi

Writer: Taku Tsuboi (Screenplay)

Starring: Yuzu Aoki, Michiko Gomi, Miki Handa, Kosuke Fujita, Yasuyuki Sakurai, Hatsune Yazaki, Hana Shimomura, Chieko Misaka,

Website

This is Taku Tsuboi’s directorial debut. He has a background in working with Makoto Shinozaki (Sharing) and Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Journey to the Shore). It played at last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival. Expect a review soon.

This one is available in the US only

Synopsis: The film follows Midori, a college student who once belonged to a cult named Shio no kai. She predicted the Great East Japan Earthquake while she was a member but has shaken off her past and is now a college student. When disturbing incidents such as cat killings occur near the college she attends, it draws others in, including other former cultists. One other college student, Toko, suspects that the cat killer is her schoolmate Okita.

Roar   

轟音　 「Gouon」

Release Date: February 15th, 2020

Duration: 99 mins.

Director: Ryo Katayama

Writer: Ryo Katayama (Script), 

Starring: Ryo Anraku, Mie Oota, Shoji Oomiya, Mari Kishi, Takuya Nakayama,

Website

This one is available in the US only 

Synopsis: The first feature film directed by Kei Katayama, it tells two parallel stories in Fukui City. One involves a guy named Makoto (Ryo Anraku) who runs away from home due to horrific family drama when he encounters a tramp (played by Katayama) who gets hired to beat people up. Meanwhile, radio announcer Hiromi (Mie Ota) deals with a sexually aggressive boss by starting a half-hearted affair. The two find the violence in their lives builds up until…

Shell and Joint   

Release Date: 2019

Duration: 154 mins.

Director: Isamu Hirabayashi

Writer: Isamu Hirabayashi (Script) 

Starring: Mariko Tsutsui, Keisuke Horibe, Kanako Higashi, Aiko Sato, Hiromi Kitagawa, Kaori Takeshita,

Website IMDB

Well, I really enjoyed this one and reviewed it as part of Nippon Connection 2020. It is visually resplendent and full of cracked stories.

This one is available in the US only

Synopsis: Nitobe and Sakamoto are friends from childhood who now work at the front desk of a capsule hotel. Nitobe has a particular fondness for philosophy and crustaceans. Sakamoto, meanwhile, is fixated on suicide. The capsule hotel draws a variety of guests, including a Finnish mother who has lost her child, a fugitive woman, and a researcher studying Daphnia. None of their lives ever intersect. Nor do any of the lives out of it for that matter. They exist, but never cross, like cells in a capsule hotel. With crustaceans as leitmotif, the themes of life and death are explored through a fragmentary view of the characters’ lives.

The Phone of the Wind   

風の電話　 「Kaze no Denwa」

Release Date: January 24th, 2020

Duration: 139 mins.

Director: Nobuhiro Suwa

Writer: Nobuhiro Suwa, Kyoko Inukai (Script) 

Starring: Serena Motola, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Tomokazu Miura, Toshiyuki Nshida, Makiko Watanabe, Shoko Ikezu,

Website IMDB

The review for this one at the Japan Times website makes the drama sound powerful. It was selected for this year’s Berlinale where it garnered a Special Mention, Generation 14plus Competition.

Available in the US only

Synopsis: Haru is 17 years old and has lived in Hiroshima with her aunt ever since losing her family in the Great East Japan Earthquake. When her aunt (Makiko Watanabe) falls ill, Haru is left with nobody to take care of her and so she goes back to her hometown of Otsuchi in Iwate Prefecture. It is there she hears of the “Wind Telephone” It is a white phone booth with a disconnected black telephone inside. With it, the living can contact the dead. As Haru journeys to the phone, she encounters various people and discovers others who have lost something or someone… 

Labyrinth of Cinema     

Labyrinth of Cinema＝海辺の映画館　キネマの玉手箱「Labyrinth of Cinema = umibe no eigakan kinema no tamatebako」

Release Date: N/A

Duration: 179 mins.

Director: Nobuhiko Obayashi

Writer: Nobuhiko Obayashi (Screenplay),

Starring: Takuro Atsuki, Takahito Hosoyamada, Yoshihiko Hosoda,

Website IMDB

Nobuhiko Obayashi recently passed away but two films involving him are on the festival circuit. Both were at the Tokyo International Film Festival, the documentary hasn’t reached Europe yet, as far as I know, whereas this one has played at Rotterdam. Labyrinth of Cinema is an anti-war film that mixes in a love of cinema, a subject mix which Obayashi relished with so many of his projects. 

This one is available to view online in the US only.

Synopsis: Three young people at a soon-to-be-shuttered cinema are enjoying the final screening: a marathon of old war films. The three become so immersed in the action that they find themselves time-slipping through the screen to various historical events connected to cinema and war such as witnessing death during the Sengoku period and on a battlefront in China, being in Hiroshima just before the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing of the city. This was shot in Obayashi’s hometown in Onomichi and has an anti-war message.

My Sweet Grappa Remedies  

甘いお酒でうがい「Amai osake de ugai 」

Release Date: 2020

Duration: 107 mins.

Director: Akiko Ooku

Writer: Jiro (Script), Yoshiko Kawashima (Original Novel)

Starring: Yasuko Matsuyuki, Hana Kuroki, Hiroya Shimizu, Kanji Furutachi, Kozo Sato, Tomoya Maeno,

Website IMDB

Jiro is a member of the manzai group Sissonne and he has written a novel in the voice of a woman named “Yoshiko Kawashima”. The novel is a diary that notes her thoughts and it has been adapted for the big screen. This is Jiro’s second collaboration with Akiko (Tremble All You Want) Ohku after they worked on Marriage Hunting Beauty.

This one is available to watch in the US.

Synopsis: Yoshiko (Yasuko Matsuyuki) is a single woman in her 40s who works in a publishing company and enjoys drinking grappa and writing in her diary. She enjoys her simple life but when she is introduced to a younger guy in his 20s, she falls in love and a new, welcome complexity changes her easy days…

My Identity

Release Date: N/A

Duration: 63 mins.

Director: Sae Suzuki

Writer: Sae Suzuki

Starring: Hinata Arakawa, Kaho Seto,

IMDB

Sae Suzuki made this while at Geidai.

This one is only available in the US

Synopsis: Rei is a Taiwanese-Japanese girl in her mid-teens and also a runaway from a miserable home life. While on the streets she meets Aoi, an office worker who is undergoing her own ordeal with an amorous male colleague. Rei ends up staying overnight in Aoi’s apartment but, the very next evening, the two run away from the city after a traumatic event happens. They head to a deserted rural village and hide away in an abandoned inn where they create a utopian space of female camaraderie which lasts for a little while…

Beyond the Night

Release Date: N/A

Duration: 94 mins.

Director: Natsuki Nakagawa

Writer: N/A

Starring: Saki Tanaka, Kenta Yamagishi, Yasuhiro Isobe,

This one is only available in the US

Synopsis: When Mikiro (Kenta Yamagishi) catches Sotoko (Saki Tanaka) on the verge of an emotional breakdown due to her toxic marriage with the abusive Atsuya (Yasuhiro Isobe), his reality becomes marked by eroticism with a violent edge and an acknowledgement of small-town corruption.

The Murders of Oiso

ある殺人、落葉のころに 「Aru satsujin, rakuyo no koro ni」

Release Date: N/A

Duration: 79 mins.

Director: Takuya Misawa

Writer: Takuya Misawa (Screenplay)

Starring: Koji Moriya, Haya Nakazaki, Yusaku Mori, Shugo Nagashima, Natsuko Hori, Ena Koshino, Chun Yip Lo, Toko Narushima,

OAFF Link

Debuting at last year’s Busan International Film Festival, The Murders of Oiso took the Japan Cuts Award at the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2020. It is the sophomore feature from director Takuya Misawa who made waves with his 2015 debut Chigasaki Story. He returns with a slice-of-life film shot with a Hong Kong crew in a cut-up narrative that has a noirish atmosphere as he looks at the shadowy side of the titular town and its citizens.

Here’s my review and here’s my interview with director Takuya Misawa.

This is only available to view in the US

Synopsis: Taking place in another seaside town, The Murders of Oiso is a noirish slice-of-life story set in the picturesque location of Oiso. It concerns how small-scale corruption is revealed when four friends, Tomoki (Haya Nakazaki), Shun (Koji Moriya), Kazuya (Yusaku Mori), and Eita (Shugo Nagashima) confront the crimes of the people around them and themselves after the death of an influential man in the town.

Kontora   

コントラ「Kontora」

Release Date: N/A

Duration: 145 mins.

Director: Anshul Chauhan

Writer: Anshul Chauhan (Script) 

Starring: Seira Kojima, Wan Marui, Hidemasa Mase, Takuzo Shimizu, Taichi Yamada,

Twitter IMDB

This is a distinct and impressive sophomore feature from Anshul Chauhan after his debut, Bad Poetry Tokyo (2017) with its gorgeous monochrome sheen and absorbing dramatic acting and mysterious story. It won the Grand Prix at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and it is one I am looking forward to seeing at the Osaka Asian Film Festival n March. 

Expect a review and an interview with the director soon.

This one is only available in the US

Synopsis: When Sora’s (Wan Marui) grandfather passes away she loses the last person she feels she can communicate with. Her relationship with her father is very uneasy and so, when Sora discovers her grandfather’s wartime diary which hints at hidden treasure, she hides it in the hopes it can provide some outlet for herself. At this time a mysterious mute vagrant who only walks backwards appears in town and his presence provides a catalyst for change between father and daughter.

Kakou no Futari   

火口のふたり「Kakou no Futari」

Release Date: August 23rd, 2019

Duration: 115 mins.

Director: Haruhiko Arai

Writer: Haruhiko Arai (Script), Kazufumi Shiraishi (Novel),

Starring: Tasuku Emoto, Kumi Takiuchi,

Website   IMDB

Tasuku Emoto ( Dynamite Graffiti) and Kumi Takiuchi (Greatful Dead) take the lead in this drama which is absolutely steamy and sexy but based on some deep drama. Expect a review soon.

Available in the US only

Synopsis: When don’t you want to attend an ex-lover’s wedding (seriously, when do you?)? When you are reeling from your own divorce and job loss. Kenji Nagahara (Tasuku Emoto) cannot resist. A bit of a deadbeat with nothing to do, he heads back to his hometown in Akita to attend the wedding of his ex-lover Naoko Sato (Kumi Takiuchi) after she invites him. When she proposes they have a final one night stand, of course, their passion lasts longer than that and we see the depth of their connection to each other as it goes from purely physical to emotional…

Shorts

Wheel Music (14 mins. Dir: Nao Yoshigai)

Available worldwide

Innovative and playful filmmaker Nao Yoshigai made a road movie with her bicycle and her video camera as she documents the aesthetic feeling and social character of Sendagi, an old town in Tokyo under urban development in preparation for the planned Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.

See You on the Other Side (24 mins. Dir: Yoko Yamanaka)

Available worldwide

Three young people living together find their relationship rife with tension following an unexpected turn of events in this film by Yoko Yamanaka (Amiko).

Fuel (16 mins. Dir: Yu Araki)

Available worldwide

A contemplative film that savours the sights and sounds of an expert griller working at one of the oldest robatayaki (fireside cooking) restaurants in Japan in Kushiro, the northeastern port city in Hokkaido.

Birdland

緑の雪　 「Midori no Yuki」

Release Date: 2019

Duration: 20 mins.

Director: Takeshi Kogahara

Writer: Takeshi Kogahara (Screenplay) 

Starring: Shin Furukawa, Natsuko Fuji

Website IMDB

Takeshi Kogahara was previously at Japan Cuts with his short film, a visually and aurally resplendent tale of first-love named Nagisa. This is his latest short and it looks to be equally moving. It will be introduced by him.

Available worldwide

Synopsis: An old man near the end of his life spends his days on his bed, occasionally visited by a carer. When he sees snow outside the window, he contemplates certain strong memories from his past.

Wolf’s Calling   

狼煙が呼ぶ　 「Noroshi ga Yobu」

Release Date: September 20th, 2019

Duration: 16 mins.

Director: Toshiaki Toyoda

Writer: Toshiaki Toyoda (Screenplay) 

Starring: Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Tadanobu Asano, Kengo Kora, Ryuhei Matsuda, Tetsuya Nakamura,

Website IMDB

A 16-minute short drama inspired by the experience of director Toshiaki Toyoda, who was arrested for illegal possession of a pistol (which turned out to be an antique passed on by his father) in April 2019 when he was held in jail without charge while the police orchestrated a media circus. It stars long-time Toyoda collaborators Kiyohiko Shibukawa and Ryuhei Matsuda who appeared Toyoda’s debut movies Pornostar and Blue Spring and they showed up in his latest movie, The Miracle of Crybaby Shottan.

Available in the US only

Synopsis: A girl finds an old handgun in her house and the history of the gun is traced. A girl finds an old handgun in her attic and the symbolic object conjures a mystical scene of samurai (a stellar cast of actors joined by the 20-person Edo punk band Seppuku Pistols, who also provide the soundtrack) gathering within the moss-grown location of Kasosan Shrine in Tochigi Prefecture.

Bleached Bones Avenue

白骨街道「Hakkotsu kaidō」

Release Date: 2020

Duration: 16 mins.

Director: Akio Fujimoto

Writer: N/A

Starring: Pu paul pau, Lang Za Khup

OAFF

Screened at the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2020, Bleached Bones Avenue is the latest title from director Akio Fujimoto and, on the face of it, this short is a curious follow-up film to his previous work, the family drama Passage of Life (2017), which was shown at the festival back in 2018. However, it continues to examine the human links between Japan and Myanmar in its own unique way.

I interviewed the film’s director Akio Fujimoto, cinematographer Kentaro Kishi and producer Kazutaka Watanabe. Also, here’s my review.

Available only in the US

Synopsis: Fujimoto’s latest film takes place in Myanmar’s Chin state and observes the work of a team from the Zomi tribe who recover the remains of Japanese soldiers who died during the battle of Imphal.

Documentaries

Blind Bombing: Filmed by a Bat (32 mins. Dir: Kota Takeuchi)

Available worldwide

A doc where the director looks at experimental fire balloons designed to be launced at America during WWII. The director, recreates their flight take-off and flight across parts of America, using a bat’s echolocation as narrative device to place these weapons in history.

Nana (8 mins. Dir: Fumiya Hayakawa)

Available worldwide

This film follows Rosario, a mother and sitter, during a day in her life.

The Sculpture of Place & Time (8 mins. Dir: Tatsuhito Utagawa)

Available in North America

A Khmer dance is captured on film as enacted by Phnom Penh-based dancer Prumsodm Ok—a Cambodian-American and pioneer of the first Cambodian gay dance company Prumsodun Ok & NATYARASA – where the abstract nature of film and the act of dance itself is looked into.

Tokyo Girl (8 mins. Dir: Nebiro Hashimoto)

Available worldwide

A look at a teenage girl at the end of the Heisei era through a “sonic-visual collage that pierces the spirit of the contemporary zeitgeist”.

Sending Off (78 mins. Dir: Ian Thomas Ash)

Available in the US only

Ian Thomas Ash accompanied Dr. Kaoru Konta and a handful of nurses on palliative care house visits across rural Japan as they look after patients who are preparing for death from old age or illness.

Seijo Story – 60 Years of Making Films

ノンフィクションＷ　大林宣彦＆恭子の成城物語 [完全版] ～夫婦で歩んだ60年の映画作り～　 「Nonfikushon W ōbayashi nobuhiko& Kyōko no Seijō monogatari [kanzenhan] ~ fūfu de ayunda 60-nen no eiga-tsukuri ~」

Release Date: November 08th, 2019

Duration: 115 mins.

Director: Isshin Inudo, Eiki Takahashi

Writer: Isshin Inudo (Planning),

Starring: Nobuhiko Obayashi, Kyoko Obayashi

Website IMDB

Available in the US only

Synopsis: After meeting as college students in the cinema town of Seijo, husband and wife Nobuhiko and Kyoko Obayashi have gone on to direct and produce acclaimed films together for 60 years. They have created more than 40 films and he remains one of the most famous names in Japanese cinema. This documentary looks back on their youth and their independent films. It comes with testimony from friends and family who talk about the special bond between the two.

Reiwa Uprising   

れいわ一揆　 「Reiwa Ikki」

Release Date: 2020

Duration: 255 mins.

Director: Kazuo Hara

Writer: N/A

Starring: Ayumi Yasutomi

Website IMDB

Kazuo Hara (The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On) gave the world premiere of this at last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival last year.

This one is available to view in the US only

Synopsis: Kazuo Hara follows Ayumi Yasutomi, a transgender Tokyo University professor and a candidate from the anti-establishment party Reiwa Shinsengumi as she embarks on a national campaign for a seat in Japan’s Upper House.

Prison Circle   

プリズン・サークル　 「Pursizun Sa-kuru」

Release Date: January 25th, 2020

Duration: 136 mins.

Director: Kaori Sakagami

Writer: N/A

Starring: N/A

Website IMDB

This one is available to view in the US only

Synopsis: A documentary that took six years to authorise and two years to film due to it being set in a prison in Japan. It is set in Shimane Asahi Rehabilitation Promotion Center, a new public-private prison and the only prison in Japan that has introduced a program called “TC (Therapeutic Community)” that seeks out the causes and cures of crime through engaging prisoners in dialogue in a system that encourages rehabilitation. This is one of a number of educational programmes at the prison and one where prisoners must face their past. Audiences of this documentary will see the causes of crime the, bitter memories of childhood, such as poverty, bullying, abuse, and discrimination, as well as the crimes they committed, such as theft, fraud, robbery, injury and death. The camera follows the four prisoners in prison and shows them gaining new values ​​and ways of living through TC. Directed by Kaoru Sakagami, who has worked with American prisoners.

Happy weekend, dear reader!

I hope you are well!

Well, I’ve managed to regain my concentration after a couple of months of it going astray and so, this week, I watched a few Japanese films that will be screened at Japan Cuts 2020 and finished off editing two of my interviews from the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2020 with one involving Anshul Chauhan for Kontora (here’s the link) and one with the creative team behind Bleached Bones Avenue which I published. I also posted reviews for Bleached Bones Avenue and Hammock. I also published my preview piece on Japan Cuts 2020.

What is released this weekend in Japan?

Kiss Him, Not Me 

私がモテてどうすんだ 「Watashi ga mote dosunda」

Release Date: July 10th, 2020

Duration: 90 mins.

Director: Norihisa Hiranuma

Writer: Norihisa Hiranuma, Nami Yoshikawa, Shohei Fukuda, Kei Watanabe, Daisuke Kamijo, (Script), Junko (Original Manga)

Starring: Hokuto Yoshino. Nonoka Yamaguchi, Miu Tomita, Fuju Kamio, Asahi Ito, So Okuno Miku Uehara, Marina Mizushima,

Website IMDB

I’m sure I’ve written about this before and looked askance at its story…

Synopsis: Chubby highschooler Kae Serinuma (Miu Tomita) is a fujoshi, which means she loves boy’s love stories and she secretly ships the boys in her class. One day, her favourite anime character dies and she becomes super stressed. Unable to eat for a week, she ends up losing a lot of weight and becomes popular at school. The new Kae Serinuma (Nonoka Yamaguchi) suddenly has four pretty male students chasing her affections, but she’s still thinking like a fujoshi…

The Gun 2020   

銃 2020 「Ju 2020」

Release Date: July 10th, 2020

Duration: 76 mins.

Director: Masaharu Take

Writer: Fuminori Nakamura, Masaharu Take (Script), Fuminori Nakamura (Original Novel)

Starring: Kyoko Hinami, Masaya Kato, Koichi Sato, Tomochika, Lily Franky, Nijiiro Murakami, Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Shohei Uno,

Website IMDB

From what I’ve read, this is less a remake and more a companion story to The Gun (2018) which earned some critical acclaim on its festival run. It features much of the same cast from the first film, only with a side character played by Kyoko Hinami taking the lead for the sequel.

Here’s the review at the Japan Times website which considers this a not so progressive take on a woman with a gun story and gives it an unfavourable comparison to Bullet Ballet (2000) if you are looking for action. Maybe a better version of this story is Rae Red’s The Girl and the Gun.

Synopsis: Toko (Kyoko Hinami) is a university student trapped in a tough situation. An unkind mother (Tomochika), a stalker (Masaya Kato), and a world full of horrible guys, she’s under tremendous emotional stress. One night, when fleeing her stalker, she finds a gun abandoned in a washroom basin. She takes it and soon it begins to alter her behaviour.

A Tale of the Riverside   

河童の女 「Kappa no onna」

Release Date: July 11th, 2020

Duration: 107 mins.

Director: Masaki Tsujino

Writer: Masaki Tsujino (Script), 

Starring: Tappei Aono, Yoshimasa Kondo, Aki Goda, Riku Saito,

Website IMDB

Here’s the review at the Japan Times website.

Synopsis: Koji (Tappei Aono) has an unwelcome inheritance in the management of a failing riverside inn his father has left him after the old man runs off with his secret girlfriend. Koji would like to escape but he is stuck managing the place which is in a beautiful area in the middle of nowhere. Help comes in the form of Miho (Aki Goda), who is running away from something herself. For a place to lodge, she agrees to work and they both get along so well, it seems that love will bloom but past traumas still haunt them and for Koji, his is a Kappa…

F Is For Future     

ミは未来のミ 「Mi wa mirai no mi」

Release Date: July 10th, 2020

Duration: 60 mins.

Director: Teppei Isobe

Writer: Teppei Isobe, Kazuo Nagai (Script), 

Starring: Yasuyuki Sakurai, Hiroki Sano, karen, Kei Nakado, Chido Matsumoto

Website IMDB

Despite the theme of death, this one is cute.

Synopsis: Takuya (Yasuyuki Sakurai) is a highschooler aimlessly spending his time hanging out with his friends and not thinking about his future. After a tragic accident, he decides to keep a promise that he made a long time ago: His friend’s porn collection must disappear before his parents find it! This sets in motion thinking about life seriously for the first time.

Obake   

おばけ 「Obake」

Release Date:July 11th, 2020

Duration: 64 mins.

Director: Hiromichi Nakao

Writer: Hiromichi Nakao

Starring: Hiromichi Nakao, Sakutaro Nakao, Misora Nakao

Website

Synopsis: A lonely filmmaker who works by himself with nobody and nothing but the stars which watch over him for company finds that his small filmmaking dream that nobody knows about eventually leads to a vast universe.

The World of Two People   

二人ノ世界 「Futari no Sekai」

Release Date: July 10th, 2020

Duration: 87 mins.

Director: Keita Fujimoto

Writer: Ryuichi Matsushita (Script), Ryuichi Matsushita (Original Novel)

Starring: Masatoshi Nagase, Shiori Doi, Kanako Mizumoto, Ryushi Mizukami, Kaoru Kusumi,

Synopsis: Shunsaku is a bitter man because he lost his ability to move his body beneath his neck due to a cervical spine injury caused by a motorcycle accident. Kae is a blind woman who becomes his helper. The two are gradually drawn to each other as they fall in love.

Planetist   

プラネティスト 「Puraneteisuto」

Release Date: November 17th, 2018

Duration: 166 mins.

Director: Toshiaki Toyoda

Writer: N/A

Starring: Noritsugu Miyagawa, GOMA, Yosuke Kubotsuka, Airu Kubotsuka, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Tatsuya Nakamura,

Website IMDB

Synopsis from IMDB: A mysterious and wondrous islands surrounded by an unparalleled natural environment exists in Tokyo Prefecture that is referred to as the Galapagos of the East. They are called the Ogasawara Islands. A man lives on one of these islands. He is 65-year-old Miyagawa Noritsugu, a legendary surfer-a tarzan of the sea-who established the world’s first swimming-with-dolphins tour. Artists of every type are summoned to the island and shown around by Miyagawa. The imaginative power of these intensely perceptive individuals is drawn out by this tour and a never-before-seen Ogasawara comes to life. In order to chronicle these islands, director Toyoda Toshiaki moved to Ogasawara and took 5 years to complete this documentary. The film’s pièce de résistance are the scenes didgeridoo instrumentalist Goma, actors Kubozuka Yosuke and Shibukawa Kiyohiko, drummer Nakamura Tatsuya, and guitarist Yamaji Kazuhide are performing out among majestic natural surroundings.

Yuka-chan no Aishita Jidai   

ゆかちゃんの愛した時代 「Yuka-chan no Aishita Jidai」

Release Date: July 11th, 2020

Duration: 30 mins.

Director: Yun Hayama

Writer: Yun Hayama, Nishio Hiroshi (Script),

Starring: Yun Hayama, Keita Yamashina, Sayu Higashi, Marc Panther, Shiho Tanaka,

Synopsis:  Yuka Yukawa, a local talent born in the first year of the Heisei era, 1989, is having a meeting with her manager Masao at 11:00 pm on April 30, 2019, when the Heisei era has just one hour left before the Reiwa era begins. However, Yuka is talking about her memories of Heisei and is not interested in work. Eventually, Yuka’s desire for the Heisei era begins to overflow into her music. Then, at midnight, Yuka realised that he had left Masao.

Yokosuka Kitan   

横須賀綺譚 「Yokosuka Kitan」

Release Date: July 11th, 2020

Duration: 86 mins.

Director: Nobukazu Otsuka

Writer: Nobukazu Otsuka (Script),

Starring: Ryuju Kobayashi, Shijimi, Nagaya Kazuaki, Yota Kawase, Setsuko Karasuma,

Website

Synopsis: Haruki and his girlfriend Chikako were about to get married and live in Tokyo but they separated because her father needed nursing care back in their hometown. Haruki chose to stay in Tokyo and then the Great East Japan Earthquake struck and Chikako disappeared. Nine years after the disaster, Haruki hears mysterious information that Chikako, who was thought to have died in the disaster, may be alive. And Haruki heads for Yokosuka…

Blood Club Dolls 2   

Release Date: July 10th, 2020

Duration: 76 mins.

Director: Shutaro Oku

Writer: Shutaro Oku, Junichi Fujisaku (Script), CLAMP, Production I.G (Original Novel)

Starring: Ryunosuke Matsumura, Ryo Kitazono, Kanon Miyahara, Maon Kurosaki, Norito Yashima,

Website

The meeting of stage and screen, live-action and anime. The show Blood-C was given a theatre adaptation and is now brought to the screen with Saya, our vampiric hero, back with a cast of handsome guys in a new adventure.

Synopsis: Saya loses her memory after the events at Ukishima and she wanders the slums where she meets Haru, an unlicensed doctor, and Ran, a girl who hunts the Elder Bairns. As her memory returns, she discovers that she had relationships with them both in the past and her arch-nemesis, Fumito is still out there.

mama   

Release Date: July 10th, 2020

Duration: 34 mins.

Director: Ai Haruna

Writer: Nanoha Ito (Script), 

Starring: Toshio Yoshino, Shunsuke Tanaka, Yushin, Ami Takeuchi, Atsushi Tsuboi,

Synopsis: This is Ai Haruna’s debut film and it’s about Yoshino Mama who is known as a legendary gay boy who still runs a bar in Roppongi, even at the age of 89. Transgender people Ami and Yushin like to visit alongside the actor Shunsuke Tanaka, and they talk about the history of gay life in Japan.

Asakusa Hanayashiki Detective Story: The Child of God is Hurt      

浅草花やしき探偵物語　神の子は傷ついて 「Asakusa Hanayashiki tantei monogatari-shin no ko wa kizutsuite」

Release Date: July 10th, 2020

Duration: 87 mins.

Director: Hiroshi Horiuchi

Writer: Hiroshi Horiuchi (Script), 

Starring: Yuki Tamaki, Yu Imari, Tsubasa Kizu, Ryotaro Kosaka, Yoshiki Tani,

Website

Synopsis: A detective story set in Asakusa that draws together various elements such as laughter, action, humanity, and youth. Haru, who works at Asakusa Hanayashiki, the oldest amusement park in Japan, and his younger brother, Ryu, work as detectives.

Geki × Cine Kemuri no Gundan   

ゲキ×シネ「けむりの軍団」「GekixShine Kemuri no Gundan」

Release Date: July 10th, 2020

Duration: 161 mins.

Director:  Hidenori Inoue

Writer: Yu Kuramochi (Screenplay),

Starring: Arata Furuta, Taichi Saotome, Nana Seino, Kenta Suga, Shoko Takada,

Website

Synopsis: Another story from the Sengoku Period, this one involving a ronin named Jinbei who gets caught up in political intrigue between the Atsumi and Mera families.

Kontora   

コントラ「Kontora」

Release Date: N/A

Duration: 145 mins.

Director: Anshul Chauhan

Writer: Anshul Chauhan (Script) 

Starring: Wan Marui, Seira Kojima, Hidemasa Mase, Takuzo Shimizu, Taichi Yamada, 

OAFF  Twitter IMDB

A lonely teenage girl enduring adolescent turmoil amidst a fractured family’s feud, finds the arrival of a mysterious mute man in her small town allows her to communicate with others. This is the story for Anshul Chauhan’s sophomore feature following his woman-on-the-verge-of-a-breakdown indie drama Bad Poetry Tokyo (2017). Kontora has different atmospherics thanks to its look, raw performance of its lead actress, its generation-spanning story and its touch of the supernatural, so that this film stands distinct from what is normally churned out in Japan in its depiction of contemporary girlhood.

Rebellious high schooler Sora (Wan Marui) is left devastated when her beloved grandfather dies. Already emotionally adrift and angry after the death of her mother, this loss sends her reeling but his World War II diary offers a fascinating document as well as hints of “treasure” buried somewhere in a nearby forest. This gives her some much-needed motivation in her directionless life. However, things get complicated when her emotionally distant father (Taichi Yamada) gets into a conflict over the family home with his rich cousin (Takuzo Shimizu) at a party. A hurried escape from the avaricious factory-owner leads to a fateful “meeting” with a mysterious vagrant (Hidemasa Mase) who says nothing and perpetually walks backwards. His strange, sudden appearance signals a change in Sora’s life that might allow her to open up about what she feels. She makes him become a member of her family and he gets involved in the search for a treasure which takes on an unexpected but important form.

To tell this story, Chauhan travelled to Seki city on a minimal budget and worked intensely over 10 days with a loyal crew and a cast consisting of newcomers and stage performers. Their improvisational efforts have produced high tension scenes as each actor pulls out a performance that aches with a sincerity, imbuing their characters with credible motivations and behaviour. As such, the viewer gets caught up in the shifting family dynamics.

From the moment we meet Sora, we recognise how teenage frustration, the limited horizons of her small town and a lack of parental guidance shape her behaviour. Making her movie debut as Sora, Marui gives a tremendously layered performance as she cycles through various emotions, giving a brave and realistic portrayal of a teen fighting furiously against the inertia of small town life as she strives to get out. She plays off well against Taichi Yamada, who portrays a father unable to articulate his own worries and loss of connection to others until placed in this strange situation. As the mute, Mase is sometimes menacing and mysterious in his unreadable nature, but also funny as his unconventional behaviour shakes people out of their assumed role, even if his character seems to have been delivered by providence.

Just as interesting is how Sora’s story is neatly wrapped up in the use of the diary, which features text made up from actual letters written by kamikaze pilots and illustrations by Mase. Sora finds an echo in her grandfather’s teenage thoughts from the past, the trauma he suffered in the military as well as the confusion of adolescent desires and, in some way, it offers a much-needed voice from the older generation that allows her to reflect upon herself. Chauha’s effectively links contemporary teenage life to history while allowing the move fitfully between mystery and family intimacy. Yet it also has a sense of purpose so feels absorbing as these elements comes together.

Adding to the sense that this film is a nod to the wartime generation, it is shot in magisterial black and white by cinematographer Max Golomidov. As such, the drama is brought to the screen beautifully with the composition of each scene being exquisite while delivering context that helps colour in the characters. This is a unique coming-of-age tale where history and reality meet in elegiac fashion.

Kontara is streaming as part of JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film from July 17-30.

This review was first published over at V-Cinema on July 12th

I first saw this at the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2020

My final interview at this year’s Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF) was with director Anshul Chauhan. We had first met at OAFF 2018 when he participated an interview following the Japanese premiere of his debut feature Bad Poetry Tokyo. This year, he was back with his sophomore feature Kontora, which came to Osaka after having won the Grand Prix for the best film and the award for Best Music (for composer Yuma Koda) at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival a few months earlier.

Kontora was one of the stand-outs of OAFF 2020. Majestically shot in black and white, it’s bursting with feelings of discontent felt by the main character, high school girl Sora (Wan Marui). Drifting away from her distant father (Taichi Yamada) and living in a dull town, she finds hope in her recently deceased grandfather’s wartime diary after her beloved relative passes away as she finds clues to some “treasure” buried in a forest. Just as a treasure hunt starts, a mysterious vagrant (Hidemasa Mase) appears in town. Mute and walking backwards, he is a strange sight but his presence forces a change in the relationship between daughter and father. A strange family drama unfolds with a tone halfway between elegiac and angry with a sheen of mystery and history linked to the “treasure” and family dynamics that rope in a greedy uncle (Takuzo Shimizu) and a cousin named Haru (Seira Kojima).

Chauhan and his wife, the film’s producer Mina Moteki, sat down to talk about the film and explain more about its creation, the work put in by the actors and his wider film career. This interview was first conducted at the Osaka Asian Film Festival and then via email and has been edited for length.

Jason Maher: I could feel intense rage and frustration behind this gracefully shot film. Can you tell me why you made this story?

Anshul Chauhan: I made this film out of anger and frustration. I was working on another script because a producer had liked Bad Poetry Tokyo and he said I could make anything, so I took six or seven months to write something that was going to be about abuse and bullying at the Yokosuka military academy near Tokyo. However, after the producer read that script, he got scared and fled because he felt it was anti-government so I was super frustrated because I had everything ready to go. The thought of making a film around military scenes didn’t leave my head so I wrote Kontora. Other plots in the story came into place once I started writing and finding locations and actors.

One of the plots is based on a real story from my own family. My grandfather buried things and after he died people found out. I was hesitant to make this film in Japan because I am from India, but when I found out similar stories from here, I decided to do it.

Another major plot in the story came when I found real letter from student soldiers. They became the basis for the grandfather’s diary. Those letters that they left behind before flying as kamikaze were horrible and painful to read, so I collected those letters and put them into the diary. Of course, I didn’t have the budget to shoot scenes of World War II so I just used illustrations [in the diary]. When people look at it, they can imagine those things. That was also a reason to keep the film in black and white, to dedicate it to that time.

So the visuals are a callback to the past?

Yeah, the black and white look is kind of a thank you note to the older generation who fought in the war, and also at the same time, I wanted to challenge cinema by purposefully making a film that was a representation of my frustration going against the system, as represented by the backwards walking man in the film. Also, new Japanese directors generally make films about high school girls and turn them into a rom-com or a love story or killing zombies with girls running around and shouting. I purposefully wanted to use a high school girl character and do the opposite, send her back to the past to learn about history so that modern kids can get some idea about it.

I liked that Sora had that type of close relationship with her grandfather and also that her portrayal is very rough. Would you say her behavior is closer to the reality of teenagers in Japan than mainstream films?

If you actually watch in the film I never showed Sora and her grandfather together, whatever we see is through her memories or dialogues. High school kids in general want to revolt. Their connection with their parents disappears because they think they are mature enough to do whatever they want. Personally I think that teenagers are rebellious and also confused about their future. Everybody is looking for a purpose and Sora found her purpose in the diary. She believed her grandfather’s diary, she knew that there was something out there so she went alone into the woods. At least she found something in that sleepy town where nothing happens.

How did you get Wan Marui to bring that performance?

My relationship with actors is the most important thing for me. We start doing work at my home where I talk with them. Like, Hidemasa Mase was drawing the diary while he was coming to my house, and I was telling him, “Okay, now do this page and make art on this page”, and he wrote it down then he would go home and do it and he would come back to my place and in that way we built up the diary and our relation as a director and actor. Literally, the day before we started shooting, we finished the diary.

I met Wan first in 2017 after I finished shooting Bad Poetry Tokyo. It was Wan’s first time in Tokyo. I felt she has a special face and someday I would love to cast her, but she was new. In 2018 when I was casting for another film, I invited her for an audition. I didn’t like it. I even told her honestly. But somehow, when I was planning Kontora, I felt she was the one. So I started meeting her and developing my story and her character. She has a very strong face and Japanese film directors should cast her for good character roles.

On the first day of shooting, she was not doing good and I got really worried. So I started to provoke her by saying some mean things like, “This is the Japanese film industry and you never know if you will ever get another lead role”. It was on purpose, of course, and I felt bad inside. So she started to react to my comments and slowly started to improve. I told her, “I am with you all the way, so don’t worry. You just give me all you have, treat all your shots as your last shot”. The second day, in a scene where she was digging in the forest, that was the day she completely changed. I was really shouting at her too much because time was running out. I was hiding behind a tree while she was digging and I was constantly shouting at her like it was the army, and in the middle of the shot, she looked at me with so much anger. After that, she was like, “fuck it!” and she was capable of bringing anything to her performance.

This was important because you need to break that barrier for that transformation. I work a lot with improvisation and manipulating the situations around the actors. But bringing an actor to a comfort zone for improvisation to work needs time, it does not come from reading the script or understanding the character, it comes from building trust, then, giving actors something unexpected and abrupt is what creates realistic performances sometimes. It was Wan’s first time acting and she was hesitating to show her full emotions, but after this incident, shooting went super smooth. Later I apologized to her for shouting and saying other mean things, but she understood it was for the film.

So you just powered through and all that frustration bubbled up on screen?

We did many long takes. We didn’t have much time to make a proper scene and we also didn’t have two cameras to record, so most of the scenes were designed to be shot in one long take. The longest scenes are the ones at the table where the three of them [Sora, her father, and the vagrant] are sitting there, talking. In the script, it is a four page scene but while shooting it became a 13 or 14 minute long scene. I cut it down to eight minutes, and then we had a similar length of scene towards the end when Sora confronts Hidemasa. It does not look like it because of lots of movement but that was a single take and probably the most difficult one to shoot for Max.

At the end when Hidemasa is drinking, you can see the camera is beginning to shake because it was such a long shot. The RED camera and the shoulder rig was heavy on his shoulder and it was a handheld shot. Max was whispering to me, “Cut the scene! The camera is shaking!” I was on the monitors and I could see that Mase starting to cry and camera is shaking and its kind of matching. So we shot a few more minutes and ended up capturing a great scene. Max did a great job capturing the whole scene with handheld camera.

Why did you cast Taichi Yamada as the father?

Because he was ready to give me his house for the shoot (laughter). That’s the simple answer. That’s how he got the role in the film and came on board as one of the producers also. (laughter).

His acting is really good because he seems emotionally helpless himself.

Or he was actually tired from driving the crew car for us, haha! He’s actually a stage actor and stage actors have loud body-language because they have to convey their emotions to a big audience, so he’s a very loud actor and so I knew his range and it was easy to work between his lows and highs.

His character’s relationship with Sora was very awkward but, actually, when she disappeared while out digging in the forest you can see how much he worries about her. You see the change in his body language and emotions going towards anger.

You shot in some beautiful locations with fixed camera angles but there are a lot of handheld shots. How much was spontaneous?

I never storyboard the scene. I first go to the area with the cinematographer and just drive around finding locations. We shoot some samples to see how it looks, do some tests with aspect ratios and colours etc and then I make some changes in the script based on the finalised locations, and then we just go there and start shooting. Actually the location in the film is the hometown of Taichi Yamada, Seki city. So I went with him in his car to check out the mountain, river, his own house which has a carpenter’s shop. It was all free to use so I decided I would write a film around these four locations.

While writing, I have pictures on my wall of the locations and actors, so I write basically around the locations I have access to and actors who I kind of already cast before the script is done. This happens because I don’t have the liberty of budget to pick my locations and actors, so it is better to first know what I have in hand so that I can make my film around it. I actually shoot very very fast and I hate it sometimes but we usually don’t have enough time. In an ideal world I want to shoot two scenes a day. But for Kontora it was five or six scenes a day.

How would you describe your position in the Japanese film industry?

Honestly I don’t think I have any position, I am just a Gaijin (foreigner) indie film director and producer. But after making two films and bagging some good awards, people do recognise me.

The indie film industry is very weird here. Everyone is doing their own thing. They make films and then release them by themselves in mini theatres and in few weeks the film dies. Few of them make it to Netflix or Amazon or DVDs. I am not sure when you can say that you are the part of the industry, but, in any case, this does not bother me at all, I am happy with recognition at festivals that I am representing Japan, which is something not under the control of the industry. I doubt I will start taking some of the big offers I get from some producers to direct some cliche stories backed by acting agencies to promote their stars.

Do you see the Japanese film industry changing?

No. I don’t think it will ever. The kind of cinema coming out of Japan is not what it should be. Despite some exceptions, young directors are not challenging themselves enough to dig into some good and realistic stories and there isn’t much support.

From my personal experience there are two big factors which need to change. Film distribution systems for indie films and the power of acting agencies over actors.

I really hate agencies and how they treat actors. Even while shooting Kontora, agencies used to call their actors and ask them all the details from the day’s shoot or asking me if they are even little bit free between the shoot so the agency can book another gig for them. I don’t want anyone to disturb my actors while shooting but agencies just want to suck their blood all the time. And the worst is the distribution system, which I recently experienced. To be blunt, films are not bought here and distribution companies won’t buy your film. They charge the producers money to release the film plus they aim keep their safe cut from it. It’s all win and no lose for them. If a film fails at the box office, the theatre and distributor won’t lose money. only the producer and filmmakers. But the good news is, some people who are ready to change this and are forming a new group as a company. I am part of it. It will be launching soon, releasing films in a proper manner that will benefit filmmakers.

Do you have any more ideas for films?

Yes, I am working on few scripts. I have already pitched one of the scripts in a major co-producing lab. It’s a story about street thieves and johatsu culture[1], people who have disappeared from society and are living without their official names. It’s a big social issue here, and the film will need a big budget. One of my plans for the setting is to make it entirely as a contained genre film in and around a car.

My other script is a bit of dark comedy dealing with foreigners living in Tokyo drinking Chu-hi and talking trash the whole day. I will really make it some day. It’s like Coffee and Cigarettes meets Slacker. I want to shoot it slowly, as I meet interesting gaijins and develop the film. Or it can be a web series. I am also looking into stories from India or outside Japan now. I do have some good offers from India to get proper production for a film but I don’t have a perfect story right now. The one I really want to make in India will take time because I need to learn a lot before even thinking about shooting my dream film.

Kontara was shown at the Osaka Asian Film Festival on March 12 and 13.

[1] Johatsu is a Japanese word that means “evaporated people”. This is applied to individuals who disappear from their communities, shedding their official identities and family/work ties to start life afresh somewhere new.

This interview was first published at V-Cinema on July 11th

Welcome to the weekend…

We start off with the tragic news of the passing of Haruma Miura who has died in what appears to be an act of suicide. This has been a shock that has reverberated around the world since he was steadily working in dramas and films, some of which will air later this year and next, and he was quite popular. Whatever the reasons, let us hope he has found peace.

Earlier this week, I posted a review of Kontora and an interview with its director, Anshul Chauhan, and Japan Cuts 2020 (preview) started so a whole bunch of reviews I worked on were posted on V-Cinema and I am currently writing one.

What is released this weekend?

Patlabor: The Movie (4DX Release)   

機動警察パトレイバー the Movie　 「Kidou Keisatsu Patlabor the Movie」

Release Date: July 15th, 1989

Duration: 99 mins.

Director: Mamoru Oshii

Writer: Kazunori Ito (Screenplay), Akemi Takada (Original Character Design)

Starring: Mina Tominaga (Noa Izumi), Ryunosuke Ohbayashi (Kiichi Goto), Daisuke Gouri (Hiromi Yamazaki), Issei Futamata (Mikiyasu Shinshi), Tomomichi Nishimura (Detective Matsui), Megumi Hayashibara (Weather Forecaster, Babylon Project TV commercial announcer)

Production: Production I.G

Website ANN MAL

This is a 4DX release to celebrate just over 30 years since it was first brought into cinemas.

Synopsis: The year is 1999 and large robots have revolutionised construction work. They are called Labors. They assist in the renovation of Tokyo, including  artificial islands in Tokyo Bay. However, the suicide of a mysterious man involved in the construction project sets off a series of Labor-related crimes and an AI mystery that only members of a special unit in Tokyo’s Mobile Police can tackle. This unit is led by Captain Kiichi Gotou and spearheaded by a young pilot named Noa Izumi and her Patlabor Alphonse.

All About Chiaki Mayumura (Provisional)   

眉村ちあきのすべて（仮） 「Mayumura Chiaki no subete (kari)」

Release Date: July 17th, 2020

Duration: 75 mins.

Director: Hajime Matsuura

Writer: Hajime Matsuura (Script), 

Starring: Chiaki Mayumura, Eri Tokunaga, Makoto Shinada, Getto, Sara Ogawa, Ikuo Minewaki,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Chiaki Mayumura is an actual idol who has made a semi-autobiographical film with different styles and elements melded together. It won the Audience Award, Jury Special Award, Best Musician Award, and Actress Award at MOOSIC LAB 2019.

Dong Teng Town   

ドンテンタウン 「Donten Taun」

Release Date: July 17th, 2020

Duration: 61 mins.

Director: Kouhei Inoue

Writer: Kouhei Inoue (Script),

Starring: Ryo Sato, Show Kasamatsu, Ai Yamamoto, Ryui Ushio, Saki Iwasaki, Gantsu Morita, Ryo Anraku,

Website

Synopsis: Another MOOSIC LAB 2019 project, this won the best Actor Award. It is the story of a singer-songwriter named Sora who has moved into a danchi (public housing complex). She is struggling to regain her creativity when she discovers a cassette tape left by Tokio, a former resident who made money as a fake painter… 

Theater: A Love Story   

劇場 「Theater」

Release Date: July 17th, 2020

Duration: 136 mins.

Director: Isao Yukisada

Writer: Ryuta Horai (Script), Naoki Matayoshi (Original Novel)

Starring: Kento Yamazaki, Mayu Matsuoka, Kanichiro, Sairi Itoh, Masaki Miura, Ritsu Otomo

Website IMDB

The first video is region-locked so here’s an Amazon Prime video since you can watch it via Amazon!

Synopsis: Nagata is a writer and director for theatre company but his works have flopped critically and commercially. This has soured his relationship with his theatre troupe and so Nagata feels lonely. Then, one day, he sees a university student named Saki and notices that she is wearing the same shoes as he is. This encourages Nagata to talk to her and he discovers that she dreams of becoming an actress. The two fall in love.

Who Knows about My Life

予定は未定 「Yotei wa mitei」

Release Date: July 17th, 2018

Duration: 27 mins.

Director: Teppei Isobe

Writer: Teppei Isobe, Kazuo Nagai (Script), Kazuo Nagai (Original Story)

Starring: Hiroko Yashiki, Hiromi Shinzyu, Misato Namba, Kazunari Tosa, Arata Yamanaka,

I wrote about this for OAFF2018 so…

Synopsis: Ever wondered what the pressures of being single at 40 is like? Visit Junko Takarada, a beautiful and intelligent woman who was having a fruitless affair with her boss until he turned his attention to Rika, Junko’s cuter and younger subordinate. With bleak romantic prospects haunting her, Junko gets relief from a surprising source… a paper airplane comes flying into her life. When she opens it she sees a marriage notification but with only the side containing the male column filled in. Junko thought that a strange man had written the notification out and sent it flying, hoping to rely on destiny to connect him with someone. Gathering up all of the courage in her heart, she visits the address written in the marriage notification…

Overnight Walk

オーバーナイトウォーク 「O-ba-naito Uo-ku」

Release Date: July 17th, 2020

Duration: 43 mins.

Director: Teppei Isobe

Writer: Teppei Isobe, Kazuo Nagai (Script), 

Starring: Hiroko Yashiki, Reiko Takada, Ryo Anraku, Hiroshi Hosokawa, Hitoshi Sasaki,

Synopsis: Sakura is a struggling actress living in Tokyo who is facing the decision of whether to take on work involving nudity. Her sister Yuriko visits her out of the blue, leaving their hometown and bringing memories, and the two compare notes on how their lives have turned out as they go for a midnight walk from Shimokitazawa to Shinjuku. 

Engawa Lovers   

縁側ラヴァーズ 「Engawa Rava-zu」

Release Date: July 17th, 2020

Duration: 77 mins.

Director: Yasumasa Konno

Writer: Yasumasa Konno (Script), 

Starring: Gaku Matsuda, Ryoki Miyama, Tsubasa Sasa, Yuusuke Akiba, Yoichi Okano, Saki,

Website

Yasumasa Konno… I recognised the director’s name. He directed Bright Night, which I saw at OAFF 2017. He’s been in regular work and has two films out this weekend.

Synopsis: A comedy that depicts the daily life of men who love the romantic atmosphere of old Japanese houses. Ryo, an instructor at a cram school, is living together with an old friend named Yukio, a former system engineer who is recovering from overwork. Their landlord, Okano, and Miiko, his daughter, also hang out there. The group like to lounge around together but soon Yukio decides to return to Tokyo… 

Engawa Lovers 2 

縁側ラヴァーズ 「Engawa Rava-zu」

Release Date: July 17th, 2020

Duration: 77 mins.

Director: Yasumasa Konno

Writer: Yasumasa Konno (Script), 

Starring: Sho Higano, Keita Seto, Kenya Nakao, Saki, Yoichi Okano, Mone Tsutsumi, 

Website

Synopsis: A fledgling movie director named Daisuke Hagiwara, and two guys in the hospitality business named Akito Ishibashi, and Asakura Tadashi, leave Tokyo and start a shared life by renting a house in a seaside town. However, Okano, their landlord, is tempted to sell the house to a rich foreign guy and tries his best to expel Hagiwara and the others. Meanwhile, a ghost appears in the house… 

Attack on Titan: The Chronicle   

進撃の巨人 クロニクル 「Shingeki no Kyojin Kuronikuru 」

Running Time: 120 mins.

Release Date: January 13th, 2018

Chief Director:  Hajime Iseyama

Writer: Shintaro Kawakubo, Yauuto Kikuchi, (Supervision of Story), Hajime Isayama (Original Creator)

Starring: Yuuki Kaji (Eren Jaeger), Yui Ishikawa (Mikasa Ackerman), Marina Inoue (Armin Arlelt), Hiroshi Kamiya (Levi), Daisuke Ono (Erwin Smith),

Animation Production: Wit Studio

Website MAL ANN

Attack on Titan ~Chronicle~ is a compilation film based on the first three seasons of the Attack on Titan anime in preparation for the final season of the show.

Synopsis: In a land where humans live in a walled city to protect themselves from man-eating giants, Eren Yeager and his friends join the 104th Training Corps with the aim of becoming a full member of the Survey Corps and readying themselves to face the Titans. Their preparations and battles unfold amidst a web of mysteries and conspiracies as they race to save the city and uncover more about the invading Titans and the dark secrets of their own members.

Beginning Today It Is My Turn   

今日から俺は!!劇場版 「Kyo kara Ore wa!!: Gekijoban」

Release Date: July 17th, 2020

Duration: 114 mins.

Director: Yuichi Fukuda

Writer: Yuichi Fukuda (Script), Hiroyuki Nishimori (Original Manga)

Starring: Kento Kaku, Kentaro Ito, Nana Seino, Kanna Hashimoto, Yumi Wakatsuki, Taiga Nakano, Jun Sena, Yuya Yagira,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: It is 1980’s Japan and high school student Takashi Mitsuhashi is sporting the tried and tested yankee look of dyed-blond hair. His look, aura and physical prowess make people think he’s a ruffian and that makes him the target of hardcases from other schools. Fortunately, he made friends with another transfer student, Shinji Ito (Kentaro Ito), and a girl named Riko Akasaka has a crush on him.

Step   

ステップ 「Suteppu」

Release Date: July 17th, 2020

Duration: 118 mins.

Director: Ken Iizuka

Writer: Ken Iizuka (Script), Kiyoshi Shigematsu (Original Novel)

Starring: Takayuki Yamada, Rine Tanaka, Tamaki Shiratori, Misaki Nakano, Sairi Itoh, Rina Kawaei, Reiko Kataoka, Ryoko Hirosue, Kimiko Yo, Jun Kunimura, Ryo Iwamatsu, Nanami Hidaka, Akihiro Kakuta,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: When his wife Tomoko died, Kenichi found himself living life as a single-father raising his daughter Miki alone. We watch them over 10 years, from Miki’s time in nursery school until her graduation from elementary school. Over the years, he gets help and advice from others…

Hachioji Zombies   

八王子ゾンビーズ 「Hachiouji Zonbi-zu」

Release Date: July 17th, 2020

Duration: 98 mins.

Director: Osamu Suzuki

Writer: Osamu Suzuki (Script), Kiyoshi Shigematsu (Original Novel)

Starring: Kenjiro Yamashita, Yuki Kubota, Rei Fujita, Haruki Kiyama, Yuta Ozawa, Akira Takano, Hikaru Makishima, Kairi Miura, Koji Saikawa, Nozomi Bando,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Takashi Habuki has, so far, failed to become a dancer but has never truly given up on his dream. At his lowest ebb, he decides to visit the remote Kibo Temple. Instead of clearing out when night falls, as per the rules, he hangs around and begins to dance. This summons eight handsome zombies who also like to boogie.

Zk Brain Police 50 Beat for the Future   

zk 頭脳警察50 未来への鼓動 「zk zunou keisatsu 50 mirai ee no kodou」

Release Date: July 18th, 2020

Duration: 100 mins.

Director: Ken Suenaga

Writer: N/A

Starring: PANTA, TOSHI, Ryuji Sawa, Gaku Miyata, Shinosukee Higuchi, Keei Okubo, Tokiko Kato,

Website

Synopsis: A documentary that follows the rock band Brain Police, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. Through following the band, we get a glimpse at the cultural changes over the time.

Sacrifice 

サクリファイス　 「Sakurifaisu」

Release Date: March 06th, 2020

Duration: 76 mins.

Director: Taku Tsuboi

Writer: Taku Tsuboi (Screenplay)

Starring: Yuzu Aoki, Michiko Gomi, Miki Handa, Kosuke Fujita, Yasuyuki Sakurai, Hatsune Yazaki, Hana Shimomura, Chieko Misaka,

Website

Following working with with Makoto Shinozaki on 3.11 psychology/premonition drama Sharing and Kiyoshi Kurosawa on haunting ghost story Journey to the Shore, Taku Tsuboi made his directorial debut with Sacrifice as part of his work at Rikkyo University. He draws upon the aforementioned films and uses a murder mystery narrative mixed with a doomsday cult context to make an interesting low-key thriller that is heavy on contemplation as three teens ponder their place in the world while dark forces swirl on the edge of their reality.

We are first introduced to Midori (Michiko Gomi), a young woman who once belonged to a cult named Shio no kai (Golden Wave) when she was a child. She predicted the Great East Japan Earthquake while she was a member but escaped their clutches and is now a university student keeping a low profile lest the cult’s followers find and kidnap her for her much coveted powers of premonition. However, when a serial cat killer near the campus graduates to offing a student, Midori is reluctantly drawn to the case. Already investigating is a pretty, and pretty deceitful, student named Toko (Miki Handa) who seeks to enliven her dull reality by toying with the person she suspects is the culprit, her seemingly affable classmate Okita (Yuzu Aoki) who might be hiding a dark side behind his nice smile. All the while, graduation looms and the violence of the adult world and natural disasters presses upon the three.

While this low-key film has a murder mystery angle, the atmospherics feel less high tension and more like “end of the century enervation”. The story eschews horror imagery and slowly unspools the investigation in broad daylight through characters discussing cult religion, social collapse, and catastrophe. In this chatpocalypse, the characters explore existential questions around fate and how much control people have over their own actions, which is rather fitting for a film about cults and university students who are under stress with academic pressures and searching for jobs.

And so it turns out that the most fascinating aspect of the story is not understanding the killer or cults and their machinations, which turn out to be too ill-defined to be convincing or menacing. Instead, it is the development of the relationship between three central characters whose perspectives inform the action. With Toko and Okita, there is an interesting examination of alienation as they discuss authentic behaviour and the nature of violence while questioning their roles in life, all with the added frisson of constant shifting in power dynamics as Toko, with infinite naivete, threatens to expose the boy who bristles with dark energy. Meanwhile, Midori’s powers, which take the form of dreams and visions gained from physical contact, a la Johnny from Stephen King’s novel The Dead Zone, allow the story to introduce events via flashbacks and flash-forwards/dream sequences, lining up interesting twists to the plot.

Through these characters, Tsuboi manages to weave his tale with confidence and while this doesn’t rank up their with serial killer films like Cure (1997), the film flows well. The actors handle the material to the best of their abilities but there is the sense that they are a little too fresh-faced and clean cut to convince in their roles, easily inhabiting the surface level details but not quite catching the darkness and anxiety inside.

Despite my reservations, this film proved to be effective enough for other viewers since it was winner of the Best Picture (Japanese Feature) award at the 16th Skip City International D-Cinema Festival and earned a place at the 2019 edition of the Tokyo International Film Festival and, now, Japan Cuts 2020. And no, don’t worry, no cats are seen getting killed.

My review was first published on V-Cinema on July 14th

It Feels So Good  

火口のふたり「Kakou no Futari」

Release Date: August 23rd, 2019

Duration: 115 mins.

Director: Haruhiko Arai

Writer: Haruhiko Arai (Script), Kazufumi Shiraishi (Novel),

Starring: Tasuku Emoto, Kumi Takiuchi,

Website   IMDB

The story is simple. Two 30-something friends meet in Akita on the eve of one’s wedding and they rekindle the flames of passion they shared for each other when they were younger. An agreed one night stand becomes five nights of sex and, in the moments between intercourse, they confess their less than stellar present lives and rake over their history to find some way to face an uncertain future.

It Feels So Good is the third film from veteran writer Haruhiko Arai. His last one was a rather staid drama called This Country’s Sky (2015) but he got his start writing Roman Porno titles like Woman with Red Hair (1979). He worked with Ryuichi Hiroki and adapted books for films in Vibrator (2003) and It’s Only Talk (2005). He adapts another book, this one by Kazufumi Shiraishi, but, like his work with Hiroki, he brings about another film full of complex adults having adult relationships.  

There is not much plot to clutter this film as it zeroes in on detailing the lives and histories of illicit lovers Kenji (Tasuku Emoto) and Naoko (Kumi Takiuchi) amidst numerous sex scenes. There is plenty of nudity and some graphic action, but while it is explicit, the tone avoids being lascivious. The film is shot neutrally and the sex is realistic and not stylised in any way. We see its spontaneity, its pleasures and mishaps, and it comes with the two occasionally offering the kind of funny commentary that people comfortable with each other pipe up with in lulls between bouts of physical pleasure.

Takeuchi and Emoto are brave in baring as much of their bodies as they do for the camera but do better at portraying the emotional lives of the characters over the course of the film as the two reach an honest understanding of each other. This is credibly achieved through the numerous conversations they share over home-cooked meals, while travelling across Akita Prefecture, and during the many impromptu sex sessions.

When we first meet them, they are facing settling down for mediocre middle-aged life with deep dissatisfaction, so it stands to reason that they have one eye on the powerful emotions they felt for each other when younger. As the narrative goes forward, their talks become confessionals and their behaviour becomes more authentic. They show their true souls and the scars they bare. These details offer profound depth, and while some of the expository dialogue is clunky, we forgive it because we gradually come to understand two complicated adults marked by the human and economic cost of the 3.11 disaster, the spectre of mortality and the desire to live a fulfilling life at a time when Japan is lashed by disasters. Their emotions and problems are universal which means their characters should resonate with audiences far beyond the headline grabbing nudity.

There are only three characters in this film, Kenji’s father and the two lovers. Tasuku Emoto has developed a line in playing skeevy guys, as seen in Dynamite Graffiti (2018), and his Kenji feels like a continuation of his character in And Your Bird Can Sing (2018), a young man scrabbling around for something good in an uncertain life. His character faces an interesting journey and has great motivation from Naoko, as embodied by Kumi Takiuchi, who balances his aimlessness with realism.

Takiuchi announced herself to the world with her cheerfully insane performance in Greatful Dead (2013) but has ranked up massively with this performance where she portrays a woman sure of herself and confident in her sexuality but desirous of a significant other she cares about. She doesn’t feel exploited, she is compelling and powerful in her sexuality and maturity and her character prevents Kenji from plunging into a pity party. The two work together well and keep out attention all the way to a hopeful ending.

It Feels So Good is streaming as part of JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film from July 17-30.

This review was first published on V-Cinema on July 17th

Happy weekend, everyone.

I hope you are all well.

Recently, I’ve been watching lots of non Japanese films with lashing of 70s, 80s and 90s horror movies (Slumber Party Massacre trilogy, some David Cronenberg stuff) and some German films by Werner Herzog. Also catching up on or re-experiencing Hollywood movies I have seen like Inception and The Cabin in the Woods, thanks to Amazon Prime. I did watch The Day of Destruction by Toshiaki Toyoda as part of Japan Cuts 2020.

Later today will be the Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival showcase of films by women. I’ll be helping to moderate the chat. This week I posted my reviews for It Feels So Good (2019) and Sacrifice (2019), both of which are playing at Japan Cuts 2020. I’ll be finishing up reviews for that next week.

What is released this weekend?

The Day of Destruction   

破壊の日「Hakai no Hi」

Release Date: July 24th, 2020

Duration: 57 mins.

Director: Toshiaki Toyoda

Writer: Toshiaki Toyoda (Script),

Starring: Kiyohiko Shibukawa, MahiToThePeople (of the band GEZAN in his debut film role), Issey Ogata, Yosuke Kubozuka, Ryuhei Matsuda, Itsuki Nagasawa, Shima Onishi, Misa Wada,

Website IMDB

Toshiaki Toyoda (Blue Spring, Porno Star, The Miracle of Crybaby Shottan) teams up with loyal actors Kiyohiko Shibukawa (Porno Star) and Ryuhei Matsuda (The Miracle of Crybaby Shottan) along with MahiToThePeople (of the band GEZAN in his debut film role), Issey Ogata (Tony Takitani), and Yosuke Kubozuka (Giri/Haji), to make a “state of the nation” type of film which would have been the opening of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games. Corruption and indifference are in the air and Toyoda exhorts people to stand up to it.

Synopsis: After a mysterious monster is found deep in a rural coal mine, rumours of a plague spread across the country and people experience an unexplainable mental illnesses. A young Shugendo practitioner named Kenichi (MahiToThePeople) is determined to exorcise the monster in all of its forms. 

KUSHINA, what will you be   

クシナ 「Kushina」

Running Time: 68 mins.

Release Date: 2018

Director: Moët Hayami

Writer: Moët Hayami (Screenplay),

Starring: Miyuki Ono, Tomona Hirota, Yayoi Inamoto, Ikumi Satake, Suguru Onuma,

Website    IMDB   Website (2020)

Director Moët Hayami’s Kushina received its world premiere at the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2018 where it won the Japan Cuts award, an accolade given to films that display a unique vision. It is now playing at the Uplink Shibuya theatre.

Here is my review

Here is the interview I did with Moët Hayami

Synopsis: Deep in the mountains, hidden in a forest, there is a village where only women live. This village is protected by Onikuma (Miyuki Ono), the stern and strong headwoman who fled to the place with her daughter Kagu (Tomona Hirota) who was 14-years-old and pregnant with the titular Kushina at the time. 14 years on and Kushina (Ikumi Satake) is the youngest person in the village which is made up of mostly ageing ladies who have discarded their old lives and names and survive off the land, harvesting cannabis to sell to the outside world. All is seemingly well until an anthropologist named Soko Kazano (Yayoi Inamoto) and her male assistant Keita Harada (Suguru Onuma) discover this concealed community…

On the Edge of Their Seats   

アルプススタンドのはしの方「Arupusu sutando no hashi no hou 」

Release Date: June 19th, 2020

Duration: 89 mins.

Director: Hideo Jojo

Writer: Tetsuya Okumura (Script), Hiroaki Yabu Hyogo Prefectural Higashiharima High School Drama Club (Original Stageplay)

Starring: Rina Ono, Amon Hirai, Marin Nishimoto, Shuri Nakamura, Rikki Metsugi,

OAFF Website

Hideo Jojo has made everything from pink films to V-Cinema dramas and he turns in a wonderfully charming clean-cut coming of age drama with On the Edge of Their Seats which flies by with sharp dialogue and performances allowing audiences to get to know the disappointments and desires of a selection of high school students watching a baseball game.

Here is my review

Here is my interview with Hideo Jojo

Synopsis: We are at East Iruma High School and the stands are full of people cheering on the school team in the first round of the national baseball tournament on a sweltering summer day. Up at the back, in the furthest seats away (the veritable alps of the stands), are students who are not feeling the carnival atmosphere. Two members of the theatre group, Asuha (Rina Ono) and Hikaru (Marin Nishimoto), are nursing their disappointment over a cancelled play. A former player on the baseball team named Fujio (Amon Hirai) has come to cheer despite feeling overlooked. Then there is Megumi Miyashita (Shuri Nakamura), once the smartest person in her grade but now the centre of unwanted attention as her position has been usurped by the captain of the brass band, Tomoka (Hikari Kuroki), a beautiful girl who just happens to be dating the baseball team’s star player who Miyashita has a crush on. Roving around the stands is Mr. Atsugi (Rikki Metsugi), the English teacher who is trying to boost the crowd and team with chants. As the game progresses, we get to know these characters…

Zero As You Are       

ぼくが性別「ゼロ」に戻るとき　空と木の実の9年間「Boku ga seibetsu `zero’ ni modoru toki sora to konomi no 9-nenkan」

Release Date: July 24th, 2020

Duration: 77 mins.

Director: Miyuki Tokoi

Writer: N/A

Starring: Sora Kobayashi, Miyuki Yashiro, Jun Nakajima

Website

Synopsis: Originally broadcast on NHK, this is an extended version where director Miyuki Tokoi spent nine years following Sora Kobayashi, someone who was born as a woman and, at the age of 13, was diagnosed as having “Gender Identity Disorder”. Tokoi follows Kobayashi through gender reassignment surgery, legal changes and the realisation that identifying as a man might not be the perfect fit and gender binarism is too constrictive.

The Confidence Man JP: Episode of the Princess   

コンフィデンスマンJP プリンセス編 「Konfidensu Man JP Purinsesu Hen」

Release Date: July 23rd, 2020

Duration: 124 mins.

Director: Ryo Tanaka

Writer: Ryota Kosawa (Script), 

Starring: Masami Nagasawa, Masahiro Higashide, Fumiyo Kohinata, Haruma Miura, Yuko Takeuchi, Mari Hamada, Vivian Hsu, Atsuko Maeda,

Website

Synopsis: Our team of con artists, Dako (Masami Nagasawa), Boku-chan (Masahiro Higashide), and Richard (Fumiyo Kohinata) head to Langkawi, Malaysia, to fleece the Fuu Family after the patriarch passes away and leaves  behind 10 trillion yen in an inheritance.

Miyuki Nakajima Nightclub VOL.20 “Little Tokyo” Movie Version   

中島みゆき　夜会VOL.20「リトル・トーキョー」劇場版「Nakajima Miyuki yakai VOL. 20 `Ritoru Toukyou’ gekijouban」

Release Date: July 23rd, 2020

Duration: 113 mins.

Director: N/A

Writer: Miyuki Nakajima (Original Story)

Starring: Miyuki Nakajima

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Another movie edition of Miyuki Nakajima’s concerts. She orchestrates the story, songs, direction and performs on stage the musical drama “Yogai” that was performed last year. The story concerns a traditional inn, “Little Tokyo”, in the rugged mountains of Hokkaido. In one corner of this establishment, the story of sisters, who are at the mercy of human despair and love and an unbearable destiny, is depicted in 32 songs.

Theatrical version Secret x Warrior Phantomage! It will be a movie   

劇場版　ひみつ×戦士 ファントミラージュ！　映画になってちょーだいします「Gekijō-ban himitsu × senshi fantomirāju! Eiga ni natte cho ̄ dai shimasu」

Release Date: July 23rd, 2020

Duration: 78 mins.

Director: Takashi Miike

Writer: Yoichi Kato (Script), Takara Tomy (OLM)

Starring: Minami Hishida, Kira Yamaguchi, Toa Harada, Ran Ishii, Nicole Ishida, Takumi Saitoh,

Website

Takashi Miike (Audition, Ichi the Killer, The Bird People of China) directed a live-action TV series mixing a tokusatsu sensibility with magical girl aesthetics and now brings it to the big screen.

Synopsis: Kokomi Sakurai is a cherry tomato loving first year middle schooler who must save her father and friends when the Reverse Police, a group of bad cops who use the Reverse Jewels to reverse arrest “cool people” by turning them into “Ikenaiers”, an evil polarised versions of themselves, strike her town. Kokomi and her friends are chosen by the Phantomi Wristy to transform into Phantomirage. Becoming mass media sensations the Phantomirage are warned to conceal their identities from the public or something bad will happen.

Shukatsu 4 Wolfman Interview   

シュウカツ4 人狼面接 「Shukatsu 4 Jinroh Mensetsu」

Running Time: 43 mins.

Release Date: July 24th, 2020

Director: Seiji Chiba

Writer: Seiji Chiba (Screenplay/Original Story),

Starring: Yuya Asato, Masahiro Ito, Mizuki Umetsu, Masaki Ota, Hideaki Kabumoto, 

Website

No trailer

Synopsis: Another Shu-katsu film by Seiji Chiba (Alien vs Ninja) which depicts the psychological warfare used in job interviews faced by young job hunters. A group interview changes into a Ji-roh game or “werewolf interview”, where nobody can trust the other people… 

Stand Strong   

Release Date: July 24th, 2020

Duration: 77 mins.

Director: Hisashi Kikuchi

Writer: Hisashi Kikuchi (Script), Susumu Okada (Original Novel)

Starring: Kaito Nakata, Ryo Sagawa, Takashi Matsumoto, Rei Hidaka Daisaku, Cypress Ueno

Website

Synopsis: Four male models get their first movie roles in this film about skateboarders. They are a team called “CRASHER” and their skills travel the world via SNS but when a big skate brand named “ELEMNT” only selects two for their next promotion, the relationship between the four gradually breaks down. 

A Man in Love       

恋する男「Koisuru Otoko」

Release Date: July 25th, 2020

Duration: 84 mins.

Director: Nobuo Murata

Writer: Nobuo Murata, Dai Sako (Script),

Starring: Shigemitsu Ogi, Kokone Sasaki, Arisa Deguchi, Erika Kuroki, Yumi Akamatsu, Yumika,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: A romantic comedy about a middle-aged man named Mitsuo Oda who loses his job and leaves his wife and decides to start a new career. At this time, he meets two women, a hostess named Masami who has shown greeat kindness, and his assistant in his new plans… 

Documentary Battle of Okinawa: Memory of Unknown Sadness   

ドキュメンタリー沖縄戦　知られざる悲しみの記憶「Dokyumentari- Okinawa-sen shirarezaru kanashimi no kioku」

Release Date: July 25th, 2020

Duration: 105 mins.

Director: Takafumi Ohta

Writer: N/A

Starring: Yasumasa Uezo, Haruo Chibana, Michiko Uehara,

Website

Synopsis: A documentary depicting the tragedy of the Battle of Okinawa, which was the only part of Japan to be turned into a battleground during World War II. At that time, Okinawa was abandoned and civilians were given the order to fight or commit suicide, all to buy time for the mainland to prepare for the American invasion. The documentary charts the battle, from initial American landings to the final surrender of Japanese forces, and does so with footage recorded by the US military as well as through Japanese sources and experts. 

Forgotten Japanese: Japanese lingering in the Philippines and China 

日本人の忘れもの　フィリピンと中国の残留邦人「Nihonjin no Wasuremono Firipin to Chuugoku no Zanryuu Houjin」

Release Date: July 25th, 2020

Duration: 98 mins.

Director: Hiroyasu Obara

Writer: N/A

Starring: N/A

Website

Synopsis: A documentary that looks at the Japanese people left behind during the Pacific War, whether as immigrants in foreign lands, or as returnees who suffered discrimination because they were born outside of Japan. The crew travelled to the Philippines and China as well as across Japan and looked for the remnants of these immigrant communities…

Kinta and Ginji   

金太と銀次 「Kinta to Ginji」

Release Date: N/A

Duration: 84 mins.

Director: Takuya Dairiki, Takashi Miura

Writer: Takuya Dairiki, Takashi Miura (Script),

Starring: Takuya Dairiki, Takashi Miura

“No man is a failure who has friends”

Welcome to the friendship between Kinta and Ginji, the titular duo of an indie film written, edited, scored, performed, and co-directed by Takuya Dairiki and Takashi Miura. Friends since childhood, for their 12th film together these native sons of Osaka have concocted a warmhearted and whimsical experience that you probably won’t see outside of a film festival but it bears the charms of a well-worn friendship.

Kinta & Ginji follows the daily lives of Kinta, a raccoon who wears a red cap, and Ginji, a boxy robot with a shiny silver sheen. They are played by the directors, in their simple self-made costumes, and they are portrayed living in an unremarkable forest where they spend their time chatting with the comedic patter of Kansai dialect which we hear in winding conversations as the two wend their way through the woods. This wryly funny buddy movie doesn’t really have any structure to it other than most scenes have circular conversations and some conversations are iterative as they get circled back to later during the friend’s perambulations.

Kinta and Ginji’s ability to talk is inexhaustible and covers things sometimes profound but mostly banal. The charms of polishing rocks and the difficulties in climbing trees are discussed with the same seriousness as the prospect of dying and the guys are there to reassure each other throughout it all. Amidst all of the chatter and cod philosophising the two occasionally introduce more characters like family through remembering off-screen interactions. Their relationship isn’t always sweet as sharp barbs and dagger-like critiques are sometimes passed between them amidst the humorous anecdotes, but their bond remains unbreakable and provides the film with its heart. The more we follow them, the more charming they become until we are fully keyed into their odd friendship.

A lot of the easy way they interact must come from the directors long experience with each other and so the laid back observational camerawork and minimalist style denotes the rapport between the performers and the confidence they have with the material. A static camera catches the two meandering and lazing around the undergrowth in very long cuts with simple edits for scene transitions. There is no set decoration of any sorts and the costumes are so unashamedly DIY goofy as to be charming. The environment is plain but seeing the two in their incongruous outfits emerge from the undergrowth never fails to be amusing.

The audio is equally lo-fi. The ambient sound is rich with the sound of the woods so it is noticeable how the actors have recorded their lines and, in the case of voicing Ginji, run them through some sort of filter. Indeed, it is initially hard to discern between the two until you can pick out the slightly tinnier robotic sound of Ginji’s voice. After that, we can appreciate his slightly sharper tongue and attribute a downer attitude to him. Ginji can also control music with what sounds like an in-built cassette tape player (with the perfect snap of the button presses!) which leads to some funny gags and musical interludes which are scored by lo-fi rawk and synthesizer music that actually amps up the excitement of the film.

This fantasy is whimsy with lots of dry humour experienced as the friend’s pick their way through the landscape and into the hearts of viewers. You will not see anything like this outside of a festival. The audio, visuals and the performance of Kinta and Ginji’s friendship create a unique feel. This is like stumbling across a rare concept album by an esoteric progressive folk rock band from a bygone age. Something which you can sit back and just enjoy as you spend some time with Kinta and Ginji. Actually, on a bigger screen this would have been transcendent, with an audience giggling and laughing causing you to laugh even more too.

My review was first posted on V-Cinema on July 23rd

The Day of Destruction   

破壊の日「Hakai no Hi」

Release Date: July 24th, 2020

Duration: 57 mins.

Director: Toshiaki Toyoda

Writer: Toshiaki Toyoda (Script),

Starring: Kiyohiko Shibukawa, MahiToThePeople (of the band GEZAN in his debut film role), Issey Ogata, Yosuke Kubozuka, Ryuhei Matsuda, Itsuki Nagasawa, Shima Onishi, Misa Wada,

Website IMDB

Released on July 24th, what would have been the opening day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, The Day of Destruction would have been a slice of counter-programming that rages against the ills of society while it basked in the aura of Olympic spectacle. Even in the absence of the games, the film still retains its power as a unique “state of the nation” address thanks to its director compiling issues into a unique story.

Toshiaki Toyoda has long made films about people on the fringes and struggling to find their way, criticising the state and its treatment of citizens. He himself has been subject to violations of his rights when he was arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm and held without charge. It later turned out to be a family heirloom from World War II but the police turned it into a media spectacle. Japan continues to be rocked by numerous government corruption scandals, incompetent handling of Covid-19, and the silencing of political dissent by the increasingly fascistic LDP. It must feel that the country is on the highway to disaster and this film picks up on that sense of impending doom.

Deep in a mine somewhere in the countryside lurks a monster. A fleshy mass, this mysterious creature is a thing of nightmares and has been kept secret from all but those with the right connections such as a suave city slicker named Shinno (Ryuhei Matsuda). He gazes upon it, smirks and says, “one hell of a monstrosity has been born, huh?” This opening is highly atmospheric, a real horror kick, apocalyptic even. It is shot in black and white and has an aural soundscape of howling wind, blaring horns, and grating metal. No violence happens in this sequence and the rest of the film is in full of gorgeous colour, but the sense of tension generated remains throughout the film.

Flash forward seven years in the story and the atmosphere relaxes a little. Rumours of a “plague” linked to the nightmare creature have spread through the nearby town and an easy-going miner named Teppei (Kiyohiko Shibukawa) is our initial perspective into this crisis. He knew about the monster but did nothing and now witnesses scenes of random people struck by inexplicable mental and physical illnesses suddenly breaking scenes of normality and howling their fears and frustrations while flailing their limbs violently. 

Despite these occurrences, everyday life continues to wash over many in the community as they pursue their lives. This includes Teppei who persists in playing observer from the driver’s seat of his snazzy red Toyota Corona Mark Ⅱ (a pun for Covid-19?). The disappearance of his friend Kenichi (MahiToThePeople) prompts him to finally face the festering threat he ignored and the possible disintegration of society.

A young Shugendo practitioner, Kenichi has taken it upon himself to “exorcise the monsters lingering in the world” and is willing to risk his life as he transforms himself physically and spiritually to do it. The narrative shifts between the two friends, with the occasional flashbacks to help better define relationships, but Kenichi’s inner conflicts over his direction in life and his desire for change in the world are contrasted with Teppei’s apathy and this becomes a direct challenge to the audience.

Kenichi’s struggle might feel overwhelming. After the intro, Toshiaki frames the plague as a manifold threat that afflicts society. Something born from greed, loss of contact with traditional values/humanity, and the blinding effects of consumerism, even Covid-19. The newly built Olympic stadium and screen-scarring industrial landscapes act as backdrops for discussions on social decay as well as symbolic representation of societal rot. Meanwhile, we hear how the ruling class, the politicians and businessmen, are safely ensconced in their countryside estates, abandoning people as the encroaching disaster comes.

And yet, Toshiaki doesn’t outright reject modernity, but critiques how new ways of living sans the spiritual and human connections have swept over the land and are the root cause of many problems. This is revealed by how he contrasts the aforementioned ugliness with the more traditional settings such as Kasosan Shrine, in Tochigi Prefecture and the surrounding verdant forest which exude the equanimity and spirituality in the land. I believe that Toshiaki suggests a synthesis of old and new to save society. This is seen in the location Miyamasu Mitake Shrine, which is in the heart of Shibuya and forms one of the final locations where what seems to be another hero (played by Yosuke Kubozuka) attends.

The need to re-route our consciousness into different ways of thinking is needed to avert a crisis and so, cast in a positive light are Kenichi’s Shugendo beliefs (a mixture of Shinto and Buddhism which was banned by the Meiji government during Japan’s process of modernisation) and (on a small scale) the scenes where characters harness the natural processes and spirituality found in the rural topographies. They further add to this sense that people need to revive old methods and abandon parasitic capitalism.

These ideas come amid a slow build-up of details and low-key sense of threat. As Kenichi experiences a spiritual awakening, a growing urgency comes in the rhythm of the film as scenes become shorter and more staccato-like and everything is accompanied with a searing progressive rock music scored by GEZAN, the band which MahiToThePeople is the front-man. The film leans into spectacle and really wows with cool imagery that is shown in abstract dreams such as where Kenichi is doused in blood/red paint and on the Shibuya scramble, something which has a sense of rebirth. 

And so, despite the sense of impending disaster, The Day of Destruction ends on an urgent, even hopeful note as the audience is exhorted to do something and given inspiration. By coupling our perspective to Teppei and by showing us Kenichi’s growth, we are encouraged to awaken. At a time when the world has been wracked with months of the Covid-19 pandemic, people have risen up for global riots, and anti-racist protests and this film feels incredibly relevant and important. The stirring images and sounds make the audience feel the urgency to shake off their malaise and re-engage with life and, maybe, spark a world revolution to revive society.

やり直し～
日本列島やり直し
疫病退散えきびょうたいさん

Start over!
Redo Japanese Islands
Epidemic Dispersal

Happy weekend, everyone!

I hope you are all safe and well.

This week I went to work. Lots of Covid-19 infection prevention material has been left, waiting to be installed. Other than that, I visited relative and did gardening.

I finished off the novel Battle Royale by Koushun Takami and watched a whole load of horror movies like Black Christmas, Silent Night, Deadly Night, Night Killer. I also re-watched Columbus and Frankenstein.

I posted the last of my reviews for Japan Cuts with Kinta and Ginji (2019) and The Day of Destruction (2020).

What is released this weekend?

Labyrinth of Cinema     

Labyrinth of Cinema＝海辺の映画館　キネマの玉手箱「Labyrinth of Cinema = umibe no eigakan kinema no tamatebako」

Release Date: July 31st, 2020

Duration: 179 mins.

Director: Nobuhiko Obayashi

Writer: Nobuhiko Obayashi (Screenplay),

Starring: Takuro Atsuki, Takahito Hosoyamada, Yoshihiko Hosoda,

Website IMDB

Nobuhiko Obayashi recently passed away but two films involving him are on the festival circuit. Both were at the Tokyo International Film Festival, the documentary hasn’t reached Europe yet, as far as I know, whereas this one has played at Rotterdam. Labyrinth of Cinema is an anti-war film that mixes in a love of cinema, a subject mix which Obayashi relished with so many of his projects. 

Synopsis: Three young people at a soon-to-be-shuttered cinema are enjoying the final screening: a marathon of old war films. The three become so immersed in the action that they find themselves time-slipping through the screen to various historical events connected to cinema and war such as witnessing death during the Sengoku period and on a battlefront in China, being in Hiroshima just before the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing of the city. This was shot in Obayashi’s hometown in Onomichi and has an anti-war message.

Take Over Zone     

テイクオーバーゾーン　 「Teiku O-ba- Zo-n」

Release Date: July 31st, 2020

Duration: 90 mins.

Director: Shinpei Yamasaki

Writer: Tomomi Iwashima (Screenplay), 

Starring: Riku Yoshina, Chika Uchida, Yota Kawase, Masashi Gouda, Aki Moriyama, Nanaha Itose,

Website IMDB

Originally screened at last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival.

Synopsis: A talented 14-year-old female sprinter named Sari lives in Nara with her slovenly father after her family breaks up. Her mother took her beloved brother to live elsewhere and Sari finds herself unable to take part in track and field activities because her father cannot afford to pay club fees. One day, Sari sees her brother and mother and another girl who sprints, Yukina, out as a family in a supermarket. Sari is shocked…

#HandballStrive   

＃ハンド全力「#handozenryoku」

Release Date: July 31st, 2020

Duration: 108 mins.

Director: Daigo Matsui

Writer: Daigo Matsui, Dai Sato (Script), 

Starring: Seishiro Kato, Kotaro Daigo, Aju Makita, Haruka Imou, Himi Sato, Ryota Bando,

Website

The director is Daigo Matsui of How Selfish I Am, Ice Cream and the Sound of Raindrops, and Japanese Girls Never Die. The writer is Dai Sato of anime fame like Eureka Seven, Ergo Proxy and Eden of the East.

Synopsis: High school boy Masao lives a lethargic life in Kumamoto but when he uploads a photo of himself playing handball with his best friend Taichi who had been separated from him due to the earthquake, in front of the temporary housing to SNS, he starts getting nice comments (hence the #handballstrive). He gets a little giddy with all the new attention from across Japan and as it increases, he loves the fame and keeps posting but it drags him into getting off his butt and helping to rebuild a men’s handball team…

The 12 Day Tale of the Monster that Died in 8’: Little beasts battle COVID-19 online 

8日で死んだ怪獣の12日の物語　劇場版「8-Nichi de shinda kaijuu no 12-nichi no monogatari gekijouban」

Release Date: July 31st, 2020

Duration: 88 mins.

Director: Shunji Iwai

Writer: Shunji Iwai (Script), Shinji Higuchi (Original Novel)

Starring: Takumi Saito, Non, Sou Takei, Moeka Hoshi, Shinji Higuchi,

Website

Synopsis: Back in April, Shin Godzilla co-director Shinji Higuchi launched a project called Kaiju Defeat Covid, where people could post a video selfie with their favorite kaijuu which would take part in the fight to defeat Covid-19. It was a relay video that roped in the likes of Shinya Tsukamoto and even the director Shunji Iwai, all of whom would make a video like a relay.

Iwai has taken Higuchi’s idea and made it into a a 12-part series of short films titled The 12 Day Tale of the Monster that Died in 8 that has now been brought to the big screen. The series stars Takumi Saitoh as his real-life self in isolation after receiving three tiny “capsule kaijuu” by mail and raises them with the help of Higuchi to turn them into monster battlers.

My Name is Yours   

君が世界のはじまり「Kimi ga Sekai no Hajimari」

Release Date: July 31st, 2020

Duration: 115 mins.

Director: Momoko Fukuda

Writer: Kosuke Mukai (Script), Momoko Fukuda (Original Novel)

Starring: Honoka Matsumoto, Seina Nakata, Yuki Katayama, Daichi Kaneko, Shouma Kai, Noriko Eguchi, Natsuki Oku, Kanji Furutachi,

Website

Director Momoko Fukuda (Slowly, My Father, the Bride) brings her novel to the screen with the help of prolific screenwriter Kosuke Mukai.

Synopsis: At midnight, in a residential area of Osaka, a high schooler is arrested for the murder of a middle aged man is murdered. 

We are introduced to two sets of teens.

High school girl Yukari is a bright kid but she spends her time slumming it with the more wild friend Kotoko. When the two skip class, one day, they discover fellow student Narihira crying by himself. For Kotoko, it is love at first sight but he is more interested in Yukari

Meanwhile, their classmate Jun finds her family falling apart when her mother dumps her father and her. She tries to avoid the old man, who is beginning to act strange, by hanging out at the mall which is here she spies on a recent transfer student named Io getting a little too close with his stepmother. Jun and Io soon make their own connection and hang out…

Ike ike! Baka onna wagamichi o ike   

いけいけ！バカオンナ　我が道を行け「Ike ike! Baka onna wagamichi o ike」

Release Date: July 31st, 2020

Duration: 100 mins.

Director: Koto Nagata

Writer: Ayako Kitagawa (Script), Yumiko Suzuki (Original Manga)

Starring: Ayane, Nicole Ishida, Mao, Hayato Anozuka, Masato Hanazawa, Tomu Fujita,

Website

Synopsis: A live-action film adaptation of an autobiographical comic by manga artist Yumiko Suzuki known for Kanna’s Big Success! aka 200 Pounds Beauty. The period setting is moved from the bubble era of the 80s to the present day, and comically depicts the struggles of women with various problems such as love, work, and friendship. 

Do You Like Big Girls?    

大きい女の子は好きですか？「Ookii Onnanoko wa Suki desu ka?」

Release Date: August 01st, 2020

Duration: 78 mins.

Director: Takashi Ohashi

Writer: Takeo Mataki, Toru Yanagisawa (Script), Goro Aizome (Original Manga)

Starring: Sena Natsuki, Rena Takei, Ken Aoyama, Aika Mizuka, Moa Hirabayashi,

Website

Synopsis: Tachibana Souta, a multi-talented freeter, finds his lazy days spiked by some big girls when his older sister asks him to “serve” the college volleyball team she plays in. Suddenly, he is surrounded by 6 and 1/2 ft. tall Amozonesses and they kind of take a shine in Souta.

Ganbare iwa! ! Robokon Urara ~! Koisuru shiru nashi tantanmen! ! No maki   

がんばれいわ!!ロボコン　ウララ～！恋する汁なしタンタンメン!!の巻「Ganbare iwa! ! Robokon Urara ~! Koisuru shiru nashi tantanmen! ! No Maki」

Release Date: July 31st, 2020

Duration: 100 mins.

Director: Hidenori Ishida

Writer: Yoshio Urasawa (Script), Shotaro Ishinomori (Original Manga)

Starring: Chiwa Saito, Kino Tsuchiya, Masashi Ebara, Kenichi Suzumura

Website

The late manga creator and writer Shotaro Ishinomori is credited with creating the original concept of Robocon abd the franchise began with the live-action tokusatsu series Ganbare!! Robocon, which ran from 1974 to 1977 and was revivedwith the Moero!! Robocon series, which ran from 1999 to 2000.

Synopsis: Robocon, a helper robot from a robot school in a Chinese restaurant in the town, is out on a delivery to Auntie Tornado but the order gets a little mixed up and some ingredients go missing… 

Jintai no Survival   

人体のサバイバル！「Jintai no Sabaibaru!」

Release Date: July 31st, 2020

Duration: 100 mins.

Director: Hidenori Ishida

Writer: Yoshio Urasawa (Script), Shotaro Ishinomori (Original Manga)

Starring: Akira Ishida (Kei), Megumi Han (Pipi), Satsumi Matsuda (Geo), Hiroshi Iwasaki (Dr. Brain), Hiroki Touchi (Narrator)

Animation Production: Toei Animation

Website ANN MAL

Synopsis: A theatrical animation of the “Scientific Manga Survival” series. Dr. Geo and Dr. Know board the “Hippocrates,” a human body probe that can be reduced to the size of nanometers, and get swallowed by Pipi inadvertently. While desperately trying to avoid destruction, they aim to leave Phi’s body through the stomach to the intestines but it proves more difficult than thought.

Sprin’ Pan: Mae e Susumou!   

スプリンパン　まえへすすもう！「Sprin’ Pan: Mae e Susumou!」

Release Date: July 31st, 2020

Duration: 5 mins.

Director: Jet Inoue

Writer: Jet Inoue (Script), Shotaro Ishinomori (Original Manga)

Starring: Kokoro Noda (Sprin Pan), Junya Yoshida (Yama-don), Ai Taniuchi (Ringo Leader, Mother, Snoomi Mei),

Animation Production: CGCG Studio

Website MAL

Synopsis: It is an adventure story about a 12-year-old girl who aspires to be Peter Pan and it will be told using 3DCG and motion capture to incorporate various performing art elements such as musicals, ballet, Irish dance, and gimmick stage, and is a short animation full of songs and dances throughout. 

Joriku!   

じょりく！「Joriku!」

Release Date: July 31st, 2020

Duration: 66 mins.

Director: Takashi Ohashi

Writer: Makoto Yangaisawa (Script), Hideto Kakka (Original Manga)

Starring: Mizuki Saiba, Ryohei Kawano, Meiri, COCO, Umi Shinonome, Hotaro Komori, Erika Shidara,

Website

Synopsis: Musashi Kaneda was once a hot prospect as an Olympic runner but now he will become the coach of the Tsukimi University Women’s Track and Field Club where he will try to overcome traditional training methods and his virgin horniness to train a bevy of beautiul athletes. This group contains Misaki Tono , a 100m ace there, who is faltering in her training because her breasts are becoming too big and she is a little embarrassed… With a competition with a rival school approaching, Musashi has the chance to coach them to success and grab the hearts of his female students!

The Locarno Film Festival runs from August 05th to the 15th and they have announced their selection of films. Like last year there are two Japanese films (well, one’s a US-Japan co-production and the other’s a France-Japan co-production) but these are both shorts and were subjects of crowdfunding campaigns. Apparently, you can watch the films online when the festival goes live. Here they are!

Both films are in the Pardi di domani section which is dedicated to finding new talent. Audiences from across the world can watch these films via the Festival’s screening room play.festivalscope.ch. Tickets are already on sale.

Return to Toyama   

フレネルの光「Fureneru no Hikari」

Release Date: August 05th, 2020

Duration: 24 mins.

Director: Atsushi Hirai

Writer: Atsushi Hirai (Script), 

Starring: Junpei Tanaka, Hisakazu Hirai, Mayuko Hirai, Hiroaki Hirai, Shogo Yamamoto, Yuriko Hirai,

Atsushi Hirai (website) works in France and Japan making short films and it seems that he uses his experience to make this film.

Synopsis: After an absence, Takumi returns Toyama, the small port town in northern Japan where his family lives. He has spent time living in France despite his father’s disapproval and now faces his family again after a long absence…

The Chicken 

Release Date: August 05th, 2020

Duration: 14 mins.

Director: Neo Sora

Writer: Neo Sora (Script), Naoya Shiga (Original Short Story)

Starring: Taiju Naane, Junshin Soga, Sandra Maren Schneider, Alen Chen, Charlie Gillette,

Website IMDB

An adaptation of the short story “An Afternoon On November 3rd” by Naoya Shiga, The Chicken looks at structural violence in daily life through police, access to healthcare, gentrification and other issues that are happening in present-day New York through the lens of being Japanese in America

Synopsis: On an unseasonably hot day in November, Hiro, a young Japanese immigrant in New York City, shows his visiting cousin Kei around the city. The two run into a medical emergency on the street and the situation escalates as they try to help and it makes them consider the ways that their lives are witness to, or complicit in, the structural violence happening all around them…

In the Open Doors section, there is a Vietnamese film with Japanese backing:

Listen, by Min Min Hein –  Myanmar/USA/Japan – 2017

Past coverage:

Japanese Films at the Locarno Film Festival 2019

Third Window Films are going to release the world’s first ever blu-ray edition of the much-loved music-fantasy FISH STORY on August 10th.

This is going to be released to mark 10 years since Third Window Films first released it on DVD.

Extra features (*all in standard definition):
Making Of
‘Gekirin’ various Live Performances
‘Gekirin’ Talk Show
Director & Cast Q&A
Deleted Scenes

It has a 15 certificate and has an RRP. of £19.99. As well as this release, it is on DVD and video on demand platforms.

Here’s the trailer and synopsis and a little extra info:

Fish Story   

フィッシュストーリー 「Fisshu Suto-ri-」

Release Date: March 20th, 2009

Duration: 112 mins.

Director: Yoshihiro Nakamura

Writer: Tamio Hayashi (Script), Kotaro Isaka (Original Manga)

Starring: Kengo Kora, Atsushi Ito, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Noriko Eguchi, Gaku Hamada, Mikako Tabe, Mirai Moriyama, Nao Ohmori, Hidekazu Mashima,

IMDB

Yoshihiro Nakamura has worked with scriptwriter Tamio Hayashi on See You Tomorrow, Everyone (2013) and adapting Kotaro Isaka’s novel The Foreign Duck, the Native Duck and God in a Coin Locker (2007) already and this one’s script seems to have good form with its decades-spanning story being told smoothly.

This presents a good chance to get to see some early roles of big actors like Kengo Kora (The Story of Yonosuke) and Gaku Hamada and Mirai Moriyama (The Drudgery Train).

Synopsis: Fish Story consists of different storylines taking place at different points over a 37-year span to explain how a little-known punk rock song can save the world.

In 1975, an unpopular Japanese punk band called Gekirin (Wrath) break up soon after recording their final song: Fish Story. In 1982 a timid college student named Masashi (Gaku Hamada) becomes fascinated by strange rumors surrounding the song. In 2009 a teenager named Asami (Mikako Tabe) falls asleep during a school field trip and gets left behind on a boat which is taken over by terrorists. In 2012 a huge comet can be seen in the sky on a path to destroy Earth. How does a little punk song connect all these events?

Happy weekend, everyone!

I hope you are safe and well.

This week I posted about the upcoming Blu-ray release of Fish Story on August 10th (review coming soon) and the Japanese films at the Locarno Film Festival. I watched Life, Kajaki, Two Days, One Night, Heroic Purgatory, Wild Geese, and I played more of Front Mission 3.

What is released this weekend?

Reiko and the Dolphin   

れいこいるか「Reiko iruka」

Release Date: August 08th, 2020

Duration: 100 mins.

Director: Shinji Imaoka

Writer: Shinji Imaoka (Script),

Starring: Aki Takeda, Hidetoshi Kawaya,

OAFF   Website

Pink film director Shinji Imaoka delivers a downbeat indie drama that has its roots in the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. Written at the time of the disaster, he finished it in time for the 25^th anniversary of the disaster. The result is a melancholy film that follows the travails of regular people left reeling from tragic caused by the earthquake.

I saw it at this year’s Osaka Asian Film Festival. Here’s my review and here’s an interview I did with Shinji Imaoka.

Synopsis: The story starts on the day of the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. A couple, Ichiko (Aki Takeda) and her writer husband Tasuke (Hidetoshi Kawaya), are celebrating the birthday of their daughter Reiko but on that night, she dies in the earthquake. The couple, no longer connected by their daughter, drift apart over time and endure life’s ups and downs. Despite their distance, they can never quite break free due to them lingering over their loss…

Okaasan no hibaku piano   

おかあさんの被爆ピアノ「Okaasan no hibaku piano」

Release Date: August 08th, 2020

Duration: 113 mins.

Director: Toshihiro Goto

Writer: Toshihiro Goto (Script),

Starring: Shiro Sano, Tomu Muto, Masaaki Jonouchi, Yoko Moriguchi, Miyoko Omomo,

Website IMDB

Based on a true story of the “A-bombed piano” (hibakusha piano) which miraculously survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and starring Shiro Sano and Tomu Muto of AKB48.

Synopsis: Mitsunori Yagawa (Sano) us a piano tuner who is taking care of a piano that survived being within 3 km of the hypocenter of the Hiroshima atomic bombing on August 6, 1945. He travels around Japan and delivers the sound of the atomic bomb piano to various places. Meanwhile, a university student named Nanako Eguchi (Muto), who was born and raised in Tokyo, discovers that her grandmother is connected with the piano. She goes to a concert and meets Yagawa where the two begin to think about the history of the piano and Nanako’s grandmother. 

Grand Blue 

ぐらんぶる「Guran Buru」

Release Date: August 07th, 2020

Duration: 107 mins.

Director: Tsutomu Hanabusa

Writer: Tsutomu Hanabusa, Manabu Uda (Script), Kenji Inoue, Kimitake Yoshioka (Original Manga)

Starring: Ryo Ryusei, Yuki Yoda, Atsuhiro Inukai, Aya Asahina, Yuka Ogura, Ren Ishikawa, Masahiro Takashima,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Iori Kitahara (Ryo Ryusei) has moved to a beach town in Izu Peninsula to start university. He lives in a room above his uncle’s diving shop “Grand Blue” and expects to hang out with girls but when he joins the scuba diving club he is disappointed to find it is full of buff male students who like to party and strip naked rather than dive. Despite his attempts to distance himself from the group, Iori gets quickly swept up in their antics, while his cousins try to show him the wonders of diving into the ocean and sea.

Third Year Debut – Hinatazaka 46 Documentary Film 

3年目のデビュー「3 Nen-me no Debyu-」

Release Date: August 07th, 2020

Duration: 119 mins.

Director: Yusuke Takenaka

Writer: N/A

Starring: Sarina Ushio, Yuuka Kageyama, Shiho Kato, Miku Kawamura, Hinano Kamimura,

Website

Synopsis: Documentary movie of the popular idol group “Hinatazaka46”, the spin-off group of “Keyakizaka 46”, who had a documentary released earlier this year.  The doc captures their work and I think it includes their appearance on NHK’s famous Kouhaku Uta Gassen at the end of last year. 

Tailwind   

追い風「Oikaze」

Release Date: August 07th, 2020

Duration: 71 mins.

Director: Ryo Anraku

Writer: Ryo Katayama, Ryo Anraku (Script), 

Starring: DEG, Ryo Katayama, Ryo Anraku, Hyoma Shibata, Hiroki Sato, Ritsu Ootomu,

Website

A youth film that won the Best Actor and Musician Award in the feature film category of “MOOSIC LAB 2019”. It was directed and written by indie film makers Ryo Katayama and Ryo Anraku and stars the rapper DEG.

Synopsis: A 28-year-old musician named DEG wants to avoid hurting other people so he laughs at whatever happens but he hurts himself. His laughing covers his reality of an under-appreciated artist and other heartaches which are slowly revealed the closer he gets to a friend’s wedding. 

Sad Angel   

悲しき天使「Sabishiki Tenshi」

Release Date: August 07th, 2020

Duration: 91 mins.

Director: Toshiyuki Morioka

Writer: Toshiyuki Morioka (Script), Yukio Yamanouchi (Original Novel)

Starring: Hitomi Wada, Masaru Mizuno, Nanami Kawakami, Takashi Shigematsu, Aki Morita, Naho Yamada, Akiyoshi Shibata,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: A sensual drama set in Osaka’s Tobita Shinchi depicting the tragedy of a beautiful prostitute named Kazumi (Hitomi Wada) and Shigeru (Masaru Mizuno), a young unemployed man saddled with debt, who has escaped into her arms. Various other sad tales play out around them as they fall in love.

Ultraman Taiga The Movie: New Generation Climax   

劇場版ウルトラマンタイガ　ニュージェネクライマックス「Gekijouban Urutoraman Taiga Nyū Jene Kuraimakkusu」

Release Date: August 07th, 2020

Duration: 71 mins.

Director: Ryuichi Ichino,

Writer: Sotaro Hayashi, Takao Nakano (Script), 

Starring: Yuki Inoue, Ryotaro, Ayuri Yoshinaga, Takuya Negishi, Hideo Ishiguro, Kensuke Takahashi,

Website

Synopsis: Hiroyuki Kudo has the power to transform into three Ultra Heroes: Taiga, Titas, and Fuma, but now he has become the target of someone. The New Generation Heroes come to his aid, and even Taiga’s father Ultraman Taro but when Ultraman Taro violently attacks his son Taiga the New Generation Heroes realise that they face a very dangerous threat. Check out the Ultraman wiki for more.

Imperfect World   

不完全世界「Fukazen Sekai」

Release Date: August 08th, 2020

Duration: 142 mins.

Director: Kyoichi Komoto, Arata Saito

Writer: Ako Suizu (Script), Yukio Yamanouchi (Original Novel)

Starring: Ako Suizu, Asuka Shingu, Makiko Kawai, Jitsuko Yoshimura, Kita, Sufa,

Website

Synopsis: An omnibus film in which two directors, Kyoichi Komoto and Arata Saito, film stories showing the end of youth of three young women living in a share house and the suffering of an old woman portrayed by veteran actress Jitsuko Yoshimura, who is known as the step-daughter in Onibaba (1964).

Mottainai Kitchen   

もったいないキッチン「Mottainai Kicchin」

Release Date: August 08th, 2020

Duration: 95 mins.

Director: David Gross

Writer: David Gross (Script), 

Starring: David Gross, Nikki Tsukamoto, Rumi Ide,

Website

Synopsis: Austrian food journalist David Gross has made one previous documentary 0 Yen Kitchen, which was about food loss and, in looking into how to reduce it and use the food households, supermarkets and restaurants throw away, he travelled around five European countries. His latest film is something similar although this time he travels around Japan where as much as 6.43 million tons of food is discarded annually. With a travel partner, Nikki, he meets Japanese chefs and tries to recreate the delicious desserts of various locations in Japan. 

Doraemon the Movie: Nobita’s New Dinosaur   

映画ドラえもん　のび太の新恐竜 「Eiga Doraemon: Nobita no Shin Kyoryū」

Release Date: August 07th, 2020

Duration: 110 mins.

Director: Kazuaki Imai

Writer: Genki Kawamura (Script), Fujiko F. Fujio (Original Manga)

Starring: Wasabi Mizuta (Doraemon), Megumi Ohara (Nobita), Yumi Kakazu (Shizuka), Tomokazu Seki (Suneo), Aya Endo (Kyu), Rie Kugimiya (Myu), Daisuke Ono (Dr. Dinosaur)

Animation Production: Shin-ei Animation

Website ANN MAL

Synopsis: Nobita accidentally finds a fossil dinosaur egg mixed with rocks at a dinosaur fossil exhibition site and he sees the egg hatch and a new species of dinosaur appear. They are Kyu and Myu. Nobita and his pals want to take care of them secretly, but living in the city they will be discovered quite easily so Nobita takes them back to the Cretaceous period 66 million years ago but, along the way, there is a group of mysterious foes who hope to steal Kyu and Myu from Nobita.

Shōjo☆Kageki Revue Starlight Rondo Rondo Rondo   

少女☆歌劇 レヴュー・スタァライト　ロンド・ロンド・ロンド 「Shōjo☆Kageki Revyū Sutāraito Rondo・Rondo・Rondo」

Release Date: August 07th, 2020

Duration: 119 mins.

Director: Tomohiro Furukawa

Writer: Tatsuto Higuchi (Script), Fujiko F. Fujio (Original Manga)

Starring: Aina Aiba (Claudine Saijo), Ayasa Ito (Kaoruko Hanayagi), Haruki Iwata (Mahiru Tsuyuzaki), Hinato Sato (Junna Hoshimi), Maho Tomita (Maya Tendo),

Animation Production: Kinema Citrus

Website ANN MAL

Synopsis: A recap film of the TV anime Revue Starlight. 

Starlight is a popular musical revue troupe that many girls are eager to join. The TV anime focused on a pair of childhood friends, Karen and Hikari, but the film is is presented from Nana’s perspective and so the film adds new scenes to the TV footage. 

Fish Story   

フィッシュストーリー 「Fisshu Suto-ri-」

Release Date: March 20th, 2009

Duration: 112 mins.

Director: Yoshihiro Nakamura

Writer: Tamio Hayashi (Script), Kotaro Isaka (Original Manga)

Starring: Kengo Kora, Atsushi Ito, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Noriko Eguchi, Gaku Hamada, Mikako Tabe, Mirai Moriyama, Nao Omori, Hidekazu Mashima, Toshimitsu Okawauchi (of the band Drive Far),

 IMDB   Third Window Films

If I were to tell you just some of the many different things going on in Fish Story, you would say that the title must be a perfect fit for such an outrageous yarn and that it cannot possibly work in a movie. But the film’s story gracefully ties a huge range of things together to make an unconventional and warmhearted tale that shows how no struggle is fruitless and everything in life can go on to have great meaning.

Fish Story is based on Kotaro Isaka’s same-named novel and consists of many distinctly different and seemingly unconnected storylines taking place at different points over 77 years to explain how a punk rock song nobody bought saves the world from an asteroid on a collision course with the Earth.

Everything starts in 2012 with said asteroid just hours away from causing an extinction level event. While many people have fled to Mount Fuji, a record shop owner (Nao Omori) in Tokyo plays an obscure song titled “Fish Story” for a customer and explains how it is fated to save the world from disaster. We then flashback to 1982 where timid college student Masashi (Gaku Hamada) is acting as a chauffeur on a group date and finds his destiny altered by a psychic and a collection of reputedly haunted cassette tapes, one of which has the song “Fish Story”, just before he encounters a dangerous situation that requires him to be brave. In 2009 a teenager named Asami (Mikako Tabe) is on a school field trip on a ferry and falls asleep just before the boat is taken over by terrorists. When all seems lost, enter a hero, a chef (Mirai Moriyama) with a sideline in martial arts and a desire to be a hero of justice. Then it is 1975 and the story of how cutting-edge punk band Gekirin are on the brink of breaking up but make one last desperate cry of creativity with their final record, “Fish Story”.

While each of the storylines are unified in examining the same themes of a person’s struggle to find acceptance and having the power to step up to the plate at a time of crisis, they all take on the trappings of a different genre and are shot with a careful balance between the parodic with the dramatic as the film takes the plight of its characters seriously but is also aware enough of any absurdity to slip into humour – from the opening disaster movie reminiscent of Armageddon (1998) to the not so macho Under Siege (1992) parody with a pastry chef (trained via a Karate Kid (1984) montage) battling seaborne terrorists.

As complicated as unifying all of these different story strands sounds, the film flows smoothly thanks to using a structure of nested flashbacks that build suspense and show how every part is an interlocking piece of a puzzle. While alert audiences will be able to easily guess certain things, the final sequence is guaranteed to make viewers feel giddy with glee as we see how the threads of fate connect people and how what appears to be a random thing in life can play a big part later on.

This is not the first film with a complicated structure that director Yoshihiro Nakamura has worked on with scriptwriter Tamio Hayashi as the two had previously adapted Kotaro Isaka’s novel The Foreign Duck, the Native Duck and God in a Coin Locker two years earlier and would go on to do a superlative job with The Snow White Murder Case (2014), but this is arguably the most diverse in terms of tone and each section has a distinct feel with the 1980s replete with cassette tapes, checkered shirts and skirts and pastel colours as well as a sense of a summer where someone comes of age and the 1970s have grungy cigarette tinged visuals and grimy locations. These details make up for a lack of visual flair but the real perfection comes in how every cut feels like it is almost the perfect length to really explore these characters.

This film presents a good chance to get to see some early roles of big actors like Kengo Kora (The Story of Yonosuke) and Gaku Hamada (See You Tomorrow, Everyone – also directed by Nakamura) and Mirai Moriyama (The Drudgery Train). The latter two bring an impressive physicality to their role as Moriyama, a also a trained dancer, balletically deals with terrorists while Hamada externalises his internal struggle to stand up for himself. Meanwhile, the music was playednlive by the band Gekirin, made up of the actors Atsushi Ito (Shigeki on bass), Kiyohiko Shibukawa (Tetsuya on drums), Kengo Kora (Goro on vocals) and real life rocker Toshimitsu Okawauchi (on lead guitar). The guys practised for two and a half months together to nail the songs and they bring a fierce performance on stage perfect for their storyline of a band, unheralded in their time, leaving one last song that showed their true value, something which fits in perfectly with a story where every effort has meaning even if it isn’t immediately obvious.

This is the sort of film that may have varied storylines and styles but works because of earnest portrayals of the characters and its tone, all of which is full of a refreshingly naive hopefulness and quirky sense of humour. It is the type of film that can offer viewers encouragement in their lives because, through likeable characters and relatable stories, it relays the idea that everything in life has value. As the stories converge and the links emerge, it is hard not to get a little teary eyed and feel inspired over seeing how the efforts of everyone over the years come together to save the world.

Extras

Third Window Films have release the world’s first ever blu-ray edition of FISH STORY to mark 10 years since Third Window Films first released the film on DVD and the extra features on the disc makes a physical purchase absolutely necessary.

Extra features (*all in standard definition):
Making Of
‘Gekirin’ various Live Performances
‘Gekirin’ Talk Show
Director & Cast Q&A
Deleted Scenes

After watching the film, it was fun to get to know more about how it was made and what happened afterwards. Seeing director Yoshihiro Nakamura and his cast talk about their conception of the characters is an interesting insight into some of the key relationships and some interesting pairings in the movie and it was genuinely moving to see how the boys in Gekirin came together as a band through rehearsals and even went on to play concerts and release a CD. It is quite moving to see the actors express their emotions over their efforts and what time spent working on the film meant to them, plus we get to hear the music again and again.

It has a 15 certificate and has an RRP. of £19.99. As well as this release, it is also on DVD, though and video on demand platforms, but the higher image quality definitely makes the blu-ray an essential addition to the collection.

The New York Asian Film Festival 2020 launches on August 28th and runs until September 12th and there are around 51 films programmed with 8 from Japan.

The festival, like many others, will deliver its to audiences films via the internet rather than through any physical screenings and the fest is only open to people in America. The method of watching the films is via an app called Smart Cinema which can be installed on smartphones and tablets. This means that people have the chance to watch the films safely in the comfort of their own homes.

As of writing, there is no indication of any Q&As or introductions but there are a LOT of films for people to enjoy. I will highlight the Japanese films and a range of other titles that I have covered at the Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF) so, hopefully, it can help you when you are making a choice about what to watch.

What are the films programmed?

OPENING FILM

The Girl and the Gun 

Release Date: March 07th, 2020

Duration: 80 mins.

Director: Rae Red

Writer: Rae Red (Script),

Starring: Janine Gutierrez, Elijah Canlas, Felix Roco, JC Santos,

OAFF IMDB

Rae Red was introduced to the world through co-writing Birdshot (2017) with her cousin Mikhail Red. Since then, she has quickly accrued projects, collaborating with Mikhail on the scripts for his features Neomanila (2017) and Eerie (2018). The Girl with the Gun is her solo directorial debut and it displays a distinctive style that marks her out as a director of immense talent and vision as she delivers a highly stylised and smart neo-noir/anatomy of a violent culture.

Here’s my review.

Synopsis: Barangay Tatalon in Quezon City is a place where the atmosphere reeks of squalor, poverty and danger. We follow the titular girl (Janine Gutierrez), whom we never get a name for, who has to endure financial hardship and harassment until, one day, she is assaulted. Humiliated and dejected, she is at her lowest ebb when she discovers a snub nosed pistol with a heart sticker discarded in the street following a shooting. A sudden transformation overtakes the girl. Fear morphs into righteous anger as the gun allows her to turn the tables on the men who harass her and the girl becomes like an avenging angel tackling the worst stereotypical masculine behaviour and then the film switches from the girl’s storyline to the history of the gun, from its creation and use by agents of the government against student activists in the 1980s before broadening out into a wider class-critique where the affects of violence are seen on young street kids who meet various, grisly fates.

Japanese Films

Miyamoto   

宮本から君へ　 「Miyamoto kara Kimi e」

Release Date: September 27th, 2019

Duration: 129 mins.

Director: Tetsuya Mariko

Writer: Tetsuya Mariko, Takehiko Minato (Screenplay), Hideki Arai (Manga)

Starring: Sosuke Ikematsu, Yu Aoi, Arata Iura, Kenichi Matsuyama, Tokio Emoto, Kanji Furutachi, Jiro Sato, Pierre Taki,

Website IMDB

This is based on a manga by Hideki Arai which was published from 1990 to 1994. It was turned into a television show and now has this movie spin-off with a selection of great actors orbiting Yu Aoi whose strong acting is really attracting attention these days.

Synopsis: Hiroshi Miyamoto (Sosuke Ikematsu) has a job at a stationery company as a salesman. He’s not very good since he is clumsy and has no idea what he wants to do with his life but he is also a nice guy with a sense of justice which is part of what attracts an older lady named Yasuko Nakano (Yu Aoi) to him. The two fall for each other but Yasuko has a pretty complicated life and a violent ex-boyfriend which the two will have to deal with…

One Night   

ひとよ　 「Hitoyo」

Release Date: November 08th, 2019

Duration: 123 mins.

Director: Kazuya Shiraishi

Writer: Izumi Takahashi (Screenplay), 

Starring: Takeru Satoh, Ryohei Suzuki, Mayu Matsuoka, Yuko Tanaka, Kuranosuke Sasaki, Mariko Tsutsui, Hanae Kan, Megumi,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Koharu (Yuko Tanaka), in an effort to free herself and her three children from their abusive father, murdered the man. It was an act that was supposed to set them free but it trapped them in a vicious circle of shame and self-loathing. 15 years later, the family reunites again, each bearing scars from their traumatic background that have made their dreams go sour. Yuji (Takeru Satoh) is a hack writer for a tabloid, Daiki (Ryohei Suzuki) struggles to be a family man while Sonoko (Mayu Matsuoka) couldn’t make it as a hairstylist and became a call-girl. Koharu and her family have to navigate this damaging history…

Beneath the Shadow   

影裏　 「Eiri」

Release Date: February 14th, 2020

Duration: 134 mins.

Director: Keishi Otomo

Writer: Shinsuke Numata (Story) 

Starring: Gou Ayano, Ryuhei Matsuda, Mariko Tsutsui, Tomoya Nakamura, Ken Yasuda, Jun Kunimura,

Website IMDB

Keishi Otomo has a 30-year career in TV and movies with NHK dramas on his filmography as well as being the director of big action films like the Rurouni Kenshin and Rurouni Kenshin Kyoto Inferno. This drama is based on the 2017 Akutagawa Prizewinner “Eiri,” and is set in the director’s hometown of Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, both before and after the 3/11 tragedy.

You can read more about it at a screening that took place at the Foreign Corespondents Club of Japan.

Synopsis: Shuichi Konno (Gou Ayano) is transferred by his pharmaceutical company to Morioka in Iawate. He falls in with another 30-something guy named Norihiro Hiasa (Ryuhei Matsuda) and the two seemingly become best buds who do everything together, particularly fishing, but when Hiasa quits the job, the two drift apart and Hiasa disappears. Then, half a year, he shows up with an odd request for Konno to buy a policy before disappearing in the 3/11 disaster. Konno goes looking for him and discovers he didn’t really know his friend at all…

A Beloved Wife   

喜劇　愛妻物語 「Kigeki Aisai Monogatari」

Release Date: September 11th, 2020

Duration: 115 mins.

Director: Shin Adachi

Writer: Shin Adachi (Screenplay/Novel)

Starring: Gaku Hamada, Asami Mizukawa, Chise Niitsu, Eri Fuse, Kaho, Kayoko Ookubo, Ken Mitsuishi, 

Website    IMDB

Shin Adachi is best known for his script for 100 Yen Love (2014) and has worked on other projects, including directing a warmly received comedy 14 That Night (2016). He adapts his autobiographical novel for his sophomore film as a director and it was produced by Aoi Pro, whose works include Shoplifters (2018) and The Long Excuse (2016). This won Best Screenplay at last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival.

Synopsis: Gota Yanagida (Gaku Hamada) is a scriptwriter with a family and a desperate need for a hit film. His wife of 10 years, Chika (Asami Mizukawa), is the family breadwinner and very unhappy about their lack of money. His daughter Aki (Chise Niitsu) is beginning to view him as a bit of a loser. His desperation for a break is finally answered when a film producer tasks Gota with writing a screenplay for his story of “a high school girl who makes udon noodles at a tremendous speed”. Gota has a chance to travel to Kagawa Prefecture to write a screenplay and so he persuades Chika and Aki to go with him, but when he arrives he discovers a different film project has already been decided…

Family Bond   

太陽の家　 「Taiyou no Ie」

Release Date: January 17th, 2020

Duration: 123 mins.

Director: Hajime Gonno

Writer: Itaru Era (Script) 

Starring: Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi, Naoko Iijima, Mayu Yamaguchi, Yunho, Shinya Ueda, Eita Nagayama, Ryoko Hirosue,

Website

Hajime Gonno has made a career as a director of bad boy movies like Gachiban and Aragure. He teams up with singer-songwriter-actor-poet-human-rights advocate Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi (Wikipedia page).

Synopsis: He make look rough but Shingo Kawasaki (Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi) is a skilled carpenter and skilled in understanding people. He takes an interest in an insurance company saleswoman named Mei Ikeda (Ryoko Hirosue). She is a single mother living with her son Ryusei (Yunho). Kawasaki figures he can be something of a father figure and support Mei by building a house for them but when Mei’s ex appears…

Dancing Mary   

ダンシング・マリー　「Danshingu Mari-」

Release Date: N/A

Duration: 105 mins.

Director: SABU

Writer: SABU (Script) 

Starring: EXILE NAOTO, Aina Yamada, Ryo Ishibashi

Website

Following on from  jam (2018), SABU continues his collaboration with LDH production, the parent company of which manages the Gekidan EXILE group, whereby members from that group take roles in the films made. This one features EXILE Naoto, model-turned-actress Aina Yamada and musician-turned-actor Ryo Ishibashi (he who picked the wrong girl in Audition) in a love fantasy film with some yakuza action. It is based on an original script and was filmed in Kitakyushu, Tokyo and Taiwan.

Synopsis: Kenji (EXILE Naoto) is a civil servant taking part in the creation of a gigantic shopping centre. When Kenji is assigned the task of overseeing the demolition of an old dance hall he discovers his job becomes impossible because some mysterious force stops every attempt. Turns out that the place is cursed so Kenji turns to a young woman who is a medium who can grant him access to the spirit world of spirits. But ghosts may be the least of his problems because the local yakuza clan gets involved…

Forgiven Children   

許された子どもたち「Yurusa reta kodomotachi」

Release Date: June 01st, 2020

Duration: 131 mins.

Director: Eisuke Naito

Writer: Eisuke Naito, Tetsuo Yamagata (Script), 

Starring: Yu Uemura, Yoshi Kuroiwa, Takuya Abe, Akana Ikeda, Yukino Nagura,

Website

Eisuke Naito has come a long way from Puzzle (which also stars Kaho) with a filmography full of titles looking at delinquent kids like Liverleaf and this one looks pretty bleak as he looks at the death of a child from the perspective of children, their parents and the mediastorm around them.

Synopsis: Kira Ichikawa is the leader of a group of high school delinquents who take their bullying of their classmate Isuki Kuramochi too far when they accidentally kill the boy with a crossbow. The case is a nationwide scandal but due to a lack of evidence, Kira gets off with the crime. A backlash ensues that swallows up both the children and the adults…

They Say Nothing Stays the Same   

ある船頭の話　 「Aru sendou no hanashi」

Release Date: September 13th, 2019

Duration: 137 mins.

Director: Joe Odagiri

Writer: Joe Odagiri (Screenplay),

Starring: Akira Emoto, Ririka Kawashima, Nijiro Murakami, Masatoshi Nagase, Haruomi Hosono, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Mitsuko Kusabue, Isao Hashizume,

Website     IMDB

This is Joe (Mushishi, Adrift in Tokyo) Odagiri’s sophomore feature film as a director and he has hired a good team in getting Christopher Doyle – Wong Kar-Wai’s frequent collaborator – working cinematography and Emi Wada designing costumes – she won an Oscar for her costuming on Akira Kurosawa’s epic Ran and is responsible for costumes in lush historical dramas such as Samurai Marathon 1855, Hero, Gohatto, and House of Flying Daggers. 

Synopsis: Toichi is a boatman who ferries people across a river. Despite ferrying people across, the only person he really communicates with is his young neighbour Genzo. When a large bridge is begins to be constructed to help people cross the river it looks like Toichi will be made redundant but then he meets a mysterious young girl who appears to be an orphan. Toichi takes her in and from that moment, his life begins to change…

Films From Elsewhere

Miss Andy 

迷失安狄

Release Date: 2020

Duration: 108 mins.

Director: Teddy Chin

Writer: Ryan Tu (Script),

Starring: Lee Lee-zen, Ruby Lin, Jack Tan, Keshap Suria, Tou Kyzer,

OAFF Wikipedia

Miss Andy is a film about unrelenting hope in circumstances filled with loneliness and despair as a transgender person seeks some understanding and companionship in an ignorant and unforgiving world. A Malaysian-Taiwanese co-production, it was directed by Teddy Chin, a director, actor and screenwriter. He turns in a handsomely lensed film with some melodrama.

Here’s my review.

Synopsis: Set in modern-day Malaysia, Evon (Lee Lee-zen), formerly known as Andy, is struggling through a desperate period in her life as she is ostracised by others, including her own family, and her best friend dies in violent circumstances. Alone in the world she makes a connection with people in even more desperate circumstances, a Vietnamese illegal immigrant who goes by the name of Sophia (Ruby Lin) and her cute boy named Kang (Tou Kyzer). The two are fleeing a violent relationship and haven’t got a place to stay, food to eat or any citizenship papers which means they are desperate for Evon’s help and he is eager to help. 

Heavy Craving   

大餓　 「Daikatsue」

Release Date: June 30th, 2019

Duration: 90 mins.

Director: Hsieh Pei-ju

Writer: Hsieh Pei-ju (Script), 

Starring: Tsai Jia-Yin, Samantha Ko, Yao Chang, Chang En-Wei, Lai Lene, Hsieh Tsu-wu,

OAFF IMDB

One woman’s battle to lose fat forms the basis of this heavy drama that comes as a shock as it is wrapped with some light comedy. It deals with the weight of societal expectations on the physical appearance of people and doesn’t shy away from showing had badly hurt people feel. Lead actress Tsai Jia-yin gives a really compelling and heartfelt performance.

It was directed by Hsieh Pei-ju who earned her MFA in film directing at Columbia University and was one of the directors selected for Ten Years Taiwan. Her feature debut, Heavy Craving won Best New Talent at the Taipei Film Awards and the Audience Choice Award at Taipei Film Festival’s International New Talent Competition.

Here’s my review.

Synopsis: Ying-juan (Tsai Jia-yin) is a slightly larger lady who struggles with how she looks and feels about herself. She lives and works with her athletic, high-achieving mother (Samantha Ko) who runs the day care centre Ying-juan is the cook for. Brow-beaten and shamed into joining a weight-loss programme, she gains some impetus to do her best when she meets a handsome deliveryman named Wu (Chang Yao-jen) but the difficulty in losing weight and the constant shaming wear her down until she can take it no more…

My Prince Edward   

Release Date: November 17th, 2019

Duration: 92 mins.

Director: Norris Wong

Writer: Norris Wong (Script),

Starring: Stephy Tang, Chu Pak-hon, Jin Kaijie, Paw Hee-ching , Hailey Chan, Eman Lam, Hui So-Ying, Creamy Yick,

OAFF IMDB

My Prince Edward is largely set in Golden Plaza, a Hong Kong shopping mall best known for bridal shops and cheap wedding supplies. It turns out it becomes an ironic setting for a film where a feckless woman who has spent her life reacting or being passive to the whims of others is forced to take responsibility for herself when her boyfriend and mother-in-law try to maneuver her into a wedding she is not entirely sold on.

Norris Wong received an MFA in Film Production from Hong Kong Baptist University in 2012 and went on to write and direct Fall, which was screened at the Far East Film Festival and won Best Script at the 2013 Hong Kong Fresh Wave International Short Film Festival. My Prince Edward is her feature debut and it earned three Golden Horse nominations, including best new director and best leading actor.

Here’s my review.

Synopsis: Cheung Lei-fong (Stephy Tang) works as a clerk at one of the bridal shops run by her best friend’s mother, while her boyfriend Edward (Chu Pak-hon) is the owner of a wedding photography shop. Their relationship has lasted seven years but seems to be one of convenience for Lei-fong, allowing her to live independently of her controlling family back home. This indifference has turned into a trap as Edward is possessive and his mother is interfering. Lei-fong’s situation is about to get more restrictive when Edward pops the question in front of everyone. His proposal poses two problems for her:

• She is already married because she took part in a scam to get a guy from mainland China documentation to stay in Hong Kong,
• She doesn’t know if she wants to get married

Lei-fong searches for the mainlander to get a divorce whilst wrestling with her indecision over marriage.

Lucky Chan-sil   

찬실이는 복도 많지 「Chan-sil-i-neun Bok-do-man-ji」

Release Date: October 04th, 2019

Duration: 96 mins.

Director: Kim Cho-hee

Writer: Kim Cho-hee (Script), 

Starring: Kang Mal-geum, Youn Yuh-jung, Kim Young-min, Yoon Seung-ah, Bae Yu-ram,