Happy weekend, everyone!

I hope you are all well.

This week’s trailer post is going to be split into three because there are a lot of trailers. There will be one tomorrow and one on Sunday. I posted about the Glasgow International Film Festival and the Keita Yamashina film Body Remember. I am working on material for the Osaka Asian Film Festival so stay tuned for more on that.

What is released this weekend?

Under the Open Sky     

すばらしき世界 「Subarashiki Sekai」

Release Date: February 11th, 2021

Duration: 126 mins.

Director: Miwa Nishikawa

Writer: Miwa Nishikawa (Script), Ryuzo Saki (Original Novel)

Starring: Koji Yakusho, Taiga Nakano, Isao Hashizume, Meiko Kaji, Seiji Rokkaku, Masami Nagasawa, Narumi Yasuda, Yukiya Kitamura,

Website   IMDB

I’m looking forward to seeing this one.

Under the Open Sky is the latest work from Miwa Nishikawa (Sway (2006), Dear Doctor (2009)) and the first film she has directed that isn’t based on a novel or script written by herself. The novel is by Ryuzo Saki and that had the original title Mibuncho and it sounds (slightly) a bit like Kikujiro (1999), in that it is about an ex-criminal who tries to adjust to life outside of the slammer and goes on a search for his mother.

Synopsis: Masao Mikami (Koji Yakusho) has spent 13 years in prison for committing a murder. Upon his release, he struggles to re-integrate and even begins to think about his mother, from whom he was separated from as a child. However, he becomes connected with various people including two men from a TV station who want to make a TV program that shows his life. 

Patlabor 2: The Movie (4DX Release)     

機動警察パトレイバー 2 the Movie　 「Kidou Keisatsu Patlabor 2 the Movie」

Release Date: August 07th, 1993

Duration: 113 mins.

Director: Mamoru Oshii

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

Starring: Yoshiko Sakakibara (Shinobu Yagumo), Ryunosuke Ohbayashi (Kiichi Goto), Jinpachi Nezu (Yukihito Tsuge), Daisuke Gouri (Hiromi Yamazaki), Issei Futamata (Mikiyasu Shinshi), Mina Tominaga (Noa Izumi), Tomomichi Nishimura (Detective Matsui), 

Production: Production I.G

Website ANN MAL

This is a 4DX release of one of my favourite films so I would love to experience this. The new trailer is region-locked so here’s another one.

Synopsis: The year is 2002 and it is three years since the events of Patlabor one where a special unit in Tokyo’s SVD (Special Vehicle Division), the famed Mobile Police, foiled a massive crime in Tokyo Bay. The world has moved on but Labors are still an essential part of it. The destruction of a United Nations Labor team in South East Asia is the start of the build-up to a deadly terrorist plan that threatens to overthrow the Japanese government via a military takeover and it is only the SVD that can stop it.

Gekijouban Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Eternal 2   Part 2   

劇場版　美少女戦士セーラームーンEternal 前編 「Gekijouban Bishoujo Senshi Se-ra- Mu-n Eternal Zenpen」

Release Date: February 11th, 2021

Duration: 80 mins.

Director: Chiaki Kon

Writer: Kazuyuki Fudeyasu (Script), Naoko Takeuchi (Original Creator/Supervision),

Starring: Kotono Mitsuishi (Usagi Tsukino/SailorMoon), Ai Maeda (Setsuna Meioh/Sailor Pluton), Ami Koshimizu (Makoto Kino/Sailor Jupiter), Hisako Kanemoto (Ami Mizuno/Sailor Mercury), Rina Satou (Rei Hino/Sailor Mars), Sayaka Ohara (Michiru Kaioh/Sailor Neptune),

Animation Production: Studio DEEN, Toei Animation,

Website ANN MAL

The second of a two-part movie continuation of the fourth season of the TV anime Sailor Moon Crystal. It is directed by Chiaki Kon and was made under the supervision of the original author, Naoko Takeuchi.

Synopsis: During a solar eclipse, Tsukino Usagi and Chibiusa meet a Pegasus named Helios in a dream and Helios is looking for two “maidens” to break the seal of the Golden Crystal. At the same time, a mysterious group called Dead Moon Circus appears in Juban city with the goal of scattering nightmare incarnations called Lemures across the world and obtaining the Legendary Silver Crystal so they can rule the Earth and Moon, and later the universe, something which the Sailor crew fight against.

Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet    

名探偵コナン　緋色の不在証明 「Meitantei Conan: Hiiro no Dangan」

Release Date: February 11th, 2021

Running Time: 94 mins.

Director:  Tamoka Nagaoka

Writer: Takeharu Sakurai (Screenplay), Gosho Aoyama (Original Creator)

Starring: Minami Takayama (Conan Edogawa), Minami Hamabe (Erii Ishioka), Shuuichi Ikeda (Shuichi Akai), Wakana Yamazaki (Ran Mouri),

Animation Production: TMS Entertainment, V! Studio

Website ANN MAL

Synopsis from Anime News Network: Japan is celebrating the upcoming World Sports Games, the world’s largest sporting event, in Tokyo. The “Japanese Bullet,” the world’s first vacuum-tube super-conducting linear train, is built with the latest Japanese technology and timed to coincide with the WSG opening ceremonies. The train is set to run from Shin Nagoya Station to Tokyo Station at up to 1,000 kilometers per hour. However, a bizarre incident occurs during a party held by famous major sponsors, leading to a string of kidnappings of top executives. Conan deduces a possible link to serial abductions in the WSG 15 years earlier in Boston.

Happy Saturday!

I hope you are well.

Following on from yesterday’s trailer post, this is part two! Part three comes tomorrow.

What else is released this weekend?

First Love   

ファーストラヴ 「Fa-suto Rabu」

Release Date: February 11th, 2021

Duration: 119 mins.

Director: Yukihiko Tsutsumi

Writer: Takeo Asano (Script), Rio Shimamoto (Original Novel)

Starring: Keiko Kitagawa, Tomoya Nakamura, Kyoko Yoshina, Yosuke Kubozuka, Itsuji Itao, Saki Takaoka, Yoshino Kimura

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Yuki Makabe (Keiko Kitagawa) is a psychologist who is commissioned to write a book about Kanna Hijiriyama, a student who murdered her father. After interviewing Kanna and other connected to her, Yuki sees a lot of similarities to herself when she was younger and this unlocks memories that were buried deep in her mind.

Tsunagare Radio Our Rainy Days   

プリンセス・プリンシパル Crown Handler 第1章 「Tsunagare Rajio Bokura no Amefuri Days」

Release Date: February 11th, 2021

Duration: 86 mins.

Director: Koji Kawano

Writer: Junichi Fujisaku (Script), 

Starring: Shun Nishime, Hiroki Iijima, Nichika Akutsu, Taiga Fukazawa, Rihito Itagaki,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: This is a youth story of young people who gather in Isehara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, to revive the radio stations that existed in the past.

Princess Principal: Crown Handler 1   

プリンセス・プリンシパル Crown Handler 第1章「Purinsesu Purinshiparu Crown Handler Dai 1 sho」

Release Date: February 11th, 2021

Duration: 80 mins.

Director: Masaki Tachibana

Writer: Noboru Kimura (Script), 

Starring: Akira Sekine (Princeess), Aoi Koga (Ange), Akari Kageyama (Beeatrice), Nozomi Furuki (Chise), Yo Taichi (Dorothy),

Animation Production: ACTAS

Website ANN MAL

Synopsis from Anime News Network: The film is set in London at the end of the 19th century and after the attempted assassination of the Imperial princess. The Empire is increasing counter-spy actions in the wake of the incident, and finds Control, the Commonwealth group in charge of covert operations against the Empire, at unease and suspecting its spy within the royal family as a double agent. Control assigns their spy ring Dove with a new mission to extract a secondhand bookstore owner and deliver him to Commonwealth hands. Ange, Dorothy, and Chise successfully spring the bookstore owner from an Imperial prison. Control also assigns Dove to make contact with Bishop, their spy within the royal family, to ascertain their loyalties.

Gamera 2: Attack of the Legion   

ガメラ2 レギオン襲来 「Gamera 2: Region Shūrai」

Release Date: July 13th, 1996

Duration: 100 mins.

Director: Shusuke Kaneko

Writer: Kazunori Ito (Script), 

Starring: Ayako Fujitani, Tomoro Taguchi, Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Miki Mizuno, Hatsunori Hasegawa,

Website IMDB

Synopsis (paraphrased from Wikipedia): A year has passed since the battle between Gamera and the Gyaos and Japan has struggled to rebuild its cities in the meantime. One night, a meteor shower appears and one huge meteor plunges into the snow of a mountain in Sapporo. Large insect-like aliens have hitched a ride on this meteor and they soon disembark to set up a hive in the bowels of the city’s subway tunnels, from which they grow a plant which they use to catapult a seed into space so that they can colonize yet another world. The military can only watch helplessly, as any attempt to destroy the plant would destroy all of Sapporo. Just as all hope is lost, Gamera emerges from the sea and heads toward the besieged city.

Happy Sunday!

I’m almost at the end of a big writing project. One last push today!

What are the final films released this weekend?

A Long Journey   

かくも長き道のり 「Kaku mo nagaki michinori」

Release Date: February 13th, 2021

Duration: 71 mins.

Director: Tomotake Yara

Writer: Tomotake Yara (Script), 

Starring: Yui Kitamura, David Ito, Juri Manase, Atsuhiro Sakamoto,

Website IMDB

A film adaptation of the scenario that won the Jury Encouragement Award at the 2017 Isama Studio Cinema Festival Scenario Awards. Against the backdrop of the beautiful nature of Nakanojo Town, Gunma Prefecture, classic jazz songs from the past colour the story.

Synopsis: Ryoko, a fledgling actress, returns to her home-town in Gunma Prefecture for the first time in four months because she was selected to appear in a serial drama Her agency force her to part with her lover, Muraki, who has stayed in Tokyo. He is a former professional gambler who is 25 years older than Ryoko, and her agency view him as a liability. However, it is difficult to break up the pair…

The Guard From Underground

地獄の警備員   「Jigoku no Keibin」

Release Date: June 13th, 1992

Duration: 97 mins.

Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Writer: Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Kunihiko Tomioka (Screenplay),

Starring: Makiko Kuno, Yutaka Matsushige, Hatsunori Hasegawa, Ren Osugi, Taro Suwa

Website    IMDB

This is a digital remaster of the Kiyoshi Kurosawa horror movie. His riff on Halloween. Here’s my review from seven years ago. This was the film debut of Yutaka Matsushige and also the final film produced by Director’s Company, a business set up to be an outlet for collective of directors like Sogo Ishii and Shinji Somai, who made some of their best films there.

Synopsis: Akebono Corporation is a major business and Akiko Narushima (Kuno) is on her way to a new job. She used to be a curator at a gallery and is now the new adviser for the purchases of paintings for the corporation. Akebono are also hiring a new security guard in the rather tall and solidly built shape of former sumo wrestler Fujimaru (Matsushige), a man who is wanted by the police investigating the case of the murder of his lover and her lover, another sumo wrestler…  He was released due to being insane but the police are looking to prosecute again. Akiko starts her first day brightly and meets her new colleagues, the flighty Hanae Takeda, the rather useless Ken Nomura, and anonymous bald dude Minoru Yoshioka (Suwa). Her workmates are great… apart from her lecherous manager Kurume (Osugi), a carefree head of human resources named Hyodo (Hasegawa) and the mighty Fujimaru who takes a liking to her.

A Neat Town Doctor   

けったいな町医者 「Kettaina Machi Isha」

Release Date: February 13th, 2021

Duration: 116 mins.

Director: Yasutaka Mohri

Writer: N/A

Starring: Ryo Kanzaki, Tasuku Emoto (Narrator)

Website

Synopsis: A documentary that records a scene in the life of Kazuhiro Nagao, a doctor in Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture. Nagao, quit work as a hospital doctor when a patient of his who said he wanted to go home committed suicide. Nagao, once he quit, opened a business in the Amagasaki shopping district and became a town doctor. Having taken care of 1,000 people when he was a hospital doctor and 1,500 after becoming a home doctor, he disagrees with multidrug prescriptions and excessive life-prolonging treatment for end-of-life patients. He, instead, offers more personal treatment at any time of day and the year. In effect, he has the appearance of running around the city day and night, “What is a happy end?” “What is modern medical care lost?” These are the question asked. Tasuku Emoto, who starred in a movie adaptation of Nagao’s bestselling book, is in charge of the narration.

The New Prince of Tennis: Hyotei vs Rikkai Game of Future 

新テニスの王子様　氷帝vs立海 Game of Future 前篇  「Atarashii Tenisu no Ōjisama Hyotei  vs Rikkai Game of Future」

Release Date: February 13th, 2021

Running Time: 50 mins.

Director: Keiichiro Kawaguchi

Writer: Mitsutaka Hirota (Series Composition)

Starring: Junya Enoki (Yoshio Tamagawa), Junichi Suwabe (Keigo Atobe), Ryotaro Okiayu (Tezuka Kunimitsu).

Animation Production: M.S.C., Studio KAI,

Website   MAL ANN 

Synopsis from Crunchyroll: The New Prince of Tennis will be celebrating its 20th anniversary this coming spring with a brand new two-part original anime where Hyotei Academy and Rikkaidai Junior High go head-to-head.

Under Your Bed   

アンダー・ユア・ベッド 「Anda- Yua Beddo」

Release Date: July 19th, 2019

Duration: 98 mins.

Director: Mari Asato

Writer: Tatsuya Ishii (Screenplay), Kei Ohishi (Novel)

Starring: Kengo Kora, Kanako Nishikawa, Kenichi Abe, Ryosuke Miyake, Yugo Mikawa,

Website IMDB

Handsome leading man Kengo Kora takes on a daring role in this film as he portrays a stalker who, when we first meet him, is living the dream the title suggests as he is under a bed. Not yours, but his target’s bed. However this movie directed by horror specialist Mari Asato subverts the idea of who the threat is as the peeping tom who prowls around a young woman’s home is the least frightening person lurking there.

Our main character is 30-year-old Naoto Mitsui (Kengo Kora) and he has a complex because he was ignored by other people growing up. Whether at home or at school, he was forgotten about by others. The first person to notice him and call him by his name was a university classmate, a bright and bubbly cute young woman named Chihiro (Kanako Nishikawa). “Mitsui-kun” she said in class with a bright smile and warm eyes and that sealed her fate as the girl he would love.

Following a break between them, Naoto sinks deeper into an obsession as he spends 11 years with nothing but a sweet memory of a shared moment drinking coffee and enjoying her sparkling conversation but, one day, he finds her and discovers she is almost literally a shadow of her former self. She is dressed in dour colours of grey and black, eyes downcast and shadowy, her movement hunched, and her body bruised. She is a mother and wife but why is there such a drastic change? Desperate be a part of her life, Naoto begins an extensive surveillance operation as he moves into her neighbourhood and starts sneaking into her house and staying under her bed which is how he discovers what is hurting her…

And this is how we first see him!

So far, so standard issue stalker stuff. After a filmic career of psychos and doppelgangers, a stalker seems a natural fit for Mari Asato and for Kengo Kora it’s a bit of a departure as his character is a creepy lead who he essays with shuffling movements and mumbling in so quiet a voice we struggle to hear him. Handsome and unassuming though he is, he displays the extent of his obsession (and let’s not think about how he funds it) through decorating his apartment with things that signal his fixation on Chihiro:

Mannequin dressed like her that comes to life through his imagination? Check!

Huge blown up picture of Chihiro made up of smaller pictures? Check!

Photos of her in various poses that will then become masturbatory aids? Check and check!

And yet by the end of the film, we come to believe in him as a romantic hero of sorts!

The film is told mostly from his perspective as he acts as narrator and fills us in on his love so we hear his feelings for Chihiro and understand through the extent of them just how deep his mania for the woman is. This is coupled with interspersed flashbacks of being ignored and contrasting himself with insects under rocks he lifts up to show his negative self-perception. He weaves such a tragic backstory that it allows our leading man to seem fairly sympathetic and his love pure. However, it should come as no surprise when it turns out that he’s an unreliable narrator. Despite this we still feel a degree of sympathy as we hear from this loner about his anxieties and hopes.

While this may be a daring role for Kengo Kora, he doesn’t have the sleaze factor to make his character that threatening and this might be another way that the film is able to stick its tricky landing of making him an anti-hero. The greatest ace up the film;s sleeve is what we discover while watching Naoto lurking in Chihiro’s home.

Through Naoto’s voyeurism we see Chihiro’s violent and controlling husband. A seemingly nice guy, his behaviour escalates into that of an abusive beast that is almost theatrical in its villainy but allows the film to touch upon real-world issues of abuse in the family home. This is where the film’s only sense of real danger and horror comes in rather than the stalking.

Asato doesn’t flinch at showing the brutality. Slaps, pushes, punches, kicks, stabbings and sex that is always demeaning and often rape. It is horrific to watch. Lead actress Kanako Nishikawa deserves respect for baring all and allowing the camera to ogle her in almost a similar way that her cruel husband does. She maintains our empathy throughout. This leads to the film’s real tension as we watch and will Chihiro to escape. Those moments when she tries are nerve-wracking, our hopes raised until they are dashed by her husband and his subsequent beatings which are scary to view especially since they come across as realistic. Adding to making this believable is showing how those in authority fail to see abuse and how, sometimes, friends and family members are helpless when the victim cannot speak out because they live in the shadow of shame and fear.

This abuse makes the film become a universal story as well as flipping our prejudices on their head so that the presumed threat in Naoto turns into a guardian. To aid this process, the narrative switches occasionally to Chihiro’s perspective and allows her to narrate her struggle. Her story is more affecting than Naoto’s as we witness a person get destroyed by their partner and take refuge in crumbs of kindness offered by others and the hope she feels that someone out there is watching and can help her overcome her abuse. The question of whether Naoto’s obsession is one-sided and if his love can be be reciprocated is matched by whether it can offer Chihiro an escape from her situation and this provides a roller-coaster ending that is quite nerve-wracking to watch.

At the end, I was reminded of an anecdote he related of how babies raised by machines died quicker than those raised by humans. The idea was that people would die without other people but, at the end of the film, it is more like, people would die without kindness and that kindness offers hope that makes life worth living.

Like Rotterdam earlier this month, the Berlin International Film Festival has had to change its format due to Covid-19 and so it launches in two sections. From the website:

From March 1 to 5, 2021, the 71st Berlinale is being launched with an Industry Event (European Film Market, Berlinale Co-Production Market, Berlinale Talents and Word Cinema Fund) for film professionals and accredited representatives of the press. All Industry Event activities will take place online.
Information on Participating in the Industry Event
Selected events from Berlinale Talents (talks and live workshops) and the World Cinema Fund (WCF Day) will be accessible online to the general public. The respective programmes will be published in mid-February.

From June 9 to 20, 2021, the Summer Special will give the general public the opportunity to see the majority of the 2021 selected films in Berlin cinemas in the presence of the filmmakers. The opening of the Summer Special will be celebrated with a gala event on June 9.

Check this festival page just before the Summer Special to see what will be screened in cinemas. I’ll update this post if more films are added.

What are the Japanese films programmed so far?

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

偶然と想像 「Guzen to sozo」

Release Date: March, 2021

Duration: 121 mins.

Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi

Writer: Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Script), 

Starring: Kotone Furukawa, Hyunri, Ayumu Nakajima (segment “Magic (or Something Less Assuring”)), Shouma Kai, Katsuki Mori, Kiyohiko Shibukawa (segment “Door Wide Open”), Aoba Kawai, Fusako Urabe (segment “Once Again”),

IMDB

Three short stories make up this omnibus film directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi who is famous for Happy Hour, which won a special mention for script and best actress at Locarno in 2015, and Asako I & II, which played at Cannes 2018 in the Competition section.  Each of the stories has the theme of “coincidence” and “imagination”.

Synopsis: “Magic (or Something Less Assuring”) realises that the man her best friend has talked about as “hitting on her” is a former boyfriend who broke up with her two years ago. “Door Wide Open” features a story of a student who failed to graduate planning to ruin a professor’s reputation by using a girl to trap him. “Once Again” sees two women who reunited in Sendai for the first time in 20 years. They each share feelings that they have held in their hearts since their high school days.

A Balance     

由宇子の天秤 「Yuuko no Tenbin」

Release Date: September 09th, 2021

Duration: 137 mins.

Director: Yujiro Harumoto

Writer: Yujiro Harumoto (Script), 

Starring: Kumi Takiuchi, Yumi Kawai, Masahiro Umeda, Yuuya Matsuura, Misa Wada, Ryo Ikeda, Hiroki Kono, Yota Kawase, Ken Mitsuishi,

Yujiro Harumoto made waves with his feature debut Going the Distance. He has a great cast of actors for his latest, a social drama as seen through the eyes of a documentarian played by Kumi Takiuchi (Greatful Dead), an actress who is really coming into her own in recent years with her performances in Kamata Prelude, It Feels So Good). This has previously played at last year’s Busan International Film Festival and also Tokyo FILMeX.

Synopsis: Yuko returns to her hometown as a documentary filmmaker determined to examine an instance of school violence that resulted in suicides three years ago while she was teaching classes at her father’s cram school. Yuko discovers a hidden truth that makes her become deeply involved in the lives of the families of the stuents and also causes a shock that upends her own life. 

Here is past coverage I have offered on the festival:

Berlin Film Festival 2020

Berlin Film Festival 2019

Berlin Film Festival 2018

Berlin Film Festival 2017

Berlin Film Festival 2016

Berlin Film Festival 2015

Berlin Film Festival 2014

Berlin Film Festival 2013

Berlin Film Festival 2012 Competition Results

Happy weekend, people!

We’re back for more movies!

This week I posted a review for the “Kengo Kora plays a stalker” film Under Your Bed and I wrote about the Japanese films at the Berlin International Film Festival. I watched a grip of films, including Romance Doll, Colorless, and Shohei Imamura’s The Eel because I will be recording the first episode of the second season of Heroic Purgatory soon.

What is released this weekend?

The Murders of Oiso 

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

Release Date: February 20th, 2021

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,

Website    IMDB

After debuting at the 2019 Busan International Film Festival, The Murders of Oiso was screened at the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2020 where took the Japan Cuts Award. 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.

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.

In Those Days   

あの頃。 「Ano Koro」

Release Date: February 19th, 2021

Duration: 117 mins.

Director: Rikiya Imaizumi

Writer: Masanori Tominaga (Script), Mikito Tsurugi (Original Autobiographical Manga)

Starring: Tori Matsuzaka, Taiga Nakano, Takashi Yamanaka, Ryuya Wakaba, Tateto Serizawa, Kentaro Kokado, Seina Nakata,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Mikito Tsurugi (Tori Matsuzaka) has failed to enter a university, doesn’t have a job or a girl. Depressed, all he can do is eat and watch TV which is where he sees an Aya Matsuura music video and becomes a fan of the Hello! Project idols. He enters the world of fandom and forms the band “Renai Kenkyukai” with others he meets at an idol event and they form a close-knit band. However, as time goes by, various band members leave to do other things with life. When they learn that one of their number has cancer, the band reunite.

Liar x Liar   

ライアー×ライアー 「Raia- x Raia-」

Release Date: February 19th, 2021

Duration: 117 mins.

Director: Saiji Yakumo

Writer: Yuichi Tokunaga (Script), Renjuro Kindaichi (Original Manga)

Starring: Hokuto Matsumura, Nana Mori, Yuta Koseki, Mayu Hotta, Ryosuke Takei, Shoko Aida,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Minato (Nana Mori) and her stepbrother Toru (Hokuto Matsumura) are both university students. While he is handsome and popular with the opposite sex,  she is mousy and hates his womanising ways. One day, Minato’s friend gives her a makeover as a high school girl and she goes out in public. When Toru sees her, he doesn’t recognise her. No, instead he falls in love… 

The Pledge to Megumi   

ライアー×ライアー 「Raia- x Raia-」

Release Date: February 19th, 2021

Duration: 117 mins.

Director: Sho Nobushi

Writer: Yuichi Tokunaga (Script), 

Starring: Natsuki, Daijiro Harada, Tomoko Ishimura, Gitan Otsuru, Masao Komatsu, Mineko Nishikawa,

Website

Synopsis: Based on the real and tragic case of Megumi Yokota who was abducted by North Korean agents in 1977 from her home in Niigata Prefecture. In a dramatic imagining of what happened, it shows Megumi working hard to get back to Japan and also a meeting with another abductee who trains North Korean agents in Japanese culture. You can find out more about the true story here.

Shin Dekotora no Shu: Eagle   

新 デコトラのシュウ 鷲 「Shin Dekotora no Shu: Washi 」

Release Date: February 19th, 2021

Duration: 107 mins.

Director: Hideyuki Katsuki

Writer: Hideyuki Katsuki, Shigeru Don (Script), 

Starring: Sho Aikawa, Ayame Gouriki, Masaru Mizuno, Junko Miyashita, Shunsuke Kubozuka, Tamao Sato,

Website

The sixth in a series of a comedy about a guy played by Sho Aikawa who travels across Japan with a colourful Dekotora truch. Ayame Goriki (nice to see her again after Black Butler) is the female lead.

Synopsis: Shu (Sho Aikawa) falls in love with an enka singer named Suzume (Ayame Gouriki) who is looking for her fatherr. Shu volunteers t help while his friends try to set him up with Suzume.

Happy weekend, again!

I hope you are feeling good.

This is the second of this week’s trailer post. It follows on from this one. Yesterday evening I watched The Shape of Red (2020) and this morning I watched Summer Bloom (2018).

What else was released this weekend?

Peaceful Death 

痛くない死に方 「Itakunai Shinikata 」

Release Date: February 20th, 2021

Duration: 112 mins.

Director: Banmei Takahashi

Writer: Banmei Takahashi (Script), Kazuhiro Nagao (Original Novel)

Starring: Tasuku Emoto, Maki Sakai, Kimiko Yo, Eiji Okuda, Ayaka Onishi, Naoko Otani, Ryudo Uzaki, Izumi Fujimoto,

Website

This is the third week in which a Tasuku Emoto medical drama based on a real doctor’s work has been released in cinemas.

Synopsis: Jin Kawada (Tasuku Emoto) is a doctor, who provides home medical care. When he gives bad medical advice to Tomomi (Maki Sakai), the daughter of a terminal lung cancer patient named Toshio (Shiro), it causes Jin to have a crisis of faith. He turns to Dr. Kohei Nagano (Eiji Okuda) for advice and begins to learn the differences between treatment at a hospital and treatment from a home physician. Jin gets to put this knowledge to the test two years later…

Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger the Movie: Red Battle! All Sentai Rally!!   

機界戦隊ゼンカイジャー THE MOVIE 赤い戦い！オール戦隊大集会!! 「Kikai Sentai Zenkaijâ the Movie: Akai Tatakai! All Sentai Daishuukai!! 」

Release Date: February 20th, 2021

Duration: 27 mins.

Director: Shojiro Nakazawa

Writer: Junko Komura (Script), 

Starring: Yuki Kaji, Megumi Han, Tomokazu Seki, Joji Nakata, Yume Miyamoto,

Website IMDB

Synopsis from Letterboxd: The 2021 Super Sentai, Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger, debuts in a movie! Previous generations of monsters show up but team leader Zenkaiser won’t let them have their way! Previous generations of Red Rangers run into battle too! Zenkaiser isn’t a Red Ranger, but does that even make sense? With the power of the Machine World, he’ll defeat them at Full-Force Full-Throttle!

Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger Special Chapter: Memory of Soulmates   

騎士竜戦隊リュウソウジャー　特別編　メモリー・オブ・ソウルメイツ 「Kishiryū Sentai Ryūsōjā Tokubetsu-Hen: Memorī obu Sōrumeitsu 」

Release Date: February 20th, 2021

Duration: 15 mins.

Director: Koichi Sakamoto

Writer: Shinya Maruyama (Script), Saburo Yatsude (Original Novel)

Starring: Hayate Ichinose, Keito Tsuna, Ichika Osaki, Yuita Obara, Tatsuya Kishida, Seiya Osada, Shigeki Ito, Naoko Kamio

Website IMDB

Synopsis from Letterboxd: Linked to episodes 32 and 33 of the Ryusoulger TV series, the movie will reveal the meaning of Nada’s video message which he left for the Ryusoulgers at the end of episode 33.

Mashin Sentai Kiramager The Movie: Bee-Bop Dream   

魔進戦隊キラメイジャー THE MOVIE ビー・バップ・ドリーム 「Mashin Sentai Kirameijā Za Mūbī: Bī-Bappu Dorīmu 」

Release Date: February 20th, 2021

Duration: 39 mins.

Director: Kyohei Yamaguchi

Writer: Naruhisa Arakawa (Script), Saburo Yatsude (Original Novel)

Starring: Rio Komiya, Rui Kihara, Yume Shinjo, Atomu Mizuishi, Mio Kudo, Kohei Shoji,

Website

Synopsis:  Minjo, the younger sister of Witch Nummage, who appeared only once in the TV series, reappears as an enemy Kiramager. She uses the “Dream Stone”, something that can open the world of dreams, to cause an incident in which people who fall asleep cannot wake up from their dreams. The heroes have to enter the dream world…

A Collection of Short Stories   

短篇集　さりゆくもの 「Tanpen-shu sari yukumono 」

Release Date: February 20th, 2021

Duration: 89 mins.

Director: Hotaru, Sayaka Ono, Daisuke Yamauchi, Toshiko Sato, Yoko Oguchi,

Writer: Haruka Takenami, Hotaru, Daisuke Yamauchi, (Script), 

Starring: Hotaru, Kirara Inori, Hiroko Yamashita, Ryusuke Sato, Yoshimi Yamada,

Website

Synopsis: An omnibus movie by various directors who have been gathered by the actress Hotaru, who is also one of the directors. 

colorless 

猿楽町で会いましょう　 「Sarugakuchou de aimashou」

Release Date: 2021

Duration: 122 mins.

Director: Takashi Koyama

Writer: Takashi Koyama, Yu Shibuya (Screenplay), 

Starring: Ruka Ishikawa, Daichi Kaneko, Shuntaro Yanagi, Sakurako Konishi, Ikuma Nagatomo, Hitoe Ookubo,

Website IMDB

colorless is the directorial debut of Takashi Koyama. He adapted the winner of 2018’s Unfinished Movie Trailer Grand Prix MI-CAN, a competition where filmmaker’s can win a cash prize based on a trailer around 3 minutes. He makes a tragic love story involving two people who are drawn to Shibuya’s fashion culture. The resulting story is cynical, slightly cliched but lifted by the performers while the technicals convey the glitz and glamour of the district.    

A young blonde-haired guy named Shuji Oyamada (Daichi Kaneko) is struggling to make it as a fashion photographer but when an editor throws him an assignment taking profile shots of a struggling amateur model named Yuka Tanaka (Ruka Ishikawa), he finds his muse and the love of his life. She is pretty, coquettish, and appears to be one of any number of ingénues drawn to Shibuya. Her glittering façade and good looks are seemingly uncomplicated but audience members will probably be waiting for a twist to emerge as they watch Shuji fall hard for this girl who we guess is truly too good to be true. 

After the initial set up and breathless romance experienced by Shuji, the narrative switches to Yuka’s perspective and penetrates what is behind the façade of the young woman by going back in time a few months to when she first arrived in Tokyo on a night bus – a cute girl from Niigata who is cash-strapped, alone and desperate to be a model – to how she got into the fashion game and how she funds her career – sugar-daddies, shady massage parlours, and one honest part-time job at a clothing store. This secret history detailing the dark and exploitative side of the entertainment industry forms a series of tense moments in the latter part of the film as it teases if Shuji will discover Yuka’s mistakes and dump her.

Throughout the torrid emotional romance, the film keeps sight of their careers with Shuji’s on the rise thanks to her portraits which capture his naïve and loving view of her. Yuka’s struggle is the more heart breaking.

Audiences will initially build the impression that Yuka is a maven who picks up knowledge she can use to further her career while also being someone who is unafraid to use her body and the casting couch to get ahead in what seems like a textbook case of “it isn’t what you know but who you know”. However, more time spent with her reveals a young woman who is from a broken home and is clearly operating in the big city without a plan. Opportunistic, yes, but this behaviour stems from her naïveté and an ill-defined sense of self as demonstrated by her inability to network effectively and the way she falls prey to predatory males because she confuses love, lust, and career progression. Her career mistakes run parallel to another girl who works hard but also knows how to play the game and so we get a taste of the pressure and pitfalls that girls going into entertainment face.

This pressure builds to a poignant ending as Yuka’s persona cracks and crumbles on screen as she realises that she has no inner core – hence the colorless of the title. In this role, actress Ruka Ishikawa is magnificent. As with her performance in the gently surreal short Stay (2019), she is able to alternate between moments of vivaciousness and doe-eyed cuteness to a clinginess that, in the more complicated moments, goes from disarming to cloying and even erratic. These are transitioned to naturally but the more disturbing  moments are the vulnerability she shows when having to explore her own character, a haunted expression masking her face. So, at first glance, her acts seem sure to seduce men but Ishikawa shows how this simple reading isn’t enough. 

Nobody comes out of this looking good, with the men being sleazeballs operating in an industry that lures the young and naïve while Shuji himself is complicated by displaying troubling behaviour as he displays a possessive and aggressive nature towards Yuka when she fails to return his affections with similar strength. The negative industry stuff is obviously heightened for dramatic effect, although the moments of prep on sets have the feeling of reality.

The film benefits from its setting which allows familiar narrative avenues for exposition – casting calls where Yuka can reveal her background, exploring a lover’s apartment and asking questions, rivalries that come to a head on a film set – while the depiction of how participants in the entertainment world work their way up and are sometimes forced into sex work is believable. The setting of Shibuya itself is used but its rarely the big avenues and hyper-fashion districts and more the backstreets and alleys. The film’s title Sarugakuchou is a district where down-at-heel apartments are located behind the endless parade of brand-goods stores and it should provide something of an insight for outsiders as to what it is really like living in the centre of Tokyo. Indeed, this taps into the difference between the public mask and the private life as shown in the revelations of Yuka’s character and the glimpse of sex work and exploitation. The film has a glossy, high contrast look that is perfect for the fake ad-world of Shibuya and Shuji’s experience of romance. 

Happy weekend, everyone.

I hope you are all well!

This week, I watched more Shohei Imamura films in preparation for a podcast. I also watched a bunch of Ryutaro Nakagawa films like Mio on the Shore, Summer Blooms, and Silent Rain. I also watched Eriko Pretended. The last four are on Amazon Prime. I’m transitioning to Osaka Asian Film Festival titles now. You can see the full programme here. I hope you take a look because I wrote the English-language synopses! I had a blast doing it. I’m still doing work for the festival.

This week I posted a review for the film Colorless.

This trailer post will be split into three parts. This is the first.

So, what is released in Japan this weekend?

Aristocrats       

あのこは貴族 「Ano ko wa Kizoku」

Release Date: February 26th, 2021

Duration: 124 mins.

Director: Yukiko Sode

Writer: Yukiko Sode (Script), Mariko Yamauchi (Original Novel)

Starring: Mugi Kadowaki, Kiko Mizuhara, Kengo Kora, Shizuka Ishibashi, Rio Yamashita, Yukiko Shinohara, Kei Ishibashi,

Website IMDB

Based on Mariko Yamauchi’s novel of the same name, it follows two women with different lives who live in Tokyo.

Synopsis: Hanako Haibara (Mugi Kadowaki) is in her late twenties and is from a well-to-do background (perhaps cloistered) in Tokyo and is looking for a man to marry. After getting dumped by her boyfriend Koichiro (Kengo Kora), she hits the dating scene but she questions her path in life. Meanwhile, Miki Tokioka (Kiko Mizuhara) is from a less affluent background having come from Toyama prefecture but studied and worked hard to get to into a prestigious university and, after tough times where she questioned the meaning of everything, she now works at an IT company but is also uncertain about life. They are introduced through an intermediary man. Due to a man, Hanako Haibara and Miki Tokioka meet each other and contrast their lives.

The next two films are screened as a double-bill:

Face Forward       

今は、進め。 「Ima wa, susume. 」

Release Date: February 26th, 2021

Duration: 74 mins.

Director: Tetsutaro Yaguchi

Writer: N/A

Starring: Mao Morishita, Seri Suzumura, Yuuri Kinoshita,

Synopsis: A documentary about the creation of the newly formed idol unit “kiraboshi”  from the idol group “Kamen Joshi,” an underground idol group that are popular but were unable to hold live performances in 2020 due to the spread of Covid-19. We watch as Mao Morishita, Seri Suzumura, and Yuuri Kinoshita work together to get their act going.

Wasurerareta Kamisama   

忘れられた神様 「Wasurerareta Kamisama」

Release Date: February 26th, 2021

Duration: 24 mins.

Director: Tetsutaro Yaguchi

Writer: Tetsutaro Yaguchi (Script), 

Starring: Ako Yamamoto, Kazuaki Hankai, Sakura Nodoka, Momoka Aoba, Momoka Kobayashi,

Synopsis: Yukari has lived with her older sister Aki following the death of their mother. Due to bullying, Yukari is never at school and, instead, spends time sketching at a riverside. It is there that she meets a mysterious man who calls himself a god. Yukari and this strange man communicate with one another until the day that her sister discovers that Yukari is truanting from school. Yukari decides to run away from home after their quarrel and when she returns to the riverbank where she always spent time with the old man, she finds he is no longer there… 

GET OVER JAM Project THE MOVIE   

劇場版ポルノグラファー　プレイバック 「Gekijouban Porunogurafa- Pureibakku 」

Release Date: February 26th, 2021

Duration: 114 mins.

Director: Yoshiko Osawa

Writer: N/A

Starring: Masami Okui, Hironobu Kageyama, Masaaki Endoh, Hiroshi Kitadani, Yoshiki Fukuyama,

Website

Synopsis: To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the super unit “JAM Project” (Japan Animationsong Makers Project), this documentary was commissioned and shot in 2020. It follows the band for 15 months and shows them in the studio and on worldwide tours. It also shows the impact of Covid-19 on their schedule. Through their example on screen and their awesome anime songs, we will be encouraged to keep on living to the fullest! 

New Directions in Japanese Cinema

Three short films produced in 2020 under the auspices of “ndjc (New Directions in Japanese Cinema): Young Filmmaker Development Project,” a scheme set up by the Agency for Cultural Affairs commissioned project aimed at supporting the development of film directors. 

Samete Maboroshi   

醒めてまぼろし 「Samete Maboroshi」

Release Date: February 26th, 2021

Duration: 30 mins.

Director: Kanna Kimura

Writer: Kanna Kimura (Script),

Starring: Karin Ono, Yuzu Aoki, Kyoko Toyama, Takashi Nishina, Takaya Aoyagi,

Website

Synopsis: It is 2009 and we follow Akiko Shimizu, a second-year high school student who lives in Tokyo. She is struggling with home life and school, particularly because of a lack of sleep and so she goes to her grandmother’s house to sleep. One day, she meets a person on the train on her way to school… 

Explosive Cooking Every Day   

毎日爆裂クッキング 「Mainichi bakuretsu kukkingu」

Release Date: February 26th, 2021

Duration: 30 mins.

Director: Sakura Ueki

Writer: Sakura Ueki (Script), 

Starring: Seia Yasuda, Mika Hijii, Ryusuke Komakine, Makoto Imazato, Seiichi Kohinata, Eri Watanabe,

Website

Synopsis: Fumi Aijima, the editor of a food magazine begins to suffer from dysgeusia (loss of the taste of food) due to stress from her boss. Eating food with all sorts of seasoning becomes difficult but then Fumi has a meeting with an essayist named Kayoko Yoshimura who says that she likes Fumi’s writing…

Madotachi   

窓たち 「Madotachi」

Release Date: February 26th, 2021

Duration: 30 mins.

Director: Daisuke Shigaya

Writer: Daisuke Shigaya (Script)

Starring: Ryoko Kobayashi, Anan Sekiguchi, Saori Seto, Ryuju Kobayashi,

Website

Synopsis: Asako, a beautician who lives with her lover and works part-time at a pizza shop, finds that her relationship with her other half has changed. He wants to be a father and for Asako to bear his child. However, their relationship becomes even more complicated when another woman gets involved… 

Happy Weekend, everyone.

Welcome to the second trailer post of the week.

You can find the first one here.

What else is released this weekend?

March Comes in Like a Lion   

三月のライオン 「Sangatsu no Raion」

Release Date: June 10th, 1992

Duration: 118 mins.

Director: Hitoshi Yazaki

Writer: Hitoshi Yazaki, Sachio Ono, Hiroshi Miyazaki (Script), 

Starring: Bang-ho Cho, Yoshiko Yura, Koen Okumura, Kiyomi Ito, Gakuryu Ishii, Sumiko Nomoto,

Website IMDB

The second feature film directed by Hitoshi Yazaki after Afternoon Breezes and it’s a pretty famous one. It gets a digital remaster and this cinema release. Film directors like Gakuryu Ishii appear in it.

Synopsis from IMDB: Set in Tokyo, Ice brings her amnesiac older brother Haruo home from the hospital to care for him. He is reluctant to go, until Ice tells him that she is his lover and so they begin to live in a soon-to-be-demolished apartment together. Since he has no memory of his sister Ice, he obliges her. How long until his memory returns?

Pornographer: Playback     

劇場版ポルノグラファー　プレイバック 「Gekijouban Porunogurafa- Pureibakku 」

Release Date: February 26th, 2021

Duration: 106 mins.

Director: Koichiro Miki

Writer: Koichiro Miki (Script), Maki Marukido (Original Manga)

Starring: Terunosuke Takezai, Kenta Iizuka, Munehiro Yoshida, Goro Oishi, Wakana Matsumoto, Ryoko Kobayashi, Tomoya Maeno,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Novelist Rio Kijima (Terunosuke Takezai) and university student Haruhiko Kuzumi (Kenta Izuka) are in a romantic relationship that wanes when Rio returns to his hometown and Haruhiko gets a job. When Rio injures his arm, he meets Shizuo Akemi (So Okuno) whom Rio asks to transcribe a story he is writing. This causes Rio to remember when he and Haruhiko first met. As this transpires, Haruhiko comes looking for Rio… 

Under the Turquoise Sky   

ターコイズの空の下で 「Ta-koizu no sora no shita de」

Release Date: February 26th, 2021

Duration: 95 mins.

Director: KENTARO

Writer: KENTARO, Amra Baljinnyam (Script), 

Starring: Yuya Yagira, Amra Baljinnyam, Tsetsgee Byambaa, Sarantuya Sambuu, Akaji Maro,

Website JFDB

Info from JFDB – This road movie is a French/Mongol co-production shot on location in outer Mongolia, and is the feature-length directorial debut of Kentaro.

Synopsis: Takeshi (Yagira Yuya) grew up spoiled in an affluent family. One day, a Mongolian man named Amra (Amra Baljinnyam) is arrested for stealing a race horse that belongs to Takeshi’s businessman grandfather Saburo (Maro Akaji). This prompts the old man to send his grandson to the grasslands of Mongolia where he is to search for a daughter born out of Saburo’s relationship with a local woman after the Second World War. Amra will be his guide and interpreter. And so begins a road trip between two very different men.

You with a 1-meter Radius, Let’s Walk Upward   

半径1メートルの君　上を向いて歩こう 「Hankei ichi-meeteru no Kimi ~ Ue wo Muite Arukou ~」

Release Date: February 26th, 2021

Duration: 103 mins.

Director: Daisuke Yamauchi, Hiroshi Shinagawa, Kaede Kamiya, Soshina,

Writer: Hiroshi Shinagawa, Shusuke Fukutoku, Kentaro Ushio, Mitsuyoshi Takasu, Naoki Matayoshi, Soshina, Maki Fukuda, Makoto Ueda, (Script), 

Starring: Takashi Okamura, Kana Kurashina, Teppei Koike, Sei Shiraishi, Rena Matsui, Shizuya Yamasaki, Asami Mizukawa, Haruna Kondo,

Website

Synopsis: The talent agency Yoshimoto Kogyo has produced this short omnibus movie shot by 8 groups consisting of 24 actors and creators in a unique tag team. Big names include Asami Mizukawa and Haruna Kondo of Harisenbon. Each episode lasts about 10 minutes each and the stories are about the “deep contact of the heart” between two main characters in each story…

Happy weekend!

Welcome to the third and final trailer post of this week.

Here are links to PART ONE and PART TWO of the trailer post.

What are the final films released this weekend?

That Day I Couldn’t Hear 

きこえなかったあの日 「Kikoenakatta Ano Hi」

Release Date: February 27th, 2021

Duration: 116 mins.

Director: Ayako Imamura

Writer: N/A

Starring: N/A

Website 

Synopsis: A documentary filmed by Ayako Imamura, director of Connecting Bridge: 3/11 That Wasn’t Heard (2013) and Start Line (2016), which captures how deaf people were affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake. It was recorded over 10 years with director Imamura visiting Miyagi Prefecture, starting immediately after the Great East Japan Earthquake. She records things such as welfare shelters where people can talk in sign language, information security through pictures and letters, and disaster volunteers for and by deaf and hard of hearing people. She also takes into account other disasters such as the Kumamoto earthquake, heavy rains in western Japan, and the Covid-19 epidemic.

Nijuu no machi koutai-chi no uta o amu   

二重のまち　交代地のうたを編む 「Nijuu no machi koutai-chi no uta o amu」

Release Date: February 27th, 2021

Duration: 79 mins.

Director: Haruka Komori, Natsumi Sao,

Writer: N/A

Starring: Haruka Furuta, Haruka Sakai, Leon Yonekawa, Aoshi Miura,

Website

Synopsis: A documentary born from a project by the art unit “Haruka Komori + Natsumi Seo” who started volunteer activities after the Great East Japan Earthquake. The focus is on four young travellers who visited Rikuzentakata City, Iwate Prefecture in 2018. They came from a place far away from the earthquake both spatially and temporally, and they put themselves in the landscape of the land and they listened to people’s voices and repeated dialogues. The painter and writer Natsumi Seo and the videographer Haruka Komori shows the four people who participated in the Rikuzentakata workshop for the first time, bridging the past, present, and future of the land through their own words and bodies.

Redline   

Release Date: October 09th, 2010

Duration: 102 mins.

Director: Takeshi Koike

Writer: Katsuhito Ishii, Yoji Enokido, Yoshiki Sakurai (Script), Katsuhito Ishii (Original Creator),

Starring: Takuya Kimura (JP), Yu Aoi (Sonoshee McLaren), Akane Sakai (Boiboi). Tadanobu Asano (Frisbee), Kanji Tsuda (Trava),

Animation Production: Madhouse, Tohokushinsha Film Corporation

ANN MAL

Synopsis from Anime News Network: Every 5 years the race called “Redline” is held at a surprise location revealed shortly before the race begins. This time around it’s being held on Roboworld, much to the dismay of Roboworld’s militant government which has no intention of allowing the race to proceed. The race has no rules—whoever crosses the Redline first, wins. Sweet JP is a rare breed of racer who prefers retro style and raw power over high tech gadgets and weaponry. Troubled by their involvement with the mob, Sweet JP and his team just want a clean shot at winning the race. Sonoshee McLaren is a skilled and highly competitive rising star in the racing circuit. She beat JP in the last qualifier and caught his eye. Up against lethal hostility from Roboworld’s government and their fellow racers, JP and Sonoshee are pushed to their limits in the race for the Redline.

Tokyo 7th Sisters: Bokura wa Aozora ni Naru 

Tokyo 7th シスターズ　僕らは青空になる「Tokyo 7^th Shisuta-zu Bokura wa Aozora ni Naru」

Release Date: February 26th, 2021

Duration: 77 mins.

Director: Takayuki Kitagawa

Writer: Shintaro Motegi (Script/Original Creator),

Starring: Ai Kakuma (Rona Tsunomori), Yuki Takada (Musubi Tendoji), Inori Minase (Connie Rokusaki, Nicol Nanasaki), Minami Shinoda (Haru Kusakabe),

Animation Production: LandQ studios

Website ANN MAL

Synopsis from Tokyo 7th Sisters Wiki via MAL: In the year 2032, the legendary idol unit “7th Sisters” suddenly retired from the industry and disappeared. That was the end of the idol industry… until two years later, when a young glory-seeking employee is appointed to be the leader of Tokyo’s next generation idol studio, “777 (Three Seven),” commonly referred to as Nanastar.

However, the city continues to believe that idols are a thing of the past, and Nanastar is no exception. Their slump continues, but one day a mysterious and beautiful female manager approaches you and says, “If the idols of the past are gone, we’ll just have to make new idols! True “sisters” linked by powerful bonds!” The story of the idols of the future, the Nanastar Sisters, will now unfold.

Happy Middle of the Week!

I hope that you are all well.

I’m going to be covering the Osaka Asian Film Festival from the UK for this year. Due to Covid-19, travel has been cancelled but the internet is still a thing. I’ve been working for the fest for a while already and I’ve now moved on to writing reviews. I’ll be posting them here and hopefully getting some on V-Cinema. So, starting soon, reviews of some of the latest Asian films to hit cinema screens will be coming! This is why the trailer post is a couple of days early.

What is released in Japan this weekend?

ARIA The CREPUSCOLO   

Tokyo 7th シスターズ　僕らは青空になる「Tokyo 7^th Shisuta-zu Bokura wa Aozora ni Naru」

Release Date: March 05th, 2021

Duration: 61 mins.

Chief Director: Junichi Sato, Director: Takahiro Natori

Writer: Junichi Sato (Script), Kozue Amano (Original Creator),

Starring: Erino Hazuki (Akari Mizunashi), Ai Kayano (Anya Dostoyevskaya), Akeno Watanabe (Maa), Chinami Nishimura (aria), Chiwa Saito (Aika S. Granzchesta),

Animation Production: J.C.Staff

Website ANN MAL

Synopsis via MAL: The season is fall and the city of Neo-Venezia is covered in fallen leaves. Something is bothering Anya, who works at Orange Planet. Her senior colleagues Alice and Athena haven’t seen each other due to their busy schedules, which is making Athena feel sad. But for some reason, Alice seems to be avoiding her altogether. With her friends Ai and Azusa’s help, Anya tries to find a definitive way for Alice and Athena to get together. But during this time, Anya learns of a situation that only she can see because of where she stands.

The Sun Does Not Move   

太陽は動かない 「Taiyo wa Ugokanai」

Release Date: March 05th, 2021

Duration: 110 mins.

Director: Eiichiro Hasumi

Writer: Tamio Hayashi (Script), Shuichi Yoshida (Original Novel)

Starring: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Ryoma Takeuchi, Han Hyo-joo, Byun Yo-han, Hayato Ichihara, Sara Minami, Arisa Yagi,

Website IMDB JFDB

Synopsis: Kazuhiko Takano (Tatsuya Fujiwara) and Ryoichi Taoka (Ryoma Takeuchi) are industrial spies who are contracted in a battle for information on solar energy development that every country on Earth covets. This information reveals a conspiracy about the technology that could shake the foundations of Japan! 

Kokumin no sentaku   

国民の選択 「Kokumin no sentaku」

Release Date: March 05th, 2021

Duration: 75 mins.

Director: Masaki Miyamoto

Writer: Masaki Miyamoto (Script), 

Starring: Atomu Mizuishi, Seiko Senoo, Arisa Matsunaga, Haru Izumi, Naoki Inukai,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: A film set in the near future where a referendum is held on the use of nuclear power. Akira Takahashi, a member of the town council, instructs his family to vote for the nuclear power plant. His son, Atsushi, who works as a security guard at a plant obviously needs the plant for his job but Atsushi’s fiancé Naoko has become sceptical about nuclear power… 

14-Sai no shiori   

14歳の栞 「14-Sai no shiori」

Release Date: March 05th, 2021

Duration: 120 mins.

Director: Ryo Takebayashi

Writer: N/A

Starring: N/A

Website

Synopsis: A documentary that follows 35 junior high school who are in that awkward transitional period between childhood and adulthood. There is no main character, just the close observation of these kids who will be easy to relate to. 

NO CALL NO LIFE   

Release Date: March 05th, 2021

Duration: 107 mins.

Director: Aya Igashi

Writer: Aya Igashi (Script), Yukako Kabei (Original Novel)

Starring: Mio Yuki, Yuki Inoue, Atsuhiro Inukai, Sakurako Konishi, Aina Yamada, Kiita Komagine,

Website

Synopsis: Sakura Umi (Mio Yuki) and Harukawa Masahiro (Yuki Inoue) both attend the same school but are different in personality. She’s a decent girl while he is a problem child. They do have something in common: not knowing love. They find it in each other when their paths cross due to a mysterious message from the past that is left on an answering machine of Sakura’s phone  but when they discover the source of that message… 

The Drifting Post 

漂流ポスト 「Hyouryu Posuto」

Release Date: March 05th, 2021

Duration: 30 mins.

Director: Kento Shimizu

Writer: Kento Shimizu (Script), 

Starring: Rise Yukinaka, Yurine Nakao, Miki Kamioka, Daisuke Nagakura, Kojo Oda, Megumi Uemura, Kota Fuji,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Similar to the Phone Box of the Wind, there is a post box in the mountains of Iwate Prefecture that was put up to contact the people who died in the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami. It is through this that people can ease the pain in their hearts by contacting the dead. Following the 2011 tsunami, it became something used beyond the disaster. One girl who has lost her best friend finds a time capsule with letters inside… 

Keep Rolling   

好好拍電影

映画をつづける 「Eiga o tsuzukeru」

Release Date: 2020

Duration: 111 mins.

Director: Man Lim-chung

Writer: N/A

Starring: Ann Hui, Andy Lau, Tsui Hark, Sylvia Chang,

Website IMDB   OAFF Link

Compared to fellow Hong Kong auteurs like John Woo, Tsui Hark, and Wong Kar-wai, Ann Hui’s name isn’t as well known but this veteran filmmaker has quietly created a catalogue of varied works that have made her one of the most acclaimed directors in the world. Her most recent success is being a recipient of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2020 edition of the Venice International Film Festival where her latest film Love After Love played. This accolade comes after a four decade career that has notable achievements such as winning Best Director at the Golden Horse Awards three times and Best Director at the Hong Kong Film Awards six times. With more film projects on the horizon, she shows no signs of slowing down despite the fact that she has reached the age of 73. Trying to get a handle on such a career is intimidating but the biographical documentary Keep Rolling provides the perfect entry into the life of Ann Hui.

Keep Rolling is the directorial debut by Man Lim-chung, a veteran art director and costume designer who has worked with directors like Stanley Kwan, Sylvia Chang, Pang Ho-cheung and, crucially, Ann Hui, working on her films including July Rhapsody (2002), The Golden Era (2014), and Our Time Will Come (2017). These connections allow him to ensure his film can give an accurate assessment of her place in the firmament of the Hong Kong movie scene.

At nearly two hours, Keep Rolling is packed with a lot of fascinating information about Ann Hui. It takes a chronological route starting from her birth in North East China and runs through her formative years in Hong Kong and London as she falls in love with literature and film, her emergence with the New Wave filmmakers and her subsequent career, before eventually culminating with her aforementioned Venice success. Each period that is explored centres on some moment of self-discovery, such as finding out her mother is Japanese, or a career landmark such as working with King Hu as his assistant director and making a name for herself in television and showing an interest in using reality and social issues become the basis of her works. With each topic touched upon, we get footage from works which find direct inspiration from her life. While famous for making dramas capturing the quotidian aspects of Hong Kong life and seeing things from a female perspective, it’s equally fascinating to see how her love of literature led to The Romance of Book and Sword (1987). Probably the most affecting moments are when we get family background and Hui’s relationship with her mother. Hui used this as material for her film Song of the Exile (1990) and would later revisit her relationship with her mother, whom she still takes care of, with A Simple Life (2011). Finding out the reality behind these films proves to be poignant especially director Man intercuts some perfect scenes to illustrate how reality informs fiction.

To get details across, the film layers in a wealth of archival material such as photographs from the 60s and 70s and lots of behind-the-scenes footage from Hui’s film and television work. As well as this, there are many interviews with Ann’s family and fellow collaborators who all provide illuminating details that burst with warmth, admiration and some critiques that help to prevent the film becoming a hagiography. That luminaries in the international film scene such as Tsui Hark, Fruit Chan, and Andy Lau give their thoughts shows the importance of Hui. As interesting as they are, it is the family interviews that prove very illuminating with Hui’s brother and sister whose reminiscences tying Hui’s film and life together.

Acting as a guide throughout this is Ann Hui who we accompany fly-on-the-wall style in both her personal and professional life for a sense of unguarded behaviour during various activities ranging from walking along the muddy roads of a set, to walking the red carpet to walking with her elderly mother to a day-care facility. She also does sit-down-interviews where she reflects upon her life and shows sensitivity without any cloying sentimentality. Ann Hui talks a lot and it is always enjoyable to listen. She is a raconteur of the top order, amusing, insightful, and also honest as she details her plus points and faults that feel like an intimate access all areas project.

Despite being this detailed, the film still feels nimble as it wrangles everything into a cascade of concise sequences and enjoyable interviews that all flow effortlessly into one another. The chronological structure acts as a clear roadmap and upon reaching the end, audiences will feel well-informed about who Ann Hui is, her place in cinema, and the meaning and impact of many of her works. Whether you are a neophyte to Hong Kong cinema or an expert, you will find this is a perfect primer and a great biography as we understand Hui and her passion for cinema. All things considered, Keep Rolling is a perfectly apt title that captures its subject’s indefatigable nature and her love of the movie-making process. If Ann wasn’t as famous as her fellow directors before, this film signals that her time has come.

Three Sisters   

세자매 「 Se Ja-mae 」

Release Date: January 27th, 2021

Duration: 115 mins.

Director: Lee Seung-won

Writer: Lee Seung-won (Script), 

Starring: Moon So-ri, Kim Sun-young, Jang Yoon-ju, Cho Han-cheul, Hyun Bong-sik, Kim Ga-hee,

OAFF IMDB KoBiz

Three Sisters is the latest feature from Lee Seung-won, a writer and director with a background in theatre. Much like his two previous films, Communication & Lies (2015) and especially Happy Bus Day (2017), it plies the territory of damaged people and broken family relations. The main difference with Three Sisters compared to Lee’s earlier works is that it is less abrasive due to its finely polished visual sheen and also its script which sneaks tragedy on audiences behind black comedy and a non-linear narrative. These varying tones serve Lee’s desire to show acting at its best as he provides his leads with drama found through well-realised characters dealing with an explosive legacy.

The story centres on three sisters, each of whom is a mother to a family but very different. Eldest sister Hee-sook (Kim Sun-young) works as a florist. Cash-strapped, divorced, and dowdy, she is saddled with a deadbeat ex-husband and demanding daughter who both treat her like a doormat. Youngest sister Mi-ok (Jang Yoon-ju) is kind of a female Charles Bukowski whose hard drinking and mean attitude match her profession of playwright better than the man she married, a kind-hearted greengrocer who came complete with a level-headed teenage son, both of whom Mi-ok neglects. In a massive contrast to her siblings is the more glamorous middle sister Mi-yeon (Moon So-ri), a highly controlled woman who is a devout Christian living in the lap of luxury with her handsome university professor husband and their two children who live maybe a little in fear of their choir-master mother.

While the three sisters display a believable intimacy, we wonder how they can be related. They each occupy a different class, live in a different area, and their occupations, behaviour, and outward appearance are poles apart as demonstrated in the first hour of the film which goes all in on quotidian details and finds comedy of the personality clash variety. By cutting between their perspectives, we see how the negative traits of the more maladjusted sisters sends them skittering from one social faux pas to another while Mi-yeon seems to remain stable and forbearing of others. It isn’t long before crises reveal the extent of their derangement.

Philandering husbands, errant children, and a cancer diagnosis drag out the drama and while the negative traits these women use in their struggle to cope continue to provoke laughter, the gap between what they intended to happen and the result is where tragedy lies. Mi-yeon’s exertion of control sends her veering into the sort of revenge that Old Testament God might appreciate as she physically punishes her husband’s perky mistress. Hee-sook’s subservient behaviour reaches levels so pathetic, a masochist would be embarrassed. Mi-ok, the most comically outrageous of the three due to her drunkenness, desperately tries to change into something better for the sake of her family but alienates them more.

As their travails play out and their negative traits cause them to increasingly become unstuck the film places a sort of deadline on its story with a family gathering for the father’s birthday. It also intersperses black-and-white flashbacks and scenes where the sisters have conversations full of foreshadowing and subtext that helps us cut through the comedy prepares us as we get to the heart of this tragicomic narrative. Audiences will probably guess that they are all manifesting some trauma, but the full extent of it is only revealed in a final extended flashback which is handled so adroitly that viewers will likely gasp as it is like ripping off a scab and looking at the raw wound of their shared pasts. It helps us understand how pain has shaped the characters we were previously laughing at and pitying as we come to empathise with them in what proves to be a pretty amazing dramatic turn around.

As stated in the opening paragraph, the film was originally intended as a showcase for the acting talents of its leads and each lady demonstrates the sort of deeply layered performances that, while having extremes, bring out the complications in their characters without breaking a sense of reality. Model-turned-actress Jang Yoon-ju, whose only other major credit was a cop in the 2015 action film Veteran, essays her slatternly character with major doses of anger and sadness that are balanced with so-real-it-hurts desperate attempts at self-control. Kim Sun-young, a veteran performer who has appeared in Lee’s two previous films, is entirely sympathetic as a woman who only knows how to survive by assuaging everyone through acquiescence and apologies. Moon So-ri gives a stellar performance of self-possession that masks an icy rage. Each actor convincingly portrays someone left with the indelible mark of abuse, exhibiting it, and yet struggling to overcome it.

While the comedy leavens the familial dilemmas, the moments where characters are suffering emotional anguish in their search for a way out of their torment is painfully realised by the performers who can balance the light and dark aspects of this complicated story. The characters, settings and conflicts are easy to relate to and with the big reveal, we finally learn that they do share something in common, that their differences and character personality faults come from the same trauma and it never once feels like a movie contrivance. We care enough due to the performers that we hope that they can heal their broken minds.

Three Sisters was screened at the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021 on March 05th. It will be screened again on March 14th at ABC Hall.

Joint     

ジョイント 「Jointo」

Release Date: N/A

Duration: 118 mins.

Director: Oudai Kojima

Writer: HAM-R (Script),

Starring: Ikken Yamamoto, Kim Jin-cheol, Kim Chang-bak, Keisuke Mitsui, Sogen Higuchi,

OAFF Link

Joint is the debut feature of director Oudai Kojima. While it doesn’t do anything new with its iteration of a story of gangsters, loyalty and betrayal, he makes it memorable and very much worth watching through imbuing it with an atmosphere so strong it will feel like you are plunged into the crime world alongside a charismatic main character whose arc allows you to see every aspect of it.

The story follows Takeshi Ishigami (Ikken Yamamoto), an ex-con who aims to leave his shady past behind. Before he can do that, he must return to a life of crime in Tokyo. Reacquainting himself with Yakuza contacts he restarts his “list business.” It’s an innocuous name used to describe harvesting information for fraud schemes. Rather interestingly, Takeshi was more a money man than a regular footsoldier and he goes back to what he knows best with the intention of using this source of cash to fund his forays into venture capitalism. His path isn’t easy but as he painstakingly climbs his way out of the criminal underworld, he begins to attempt to drag his friends along. However, just as Takeshi thinks that he might get out, he is dragged back in as a gang war erupts.

The drama surrounding the conflict is standard stuff but made compelling enough through its sense of verisimilitude when it comes to the world of the Yakuza and Takeshi’s precarious place in it.

Takeshi is a good way to get into the details being an associate rather than a fully tatted up thug. A smart and debonair guy who chooses not to use his fists, he is tolerated rather than accepted and his moneymaking abilities give him some leeway in how he can act. This, as well as having been away in prison, logically allows the introduction of exposition and plot set-ups into the story through Takeshi’s catch-ups with friends and foes in different positions who help to contextualise the different factions and the stakes involved in the gang war while also serving to give his relationships and decisions enough dramatic impetus to brush past any sense of cliché.

The heavier details on the “list business” is where the film comes alive as it delivers what feels like lessons on how the modern-day Yakuza work their scams and the confluence between big business and crime. Brief intertitles act as chapter headings as well as info-dumps. They are nimbly placed amidst major plot points and montages showing the harvesting of personal information like names, addresses, and numbers from used cellphones that lead to old folks getting scammed. These scenes ooze enough verisimilitude on the level of the David Simon show The Wire and it is guaranteed to put viewers on edge while also making them feel informed and invested in proceedings, not least because of the way things are filmed.

Made on a budget of 5 million yen (just shy of 50,000 dollars), the film is done with a faux-documentary aesthetic delivered by handheld camera that makes it feel closer in tone to Steven Sodebergh’s Traffic (2000) than the more meticulous-looking modern gangster films like Takeshi Kitano’s Outrage trilogy. Still, there is a lot of precise framing, fast edits and frequently eye-catching visuals to give this film enough theatrical oomph to go with the believable milieu. Director Oudai Kojima definitely makes the most of the budget with multiple business and nightclub settings that have a steel-and-glass-and-stark-lighting look for the upmarket areas, traditional villas for Yakuza meetings, and the dingy business hotels and immigrant cafes for the working-class areas. When it comes to the action, Kojima opts for the low-budget and painfully believable blunt force of punches and baton strikes delivered by a cast of guys who look like authentic bruisers and the strung-out kids you would cross the street to avoid. 

And then we come to Ikken Yamamoto, our leading man. He has come out of nowhere to prove himself charismatic enough to carry this film. Handsome but with an edge, the swagger of a gambler, he can also do soulful moments which mesh with the film’s moments of moody lighting and atmospheric backdrops – gazing out at the Tokyo skyline, a midnight walk by a train line and a dawn walk on a beach. He is a good companion to escort us through the crime world and we become invested in his journey.

If there are any criticisms to level, it’s that a subplot involving the police is abruptly dropped and female characters are given the short shrift as they come in only one variety: gangster molls. Overall, these are minor as the rest of the film works up an atmosphere and story that allows it to hit hard.

A lot of films flirt with the glamour and misdeeds of the Yakuza but this one really feels like it immerses you in it. From the first distinctive shots, to its ironic ending, there is a depth to the story and form while the information given to the viewers feels so realistic that it allows the film to stand separate from many other crime films. The actors are all perfectly cast and give compelling performances so that even if the film trots out familiar storylines and themes, it’s still a thrilling watch. 

Joint will be screened on Sunday, March 07th, at Cine Libre Umeda 3 at 16:10.

yes, yes, yes

Release Date: N/A

Duration: 74 mins.

Director: Akihiko Yano

Writer: Akihiko Yano, (Script), 

Starring: Kazuma Uesugi, Kazunari Uryu, Minami Inoue, Nahoko Kawasumi,

OAFF

Sometimes, the meaning of something can be found in the destruction of something else. So it goes in writer and director Akihiko Yano’s original work yes, yes, yes which powerfully depicts a family being reborn after all of the anguish and confusion that comes with facing death.

In this ensemble drama, we watch a few days in the life of a family of four people who have to wrestle with the devastating news that the mother, Sayuri (Nahoko Kawasumi), may not be able to come back from hospital after the return of a serious illness. We are dropped into this in media res as the bombshell hits everyone gathered in her hospital room. While Sayuri is scared, she braces up as best she can. The person who seems to take this news the worst is teenage son Takeaki (Kazuma Uesugi) who lacks the maturity to process what it all means and so he bristles with nihilistic anger. In contrast, his older sister Juri (Minami Inoue) knows enough to put on a brave face but her mind is also elsewhere as she faces her own lonely struggle on her way to single-motherhood, something which has split her parents. Meanwhile, their father, Masaaki (Kazunari Uryu), has adopted a false mask as he desperately tries to play the patriarch to hide his own fear and sadness. At this moment of crisis when they should all be pulling together, each person retreats into themselves and their family begins to fall apart.

While director Yano has Takeaki’s character arc and his earnest narration serve as a sort of structure to the story, at the heart of the film is the anticipatory grief over Sayuri’s death that acts like a dynamo causing everyone to really reckon with the meaning of their existences. Drama is stoked in how this places these four characters in painful confrontations that force them to acknowledge and accept each other and their individual problems to the point that they become a family again. At no point is the film contrived or manipulative in trying to make this arc as the characters behave in a realistic way, the setting is a typical slice of Japanese suburbia, and the general tone of the film is restrained due to the way it was filmed. Since the events and dialogue are kept narrow and totally in relation to their dilemmas, which are the sort of elemental problems that can be easily understood by anybody, the shifting relationship dynamics in this group come to the fore, quite purely, through some phenomenal acting.

From the first moment I laid eyes on them I felt like the cast were a real family that had a history together. Each person had a naturalistic physicality and a wide register of performance ability ranging from deliberately stilted to indicate stifled emotions to the most open and expressive to show trust and familial connections. Along the way, the performers skilfully showed how their characters retreated into their shells, through violent rejection or suppressed emotion, and it was very noticeable and believable how their inability to touch and talk to each other caused them further pain. The film worked in making me understand the power that hugging a loved one has, first through the parents who clutch each other in a moment of confessed despair and then when father and son come into conflict. The warmth of another human body may be rejected at first, it comes to be an act of salvation for the family in a climax that managed to wrench a few sobs and plenty of tears from me as I was moved by the sight of people who were in such pain finally start to heal in a way that conveys the love each person has for one another while showing that they are not alone even when faced with something as crushing as death.

Director Akihiko Yano, acting as cinematographer, wisely chooses to shoot things in a stark black-and-white style that removes any distractions from the acting. This style choice also has another effect as it smothers the glorious summer days that the drama takes place in, draining the image of life and colour in a way that reflects the way death has come for the mother. Framing is always perfect with the biggest focus always being on the actors who are often caught in close-ups that allow them to convey their internal emotions well and their physicality really comes to the fore as a way to create warmth in a cold world. There is also room for poetic images via inserts of kites in summers skies and bursting fireworks. These have a dreamlike quality that also double as a metaphor for the sort of dazzling emotions of anger and confusion that flare up and also the transience of life.

This is a purposefully simple film, its script pared down and its look restrained so that the focus is totally on the cast who portray characters wrestling with their existential problems, first individually, and then together after coming to a gradual acceptance that while death is inevitable, valuing life is important. Watching the film is an intense experience, something I can attest to as I felt that the drama was so clear that I was swept up in the turmoil felt by the characters and buffeted by their various conflicts as intended by Yano’s direction and the powerful performances of the cast. It’s a 74-minute tour de force of acting examining the human condition.

yes, yes, yes is at the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021. It was screened in March 08 and will be shown again on March 11.

The Slug 

태어나길 잘했어 「 Taeeonagil Jalhaesseo 」

Release Date: N/A

Duration: 99 mins.

Director: Choi Jin-young

Writer: Choi Jin-young (Script), 

Starring: Kang Jin-a, Park Hye-jin, Hong Sang-pyo, Byeon Jung-hi, Kim Geum-soon, Lim Ho-jun, Hwang Mi-young, Yoo Kyung-sang,

OAFF Korean Movie Database Website

The Slug is the English-language title of South Korean filmmaker Choi Jin-young’s debut feature. While it may be a reference to the main character who suffers from excessive sweat, it pales in comparison to the Korean title which loosely translates as “it was good that you were born,” or “thank you for being born.” This positive affirmation is thematically important and something that the film’s protagonist needs to hear as shown in a story that mixes timelines, a tragic background, coming-of-age tropes, and first love as brought together by a fantastical twist to finds hope in an indifferent world.

The film follows the emotional awakening of 30-something woman Chun-hee (Kang Jin-a), who lives in her mother’s childhood home. Through flashbacks we see her move into this place in 1998 as a teenager after her parents’ funeral. This period was the start of her profound existential loneliness, a sense compounded by the reluctant adoption performed by her uncle’s family, all of whom treated her like an outcast rather than a relative, and exacerbated by Chun-hee being regularly embarrassed over the excessive sweat caused by Hyperhidrosis. Despite this, Chun-hee persisted in living positively and doing what she could. Eventually, she was tasked by her cousins to become caretaker of the house.

As an adult, Chun-hee may smile more but her whole existence is shaped by her background. She makes a modest income selling cloves of garlic and saves the money in the hope of getting treatment for her Hyperhidrosis, all while living alone in a house which has remained mostly unchanged and packed full of miserable memories. These are brought to the present one day when, whilst out walking, she is struck by a bolt of lightning. Although she initially seems to come away unscathed, she finds that she can now see her teenage self (Park Hye-jin) who appears at random moments around the house. Teen Chun-hee immediately becomes an energetic and positive presence who allows the older Chun-hee to face her adolescent traumas and sense of loneliness, all of which resurface after she discovers her cousin plans to sell the house. And so begins a surreal cohabitation that leads to an exploration of the human condition.

Choi keeps a light tone through the film’s non-linear narrative. Most of the heavy family drama is remembered in flashbacks. That one timeline takes place in 1998 is significant across Asia as this was the date of the IMF crisis and a wave of suicides that followed. We can infer that Chun-hee’s parents were victims and she was left behind, hence the reason for her becoming unmoored from others. Further scenes of everyday bullying and fractious family arguments follow and are done realistically and reinforce her alienation.

The more positive aspects of Chun-hee’s growth, from facing her difficult past to a possible romance, are placed in the present-tense timeline. The film can cleanly segues between present and past through little everyday details such as a change in props, like the use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes smoked by an ill-tempered aunt and the house itself which Choi impressively uses to physically and temporally traverse Chun-hee’s history. Crucially, the adult and teenage versions of Chun-hee playfully interact and hand off sequences to each other.

In order to better understand Chun-hee’s development, we see a character who parallels her when she finds a romantic foil in the form of Juh-wang (Hong Sang-pyo), a genuinely sweet man with a stutter whom she meets at a self-help group for people with unresolved trauma. While his romantic insistence might be a mixture of ardour and neediness, their tentative romance is founded on mutual affection. Indeed, the visual motif of hearts is quite common as patterns on clothes or drawings on walls but love for Chun-hee is absent in people’s interactions. While Juh-wang may offer inspiration, any romantic cop-out from meaningful character development is avoided as Chun-hee becomes a much more active agent in dealing with her present.

Anchoring the film are two sympathetic performances from Kang and Park as the adult and teen Chun-hee. Kang displays a veneers of a gentle but worn kindness. When it breaks at her moments of despair over her isolation, the emotion that Kang conveys is moving. Meanwhile, Park is perfect as a teen still too dense to understand she needn’t take every negative criticism to heart. She displays a convincing uncertainty of her place in life and naïve optimism which is equally affecting. Knowing who she grows into makes us care more and seeing the two learn to embrace their shared existence is a beautiful moment as, finally, someone thanks her for being born.

The Slug is showing at the Osaka Asian Film Festival on March 9 and 11.

My review was originally published on V-Cinema.

Gotō-san

ゴトーさん 「Gotō-san」

Release Date: N/A

Duration: 77 mins.

Director: Hiroshi Gokan

Writer: Hiroshi Gokan (Script), 

Starring: Hirofumi Suzuki, Tomomi Fukikoshi, Seiichi Kohinata, Manaka Kinoshita, Sun Chi,

OAFF

Mild spoilers in this review

Don’t be fooled by the cute tone, Gotō-san is both dark and refreshingly substantive in its politics which it masks with off-beat characters and meet-cutes in a less-than-ordinary setting. To wit, director Hiroshi Gokan provides a deconstruction of our current capitalist climate wherein, due to factors such as economic liberalisation, cuts to welfare systems and certain so-called “efficiencies” such as My Number Cards added for control of identification, society can be quite inhospitable for those who fall off the employment treadmill. Indeed, a person can “disappear” and life can turn into a nightmare as the lead character, the titular Gotō-san finds out.

As travellers and the generally cash-strapped know, 24-hour internet cafes can be cheap and convenient places to stay. The best of them provide showers, a laundry service, a manga library, spacy-enough private booths with computers and the anonymity to live undisturbed for the price of a few thousand yen a day. This is where our titular character Gotō-san works as an assistant and also where he lives.

The name of the place is Sunflower and it is located in the Kamata district of Tokyo, so not terribly far from the centre of the city. Gotō-san (Hirofumi Suzuki) looks to have a cool set-up considering that rent is relatively cheap compared to many apartments, there is zero commute, work is fairly undemanding, and, apart from the occasional difficult customer, the people he meets are mostly as mellow as him. Indeed, his boss (Seiichi Kohinata) and co-worker Toko (Manaka Kinoshita) are both cute and easy-going. One can understand why Gotō-san has registered the café as his official address with city authorities. Heck, there is even a cute girl who also stays in the place for similar reasons. Her name is Riko (Tomomi Fukikoshi) and she pays her rent via sex work, which is how Gotō-san meets her and begins a shy courtship which has those gloriously romantic all-night dates and early morning walks that one can indulge in when there are few commitments. That the two don’t realise they live in the same place adds a new spin to the phrase “passing like ships in the night” and forms some tension in the film as we expect a big reveal to threaten a budding love but there are bigger clouds gathering on the horizon as, while Gotō-san quietly floats along on the currents of life, the world outside is changing…

The café provides a safe cocoon for the characters, but sights of gentrification and construction are constant when Gotō-san ventures outside suggesting the crunching, uncaring, all-consuming forward movement of capitalism. The recurring visual motifs of water, a toy boat, and a maritime license, when combined with visuals of construction show the flow of life and how easily things and people get replaced. Amidst these sights are signs of an economic and social apocalypse such as union members protesting corporate exploitation of labour and rising rates of poverty, overworked day-labourers staying at Sunflower keeling over or high on drugs, and homeless people. Even Gotō-san, so cool and laidback, is revealed to be on shaky financial ground since he can barely afford to pay for a couple of dates with Riko.

A sense of impending doom is felt from these dire warning signs and a change in shooting style where the lighting becomes darker, the locations harsher, and the camerawork in the café starts to have a whiff of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining especially as Gotō-san gets caught up in a psycho-sexual fever dream. Indeed, the café – which is a liminal space subject to economic stability – becomes a metaphor for Gotō-san’s position in society. The anticipated disaster occurs when a virus pandemic hits (surely a reference to Covid-19 even if it isn’t specifically named) and forces the café into tough times that jeopardises Gotō-san’s entire existence. 

Gotō-san’s resulting fall is terrifying to watch especially as it rings true thanks to all of the details. Anyone who has lived as a freeter will probably feel the same desperation that lead actor Hirofumi Suzuki exudes in his frantic performance as his money and identification problems trap him in a weird hinterland of non-existence with not enough cash to dig himself out. Seeing him wander around the empty streets of Shibuya (in scenes reminiscent of 28 Days Later) during the lockdown really drives home the unpredictable vicissitudes of life lived in a capitalist system. by the end, the cute tone had dropped and there was a feeling of despair that will hit hard considering many in the audience will have experienced or know someone who has suffered due to Covid-19-related job loss.

The way that the economic catastrophe snuck up was brilliantly done. I felt like the film was playing on our assumptions, disarming us with the comedy and the initial positioning of our protag as a hero who is in control and then exposing him as dangerously unprepared for the real world and with no social safety net to catch him. I definitely gasped at the end and felt a tone of desolation. I also appreciated that writer/director Hiroshi Gokan contrasted Gotō-san with Riko by playing on our prejudices about sex work, showing her to be the stronger character due to her self-determination while also making the statement that physical labour, whether warehouse work or sex work, chews people up and spits them out. 

This was one of the films supported by the Housen Cultural Foundation, a group that provides funding for filmmakers in graduate schools. Gotō-san thusly played at the Supported Program at the Osaka Asian Film Festival, a free-to-attend event. Perhaps that this was made from someone caught between the precarious world’s of academia and filmmaking made its observations on the economic precariousness of non-regular work. Regardless, Hiroshi Gokan has made a film that captures the economic uncertainty of our age. He clothed it in the perfect off-beat situations to unleash an unflinching look at labour exploitation and economic hardship. 

I wish I were better at writing about acting because every now and then I watch a film where there are astonishing performance that I am spellbound and profoundly moved. In those situations, I want to wax lyrical to do justice to what I have seen. Of course, every other aspect of the film counts, too. When I watched the drama yes,yes,yes I was not quite prepared for the actors who are, raw vulnerable, surprising, realistic, and honest.

Director Akihkro Yano worked with his cast closely and stripped away most movie artifice to get phenomenal performances to convey the emotionally intense situation in his script. The story concerns a family reacting to the news that the matriarch Sayuri (Nahoko Kawasumi) may die. This sets off emotional chain reactions that cause conflict, particularly with teenage son Takeaki (Kazuma Uesugi), before there is eventually, healing. It is a heartfelt story and it felt real. Indeed, it made me cry multiple times and gave a feeling of catharsis as I took in its lesson of learning to appreciate and love those around and thought deeply about people in my own life.

The film played as part of the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021. Thanks to the invaluable help of translator Takako Pocklington in translating questions and answers, I was able to interview director Akihiko Yano via email where he kindly explained about the background of the film, working with the cast, and his design choices.

The Japanese transcript is first and it is followed by English. Click on a link below to be taken to one or the other.

Japanese |  English

Japanese

Q: どうしてこの作品を書かれたのですか？

姪っ子が産まれまして、その姪を抱く僕の父と母の手や顔にはシワがあり、とても老いを感じました。産まれたての赤ん坊(姪)と、老いた父と母。まるで、命のサイクルを見てるような感覚になり、ひどく落ち込みました。僕の中にわだかまるこの感覚、感情を、どうしても映画にして吐き出したかったです。

Q: このタイトルにはどういった意味があるのでしょうか？

yes,yes,yesというタイトルには、全てを肯定しなければならない。生き続ける為に、全て肯定しなければならない。という想いを込めました。強く肯定する為に、yesという単語を３つ並べました。

Q: 役者さんがそれぞれの役柄を見事に演じてられました。どうやってあの方たちを見出されたか、そして起用された理由について話して頂けますか？

主役の男の子以外の俳優陣は元々知っている方々でした。脚本を書いている時から、あの3人をイメージしておりました。派手すぎない、普遍的な家庭感を持っている俳優陣にオファーを出させていただきました。皆様、実力も申し分なく、こちらの要求に誠実に対応してくれました。主役の男の子はオーディションの中から選ばれました。彼にタケアキ役を演じていただけて本当に良かったと思っています。

Q: キャストの皆さんから本当の家族のような親密感が感じられました。映画の中での関係性を築くために、撮影以外の時間も一緒に過ごしたり、役柄の背景を用意したりという方法がとられたりしますが…。あの役者の皆さんにも、撮影以外の時間を共有したり、何度も一緒にリハーサルをして貰ったりしたのですか？

主役の男の子以外(彼は宮崎在住です)は、東京在住ですので、３日間だけ稽古をしました。その3人の演技をまず作って、僕だけ宮崎に移動して、3人の演技に合わせた演出をし、上杉君の演技を作り上げました。上杉君と、他の俳優部の皆さんが会ったのは、撮影前日からです。家族の雰囲気を出す為に、現場の雰囲気作りにはとても気を使いながら、撮影を進行していきました。

Q:役者の方たちにアドリブで演じてもらったりしたのですか？それともあくまでも台本通りにしてもらったのでしょうか？

前半の病室のワンシーンだけアドリブがありましたが、他は全て台本通りに演じてもらいました。言葉があまり多くない映画ですので、一言一言にこだわりがありました。

Q:この作品には心身に訴えるような辛いシーンがたくさんありますね。あのようなシーンの撮影現場が、どんな感じだったのか聞かせていただけますか？

とにかく丁寧に演出するのを心がけていました。大事なシーンの前にはスタッフを含め、全員を集めて、何度もシーン説明をしました。その度に、俳優陣の集中力が高まり、緊張感のある現場になっていました。ただ、キャストスタッフに笑顔の無い現場には良い映画にならない、と思っていますので、なるべく冗談等を言ったりして、緊張と緩和を使い分けました。

Q: 撮影で一番辛かった、きつかったと思われた部分はどこですか？

撮影で一番辛かったのは…孤独だったことです。(笑)

監督は孤独です。僕がパニック障害の病気を持っているのですが、撮影中に何度も発症してしまい、薬を飲みながら、周りにバレないようにしたりなど…。僕は美術の準備などしたりで、ほぼ寝れない日々でしたので、体力的にもかなりキツかったです。楽なことは一つもありませんでした。

Q: この作品のビジュアルを白黒にしようと思われたのはどうしてですか？

物語をとにかくシンプルに観せたかったです。カラーの情報を抑え、白黒にすることによって、より俳優陣の演技に集中できる映画になったと思います。

Q: タケアキがお母さんと電話で話すところは、本当に辛く悲しいシーンでした。お二人は実際に電話のこちら側と向こう側で話されていたのですか？

実際に電話で話しました。同じ部屋で撮りました。

Q: 監督は、カット全てに絵コンテを用意されたのですか、それともあまりきっちりと計算はせず、現場の空気に任せられたのでしょうか？

僕は簡易的な絵コンテを描きます。

ただ、いつも複数のカメラ(今回は2台のカメラです)で撮影します。僕が務めるメインカメラの画はキッチリと絵コンテ通りに収め、もう一台のカメラで役者の演技に合わせたポジションに入ってもらいます。映画的な画と、役者の演技を伝える為の画の２つを同時に収めていくようにやっています。

Q: この作品を見終わった観客の方達に、何を汲み取って欲しいですか？

お客様一人一人が、愛する人達に対する感情を再確認して欲しいです。

愛をもって、日々を過ごせば自ずと他人に対しての敬意が産まれると考えています。

愛を感じて欲しいです。

English

Why did you write this film?

I got a niece recently. When I saw my parents, whose faces and hands are wrinkled, holding her, I suddenly realised that they are old. There was a contrast between the new-born baby and my old parents. I felt like it was looking at a cycle of life and it made me feel extremely depressed. I really wanted to pour these feeling out in a film.

What is the meaning of the title?

The title contains the meaning that all things should be affirmed. You need to accept everything to keep living. I have put this thought into the title. To emphasise this, the word “yes” is repeated three times.

Each of the actors portrays their characters really well. How did you discover them and why did you select each of the actors?

I was already familiar with everyone, except the young actor who played the main character. Those three actors’ faces were already in my head when I was writing the script. I thought they have some kind of humble, universal and homely demeanour, so I offered the roles to them. They have brilliant acting skills and responded to my requests with their sincerity.

The main actor was chosen by audition. I am very happy with him playing the role of Takeaki.

There is a real sense of intimacy between the cast. A technique used to create relationships for films is to get the actors to spend personal time together and create backstories. Did you ask them to spend personal time together or rehearse a lot together?

The lead actor (Uesugi) lives in Miyazaki prefecture but the rest of the actors live in Tokyo, so we did rehearsals together for three days. I prepared the core performance with three of them first, then I travelled to Miyazaki and did rehearsals with Uesugi–kun whilst directing the other three actor’s parts.

Were the actors allowed to ad lib or were they sticking to a script?

I asked the actors to stick to the script apart from one scene. The scene at the hospital in the beginning of the film was played ad-lib. I didn’t want to compromise the integrity of the film, especially because this film has little (spoken) dialogue.

There are many physically and emotionally intense scenes in the film. Can you talk about what it was like on set?

I tried hard to direct the actors carefully. I explained the scenes repeatedly to not only the actors but also the other staff before shooting it. The more I explained, the better the actors focussed on acting and it created a tense atmosphere. However, I also think that laughter on set is crucial to make a good film, so I tried to tell jokes whenever I could to keep the balance of tension and release.

What was the toughest part of the shoot?

The toughest part of the shoot…it was solitude .

The director is alone. I suffer from panic disorder. I had a panic attack several times during the shoot. I was taking medication and tried to hide it from people around me.

I hardly slept whilst making the film since I was also working on visual design. It was physically hard as well. There was nothing easy.

 Q: Why did you choose to have the film’s visuals in black-and-white?

I wanted to make the story visually simple. By getting rid of colour and expressing it in black and white it makes the audience focus on the actors’ performance more.

Takeaki’s phone call with his mother is absolutely heart-breaking. Were they both actually talking to each other to get that performance?

Yes, they were actually talking to each other on the phone. I shot the scene in the same room.

Did you storyboard all of the shots or was it spontaneous?

I usually create a rough storyboard.

I usually use several cameras to shoot (I used two cameras for this time). The main camera, which I used, focused on the full picture following the storyboard. The other camera moved to capture the movement of the actors. I tried to frame the film both in a Cinematic picture and a picture that focusses on the actors at the same time.

What do you want audiences to think about after watching this film?

I want audience to re-acknowledge their own feelings for their loved ones.

I believe that you would be able to cultivate a feeling of respect for other people if you live your life with love.

I want them to feel love.

Happy weekend, everyone!

I hope that you are all well.

In normal times, as a member of the Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF), I’d be over in Japan watching films and meeting people. AND EATING OKONOMIYAKI! Instead, Covid-19 struck and it has been a year of keeping safe and rebuilding. I’ve been going into work occasionally but spent more time at home and this has been my situation for this year’s edition of OAFF. I’ve been helping out on various things whilst still writing reviews and conducting interviews (via e-mail) and so I’ve put up a bunch here already.

Keep Rolling – Thanks to this documentary, I now know everything there is to know about Ann Hui!

Three Sisters – You have to laugh otherwise you’d cry in this South Korean drama

The Slug – OHMYGOD,IWANTTOCRYINTHISSUBTLEANDHEARTBREAKINGFILMFROMSOUTHKOREA

JOINT – well-shot and gripping crime film charting Japan’s underworld!

yes, yes, yes – powerful drama that will make you love your family more!

An interview with the director of yes, yes, yes – find out the background to one of the best films of OAFF2021

Goto-san – Haha, a rom-com set in an internet cafe oH nO, we’ve turned a corner and now it’s a ride through the capitalist hellscape!

I hope that we all stay safe and overcome Covid-19. I know I’ll return to Osaka when that happens.

What was released this week?

Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time 

シン・エヴァンゲリオン劇場版:||「Shin Ebangerion Gekijouban」

Release Date: March 08th, 2021

Duration: 155 mins.

Chief Director: Hideaki Anno, Director: Mahiro Maeda, Kazuya Tsurumaki, Katsuichi Nakayama,

Writer: Hideaki Anno (Screenplay/Original Creator),

Starring: Megumi Ogata (Shinji Ikari), Megumi Hayashibara (Rei Ayanami), Yuko Miyamura (asuka Langley Shikinami), Fumihiko Tachiki (Gendo Ikari), Maaya Sakamoto (Mari Illustrious Makinami),

Animation Production: Khara

Website ANN MAL

I used to be a fan. I watched it on the Sci-fi Channel Saturday mornings and was caught up in the big emotions, big sci-fi, and big psychology. I bought the soundtracks and I have the limited edition tin set. And I grew out of it. This was well before the rebuilds of the films were announced. I’m glad that it’s doing well breaking box office records and it has come to an ending that many have praised.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8mf0qDD3Qg

Synopsis from IMDB: Shinji Ikari is still adrift after losing his will to live, but the place he arrives at teaches him what it means to hope. Finally, the Instrumentality Project is set in motion and Wille make one last grueling stand to prevent the Final Impact.

Love, Life and Goldfish   

すくってごらん 「Sukutte Goran」

Release Date: March 12th, 2021

Duration: 92 mins.

Director: Yukinori Makabe

Writer: Atsumi Tsuchi (Script), Noriko Otani (Original Manga)

Starring: Matsuya Onoe, Kanako Momota, Hayato Kakizawa, Nicole Ishida, Hiroshi Yazaki,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: Makoto Kashiba (Matsuya Onoe) was once an elite bank clerk at a big Tokyo bank who lived only for work. One day, a minor mistake saw him, demoted to a small branch office in the countryside. The initial feeling of this robot is devastation but that turns into first love when he meets Yoshino Ikoma (Kanako Momota), the beautiful young woman who runs a goldfish scooping store…

Banzai! Here is Lover Road

万歳！ここは愛の道　 「Banzai! Koko wa ai no michi」

Release Date: June 28th, 2019

Duration: 103 mins.

Director: Tatsuya Ishii

Writer: N/A

Starring: Mei Fukuda, Hiroto Oshita, Ryouka Neya, Keitoku Itou,

This one looks like a dark doc about an intense love felt by someone. Maybe we all desire something like that but when we experience it can be choking. You can follow the film’s director on Twitter here.

Synopsis: Tatsuya Ishii won the JFF Special Award at the Pia Film Festival Award 2018 for Subarashiki Sekai. Here, he chases the concept of true love through the self-documentary format as he revisits time spent with an old lover. They had been dating for two years and she was in a mental ward of a hospital after the breakdown of the relationship. Ishii recorded their relationship while together until it got too bad. Then, one day, after a call from her, he visited her house with a camera in hand and talked to her to find out she had lost two years of her memory.

Brave: Gunjyo Senki   

ブレイブ　群青戦記「Bureibu Gunjyo Senki」

Release Date: March 12th, 2021

Duration: 115 mins.

Director: Katsuyuki Motohiro

Writer: Masahiro Yamaura, Toru Yamamoto (Script), Masaki Kasahara (Original Manga)

Starring: Mackenyu Arata, Hirona Yamazaki, Nobuyuki Suzuki, Tatsuomi Hamada, Takuro Osada, Keisuke Watanabe, Haruma Miura, Kenichi Matsuyama,

Website IMDB

Synopsis: A spin on the old film G.I. Samurai sees a group of students timeslip to the Sengoku period after their school is hit by lightning. Students in various clubs have to rally together to defend themselves as they are caught betweeen the two forces about to fight the Battle of Okehazama. The student body includes the serious and studious Aoi Nishino (Mackenyu Arata) who practices archery and so forth. Can modern kids cut it against bona fide samurai?

Grave of Love   

恋の墓 「Koi no Haka」

Release Date: January 15th, 2021

Duration: 117 mins.

Director: Kiyoto Naruse

Writer: Kiyoto Naruse (Script), 

Starring: Yuna Ogura, Kohei Nagano, Hidenobu Abera, Yukihiro Haruzono, Hito:michan, Yuya Ishikawa, Yura Kano, Naoto Kawashima, Chihiro Matsukawa,

Website IMDB

A romantic comedy directed by Kiyoto Naruse who received a special jury prize at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival 2018 for Night of the Dead Geisha.

Synopsis: A romantic comedy about the perverted son of a temple priest who becomes obsessed with a nursing student whose name he doesn’t know but who passes in front of his temple every day as she meets men via dating apps. Getting her picture becomes a must for him but he becomes jealous when he finds her kissing another man and so he decides to get the same app and pursue her. Meanwhile, his childhood friend Yuka reunites with him…

Shimajirou to Sora Tobu Fune   

しまじろうと そらとぶふね「Shimajirou to Sora Tobu Fune」

Release Date: March 12th, 2021

Duration: 60 mins.

Director: Tomohiro Kawamura

Writer: Masafumumi Sugiura (Screenplay),

Starring: Omi Minami (Shimajiro Shimano), Miki Takahashi (Mimirin Midorihara), Saori Sugimoto (Ramurin Makiba), Yuma Uchida (Jin), Megumi Han (Lily), Keiko Han (Lily’s Mother),

Animation Production: coyote, Shanghai Heyuan Culture Media Co., Ltd. Shirogumi Inc.

Website ANN MAL

The eighth film in the franchise and the first to go full CG.

Synopsis: The land of Greenwood hasn’t had rain for a while and it’s starting to become a problem. Jin, an inventor squirrel, decides to build a flying ship with the help of Shimajiro in a mission to to make the rain fall once again.