Happy weekend, everyone!
I hope you are well!
I ended last week with a review of The Best of Youth and then proceeded to go back into my Japanese film reviews with Samurai Marathon and the Sho Miyake film And Your Bird Can Sing. I’ve also been manning the SNS of an animation festival and surveying coverage on other sites and it’s going well.
What’s released this weekend?
Blind Witness 
見えない目撃者 「Mienai Mokugekisha」
Release Date: September 20th, 2019
Duration: 128 mins.
Director: Junichi Mori
Writer: Kiyomi Fujii, Junichi Mori (Screenplay) Sawao Yamanaka (Novel)
Starring: Riho Yoshioka, Mahiro Takasugi, Koji Ookura, Kodai Asaka, Jun Kunimura, Tomorowo Taguchi,
Synopsis: Natsume Hamanaka’s (Riho Yoshioka) has just graduated from police university and she should be celebrating but she is involved in a car accident which robs her of her vision, her police career and her younger brother who dies.
Three years later and Natsume is a civilian who is still traumatised by what happened that night but when she gets involved in another car accident, her life takes a turn as she hears the cries of a girl and senses that she might be a kidnap victim. Natsume reports what happened to the police who are sceptical but she believes a serial kidnapper is on the prowl and begins investigating.
Little Nights, Little Love 
アイネクライネナハトムジーク 「Aine Kuraine Nahatomujiku」
Release Date: September 20th, 2019
Duration: 119 mins.
Director: Rikiya Imaizumi
Writer: Kenichi Suzuki (Screenplay) Kotaro Isaka (Novel)
Starring: Haruma Miura, Mikako Tabe, Taizo Harada, Yuma Yamoto, Erika Mori, Shihori Kanjiua, Megumi, Tsubasa Nakagawa,
This is based on short stories by Kotaro Isaka, (Golden Slumber, The Foreign Duck, The Native Duck, and God in a Coin Locker and Fish Story).
Synopsis: Sato (Haruma Miura) is lonely 27-year-old singleton who has been demoted at his job at a market survey company and is pining for a partner. He is reduced to handing out questionnaires outside Sendai Station but nobody bites until a woman named Saki walks into his life. She is wearing a black suit and has the word “shampoo” on her hand. Sato feels like this is fate and a relationship starts but as 10 years pass, they question why they are together. This is more than just their story as others in their lives have their own dramas and happy family lives.
Love’s Stoppage Time 
初恋ロスタイム 「Hatsukoi Rosu Taimu」
Release Date: September 20th, 2019
Duration: 104 mins.
Director: Hayato Kawai
Writer: Sayaka Kuwamura (Screenplay) Yuki Nishina (Novel)
Starring: Mizuki Itagaki, Sakura Kiryu, Ryoma Takeuchi, Anna Ishibashi, Masahiro Komoto,
Synopsis: Takashi Aiba (Mizuki Itagaki) is a ronin student hoping to get into university so that’s not too unusual but then there’s the fact that, every day at 12:05 PM, everything, including people and objects, suddenly stop moving. Everything EXCEPT Takashi Aiba! He can move around and he can do so while this phenomena continues for 1 hour. Sounds like a cool time exploit. Maybe he could rob a bank… but, just after the more cynical members of the audience think that, Takashi encounters a girl named Tokine Shinomiya (Sakura Kiryu) who can also move when everything else has stopped and they soon spark up a fun relationship in this time they call “loss time”. However, a secret exists behind loss time and it will be revealed by a third person…
My Father, the Bride
おいしい家族 「Oishi Kazoku」
Release Date: September 20th, 2019
Duration: 95 mins.
Director: Momoko Fukuda
Writer: Momoko Fukuda(Screenplay)
Starring: Honoka Matsumoto, Itsuji Itao, Kenta Hamano, Serena Motola, Yugo Mikawa, Shuntaro Yanagi, Ishani P,
I interviewed Momoka Fukuda after seeing her film Slowly at the Osaka Asian Film Festival and we talked briefly about this film which is based on an NDJC short she made a few years back.
Synopsis: Toka (Honoka Matsumoto) pauses her corporate career in Tokyo to return to her home island for the 3rd year anniversary of her mother’s death. When she gets back to her hometown she sees her father Seiji (Itsuji Itao) wearing her mother’s clothes. Toka is shocked and more shocks are in store as Seiji introduces Kazuo (Kenta Hamano) as the man he will marry. Toka slowly overcomes her initial feelings as she hears out her father’s reasons.
Hello World 
ハローワールド 「Haro- Wa-rudo」
Release Date: September 20th, 2019
Duration: 98 mins.
Director: Tomohiko Ito
Writer: Mado Nozaki (Screenplay),
Starring: Minami Hamabe (Ruri Ichigyo), Takumi Kitamura (Naomi Katagaki age 16). Tori Matsuzaka (Naomi Katagaki age 26), Haruka Fukuhara (Mirei Kadenokoji), Rie Kugimiya (Karasu), Minako Kotobuki (Ii Shizuka),
Animation Production: Graphinica
Synopsis: In Kyoto in the year 2027, male high school student Naomi Katagaki, encounters a person who claiming to be him from 10 years in the future. Together, they must change the future and save a classmate, Ruri, whom the younger Naomi will start to date in three month’s time!!!
Soushiki no Meijin 
おいしい家族 「Soushiki no Meijin」
Release Date: September 20th, 2019
Duration: 99 mins.
Director: Naofumi Higuchi
Writer: Hiroyuki Ono (Screenplay) Yasunari Kawabata (Novel)
Starring: Atsuko Maeda, Kengo Kora, Yuri Nakae, Eita Okuno, Miho Nakanishi, Hinako Saeki, Masami Horiuchi, Seizo Fukumoto, Hako Ohshima,
Atsuko Maeda (Seventh Code) and Kengo Kora (The Story of Yonosuke) team up to make a film based on a Yasunari Kawabata novel and set in Ibaraki City, Osaka, the place where the writer lived as a child.
Synopsis: Yukiko (Atsuko Maeda) is a single-mother who sees the obituary of a high school classmate and decides to go to the wake where she reunites with people she hasn’t seen in the 10 years since graduating. The wake is the moment where secrets are revealed about the living as well as the dead.
Three Nobunagas 
3人の信長 「San nin no Nobunaga」
Release Date: September 20th, 2019
Duration: 106 mins.
Director: Kei Watanabe
Writer: Kei Watanabe(Screenplay)
Starring: Takahiro, Hayato Ichihara, Yoshinori Okada, Masahiro Takashima, Nozomi Bando, Goki Maeda, Kazuyuki Aijima,
Synopsis: The time: 1570. The place: sengoku-era Japan. The people: Ujinori Kanbara (Masahiro Takashima) who is chasing after Nobunaga Oda. He capture not one, but three men who claim to be Nobunaga. Ujinori has to work out who is telling the truth.
Ghost Mask Scar 
ゴーストマスク 傷 「Go-suto Masuku Kizu」
Release Date: September 20th, 2019
Duration: 81 mins.
Director: Takeshi Sone
Writer: Etsuo Hiratani (Screenplay) Yasunari Kawabata (Novel)
Starring: Yurika Akane, Lee Yu-ha, So Hirosawa, Sayuri Ito, Sumi Kokoro, Miya Sakimoto, Lee Eun-woo, Ahn So-ri. Ryo Katayama,
This one takes inspiration from the legend of the slit-mouthed woman.
Synopsis: Miyu travels to Seoul to look for her older sister who has gone missing and meets Hana, a famous plastic surgeon who attracts Miyu because she looks like her older sister. Then there’s Hana’s lover, Hyo-shin who also causes mixed feelings in Miyu who discovers a terrible tangle of emotions captured her missing sister and caused a terrible accident…
Wolf’s Calling 
狼煙が呼ぶ 「Noroshi ga Yobu」
Release Date: September 20th, 2019
Duration: 16 mins.
Director: Toshiaki Toyoda
Writer: Toshiaki Toyoda (Screenplay)
Starring: Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Tadanobu Asano, Kengo Kora, Ryuhei Matsuda, Tetsuya Nakamura,
A 16-minute short drama based on the experience of director Toshiaki Toyoda, who was arrested for illegal possession of a pistol (which turned out to be an antique passed on by his father) in April 2019 and was held in jail without charge while the police orchestrated a media circus. It stars long-time Toyoda collaborators Kiyohiko Shibukawa and Ryuhei Matsuda who appeared Toyoda’s debut movies Pornostar and Blue Spring and they showed up in his latest movie, The Miracle of Crybaby Shottan.
Synopsis: A girl finds an old handgun in her house and the history of the gun is traced.
Ranhansha 
乱反射 「Ranhansha」
Release Date: September 21st, 2019
Duration: 94 mins.
Director: Yuya Ishii
Writer: Katsuo Naruse, Yuya Ishii (Screenplay) Tokuro Nukui (Novel)
Starring: Satoshi Tsumabuki, Mao Inoue, Hikaru Kogishi, Masato Hagiwara, Shingo Tsurumi, Mariko Tsutsui, Ken Mitsuishi, Itsuki Sagara, Yukiya Kitamura,
An incredible cast for a film originally screened on television. It was directed by Yuya Ishii – The Tokyo Night Sky The Great Passage, Sawako Decides.
Synopsis: Satoshi (Satoshi Tsumabuki) is a newspaper reporter and he has an idyllic life with his wife Mitsue (Mao Inoue) and their son Shota. That life is snatched away when Shota dies in an accident and this leaves Satoshi and Mitsue seeking a reason for what caused their son’s death.
Jinsei o shimau jikan (Toki) 
人生をしまう時間（とき） 「Jinsei o shimau jikan (Toki)」
Release Date: September 21st, 2019
Duration: 110 mins.
Director: Sachiko Shimomura
Writer:
Starring: Shinichiro Kobori, Yoichi Horikoshi,
Synopsis: Dr. Shinichiro Kobori and his team run a care home/hospital in Saitama Prefecture. His patients are at the end of their lives and they face this moment along with the physicians, nurses, and families. This documentary looks at them, having been recorded over 200 days.
The Tears of Malumpati 
セカイイチオイシイ水 マロンパティの涙 「Sekaichi Oishii Mizu Maronpati no Namida」
Release Date: September 21st, 2019
Duration: 91 mins.
Director: Keita Meguro
Writer: Keita Meguro (Screenplay)
Starring: Miyu Tsuji, Hidekazu Akai, Yusuke Arai, Rie Hanafusa, Bong Cabrera, Sue Prado Miel Espinoza, Ermie Concepcion,
According to the IMDB page, this first premiered in the Philippines earlier this year.
Synopsis: A drama based on the true story of the Pandan Water Pipeline Project on the remote Filipino island of Panay where Japanese and Filipinos worked together while overcoming various hardships to build a 10-kilometer water supply in a country town. The main character is Asuka, a female college student, who is invited by a friend to become a volunteer on the project. As Japanese and Filipinos work together, they overcome the regrets of the war and create bonds of friendship.
Ikebukuro’s Cinema Rosa is showing the next two indie films from the 21st
Ko Sekai 
小世界 「Ko Sekai」
Release Date: September 21st, 2019
Duration: 54 mins.
Director: Keita Taguchi
Writer: Keita Taguchi (Screenplay)
Starring: Satoshi Nagata, Yuushi Ozawa, Yuuki Ideguchi, Tomokazu Kida, Nanako Kudo,
Synopsis: Three stories about finding modest happiness in everyday life where different sets of people come into contact. The stories include a high school girl who failed to commit suicide and a freeter who lost his life trying to help her, a woman with an unwanted pregnancy and a filmmaker who has lost his purpose.
Three Mornings 
三つの朝 「Mitsu no Asa」
Release Date: September 21st, 2019
Duration: 30 mins.
Director: Risa Negishi
Writer: N/A
Starring: Satoshi Nagata, Yuushi Ozawa, Yuuki Ideguchi, Tomokazu Kida, Nanako Kudo,
This film was previously screened at the Japan Film Fest Hamburg and the Sapporo Short Fest.
Synopsis: The film follows three factory workers in a rural city who are leading ordinary lives marked by the melancholy of everyday life and by small, meaningful gestures.