Third Window Films are going to issue a dual-edition DVD/blu-ray release of the indie film Melancholic on September 07th with a selection of great extras typical for TWF.
Extra features (*all in standard definition):
Dual Format (Both DVD and Blu-ray included)
Behind the Scenes
Q&A with director and cast
Melancholic Short Film
Trailer
Here’s the trailer and synopsis and a little extra info:
メランコリック 「Merankorikku」
Release Date: August 02nd, 2019
Duration: 113 mins.
Director: Seiji Tanaka
Writer: Seiji Tanaka (Screenplay),
Starring: Yoji Minagawa, Yoshitomo Isozaki, Mebuki Yoshida, Makoto Hada, Hiroko Shinkai, Keiji Yamashita, Takanori Minagawa
Seiji Tanaka’s debut feature Melancholic won him a share of the Best Director prize in the Japanese Cinema Splash section at the 2018 Tokyo International Film Festival (Masaharu Take also won for his film, The Gun) and one can see why as it manages to combine a number of tones and genres to create a film that feels fresh and original. Following that, it won a string of awards including:
Best Debut Feature, Udine Far East Film Festival
Audience Award, Japan Cuts Film Festival
Audience Award, Nippon Connection
These awards were richly deserved as it managed Seiji Tanaka made a socially conscious film that addresses very important themes surrounding the way society expects young adults to behave and the world of work through a wonderful genre mash-up of hard-boiled crime, romance and workplace comedy. It is definitely one of the freshest Japanese films to emerge in recent years as it mixes laughter and death with ease and always defies expectations of how it will play out as well as having something to say about how people live their lives and it is all anchored by a great performance by Yoji Minegawa who shows promise of being a really interesting leading man. I recommend heartily it. Here’s my review.
Synopsis: Kazuhiko (Yoji Minagawa) graduated from the prestigious halls of Tokyo University and you would expect him to be in some high-flying job but since leaving academia but he has moved back home with his parents and lived the life of a slacker. A chance encounter with a girl he knew at high school at a onsen (bathhouse) motivates him to take a job there as an attendant and he quite likes it, not least because he can talk to the girl. However, what seems like a normal onsen turns out to be a killing space for yakuza-ordered hits and when Kazuhiko stumbles upon this he ends up getting dragged into the criminal underworld…