Happy weekend, everyone!
I hope you are all doing fine!
This week I posted about the Japanese films at the Raindance Film Festival and the OP Pictures + Fest going on throughout this month.
I will be recording the Halloween episode of the Heroic Purgatory podcast about the film Audition (1999) and watching some Japanese films from the 80s. Since it’s the season of scares, I’d like to highlight some of my older horror films reviews.
Carved – The Slit-Mouthed Woman
What is released this weekend?
Wife of a Spy
スパイの妻「Supai no tsuma」
Release Date: October 16th, 2020
Duration: 115 mins.
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Writer: Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Tadashi Nohara (Script),
Starring: Yu Aoi, Masahiro Higashide, Hyunri, Issey Takahashi, Yuri Tsunematsu, Takashi Sasano, Chuck Johnson, Ryota Bando, Minosuke
This is the theatrical cut of the NHK drama of the same name which aired on June 06th, 2020. Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa and scripted by Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Happy Hour) and Tadashi Nohara, the film is a period piece that reunites the central couple of Romance Doll Yu Aoi (Hana and Alice) and Issey Takahashi (Shin Godzilla). This is the second time that Yu Aoi has worked with Kurosawa, following Penance and it is the second time for Masahiro Higashide following Creepy.
To differentiate it from the television version, the movie version will have a new screen size and colour tone.
Kurosawa won the Silver Lion – Award for Best Director at the Venice International Film Festival for this film.
Synopsis: Japan in the 1940s is very dangerous if you have an opinion that dissents from the wartime rhetoric of the government. As the nation gears up for the Pacific War, a businessman from Kobe named Yusaku (Issey Takahashi) risks everything when he tries to tell the world of a barbaric act he witnessed while on a business trip to Manchuria. For this choice in exercising his right to speak out, he is accused of being a traitor. His wife Satoko (Yu Aoi) swears to stand by her beloved husband whatever the cost. This is her story. The story of Satoko as the wife of a spy.
Mio’s Cookbook
みをつくし料理帖 「Mio-Tsukushi Ryouri-Chou」
Release Date: October 16th, 2020
Duration: 131 mins.
Director: Haruki Kadokawa
Writer: Itaru Era, Kana Matsui, Haruki Kadokawa (Script), Kaoru Takada (Original Novel)
Starring: Honoka Matsumoto, Nao, Mayumi Wakamura, Atsuko Asano, Takashi Fujii, Yosuke Kubozuka, Yuta Koseki, Shido Nakamura, Misa Eto,
A movie continuation of a TV drama.
Synopsis: Mio (Honoka Matsumoto) and her best friend Noe (Nao) are two best friends from Osaka who were separated as children by a flood that also took Mio’s parents. Mio moved to Edo and found work in a soba restaurant where her culinary skills won great praise. Meanwhile, Noe became an oiran (high-ranking courtesan). For her latest challenge, Mio is asked to make one of her dishes for a client in the Yoshiwara pleasure district.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train
劇場版「鬼滅の刃」無限列車編 「Gekijouban Kimetsu no Yaiba: Mugen Ressha-hen」
Release Date: October 16th, 2020
Duration: 117 mins.
Director: Haruo Sotozaki
Writer: N/A (Script), Koyoharu Gotouge (Original Creator)
Starring: Natsuki Hanae (Tanjiro Kamado), Akari Kito (Nezuko Kamado), Hiro Shimono (Zenitsu Agatsuma), Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Inosuke Hashibira), Satoshi Hino (Kyojuro Rengoku), Daisuke Hirkawa (Enmu),
Animation Production: ufotable
This is a direct continuation of the TV anime and it looks good. The video below contains mutiple PVs and the trailer. I enjoyed the TV anime, which is on Crunchyroll, and am looking forward to the film.
Synopsis: Some time in the Taisho period, Tanjirou Kamado and his sister Nezuko lost their family in a demon attack. Even worse, Nezuko was turned into a demon. Through various twists of fate, the two become key members in the Demon Slayer Corps and with their friends, Zenitsu and Inosuke, they accompany Kyoujurou Rengoku, the Flame Hashira, to investigate a mysterious series of disappearances occurring inside a train. Little do they know that Enmu, one of the Twelve Kizuki, is also on board and has prepared a trap for them.
Ainu Mosir
アイヌモシリ 「Ainu Mosir」
Release Date: October 17th, 2020
Duration: 131 mins.
Director: Takeshi Fukunaga
Writer: Takeshi Fukunaga (Script), Kaoru Takada (Original Novel)
Starring: Kanto Shimokura, Debo Akibe, Emi Shimokura, Toko Miura, Lily Franky, Masao Nishida,
This is a coming-of-age tale is set in an Ainu village in Northern Japan. According to an article on Deadline, this film received a special jury mention at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival and was picked up for US distribution and will appear Netflix on November 17 before it gets a theatrical release in select cities throughout the month.
Synopsis: Kanto (Kanto Shimokura) is a 14-year-old boy who lives in an Ainu village where the main source of income lies in preserving and performing their ancient traditions for visiting tourists. The local teenagers are rebelling against participating in cultural rituals, but, for the sensitive Kanto, they become important following the loss of his father. Kanto is taken under the wing of a family friend, Debo (Debo Akibe), who introduces him to their culture’s traditions, something which offers the boy a way to strengthen his sense of self. It comes at an important point as the village debates its future and Kanto has to decide for himself what his very own future will be.
Beautiful Escape
ファンファーレが鳴り響く 「Fanfare ga narihibiku」
Release Date: October 17th, 2020
Duration: 89 mins.
Director: Kazuki Morita
Writer: Kazuki Morita (Script),
Starring: Sho Kasamatsu, Kirara Inori, Asuka Kurosawa, Yota Kawase, Shima Ohnishi, Houka Kinoshita,
Synopsis: Akihiko Kobe suffers from bullying at his high school due to his stutter. Angry but unable to express it, something makes him snap: accidentally seeing his classmate Mitsuri Nanao, a brilliant and intelligent girl, killing a cat. Mitsuri wants to draw the blood of other things and reveals to Akihiko her desire for murder and proposes that they kill his bullies. The two begin to kill and hit the road in a youth splatter road movie
Oni Garu!! 
鬼ガール!! 「Oni Ga-ru!!」
Release Date: October 17th, 2020
Duration: 120 mins.
Director: Genki Takigawa
Writer: Yu Sakudo, Genki Takigawa, Ko Nakamura (Script), Ko Nakamura (Original Novel)
Starring: Manami Igashira, Mizuki Itagaki, Kaisei Kamimura, Hiyori Sakurada, Mizuki Yoshida, Shunta Sono,
A youth movie featuring a high school girl who has a complex about being a “demon”, set in the unexplored region of Kawachinagano, Osaka, where the legend of demons still remains.
WAVE!! Surfing Yappe!! Chapter 2 
WAVE!!～サーフィンやっぺ!!～ 第二章 「WAVE!! Sa-fi-n Yappe!! Dai ni shou」
Release Date: October 16th, 2020
Duration: 92 mins.
Director: Takaharu Ozaki
Writer: Kazuyuki Fudeyasu (Script), MAGES (Original Creator)
Starring: Jin Ogasawara (Sho Akitsuki), Tomoaki Maeno (Masaki Hinaoka), Yoshiki Nakajima (Nalu Tanaka), Takuya Sato (Kosuke Iwana), Yusuke Shirai (Yuta Matsukaze), Nobuhiko Okamoto (Rindo Fuke),
Animation Production: Asahi Production
Synopsis: Masaki and Sho are two students in Oorai, Ibaraki prefecture. Sho introduces Masaki to surfing and through the sport, he begins to make friends but he will also drift apart from them as he grows up. What remains constant is his love of surfing. In the latest instalment in this series of films, we get to know Masaki’s childhood friend Nalu Tanaka, a boy with Hawaiian blood, as well as the famous hot-blooded surfer Kosuke Iwana…
Twiceborn
夜明けを信じて。 「Sekai kara kibou ga kietanara.」
Release Date: October 16th, 2020
Duration: 135 mins.
Director: Hiroshi Akabane
Writer: Sayaka Ookawa (Screenplay), Ryuhou Ookawa (Novel)
Starring: Hiroaki Tanaka, Yoshiko Sengen, Nao Hasegawa, Yoshimi Ashikawa, Tamotsu Ishibashi
Synopsis: Satoru Ichijo receives a message from the spiritual world and realises his mission is to lead humankind to happiness. He becomes a successful businessman while secretly publishing spiritual messages, but the devil’s temptation shakes his mind.
Gekijouban hontou ni atta kowai hanashi 2020 norowareta-ka
劇場版ほんとうにあった怖い話2020 呪われた家 「Gekijouban hontou ni atta kowai hanashi 2020 norowareta-ka」
Release Date: October 17th, 2020
Duration: 66 mins.
Director: Hiromitsu Amano
Writer: Hiromitsu Amano (Script), Ko Nakamura (Original Novel)
Starring: Kumi Wadata, Hiroe Iketa, Kumiko Shimohigashi, Koki Matsuda, Ayumi Shiraki, Nomaru Abe, Hideyuki Tochigi, Takuya Fujimaru,
The latest instalment in the popular omnibus horror series that visualises episodes carefully selected from the psychic and horror experiences submitted by people on the internet.
Synopsis: Mitsuru Takahashi, who works in the editorial department of the magazine “** Secret Story”, is given an article about a house by the editor-in-chief. The house is located in an area where there used to be a custom called “Tamayobai” that brings back the souls of the deceased to this world, and according to the article, this custom was performed at the house a year ago. At the same time, Shio Ogawa, a woman with keen intuition goes to her grandmother’s house after hearing she slipped off a ladder and died. She travels to the house and finds an old-fashioned and somewhat insidious atmosphere. While wondering what her grandmother was trying to do, she realises that she cannot find her uncle, Yoji, who was living with her grandmother…