Happy weekend, everyone.
I hope you are all well.
This week has been all go. I posted previews for the London International Animation Festival and the London East Asian Film Festival. I’m on the last few missions of Front Mission 3 and I’m getting Christmas presents. I’ve got other film-related things going on and I’m trying to get back into teaching again. I hope your weeks have all been good!
What is released this weekend?
Mrs. Noisy 
ミセス・ノイズィ 「Misesu Noizi」
Release Date: December 04th, 2020
Duration: 98 mins.
Director: Chihiro Amano
Writer: Chihiro Amano (Screenplay),
Starring: Yukiko Shinohara, Yoko Ootaka, Takuma Nagao, Chise Niitsu, Masanari Wada, Yoriko Doguchi, Raiki Yanemoto,
Synopsis: Maki Yoshioka is a novelist and mother. She’s suffering a slump in her work and things get worse when her neighbour, Miwako, begins harassing her by beating her futons at all hours of the day. After an argument, Maki gets inspiration and makes Miwako a character in her novel but that causes the fight between the two to spiral out of control as the media and internet get involved…
Silent Tokyo 
サイレント・トーキョー 「Sairento To-kyo-」
Release Date: December 04th, 2020
Duration: 99 mins.
Director: Takafumi Hatano
Writer: Masahrio Yamaura (Script), Takehiko Hata (Original Novel)
Starring: Koichi Sato, Yuriko Ishida, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Tomoya Nakamura, Alice Hirose, Kai Inowaki, Ryo Katsuji,
This is based on a novel which was inspired by the song “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
Synopsis: On Christmas Eve, Tokyo is put on full alert after a TV station receives a phone call from a person who states that a bomb has been planted in Ebisu. A contract worker for the TV broadcasting station and a housewife are named as suspects by the police. However, video clips with demands to talk with the Prime Minister during a live broadcast on Christmas day are uploaded onto the internet and they warn that if the demands aren’t met, a bomb will go off in Shibuya. While all of this is going on, a mysterious man observes everything. Who is behind everything and can the bombs be stopped?
Town Without Sea 
夏、至るころ 「Natsu, Itaru Koro」
Release Date: December 04th, 2020
Duration: 105 mins.
Director: Elaiza Ikeda
Writer: Yuko Shimoda (Script), Takehiko Hata (Original Novel)
Starring: Yuki Kura, Roi Ishiuchim Nari Saito, Kengo Kora, Hideko Hara, Kiki Sugino, Kenichi Abe, Lily Franky,
Elaiza Ikeda is probably best known as a model and actress (she who was brilliant in The Virgin Psychics!) but she has added another string to her bow and become a director with this film. It played at the Jeonju International Film Festival.
Synopsis: Sho and Taiga are two teens living in Fukuoka. Friends since childhood, they are about to hit adulthood as they reach the end of high school. One thing they do as a duo is to beat the drums at town festivals, however, Taiga announces that he won’t play drums this year because he wants to prepare to go to college. Meanwhile, Sho has no plan of his future and cannot think straight. They meet a mysterious girl named Miyako…
Takizawa Kabuki Zero 2020 The Movie 
滝沢歌舞伎 ZERO 2020 The Movie 「Takizawa kabuki zero 2020 The movu~ie」
Release Date: December 04th, 2020
Duration: 139 mins.
Director: Hideaki Takizawa
Writer: Yuko Shimoda (Script), Takehiko Hata (Original Novel)
Starring: Hikaru Iwamoto, Tatsuya Fukazawa, Raul, Shota Watanabe, Koji Mukai, Ryohei Abe, Ryota Miyadate, Daisuke Sakuma, Ren Meguro,
Synopsis: Takizawa Kabuki began in the spring of 2006 and ran until June 2018, doing over 700 performances. It was started by Johnny Kitagawa who was in charge of planning, composition, and general production, and directed by Hideaki Takizawa who retired. The productions were revived for a recent production at The Shimbashi Dance Hall and they starred the Johnny’s group “Snow Man”. The story “Nezumi Kozo” is brought to the stage.
A Beast in Love 
恋するけだもの 「Koisuru Kedamono」
Release Date: December 04th, 2020
Duration: 139 mins.
Director: Koji Shiraishi
Writer: Koji Shiraishi (Screenplay),
Starring: Shohei Uno, Shunsuke Tanaka, Shiori Ueno, Tomoki Kimura, Yoshitaka Hosokawa, Shigeo Osako, Suzuyuki Kaneko, Chika Kuboyama,
Website IMDB
A remake of a short film Koji Shiraishi released in 2018 (trailer post) with the same story and some of the principal actors.
Synopsis: A shy young man named Chuuya has fled his past and wound up in a rural town and started working at a construction company. Unfortunately his colleagues are violent towards him. The one bright spot is Shiori, who may like him and suggests that they should skip town as she warns him that one of their colleagues is a murderer. The two decide to make a break for it but their workmates capture them. It looks like it is all over when, suddenly, a man dressed as a woman appears. Recently there have been whisperings of an urban legend in town about “a transvestite with a Kansai dialect who kills people who refuses to date him.” It seems this transvestite has fallen in love with Chuuya. An unexpected battle begins.
I Want to Be Loved 
海の底からモナムール 「Umi ni Soko Kara Monamuru」
Release Date: December 04th, 2020
Duration: 84 mins.
Director: Ronan Girre
Writer: Ronan Girre (Screenplay),
Starring: Renn Kiriyama, Kurumi Shimizu, Yoko Mitsuya, Tomoya Maeno, Kiki Sugino,
This was played at Osaka Asian Film Festival 2017.
Synopsis: Ten years ago, on an island located near Hiroshima, a seventeen-year-old student named Miyuki committed suicide by jumping from a cliff near where she lived. Bullied everyday at school, she was in love with a fellow student named Takuma. Ten years later, Takuma returns to the island where he was born and where Miyuki died. Although ten years have flown by and Miyuki died long ago, she still loves Takuma.
Fate/Grand Order The Movie Divine Realm of the Round Table: Camelot 
劇場版 Fate/Grand Order 神聖円卓領域キャメロット 前編 Wandering; Agateram「Gekijouban Fate/Grand Order: Shinsei Entaku Ryouiki Camelot 1 – Wandering; Agateram」
Release Date: December 05th, 2020
Duration: 89 mins.
Director: Kazuto Arai, Kei Suezawa,
Writer: Ukyou Kodachi (Script), Kinoko Nasu, Type Moon (Original Creator)
Starring: Mamoru Miyano (Bedivere), Nobunaga Shimazaki (Ritsuka Fujimaru), Rie Takahashi (Mash Kyrielight), Ayako Kawasumi (Fou), Kouki Uchiyama (Tristan), Maaya Sakamoto (Leonardo da Vinci),
Animation Production: Production I.G, Signal.MD,
Fate/Grand Order THE MOVIE -Divine Realm of the Round Table: Camelot is an adaptation of a popular mobile game, in which the kingdoms of Ancient Egypt and Camelot clash outside their own times.
Synopsis from Crunchyroll: The wandering knight, Bedivere, reaches the end of his journey.
The year is A.D. 1273 in Jerusalem.
The Holy Land has been transformed into a massive desert, the people have been forced out of their homes, and three major powers wage war with each other in this wasteland.
The Knights of the Round Table come together to protect the Holy City and their Lion King. With the whole of his kingdom summoned into a strange land, Ozymandias, the Sun-King, quietly plots against the tyranny of this bizarre realm.
The mountain people, protectors of those who were stripped of their land, await their chance at rebellion. In order to fulfill his mission, Bedivere heads for the Holy City where the Lion King rules. There he meets humanity’s final Master, Ritsuka Fujimaru, who has come to Jerusalem, accompanied by his Demi-Servant, Mash Kyrielight, in their quest to restore human history.
Saredo kissho to suru
されど吉祥とする 「Saredo kissho to suru」
Release Date: December 05th, 2020
Duration: 29 mins.
Director: Kosuke Hishinuma
Writer: Kosuke Hishinuma (Screenplay),
Starring: Ryoka Neya, Mutsumi Sato, Hisao Kurozumi,
Ryoka Neya is an actress on the rise in the indie film industry as she moves from bit parts in films like Love and Other Cults to leading roles including one in the short Idol. She is the lead in Kosuke Hishinuma’s latest film. He had two works screened at Ikebukuro’s Cinema Rosa last weekend. This film depicts a story of suicide and Buddhahood, which resists a modern society where life has become less.
Synopsis: Frustrated in life and wanting to disappear, Ririko meets Adachi, a man who can’t help but regret the death of his lover Eve, who died in an accident. She also meets Eve’s spirit, who clings to Adachi, and makes a proposal.