Happy weekend, everyone.
Welcome to part two of the trailer post.
I forgot to mention in part one of my trailer post that my review for Keita Yamashina’s fun metatextual drama Body Remember is up at V-Cinema. It plays at the San Francisco Indie Fest next month. Also, I’m still working on festival stuff which launches in February/March!
What else was released this weekend?
Woman of the Photographs 
写真の女「Shashin no Onna」
Release Date: January 30th, 2021
Duration: 89 mins.
Director: Takeshi Kushida
Writer: Takeshi Kushida (Script),
Starring: Hideki Nagai, Itsuki Otaki, Toshiaki Inomata, Toki Koinuma, Takaaki Kikuchi, Keiko Katsukura, Ryo Tsuchida,
Writer/director Takeshi Kushida makes his feature debut with Woman of the Photographs has been wowing people across the world with its pristine and inventive visuals and solid story of love in a time of social media madness.
Here’s my interview with the director and my review of the film.
Synopsis: Middle-aged photographer Kai (Hideki Nagai) is committed to living a bachelor’s life due to his gynaphobia but when an Instagram model named Kyoko (Itsuki Otani) crashes into his life, an offbeat meet-cute turns into a psycho-romance as her search for social media success draws him into helping her.
Aru Youmuin 
ある用務員 「Aru Youmuin」
Release Date: January 29th, 2021
Duration: 86 mins.
Director: Yugo Sakamoto
Writer: Shozen Matsudaira (Script),
Starring: Seiji Fukushi, Haruka Imou, Tomoya Maeno, Hannya, Yutaka Shimizu,
Yugo Sakamoto, co-director, along with Nagiko Tsuji, of the hilarious short Pan (2017), has turned to making crime dramas and this is his latest, one which brings to mind Tak Sakaguchi’s Re:born.
Synopsis: Fukami (Seiji Fukushi) is a high school janitor who moonlights as an assassin since he comes from a crime family. He watches over his cousin Yui Majima (Haruka Imou), who is attending the school. When her father father is murdered in a gang war, Yui is targeted next and so Fukami devotes himself to protecting her assassins descend on the school…
To Heal Wounds of Heart Theatrical Version 
心の傷を癒すということ 劇場版 「Kokoro no kizu o iyasu to iu koto gekijouban」
Release Date: January 29th, 2021
Duration: 116 mins.
Director: Mojiri Adachi
Writer: Ryoko Kuwahara (Script), Katsumasa An (Original Non-fiction Novel)
Starring: Tasuku Emoto, Machiko Ono, Ryo Ishibashi, Gaku Hamada, Naotaro Moriyama, Kurumi Shimizu, Mari Hamada,
Tasuko Emoto, actor in Dynamite Graffiti (2018) and It Feels So Good (2019) portrays Kazutaka, a real-life psychiatrist who worked at Kobe University Hospital during the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in this movie adaptation of an NHK drama. Four episodes that were broadcast in January 2020 have been re-edited for the silver screen.
Synopsis: Kazutaka An is a doctor who enjoys playing jazz and reading books. When he learns that his family have roots in Korea, he begins to question his identity. This sparks an interest in psychology and, despite opposition from his father, he moves into the field. Life seems smooth as he also marries his childhood sweetheart and they have kids together but then a devastating earthquake strikes Kobe and Kazutaka uses his skills to give treatment to the victims by listening to their stories and feeling their pain.
Smoky & Bitter 
スモーキー・アンド・ビター 「Sumo-ki- ando bita-」
Release Date: January 30th, 2021
Duration: 103 mins.
Director: Kyoji Kamui
Writer: Kyoji Kamui (Script),
Starring: Shunsaku Kudo, Chiaki Hiratsuka, Sayoko Hagiwara, Hiroyuki Hagita, Mitsunari Sakamoto,
Kyoji Kamui, an actor who also appeared in the GANTZ live-action adaptations, makes his sophomore feature here as he takes on direction, screenwriting, production, shooting, editing, and more.
Synopsis: Amnesiac hitman Moroboshi wanders into a remote town and is taken in by Satomi, a beautiful married woman who works for “Walmono Production”, a criminal group that hires out hitmen… like Moroboshi who encounters co-workers… The film consists of two episodes, “side A”, which is shot like a western drama, and “side B”, which is shot in a Japanese movie style.