Happy weekend!
I hope you are well.
This is the third and final trailer post for this weekend – part one here, part two here. This week I have also been posting about the Japan Society’s season of films by Kazuo Hara and Sachiko Kobayashi, specifically reviews for their early works Goodbye CP, Extreme Private Eros: Love Song 1974, and The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On.
The Hara-Kobayashi films have made up my viewing schedule and I covered everything except MINAMATA Mandala. I also finished Psycho-Pass Season III.
What else was released this weekend?
Houki ni Onegai o 
ほうきに願いを 「Houki ni Onegai o」
Release Date: June 25th 2021
Duration: 75 mins.
Director: Toshihiro Goto
Writer: Toshihiro Goto (Script),
Starring: Momoka, Uta Izumi, Moro Morooka, Akiko Iwase, Chieko Misaka, Mitsunori Isaki,
Synopsis: In Kanuma City, Tochigi Prefecture, there lives Akira Ishibashi, a craftsman of brooms. This is a job that has been handed down from generation to generation since the Edo period. However, in our modern era, he cannot make a living from the family business alone and runs a cram school on the side in order to support himself and his daughter, Miyuki. Despite the need for cash, at the cram school there is one student who gets free tuition. She is Sora and she is preparing for her high school entrance exam but she finds it tough. The reason for that is she moved to Kanuma from Miyagi Prefecture after the Great East Japan Earthquake and still bares emotional scars from the disaster. Meanwhile Miyuki is upset that her father treats other girls with kindness but is stern with her…
Boku ga Kimi no Mimi ni Naru 
僕が君の耳になる 「Boku ga Kimi no Mimi ni Naru」
Release Date: June 25th 2021
Duration: 86 mins.
Director: Jiro Enomoto
Writer: Ryuta Kawasaki (Script),
Starring: Yoshinari Oribe, Mizuki Kajimoto, Eri Hamada, Io Utou, Mrs Hiroko, Asuka Shingu,
This is a coming-of-age love story based on a true story, adapted from the song of the same title by the vocal and sign language performance group “HAND SIGN”.
Synopsis: In between university lectures, Junpei takes his guitar on to the streets and does busking. This is how he meets Misaki, who is deaf. When he runs into her again and again, he discovers that she attends the same university and does dancing. Through his interaction with Misaki, Junpei learns about the world of people with disabilities for the first time, and as he spends time with her, he becomes attracted to her.
Cinema Rosa (in Ikebukuro) is showing two shorts by filmmaker Haruna Tanaka. I’ve seen one. Both have been played at international festivals. Trailer for both below:
Lifelike 
いきうつし 「Ikiutsushi」
Release Date: June 25th 2021
Duration: 30 mins.
Director: Haruna Tanaka
Writer: Haruna Tanaka (Script),
Starring: Keiko Oka, Chihiro Kasahara,
Synopsis from the Filmmaker: Kamehachi, a jobless carver of Buddhist statues, earns his living by making lifelike figures for freak shows. A member of a local well-to-do family requests Kamehachi to make a doll of his fatally ill daughter Tsubaki to copy her mortal beauty as is.
Nukegara 
ぬけがら 「Nukegara」
Release Date: June 25th 2021
Duration: 14 mins.
Director: Haruna Tanaka
Writer: Haruna Tanaka (Script),
Starring: Yo Hasegawa, Ippei Tanaka, Keigo Oka, Soichiro Nakajima,
This film has strong visuals that are quit haunting – traditional buildings, rainy season atmosphere.
Synopsis: One morning, a woman named Hibari wakes up as if someone was next to her and finds the shedded skin of a snake in the garden. Her husband, Seiji, doesn’t think too deeply about this but Hibari is profoundly moved. We learn that it has been six months since her son Tatsumi died in a traffic accident and the couple are struggling to live with their loss. When Hibari visits the site of her son’s accident, one rainy day, she takes his umbrella. When meets a man sheltering from the rain, Hibari lends him Tatsumi’s umbrella. A memory of seeing the mother and son together is passed on also…
Yodogawa Ajiru sa do Yan no seikatsu to iken 
淀川アジール さどヤンの生活と意見 「Yodogawa Ajiru sa do Yan no seikatsu to iken」
Release Date: June 25th 2021
Duration: 14 mins.
Director: Yukio Tanaka
Writer: N/A
Starring: Naoyuki (Narration)
Synopsis: The minimalist and simple life of Sado Yan is given the documentary treatment. He has lived in a shack on the banks of the Yodogawa River in Osaka for 20 years and he earns a living by collecting aluminium cans, cleaning houses, and other odd jobs. He is also something of a craftsman who makes what he needs. To the eyes of the world, he looks just another homeless person, but he lives a consistently clean and uncomplicated life. People, objects, and even animals gather around him, but Sado Yan continues to live as he always does. We watch footage shot over three years, during which unpredictable events occur, such as a typhoon tidal wave that washes everything away and forces him to start from scratch. Through Sado Yan’s way of life, the film explores hints for living in a time of confusion.
Journey: Taiko Arabia Hantou de no Kiseki to Tatakai no Monogatari 
ジャーニー 太古アラビア半島での奇跡と戦いの物語 「Journey: Taiko Arabia Hantou de no Kiseki to Tatakai no Monogatari」
Release Date: June 25th 2021
Duration: 110 mins.
Director: Kobun Shizuno
Writer: Atsuhiro Tomioka (Script),
Starring: Toru Furuya (Aus), Kotono Mitsuishi (Hind), Hiroshi Kamiya (Zurara), Kazuya Nakai (Musab), Takaya Kuroda (Abraha),
Animation Production: Toei Animation
Synopsis: This is a Japanese–Saudi Arabian animated film co-produced by Toei Animation and the Saudi company Manga Productions. It is set in the ancient Arabian Peninsula. The people of the trading city of Mecca are in the path of the invading army of Abraha. A young man named Aus holds the fate of everyone in his hands but he has an unlikely backstory for a hero…
Sore Ike! Anpanman: Fuwa Fuwa Fuwaly to Kumo no Kuni 
それいけ！アンパンマン ふわふわフワリーと雲の国 「Journey: Taiko Arabia Hantou de no Kiseki to Tatakai no Monogatari」
Release Date: June 25th 2021
Duration: 110 mins.
Director: Jun Kawagoe
Writer: Shinzo Fujita (Script), Takashi Yanase (Original Novel)
Starring: Keiko Toda (Anpanman), Ryuusei Nakao (Baikinman), Kyoko Fukada (Fuwari), Hironari Yamazaki (Cloud Elder), Ren Umezawa (Hinotama Kozo)
Animation Production: TMS Entertainment
Synopsis: In order for flowers and plants to be healthy, Cloud Country travels to different lands to distribute clouds that can make rain and rainbows for various towns and stars. Anpanman, his friends, and the cloud child Fuwari must save Cloud Country.