Happy Weekend!
I hope you are well.
This is a bit of a procrastination day. Finished work, did some gardening, watched an episode of The X-Files.
This week I wrote about the Heroic Purgatory podcast recording I did that covered the Japan Society’s retrospective of Kazuo Hara and Sachiko Kobayashi’s films. I then wrote a review for their films The Many Faces of Chika and A Dedicated Life. I wanted to cover Reiwa Uprising but that’ll have to be for next week.
This week I watched Shin, Shin, Shin (2011) and Antonym (2014) from Japan, Symptoms (1974) from the UK, and I started season 1 of The X-Files. I forgot just how much of a procedural/office drama it was at a first. That stuff is really good! I watched it when it first came out so revisiting it has been a nostalgia trip.
What is released this weekend in Japan?
The Asian Angel 
アジアの天使 「Ajia no Tenshi」
Release Date: July 02nd, 2021
Duration: 128 mins.
Director: Yuya Ishii
Writer: Yuya Ishii (Script),
Starring: Sosuke Ikematsu, Moon Choi, Joe Odagiri, Kim Min-Jae,
The Asian Angel is an original film by writer/director Yuya Ishii, a young talent who rose to prominence on the back of indie films like Sawako Decides (2010) and Mitsuko Delivers (2011) before he was catapulted into the mainstream with his hit 2013 film The Great Passage, a title which netted him a number of Best Director accolades, including one at the 2013 Japanese Academy Awards which made him the youngest winner in the event’s history. His global reputation rose further with The Tokyo Night Sky Is Always the Densest Shade of Blue for which he was given Best Director at the 2018 Asian Film Awards. Last year, he returned to his indie roots with All the Things We Never Said, a fine drama. This was the closing film of the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021.
Synopsis: Following the death of his wife, young novelist Takeshi Aoki (Sosuke Ikematsu) has been raising his eight-year-old son Manabu alone. He quits Japan with his boy and travels to Seoul hoping to stay with his estranged older brother Toru (Joe Odagiri) but what he discovers is that his brother’s life is nothing like he was told as the man struggles to make a living importing dubious cosmetics. In a foreign land and barely able to speak the language, when Toru’s business partner disappears on him, Takeshi must step up and help his brother in another scheme somewhere in the countryside.
Meanwhile, a struggling singer named Choi Seol (Moon Choi) is embroiled in a relationship with the controlling president of her talent agency. With no parents to call on and an older brother and younger sister to support, Seol submits to the pressure her label puts her under to perform what they tell her but when she is dropped by them and dumped by her lover she loses her purpose in life. Cast adrift, she heads to her family home in the countryside and this is when she fatefully meets Takeshi…
Napoleon and Me 
ナポレオンと私 「Naporeon to Watashi」
Release Date: July 02nd 2021
Duration: 84 mins.
Director: Yusuke Koroyasu
Writer: Noriko Suzuki (Script), Takashi Suzuki (Original Novel)
Starring: Rina Takeda, Shogo Hama, Toshiyuki Someya, Yui Murata, Reira Arai, Kenta Oikawa,
Synopsis: Haruko Ohara (Rina Takeda) has hit the age of 28 and works at WEB Production Company where everyone around her is getting married. As far as Haruko goes, the best she can muster in terms of romantic history is that she has a crush on her co-worker Shingo Iwata (Toshiyuki Someya). One day, when playing an Otome game, the historical character Napoleon (Shogo Hama) appears on the screen and pledges to help her find true happiness in real life…
The Seven Deadly Sins the Movie: Cursed By Light 
七つの大罪 光に呪われし者たち 「Nanatsu no Taizai: Hikari ni Norowareshi Mono-tachi」
Release Date: July 02nd, 2021
Running Time: 79 mins.
Director: Takayuki Hamana
Writer: Rintaro Ikeda (Screenplay), Nakaba Suzuki (Original Creator)
Starring: Yuuki Kaji (Meliodas), Aoi Yuki (Diane), Jun Fukuyama (King), Maaya Sakamoto (Merlin), Sora Amamiya (Elizabeth Liones),
Animation Production: A-1 Pictures
This is the second feature film version of the same-named TV animation and it is an original story by the manga’s author that continues the saga.
Synopsis: Following the “Holy War” fought against the demon gods, peace has been restored to the world and Meliodas sets out on a journey with Elizabeth to visit the places of his memories and reunites with his brother Zeldris. Meanwhile, the wedding of King of the Fairy Tribe and Diane of the Giant Tribe is disrupted by an attack by Dahlia, the second fairy king, and Dubs, of the giant race. It seems that the Seven Deadly Sins will have to gather once again to save everyone.
Don Quixote in Cinema 
ドン・キホーテ in Cinema 「Don Kiho-te」
Release Date: July 02nd 2021
Duration: 113 mins.
Director: Tetsuya Kumagawa
Writer: N/A
Starring: Nozomi Iijima, Masaya Yamamoto, Kei Sugino,
Synopsis: This is a recording of a performance of Don Quixote by the K Ballet Company, led by Tetsuya Kumagawa, Japan’s leading dancer and choreographer. The performance was held on May 23, 2021 at Bunkamura Orchard Hall. and it was recorded in 4K. Nozomi Iijima, former principal of the Houston Ballet and a beauty ambassador for Chanel, made her first appearance at the K-Ballet here where she plays the role of Kitri.
Shoku no Anzen o Mamoru Hitobito 
食の安全を守る人々 「Shoku no Anzen o Mamoru Hitobito」
Release Date: July 02nd 2021
Duration: 103 mins.
Director: Masaki Haramura
Writer: N/A
Starring: Aya Sugimoto (Narration)
Synopsis: A documentary that takes a closer look at what the media is not telling us about food by interviewing people in Japan, the US, and South Korea, all of whom are searching for a sustainable future for agriculture and food at a time when there is deregulation of farming standards, the use of chemicals and GM foods etc and a push for organic food.
Bakemon 
バケモン 「Bakemon」
Release Date: July 02nd 2021
Duration: 120 mins.
Director: Shingo Yamane
Writer: Noriko Suzuki (Script), Takashi Suzuki (Original Novel)
Starring: Shofukutei Tsurube, Teruyuki Kagawa (Narrator),
Synopsis: A documentary that follows rakugo storyteller Shofukutei Tsurube (Dear Doctor) for 17 years. It comes from veteran TV director Shingo Yamane and is based on about 1,600 hours of footage he shot himself. It starts in 2004 when he filmed Tsurube’s rakugo story “Camel” without permission and captures 2020 with the Coronavirus pandemic and Tsurube’s announcement that he would do a rakugo tour across the country. The film is narrated by Teruyuki Kagawa (Tokyo Sonata, Creepy, Key of Life).
Sugiyuku Minamo 
過ぎ行くみなも 「Sugiyuku Minamo」
Release Date: July 03rd 2021
Duration: 77 mins.
Director: Reika Kawabe
Writer: Reika Kawabe (Script),
Starring: Mayu Iino, Tomomi Mizusawa, Takahiro Ono, Chieko Misaka, Yoichi Imamura, Yui Nakajima,
Synopsis: Ryo, a high school girl living unhappily with her father, becomes friends with Mine, a lonely housewife who has been experiencing a growing rift with her husband over fertility treatment. The two decide to live together.