Happy Weekend!
I hope you are well.
This is the second of three trailer posts (the first one can be found here) and it covers more live-action films. It’s a rainy Saturday where I am and I am splitting my time between Tactics Ogre and films. I’ll be recording a Heroic Purgatory podcast tomorrow. This week, I posted my annual previews of the London East Asian Film Festival, the BFI London Film Festival, the Vancouver International Film Festival, and, for the first time ever, the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival.
What else was released this weekend?
Flirtatious Asterism 
浮気なアステリズム 「Uwakina Asuterizumu」
Release Date: October 01st, 2021
Duration: 71 mins.
Director: Takashi Ono
Writer: Yuto Horigome (Script),
Starring: Noriko Sakimoto, Kaho Taguchi, Misuzu Koitabashi, Riku Tanaka, Konosuke Furuya,
Synopsis: In this romantic comedy, an human woman named Saeko is crying her heart out over being jilted by her ex-lover Hiroshi. What she doesn’t know is that he is actually an alien who has made females across the universe cry. She learns this after an alien woman named Chako confronts her and reveals she is on a mission to bring Hiroshi back. They head off on a journey to track him down and discover he is shacked up with ANOTHER WOMAN!
The Never-Ending Battle: New Coronavirus Infections and Public Health Centres 
終わりの見えない闘い 新型コロナウイルス感染症と保健所 「Owari no mienai tatakai shingata korona uirusu kansenshō to hokenjo」
Release Date: October 01st, 2021
Duration: 100 mins.
Director: Nobue Miyazaki
Writer: N/A
Starring: Noriko Sakimoto, Kaho Taguchi, Misuzu Koitabashi, Riku Tanaka, Konosuke Furuya,
Trailer on the website
Synopsis: A documentary that was shot over ten months that follows the activities of workers and nurses in Nakano Ward Public Health Centre in Tokyo as they battle to contain coronavirus infections. From the early summer of 2020 to March 2021, the team deal with phone calls that co-ordinate finding places for patients who need to be hospitalised and, as time wears on and hospitals run out of spaces, asking people to recuperate at home. All of the conflict and hard-won victories as people are placed in hospitals, are caught on camera.
The Wind that Blows on the Roof 
屋根の上に吹く風は 「Yane no ue ni fukukaze wa」
Release Date: October 02nd, 2021
Duration: 108 mins.
Director: Sakae Asada
Writer: N/A
Starring: Noriko Sakimoto, Kaho Taguchi, Misuzu Koitabashi, Riku Tanaka, Konosuke Furuya,
Synopsis: A documentary shot over a year at an independent school located in a rural area of Tottori Prefecture. The school aims to help children become independent and confident by giving them the chance to shape all aspects of the school by adults who provide support. The film shows the adults and children working together to create a nurturing learning environment.
RAMEN FEVER 
Release Date: October 02nd, 2021
Duration: 91 mins.
Director: Masato Kobayashi
Writer: Masato Kobayashi (Script),
Starring: Shigetoshi Nakamura, Hiroto Nakamura, Kazuyuki Takei, David Gelb, Maiko Nakamura, Hiromi Yamada, Rickmond Wong,
Synopsis: This documentary charts the worldwide fascination with RAMEN, the Japanese comfort that the manga character Naruto loves to wolf down. We get to see different chefs and their ways of making it. The prism of the relationship between the Nakamura brothers is used as one is a ramen master while the other is the CEO of popular ramen chain AFURI in Japan, the US and Portugal.
The next two films are a double-bill of Hideo Jojo works, the first featuring a script done by Rin Shuto who was involved in the 21st Century Girl omnibus film:
Hoshi gari Nana-chan hitokuchi, choudai
欲しがり奈々ちゃん ひとくち、ちょうだい 「Hoshi gari Nana-chan hitokuchi, chōdai」
Release Date: October 02nd, 2021
Duration: 70 mins.
Director: Hideo Jojo
Writer: Rin Shuto (Script),
Starring: Yura Kano, Fumio Moriya, Makoto Inamori, Toko Namiki, Tsubasa Miyakawa,
Synopsis: Nana has always been fascinated by the things that other people eat and carry but now that she’s an adult, it has morphed into a fetish for “men who seriously care about someone…”
Tobira wo Shimeta Jokyoushi
扉を閉めた女教師 「Tobira wo Shimeta Jokyoushi」
Release Date: October 03rd, 2021
Duration: 70 mins.
Director: Hideo Jojo
Writer: Hideo Jojo (Script),
Starring: Aika Yamagishi, Takeshi Yoshida, Yoshitaka Hosokawa, Moe Sakura, Daisuke Iijima,
Synopsis: A male student and a female teacher who are both bullied, are locked in a gymnasium just as summer vacation begins. Trapped together in such intense heat and harsh conditions, the relationship between the two begins to change…