Happy Weekend, AGAIN!
I hope you are well.
This is the second trailer post of the week (first one here). Prisoners of the Ghostland is also released in Japan. Since it’s Halloween season, I have been watching horror movies: Ghost House, The House of Witches, The House of Clocks, The House of Lost Souls. These are low-budget Italian horror movies by Lenzi and Fulci. While they are far from the directors best works, they each have something that makes them worth watching – great set, cinematography etc. I haven’t decided what I will review for Halloween yet but the Heroic Purgatory podcast has given me an idea…
What else was released this weekend?
Gekijouban Dakaretai Otoko 1-i ni Odosarete Imasu. Spain-hen 
劇場版 抱かれたい男1位に脅されています。 スペイン編 「Gekijouban Dakaretai Otoko 1-i ni Odosarete Imasu. Movie: Supein-hen」
Release Date: October 09th, 2021
Duration: 119 mins
Director: Naoyuki Tatsuwa
Writer: Yoshimi Narita (Screenplay), Hashigo Sakurabi (Original Creator)
Starring: Hiroshi Takahashi (Takato Saijyo), Yuuki Ono (Junta Azumaya), Kousuke Toriumi (Kazuomi Usaka), Takuya Sato (Chihiro Ayagi), Yuma Uchida (Ryo Narumiya),
Animation Production: CloverWorks
An anime adaptation of a boys love manga.
Synopsis: Takato Saiyjo is a veteran actor and he rules the idol industry as “the most handsome man” for five years in a row. His position is usurped by newcomer Junta Azumaya who is smoother than his rough-hewn rival. In a case of opposites attract, the two eventually became a couple and decide to perform together in “Blood Wedding,” a two-person stage show that incorporates flamenco. However, rivalries and personal slights get between the two…
How We Work, How We Live 
人と仕事 「Hito to Shigoto」
Release Date: October 08th, 2021
Duration: 97 mins.
Director: Yukihiro Morigaki
Writer: N/A
Starring: Kasumi Arimura, Jun Shison,
Synopsis: A documentary in which leading actors Kasumi Arimura and Jun Shison report on the current situation of workers who bear the brunt of the Covid-19 situation in Japan. The project came about in 2020 when the production of a feature film starring Arimura and Shison was halted by the threat of Covid-19 and a state of emergency was declared. The film’s producer Mitsunobu Kawamura (The Journalist, Pancake o Dokumi suru) has progressive politics by the sound of things and so he changed the film from a fiction to a documentary project to capture the lives of working people. Interviewees include nursing students, women struggling as single mothers, child guidance centre workers, farmers, and essential workers.
Saikyou Koroshiya Densetsu Kunioka Kanzenhan 
最強殺し屋伝説国岡 完全版 「Saikyou Koroshiya Densetsu Kunioka Kanzenhan」
Release Date: October 08th, 2021
Duration: 93 mins.
Director: Yugo Sakamoto
Writer: Hitomi Kase (Script),
Starring: Masayuki Ino, Shiori Ueno, Kengo Yoshii, Takuya Matsumoto,
Synopsis: Director Yugo Sakamoto is back with his third film of the year following Baby Assassins and Yellow Dragon’s Village. It depicts the daily lifeof a hit man in a Man Bite Dog type of documentary by the looks of things. It is also a bit meta as Sakamoto gets introduced to the “Kansai Assassins Association” while doing research for Baby Assassins. He meets Masayuki Kunioka, a freelance contract assassin known to be the strongest in Kyoto, and follows him with a camera to record what he does. Of course, things go awry…
Love’s Quarter-final Game 
恋愛準々決勝戦 「Renai Junjun Kesshousen」
Release Date: October 08th, 2021
Duration: 50 mins.
Director: Takumi Kohama
Writer: Takumi Kohama (Script),
Starring: Minami Saeki, Mutsumi Suzuki, Akihiro Shibayama,
Synopsis: Director Takumi Kohama hails from Okinawa and worked as a camera assistant at the news bureau of Ryukyu Broadcasting Corporation before moving to Tokyo to pursue a career as a film director. He makes his theatrical debut with this film which is about a love triangle between a man and two women, based on the theme of “what it means to love.”
Uta to Hitsuji to Hitsujikai 
歌と羊と羊飼い 「Uta to Hitsuji to Hitsujikai」
Release Date: October 09th, 2021
Duration: 56 mins.
Director: Shikai Kyodai
Writer: N/A
Starring: Aisa Mishio, HIKARU, MARISA, Rev.Taisuke, Minako Sugimoto,
Synopsis: When you think of gospel music, you think of African-American church goers rocking out in the pulpits and pews. Did you ever consider Japanese? There are approximately 200,000 gospel singers in Japan and more than 90% are non-Christians, and non-religious. Moreover, regular people are familiar with gospel music. This is, apparently, a phenomenon unique to Japan. This documentary follows a group of gospel singers and musicians who go around the world getting involved in contests, getting active in church, and even a housewife who finds her life is changed by gospel music. By following them, the film reveals why Japanese get involved with gospel music.
Cosmetic DNA 
コスメティックエ ディーエヌエー「Kosumetikku Di-enu-e-」
Release Date: October 09th, 2021
Duration: 109 mins.
Director: Kenya Okubo
Writer: Kenya Okubo (Script),
Starring: Itsuki Fujii, Ruka Nakano, Rina Kawasaki, Ryo Yoshioka, Kenta Ishida,
Synopsis: A splatter musical about an art college student and budding cosmetics expert who gets a taste for the red stuff. It took a top prize at last year’s Yubari Fest. The central protag is a young woman named Ayaka who is drugged, and sexually assaulted by a self-proclaimed director named Keisuke. She survives but the damage lingers, but through meeting with a graduate student named Satomi and a clothes shop assistant named Yumi, Ayaka gradually regains her composure. Everything goes haywire when she learns that Keisuke’s next target for assault is Yumi. Ayaka suddenly kills him to protect her new-found friend and in the process of disposing of the corpse, she realises that human blood can be an ideal ingredient for cosmetics…