Happy Weekend!
I hope you are well.
This is the second part of the two-part trailer post. The first part is here. I’m slowly getting back into writing reviews. I covered fascinating documentary Whiplash of the Dead on Wednesday. I also started watching films again with the 2013 Korean thriller Hide and Seek.
I’ll be covering Cowboy Bebop on Heroic Purgatory tomorrow, so I have reading to do!
What else was released this weekend in Japan?
Joint 
ジョイント 「Jointo」
Release Date: November 20th, 2021
Duration: 118 mins.
Director: Oudai Kojima
Writer: HAM-R (Script),
Starring: Ikken Yamamoto, Kim Jin-cheol, Kim Chang-bak, Keisuke Mitsui, Sogen Higuchi,
Joint is the debut feature of director Oudai Kojima and I saw it as part of the Osaka Asian Film Festival. I wish I could have seen it on a big screen but even on the small one I found that it’s a gripping film thanks to its atmosphere and stellar acting – A-tier stuff. Here’s my JOINT review and interview with Oudai Kojima, the director.
Synopsis: The story follows Takeshi Ishigami (Ikken Yamamoto), an ex-con who aims to leave his shady past behind. Before he can do that, he must return to a life of crime in Tokyo. Reacquainting himself with Yakuza contacts he restarts his “list business.” It’s an innocuous name used to describe harvesting information for fraud schemes. His path isn’t easy but as he painstakingly climbs his way out of the criminal underworld, he begins to attempt to drag his friends along. However, just as Takeshi thinks that he might get out, he is dragged back in as a gang war erupts.
Miyata Busters Co., Ltd. Feature Version 
宮田バスターズ（株） 大長編 「Miyata Basuta-zu (kabu) Dai chouhen」
Release Date: November 20th, 2021
Duration: 72 mins.
Director: Atsushi Sakata
Writer: Atsushi Sakata (Screenplay),
Starring: Naoya Watanabe, Mizuho Osu, Akira Kurihara, Jun Sada,
A true independent work, two years after the Miyata Busters short film at Kanazawa Film Fest, it gets a feature film adaptation with the director doing many of the technical aspects himself.
Synopsis: Miyata Busters, Inc. is a company which protects the citizens of Japan from space creatures but with the advancement of extermination technology, the demand for the company is falling steadily. That is, until the arrival of a new kind of space creature that is not affected by the latest equipment!
Cinderella in Cinema 
シンデレラ in Cinema 「Shinderera in Cinema」
Release Date: November 19th, 2021
Duration: 113 mins.
Director: Tetsuya Kumakawa
Writer: N/A
Starring: Sena Hidaka, Yuuya Takahashi,
To see the trailer, head to the site
Synopsis: A recording of Tetsuya Kumagawa’s K-Ballet Company adaptation of Sergei Prokofiev’s Cinderella, the classic tale of a beautiful and kind-hearted girl who is treated like a servant by her mean stepmother and two stepsisters, but goes on to marry a prince after meeting a fairy godmother.
12 Nin no Ikareta Workshop 
12人のイカれたワークショップ 「12 nin no Ikareta Wa-kushoppu」
Release Date: November 19th, 2021
Duration: 113 mins.
Director: Kiyotaka Taguchi, Jun Shimazaki
Writer: Kota Fukihara (Script),
Starring: Tsukasa Kamijo, Fumito Kawanaka, Miki Hatano, Anri Nakano, Kanna,
Synopsis: This documentary follows director Kiyotaka Taguchi (Ultraman series) and writer Kota Fukuhara (Final Fantasy XIV: The Movie: Dad of Light) working with a community workshop to create a unique film with elements of science fiction horror. The story takes place in a school where students have disappeared and the teachers find themselves trapped in a deadly game…
Merciless Light 
無慈悲な光 「Mujihina Hikari」
Release Date: November 19th, 2021
Duration: 99 mins.
Director: Kaji
Writer: Gurumi Enomoto (Script),
Starring: AIKA, Mikako Abe, Noa Eikawa, Ayano Kato, Tsubomi, Rei Kuruki,
Synopsis: A film adaptation of the same-named stage play which is famous for having a cast of sexy actresses but, in what might be a defiance of expectations(?), having a serious storyline about the nature of life and death. It takes place in a laboratory where animals that look like humans are gathered. They claim to be human but euthanasia awaits…
Jitaku Anchisukiru to Kaji Yousei 
自宅警備員と家事妖精 「Jitaku Anchisukiru to Kaji Yousei」
Release Date: November 20th, 2021
Duration: 99 mins.
Director: Takumi Fujimoto
Writer: Kikuchi Ushio (Script),
Starring: Shinichiro Osawa, Mai Kiryuu, Tony Nakajima, Takozo Hayashi,
Synopsis: In Hakodate, there is a grand Western-style house and Minoru Furukawa is looking after it for his uncle. At 45 year’s of age and a bachelor, he doesn;t have much else going for him other than being a “house guard.” When his uncle announces that he will sell the house, he begins to see a housekeeping fairy who is attached to the house and Minoru learns about its importance and why he must protect it.
Suimen no Akari 
水面のあかり 「Suimen no Akari」
Release Date: November 20th, 2021
Duration: 70 mins.
Director: Shin Watanabe
Writer: Shin Watanabe (Script),
Starring: Chika Kato, Kanji Tsuda, Atsushi Saito, Ichiro Yuki, Yuu Kawakami,
Synopsis: Akari is a reporter for a medical trade newspaper. She lost her father at an early age and has lost hope for the future but she begins to find meaning again when she undergoes regression hypnosis therapy with Professor Matsumoto, an expert in the field, as part of an interview, and learns that in her previous life, she died in the Keicho-Fushimi earthquake during the Momoyama period. Akari travels to Yamazaki in Kyoto to see if her memory of her past life is true. In so doing this, she comes to face her present reality…