Happy Weekend.
I hope you are well.
This is the second trailer post of the week. The first one can be found here. I took part in a podcast about Cowboy Bebop over at Heroic Purgatory. It was fun to revisit the series.
What else is released this weekend?
189 
Release Date: December 03rd, 2021
Duration: 109 mins.
Director: Ikuo Kamon
Writer: Haruko Nagatsu (Script),
Starring: Yuma Nakayama, Natsuna Watanabe, Yasuyuki Maekawa, Atsuki Tomori, Sei Hiraizumi,
Synopsis: 189 is a phone number that will put callers in contact with a Child Guidance Centre which is where cases of abuse are reported. Taiga Sakamoto is a rookie child welfare officer working in the abuse task force at Tokyo’s Tama-Minami Child Guidance Centre. He is on the verge of quitting after working on a case which ended with an abused girl returning to her mother and dying but when he receives a phone call from a hospital doctor informing him of another girl who is suffering what looks to be abuse, he works with an attorney named Shion Akiba try to prove that the girl was abused by her father.
MANKAI MOVIE「A3!」 SPRING & SUMMER 
Release Date: December 03rd, 2021
Duration: 95 mins.
Director: Kenji Kurata
Writer: Kenji Kurata (Screenplay),
Starring: Yuuki Maekawa, Ryugi Yokota, Toshiki Tateishi, Yamato Furuya, Sho Jinnai, Reo Honda,
This is based on a smartphone game that was released in 2017. The game puts the player in the position of a producer trying to train a group of actors. Each group is themed after a particular season. The film for the Autumn and Winter batch comes out next year.
Synopsis: Veludo, “Velvet Way,” is a street in a suburb of Tokyo where theatre companies operate. It is here that one particular company is languishing in debt and on the verge of being shut down. The film audience’s point of view will overlap with that of the female POV character, a former actress who, after receiving a mysterious letter, discovers this troupe and unexpectedly becomes the director in order to try and bring it back to its original glory. The victory conditions? Gather enough members for four units (spring, summer, fall, and winter) within the year, and to succeed in all four performances.
I Am a Cat! 
吾輩は猫である！ 「Wagahai wa Neko de aru」
Release Date: December 03rd, 2021
Duration: 121 mins.
Director: Nozomu Kasagi
Writer: Nozomu Kasagi (Script),
Starring: Rina Takeda, Momoe Kuroda, Haruka Imou, Kanji Tsuda, Shinji Matsubayashi,
Synopsis: This is a noir action film written and directed by Nozomu Kasagi, who was inspired by Natsume Soseki classic “I am a Cat.” It would be interesting to hear how as he crafts a tale of an amnesiac female fighter, another fighter, a guy who works part-time in the black market, and Suzu, a skateboard girl with parkour skills who find their fates intertwine as Suzu searches for her beloved white cat which has been stolen from her by a criminal organisation.
Resident of Alice 
アリスの住人 「Arisu no Juunin」
Release Date: December 04th, 2021
Duration: 64 mins.
Director: Keiichiro Sawa
Writer: Nozomu Kasagi (Script),
Starring: Rinka Kashimoto, Tanri, Yuka Ban, Kanane Tempaku, Harumi Shuhama,
Synopsis: Tsugumi lives in a foster home but at the age of 18, she will soon have to leave. She is still traumatised by the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her father and suffers “Alice in Wonderland Syndrome,” a condition in which someone feels small compared with their perception of the outside world. When Tsugumi meets a young man named Kenji and is invited to see the ocean, she finds herself on the verge of more dramatic changes about to erupt…
Rehearsal Hall 
稽古場 「Keikojou」
Release Date: December 04th, 2021
Duration: 66 mins.
Director: Yoshihiro Nakamura, Shin Adachi, Shoji Kubota
Writer: Yoshihiro Nakamura, Shin Adachi, Shoji Kubota (Script),
Starring: Daisuke Matsuki, Ayaka Nakagochi, Meiri Mochizuki, Kotomi Hirota, Karin Nishina, Yasunori Yokoe, Ayumi Nakano, Yasushi Toyama, Arisa Takarada,
Synopsis: Three top directors have made a low-budget film with actors who participated in an acting workshop. The stories all take place in a workshop setting and include two former lovers reuniting, and the breakup of an unsuccessful idol group.
A Nineteen Year-old’s Plan 
十九歳の地図「Jukyusai no Chizu」
Release Date: December 01st, 1979
Duration: 66 mins.
Director: Mitsuo Yanagimachi,
Writer: Mitsuo Yanagimachi, (Script), Kenji Nakagami (Original Novel),
Starring: Yuji Honma, Keizo Kanie, Hideko Okiyama, Chisako Hara, Aoi Nakajima, Tadao Nakamura,
This was the sophomore feature of Mitsuo Yanagimachi.
Synopsis: A 19-year-old young man who is going to prep school while staying at a newspaper office makes a map of the neighbourhood in which he delivers newspapers and writes down the details of each family, recording their habits and rating how much he dislikes them. Every house marked with a cross gets harassed by this guy who feels intense dissatisfaction with life…