Happy Weekend, again!
I hope you are well!
This week, I watched Robocop and Rain Man since they were on Amazon Prime. I hope to start publishing reviews next week, especially for some of the free (and legal) films over at Cinematheque Francaise – these are festival films that haven’t had home distribution and they include absorbing titles like Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Touching the Skin of Eeriness (just finished its run) and Yohei Suzuki’s Ow and Natsuka Kusano’s Domains (absolutely brilliant!).
What else was released this weekend?
Haruhara-san’s Recorder 
春原さんのうた 「Haruhara-san no Uta」
Release Date: January 08th, 2022
Duration: 120 mins.
Director: Kiyoshi Sugita
Writer: Kiyoshi Sugita (Screenplay),
Starring: Chika Araki, Saho Ito, Takenori Kaneko, Mizuho Nojima, Misaki Kitamura, Ryo Anraku, DEG,
This film is based on a tanka poem which Tokyo Filmex has put up:
“Gazing on / The stamp of address unknown / The recorder / Played by Haruhara-san”
This is from author and poet Naoko Higashi’s first volume of poetry. The film had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Marseille where it won the Audience Award, Acting Award, and the Grand Prix.
Synopsis: After losing someone close to her, Sachi seeks to start afresh and quits her job at a gallery and starts working part-time at a café. One of the regulars at the café suggests moving into an apartment, which she does but the memory of her partner whom she’ll never meet again remains in her heart. We watch her everyday life as she slowly comes out of mourning…
Hitotsu Bocchi 
ひとつぼっち「 Hitotsu Bocchi」
Release Date: January 08th, 2022
Duration: 76 mins.
Director: Shingo Soejima
Writer: Jun Haru (Script),
Starring: Kotoha Hiroyama, Tae Mimura, Yoritsugu Ikenoue, Nahoko Kinoshita,
Jun Haru based the screenplay of this film on his own experiences. It was selected as a finalist for the 2009 Hashida Award for New Writers.
Synopsis: It has been many years since Namiko was abandoned by her abusive mother Hanae, but those horrible memories come flooding back when the woman is brought into her care since she is suffering from dementia. Tormented by those memories and a desire to be loved, Namiko struggles to care for the woman. When Hanae’s memory returns one time, a comment flings Namiko into more emotional turmoil…
Silence Sunset 
静謐と夕暮「 Seihitsu to Yuugure」
Release Date: January 08th, 2022
Duration: 136 mins.
Director: Kazufumi Umemura
Writer: Kazufumi Umemura (Script),
Starring: Mari Yamamoto, Takashi Irie, Takehisa Ishida, Chisa Hasegawa, Yomi Nakacho,
This is the feature film debut of director Kazufumi Umemura and it was his graduation project from the Department of Cinema Studies at Kyoto University of Art and Design in 2019.
Synopsis: A riverbank unites the protagonists of this film, their story beginning with a photographer who sees a female writer handing a bundle of manuscripts to an old man, the details of which are about her life in the small town they all inhabit.
March 8th, 3rd Year of Bunroku 
文禄三年三月八日 「Bunroku San-nen San-gatsu Hatsuka」
Release Date: January 08th, 2022
Duration: 72 mins.
Director: Akiharai Hokuin
Writer: Yukie Ochiai (Script),
Starring: Ken Matsudaira, Izumi Motoya, Sara, Saki, Hanna, Kyonosuke Masago,
Synopsis: This story depicts the battle between the swordsman Jubei Yagyu and the ninja Hattori Hanzo as the two get caught up in the power struggles fought by Tokugawa Ieyasu and Hidedeyoshi Toyotomi.