Happy Weekend!
I hope you are well!
This week, I covered some films and news items: the first being a news announcement about DAFILMS and the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival putting up 10 documentaries from the festival’s 32-year history online for people to view for free. I then posted my review of one of those films, A Movie Capital (Dir: Toshio Iizuka). I then posted a preview of the Japanese films programmed for this year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam. I then, last but not least, posted the first half of the trailer post.
What else was released this weekend?
Mitabime no, Shojiki 
三度目の、正直 「Mitabime no, Shojiki」
Release Date: January 22nd, 2022
Duration: 112 mins.
Director: Tadashi Nohara
Writer: Tadashi Nohara, Rira Kawamura (Script),
Starring: Rira Kawamura, Katsuyuki Kobayashi, Hiromi Demura, Chisa Kawamura, Yasunobu Tanabe,
Tadashi Nohara, the man who, along with Ryusuk Hamaguchi, co-wrote the screenplays for Kiyoshi Kurosawa‘s The Wife of a Spy and Happy Hour, makes his directorial debut with this film. One of its stars is Rira Kawamura, who shared the Best Actress Award at the Locarno International Film Festival with her Happy Hour castmates. The film was shot in Kobe, where Happy Hour was also set.
Synopsis: Haru Tsukishima has been hit by empty nest syndrome following her stepson moving to Canada to study. Having experienced a miscarriage in the past, these feelings are sharpened. When she encounters a young man suffering amnesia, she believes that he is a gift from God and wants to raise him herself. Meanwhile, Haru’s younger brother, Tsuyoshi, a musician, is raising a four-year-old child with his wife, Mikako, but she is suffering mental anxiety. The feelings of each of them come out in the city of Kobe.
Gekijouban Butai `Touken Ranbu’ Giden Akatsuki no Dokuganryu 
劇場版 舞台「刀剣乱舞」義伝 暁の独眼竜 「Gekijouban Butai `Touken Ranbu’ Giden Akatsuki no dokuganryuu」
Release Date: January 21st, 2022
Duration: 196 mins.
Director: Kenichi Suemitsu
Writer: Kenichi Suemitsu (Script), “Touken Ranbu ONLINE” (DMM GAMES / Nitroplus (Original Game),
Starring: Hiroki Suzuki, Yoshihiko Aramaki, Hiroki Ino, Keisuke Higashi,
This is the second instalment of the 2.5D Touken Ranbu stage plays, based on a popular browser game. Sounds and visuals have been re-edited or added to in order to differentiate it from a blu-ray release.
Synopsis: The boys get sent to 1600 to prevent history revisionists from altering the outcome of the Battle of Sekigahara.
Togenkyo-teki musume 
桃源郷的娘 「Togenkyo-teki musume」
Release Date: January 21st, 2022
Duration: 57 mins.
Director: Kei Oota
Writer: Kei Oota (Script), Yasunari Kawabata (Original Story)
Starring: Takayasu Komiya, Yui Kawagoe, Kentaro Nagasato, Chieko Misaka,
Writer/director Kei Oota works for Nikkatsu and was inspired by Yasunari Kawabata’s novel “The House of Sleeping Beauties” to make this film, in which, he pays homage to Seijun Suzuki and Tatsumi Kamishiro.
Synopsis: A young woman, who is very naïve, dreams of acquiring a wonderful lover and becoming rich by ensnaring someone while sleeping, is discovered on a park bench by an old homeless man who has lost his virility…
Hora-chan Neru Jikobukken 
ホラーちゃんねる 事故物件「Hora-chan Neru Jikobukken」
Release Date: January 21st, 2022
Duration: 71 mins.
Director: Takafumi Ohashi, Genki Mochizuki
Writer: Yayoi Koori (Script),
Starring: Momoka Oonishi, KAZUYA, Kokoro Shinozaki, Iori Nomizu, Sakura Mita,
This is an omnibus horror film from “Horror Channel,” a YouTube channel specializing in horror. There are seven stories and they are set in “accidental properties.” Each story features a cast made up of idols, cosplayers, models, and voice actors.
Synopsis: Miho Kashina is an idol who is doing some work on a radio programme. For her next episode, she has to visit an apartment where someone has died in the past. This is a “stigmatised property” and these places have bad auras (think Ju-on) that people try to avoid. When the radio programme starts to record, things start to get strange.
Ojidoru, Yakuza 
おじドル，ヤクザ 「Ojidoru, Yakuza」
Release Date: January 22nd, 2022
Duration: 82 mins.
Director: Hiroaki Okawa
Writer: Hiroaki Okawa (Script),
Starring: Hiroaki Okawa, Keisuke Hikosaka, Sayaka Tashiro, Miwako Izumi, Sakura Enomoto, Daisuke Matsushiro,
This buddy movie depicts the friendship between two middle-aged men who are polar opposites. It was written and directed and edited by Hiroaki Okawa, vocalist of the ska-core band “RUDE BONES,” and he also composed the music.
Synopsis: Kaneda is a 42-year-old yakuza who once had a fearsome reputation but since becoming a germaphobe, he has become an outsider in his gang and has been assigned a job collecting debts. One of the debtors he calls upon is Azuma, 44 year-old guy who lives with his elderly parents and works as an underground idol named “Azupon”. Kaneda finds Azupon’s positive and carefree attitude irritating at first but soon begins to develop special feelings for him.