Happy Weekend!
I hope you are well.
I’m in festival mode now, so that means I am writing about lots of films that will screen at the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022. I wrote about the fest earlier this week – OAFF 2022 In Theatres, Online, and International. I also posted about the three Japanese films at the Glasgow Film Festival. I also posted the first trailer post!
What else was released this weekend?
Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2205: Aratanaru Tabidachi – Koushou: STASHA 
宇宙戦艦ヤマト2205 新たなる旅立ち 後章 STASHA 「Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2205: Aratanaru Tabidachi – Koushou: STASHA」
Release Date: February 04th, 2022
Duration: 102 mins.
Director: Kenji Yasuda
Writer: Harutoshi Fukui, Hideki Oka (Script), Leiji Matsumoto, Yoshinobu Nishizaki (Original Creator)
Starring: Daisuke Ono (Susumu Kodai), Houko Kuwashima (Yuki Mori), Chitose Morinaga (Caroline Raiden), Kenichi Suzumura (Daisuke Shima), Kent Ito (Shigeru Sakamoto), Kikuko Inoue (Stasha Iscandar), Koichi Yamadera (Abelt Dessler),
Animation Production: Satelight
Synopsis: The remakes of the classic anime Space Battleship Yamato continue apace with this entry that is inspired by the second of two chapters based on the 1979 TV special Space Battleship Yamato: A New Departure. Three years have passed since the battle against the White Comet Empire and a band of people known as the Gamilas are in search of a home planet. They have come to the Milky Way Galaxy after tracking down a suitable place but this sets off a territorial dispute that soon involves Earth who take the side of the Gamilas people. As the Gamilas migrate to a new home, half of their fleet is destroyed by a mysterious enemy known as Destrium, the leader of the Dark Grand Fleet, who plans to take the twin star Iskandar away. In order to rescue the 100,000 surviving Gamilans and Queen Stasha, Desler and Space Battleship Yamato are deployed.
Tracing Her Shadow 
再会の奈良 「Saikai no Nara」
Release Date: February 04th, 2022
Duration: 99 mins.
Director: Peng Fei Song
Writer: Peng Fei Song (Script),
Starring: Ying Ze, Wu Yanshu, Jun Kunimura, Shintaro Akiyama, Masatoshi Nagase,
This film, Japan-China co-production, was produced by Naomi Kawase and Jia Zhang-ke and screened at the Nara International Film Festival 2020. The film is directed by Peng Fei Song, a man whose previous credits include having worked as an assistant director and co-writer for Tsai Ming-Liang on his films.
Synopsis: Following World War II, many Japanese war orphans were adopted by families in Northeast China before returning to Japan. Grandma Chen travels from China to Nara with the hope of learning where the girl she had raised as her own daughter has ended up. With the help of her granddaughter Xiaoze, who has spent many years living in Japan, and a retired police officer named Kazuo, she searches Nara to find her adopted daughter. With limited knowledge they follow her trail, making friends and discovering a unique human experience.
Still Dreamin’: Tomoyasu Hotei Jounetsu to Eikou no Guitarhythm 
Still Dreamin’ 布袋寅泰 情熱と栄光のギタリズム 「Still Dreamin’ Hotei Tomoyasu Jounetsu to Eikou no Gitarizumu」
Release Date: February 04th, 2022
Duration: 85 mins.
Director: Yusuke Ishida
Writer: N/A
Starring: Tomoyasu Hotei
Synopsis: This documentary film was made to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Tomoyasu Hotei’s career and it features Hotei narrating the entire thing as he relates his struggles and dreams over a 40-year career. It contains a lot of never-before-seen footage, including various live performances since 1988 and interviews. It also includes more recent footage such as Tomoyasu Hotei’s private recordings of living through the Covid-19 lockdown in his home in London and a live performance without an audience at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo in January 2021 where he gets personal.
You’ve Got a Friend 
夕方のおともだち 「Yuugata no Otomodachi」
Release Date: February 04th, 2022
Duration: 115 mins.
Director: Ryuichi Hiroki
Writer: Hisako Kurosawa (Script), Naoki Yamamoto (Original Manga),
Starring: Jun Murakami, Nahana, Masao Yoshii, Momoko Ayukawa, Shima Onishi,
Naoki Yamamoto’s manga gets adapted by Ryuichi Hiroki.
Synopsis: The story surrounds a city worker named Yoshio Yoshida. Ostensibly a bit of a square who lives with his bedridden mother, behind the earnest image h presents is a super-masochist who frequents the town’s only SM club to be dominated by Miho. Lately, he hasn’t been able to get into the act and he realises it is because he misses Yukiko, the “legendary queen” who awakened his masochist tendencies. One day, Yoshio goes fishing with Miho and sees Yukiko and sets off in pursuit…
Dreaming School 
夢みる小学校 「Yumemiru Shougakkou 」
Release Date: February 04th, 2022
Duration: 91 mins.
Director: Vin Oota
Writer: Vin Oota (Script),
Starring: Shinichiro Hori, Naoki Ogi, Kenichiro Mogi, Genichiro Takahashi,
Synopsis: A documentary that focusses on schools known for their unique educational policy. There is Minami-Alps Children’s Village Elementary School in Yamanashi Prefecture, where kids are taught under the three principles of self-determination, individualization, and inquiry-based learning, Ina Elementary School in Ina City, Nagano Prefecture, which has been offering integrated learning for 60 years, and Sakuragaoka Junior High School in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, which has abolished school rules and regular tests.