Happy Weekend!
I hope you are well.
And so, this is the second of a two-part trailer post covering a weekend made up mostly of zero-budget horror movies, the usual anime omnibus movie (although there was an original title), schoolgirl stuff etc. This particular post contains a couple of more arthouse movies and an action film. Also, I published my review of The Sound of Grass.
Ring Wandering 
リング・ワンダリング 「Ringu Wanderingu」
Release Date: February 19th, 2022
Duration: 103 mins.
Director: Masakazu Kaneko
Writer: Masakazu Kaneko, Genki Yoshimura (Screenplay),
Starring: Sho Kasamatsu, Junko Abe, Reiko Kataoka, Toru Shinagawa, Ken Yasuda, Yoji Tanaka, Hatsunori Hasegawa,
Sho Kasamatsu, lead actor in glossy hip-hop saga Flowers and Rain, goes arthouse in his portrayal of a manga artist looking for inspiration. He has a strong supporting cast including Reiko Kataoka and Ken Yasuda. The film is set in an older area of Tokyo that is being re-developed and it mixes past and present in a magical realist way. The film had its world premiere in the International Competition of the Warsaw Film Festival.
Synopsis: Sosuke aims to be a Manga artist but his story of a hunter’s battle with a Japanese wolf is hard to realise since he struggles to draw a believable wolf figure. He supports himself as a dayworker and it is a fateful discovery of an animal skull on a construction site that leads him into an artistic and physical journey aided by a mysterious girl….
Nishinari Goro’s 400 Million Yen Death Fight 
西成ゴローの四億円 死闘篇 「Nishinari Goro no Shi oku-en Shito-hen」
Release Date: February 19th, 2022
Duration: 124 mins.
Director: Yudai Uenishi
Writer: Yudai Uenishi (Script),
Starring: Eiji Okuda, Kanji Tsuda, Mami Yamasaki, Takasi Sasano, Houka Kinoshita, Ai Furukawa, Yudai Uenishi, Renji Ishibashi,
Synopsis: Goro Haji is a day labourer who lives in Osaka’s Nishinari ward. He has a reputation as a strong man but also the moniker “Goro the Murderer” because murder is what got him sent to the joint. The truth is that he was a secret government agent and he has a wife and daughter. When his memories come back and he hears that his daughter has a disease, he decides to earn 400 million yen to find a way to ease her pain. However, following on from the last film, he discovers that another intelligence agent has framed him for bringing the disease into the country and there is a shadowy conspiracy involving criminal gangs.
Hotel Iris 
ホテルアイリス 「Hoteru Airisu」
Release Date: February 18th, 2022
Duration: 126 mins.
Director: Hiroshi Okuhara
Writer: Sayaka Okawa (Script), Yoko Ogawa (Original Novel),
Starring: Masatoshi Nagase, Lucia, Nahana, Kanichiro, Lee Kang-sheng
I wrote about this for the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021.
Synopsis: Somewhere on the coast of Taiwan is Hotel Iris, a mouldering seaside establishment run by a cold and thrifty Japanese woman (Nahana) and her lonely half-Taiwanese daughter Mari (Lucia). One night, Mari hears the cries of a woman from the upper floors. Heading up to investigate, she witnesses a distraught woman in a red camisole dress escape an impeccably dressed but violent man (NAGASE Masatoshi) whose cold voice is entrancing. Mari’s initial shock turns into a strange fascination which drives her to follow the man to discover more about him. He is a translator who lives on an isolated island one can only reach by boat and rumours swirl around him and recent murders. The closer she gets to the man, the more a hidden layer of Mari’s personality awakens as she allows herself to be engulfed by his strange passions…
OGAWA Yoko’s disturbing tale of sadomasochistic love and twisted desire is brought to the screen in an appropriately minimalist adaptation that features the same psychological examination and elegant violence and disturbing eroticism but brought to the screen by stirring performances from NAGASE Masatoshi and Lucia.
Ghost Cat Rhapsody 
怪猫狂騒曲 「Kaibyo Kyoso Kyoku」
Release Date: February 18th, 2022
Duration: 60 mins.
Director: Hiroto Yokokawa
Writer: Hiroto Yokokawa (Script),
Starring: Masanori Kikuzawa, Mai Saito, Yukari Taki, Takeshi Tsuruno, Noboru Sato,
Synopsis from the website: 3Y Film, makers of THE GREAT BUDDHA ARRIVAL and NEZURA 1964, have done a fresh take on the classic legend of the Ghost Cat which has been seen in dozens of movies such as THE GHOST CAT AND THE MYSTERIOUS SHAMISEN (1938), GHOST CAT OF NABESHIME (1949), THE GHOST CAT OF OUMA CROSSING (1954), BLACK CAT MANSION (1958) and THE GHOST CAT OF OTAMA POND (1960). As with their previous projects, 3Y Film is looking to revive a long-lost tokusatsu genre for the modern age.
SHIROMI 
銀鏡 SHIROMI 「SHIROMI」
Release Date: February 19th, 2022
Duration: 113 mins.
Director: Tomoaki Akasaka
Writer: N/A
Starring: N/A
Synopsis: A documentary that documents the people of the village of Shiroumi, Miyazaki Prefecture, who perform Kagura dances that are 500 years old.
Inukoro-tachi no Uta 
犬ころたちの唄 「Inukoro-tachi no Uta」
Release Date: February 18th, 2022
Duration: 91 mins.
Director: Tami Maeda,
Writer: Shingo Kajita (Script),
Starring: Mikaka, Jacky, Nokkun,
Synopsis: A film about a family made up of guys all connected by music but with varying attitudes to it. They only get together once in a while but find their lives begin to change on the anniversary of their father’s death. It stars Mikaka, Jacky, and Nokon of the Hiroshima-based vocal music unit Midnight Brothers.
Watashi, Idol Yamemasu 
私、アイドル辞めます 「Watashi, Aidoru Yamemasu」
Release Date: February 18th, 2022
Duration: 25 mins.
Director: Ikumi Kawaida
Writer: Ikumi Kawaida (Script), Hanasaku (Original Story),
Starring: Miku, Sumire Kudo, Mizu Komaki,
Synopsis: This is a live-action film adaptation of the Twitter manga and the cast consists of idols. Chiuri has been longing to be an idol since she was a little girl. After passing an audition for an idol, she moved to Tokyo, and worked hard day after day, but nothing came of it, and four years passed by. Finally deciding to retire, Chiuri apologizes to her fans at her retirement live for not living up to their expectations, but the response from her fans is unexpected.
Other films:
Mirror Liar Films vol 2
Another Touken Ranbu stageplay recording