Happy weekend
I hope you are well.
Since last week’s trailer post, my reworked review for Random Call and interview with its director, Riki Ohkanda, went up on V-Cinema, as did my reworked review of Bagmati River and my interview with its director Yusaku Matsumoto. There was also yesterday’s trailer post.
What else was released this weekend?
THE 3 Meisama Rimo-to dake ja Murija ne? 
THE3名様 リモートだけじゃ無理じゃね？ 「THE 3 Meisama Rimo-to dake ja Murija ne?」
Release Date: April 08th, 2022
Duration: 69 mins.
Director: Takeshi Moriya
Writer: Makochin Ishihara (Script/Original Manga),
Starring: Ryuuta Sato, Yoshinori Okada, Takashi Tsukamoto, Daisuke Kobayashi, Nashiko Momotsuki,
Synopsis: Apparently, Makochin Ishihara made a famous manga that has been adapted to film form many times before and this is the first new film in 12 years. The three familiar lead actors reprise their roles and are rejoined by Daisuke Kobayashi and Tamae Ando, who have played the family restaurant staff.
Tabi no Hajimari 
旅のはじまり 「Tabi no Hajimari」
Release Date: April 08th, 2022
Duration: 85 mins.
Director: Kazumi Matsumoto
Writer: N/A
Starring: N/A
Synopsis: A documentary that covers the experiences of young people who have suffered abuse, neglect, and/or committed acts of delinquency. This is done either through following the children themselves or the people who look after them at child guidance centres and halfway homes.
Kay 
Release Date: April 09th, 2022
Duration: 23 mins.
Director: Hironori Kujiraoka
Writer: Raita Nakashima (Script), Makochin Ishihara (Original Story),
Starring: Karin Nanase, Kazuyoshi Ozawa, Reiko Kataoka, Kaho Ito,
Synopsis: Kay’s memories of her father Taichi are few and uncharitable since he left her and her mother when she was very young. Upon learning about his death, she struggles to muster any emotion but when her mother Takako gives her Taichi’s old electric guitar as a memento, it sets in motion a reunion of sorts between her and her father who is supposed to be dead and this leads her to recall something he tried to tell her on the last day they spent together…
Shuuten wa Umi 
終点は海 「Shuuten wa Umi」
Release Date: April 09th, 2022
Duration: 23 mins.
Director: Hironori Kujiraoka
Writer: Hironori Kujiraoka (Script), ,
Starring: Yoriko Doguchi, Naoya Shimizu,
Director Hironori Kujiraoka created this short film as a mirror image of Kay and it will be screened alongside that film.
Synopsis: Akiko lives alone in an apartment by railroad tracks. When her estranged son Ren appears five years after they first fell out, they end up fighting again. Despite their fights, they go to a beach together to explain their feelings.
DUBHOUSE： Experience In Material No.52
DUBHOUSE：物質試行52 「Busshitsu Shiko 51: DUBHOUSE」
Release Date: April 09th, 2022
Duration: 16 mins.
Director: Kei Shichiri, Ryoji Suzuki
Writer: N/A
Starring: N/A
Synopsis from thee Yamagata site: A documentary that focuses on a video installation called “Experience In Material No.51: DUBHOUSE” by architect Ryoji Suzuki at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo in 2010. Its original concept of capturing the darkness produced by architecture was dramatically altered by the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11th, 2011. Shichiri begins by filming both the light and shadows produced by the works on display, and embeds Suzuki’s drawings of the disaster-hit regions within them. Cinemas are architectural structures where darkness is inherent. Films that attempt to emerge from that darkness are a form of emitted light, and at the same time they could be seen as a type of prayer. This is a metafilm on the subject of light and darkness, as well as a response to a historical event.
Once Upon a Dream 
眠り姫 「Nemuri Hime」
Running Time: 80 mins
Director: Kei Shichiri
Writer: Kei Shichiri (Screenplay), Naoki Yamamoto (Original Manga),
Starring: Tsugumi, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Koji Yamamoto, Saburo Otomo,
Kei Shichiri is an experimental filmmaker who has tackled a manga by Naoki Yamamoto. He has a good cast in Tsugumi (Noriko’s Dinner Table, Exte) and Hidetoshi Nishijima (a big star who I have only reviewed in a lead performance in License to Live). Shichiri crafts a story full of diverse images and sounds and voiceovers that make this an interesting experimental voyage into the life of a woman whose mental landscape loses sight of the boundary between dreams and reality. This is depicted with the voices and shadows of characters who do not appear on the screen.
Synopsis: Aochi (Tsugumi), a woman who refrains from heer teeaching job due to a lack of sleep. In reality, she sleeps for long periods of time but feels the need to slumber longer. She keeps dreaming about her strange dreams, and eventually she feels uncomfortable in reality
Also released is a Cinema Kabuki film.