Happy Weekend
I hope you are well.
This is part two of the trailer post following yesterday’s opener. This week, I posted a news article about the release of Zokki and I also posted a great interview with the filmmaker Daisuke Miyazaki. It has been a low-energy week/year for me but I do have more in the pipeline.
One thing I will write about is the free films that are currently on offer with the Short Shorts Film Festival and Asia 2022 which are available to an international audience. Just sign up to watch a collection of shorts, including Boy Sprouted, which I saw at the Osaka Asian Film Festival.
To cap it all off, I talked about Drive My Car last night for the upcoming episode of Heroic Purgatory. Also mentioned were other adaptations of Haruki Murakami’s stories, Norwegian Wood, Tony Takitani, and Burning. I also talked about Archive 81, the Ti West horror film X, and the first episode of the TV adaptation of Halo.
What else was released this weekend?
Gekijouban Re:cycle of Penguindrum Part One Kimi no Ressha wa Seizon Senryaku / Your Train Is the Survival Strategy 
劇場版 RE:cycle of the PENGUINDRUM 前編 君の列車は生存戦略 「 Gekijouban Re:cycle of Penguindrum Zenpen Kimi no Ressha wa Seizon Senryaku」
Release Date: April 29th, 2022
Duration: 124 mins
Director: Kunihiko Ikuhara
Writer: Kunihiko Ikuhara, Takayo Ikami (Screenplay),
Starring: Miho Arakawa (Himari Takakura), Ryohei Kimura (Shoma Takakura), Subaru Kimura (Kanba Takakura), Marie Miyake (Ringo Oginome), Aki Toyosaki (Momoka Oginome),
Animation Production: Brain’s Base (TV Anime), Lapin Track (Film Re-edit animation)
I was a big fan of the TV anime when it aired but, despite getting the DVDs, haven’t watched it since. This film project re-edits all 24 episodes into a two-part film. It also adds new sequences and new characters.
Synopsis from back when I was enthusiastic about anime: Three siblings, twin-brothers Kanba and Shouma, and their terminally-ill sister Himari Takakura live together at home without their parents. Kanba and Shouma dote on Himari as any day could be her last. One day, when the siblings are out on a trip to the aquarium, Himari collapses. Taken to hospital it seems that Himari is finished but a miracle occurs when a spirit in a penguin-shaped hat revives her but in exchange for keeping Himari alive the spirit asks the Takakura brothers to acquire an item named the Penguin Drum which is in the possession of a girl named Ringo. Their only help is a trio of penguins that only they can see.
Waga Seishun Tsukirutomo Ito Chiyoko no Shoga 
わが青春つきるとも 伊藤千代子の生涯 「Waga Seishun Tsukirutomo Ito Chiyoko no Shoga」
Release Date: April 29th, 2022
Duration: 125 mins.
Director: Souzaburo Katsura
Writer: Souzaburo Katsura, Hideo Miyaoki (Script), Hiroto Fujita (Story),
Starring: Yuriko Inoue, Shunsuke Tsubozuka, Kenjiro Ishimaru, Masane Tsukayama, Kanako Tsukase,
This is based on a real-life person and seems like a warning from history as conservative groups around the world work hard to censor free speech and thought.
Synopsis: Chiyoko Ito was a leftist who studied socialist at Tokyo Women’s University. She married Akura Asano who was a member of the Labor-Noho Party and took part in industrial action at a silk mill. Their work with Labor-Nobo Party brought them together but it was also the reason that they fell afoul of the 1925 Public Security Law which suppressed freedom of thought and speech and in 1928 Chiyoko was arrested and imprisoned. Despite standing strong as a labour leader confined in harsh circumstances, when her husband betrayed her and their ideals…
Boku no Ichiban Sukidatta Hito 
僕の一番好きだった人 「Boku no Ichiban Sukidatta Hito」
Release Date: April 30th, 2022
Duration: 44 mins.
Director: Naho Kamimura
Writer: Naho Kamimura (Script),
Starring: Rei Hirano, Yo Hasegawa
Synopsis: A young woman named Yuu attempts to commit suicide by drowning herself in water but she changes her mind and drags herself back to land. Kanoe, who witnessed the scene, falls in love with Yuu and the two cohabit in a secluded house where Kanoe paints pictures using Yuu. During this precious time, their bodies, hearts, and mind blend together.
to… 
Release Date: April 30th, 2022
Duration: 82 mins.
Director: Shumpei Shiono
Writer: Shumpei Shiono (Script),
Starring: Masaru Uematsu, Kaoru Higashide, Yosuke Shimizu, Kiara Aikawa, Shino Takeuchi,
This is an omnibus film by up-and-coming director Shumpei Shiono and fellow students from Chuo University. Each of the three stories uses the Covid-19 pandemic as its backdrop.
Synopsis: “Komatsu x Tatsuno” sees Komatsu two students meet in Tokyo as their lectures go online and one has returned to their hometown. “Hikaru x Kaname” follows another set of young people, one whose parents’ Chinese restaurant is losing customers due Covid-19 and the other who is looking for a job and feeling anxious about the future. “Ouchi x Kusumoto” shows the relationship between a stage actor and a high school girl who attends performances.
Cironnup Kamuy Iomante 
チロンヌプカムイ イオマンテ 「Chironepu Kamui Iomante」
Release Date: April 30th, 2022
Duration: 105 mins.
Director: Minao Kitamura
Writer: N/A
Starring: N/A
Synopsis: This is a 2K restoration of a documentary originally shot in 1986 by Minao Kitamura, a filmmaker who travelled across Asia recording the customs of different groups of people. His film records the Ainu ritual of Cironnup Kamuy Iomante (sending off the spirit of the fox) at Bihoro Pass, overlooking Lake Kussharo. The Ainu believe that animals come to the land of humans with their own meat and fur as souvenirs and so the Ainu raise a fox as if it were their own child, and then they would pray to it and make it happy with songs and dances, and then they would send it off to the land of the gods with a gift on its back.
There is also the screenings of Cinema Kabuki: Sakura Hime Azuma Bunsho Jou no maki