Happy Weekend!
I hope you are well!
This is the first of a two-part trailer post so come back tomorrow for more. This first instalment has a nice variety of feature films while tomorrow’s has more shorts.
What are the first bunch of films released this weekend?
Offbeat Cops 
異動辞令は音楽隊！ 「 Ido Jirei wa Ongakutai!」
Release Date: August 26th, 2022
Duration: 119 mins.
Director: Eiji Uchida
Writer: Eiji Uchida (Script),
Starring: Hiroshi Abe, Nana Seino, Hayato Isomura, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Mitsuko Baisho, Ai Mikami,
Leading man Hiroshi Abe (Still Walking, After the Storm) scores a fun role in an original film by Eiji Uchida Greatful Dead (2013), Lowlife Love (2015), and Love and Other Cults (2017). Watching it is an enjoyable time and I reviewed it when it played at the New York Asian Film Festival 2022. Abe had to learn the drums for this role.
Synopsis: Tsukasa Naruse (Hiroshi Abe) is a veteran detective of 30 years until his loose cannon get him busted by his by-the-book politically correct superiors and he gets bounced from the street beat to being the unwilling drummer of the police orchestra. Naruse struggles to find purpose but soon finds a chance for redemption with the backing of the band.
Akira and Akira 
アキラとあきら 「Akira to Akira」
Release Date: August 26th, 2022
Duration: 128 mins.
Director: Takahiro Miki
Writer: Natsuko Ikeda (Script), Jun Ikeido (Original Novel),
Starring: Ryona Takeuchi, Ryusei Yokohama, Moka Kamishiraishi, Shinnosuke Mitsushima, Eiji Okuda, Erika Mabuchi, Naho Toda, Shohei Uno,
Takahiro Miki is having quite a time with three big-budget films over the last year – Tang, Even if this Love Disappears from the World Tonight. His latest is a film adaptation of the novel of the same name which has already been adapted into a TV show.
Synopsis: Akira Kaido and Akira Yamazaki are both employees at a major bank and they are fierce rivals with different ideals as Yamazaki’s hard-luck background sees him try to save people while Kaido, with his wealthy background, has no clue about how normal people live and continues in his job like a robot. In the film, Yamazaki hits a rough patch and gets demoted while Kaido’s stock is on the rise but when his family’s company is about to go bankrupt and a crisis looms, their fortunes change!
Green Bullet 
グリーンバレット 「Guri-n Baretto」
Release Date: August 26th, 2022
Duration: 128 mins.
Director: Yugo Sakamoto
Writer: Yugo Sakamoto (Script),
Starring: Karen Izumi, Miyabi Yamaoka, Kiki Amano, Yui Tsuji, Rino Oshima, Karen Naito,
Synopsis: Yugo Sakamoto, who took the world by storm with Baby Assassins, has made a sequel to his mockumentary Legendary Hit-man, Kunioka (Saikyou koroshiya densetsu Kunioka kanzenban), which depicts six young women who all aspire to become professional assassins and participate in a boot camp for killing where Kunioka, the strongest assassin in Kyoto, serves as their instructor. Rivalries ensue but then the “Foxhunters,” a group of deadly assassins, arrive at the camp with the intention of taking out Kunioka and the six girls.
Gekido 
激怒 「Gekido」
Release Date: August 26th, 2022
Duration: 100 mins.
Director: Yoshiki Takahashi
Writer: Yoshiki Takahashi (Script),
Starring: Yota Kawase, Eita Okuno, Manzo Shinra, Shingo Mizusawa, Ryuju Kobayashi,
Yota Kawase of Being Natural (2018) fame stars in this original film from Yoshiki Takahashi, one of the writers on Cold Fish (2011).
Synopsis: Fukama is a detective with anger-management issues so severe, his superiors send him overseas for treatment at a medical facility in the hopes that it can stop him from beating people up. When he returns to Japan a few years later, he finds that his city has changed as vigilantes have cleaned the place up, but his anger is still there and threatens to blow up under this new regime…
Sky of Non-Self 
でくの空 「Deku no Sora」
Release Date: August 26th, 2022
Duration: 90 mins.
Director: Haruka Shima
Writer: Haruka Shima (Script),
Starring: Taihei Hayashiya, Mieko Yuki, Mami Kumagai, Pe Hayashi, Ai Ikeda, Yoichi Toyama,
Taihei Hayashiya is a rakugo storyteller who takes on a dramatic role in this earnest film set in Chichibu City and Yorii Town in Saitama Prefecture.
Synopsis: Shusuke quit being an electrician when his sole employee dies in a work-related accident. Shusuke feels deep remorse since he asked the man to take on extra work and the deceased leaves a wife, child, and elderly mother behind. Taking refuge with his father, Shusuke tries to make amends by taking part in a “helper” scheme and this is how he ends up helping the deceased-employee’s mother, an avid sculptor. The two, in their interactions, help each other overcome the death of the son.
Hito 
人 「Hito」
Release Date: August 26th, 2022
Duration: 39 mins.
Director: Ryutaro Yamaguchi
Writer: Rei Tsuruga (Script),
Starring: Kaito Yoshimura, Misato Tanaka, Ami Tomita, Minehiro Kinomoto, Yutaka Gobuichi, Kanji Tsuda,
Kaito Yoshimura is steadily racking up credits with work in titles like Love and Other Cults, and Far Away, Further Away. He takes on a fantasy short film with support from strong talents like Ami Tomita and Kanji Tsuda.
Synopsis: Kenichi’s family run a surf store on Kujukuri Beach, Chiba Prefecture. When he is killed in an accident, he returns to his parents’ house as a ghost to find his father Takuro, who passed away several years ago, is a ghost haunting the place, and that his mother, Ayako, can see ghosts.