Happy Weekend
I hope you are well
Yesterday’s trailer post had a nice selection of features while this one has mostly shorts.
This week I worked my way through the early-2000s American B-cinema-esque TV show Special Unit 2 and I also started playing Dragon’s Crown again. I posted about the Japanese films playing at the Venice International Film Festival and I also posted a review for the Keisuke Yoshida film The Workhorse and the Bigmouth. The only film I watched was Lee Chang-Dong’s 2018 film Burning which I will be talking about on the Heroic Purgatory podcast.
Speaking of Heroic Purgatory, the latest episode dropped and it covers the 2008 Japanese film Departures. Our next topic will be Lee Chang-dong’s 2018 film Burning.
What else is released this weekend?
Bagmati River 
バグマティ リバー 「Bagumati Riba-」
Release Date: August 27th, 2022
Duration: 29 mins.
Director: Yusaku Matsumoto
Writer: Yusaku Matsumoto (Screenplay),
Starring: Junko Abe, Kenji Kohashi, Man Bahadur Gurung,
This film received its world premiere at the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022 where it won a Housen Short Film Award Special Mention for lead actress Junko Abe’s performance. Yusaku Matsumoto has a feature film out at the moment, too.
Synopsis: Natsuki (ABE Junko) travels from Japan to Nepal after she receives an anonymous postcard with a picture of Mt. Everest printed on the back. It reminds her of her brother Kenji, who went missing while attempting to climb Everest. Natsuki has always wondered about his motivations, what kind of person he was, and who he was close to. While Natsuki realises she doesn’t know her brother at all, she still believes that the postcard was sent by him and decides to go to Everest to find the answers to her questions.
Director MATSUMOTO Yusaku initially planned to make a documentary about KURIKI Nobukazu, a well-known mountain climber, but it became a tribute after KURIKI tragically died during an attempt to scale Everest. Shot on location in Nepal with DP KISHI Kentaro (Noise, The Sower), MATSUMOTO uses the story a woman’s ascent of Everest and the film’s audio and visuals to powerfully convey the awe-inspiring landscape, the exertion involved in inhabiting it, and the spiritual lessons it can impart.
Muito Prazer 
ムイト・プラゼール「Mutio Puraze-ru」
Release Date: August 27th, 2022
Duration: 31 mins.
Director: Park Jen-gil
Writer: Park Jen-gil (Screenplay)
Starring: Chong Sun-yong, Debora Barbosa Eguchi, Mion Fujii, Rodrigo Sato, Yuki Yamazaki, Kazutoshi Kawabe,
Muito Prazer is Portuguese for “much pleasure” and it is the title of a drama shot with non-professional actors who explore an issue pertinent to our age which is experiencing demands for social justice.
The film played at Skip City D-Cinema Festival in 2020 where it won the Audience Award for Japanese Short.
Synopsis: High school teacher Kanamoto is the adviser of the international exchange club and she takes her charges to visit a school in Ibaraki for Brazilians of Japanese descent. What they get is a hostile reception as the Brazilian students have faced repeated discrimination and abuse. Will the two groups be able to bridge the gap between them?
Welcome to the Occult Forest: The Movie 
オカルトの森へようこそ THE MOVIE 「Okaruto no Mori e youkoso THE MOVIE」
Release Date: August 27th, 2022
Duration: 123 mins.
Director: Koji Shiraishi
Writer: Koji Shiraishi (Script),
Starring: Koji Shiraishi, Mayu Hotta, Shohei Uno Miwako Kakei, Hiroki Iijima, Junpei Hashino, Marika Yamakawa,
This is the film version of a WOWOW Original Drama. Both this film and the drama are directed by and star Koji Shiraishi of Noroi (2005) fame as he uses his career/movies for material. A short film called The Visitor will be screened as well.
Synopsis: A washed-up horror film director named Koji Kuroishi (Koji Shiraishi) heads deep into the woods in a set of mountains with his assistant director Miho Ichikawa (Mayu Hotta) to shoot a film at a haunted house where a crazy and beautiful woman named Maria Miyoshi (Miwako Kakei)) lives. She’s a fan. She claims to have experienced the same things that show up in Kuroishi’s films. And, wouldn’t you know it, strange stuff starts happening and Kuroishi is on site to record it with the help of a ragtag team.
Distant Thunder 
とおいらいめい 「Tooi Raimei」
Release Date: August 27th, 2022
Duration: 150 mins.
Director: Takayuki Ohashi
Writer: Takayuki Ohashi (Script),
Starring: Akari Takaishi, Tomomi Fukikoshi, Miharu Tanaka, Sho Mineo, Mizuho Osu, Takehiko Fujita, Harumi Shuhama,
Distant Thunder is a disaster movie with a threat similar to Melancholia – meteorite and all – and it features a family drama and more sci-fi elements. It played at Skip City D-Cinema Festival. It was adapted from the 2004 stage play of the same name by an independent film production unit called Rune Cinema, formed by Harumi Shuhama (One Cut of the Dead). It’s a visually gorgeous film.
Synopsis: The year is 2020 and a comet will strike the Earth in a few months. During this time, three sisters, Ayane, the eldest, Kanon, the middle one, and Ono, the youngest and a half-sister by blood, stay together in the family home. Ayane designs disasters shelters and brings her work with her while Kanon tries to reignite a relationship with a local guy. Oto, still a teen, observes the adults around her and learns of a secret incident that happened with Ayane and Kanon…
Naretara 
なれたら 「Naretara」
Release Date: August 27th, 2022
Duration: 24 mins.
Director: Naoya Matsuda
Writer: Naoya Matsuda, Nanami, Takumi Koyama, Nakaji Nakashima, (Script),
Starring: Erika Denya, Rei Yamashita, Saki Hanaoka, Koki Kawamoto, Tomotaka Tsuji, Nanami,
Rock band Split end, who hail from Nara, teamed up with director Naoya Matsuda for this short film which visualises the world of Split end’s EP “moratorium” released last year in September.
Synopsis: Yumi is a nice girl who is kind and liked by everyone. Maybe her lack of assertiveness is the reason. When she meets Ryosuke, a rock musician, they enter into a relationship where they seem happy on the surface, but…