Happy Weekend
I hope you are well
This is the second of a two-part trailer post. The first part is here.
The above image is from my interview with Fumito Fujikawa on his film The Light of Spring. I saw it as part of this year’s Osaka Asian Film Festival.
In terms of film stuff, I’ve been doing festival work and I have dug out some Wong Kar-Wai films in preparation for an episode of Heroic Purgatory.
Despite having completed the game multiple times, the release of Tactics Ogre Reborn saw me pick up my PS Vita version of Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. I’m continuing my latest run of Tactics Ogre by collecting characters on alternate routes and generally speccing my characters out with insanely strong abilities.
What else was released this weekend?
Vin Japonais the story of Nihon Wine 
Vin Japonais ヴァン・ジャポネ the story of NIHON WINE 「Vin Japonais the story of Nihon Wine」
Release Date: November 25th, 2022
Duration: 147 mins.
Director: NORIZO
Writer: N/A
Starring: Frederic Cayuela, Florent Dabadi,
Synopsis: Japanese wine? It isn’t world famous like French or Portuguese wines but it could be. This documentary aims to take us into the realm of Japanese vino by showing major wine-producing regions of Japan like Yamanashi, Nagano, Hokkaido, and Niigata, and their various traditions. It will introduce us to historical details and reveal influential figures such as Zenbei Kawakami, the “father of Japanese wine.” Also on screen are the people who sell the stuff. We are given this whirlwind tour by Frederic Cayuela, a wine commentator, and Florent Dabadi, a writer and journalist. Both are French so they know what they are talking about.
This is the work of director NORIZO, a person who has done a lot to promote Japanese wines including serving as editor-in-chief of Nihon Wine.jp and produced videos on wine and wineries.
Mayhem Girls 
メイヘムガールズ 「Meihemu Ga-ruzu」
Release Date: November 26th, 2022
Duration: 98 mins.
Director: Shinichi Fujita
Writer: Shinichi Fujita, Erika Nakayama (Script),
Starring: Mizuki Yoshida, Manami Igashira, Amane Kamiya, Hina Kikuchi, Taisei Kido,
Synopsis: The COVID pandemic means that social distancing and wearing masks are in for good and this doesn’t sit well with Mizuho and her high school girl friends, all of whom are frustrated that festivals and so forth are being cancelled. Each of these girls finds their supernatural powers awakened: Tamaki has telepathic powers, Akane can teleport, and Kei can fly. When Mizuho’s former tutor, Yusuke, discovers their psychic abilities, a battle begins…
Daradara 
ダラダラ 「Daradara」
Release Date: November 26th, 2022
Duration: 94 mins.
Director: Tatsuro Yamashiro
Writer: Ryuta Kawasaki (Script),
Starring: Noriyuki Urano, Yua Ashihara, Yota Kawase, Misa Wada, Shinji Imaoka, Takuya Matsunaga, Ippei Osako, Miho Ninagawa,
This is the debut film from Tatsuro Yamashiro and it features some storied talents like director Shinji Imaoka (Reiko and the Dolphin, Far Away, Further Away), Yota Kawase (Being Natural, The Kamagasaki Cauldron War) and actor/director/musician Atsuro Shimoyashiro (The Modern Lovers) who provides the score here.
Synopsis: When he loses his job because his company goes bust due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a young man named Ryotaro becomes a food delivery man. Things get worse… He discovers that his live-in girlfriend Kazuki is having an affair and she doesn’t care about his feelings. Ryotaro is down in the dumps until he meets Satori, a married woman who asks him to have an affair with her…
Nohoue Nagareru 
の方へ、流れる 「Nohoue Nagareru」
Release Date: November 26th, 2022
Duration: 62 mins.
Director: Yusutomo Chikuma
Writer: Yusutomo Chikuma (Script),
Starring: Erika Karata, Yuya Endo, Sakiko Kato, Tomomitsu Adachi, Taiga Komizu,
Erika Karata is making more of a comeback. She is starring opposite Yuya Endo (Onoda), Sakiko Kato (Torao), and Tomomitsu Adachi (The Sower, Hold Your Breath Like a Lover)
Synopsis: After quitting her job, Satomi begins working at her sister’s store which is where she meets Tomonori, a man who is waiting for his girlfriend. On a whim, the two have a conversation arrives while walking the streets of Tokyo. Due to being strangers, they feel freer around each other and it isn’t long before they fall in love…
She Is Me, I Am Her 
ワタシの中の彼女 「Watashi no Naka no Kanojo」
Release Date: November 26th, 2022
Duration: 70 mins.
Director: Mayu Nakamura
Writer: Mayu Nakamura (Script),
Starring: Nahana, Fusako Urabe, Kota Kusano, Masao Yoshii, Miyoko Asada, Yu Uemura,
Mayu Nakamura follows on from Intimate Stranger with this four-part omnibus film set during the Covid pandemic where each section features single-named actor Nahana. I interviewed Mayu Nakamura last year about her film Among Four of Us and afterwards she talked about expanding upon it so it is exciting to see that the work has paid off as she has three other parts that are just as high quality by the sounds of the review at the Japan Times.
Synopsis: Four stories featuring women battling anxiety, and loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic with Nahana appearing in each of them.
First we get “Among the Four of Us,” where three former college friends reconnect to reminisce over their days in the drama club only for the absence of a fourth person to weigh heavily on them. “Someone to Watch Over Me,” sees a woman working from home making a food delivery man eat meals she orders and we slowly find out why. “Ms. Ghost,” features a based-on-real-life story of a sex worker encountering an older homeless woman and finding they have a lot in common, quite tragically. Finally comes “Deceive Me Sweetly,” where a blind woman is visited by a telephone scammer (ore ore) who has targeted her mother.