Happy Weekend
This is the second part of the two-part trailer post for this week. You can find the first part here.
I have been a very busy bee when it comes to movies as I have recently got access to Netflix and binged a number of shows like Spriggan and Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities. I have also watched Silver Streak, Taxi Driver, Warriors of Future and Triple Frontier. On top of that, I watched Torso, 13, and I have resumed festival work. Also prepping for an episode of Heroic Purgatory dedicated to Wong Kar-Wai’s In the Mood for Love.
What are the other films that are released this weekend?
Kawaita Hachi 
渇いた鉢 「Kawaita Hachi」
Release Date: December 10th, 2022
Duration: 96 mins.
Director: Kenichi Ugana
Writer: Hikaru Kimura (Script),
Starring: Kazuki Abe, Koji Mitsumizo, Ryunosuke Higashi, Hajime Hagino, Kokoro Aoshima, Yuuya Matsuura,
Kenichi Ugana of Extraneous Matter fame had a selection of shorts out last weekend and now this is his latest feature.
Synopsis: Daichi Matsumura’s family was ruined after a murder and a media firestorm. Since then he has lived with hatred for the murderer, the media, and people who hounded his wife and himself. He also feels deep remorse for not being able to protect his family. While others are able to forget what happened, Daichi cannot and he wanders the streets lost in loneliness…
Kita Kaze Dattari, Taiyou Dattari 
北風だったり、太陽だったり 「Kita Kaze Dattari, Taiyou Dattari」
Release Date: December 10th, 2022
Duration: 35 mins.
Director: Ryu Morioka
Writer: Ryu Morioka (Script),
Starring: Ichiro Hashimoto, Osamu Adachi, Noa Kawazoe, Takuma Fujie, Yoshiki Urayama, Junko Miyabe,
Ryu Morioka is an actor and this is his second directorial effort.
Synopsis: The comedy duo “Kitakaze and Taiyo” broke up when one of them was locked up for a violent incident. Their former manager Hayama has just gotten married and wants to let the members know so he rounds up the one outside of prison to follow him to meet the one who is inside prison to deliver the message.
Tsuibamu Kuchibashi 
啄む嘴 「Tsuibamu Kuchibashi」
Release Date: December 10th, 2022
Duration: 52 mins.
Director: Asato Watanabe
Writer: Suisui Fukaido, Asato Watanabe (Script),
Starring: Marina Yoshimi, Emiko Mase, Norio Toyota, Shin Kunieda, Shiho,
Asato Watanabe follows his first feature film A Dobugawa Dream with this medium-length film.
Synopsis: A softly-spoken man with a taut smile is roaming the night in his car in a search for his “dog.” Meanwhile, a woman named Shiori Nakajima is fleeing someone through a residential area and arrives at a logistics warehouse where she is rescued by a female factory worker named Mai Yazaki. When one of them is injured and unable to move, they have to work together again. What is going on???
Niwa no Sunaba GARDEN SANDBOX 
にわのすなば GARDEN SANDBOX 「Niwa no Sunaba GARDEN SANDBOX」
Release Date: December 10th, 2022
Duration: 70 mins.
Director: Yukinori Kurokawa
Writer: Yukinori Kurokawa, Ikuhiro Yamagata, Emi Kobayashi (Script),
Starring: Marino Kawashima, Yukino Murakami, Kazuki Niiya,
This played earlier this year at FID Marseille which is great place to scope out potentially interesting Japanese indie films. It is the first feature film produced by Kinokoya, a café-bar in Tama district of Tokyo that screens independent films. It was shot in Ryoke, Kawaguchi City, a once prosperous area due to its foundries. The film depicts the changing landscape and character of the place, as seen through the wandering figure of the protagonist.
Synopsis: Sakaguchi’s friend invites him to an interview for a part-time job in an unfamiliar town called Tobako (standing in for Kawaguchi) but Sakaguchi turns it down because of the nature of the work. As he tries to go home, he wanders around the town and has various encounters…
From Fingertips to the Universe: Wonderful Animated Short Films
Screening at Shibuya Eurospace for a week and then travelling nationwide is a programme organised by New Deer. There are a selection of animated short films from around the world for audiences to watch. Japanese ones listed below (big names involved):
Bird in the Peninsula
半島の鳥 「Hanto no Tori」
Release Date: December 10th, 2022
Duration: 16 mins
Director: Atsushi Wada
Writer: Atsushi Wada (Screenplay)
Starring: Laura Rincon (Granny), Atsushi Wada (Boy, Girl, Father and Dog),
Animation Production: New Deer, Tokio
This is a Japanese-French co-production and it first appeared at Berlinale 2022.
Synopsis: A girl observing boys rehearsing a ritual for adulthood chases the after one of the boys chases who has left proceedings to follow a strange bird. She follows him without knowing why and one day, the boy will no longer be able to see the bird either.
Anxious Body
不安な体 「Fuanna Karada」
Release Date: 2021
Duration: 5 mins
Director: Yoriko Mizushiri
Writer: Yoriko Mizushiri (Screenplay)
Starring: N/A
Animation Production: New Deer, Miyu Productions, Towada Art Center
This is a Japan-France co-production which was commissioned work for the exhibition “Inter+Play at the Towada Art Center and was on display from January to May 2021 before being screened at Cannes 2021.
Synopsis (from the website): Living things, artificial things, geometry shapes, and lines. When these different things encounter, a new direction is born. Desiring it as the sense of touch, things keep chasing it forever. Animation of tactility you only can let yourself go with the streaming of the images.
Eternity
Release Date: 2022
Duration: 21 mins
Director: Mirai Mizue
Writer: Mirai Mizue
Starring: N/A
Animation Production: New Deer, Mirai Film
Synopsis: A short animation by Mirai Mizue. It depicts eternity as seen in the eyes of a boy who wakes up.
I’m Late
Release Date: 2022
Duration: 10 mins
Director: Sawako Kabuki
Writer: N/A
Starring: N/A
Animation Production: New Deer, Miyu Productions
Synopsis: Animation artist and illustrator Sawako Kabuki brings a short about a woman’s period and what happens when it is late. This is an award-winning film that has taken the Audience Award at the Image Forum Festival in Tokyo.