Happy Weekend
This is the first of a two-part trailer post. Come back tomorrow for the second part.
What are the first batch of films released this weekend?
Small, Slow But Steady 
ケイコ 目を澄ませて 「Keiko, me wo sumasete」
Release Date: December 16th, 2022
Duration: 99 mins.
Director: Sho Miyake
Writer: Sho Miyake, Masaaki Sakai (Script), Keiko Ogasawara (Original Autobiographical Book),
Starring: Yukino Kishii, Tomokazu Miura, Masaki Miura, Shinichiro Matsuura, Himi Sato,
Sho Miyake (Wild Tour, And Your Bird Can Sing) helms this international co-production involving a French company.
The story of the film was inspired by Keiko Ogasawara’s autobiographical book Makenaide!, and it stars Yukino Kishii (Just Only Love), as the boxer, and Tomokazu Miura (Adrift in Tokyo, The Taste of Tea), as her trainer.
It earned great reviews after it played at Berlinale 2022 and programmers point out the beauty of the 16mm image and power of the main character’s growth.
Synopsis: Growing up with a hearing impairment, one would expect Keiko to avoid something as challenging as boxing but the club she belongs to became like a second home to her and now she is about to face her third fight. While preparing, she has to confront anxiety and the fact that the gym she spends so much time in will be closing soon. Somehow, she digs deep into herself to find the strength to fight!
Vertigo (Memai) 
眩暈 VERTIGO 「Memai VERTIGO」
Release Date: December 13th, 2022
Duration: 117 mins.
Director: Haruo Inoue
Writer: N/A
Starring: Gozo Yoshimasu,
Synopsis: A documentary about the poet Gozo Yoshimasu who was a close friend of American avant-garde artist/filmmaker Jonas Mekas. Yoshimasu had connections with Mekas stretching back to 1985 and in 2020 he went to New York to write a memorial poem for him. Director Inoue has previously worked on films featuring Yoshimasu.
Dr. Coto’s Clinic 
Dr.コトー診療所 「Dr. Koto- Shinryousho」
Release Date: December 16th, 2022
Duration: 134 mins.
Director: Isamu Nakae
Writer: Noriko Yoshida (Script), Takatoshi Yamada (Original Manga),
Starring: Hidetaka Yoshioka, Kou Shibasaki, Saburo Tokito, Nene Otsuka, Yu Aoi, Ayumi Ito, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Kaoru Kobayashi,
Synopsis: This film is the first sequel in 16 years to a TV adaptation of a manga. It follows the titular Dr. Goto, a surgeon who left Tokyo after making a mistake and took charge of a clinic on a small island in Okinawa. His presence there helped the islanders and he became a valued member of their remote society and married nurse Ayaka. Despite the stability of the place, change is in the air…
Grandfather’s Clock 
大きな古時計 劇場版 「Ookina Furudokei Gekijouban」
Release Date: December 16th, 2022
Duration: 83 mins.
Director: Koji Kobayashi
Writer: Yoshinobu Fujioka (Script),
Starring: Marika Matsumoto, Satoshi Matsuda, Taigo Fujisawa, Chika Fujimura, Saburo Kitamura,
This is a drama about the making of a famous song. The drama was originally produced as an online film in 2006. A theatrical version with additional filming and re-editing was made.
Synopsis: After losing their parents in a car accident, Kohei and Masaya, reopen the family’s small seaside hotel but nobody visits. The only noise is the ticking of the large pillar clock that their father had bought. Then, one day, a woman named Ayaka arrives at the hotel without a reservation and the clock starts ringing. This is a sign that she was fated to meet them and she proves to have an impact on the boys.
Doomsday Detective / Old School
終末の探偵 「Shumatsu no Tantei」
Release Date: December 16th, 2022
Duration: 80 mins.
Director: Kotaro Ikawa
Writer: Futoshi Nakano, Norio Kida (Script),
Starring: Yukiya Kimura, Yohei Matsukado, Iriya Take, Yuzu Aoki, Akari Takaishi, Atomu Mizuishi,
Synopsis: Shinjiro is a private eye who works out of a coffee shop. When a night gambling leaves him in trouble, he gets involved with yakuza and a case of arson. Meanwhile, Shinjiro is asked by Michiko, whose Filipino parents were deported in the past, to search for her best friend, a Kurdish woman who mysteriously disappeared…
Senjo Kisha 
戦場記者 「Senjou Kisha」
Release Date: December 16th, 2022
Duration: 102 mins.
Director: Hiroshi Sukagawa
Writer: N/A
Starring: Hiroshi Sukagawa
Synopsis: This is a documentary details the work of Hiroshi Sukagawa, the Middle East Bureau Chief for TBS TV’s news show. He has travelled around the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia, and other parts of the world for Japanese news programs and he has also been using YouTube and social networking services to communicate the truth behind the news.
Sobakasu 
そばかす 「Sobakasu」
Release Date: December 16th, 2022
Duration: 104 mins.
Director: Shinya Tamada
Writer: Atsushi Asada (Script/Original Story),
Starring: Toko Miura, Atsuko Maeda, Marika Ito, Kou Maehara, Takumi Kitamura, Ku Iijima, Hiroki Miyake, Chizuru Asano,
Toko Miura (Drive My Car) and Atsuko Maeda (To the Ends of the Earth, Tamako in Moratorium, Seventh Code) head an impressive cast in this family drama of sisters looking at love.
Synopsis: Thirty-year-old Kasumi has been unsure of love ever since she can remember and is insecure about her lack of romantic feelings. She tried to be a high achiever by studying music at university but she had to return home to her hometown and now works in a call centre. At home she feels pressured by her mother because her younger sister is married and pregnant and everyone expects Kasumi to be next. The road to romance isn’t easy.
My Name is Lucien 
僕の名前はルシアン 「Boku no Namae wa Rushian」
Release Date: December 16th, 2022
Duration: 95 mins.
Director: Chikako Oyama
Writer: Chikako Oyama (Script),
Starring: Shuntaro Yanagi, Hako Oshima, Gitan Otsuru, Shoji Sadaoka, Hoka Kinoshita, Nahana, Takaki Uda,
Photographer and filmmaker Chikako Oyama has made a film based on a real-life incident.
Synopsis: Akane is a lonely teenage girl from an elite family. She searches for love on the internet and this is where she meets a man named Lucien. What she doesn’t realise is that he works in a factory by day and “helps” young women die at night. He ropes Akane into a suicide pact as his latest victim just as the police start tracking him following the discovery of a dead body. As Akane faces the truth, her heart wanders between life and death…