Happy Weekend
You know the drill! This is the first of a two=part trailer post so come back tomorrow for more trailers!
What are the first batch released this week?
#Manhole 
#マンホール「#Manho-ru」
Release Date: February 10th, 2023
Duration: 99 mins.
Director: Kazuyishi Kumakiri
Writer: Michitaka Okada (Screenplay),
Starring: Yuto Nakajima, Nao, Kento Nagayama,
Kazuyishi Kumakiri (My Man, Hole in the Sky) works with pop star Yuto Nakajima and rising actress Nao (The Sound of Grass, My Broken Mariko) to deliver this odd-looking story of a man trapped down a manhole.
Synopsis: Shunsuke Kawamura is surely on the path to success. He is the top agent at the real estate company he works at and he’s about to marry his boss’ daughter. When we meet him, people are throwing him a party in Shibuya on the night before the wedding. Drunk when he leaves the occasion, he walks home and ends up falling down a manhole. When he wakes up, he realises a few things: it is still night time, he’s hurt, he’s trapped and his wedding is imminent. Trying to raise people on his phone proves hard, especially as the GPS isn’t working, so Kawamura starts a “manhole woman” account on social media and asks netizens to locate him and rescue him.
Egoist 
エゴイスト「Egoisuto」
Release Date: February 10th, 2023
Duration: 120 mins.
Director: Daishi Matsunaga
Writer: Daishi Matsunaga, Kyoko Inukai (Screenplay), Makoto Takayama (Autobiographical Novel),
Starring: Ryohei Suzuki, Hio Miyazawa, Yuuko Nakamura, Iori Wada, Akira Emoto, Durian Lollobrigida, Sawako Agawa,
Synopsis: When Kosuke was 14 years old, his mother died and he spent his adolescence in a country town where he suppressed his gay identity. As an adult, he lives a freewheeling lifestyle of a fashion magazine editor and takes up a relationship with Ryuta, a personal trainer. Ryuta’s mother joins them to spend quality time together and Kosuke is reminded of his own feelings for his late mother. One day, Ryuta disappears…
Sin Clock 
シンクロック「Shin Kurokku」
Release Date: February 10th, 2023
Duration: 94 mins.
Director: Kenji Maki
Writer: Kenji Maki (Screenplay),
Starring: Yosuke Kubozuka, Ryuotaro Sakaguchi, Yo Aoi, Manami Hashimoto, Maki Tamaru, Jin Dogg,
This is Yosuke Kubozuka’s first lead performance in a feature film in 18 years.
Synopsis: Takagi is a taxi driver who, due to unfair circumstances, lost his previous job and was forced to leave his wife and kids, too. When he gives a ride to a politician, he finds out some information about a phantom painting worth several hundred million yen. Takagi teams up with his colleagues to steal the painting.
Ginpeicho Cinema Blues 
銀平町シネマブルース「Ginpeicho Shinema Buru-su」
Release Date: February 10th, 2023
Duration: 99 mins.
Director: Hideo Jojo
Writer: Shinji Imaoka (Screenplay),
Starring: Keisuke Koide, Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Shohei Uno, Sakura Fujiwara, Nanami Hidaka,
Just north of Tokyo is the city of Kawagoe and there’s a mini-theatre there that serves as the location for this film. I’ve had my picture taken outside of the mini theatre.
Synopsis: A tragicomedy about the collapse of a mini theatre, we watch Kondo, a penniless young man, return to Ginpei-cho, the town where he spent his youth, and get to know the manager of the theatre. He ends up working there and has encounters with various people who work and visit there. Through these encounters, he begins to confront his former self.
Double Bill
Ken Ninomiya and Tatsuo Kobayashi are showing the next two films together to show off different aspects of their creativity.
Sleepless 
Release Date: February 10th, 2023
Duration: 40 mins.
Director: Ken Ninomiya
Writer: N/A
Starring: Honoka Matsumoto, Yuki Sakurai, Bambi Naka, Masashi Yanagisawa,
Synopsis: This is a visual poem where the images and sound are mixed with interviews with actors Yuki Sakurai, Honoka Matsumoto, and dancer Bambi Naka on the theme of “expression,” together with a lecture by Professor Masashi Yanagisawa of the Research Organization for Medical Sleep Science on the mysteries of sleep.
Beikoku Ongaku
米国音楽「Beikoku Ongaku」
Release Date: February 10th, 2023
Duration: 28 mins.
Director: Tatsuo Kobayashi
Writer: Tatsuo Kobayashi (Screenplay),
Starring: Mayu Yamaguchi, Yushin Shinohara, Yoichiro Saito, Yoichiro Saito, Karin Okoso,
A short drama by Tatsuo Kobayashi, about the passion of people who devote themselves to creation and the ambiguity of memories, using the music medium of “CD” as its subject.
Synopsis: The Japanese band “Thursday” released an album in 2001 and disbanded shortly after. 20 years later, their music is re-released by an American music label and they start to trend. The film interviews members of Thursday to get their opinions, aspirations, and frustrations, while also telling the story of an encounter between a man and a woman behind the creation of the soundtrack.
Revice Forward: Kamen Rider Live & Evil & Demons 
リバイスForward 仮面ライダーライブ＆エビル＆デモンズ「Ribaisu Forward Kamen Raida- Raibu & Ebiru & Demonzu」
Release Date: February 10th, 2023
Duration: 77 mins.
Director: Koichi Sakamoto
Writer: Nobuhiro Mouri (Screenplay), Shotaro Ishinomori (Original Creator),
Starring: Wataru Hyuga, Junya Komatsu, Kentaro Maeda, Ayaka Imoto, Noritaka Hamao, Yui Asakura,
Synopsis: Daiji Igarashi works for the organisation Bluebird to maintain peace while Dr, Ichimura, a scientist at Bluebird specializing in genetic engineering, notes that Hiromi is showing signs of recovery. Meanwhile, an organisation known as Alicorn appears and claims to be the Guardians of the New Age. They kidnap and imprison children for unknown reasons. Bluebird begins to investigate and while this is happening, Hiromi is accused of taking kids. Then, a man with the same face as Hiromi appears before Daiji…
Are you ready for a mindset that will never sell?, Te no Hira no Pazuru, Hatachi no Musuko, Watashitachi wa Doko Kara Kita no ka Nanimono na no ka Soshite Anata wa
Are you ready for a mindset that will never sell? 
一生売れない心の準備はできてるか「Isshou Urenai Kokoro no Junbi wa Deki Teru ka」
Release Date: February 11th, 2023
Duration: 121 mins.
Director: Toma Hayashi
Writer: N/A
Starring: Shigeki Nase, Iku, Fumitomo Yagi, Yoshio Hasegawa, Kosuke Sato, Shoichiro Higa, Takero Sekijima, Atsushi Shimada,
This played at the Okinawa International Movie Festival last year.
Synopsis: A music documentary that chronicles the life of Shigeki Nasu, leader of the Okinawan band “Yachimun Shigeki Nasu,” through live performances and interviews. Although he has great songwriting abilities, he hasn’t had a hit song but he continues to make music and please his fans. The film presents a powerful live performance at the Shuri Theater, Okinawa’s oldest cinema, which was packed to capacity with an 18-piece big band, exploring the unique appeal of Nasu’s music.
Te no Hira no Pazuru 
手のひらのパズル「Te no Hira no Pazuru」
Release Date: February 11th, 2023
Duration: 26 mins.
Director: Ayumi Kurokawa
Writer: Ayumi Kurokawa (Screenplay),
Starring: Ayumi Kurokawa, Erika Osanai, Goro Takeishi, Takeshi Nadagi, Masaaki Nakano,
Actor Ayumi Kurokawa directed, wrote, produced, edited, and stars in this short film on the theme of “marriage equality after interviewing LGBTQ people on SNS.
Synopsis: Risa and Takumi have decided to move in together after dating for a year and a half. It seems like marriage is an inevitability but living together makes them realise that they aren’t as close as they thought. Risa’s mind really changes after an incident happens to her friend Mako with whom she had been discussing marriage.
Hatachi no Musuko 
二十歳の息子「Hatachi no Musuko」
Release Date: February 11th, 2023
Duration: 86 mins.
Director: Ryuichi Shimada
Writer: N/A
Starring: N/A
Synopsis: This is a documentary about the relationship between two men, one, Yuuki, who works for an organisation that supports the independence of children in foster care, the other, Wataru, who has been using that organisations services. Wataru grew up with parents and so, when he was charged with a certain incident as an adult, it looks like he had limited support until Yuuki stepped in and adopted him. They are, in effect, father and son.
Watashitachi wa Doko Kara Kita no ka Nanimono na no ka Soshite Anata wa 
私はどこから来たのか、何者なのか、どこへ行くのか、そしてあなたは…「Watashitachi wa Doko Kara Kita no ka, Nanimono na no ka, Soshite Anata wa」
Release Date: February 11th, 2023
Duration: 137 mins.
Director: Kazuya Kitao
Writer: Kazuya Kitao (Screenplay),
Starring: Risako Ishikawa, Kyoko Takahashi, Satoshi Nagi, Kunio Komori,
Synopsis: This is a road movie in which a woman tracks down the locations in a batch of photographs left behind by a man who has disappeared. As she follows the trail, dystopian images of Tokyo are discovered and strange people are encountered. Feelings of anxiety, loss, and frustration are evoked and she reasons through them via internal dialogue as she struggles to reclaim something that should have been inside her.