Happy Weekend
Well, as mentioned in the first part of this trailer post, I wrapped up coverage of the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023 with reviews of Hong Kong Family and Side by Side. I then posted about the streaming service SAKKA hosting the Yusaka Matsumoto film Noise on their site and posted an old V-Cinema review of it.
What are the other films released this weekend?
Baby Assassins 2 Babies 
ベイビーわるきゅーれ 2ベイビー 「Beibi- Warukyu-re 2 Beibi-」
Release Date: March 24th, 2023
Duration: 101 mins.
Director: Yugo Sakamoto
Writer: Yugo Sakamoto (Script),
Starring: Akari Takaishi, Saori Izawa, Atomu Mizuishi, Tomo Nakai, Tsubasa Hibinaga, Junpei Hashino,
Stunt Coordinator: Kensuke Sonomura
Synopsis: Chisato and Mahiro balance lives as assassins with part-time work but everything is upended when Yuri and Makoto, two brothers who are members of the Hitman’s Association, go after the girls to take their spot in the crime underworld.
Utsuroi no Toki wo Matou Mantles of Transience 
うつろいの時をまとう 「Utsuroi no Toki wo Matou」
Release Date: March 25th, 2023
Duration: 96 mins.
Director: Nagaru Miyake
Writer: Akihiko Takaishi (Screenplay),
Starring: Hiroyuki Horihata, Makiko Sekiguchi, Akito Akagi, Reijiro Tsumura, Sho Ootaka,
Synopsis: This documentary covers “matohu,” a clothing brand that was founded in 2005 by designers Hiroyuki Horihata and Makiko Sekiguchi. Based heavily on Japanese aesthetic sensibilities such as “kasane” and “fukiyose” as themes and taking inspiration from landscapes and objects. The film captures their creative process of transforming inspirations from familiar landscapes and objects, turning them into “words” and then into clothing.
Enja 
演者 「Enja」
Release Date: March 25th, 2023
Duration: 77 mins.
Director: Ryuichi Onodera
Writer: Ryuichi Onodera (Screenplay),
Starring: Naoko Fujii, Sachiko Kawahara, Akiho Hirota, Kei Nakano, Ryuichi Onodera,
Synopsis: In the spring of 1945, three women in a small village marry into the Shimada family. They maintain the house while the men are away fighting. Chie, the wife of the eldest son, loses her composure due to worry. Emi, the wife of the youngest son, cares for Chie. Yoko, the wife of the second son, suspects that Chie is putting on an act. While their drama unfolds, news comes in that rocks their world…
Mou Ichido Umareru 
もう一度生まれる 「Mou Ichido Umareru」
Release Date: March 25th, 2023
Duration: 38 mins.
Director: Yuki Horikawa
Writer: Yuki Horikawa (Screenplay),
Starring: Tengo Saito, Nanami Kasamatsu, Takashi Irie, Emiko Izawa, Yuuki Okita,
Synopsis: Ryota Ichikawa has just started work as cleaner at a sento (public bathhouse) and takes his job seriously because he learns from the other cleaners about the filtration system that lies behind everything. When Covid-19 forces the closure of the establishment, Ryota feels a sense of loss but his professionalism and that of the other cleaners sees them work on one last cleaning job.
Kaeru
還る 「Kaeru」
Release Date: March 25th, 2023
Duration: 19 mins.
Director: Yuki Horikawa
Writer: N/A
Starring: N/A
This short film will be screened together with the previous one.
Synopsis: This documentary is about Katsumasa Inoue, an ex-professional wrestler who works as a cleaner at a super sento called Ofuru no Kuni. The film looks at why he switched careers and his current work.
Tooi to Masato 
トオイと正人 「Tooi to Masato」
Release Date: March 25th, 2023
Duration: 63 mins.
Director: Kisei Kobayashi
Writer: N/A
Starring: Masato Seto, Seiya Ogata, Mayu Tsuruta (Narrator)
Synopsis: The photographer and writer Kisei Kobayashi made this documentary based on the autobiographical essay “Toi and Masato” by photographer Masato Seto. In the essay, Seto reveals that he was born to a woman of Vietnamese-Thai descent and a Japanese soldier and that his first name was Tooi. He was taken to Japan and renamed Masato. When he was older and working as a photojournalist, he retraced his roots with a journey up the Mekong and Abukuma Rivers, visiting Fukushima, Thailand, and Laos.
Bakumatsu Without Honor and Humanity 
仁義なき幕末 龍馬死闘篇 「Jingi naki Bakumatsu Ryuuma Shitou-hen」
Release Date: March 25th, 2023
Duration: 90 mins.
Director: Hajime Hashimoto
Writer: Nobuhiro Mori (Screenplay),
Starring: Ryo Matsuda, Takuma Wada, Ayame Gouriki, Shogo Suzuki, Hiroshi Yazaki, Chika Arakawa,
Synopsis: Two yakuza, Kyoji and Ippei, from 2025, travel back in time to the dying days of the Edo period because of a mysterious girl. The two meet Ryoma Sakamoto and he is the spitting image of Kyoji. The young yakuza ends up taking Sakamoto’s place when the man dies defending him but Ippei joins the rival Shinsengumi…
Self-Revolutionary Cinematic Struggle 
自分革命映画闘争 「Jibun Kakumei Eigasensou」
Release Date: March 25th, 2023
Duration: 165 mins.
Director: Gakuryu Ishii
Writer: Gakuryu Ishii (Screenplay),
Starring: Ryo Matsuda, Takuma Wada, Ayame Gouriki, Shogo Suzuki, Hiroshi Yazaki, Chika Arakawa,
Gakuryu Ishii, a professor at Kobe Design University since 2006, mixes documentary and fiction in this ambitious work that was shot on location at the site and with the production team appearing in front of and behind the camera and that includes Ishii who takes on a leading role.
Synopsis: After Ishii is driven mad by the practice of his own philosophy, “Self-Revolutionary Film Struggle Work,” he disappears. His colleague at the university, Assistant Professor Takeda, is puzzled by the treatment of Ishii’s “work text for a revolution of inner consciousness that aims to expand individual imagination and awareness and strengthen the will,” but embarks on putting it into practice with his students which eventually leads them into a cave expedition where they become lost in a labyrinthine world of expanded imagination and consciousness, as if in a movie.