Happy Weekend
This is the second part of the two-part trailer post for this week. The first part is here.
Well, this week saw me swerve around in terms of films I wrote about as I was taken by the Jack Nicholson picture The Passenger (1975) and wanted to write something about it. Usually, I write about Japanese films – like, this week I wrote about Love and Murder of Sheep and Wolf – but I’ll be broadening out what I write about when the fancy takes me. I’ll return to video games soon!
What are the other films released this weekend?
Esper X Tantei-sha Sayonara no Sagashimono 
エスパーX探偵社 さよならのさがしもの 「Esupa- X Tantei-sha Sayonara no Sagashimono」
Release Date: April 29th, 2023
Duration: 90 mins.
Director: Akiyoshi Koba
Writer: Akiyoshi Koba (Screenplay),
Starring: Takuma Suehara, Daichi Saeki, Mika Akizuki, Rina Matsui, Kokoro Toyoshima,
I interviewed Akiyoshi Koba for his film Nunchaku and Soul. It’s great to see him back with a new film!
Synopsis: Matsuda is a detective working in Asakusa, Tokyo. What makes him different from other gumshoes is his psychic powers and he needs them when he traces a missing woman to a gang of psychics who use their powers for crime. Helping out is fellow detective Minamino.
子どもの瞳をみつめて 「Kodomo no Hitomi o Mitsumete」
Release Date: April 29th, 2023
Duration: 93 mins.
Director: Toshihiko Uriu, Victor Delotavo
Writer: N/A
Starring: Takuma Suehara, Daichi Saeki, Mika Akizuki, Rina Matsui, Kokoro Toyoshima,
I wrote about this one as part of my work for Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023. Toshihiko Uriu, one of the directors, has a along filmography full of work as a cinematographer on pink film titles, including Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s The Excitement of the Do-Re-Mi-Fa Girl (1985). He is a 40-year resident of the Philippines.
Synopsis: “Yield” is a documentary that offers an unsentimental glimpse of the lives of nine working-class children from across the Philippines. Some children live with the condition of hydrocephalus, while others risk their lives in labour ranging from breaking rocks, scouring the ocean floor for silt gold, and tending farmland. One child even learns to wield military-grade weaponry. Their hardships are many, their endurance is undeniable as each child faces their lives – and death – with innocence and determination.
Knitting together footage taken from a five-year shoot, URIU Toshihiko and Victor Delotavo TAGARO present a patchwork of lives in third-world conditions without commentary, without judgement. The camera becomes an increasingly intimate observer that allows the actions of the children and some of their families to express suffering, hope, endurance, and love.
“Yield” won the Best Documentary and Best Editing awards at the 2018 Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences Awards while it won the Best Documentary Award at the Filipino Film Critics Awards 2018. This is the final version of the film after more editing.
Daichiyo Aino to Shite Ikiru 
大地よ アイヌとして生きる 「Daichiyo Aino to Shite Ikirue」
Release Date: April 29th, 2023
Duration: 105 mins.
Director: Kin Taii
Writer: N/A
Starring: Shizue Ukaji, Reiko Kayano, Eiko Yamamoto, Kikue Harada, Ponpe Ishii,
Synopsis: This is a documentary about the poet, old cloth picture artist, writer, and Ainu liberation activist Shizue Ukaji. At the age of 90, she continues to explore the ethnic identity and spirituality of the Ainu people and we see her work on film and narrated by her son.
Dr. Bala 
Release Date: April 29th, 2023
Duration: 82 mins.
Director: Koby Shimada
Writer: Koby Shimada
Starring: Kazuhiro Omura aka Dr. Bala
Synopsis: This is a documentary that looks at Dr. Kazuhiro Omura who, for the past 12 years, has spent seven days every year working as a volunteer doctor in Southeast Asia. Normally, he performs complicated operations in Japan but he travels to countries such as Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos to help patients, train fellow practitioners, and strengthen medical practices. His efforts have earned him the moniker of “Dr. Bala,” a nickname derived from the Burmese word “Bala,” meaning “strong man.”
Houkago Angler Life 
放課後アングラーライフ 「Houkago Angura- Raifu」
Release Date: April 29th, 2023
Duration: 83 mins.
Director: Hideo Jojo
Writer: Hideo Jojo (Screenplay), Kaeru Inoue (Original Light Novel)
Starring: Toomi, Marupi, Tamao Hirai, Futaba Mori, Shinsuke Kato, Shohei Uno, Shinobu Nakayama, Tomomi Nishimura,
Hideo Jojo (On the Edge of Their Seats) continues to crank out films with this coming-of-age drama centred on fishing.
Synopsis: Mezashi has moved to a new town following her father’s job transfer. A shy girl who has experienced bullying, she finds friends with the school fishing club and the quartet of girls grow together.
Life work of Akira Kurosawa 
Life work of Akira Kurosawa 黒澤明のライフワーク 「Kurosawa Akira no Raifu-waku」
Release Date: April 29th, 2023
Duration: 83 mins.
Director: Mitsuhiko Kawamura
Writer: N/A
Starring: Akira Kurosawa
Synopsis: This is a documentary based on 150 hours of footage filmed on the set of Akira Kurosawa’s classic jidaigeki Ran. Director Mitsuhiko Kawamura was one of a number of university students on set as part of a team doing the making-of film. However, the footage was lost for 15 years. After it was rediscovered in 1998, Kawamura spent many years working on this documentary. Due to the film being recorded on analogue video, there was no way to check the content for a long time but eventually director Kawamura invested his own money to digitize 70 hours of footage. He turned that into a single documentary film. Audiences can watch Kurosawa at work and find out what he was really like.