Happy Weekend
This is the second of a two-part trailer post. You can find the first part here.
This week I posted review for One Nite in Mongkok (2004) and A Fugitive from the Past (1965). I’ve been watching a lot of Hal Hartley. Yesterday, I wrote about playing video games and while they were fun, they couldn’t compete with watching Trust and The Unbelievable Truth. I should have capped it all off by watching Simple Men (they form the Long Island Trilogy) but ended up watching Leave My Girl Alone and Kitchen.
Funnily enough, the last time I was in a mini theatre in Tokyo, the Long Island Trilogy was due to play.
I took part in a recording of the Heroic Purgatory podcast that covered the 2008 Thai action film Chocolate.
I also fished out some Tokyo Bullet DVD boxsets I had stored away for a decade so expect some reviews of mid-90s Japanese gangster flicks after the July festival period – NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2023!
What other films are released this weekend?
Document Sunny Day Service 
ドキュメント サニーデイ・サービス 「Dokyumento Sani- Dei Sa-bisu」
Release Date: July 07th, 2023
Duration: 145 mins.
Director: Company Matsuo
Writer: N/A
Starring: Kyoko Koizumi (Narrator), Keiichi Sokabe, Takashi Tanaka, Mikio Daikuhara, Harushige Maruyama,
Synopsis: This is a documentary about the rock band Sunny Day Service. In 2023, the band celebrates their 30th anniversary following their formation in 1992 and their major label debut with their first album “Youths” in 1995. It is the first documentary about the band and includes a history of gigs, breakups, changing members, live music moments and footage never seen before.
Hitch hike 
ヒッチハイク 「Hicchi haiku」
Release Date: July 07th, 2023
Duration: 74 mins.
Director: Masafumi Yamada
Writer: Takeshi Miyamoto (Screenplay),
Starring: Takato Ookura, Shuri Nakamura, Kohshu Hirano, Momoha Takatsuru, Kyoko Hayami, Kotono Yuuki, Satoka Yuuki,
This horror film is based on an urban legend that originated from an Internet message board. Kiyoshi Kurosawa and his film Pulse was right about the internet – despite its promise of connectivity, it would leave us all addicted to BS videos, alienated from the people in our lives, and haunted by bad feelings. However, instead of ghosts, the root cause is Wall Street capitalists and Silicon Valley tech bros and conservatives.
Synopsis: College girls Ryoko and Akane get lost while hiking in the mountains and Ryoko gets injured. There’s no way to get home quickly since public transport is absent and Akane’s boyfriend won’t pick them up. This explains why they decide to hitchhike but the only people to stop are a strange family in an RV, led by a man dressed as a cowboy. His name is George and there is something about him and the rest of his clan. Meanwhile, two male friends named Ken and Kazunari are also hitchhiking through the same mountains…
Kamaishi Ramen Monogatari 
釜石ラーメン物語 「Kamaishi Ra-men Monogatari」
Release Date: July 08th, 2023
Duration: 85 mins.
Director: Akiyoshi Imazaki,
Writer: Akiyoshi Imazaki, Akira Ishikawa (Screenplay),
Starring: Hiroe Igeta, Akana Ikeda, Tetsu Watanabe, Go Jiju, Hasko Oshima, Akari Suzuki,
Synopsis: The family-run ramen restaurant Ogawa Shokudo is located in Kamaishi City, Iwate Prefecture, a nature location with mountains and the sea. It has survived the Great East Japan Earthquake despite the loss of the mother and is now run by a father-daughter team but business isn’t so good. When the eldest daughter, Masami, returns home, she insists that the restaurant should be closed because the food doesn’t have the taste it had when the mother was still around. The sisters fight as they try to recapture that taste and the townsfolk soon begin to gather again.
Techno Brothers 
テクノブラザーズ 「Tekuno Buraza-zu」
Release Date: July 08th, 2023
Duration: 96 mins.
Director: Hirobumi Watanabe
Writer: Hirobumi Watanabe (Screenplay),
Starring: Hirobumi Watanabe, Yuji Watanabe, Takanori Kurosagi, Asuna Yanagi, Akiko Hisatsugi, Riko Hisatsugu, Katsumi Ino, Kiyomine Iso, Natsuki Ito, Kodo Toda, Yu Imamura, Ryoko Ino,
Hirobumi Watanabe is a one-man movie-making machine and he has carved out a unique oeuvre of films that are worth watching. I’m excited about this one – I have an autograph back from his first film.
Synopsis: Hirobumi Watanabe (And the Mud Ship Sails Away, Cry) returns with a musical comedy that brings together a familiar group of actors to their native Tochigi Prefecture as a bunch of Kraftwerk-like musicians seek to hit the big time in Tokyo. Under the command of their tough manager, Himuro, they embark on a road trip to get a record deal.
Parodistar 
パロディスター 「Parodista-」
Release Date: July 08th, 2023
Duration: 73 mins.
Director: Kohei Nagamune
Writer: N/A
Starring: Mad Amano, Kohei Nagamune,
Synopsis: Mad Amano is an artist who does political parodies – video introduction to his work – and he has been working since the 1970s. His works are montages of photographs (photomontage) and they are used to satirise society. His most infamous work was a montage of photographs by mountain photographer Yoshio Shirakawa. It became known as the “parody trial” since his use of the photographs resulted in a 16-year-long court case, from 1971 to a settlement in 1987, which raised awareness of the issue of copyright in Japan. The documentary does not go as planned.
Piero-tachi 
ピエロたち 「Piero-tachi」
Release Date: July 08th, 2023
Duration: 97 mins.
Director: Wake Kita
Writer: Wake Kita (Screenplay),
Starring: Junya Asada, Hina Miyano, Rio Masuzawa, Ai Moritaka, Runa Toyoda, Nozomi Machida,
Synopsis: This film is set in Tokyo, circa the year 2019, and looks at the idea of “true laughter” through a group of young people, including a popular student named Ryo. He is the life of the party when with others but when alone, he shows no joy. He begins to wonder if he has ever truly laughed after a transfer student named Akari asks him.
Resident Evil: Death Island 
バイオハザード デスアイランド 「Baiohaza-do Desu Airando」
Release Date: July 07th, 2023
Duration: 89 mins
Director: Eiichirou Hasumi
Writer: Makoto Fukami (Screenplay) Capcom (Original Creator)
Starring: Matthew Mercer (Leon S. Kennedy), Kevin Dorman (Chris Redfield), Stephanie Panisello (Claire Redfield), Nicole Tompkins (Jill Valentine), Erin Cahill (Rebecca Chambers), Maria Gomez,
Animation Production: TMS Entertainment
A CG film based on Capcom’s survival horror video game series. Viewers get to see most of the surviving members of the S.T.A.R.S. team work together once again.
If you want to play the games, Resident Evil 1 & 2 are perfection, the Remake of 2 is great and Code Veronice is underrated.
Synopsis: When a zombie outbreak centred on Alcatraz Island occurs in San Francisco, various heroes from the Resident Evil franchise converge on the city: BSAA agents Jill and Chris, Secret Service agent Leon, and university professor Rebecca, and Claire, who works for an NGO investigating bioterrorism.