Happy Weekend
This is the second of a two-part trailer post. You can find the first part here.
My week in films took in a recording of the Heroic Purgatory podcast for an episode covering the Korean film My Wife is a Gangster (2001). I ended up watching all three films in the series and didn’t particularly like any of them,
I posted about the Japanese films at the Busan International Film Festival 2023, a screening of two documentaries at the Tokyo Photograph Museum, and a review of the film A Girl in My Room (2022).
Films I watched included…
L.A. Takedown (1989), Miller’s Crossing (1990), Dark City (1998), and Gattaca (1997).
What are the other films released this weekend?
Threads of Blue 
スレッズ・オブ・ブルー 「Surezzu obu Buru-」
Release Date: September 15th, 2023
Duration: 92 mins.
Director: Kenichi Sono
Writer: Kenichi Sono (Screenplay),
Starring: Ryo Sato, Mariko Tsutsui, Hironobu Nomura, Hinata Arata, Kotoha Hiroyama, Yoshihisa Sadoyama,
Synopsis: A young woman named En finds herself trapped in a nightmare scenario. She dreams of her parents and younger brother dying in a car accident while travelling through mountains. An old woman paints a picture of a car on fire. A person who occupies the same apartment tells En that the car accident has already happened.
Predestination? Psychic manipulation? A fuzzy memory? It probably all plays out in this mystery thriller.
Bring Min’yo Back 
ブリング・ミンヨー・バック！ 「Buringu Minyo- Bakku!」
Release Date: September 15th, 2023
Duration: 90 mins.
Director: Yuji Moriwaki
Writer: N/A
Starring: Minyo Crusaders, Frente Cumbiero, Peter Barakan, Chitose Hajime, Makoto Kubota, Yuichi Kishino, Hajime Oishi, Tokyo Cuban Boys, Riyo Mountains
Synopsis: This documentary closely follows the Tokyo-based band Min’yo Crusaders. Their music attempts to fuse Afrobeat/Latin-inspired dance music with min’yo music, or, “people’s songs.” They are popular inside and outside of Japan and tour the world. Director Yuji Moriwaki has followed them for five years and filmed their music-making process, tours, interviews with musicians and critics and more while also asking the audience to consider the definition of min-yo music.
Mika is Venus 
ミカはヴィーナス 「Mika wa Vui-nasu」
Release Date: September 15th, 2023
Duration: 25 mins.
Director: Tetsuichiro Tsuta
Writer: Kenichi Sono (Screenplay),
Starring: Mika Okumura, Ai Sato, Akira Nakahori, Yuuji Nakamura,
Tetsuichiro Tsuta, writer/director of The Tale of Iya, has made this film as a result of a collaboration between the Japan Film Critics Awards and the streaming service Machebara. Mika Okumura, a model and TV personality, won the lead role through an audition.
Synopsis: The film revolves around a woman in the glamorous and demanding world of show business. It captures her inner thoughts and feelings on 16mm film.
Car Modify’s 
CARモディファイズ 「CAR Modeifaizu」
Release Date: September 16th, 2023
Duration: 94 mins.
Director: Yasunori Izuma
Writer: Yasunori Izuma (Screenplay),
Starring: Taishi Matsumoto, Ritsu Ooba, Miwa Kure, Sujitaro Tamabukuro, Saburo Ishikura,
Synopsis: Bar Modify’s is located in downtown Tokyo and it is a haven for car enthusiasts. Three people who go there are Arisu, who actually works at the place, Takuya, an aspiring screenwriter, and Kento, a mechanic. All three have been friends since childhood. Kento and his fellow gearheads are buzzing about the upcoming “Monster Meeting” but first they have to rescue Arisu from shady people her dodgy ex-prisoner father got involved with, and Takuya who is involved with committing fraud at a screenplay contest.
Kokusou no Hi 
国葬の日 「Kokusou no Hi」
Release Date: September 16th, 2023
Duration: 88 mins.
Director: Arata Oshima
Writer: N/A
Starring: Taishi Matsumoto, Ritsu Ooba, Miwa Kure, Sujitaro Tamabukuro, Saburo Ishikura,
Synopsis: Director Arata Oshima, son of Nagisa Oshima, has made a number of documentaries covering Japanese politics, including Why You Can’t Be Prime Minister and Kagawa Ward 1. His latest work covers the state funeral of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which was held at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo on September 27, 2022. Opinion polls showed that the public was against the idea of spending public money on the ceremony while LDP diehards descended upon the site. This documentary captures competing views.
Skinless Night Remaster 
スキンレスナイト 「Sukinresu Naito」
Release Date: April 06th, 1991
Duration: 107 mins.
Director: Rokuro Mochizuki
Writer: Rokuro Mochizuki, Nobuyuki Saito (Screenplay),
Starring: Hitoshi Ishikawa, Yasuko Yagami, Aya Katsuragi, Yumi Iori, Junko Miyashita,
Rokuro Mochizuki worked on AV before making a big impact with yakuza films such as Another Lonely Hitman (1995) and Onibi (1997). Apparently, he moved more from AV to the mainstream with this quasi-autobiographical work that takes us behind the scenes of the AV industry and into the heart of one of its practitioners.
Apparently Skinless Night borrows its title from a best-selling brand of condoms.
Synopsis: Mutsuro Kayama is 33, married, and has a daughter. He also has a small AV production company. Lately, he has become uncomfortable in the industry as he struggles to balance competing demands of family, financiers, staff, and audiences. When he discovers an unfinished 8mm film he shot while he was a student, a midlife crisis seizes him, he rents a place behind a woman he once admired, and tries to revive his idealistic dreams of the past.