Welcome to the trailer post for this week
This is a three-part trailer post because there are a LOT of films – too many for just two posts. Come back on Thursday and Friday for the rest.
Anyway, I’ve discovered a great new podcast called Watch Out for Fireballs! that I’ve started to listen to. It’s all about video games and the hosts take them apart with wit and intelligence. It joins Optimism Vaccine as another podcast (one about films) that got me back into listening to the form. Give them a listen – highly recommended!
I’ve got a big announcement on film coverage for the Friday post so come back to find out more (if you are interested).
What are the first batch of films released this weekend?
Analog 
アナログ 「Anarogu」
Release Date: October 06th, 2023
Duration: 120 mins.
Director: Hideta Takahata
Writer: Takehiko Minato (Screenplay), Beat Takeshi (Original Story)
Starring: Kazunari Ninomiya, Haru, Lily Franky, Joichiro Fujiwara, Kenta Hamano, Yuka Itaya, Kenta Kiritani, Aimi Satsukawa, Keiko Takahashi, Mariko Tsutsui,
This is based on Beat Takeshi’s first ever romance novel.
Synopsis: Satoru Mizushima is a designer who likes handmade goods and handwritten works. He seems like he meets his perfect match when visiting a coffee shop named Piano and meeting Miyuki, a woman with similar likes. This proves to be a problem when Satoru asks for her number and she tells him that she does not have a smartphone. Nevertheless, the two have hit it off and agree to meet at Piano every Thursday. They grow closer but just as Satoru decides to propose, Miyuki doesn’t show up to their Thursday-night meeting…
Okane ga Tarinai.
お金が足りない。 「Okane ga Tarinai.」
Release Date: October 04th, 2023
Duration: 119 mins.
Director: Koji Yokokawa
Writer: Toshiyuki Sagayama (Screenplay),
Starring: Koji Yokokawa, Shinichiro Oosawa, Yoshihiro Ishizuka, Yuuji Tayagura, China Kusamoto,
Synopsis: Ever wondered how filmmakers raise funds? In this comedy, we watch a one-hit wonder named Kurosawa get lifted up from the doldrums of fake psychic films and seminar videos by a financial education firm that commissions him to make a movie on money education. Sounds great, except the budget is tiny and things keep happening to make the budget shrink further which forces Kurosawa pull out all the stops to increase funding for the project.
Antonio Inoki o Sagashite 
アントニオ猪木をさがして 「Antonio Inoki o Sagashite」
Release Date: October 06th, 2023
Duration: 108 mins.
Director: Keisuke Wada, Mitsuhiro Mitsuhara
Writer: N/A
Starring: Antonio Inoki, Masaharu Fukuyama (Narration), Abid Haroon, Kazuchika Okada, Teppei Arita, Hiroshi Tanahashi,
Synopsis: A documentary with drama parts to it and narration by Masaharu Fukuyama, this looks at the life of professional wrestler, businessman, and politician Antonio Inoki, who passed away in October 2022 at the age of 79. Viewers get to see rare archival footage, the people who Inoki influenced, and a short drama about a boy who became an Inoki fan in the 80s and kept the faith in his inspirational idol into adulthood.
Between White Keys and Black Keys 
白鍵と黒鍵の間に 「Hakken to Kokken no Aida ni」
Release Date: October 06th, 2023
Duration: 94 mins.
Director: Masanori Tominaga
Writer: Masanori Tominaga, Tomoyuki Takahashi (Screenplay), Hiroshi Minami (Original Story)
Starring: Sosuke Ikematsu, Riisa Naka, Crystal Kay, Yoriko Doguchi, Yota Kawase, Go Morita, Shiro Sano,
Director Masanori Tominaga (Dynamite Graffiti (2018), Rolling (2015)) of has adapted musician Hiroshi Minami’s memoir “Between the White and Black Keys: A Jazz Pianist’s Elegy in Ginza” for the screen and has assembled quite an interesting cast.
Sosuke Ikematsu – The Tokyo Night Sky is the Densest Shade of Blue
Yoriko Doguchi – Kitano and Kurosawa films
Crystal Kay – singer
Riisa Naka
Shiro Sano – To Sleep So as to Dream
Synopsis: The year is 1988 and she Showa period is coming to an end. At a yakuza-run cabaret bar in Ginza, Hiroshi, an aspiring jazz pianist, is asked by a mysterious man to play “The Godfather: Theme of Love.” The problem with that is that the yakuza boss is the only one who can request that song and a pianist named Minami is the only one who can play it. The fate of Hiroshi and Minami get wrapped together…
Oya no Okane wa Darenomono Hotei Sozokunin 
親のお金は誰のもの 法定相続人 「Oya no Okane wa Darenomono Hotei Sozokunin」
Release Date: October 06th, 2023
Duration: 103 mins.
Director: Mitsutoshi Tanaka
Writer: Eriko Komatsu (Screenplay),
Starring: Manami Higa, Shohei Miura, Yosuke Asari, Shinya Kote, Shizuyo Yamasaki, Kaizumi Matsuo, Yoji Tanaka,
Synopsis: The Okame family have run a pearl farm in Mie Prefecture for generations but when the matriarch passes away, it sets in motion a battle for the inheritance, the estate, and the pearls which come to a total of 600 million yen. This battle is made more complicated when legal problems over family access are exposed as the patriarch is suspected of having dementia.