Happy Weekend
This is the third and final trailer post of this week. Here is Part One and Part Two.
Well, my big news is that I am going to be covering the Chicago International Film Festival 2023. I’ll be writing about European films and films from the Americas. I’ve watched quite a few screeners and I am thinking about and writing reviews with much enjoyment and I am really excited to share them.
That will be my output for most of October!
What I have seen so far has been impressive.
In terms of other film things, I have re-watched King Hu’s A Touch of Zen. This is in preparation for a Heroic Purgatory podcast recording.
I also posted about the Third Window Films release of the remastered versions of Banmei Takahashi’s DOOR and DOOR II.
What are the rest of the Japanese films released this weekend?
LONESOME VACATION 
ロンサム バケーション 「Ronsamu Bake-shon」
Release Date: October 07th, 2023
Duration: 68 mins.
Director: Atsuro Shimoyashiro
Writer: Atsuro Shimoyashiro, Futoshi Nakano (Screenplay),
Starring: Takuma Fujie, Kyoka Minakami, Risa Sakata, Otono Sakurai, Taro Suwa, Yoichiro Saito,
Atsuro Shimoyashiro made his feature debut with The Modern Lovers – which I interviewed him about – and this is his sophomore effort, a cool laidback detective story taking place in Tokyo’s Keonji and a charming seaside location.
Synopsis: Koenji, Tokyo. Eichi Furuya is a private detective who is known for his regent hair. One day, Eichi receives a request from his ex-girlfriend, Kyoko. She had been searching through her late father’s belongings and found a film canister which contained footage a strange young woman. She wants to know who the woman was and her relationship with her father. Eichi and Kyoko head out to Jogashima, Kanagawa prefecture, in a Mercedes and treat the investigation as if it were a fleeting vacation…
過去負う者 「Kako ou mono」
Release Date: October 07th, 2023
Duration: 125 mins.
Director: Atsushi Funahashi
Writer: Atsushi Funahashi (Screenplay),
Starring: Taku Tsuji, June Kubodera, Kiriko Kina, Miyatani, Yoshio Taguchi,
I reviewed this back in March as part of the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023. It is a drama that depicts the struggles of ex-prisoners trying to reintegrate into society. It was made to be “realistic” by using a directing method that does not prepare a script and, instead, relies on working with the actors to find their performances on set.
I felt that the theatricality was high and unbelievable at times but when the drama reached its crescendo, I was knocked over and left in tears. So it worked!
Synopsis: Would you be willing to live alongside former criminals?
Japan has a recidivism rate of 50%. The staff at a magazine called CHANGE want to lower that by rehabilitating former prisoners. This forms the basis of Funahashi Atsushi’s ensemble docudrama, which tells the story from both the perspectives of the editorial team and ex-cons.
Drawing from a real story of Japan’s only job magazine for former convicts, Funahashi shows a year of their workshops, therapy, efforts to get them jobs and a stage performance that serves as the climax. Along the way, tension ratchets up as souls are bared, mistakes are made, and, despite the pain, the characters keep trying. “Your past failures always affect your life,” one of the ex-cons says and it proves to be true hostility to the former criminals expose how hard it is for people to reintegrate into a society that can be intolerant.
Hair-raising drama and a bleak ending cap what is quite a fast-moving and informative film.
Hakushi Project vol. 2 
Release Date: October 07th, 2023
Duration: 121 mins.
Director: Yu Shibuya, Hiroyuki Morita,
Writer: Yu Shibuya, Hiroyuki Morita, (Screenplay),
Starring: Kazuhiro Sawada, Keisuke Sonoyama, Yasutaka Otsuka, Shinya Orikasa, Kanta,
A year on from the last Hakushi Project, we get the second volume which means another omnibus film produced by the actor-driven creative group “Work Design Studio.
Synopsis: Two stories are contained herein, the first being about two sisters, Hazuki and Momoka, who lost their parents in a car accident. Elder sister Hazuki raised Momoka like a mother but maybe she is too domineering for the artistically inclined younger sister. The second story is a fictionalized account of an actual indiscriminate terrorist attack in the late 1990s and it seems to be based on AUM’s notorious actions on Tokyo’s subway system. The film is based on the testimonies of those involved in the incident, but is set in the present day.
Taisetsuna Hito (Kari) 
たいせつなひと（仮） 「Taisetsuna Hito (Kari)」
Release Date: October 07th, 2023
Duration: 70 mins.
Director: Kimihiko Nakamura
Writer: Kimihiko Nakamura (Screenplay),
Starring: Maki Yoshihara, Konomi Morita, Taichi Fujii, Hiroaki Kawatsure, Sosuke Yamamoto,
Synopsis: Yuri Kataoka is a budding novelist but she pays her bills with a part-time job as a “rental girlfriend” under the name of Yuki Ryukawa. This also helps her find material for her next work as she meets a variety of clients with a variety of needs. She soon gets a collection of regular clients from different backgrounds.
Jidaiokure no Saisentan-fu no Tani Yochien no Kodomo-tachi 
時代遅れの最先端 風の谷幼稚園の子どもたち 「Jidaiokure no Saisentan-fu no Tani Yochien no Kodomo-tachi」
Release Date: October 07th, 2023
Duration: 101 mins.
Director: Sho Igarashi
Writer: N/A
Starring: N/A
Synopsis: This documentary, filmed over the course of a year, captures Yuko Amano, who created an ideal kindergarten based on her belief in the inherent “nurturing power” of children. It is centred on a kindergarten in Kawasaki City where kids get involved with many physical activities. It was set up by Yuko Amano who went almost without pay for ten years to make her ideal educational institution a reality.
Mada Kimi o Shiranai 
まだ君を知らない 「Mada Kimi o Shiranai」
Release Date: October 07th, 2023
Duration: 97 mins.
Director: Sawako Fukuoka, Satsuki Hamada
Writer: Sawako Fukuoka (Screenplay),
Starring: Satsuki Hamada, Ayumi Takada, Kyoshiro Hara, Chiba Naruse, Mioka Miyazaki,
A feature-length dramatic film by the filmmaking unit “Shidoromodori” formed by Sawako Fukuoka and Satsuki Hamada. They met while studying at Nihon University College of Art and made this film while at the age of 22.
Synopsis: A series of stories involving a group of young people, the first centring on a coffee shop where an odd collection of items is left in the lost and found section while a part-timer named Anne writes the day’s menu on the blackboard. An office worker named Shinobu orders fried rice at a ramen shop. Genki, a massage parlour worker, plays video games all day, and Nagi, a college student, eats teriyaki yellowtail made by her boyfriend.
How does it all add up? Guess you’ll have to watch it and see!