Welcome to the third and final trailer post of this week
You can find the first part here and the second part here.
As promised, I began publishing coverage of films I watched as part of the Chicago International Film Festival 2023. I began with the Tetsuya Mariko short Before Anyone Else and an interview he kindly took part in. I’ve got a few more reviews to go that coincide with the public release of each film this month.
I’m doing work for another festival at the moment and enjoying that!
What are the rest of this week’s releases?
Domains 
王国 (あるいはその家について) 「Ookoku (aruiwa sono-ka ni tsuite)」
Running Time: 150 mins.
Release Date: 2019
Director: Natsuka Kusano
Writer: Tomoyuki Takahashi (Screenplay)
Starring: Asami Shibuya, Tomo Kasajima, Tomomitsu Adachi, Ryu Kenta
Domains, produced as an original video work for the Aichi Arts Center, is Kusano’s follow-up to her debut Antonym. For her second film, she re-teamed with Antonym’s writer Tomoyuki Takahashi (Touching the Skin of Eeriness, Happy Hour) to craft a structurally inventive way in which to tell this story as they utilise repetition and variation to slowly build out the emotional dimensions of the relationship.
Synopsis: A friendship torn asunder by the death of a child is material fit for a melodrama full of meltdowns and confession but in Domains, director Natsuka Kusano offers a dissection of a relationship through an unconventional form that proved so hypnotic, she had her actors recite lines that change over the course of a long table-read in various forms of rehearsals. The actors play Aki and Naoko, two people who have been friends since childhood but over the years they have drifted apart and, as the lines are read out and change, we discover a tragedy has marked their relationship… Scenes of rehearsals and performance are cut back to constantly. The repetitions served to show the actors becoming their characters while also describing the stifling nature of the relationships.
広島を上演する 「Hiroshima o Jouen suru」
Release Date: 2023
Duration: 133 mins.
Director: Akihiro Mima, Saki Yamada, Natsuka Kusano, Mikihiro Endo
Writer: N/A (Screenplay),
Starring: Chie Hayashi, Yoji Terada, Hiroe Kawashita, Yoshimi Saito, Ken Kano, Maki Nishiyama,
This is an omnibus film production which comes from the Marebito Theater Company. They have created works set in cities that have undergone unprecedented experiences in order to reconstitute the past and present. Their method is to send artists to cities for an extended period of time and write/make plays/films that delve into the daily lives of people to take audiences beyond the tragic headlines. Former projects include “Performing Nagasaki” (2013-16) and “Performing Fukushima” (2016-18).
There are four indie directors, each of whom has had works screened at festivals such as Osaka Asian Film Festival. Natsuka Kusano (Domains, Antonym) and Mikihiro Endo (Promises) are the ones I am familiar with. Kusano’s entry, Till the End of the Dream played at the Marseille International Film Festival.
This film was recently screened at Tokyo FILMeX.
Synopsis: The four stories, with the theme of Hiroshima as an A-bombed city, include one of a woman who lives with her partner in an apartment in Hiroshima and regularly meets with her friend by the river where they write poems together. Another story features a woman who was exposed to radiation in utero about 1 km from the bomb’s hypocenter when the atomic bomb was dropped tells her story to the camera as herself, her mother, and the narrator of a life. Another story has a woman who has just lost someone important try to go about her daily life. Then there is the story of a theatre company’s rehearsal of a play about Hiroshima and a young man who participates in the rehearsal as sound staff and collects sounds from outdoor areas.
Watashi ga Watashi de Aru Basho 
私が私である場所 「Watashi ga Watashi de Aru Basho」
Release Date: December 08th, 2023
Duration: 87 mins.
Director: Shinobu Imao
Writer: N/A
Starring: Yuki Ito, Himena Irei, Chie Tsuji, Emi Satsuki, Haruka Sugiyama,
Shinobu Imao’s last film was Neko Kaeru Cat’s Home
Synopsis: This is a documentary about actors who aren’t well known but have spent their lives in the profession or working on films in various capacities. The setting is making an indie movie and they are shown at work.
Yaji to Minshu Shugi Gekijoukakudai-ban 
ヤジと民主主義 劇場拡大版 「Yaji to Minshu Shugi Gekijoukakudai-ban」
Release Date: December 09th, 2023
Duration: 100 mins.
Director: Yuji Yamazaki
Writer: N/A
Starring: N/A
Synopsis: Yaji means heckling and it refers to the “Yaji-Exclusion Issue,” in which police officers removed people who voiced criticism of Shinzo Abe during a speech in Hokkaido. This documentary is based on an award-winning program called “Yaji and Democracy” that was broadcast by Hokkaido Broadcasting Corporation in 2020. It features interviews with some of the people who were removed and are locked in a legal battle with the police.
Till the Day I Can Laugh about My Blues 
物体 妻が哲学ゾンビになった 「Yaji to Minshu Shugi Gekijoukakudai-ban」
Release Date: December 09th, 2023
Duration: 100 mins.
Director: Karin Takeda
Writer: Karin Takeda (Screenplay),
Starring: Miyu Watanabe, Kokona Sumi, Shino Natsume, Tomie Kataoka, Ri Marumoto, Shizuku Narumiya, Hinata Sato,
This was screened at Skip City D Cinema Festival.
Synopsis: Anne is a junior high school student who is struggling to fit in at school. After she purchases a magical kaleidoscope from a mysterious store, she uses it and a door opens and leads her to a rooftop where she meets Aina, a student with the same kaleidoscope. Rumour has it that a student committed suicide by jumping off the roof and Anne suspects that Aina may be a ghost but the two quickly become close friends and Aina helps Anne.
Buttai Tsuma ga Tetsugaju Zonbinatta 
ホゾを咬む 「Buttai Tsuma ga Tetsugaju Zonbinatta」
Release Date: December 09th, 2023
Duration: 72 mins.
Director: Yoshihiro Ito
Writer: Eiichi Takahashi (Screenplay),
Starring: Kan Yuki, Maiko Kadota, Ryohei Takenaka, Yota Kawase,
Synopsis: A “philosophical zombie” is someone (or thing, like an insect, I guess) which does not have a consciousness but reacts like it normally would? In this film, a man named Satoru struggles to save his wife, Ai, after she becomes the victim of a mysterious insect that eats her brain cells and she loses her ego. who has become a philosophical zombie. Ai is deemed a dangerous creature by the government, and is sentenced to be killed…