Welcome to the second trailer post of this week.
The first post is here.
It is almost time for Christmas and I am super happy. Food, family, films, and video games as I have a lot of time booked off work!
I’m also continuing with film festival viewing and watching films for fun!
This week, I continued my Chicago International Film Festival 2023 coverage with a review of Concrete Utopia. That is South Korea’s entry for the 2024 Academy Awards. I’ve got one more review for this side of the year and the other reviews will be for Japanese titles that are a bit older and underseen – very much looking forward to them!
In terms of other things I have watched, it has been a 2023 catch up with Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon.
Aside from a drink with work colleagues at a pub, I’m winding down public activities and spending more time indoors. So, more writing!
What are the other films released this weekend?
Hi Daruma Kaita Yo 
火だるま槐多よ 「Hi Daruma Kaita Yo」
Release Date: December 23rd, 2023
Duration: 112 mins.
Director: Hisayasu Sato
Writer: Shiro Yumeno (Screenplay),
Starring: Yuya Shintaro, Riho Sato, Kei Kudo, Reno Suzuta, Ken Hatta,
Hisayasu Sato, one of the “Four Heavenly Kings of Pink Films” has reunited with Shiro Yumeno, who he worked with on The Eye’s Dream (2016) and the Rampo Noir story The Caterpillar, to make this film.
Synopsis: A performance group made up of people with special abilities, such as precognition, clairvoyance, and telekinesis, use their powers to channel the works of Keita Murayama, a Taisho era painter who died prematurely at the age of 22, and interpret them.
Datsu Tokyo Geinin 
脱・東京芸人 「Datsu Tokyo Geinin」
Release Date: December 23rd, 2023
Duration: 105 mins.
Director: Sumiko Adachi
Writer: Shiro Yumeno (Screenplay),
Starring: Ganji Hombo, Daisuke Miyagawa, Kento Kobayashi, Mitsunori Fukuda, Seiichiro Mizuguchi,
Synopsis: This is a documentary about Ganji Hombo, a comedian who struggled to make it in Osaka and Tokyo and moved to Yamagata Prefecture in 2018 to work as a Yamagata Prefecture Live-in Comedian where his career picked up until the pandemic. In order to survive, he rented an old house with a field in Nishikawa for 100 yen a month from a local resident and taught himself how to farm.
Nan de ka ne- Tsurumi Gae niwa mada Hayai 
なんでかね～鶴見 ガーエーにはまだ早い 「Nan de ka ne- Tsurumi Ga-e- ni wa mada Hayai」
Release Date: December 23rd, 2023
Duration: 114 mins.
Director: Atsushi Watanabe
Writer: Atsushi Watanabe (Screenplay),
Starring: Hidemi Higa, Cana (I-Dushi), Hiroki Kawata, Tetsuhiro Daiku, Albert Shiroma, Tamako Miyagawa,
This played at the Okinawa International Movie Festival 2023 earlier.
Synopsis: This is set in Tsurumi Ward in Yokohama City, a place where many people of Okinawan ancestry live. It looks at the community through the efforts of a young woman named Mina who wants to put on an Eisa performance. Her dream is to own a live house and play the sanrere, an instrument that combines the sanshin and ukulele. When she meets a young man named Eito, a fellow Okinawan, she learns that he is from Koza, the home of eisa, and she coaxes him to join her.
Gekijouban SPYXFAMILY CODE: White 
劇場版 SPY×FAMILY CODE: White スパイファミリー 「Gekijouban SPYXFAMILY CODE: White」
Release Date: December 22nd, 2023
Duration: 110 mins
Director: Takashi Katagiri
Writer: Ichiro Okouchi (Screenplay), Tatsuya Endo (Original Creator),
Starring: Atsumi Tanezaki (Anya Forger), Kenichiro Matsuda (Bond Forger), Saori Hayami (Yor Forger), Takuya Eguchi (Loid Forger),
Animation Production: CloverWorks, Wit Studio
Synopsis: Loid is a spy, Yol is an assassin, their daughter Anya is a psychic, and their dog, Bond, predicts the future. Together, the Forger family go on vacation to the wintry Frigis region. This trip doubles as cover for an operation known as “Strix.” Anya mistakenly gets involved and triggers events that threaten world peace!
Shi ga Utsukushii Nante Dare ga Itta 
死が美しいなんて誰が言った 「Shi ga Utsukushii Nante Dare ga Itta 」
Release Date: December 22nd, 2023
Duration: 70 mins
Director: Ryo Nakajima
Writer: Reiko Honjo, Takahiro Tsuzuki (Screenplay), Rika Hirotsu (Original Creator),
Starring: Rika Mayama (Yuna), Ryoki Nagae (rei), Takeshi James Yamada (Takeshiba), Yurika Nakamura (Rika),
Animation Production: CloverWorks, Supersüß
This animation was done using AI and motion capture.
Synopsis: Japan is suffering from a virus that is suffering from a zombie virus. Zombies are walled off while infected are hospitalised. One of the infected is Rei, a poet. When zombies break through the wall, Rei, alongside her younger sister Yūna, and their doctor Rika escape with the help of a people smuggler named Takeshiba and they embark on a brutal odyssey to escape overseas for treatment.