Welcome to the second trailer post of the week
You can find the first post here.
I’m back on my “old film” catch-up with a few rewatches and new finds. The newer finds were Stuart Gordon’s The Pit and the Pendulum (1991), Robot Jox (1989) and Edmond (2005).
I had seen his more famous works like Re-animator (1985), From Beyond (1986), Dolls (1987), Castle Freak (1995), Dagon (2001) and also his entries in The Masters of Horror series beforehand.
If I had to re-asses his filmography based on these new watches, his earliest works are still his best but I did kinda like The Pit and the Pendulum (1991) for the recreation of Inquisition-era Spain and atmospheric sets.
It’s an interesting re-imagining of the Edgar Allan Poe tale, one more in line with a swashbuckler. Also, Lance Henriksen and Jeffrey Combs are great at dramatic and dark roles and going barmy in a heartbeat. Then there was also the work-a-day dialogue where you have the torturers just shooting the breeze about the job. It was both grimly funny and chilling in its banality.
After that brief break, I’ll be going back to more contemporary films for the next few months as I cover the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024.
At the start of the week I posted a brief overview of the line-up for OAFF 2024. I followed that up with a preview of the Glasgow International Film Festival and a glimpse of the graduation works from Osaka University of the Arts.
Berlinale starts next week so I hope to cover that, plus I’ll be covering some blu-ray releases.
What are the other films released this weekend?
Wasabi – Not a Fairytale 
復讐のワサビ 「Fukushuu no Wasabi」
Release Date: February 09th, 2024
Duration: 119 mins.
Director: Hermant Singh
Writer: Hermant Singh (Screenplay),
Starring: Julian Koike, Miho Fujiwara, Keisuke Nomura, Yuta Inoue, Honoka Kawabe, Shinichiro Osawa, Nodoka Matsumoto,
Julian Koike co-directed and starred in a film that was released last weekend called Sampaguita.
Synopsis: Kano is a young woman living in a countryside town who has endured relentless bullying since childhood because of a scar on her face. On top of this trauma, she has to struggled to handle her alcoholic mother and their poor life. Despite this, she keeps going and, after an incident, she realises her hidden potential…
Madoromi no Kanojotachi 
まどろみの彼女たち 「Madoromi no Kanojotachi」
Release Date: February 09th, 2024
Duration in Total: 62 mins.
This is an omnibus film that features two stories led by two actresses and they have been or will be screened by the Osaka Asian Film Festival. The famous names are voice actress Chika Anzai, who can be heard in Girls und Panzer and Lycoris Recoil, who appears in Women in the Zoo and Akari Takaishi, who appeared in the two Baby Assassin films, who stars in Perfect Nervous.
I used the text I wrote for OAFF here.
Perfect Nervous
Duration: 27 mins.
Director: Masaru Sano
Writer: N/A
Starring: Minori Fujidera, Akari Takaishi,
This one can be seen at Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024.
Synopsis: Ayaka is in hospital and the news is not good: due to arteriosclerosis she will lose her legs. While she still can, she paces the leafy hospital surroundings in search of a suicide spot. She finds the perfect tree, one with a sturdy branch from which to hang herself. Just as she loops a noose around her neck, she is interrupted by a mysterious patient named Yoshino. This slightly macabre girl is also afflicted by a disease, but a fantastical one that will see her turn into a tree. Even though Ayaka is surrounded by death, disease, and defective bodies, Yoshino’s intervention leads her to cling on to life, no matter how absurd.
SANO offers a highly engaging film, both visually and aurally, as it presents surreal scenes. Underlying it is a message about adapting to maintain life and appreciating it in its many forms. The plant-based set design, atmospheric lighting, off-kilter framing, dreamy/ominous piano score, and pitch-perfect performances offer an odd but affecting life-affirming tale.
Women in the Zoo 
動物園のふたり 「Dobutsuen no Futari」
Duration: 33 mins.
Director: Masaru Sano
Writer: N/A
Starring: Chika Anzai, KANON,
This was screened at Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023.
Synopsis: YAMADA is 19 years old but instead of thinking of her bright future, she is deep in depression and has stopped going to college due to a lack of confidence. One day, she meets a woman who calls herself NOTANI while playing a game outside of a candy store. NOTANI is a capricious and headstrong woman who brands herself a wanderer and she takes a bewildered YAMADA under her wing resulting in the two living in YAMADA’s house. One day, the two become suspicious of a woman who spends a lot of time looking at elephants at the zoo, and decide to follow her…
We watch six months of the cohabitation of these two very different characters as they get wrapped up in oddball adventures, grim incidents, and soul searching that gets YAMADA to see that her normal life has something special about it. This film took the Audience Award in the Short Film Category at the 15th Fukui Film Festival.
Tadashii Aikora no Tsukurikata 
正しいアイコラの作り方 「Tadashii Aikora no Tsukurikata」
Release Date: February 10th, 2024
Duration: 126 mins.
Director: Masatomo Kamiya
Writer: Masatomo Kamiya, Masamichi Kamiya (Screenplay),
Starring: Yuto Tsubone, Kanon, Akari Takaishi, Naoya Sugo, Kikka Oishi, Minami Kobayashi,
Website Twitter: @tadashiiaikora
Akari Takaishi of Perfect Nervous also appears in this film set in Yamagata Prefecture.
Synopsis: Saburo is a highschooler out wandering town late at night on the hunt for erotic books. This is when he unexpectedly sees his classmate, local idol Asahi Tanigawa, in a back alley and takes a picture of her. The next day, Saburo learns from the news that both he and Asahi were at a crime scene as a body was found in the alley. When the police question him about his movements that night, he keeps quiet about seeing Asahi…
Amefuritte, The End. 
雨降って、ジ・エンド。 「Amefuritte, Ji Endo.」
Release Date: February 10th, 2024
Duration: 84 mins.
Director: Izumi Takahashi
Writer: Izumi Takahashi (Screenplay),
Starring: Kotone Furukawa, Hiromasa Hirosue, Miho Ooshita, Midori Shine, Takuya Wakabayashi,
Izumi Takahashi is responsible for scripting duties on the films One Night, The Devil’s Path and a show called Tokyo Revengers, and many other works. He takes on writing and directing a “pure love story.”
Synopsis: Hiyori is an aspiring photographer who posts photos on SNS. When taking shelter from rain, she meets a man in clown-like makeup named Amemori and takes a photo of him. It becomes a bit of a hit online and Hiyori starts taking more pictures of him. Slowly she becomes attracted to him, but he has a secret…
Fujiyama Cotton Ton 
フジヤマコットントン 「Fujiyama Kotton Ton」
Release Date: February 10th, 2024
Duration: 95 mins.
Director: Taku Aoyagi
Writer: N/A
Starring: N/A
Synopsis: Taku Aoyagi has made a documentary set in his mother’s workplace, a welfare facility for people with disabilities located in Yamanashi Prefecture. We see their daily lives and learn about their personalities, friendships, and emotions while they perform activities, like caring for flowers, drawing pictures, and weaving cloth and interact with others.