Welcome to the second of two trailer posts this week.
You can find the first post here.
This week, I posted a preview of the Japanese films at the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024. I’ll be cranking up coverage of that over the next few months as. I hope to review as many as possible and also interview directors, so come back if you want to learn about the latest on the Japanese indie scene.
Before the festival there’s a very, VERY busy weekend of Japanese films.
As a bit of a change, I watched the old Salem’s Lot.
What are the other Japanese films released this weekend?
Kiseki no Ko Yumeno ni Mau 
奇跡の子 夢野に舞う 「Kiseki no Ko Yumeno ni Mau」
Release Date: February 23rd, 2024
Duration: 97 mins.
Director: Hiromitsu Numata
Writer: Yuna Suzuki, Mirai Shibuya (Screenplay),
Starring: Mone Kamishiraishi (Narration)
Synopsis: This is the cinema version of a documentary that began life on TV. It follows 14 farmers in Naganuma, a farming town outside of Sapporo, Hokkaido, who sought to are working to bring back the red-crowned crane. The crane is an endangered species due to overhunting during the Meiji period so bringing it back is a tough task which included restoring wetlands and ecosystems, reducing use of chemicals and human intrusion in the crane’s habitats. The documentary follows their efforts over seven years, starting in 2015.
Why Did She Let the Monkeys Loose? 
彼女はなぜ、猿を逃したか？ 「Kanojo wa Naze, Saru o Nogashita ka?」
Release Date: February 24th, 2024
Duration: 98 mins.
Director: Izumi Takahashi
Writer: Izumi Takahashi (Screenplay),
Starring: Kanon Fujishima, Mamoru Hagiwara, Hiromasa Hirosue, Shin-e Midori,
This film was screened at Tokyo FILMeX 2022 and it is the second recent film collaboration between Izumi Takahashi and Hiromasa Hirosue following Amefuritte The End. Apparently, this is based on an actual news story about a high school student who let a monkey go free from a zoo.
Synopsis: Yuko is a reportage writer trying to get to the bottom of why a high school girl named Miu caused the escape of a monkey from a zoo. Said schoolgirl is at the centre of social media slander so Yuko wants to set the record straight but the more she works on the piece, the more she loses her mental balance, all while her husband, a filmmaker, watches over her…
Shine the Spotlight on Me! 
スポットライトを当ててくれ！ 「Supottoraito o Atetekure!」
Release Date: February 24th, 2024
Duration: 110 mins.
Director: Koumei
Writer: Koumei (Screenplay)
Starring: Nobu Morimoto, Aika Sonoda, Kokone Sasaki, Shinsuke Hiratsuka, Tatsuhiro Yamaoka,
Apparently the director, Koumei, has worked as an assistant director for a number of prominent film directors including Takashi Miike and Yukihiko Tsutsumi. It played at Camera Japan in Holland a couple of years ago.
Synopsis: Koichi Watanabe is a film producer who is almost forced to quit the film industry when he gets into a dispute with the chairman of a major agency. gets This is when he is visited by Ai, an 18-year old girl, who brings 30 million yen and asks him to make a film for her deceased brother. Watanabe sees the cash and heads off immediately on a location hunt with a director and actress. Along the way, the group begin to rethink their lives.
tsu. 
つ。 「tsu.」
Release Date: February 24th, 2024
Duration: 87 mins.
Director: U Inose
Writer: U Inose (Screenplay),
Starring: Maki Yamashita, Sena Nishitani, Seitaro Ishibashi, Yuzuki Yamada, Tetsu Hasegawa,
Website Twitter: @sagaeiga
tsu. is a film shot in Saga and it features people from there, including volunteers and non-professionals from local high schools and universities, who worked in collaboration with a group of Tokyo-based professionals.
If you head over to the English-language portion of the website, you can find out more information about this project that gives a voice to a more rural area of Japan.
Synopsis: The “Tsu” in the title means “scab” in the Saga dialect. It refers to the scab that forms on the wounded end of the protagonist’s search for a place where he can belong, and the message that being wounded will eventually lead to a new self.
Yuki Soejima is a high school student whose university entrance exams are approaching. However, a complicated relationship with his family and poor grades dog his life. It all comes to a head when Yuki is caught cheating on a test. He flees and heads into the heart of a forest. This is where he encounters a community of people who have left society. This is where Yuki begins to shed the trapping of his old life and begins to become someone new.
Tetsuya Kumagawa K-BALLET TOKYO “New Production of Kumagawa version Sleeping Beauty” in Cinema 
熊川哲也 K-BALLET TOKYO 「熊川版新制作 眠れる森の美女」 in Cinema 「Kumagawa Tetsuya K – BALLET Toukyou “Kumagawa-ban Shinseisaku Nemureru Mori no Bijo’ in Cinema」
Running Time: N/A
Release Date: February 23rd, 2024
Director: Tetsuya Kumagawa
Writer: N/A
Starring: Sena Hidaka, Masaya Yamamoto, Mina Kobayashi, Saya Narita, Gregoire Lansier,
Synopsis: This is the 19th instalment of the K-BALLET film series and this is a production of “Sleeping Beauty” that was recorded performance in October 2023 at the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan Grand Hall to celebrate the company’s 25th anniversary.