Welcome to the second trailer post of the week.
You can find the first post here.
I have got back into the movie groove and found myself watching two a day. Mostly low-budget horror films from the early 2000s but some major mid-90s Hollywood ones thrown into the mix.
I have started watching the new Fallout series on Amazon and will pin Twin Peaks on at the end.
On top of western films, I have watched Japanese indies. Indeed, I started this week with a review of one, Performing KAORU’s Funeral and I interviewed its director, Noriko Yuasa. I then followed that up with a first-glance preview of Nippon Connection 2024. I’ll have another review and an interview following tomorrow.
On top of that, the latest episode of the Heroic Purgatory podcast is out and it covers Lady Snowblood.
What are the other films released this weekend?
Make-Believers 
夢見びと 「Yumemibito」
Release Date: April 13th, 2024
Duration: 102 mins.
Director: Kenjo McCurtain
Writer: Kenjo McCurtain (Screenplay),
Starring: Takashi Kawaguchi, Yuki Morikawa, Saiki Masuda, Shouta Hatori, Sayuri Hirayama, Takashi Ohkado, Nayu Kazetani,
Make-believers is is billed as aiming to be “a first-of-its-kind, Hollywood-influenced, musical romance set in Japan.” I found it on Kickstarter and had the chance to review it here two years ago – almost to the day! It is a fun and sweet musical that utilises some dazzling costumes and agile dancers to make cute dance sequences which are built into a solid dramatic core featuring a universal story of being true to oneself.
Takashi Kawaguchi, who appeared in Bad Poetry Tokyo (2017) – I also interviewed him! – plays the main male role. His leading lady is Yuki Morikawa who is pitch-perfect, and this looks to be her first major film credit after a career in a variety of roles across CMs, dramas, and movies.
It plays at Cinema Rosa in Ikebukuro.
Synopsis: Masa (Takashi Kawaguchi), a dour and reticent manga writer with 
aspirations of being a “serious novelist.” This career choice might be the reason he has hit his late 30s and is still single but it’s more likely his closed-off personality. With news that his estranged father is on the verge of death after a stroke, Masa wants to make peace with the old man and so he hits upon hiring a rental actress to pose as his partner.
Enter Kanako (Yuki Morikawa), an aspiring dancer who is recruited to fool Masa’s father into thinking that his son has a fiancée. Surprisingly, it works! Kanako has that special magic in that allows her to enter people’s lives and charm them – she is genuinely nice and caring, open and outgoing. She is the polar opposite of miserable Masa so, of course, the more time Masa spends with his fake wife, the more he falls for her. But can an authentic connection come from their false relationship?
Ketsudan Unmei o Kaeta 3.11 Boshi Hinan 
決断 運命を変えた3.11母子避難 「Ketsudan Unmei o Kaeta 3.11 Boshi Hinan」
Release Date: April 12th, 2024
Duration: 89 mins.
Director: Wataru Abiko
Writer: N/A
Starring: N/A
Synopsis: Wataru Abiko is a documentarian who has rekorded works based on 3/11 and its effects on people. Here he captures the situation of ten families who evacuated from Fukushima Prefecture to various parts of Japan and the issues that arose.
Kouin 
コウイン 光陰 「Kouin」
Release Date: April 12th, 2024
Duration: 93 mins.
Director: Yuji Kakizaki
Writer: Yuji Kakizaki (Screenplay),
Starring: Masayuki Deai, Yuka Takeshima, Ikuya Enokizono, Shinnosuke Nakazato, Mami Yamasaki, Tsukasa Itou,
Yuji Kakizaki has directed a private security company films like The Second Security Unit (2018), which precedes this film in terms of story and characters return for the sequel. These are based on his own experiences, apparently!
Synopsis: Hisao and Yoko continue working for the security firm STEC, aka, the Second Security Unit, and are called to protect a woman who is being pursued by Chinese agents. The arena of battle is a remote campsite with civilians and the Chinese are closing in…
Koza Mama Utatte! Koza no Mama-san!! 
コザママ♪ うたって！コザのママさん!! 「Koza-mama Utatte! Koza no Mama-san!!」
Release Date: April 12th, 2024
Duration: 116 mins.
Director: Yosuke Nakagawa
Writer: Yosuke Nakagawa, Yuki Yamada (Screenplay),
Starring: Misao Aragaki, Takako Hatakeyama, Miki Uejo, jimama, Yumi Yoshino,
It seems everyone involved in this project is from Okinawa or been involved in the Okinawan film industry, including the director who has used the island as a setting before. Here he takes audiences to Koza, an area in Okinawa known as a sacred place for R&B music, and shows how people hope that music can revitalise the place.
Synopsis: 20 years ago, four high school girl created an R&B band called The Ginten Girls and brought joy to Ginten-gai, a shopping district in Koza, Okinawa City. Now they are adults with families of their own and looking for a way to help their hometown claw its way out of recession. They hit upon reviving their band as a way of reviving their city and, in the process, revive their youth and their future!
Nichi Nichi Geijutsu
日日芸術 「Nichi Nichi Geijutsu」
Release Date: April 13th, 2024
Duration: 110 mins.
Director: Tomoya Ise
Writer: Tomoya Ise (Screenplay),
Starring: Miu Tomita, Harumichi Saito, the Pascals, Yoshihiro Watanabe, Miruka, Makoto Takamaru,
Synopsis: Actress Miu Tomita visits a coffee shop and gets a pair of strange glasses made of cellophane tape from the owner. These glasses make the everyday scenery appears to be transformed into a world full of art. Using these glasses, Miu meets a group of artists – all real because these people exhibit their works in real life! Music provided by the acoustic orchestra Pascals.