Welcome to the first of two trailer posts this week.
The second trailer post comes tomorrow.
I have managed to watch a film a day and have generally enjoyed all of them. I’ll continue coverage of Osaka while the next bunch of festivals are beginning to show their hands with Cannes announcing their selection, Nippon Connection dropping early highlights and Japan Cuts announcing dates! Expect coverage of those festivals.
What are the first films released this weekend?
Evil Does Not Exist 
悪は存在しない 「Aku wa Sonzai Shinai」
Release Date: April 26th, 2024
Duration: 106 mins.
Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Writer: Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Screenplay),
Starring: Hitoshi Omika, Ryo Nishikawa, Ryuji Kosaka, Ayaka Shibutani,
Website Twitter: @Incline_LLP IMDB
Ryusuke Hamaguchi latest film has roots in a collaboration with musician Eiko Ishibashi (composer on Drive My Car) who asked Hamaguchi to create footage for a live performance named Gift. Evil Does Not Exist is more of a straight narrative and won the Silver Lion (Grand Jury Prize) at the 80th Venice International Film Festival in 2023. It features work by cinematographer Yoshio Kitagawa – Happy Hour, The Sound of Waves, Intimacies, and the Joy of Man’s Desiring.
Image credit: Courtesy of TIFF
Synopsis: Takumi and his daughter Hana live quiet lives in the town of Mizuhiki-cho in Nagano Prefecture. The bucolic peace of the place is disrupted when land developers arrive from nearby Tokyo with the announcement that they intend to build a big tourist attraction in the form of a glamping site for tourists to go camping. It will be built near Takumi’s house. The locals offer resistance to the project when it is discovered that the company intends to discharge sewage into the town’s water supply and the quiet life of Takumi and Hana is unexpectedly affected…
走れない人の走り方 「Hashirenai Hito no Hasiri-kata」
Release Date: April 26th, 2024
Duration: 82 mins.
Director: Su Yu-chun
Writer: Su Yu-chun (Screenplay),
Starring: Nairu Yamamoto, Saori, Ryusei Isoda, Ryuzaburo Hattori, BEBE,
Website Twitter: @hashirenaihito IMDB
I wrote about this for the Osaka Asian Film Festival:
This is top-tier work within the realm of a student graduation film. It’s probably an example of “write what you know” from the perspective of Taiwanese director Su Yu-chun. She was studying filmmaking in Japan and seems to have caught many aspects of the production process. Maybe not the motivations for film but that’s another matter.
A film about making films, we follow the exploits of Kiriko, an indie film director who is struggling to make a road movie that ends on a beach. Why do so many independent films have to have a beach scene? That is a question that gets asked along the way but her journey to the location is beset with difficulties, from budget to casting. There is only so much she can do and so she inches forward making compromises and finding ways around problems to realise her dream, all while living in the real world and fulfilling obligations to others as best she can.
Indeed, a film isn’t often made by one person alone and, breaking the tendency of the genre to focus on an enfant terrible or a wunderkind, Inch Forward convincingly shows collaboration through the people around Kiriko. From producer Takimoto who tries to hash out ideas, to actors seeking to understand a character Kiriko has in her head but not on the page, Inch Forward uses multiple perspectives to portray people who live with cinema in a warm and wry manner.
Are you ready for a mindset that will never sell? 
一生売れない心の準備はできてるか 「Isshou Urenai Kokoro no Junbi wa Deki Teru ka」
Release Date: February 11th, 2023
Duration: 121 mins.
Director: Toma Hayashi
Writer: N/A
Starring: Shigeki Nase, Iku, Fumitomo Yagi, Yoshio Hasegawa, Kosuke Sato, Shoichiro Higa, Takero Sekijima, Atsushi Shimada,
This played at the Okinawa International Movie Festival 2022 and had a release last year.
Synopsis: A music documentary that chronicles the life of Shigeki Nasu, leader of the Okinawan band “Yachimun Shigeki Nasu,” through live performances and interviews. Although he has great songwriting abilities, he hasn’t had a hit song but he continues to make music and please his fans. The film presents a powerful live performance at the Shuri Theater, Okinawa’s oldest cinema, which was packed to capacity with an 18-piece big band, exploring the unique appeal of Nasu’s music.
City Hunter 
シティーハンター 「Shitei- Hanta-」
Release Date: April 25th, 2024
Duration: 102 mins.
Director: Yuichi Sato
Writer: Tatsuro Mishima (Screenplay), Tsukasa Hojo (Original Manga),
Starring: Ryohei Suzuki Misato Morita, Masanobu Ando, Asuka Hanamura, Fumino Kimura, Tetta Sugimoto, Ayame Misaki,
Since this is a Netflix production, check out the service in your area to see if it is available on April 25 because it should be accessible globally.
Synopsis: Ladies man Ryo Saeba works with his partner Makimura to keep Shinjuku ward clean through their skills with guns, fists, and wits. When Makimura is killed, he begins to work with Makimura’s sister Kaori to uncover the truth behind his death. They do so with Saeko, a talented detective of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department…
The next two films are screened together:
Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger vs. Kyoryuger 
キングオージャーVSキョウリュウジャー 「Ō-Sama Sentai Kingu-Ōjā Tai Kyōryūjā」
Release Date: April 26th, 2024
Duration: 102 mins.
Director: Koichi Sakamoto
Writer: Kaori Kaneko (Screenplay), Saburo Yatsude (Original Manga),
Starring: Taisei Sakai, Aoto Watanabe, Erica Murakami, Yuzuki Hirakawa, So Kaku,
Website Twitter: @King47_toei IMDB Power Rangers Fandom
Synopsis: Daigo Kiryu and Utsusemimaru are battling Uchu King Dagded Dujardin when Utsusemimaru is transported to another Earth where he sees a devastated future. He tries to go back to his own time but finds circumstances have changed…
Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger vs. Donbrothers
キングオージャーVSドンブラザーズ 「Ō-Sama Sentai Kingu-Ōjā Tai Donburazāzu」
Release Date: April 26th, 2024
Duration: 102 mins.
Director: Hiroyuki Kato
Writer: Minato Takano (Screenplay), Saburo Yatsude (Original Manga),
Starring: Taisei Sakai, Aoto Watanabe, Erica Murakami, Yuzuki Hirakawa, So Kaku,
Website Twitter: @King47_toei IMDB Power Rangers Fandom
Synopsis: The King-Ohgers and Donbrothers have a showdown in Hakabaka, the land of the dead.