Welcome to the final trailer post of the week
You can find part one here and part two here
This week, I began with a preview of the Japanese Film Festival+ online streaming season starting tomorrow where 27 films and two television shows will be available to watch for free. I then posted an interview with Florian Horh, programmer for Nippon Connection, the largest festival for Japanese films in the world. That is currently underway. Then I posted my interview with Su Yu-chun on her film Inch Forward, which is at the festival. Later, I will post an interview with Dr. Catherine Munroe Hotes about what she has programmed for Nippon Connections animation section. Then there is my review of Lonesome Vacation, a warm-hearted noir that gains power from playing against the genre as characters learn to find satisfaction in life, despite imperfections.
In terms of films watched, I finished the old Twin Peaks and started the new series and I covered Shin Godzilla, Godzilla, and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. You can hear me talk about them on Heroic Purgatory. The best film, though, was Nope (2023). Genuinely scary and fun!
What are the other films on offer?
Jakkotai 
邪魚隊 ジャッコタイ 「Jakkotai」
Release Date: May 31st, 2024
Duration: 84 mins.
Director: Ryosuke Kanesaki
Writer: Mayu Konishi (Screenplay), Nobuyuki Fukumoto, Kaiji Kawaguchi (Original Manga),
Starring: Ryuuji Sato, Nichika Akutsu, Shuhei Hashimoto, Shin Koyanagi, Kaho Takada,
Website Twitter: @toei_movie_st
This is a historical action film featuring 2.5. actors who take on roles in an Edo-period Dirty Dozen style movie.
Synopsis: The Shogunate has a black bag squad made up of criminals who go on dangerous missions in the hopes of earning clemency. Their latest task is to investigate a mysterious group operating in Edo that is linked with disappearances, cannibalistic demons, and a newly-formed cult that promises to people from these horrors…
MIRRORLIAR FILMS Season5 
ミラーライアーフィルムズ 「Mira-raia- Firumuzu」
Release Date: May 31st, 2024
Duration: 87 mins.
Director: Naoto Takenaka, Yusuke Sakakibara, Hiroyuki Ohashi, Pijus Mačiulskis, Kotaro Iwakawa, Koji Togawa,
Writer: Yusuke Sakakibara, Hiroyuki Ohashi, Pijus Mačiulskis, Kotaro Iwakawa, Kiyohito Wada, Kotaro Iwakawa, Koji Togawa (Screenplay),
Starring: Ryusei Yokohama, Shiho Sasaki, Naoki Matayoshi, Abe Shinnosuke, Takayuki Yamada, Sairi Ito, Ryo Matsuura, Tosa Kazunari,
Website Twitter: @mirrorliarfilms
Synopsis: This is the fifth entry in “MIRRORLIAR FILMS” project, a series of omnibus films that feature the involvement of established stars supporting newer talents. There are six films on offer.
Mujina Pass 
むじな峠「Mujina Touge」
Release Date: May 31st, 2024
Duration: 88 mins.
Director: Hiroshi Toda
Writer: Hiroshi Toda (Screenplay/Original Story),
Starring: Yoichi Hayashi, Hitomi Wakahara, Kazuki Hasegawa, Kuniyasu Toda,
This is a period drama based on the real-life historical figure of Enku, an ascetic monk and Buddhist priest who lived in the early Edo period.
Synopsis: Following the end of the Warring States, a Buddhist monk, who travels around the country making Buddhist statues, arrives at a village and encounters a family where the son of a family dreams of becoming a samurai. With the rest of the village worried about him, the monk’s arrival proves timely…
莉の対 「Rei no Tsui」
Release Date: May 31st, 2024
Duration: 189 mins.
Director: Toshihiko Tanaka
Writer: Toshihiko Tanaka (Screenplay),
Starring: Takara Suzuki, Toshihiko Tanaka, Maeko Oyama, Shogo Moriyama, Akio Ikeda,
Toshihiko Tanaka originally worked in the banking sector but switched to acting and has been active mainly on the stage. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he studied filmmaking and produced this film made with a cast and crew of mostly non-professionals and students.
The title of the film is based on the Kanji character “Rei (莉).” It can be a genderless given name or it can represent a variety of meanings, especially when connected with others.
This won the Tiger Award at Rotterdam 2024.
Synopsis: This drama focuses on a thirtysomething named Hikari Matsushita. Her Tokyo life consists of going to the office and going to plays. It is stable compared to those around her but she feels a lack of self-worth. Meaning comes into it through the pictures of a deaf landscape photographer named Masato. She begins a relationship with him and travels to his home in Hokkaido just as the lives of the people around her, and her own life, falls apart. However, it is through struggling alongside counterparts that meaning is found in life and Hikari finds a sense of self.
Yume no Arika Hitobito no Toriroji 
夢の在処 ひとびとのトリロジー「Yume no Arika Hitobito no Toriroji」
Release Date: June 01st, 2024
Duration: 88 mins.
Director: Sohei Motomura
Writer: Sohei Motomura (Screenplay),
Starring: Yukina Hirai, Hiroki Okabe, Reiko Iwamatsu, Takahiro Ono, Sarasa Nakamura
Website Twitter: @yumeari_movie
Sohei Motomura, an actor with a stage background and his own theatre troupe, his first theatrical film with this.
Synopsis: A film about a group of people whose lives are far from ideal, beginning with Yamaguchi, a part-time worker who is about to turn 20 and is teased because he has never been kissed, and his supervisor at his part-time job is overbearing. Then there is Ono, an struggling middle-aged actor who wants to put on a play with his own money but also has to worry about his daughter and girlfriend. Then there is Hitona, a woman who wants to change her life but finds her husband is at odds with her. When she tells her childhood friend Kyoko, her life does, indeed, begin to change in unexpected ways.