Welcome to the second of two trailer posts.
You can find the first post here.
I’ve got more reviews planned to come out between now and the next set of trailer posts. Five or six. I’ve been watching lots of films in the meantime and completed watching all of the Twin Peaks saga. Blue Velvet, The Straight Story, and Lost Highway remain my favourite David Lynch works but I have to respect what Lynch did with Twin Peaks. Even if I wasn’t the biggest fan of the soap opera pastiche and banal humour, there were moments of sheer pathos, where characters confronted love and death that were magisterial and seeing everyone return, albeit older and saying their goodbyes, for that final season (sans the final episode) stands as a beautiful tribute to the world, the cast, the fans.
What are the other Japanese films released this weekend?
Katashiro Replica 
カタシロReplica 「Katashiro Replica」
Release Date: June 21st, 2024
Duration: 88 mins.
Director: Dizm
Writer: Dizm (Screenplay),
Starring: Dizm, Seiji Chihara, Aitsuki Nakuru, Kochan, Suo Sango, Genki Okawa,
Website Twitter: @DizmKDC
Synopsis: The popular Table Talk Role Playing Game (TRPG) “Katashiro,” which is a one-on-one interactive scenario streamed on YouTube and Twitch, gets a movie adaptation set in a hospital where a doctor and patients are the characters and various comedians, models, TV and internet personalities are brought in to play. No screenplay was given to the players.
Tsuyu no atosaki 
つゆのあとさき 「Tsuyu no atosaki」
Release Date: June 22nd, 2024
Duration: 105 mins.
Director: Shinpei Yamazaki
Writer: Shinpei Yamazaki, Futoshi Nakano, Rie Suzuki (Screenplay), Kafu Nagai (Original Novel),
Starring: Yukino Takahashi, Nagisa Nishino, Ryoka Yoshida, Joji Shibue, Fumio Moriya, Shohei Matsuzaki, Ryushin Tei, Tomoya Maeno,
Website Twitter: @tsuyu_movie
This film is an update of Kafu Nagai’s novel “Tsuyu no Atosaki” as it takes the action from the Showa period and places it in Shibuya during the Covid pandemic. Yukino Takahashi beat 200 people at the audition stage for the leading role of Kotone.
Synopsis: When the cabaret club that Kotone works at closes due to the Covid pandemic and the man she lives with flies the coop with all of her possessions, she turns to collecting sugar daddies at a club. This is how she connects with a college student named Sakura, her polar opposite in personality as she takes everything very seriously while Kotone is a bit more free spirited. It is this attitude that allows Kotone to weather hard times while she also finds her connection with Sakura deepening.
Hajimete no onna 
初めての女 「Hajimete no onna」
Release Date: June 22nd, 2024
Duration: 113 mins.
Director: Teppei Kodaira
Writer: Teppei Kodaira, Ryuhei Haishi, Yoshika Kuwae (Screenplay), Kosaku Takii (Original Novel),
Starring: Yusuke Takahashi, Haruka Imou, Haruka Miwa, Takuma Fujie, Yuichi Jan,
Website Twitter: @eiga_hajimeteno
This is a film adaptation of a novel of the same title written by Kosaku Takii, a haiku poet and novelist, about his youth and the crossroads he faced as to whether to follow art or take up a trade at the turn of the century. It is a beautifully-shot film and features performers like Haruka Imou (Soiree) and Takuma Fujie (Lonesome Vacation) The director, Teppei Kodaira, is a former fisherman who makes his theatrical debut with this film.
Synopsis: Takayama, Gifu Prefecture, in the late Meiji period. Takayama, Gifu Prefecture, at the end of the Meiji period (1868-1912). Takasaku has led a hard life since the death of his brother and mother and faces pressure to conform to a life as an apprentice but he has dreams of being a haiku poet. He does have talent and the support of friends but his world really opens up when he meets Tama, a maid at a Western restaurant, and Kiku, a shamisen (three-stringed Japanese banjo) geisha.
Hitotsu no sora 
ひとつの空 「Hitotsu no sora」
Release Date: June 22nd, 2024
Duration: 138 mins.
Director: Ippei Endo
Writer: Ippei Endo, Chihiro Megumi (Screenplay),
Starring: Sarii Ikegami, Shunichi Kawamoto, Ayana Shiramoto, Takafumi Miki, Shintaro Akiyama,
Synopsis: Riko drops out of high school due to bullying and becomes a delinquent. She manages to turn her life around when she meets a karate master and is inspired to volunteer to become his apprentice.
Morning Musume. ’24 MOTTO DOCUMENTARY in BUDOKAN 2024.05.27
モーニング娘。’24 MOTTO DOCUMENTARY in BUDOKAN 2024.05.27 「Mo-ningu Musume. ’24 MOTTO DOCUMENTARY in BUDOKAN 2024.05.27」
Release Date: June 22nd, 2024
Duration: 138 mins.
Director: Masashi Yoshida
Writer: N/A
Starring: Erina Ikuta, Ayumi Ishida, Sakura Oda, Miki Nonaka, Maria Makino, Akane, Haga, Reina Yokoyama, Rio Kitagawa, Homare Okamura, Mei Yamazaki, Rio Sakurai, Haruka Inoue, Ako Yumigeta,
No Trailer
Synopsis: A documentary that goes behind the scenes of Morning Musume’s performance at Nippon Budokan in May, 2024 as the idol unit celebrated their 27th anniversary. This makes them the longest active female idol group in the Japan. It will be available on Hulu.
胴鳴り 「Dounari」
Release Date: June 22nd, 2024
Duration: 110 mins.
Director: Yu Kajino
Writer: Yu Kajino (Screenplay),
Starring: Ryuta Furuya, Nanami Mitsuya, Ai Sasamine, Takuo Inari, Noriko Kohara,
Website Twitter: @donari_movie
18-year-old Hikaru has just graduated from high school and she has travelled alone from Niigata to Tokyo to meet the father she has never known without telling her mother. Her parents originally met in Shinjuku but after parting, her mother Mayumi left the city and gave birth to and raised Hikaru alone while her father Naohide stayed put and became a scriptwriter of a hit TV romance drama. Despite being able to imagine and write moving works of fiction, the reality of having an illegitimate child leaves him bewildered and, out of guilt, he tries to get involved in Hikaru’s life again while balancing responsibilities to his current girlfriend and avoiding upsetting Mayumi.
What transpires is a road movie shot amidst beautiful scenery like Niigata and Oiso over four seasons. It offers a contemplative and somewhat sad look at the idea of “ties that bind,” be they blood or love, and how they have their limits and loneliness lurks, ready to swallow characters up.