Welcome to the first of three trailer posts for this week.
Parts two and three follow over the next few days.
I have started a new role in my workplace and I’m enjoying it since it is featuring tasks that are more active than I am used to. It comes with a better team and a better salary so I’m much more motivated. That salary will be saved and some set aside for a trip or two to Japan – March and August are pencilled in for next year.
Hmm, the latter month is going to be summer so that will be brutal… I might have to spend the holidays in air-conditioned cinemas!
What are the first bunch of Japanese films to get released this weekend?
Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro 
ルパン三世 カリオストロの城 「Rupan Sansei Kariosutoro no Shiro」
Release Date: December 15th, 1979 (Japan)
Duration: 96 mins
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Writer: Yasuo Otsuka (Screenplay), Haruya Yamazaki, Hayao Miyazaki (Script), Monkey Punch (Original Manga)
Starring: Yasuo Yamada (Arsene Lupin III), Makio Inoue (Goemon Ishikawa), Kiyoshi Kobayashi (Jigen Daisuke), Goro Naya (Inspector Zenigata), Eiko Masuyama (Fujiko Mine), Sumi Shimamoto (Lady Clarisse de Cagliostro)
Animation Production: Tokyo Movie Shinsha
The last time this was in a cinema was in 2021. It is back again in 2024 to commemorate the 45th anniversary of its fire ever theatrical release and will be shown in IMAX for the first time.
Synopsis: Famed thief Arsene Lupin III and best-pal/partner in crime Jigen, search for a counterfeiter who has rendered their latest casino heist a waste of time as they discover their haul of cash are called “Goat Bills”. They discover that the fake money they have comes from a counterfeiter in the secluded country of Cagliostro and he is a wicked count who is holding a beautiful and innocent princess in a tower. Lupin and his pals resolve to steal the Count’s treasure and the princess, too, all while Inspector Zenigata is hot on his trail.
Lust in the Rain 
雨の中の慾情 「Ame no Naka no Yokujo」
Release Date: November 29th, 2024
Duration: 132 mins.
Director: Shinzo Katayama
Writer: Shinzo Katayama (Screenplay), Yoshiharu Tsuge (Original Manga)
Starring: Ryo Narita, Eriko Nakamura, Go Morita, Naoto Takenaka, Tomomitsu Adachi, Yuki Nakanishi, Yuya Matsuura,
Website Twitter: @ame_yokujo IMDB
This film, based on a manga by Yoshiharu Tsuge, was adapted for the screen by writer/director Shinzo Katayama, a man who first came to prominence with the film Siblings on the Cape. Filmed almost entirely on location in Taiwan, the film stars Eriko Nakamura (Lonely Glory, Love‘s Whirlpool) as the woman at the centre of a love triangle. The film was written in co-operation with Takamasa Oe (Whale Bones), who also wrote the screenplay for “Drive My Car” and worked with Katayama on the drama Gannibal.
Synopsis: Yoshio is a struggling manga artist living in Kitamachi. His landlord, Oyaji, asks him to help a novelist called Imori move into their building and this is when Yoshio meets Fukuko, a recently-divorced woman whose beauty captures his attention. Soon, Imori and Fukuko move in with Yoshio and he becomes part of a love triangle.
Shotai 
正体 「Shotai」
Release Date: November 29th, 2024
Duration: 120 mins.
Director: Michihito Fujii
Writer: Michihito Fujii, Kazuhisa Kodera (Screenplay), Tamehito Somei (Original Novel)
Starring: Ryusei Yokohama, Riho Yoshioka, Shintaro Morimoto, Anna Yamada, Takayuki Yamada,
Website Twitter: @shotai_movie IMDB
There is a TV show based on the novel. This movie was directed by Michito Fujii (The Journalist).
Synopsis: Kaburagi is on the run and hides across Japan. He has good reason to since he is the prime suspect in a brutal murder case that shook the nation. A detective is on his trail and this detective keeps coming across people who met Kaburagi but have wildly different opinions on him and descriptions of him. This might be part of his escape, but the how and why have to be answered…
Auto Racer Katsuyuki Mori Promise to the Oval Circuit 
オートレーサー森且行 約束のオーバル 劇場版 「Shotai」
Release Date: November 29th, 2024
Duration: 94 mins.
Director: Yuki Hosaka
Writer: N/A
Starring: Katsuyuki Mori
Website Twitter: @autoracer_mori
Synopsis: Katsuyuki Mori was a major star as a member of the idol group SMAP but he turned his back on singing to race bikes, a dream he has had since childhood. He has won titles but also had horrible accidents. This documentary, shot over three years, captures his life in hospitals, on race tracks, and revisiting places he remembers from his childhood to describe what drives him.
This documentary is a re-edited version a work that was at the TBS Documentary Film Festival in March 2023. It now comes with extensive additional footage.
Chijin no Ai 
痴人の愛 「Chijin no Ai」
Release Date: November 29th, 2024
Duration: 106 mins.
Director: Kishu Izuchi
Writer: Kaori Kotani (Screenplay), Junichiro Tanizaki (Original Novel)
Starring: Shima Ohnishi, Natsuki Sena, Shiori Doi, Shunsuke Sato, Yohei Shibayama, Miyoko Yoshimoto, Hiroko Nakajima, Yota Kawase,
Website Twitter: @naomi_2024x
Junichiro Tanizaki’s novels have been adapted for the screen by many filmmakers. Some of the best works I’ve seen were by Yasuzo Masumura. Earlier this year were two adaptations that featured gender-flipped storylines.
This was made by the production house behind many recent Shinji Imaoka films.
Synopsis: Joji Kawai once won awards at screenwriting competitions but has yet to make his professional debut. His fortune changes when an instructor on a screenwriting course chooses him to write a script for a movie based on Junichiro Tanizaki’s “Chijin no Ai.” This is a big opportunity and Joji seizes it but still faces a struggle, one complicated by him meeting a beautiful woman named Naomi at a deserted bar. She says she aspires to be on the screen and he gets closer to her only for it to kinda play out like the story he is adapting as she proves hard to handle.