Welcome to the second trailer post of the week.
You can find the first trailer post here.
Amidst festival work I’ve started watching Hong Kong films just to try my hand at different review styles. There have been a few Ringo Lam titles that I’ve had my eye on and I’m checking out Yuen Woo-ping films, too. It makes for a nice change of pace.
What are the rest of the films released this week?
August My Heaven 
オーガスト・マイ・ヘヴン 「O-gasuto Ma Hebun」
Release Date: February 01st, 2025
Duration: 40 mins.
Director: Riho Kudo
Writer: Riho Kudo (Screenplay),
Starring: Yukino Murakami, Shuri Suwa, Takuma Fujie, Nako Hasegawa,
This one was screened at Berlinale 2024. It is from director Riho Kudo followed her feature film Orphan’s Blues with Let Me Hear It Barefoot and that one seemed to really impress critics. This medium-length film ended up being part of a two-film launch for an NFT-type programme set up by Roadstead, wherein users could purchase digital copies of films and then loan them out. Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Chime was the other film.
Shot in Kyoto in August, this is a sweltering summer movie. It stars Yukino Murakami of Orphan’s Blues, seen briefly in Inch Forward (2023), and Over the Town (2019) and Takuma Fujie who was the lead in Lonesome Vacation and appeared in Plastic (both 2023). The director Takuji Suzuki (Randen) also appears – director Kudo studied at Kyoto University which is where he lectures.
Synopsis: Joe works as a proxy attendee, a rental actor who attends weddings, funerals, and other gatherings as the client’s relative, lover, or friend. Nanpei works in a Chinese restaurant. One day in August, Joe has a job at a funeral home and meets Kaoru, a stranger she had seen in a dream. Later that day, Joe catches Nanpei and Kaoru embracing at the Chinese restaurant. Kaoru had been Nanpei’s best friend before going missing for five years. A case of mistaken identity ensues as Kaoru thinks Joe is someone else and so they set off on their ephemeral journey…
THE RIGHT MAN seigi no otoko 
THE RIGHTMAN 正義の男 「THE RIGHTMAN seigi no otoko」
Release Date: February 01st, 2025
Duration: N/A
Director: Takayuki Takuma
Writer: Takayuki Takuma (Screenplay)
Starring: Akio Kaneda, Kenji Hamatani, Natsume Mito, Masami Yamamoto, Nao Ota,
Website Twitter: @EIGARIGHTMAN
Takayuki Takuma is a director with titles like Under One Umbrella (released in 2018) under his belt. He works in stage and on screen and has created this film as “Four-frame Cinema,” which is something of an omnibus film as viewers get four vignettes that play out like a four-frame comic strip.
Synopsis: Masayoshi Nakamura is a man who must do everything right. He expects it from others, too, so that means he has been injured or gotten into trouble for making sure everything goes by the rule book. Despite problems, he continues living his life in this vein.
Gekijouban Hikawa Kiyoshi + KIINA. 25th Anniversary Concert Tour KIIZN 
劇場版 氷川きよし KIYOSHI HIKAWA＋KIINA. 25th Anniversary Concert Tour KIIZNA 「Gekijouban Hikawa Kiyoshi + KIINA. 25th Anniversary Concert Tour KIIZN」
Release Date: January 31st, 2025
Duration: 142 mins.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
Starring: KIYOSHI HIKAW/KIINA
Website Twitter: @KIINA_STAFF
Synopsis: This is a theatrical screening of singer Kiyoshi Hikawa’s 25th anniversary concert tour. Hikawa, a rock/pop/enka singer, had paused his career after NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen 2022, but resumed it last August with a concert at the Tokyo Garden Theatre to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his debut. This film features footage from that theatre that broadcast on WOWOW and has been further re-edited for theatrical release with additional documentary footage added.
Example! Imitation 
いぐざんぷーる！いみていしょん 「Igu sanpu-ru! Imiteishon」
Release Date: January 31st, 2025
Duration: 33 mins.
Director: Ikumi Kawaida
Writer: Ikumi Kawaida (Screenplay) Fumiko Miyazaki (Original Story)
Starring: Mai Tachibana, Kanon Sekido, TAISEI, Haruna Inoue, Risa Hinami, Keisuke Minami,
Twitter: @examplooleweb
Ikumi Kawaida, who directed the 2022 film Watashi, Idol Yamemasu, which was released in 2022, helmed a one-episode web drama that was originally released on YouTube and it has now got a theatrical release. It features TAISEI, a member of the dance-vocal unit “G.U.M.” and Mai Tachibana, a gravure talent who won the judges’ special prize at “Miss Young Animal 2022,” and by Kanon Sekido, a Tik Tok entertainer.
Synopsis: Rei arrives at a house studio where a photogravure shoot is scheduled to take place and is surrounded by a bunch of beautiful women, some working as staff, one claiming to be his half-sister, then there’s the school crush, and the poor guy is overwhelmed but all the girls want him to stay!