This week has been pretty tragic for cinephiles because we lost two great stars with the deaths of Robin Williams and Lauren Bacall. RIP to two major talents.
In other, happier news, the Kickstarter for Plastic Love Story (which I 
posted about) reached its target. We’ll see what happens from here on out.
In film terms, I watched the Korean films Horror Stories 1 and 2, Cold Eyes, The Howling and the Hong Kong films Bullets Over Summer and Fulltime Killer, the 2004 version of Dawn of the Dead and Necronomicon as well as returning to the cinema to see a screening of Godzilla for a second time.
In blogging terms, I posted about the Japanese films at this year’s Venice Film Festival and trailers and information on the Miike film Over Your Dead Body.
What’s released in Japan this weekend? A lot of Hong Sang-Soo films like Our Sunhi and Nobody’s Daughter Haewon and these intriguing titles:
Tokyo Fantasy: Sekai no Owari 
Japanese Title: Tokyo Fantasy: Sekai no Owari
Romaji: Tokyo Fantasy: Sekai no Owari
Release Date: August 15th, 2014 (Japan)
Running Time: N/A
Director: Raphael Frydman
Writer: N/A
Starring: Saori Fujisaki, Satoshi Fukase, D.J. Love, Shinichi Nakajima,
The band Sekai no Owari was formed in 2007 and has slowly worked their way up from the indie scene to the major labels thanks to their songs being used for TV programmes, radios and a growing fan base. Rapahel Frydman attempts to show their world on the big screen in a documentary which visualises their themes, shows their rehearsals and utilises animation to show the band at their most magical during their Hono to Mori no Carnival tour.
Hot Road 
Japanese Title: ホットロード
Romaji: Hotto Ro-do
Release Date: August 16th, 2014 (Japan)
Running Time: 119 mins.
Director: Takahiro Miki
Writer: Taku Tsumugi (Original Manga)
Starring: Rena Nounen, Hiroomi Tosaka, Yoshino Kimura, Yukiyoshi Ozawa, Rina Ohta, Ryohei Suzuki, Seika Taketomi, Motoki Ochiai, Yuki Yamada,
Aahh, an adaptation of a shoujo manga from the 80s and by the guy who specialises in it, Takahiro Miki, director of We Were There: Parts 1 and 2 (2012), Ao Haru Ride (2014). The story is about Kazuki Miyaichi (Nounen), a 14-year-old girl who lives with her mother and her mother’s boyfriend. She is alienated from the two. Meanwhile, 16-year-old Hiroshi (Tosaka) is a bit of a troublemaker who does part-time jobs instead of going to school and is a member of the motorcycle gang “Nights”. The two kids meet but a rival motorcycle gang threaten their happiness.
Kobito Dukan Kakuremomojiri no Himitsu no Momozono 
Japanese Title: こびとづかん カクレモモジリの秘密の桃園
Romaji: Kobito Dukan Kakuremomojiri no Himitsu no Momozono
Release Date: August 16th, 2014 (Japan)
Running Time: 50 mins.
Director: Takahiro Miki
Writer: N/A
Starring: N/A
Oh Lord, these guys are back! Exactly a year since these creepy Kobito things crept onto the big screen, they launch another wave of terror. I just don’t get why these things are popular, if I saw one of those things crawling up my leg, I’d hop around in terror and I’m okay about spiders and stuff. Here’s blurb from my preview for the last film. Nabata Toshitaka is a popular author of children’s books and her Kobito Dukan (Dwarf Encyclopaedia) works are a big hit even if those things look as creepy as hell.
Sturm Und Drang 
Japanese Title: シュトルム・ウント・ドランクッ
Romaji: Shutorumu Unto Doranggu
Release Date: August 16th, 2014 (Japan)
Running Time: 138 mins.
Director: Isao Yamada
Writer: Isao Yamada, Shinzo Takano (Screenplay)
Starring: Emiko Nakamura, Satoru Jitsunashi, Takashi Akiyama, Takeshi Hirokawa, Mutsuo Yoshioka, Ginpachi Ginza, Yumeji Kobayashi, Morio Agata, Fumiko Arai,
Sturm und Drang comes from Isao Yamada, director of Grass Labyrinth (1983). His new film is all about a group of artists and anarchists in Taisho era Japan (1910’s – 20’s) who form a terrorist group named “Guillotine Inc.” and plot revolution against the government. Then the Kanto earthquake of 1923 strikes…
The End of the Special Time We Were Allowed 
Japanese Title: わたしたちに許された特別な時間の終わり
Romaji: Watashitachi ni Yurusareta Tokubetsu na Jikan no Owari
Release Date: August 16th, 2014 (Japan)
Running Time: 119 mins.
Director: Shingo Ota
Writer: Shingo Ota (Screenplay)
Starring: Yasuhiro Arita, Hideo Azuma, Kuniaki Bando, Yuma Hiraizumi, Makoto Ideue, Shota Matsuda, Shingo Ota,
The End of the Special Time We Were Allowed is the director’s way of coming to terms with the death of a friend. Shingo Ota’s high school pal Sota Masuda was an aspiring singer-songwriter who dropped out of school when he won a competition to join a major music label. He left Nagano and headed to Tokyo alone but his debut wasn’t to happen and Masuda turned to drugs to forget his troubles. After surviving an overdose, he heads back to his hometown where his friends try and help him. Ota and studied filmmaking at Waseda university and documented Masuda’s return to music making but Masuda finds himself slipping into despair again… Ota films Masuda’s troubles and recreates his ending, and films a fictional story of a girl who is bullied and her ending. I got the information for the synopsis from the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan which is much clearer than this.
Short Hope 
Japanese Title: ショート ホープ
Romaji: Sho-to Ho-pu
Release Date: August 16th, 2014 (Japan)
Running Time: 76 mins.
Director: Masaki Horiguchi
Writer: Masaki Horiguchi (Screenplay)
Starring: Ryuto, Jun Toba, Mami Nakamura, Reita Serizawa, Asako Kobayashi, Tsuneji Sato,
This is the debut of Masaki Horiguchi and according to a review from the Hollywood Reporter, ‘Short Hope is small and delicate, but a competent nugget all the same.’ What is it about? Kazuya (Ryuto) lives with his step-father Ryosuke (Toba) after the death of his mother, a performer at a nightclub. With the loss of his mother, he seeks out the only biological connection he knows about, his father. With a photograph of is mother and a man she was entertaining, and “Hope”-brand of cigarettes, Kazuya heads to his mother’s old workplace in another town but is the man in the photo really his father?
Harajuku Cinema 
Japanese Title: Harajuku Cinema
Romaji: Harajuku Cinemau
Release Date: August 16th, 2014 (Japan)
Running Time: 88 mins.
Director: Masashi Omino
Writer: Masaki Horiguchi (Screenplay)
Starring: Fumiko Aoyagi, Natsuko Kondo, Kurumi Nakata, Takeshi Uchida, Yukako Hayami,
Fumiko’s parents are concerned about how little she communicates with others and so her parents encourage her to take on a part-time job helping different people to “reunite”. Through seeing her story we see the liveliness and experiences to be had in Harajuku.
Forma 
Japanese: 小さい おうち
Romaji: Chiisai Ouchi
Release Date: August 16th, 2014 (Japan)
Running Time: 145 mins.
Director: Ayumi Sakamoto
Writer: Ryo Nishihara (Screenplay), Ayumi Sakamoto (Original Story)
Starring: Emiko Matsuoka, Ken Mitsuishi, Ryo Nishihara, Seiji Nozoe, Nagisa Umeno
FORMA is an award-winning film directed by Ayumi Sakamoto. It finally gets a release in Japan after screenings at numerous film festivals such as Berlin which I posted about and is where I got this intro blurb from:
Ayumi Sakamoto has been in the film industry for a spell having worked as an actress and in the camera and electrical department of a number of films like Vital and other Shinya Tsukamoto films where she learned directing and cinematography skills. Shot in a muted palette of greys, blacks and beiges in perfect tandem with the colourless lives of its protagonists, Ayumi Sakamoto’s striking debut has a keen grasp of friendship’s grey areas and linguistic cadences. A slow-burning thriller whose long, rigorously composed shots demand closer scrutiny: never disregard the unspoken and the unseen.
One day, Ayako Kaneshiro is reunited with her former classmate Yukari Hosaka. She invites Yukari to join her company, and she accepts. However, Ayako begins to treat Yukari coldly and act strangely around her. Yukari feels increasingly pressured, but Ayako has her reasons. The pent-up hatred within her deepens the darkness in her heart. To confirm her own feelings, Ayako confronts Yukari. Their conflicting emotions intertwine… What lies at the end of this cycle of hatred?
