Hello dear audience!
I’m doing more hours in work once again. I will be at the gallery nearly every day for the next few weeks/months. I’m drumming up money for film festival’s and a trip to Japan. I’ll continue to post one review a week. Being at work has its benefits aside from getting paid. Yesterday I met a girl from Japan and we talked, me with my Japanese and the lady with her English. We got along pretty well and I discovered she listens to Creephyp. I told her about How Selfish I Am! as we walked around the galleries.
Work, work, work. As long as I have films I’ll get through the day. This week I posted 
about the black comedy/action thriller, The Guest (2014), a film I highly recommend. I watched Nobuhiro Yamashita’s take on brother sister love in the incest (but it’s not really incest because they aren’t related) drama adaptation Cream Lemon (2004) and the powerful and beautiful Plastic Love Story (2014).
“I’m an awkward guy.”
RIP Ken Takakura, an actor I first saw in the American film Black Rain and who later popped up in Japanese films I write about once in a while. I should watch some of his films.
What’s released in Tokyo this weekend?
Ecotherapy Getaway Holiday 
Japanese Title: 滝を見にいく
Romaji: Taki wo Mi ni Iku
Release Date: November 22nd, 2014
Running Time: 88 mins.
Director: Shuichi Okita
Writer: Shuichi Okita (Screenplay)
Starring: Haruko Negishi, Chigusa Yasuzawa, Yuriko Ogino, Mie Kirihara, Kumiko Kawada, Keiko Tokunou, Michiko Watanabe, Daisuke Kuroda,
Shuichi Okita caught my attention last year with two film releases: The Woodsman & the Rain (2012), The Story of Yonosuke (2013), two gentle bittersweet comedies with strong ensemble casts. Ecotherapy Getaway Holiday is his latest film and it features another ensemble but they are a bunch of unknowns. This was at the Tokyo International Film Festival and Mark Schilling’s review in The Japan Times indicates that this is a solid dramedy.
Seven middle-aged/elderly women go for a tour of a mountain to see a picturesque waterfall. Their trip is pleasant until their male guide disappears and leaves them stranded deep in the mountains and with no cellphone service.
Mindset 
Japanese Title: 想いのこし
Romaji: Omoi Nokoshi
Release Date: November 22nd, 2014
Running Time: 118 mins.
Director: Yuichiro Hirakawa
Writer: Takaya Okamoto (Original Novel/Screenplay)
Starring: Masaki Okada, Ryoko Hirosue, Haruka Kinami, Airi Matsui, Takeshi Kaga, Sayaka Kuon,
Gaijirou (Okada) loves himself, money and dames but his mindset changes when he is hit by a car and finds out that the driver and three pole dancers also died. The change in thinking is sparked by the appearance of four ghosts who offer to show him where a large amount of money is if he will fulfill their last wishes…
Miracle: Devil Claus’ Love and Magic 
Japanese Title: MIRACLE デビクロくんの恋と魔法
Romaji: Miracle Debikuro kun no Koi to Mahou
Release Date: November 22nd, 2014
Running Time: 114 mins.
Director: Isshin Inudo
Writer: Kou Nakamura (Original Novel), Tomoe Kanno (Screenplay)
Starring: Masaki Aiba, Nana Eikura, Han Hyo-Joo, Toma Ikuta, Hitori Gekidan, Mantaro Koichi, Makako Watanabe, Kokoro Hirawasa, Chris Peppler
All I’d like for Christmas is a girl who looks like Nana Eikura. You can keep your video games! I’d also like the looks, intelligence, and confidence and grace to actually keep her. Witness her here in this film!
Hikari (Aiba) is an aspiring mangaka who works in a bookstore. Despite being friends with a successful mangaka named Kitayama (Ikuta), his career isn’t going where he wants it to. Perhaps it is because he is so nice his kindness makes him look foolish. His friend Anna (Eikura) has known him since childhood and she is friends with So Young (Han Hyo-Joo), a famous lighting designer. As Christmas approaches the love lives of these four people will have a miracle.
Until the Day Comes 
Japanese Title: 救いたい
Romaji: Sukitai! Doctor’s Wish
Release Date: November 22nd, 2014
Running Time: 110 mins.
Director: Seijiro Koyama
Writer: Takae Kawamura (Original Essay), Mootomo Furuta (Screenplay)
Starring: Kyoka Suzuki, Tomokazu Miura, Misaki Taiki, Tomoko Koyanagi,
After the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami strikes, Takako, an anesthesiologist at a Sendai hospital, and her husband Teiichi who runs a private clinic, volunteer in the affected area to help others. This is based on the experiences of real life people.
Hibi Rock 
Japanese Title: 日々ロック
Romaji: Hibi Rock
Release Date: November 22nd, 2014
Running Time: 110 mins.
Director: Yu Irie
Writer: Karsumasa Enokiya (Original Manga), Koto Fukuhara, Yu Irie (Screenplay)
Starring: Shuhei Nomura, Fumi Nikaido, Tomoya Maeno, Tomoko Mariya, Keisuke Okamoto, Motoki Ochiai, Naoto Takenaka, Yoko Kita,
In the pantheon of great rock and roll movies, Japan has a number of entries but the only one reviewed on this site is Detroit Metal City, could this be another one? It has Fumi Nikaido star of Himizu (2012), Why Don’t You Play in Hell? (2013)! She acts alongside Shuhei Nomura who was in Daily Lives of the High School Boys (2013).
While in high school Takuro Hibinuma (Nomura) struggled at sports and academia and he struck out when it came to getting girls but when he found rock music, he found his true calling and so formed a rock band with his friends. He got to perform at the club “Hibi Rock” and when he got really excited he took all of his clothes off during the performances… When he graduated he moved to Tokyo and kept doing this. When he meets the famous musician Saki Utagawa (Nikaido), his while world changes…
Yugami. Norowareta Heisa Kuukan 
Japanese Title: ゆがみ。 呪われた閉鎖空間
Romaji: Yugami. Norowareta Heisa Kuukan
Release Date: November 22nd, 2014
Running Time: 95 mins.
Director: Daichiro Natsume, Kiminori Sato, Fumio Shimazaki Katsui Sasaki
Writer: Kimihiko Kuroki, Yanase Kizutaka (Screenplay)
Starring: Hiroko Tanaka, Makoto Kikuchi, Itsuki Sagara, Karin Tachibana,
This horror anthology features enclosed spaces that become the sites of hauntings and psycho attacks. Witness school girls in sinister phone boxes, a film crew in a haunted tunnel and more.
Attack on Titan Part 1: Crimson Bow and Arrow 
Japanese Title: 劇場版「進撃の巨人」前編 紅蓮の弓矢
Romaji: Shingeki no Kyojin Zenpen – Guren no Yumiya –
Release Date: November 22nd, 2014
Running Time: 119 mins.
Director: Tetsuro Araki
Writer: Hajime Isayama (Original Creator)
Starring: Yuuki Kaji (Eren Jaeger), Yui Ishikawa (Mikasa Ackerman), Marina Inoue (Amin Arlelt), Kisho Taniyama (Jean Kirstein), Yu Shimamura (Annie Leonhardt), Yu Kobayashi (Sasha Browse),
Attack on Titan’s TV anime has been repackaged for the cinema with two films, the first of which takes thirteen of the twenty-five to tell the story of Eren Jaeger and his friends as they battle Titans who want to devour humanity… I’ve written about the anime with a first impression and a final thoughts post and made lots of Gifs. Seeing the epic carnage on the big screen makes me shudder with glee.
The Wages of Resistance: Narita Stories 
Japanese Title: 三里塚に生きる
Romaji: Sanrizuka ni Ikiru
Release Date: November 22nd, 2014
Running Time: 140 mins.
Director: Koshiro Otsu
Writer: N/A
Starring (Narration): Kazuki Yoshiyuki, Arata Iura,
Straight from the site:
In 1966, the Japanese government abruptly and arbitrarily announced a plan to build an airport in the rural Sanrizuka district of the city of Narita. Local farmers stood up in opposition, and their movement won the support of students and young labor union activists nationwide. Narita became the site of a decade of intense and often violent struggle representing Japan’s era of political activism.
Forty-five years later, The Wages of Resistance: Narita Stories returns to visit those farmers who once rose in resistance against the state. Today a few continue to farm under the deafening roar of jet engines, while others speak tearfully about departures and lost lands and livelihoods. Their lives were forever altered by the building of Narita International Airport – today Tokyo’s hub for international air traffic, with over 600 flights taking off and landing every day.
Co-directed by the 80-year-old cinematographer of the first of Ogawa Production’s acclaimed Sanrizuka Series in 1968, the film contrasts stunning vintage documentary footage and photographs heated with collision and fury, with the serene beauty of Narita’s pastoral landscape today̶serene save for the jet airplanes roaring overhead. With the 2020 Tokyo Olympics approaching, the Japanese government plans to extend the existing runways further into the remaining fields.
Website (English language website)
The Obroaders Ruin Road Adventures 
Japanese Title: The Obroaders オブローダー 廃道冒険家
Romaji: The Obroaders Oburo-da- Haidou Boukenka
Release Date: November 22nd, 2014
Running Time: N/A
Director: Satoru Onishi
Writer: N/A
Starring: Yoshiyuki Hiranuma, Atsuko Ishii,
Ruin exploration and looking at the forgotten urban places tucked away in cities is a common subject in the west but this is the first time I have seen it in Japan (not that I’m an expert since I tend to watch comedies and avoid reality TV).
Umaneru Zutto, Issho 
Japanese Title: うまれる ずっと、いっしょ。
Romaji: Umaneru Zutto, Issho
Release Date: November 22nd, 2014
Running Time: 119 mins.
Director: Tomo Goda
Writer: N/A
Starring (Narration): Kiki Kirin
Umaneru Zutto, Issho is the second in a series of documentaries charting the links between different generations of a family. Following the matriarch’s death new life has come into the world only one son is born with severe disabilities.
Hanahasu Karen 
Japanese Title: 花蓮 かれん
Romaji: Hanahasu Karen
Release Date: November 22nd, 2014
Running Time: 99 mins.
Director: Toshihiro Goto
Writer: Patrice Kondo (Original Work), Toshihiro Goto (Screenplay)
Starring: Mayu Kitaki, Takahiro Miura, Aya Enjoji, Mayu Sakuma,
A Japanese-Thai woman finds love in Ibaraki prefecture.
Taksu 
Japanese Title: 欲動
Romaji: Taksu
Release Date: November 22nd, 2014
Running Time: 97 mins.
Director: Kiki Sugino
Writer: Kotaro Yajima (Screenplay)
Starring: Yoko Mitsuya, Takumi Saito, Kiki Sugino, Hiroyuki Takashima,
This one is about a bunch of lovers in Indonesia!
Aaaaaand that’s it for this weekend’s releases! Here’s a random music video:
