Hello dear readers!
I had a great week with work going quickly and meeting lovely people. I also managed to cram in a few films as well. I watched Parade and My Little Sweet Pea to get my reviews of those films written. I watched a few other films including Cold Weather (again) and Italian horror Something Creeping in the Dark.
I published a review of Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno. I have a review for Patema Inverted and then Parade in the works and I hope to follow that with The Light Shines Only There ready to rock in my one post of the week format for reviews. I also published the results of this year’s Japan Academy Awards.
What is released in Japan this weekend?
Idol Tears DOCUMENTARY of SKE48
Japanese Title: アイドルの涙 DOCUMENTARY of SKE48
Romaji: Aidoru no Namida DOCUMENTARY of SKE48
Release Date: February 27th, 2015
Running Time: 116 mins.
Director: Shin Ishihara
Writer: N/A
Starring: The girls of SKE48 like Mieko Sato, Mai Takeuchi, Jurina Matsui, Yuka Nakanishi and more like Rena Matsui (oh my),
AKB48’s sister group SKE48 (who are based in Nagoya) get their own documentary where we see them training, dancing, auditioning for roles and graduating and performing in concerts and music videos.
The Curtain Rises
Japanese Title: 幕が上がる
Romaji: Maku ga Agaru
Release Date: February 28th, 2015
Running Time: 119 mins.
Director: Katsuyuki Motohiro
Writer: Kohei Kiyasu (Screenplay), Oriza Hirata (Original Novel),
Starring: Kanako Momota, Shiori Tamai, Haru Kuroki, Ayaka Sasaki, Reni Takagi, Momoka Ariyasu,
High school girl Saori (Momota) lives out in a small city in the country. She adores plays and is in the theatrical club and so when she meets her new teacher, Yoshioka (Kuroki), a graduate from a college in Tokyo who also loves plays, the two click. Saori, together with the play club, decide to compete in a theatrical competition for the local area but Yoshioka tells them to aim high and go for the national competition!
Have a Song on Your Lips
Japanese Title: くちびるに歌を
Romaji: Kuchibiru ni Uta o
Release Date: February 28th, 2015
Running Time: 132 mins.
Director: Takahiro Miki
Writer: Yuichi Toyone, Yukiko Mochiji (Screenplay), Otsuichi (Original Novel),
Starring: Yui Aragaki, Yuri Tsunematsu, Shota Shimoda, Wakana Aoi, Mayu Watanabe, Kyoka Shibata, Hibiki Muroi, Hayato Sano, Kenta Kiritani, Fumino Kimura, Tae Kimura,
Yuri Kashiwaga (Aragaki) returns from Tokyo to her small town in the Goto Islands. She was once a piano prodigy but now works at a middle school as a temporary teacher in charge of the school chorus. To inspire the choristers, she gives them a task: write a letter to yourself 15 years later. The members of the choir write about their hopes and fears…
The Furthest End Awaits
Japanese: さいはてにて−かけがえのない場所−
Romaji: Saihate nite – Kakegae no Nai Basho
Release Date: February 28th, 2015
Running Time: 118 mins.
Director: Chiang Hsiu-Chiung
Writer: Nako Kakinoki (Screenplay),
Starring: Hiromi Nagasaku, Nozomi Sasaki, Hiyori Sakurada, Masatoshi Nagase, Sakurada Hiyori, Kaisei Hotamori, Asami Usuda, Issei Ogata, Jun Murakami, Masatoshi Nagase, Miyoko Asada
Did you see that Rondon Eigasai ロンドン映画祭in the laurels at the start of the trailer? That’s where I saw this film, at the London Film Festival. The Furthest End Awaits is a film that is quiet yet burns with emotions and is well put together by its Taiwanese director Chiang Hsiu Chiung. It is a drama about grief and nostalgia.
Misaki Yoshida (Nagasaku) runs a coffee shop in Tokyo. When she finds out that her father has disappeared with debts to his name she heads back to her hometown in the Noto Peninsula, on the Sea of Japan to take responsibility. She finds that he has left an old family boathouse and a lot of debts. In order to clear the debts Misaki decides to turn the boathouse into a café and it attracts many locals such as Eriko Yamazaki (Sasaki), a single mother and hostess who has two children. The two women forge a friendship with each other.
Listener
Japanese: リスナー
Romaji: Risuna-
Release Date: February 28th, 2015
Running Time: 111 mins.
Directors: Mari Kawakita, Takahiro Horie, Yosuke Yamashita, Yoo Won-san, Yasunari Konno
Writers: Hiroyuki Hosoi, Mari Kawakita, Koichi Kubodera, Kotaro Kimura, (Screenplay),
Starring: Kenji Kawahara, Yuki Sakurai, Ai Kitaura, Kenichiro Tanabe, Ken Miyagawa, Momoko, Motoki Fukami, Tomomi Sugai, Risa Kikuchi,
This is an omnibus movie made up of five episodes each of which was planned and executed by students at Tokyo University of the Arts and the connecting tissue between each of the episodes is the broadcast of a certain radio station.
Oedo no Candy
Japanese: お江戸のキャンディー
Romaji: Oedo no Kyandi-
Release Date: February 28th, 2015
Running Time: 79 mins.
Director: Leona Hirota
Writer: N/A
Starring: Kaori Momoi, Naoto Takenaka, Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Takashi Murakami, Akihiro Mayama, Atsushi Hashimoto, Shohei Namba, Hiromu Takahashi, Jun Watanabe,
An all-male take on the classic ballet Swan Lake transposed to an Edo-period wonderland where courtesans and officials in the Shogun’s government, and the shogun himself fall in love and vie for the affection of the ones they desire. The radiant White Swan/ Swan Courtesan and the lovely Oden/Odette role is taken on by Akihiro Mayama. Mitsuru Fukikoshi is in this one and he’s a good actor!
Furiko
Japanese: 振り子
Romaji: Furiko
Release Date: February 28th, 2015
Running Time: 99 mins.
Director: Norihiro Takenaga
Writer: Norihiro Takenaga (Screenplay), Tekken (Short Film),
Starring: Itsuji Itao, Naoko Ken, Manami Konishi, Jurina Matsui, Shido Nakamura, Tetsuya Takeda,
Based on a short film by Japanese comedian Tekken (Takefumi Kurashina) which can be seen here and should be watched, this is the story of a couple from the time they met as student and fell in love through the trials and tribulations of adulthood and a marriage marked with the birth of a beautiful daughter, some bad behaviour on his part and his attempt at redemption when his wife falls ill…
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin
Japanese Title: 機動戦士ガンダム THE ORIGIN
Romaji: Kido Senshi Gundam: The Origin
Release Date: February 28th, 2015
Running Time: 62 mins.
Chief Director: Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, Director: Takashi Imanishi
Writer: Katsuyuk Sumisawa
Starring: Mayumi Tanaka (Casval Rem Deikun – young), Megumi Han )artesia Som Deikun), Shuuichi Ikeda (Char Aznable), Ayumi Tsunmatsu (Astraia Tor Deikun) Eizou Tsuda (Zeon Zum Deikun), Miyuki Sawashiro (Crowley Hamon),
This one is for Gundam fans! It looks like tat this is the first in a four part series that will tell the story of Casval Rem Deikun and Artesia Som Deikun (Char and Sayla, before Char became known as the Red Comet) before the One-Year War in UC.0068. It will play for two weeks in 10 Japanese cinemas. More info can be found on Anime News Network.
Samulife
Japanese: サムライフ
Romaji: Samuraifu
Release Date: February 28th, 2015
Running Time: 118 mins.
Director: Takeshi Moriya
Writer: Takuro Oikawa (Screenplay), Hidetaka Nagaoka (Original Novel)
Starring: Takahiro Miuram Mayu Matsuoka, Masaki Kaji, Reiya Masaki, Megumi Sato, Ryosuke Yamamoto, Jun Aonami, Mochika Yamada,
Let’s end on a happier note… this film is based on a non-fiction novel about a teacher named Nagaoka (Miura) who starts a school with the education environment he thinks will be ideal. It’s a struggle to get the project off the ground and he needs money so he takes on extra jobs and businesses like running a bar and a publishing company and it’s all done with the support of his family and some students and the inspiration of his former teacher/mentor.
