Happy weekend people!!!
This post is super-late because I have been writing reviews for two J-horror films as part of my splatter season of horror and gore and all sorts of other stuff. I also wrote a bunch of manga reviews. WHAT A FINALE TO JOJO’S BIZARRE ADVENTURE!!! Not enough respect is given to that show which has been a gripping affair and I had tears in my eyes at certain points!
Anyway, I posted about my Splatter Season and a review for White Panic (2005).
What’s released this weekend?
Hold Your Breath Like a Lover
Japanese: 息を殺して
Romaji: Iki wo Koroshite
Release Date: June 20th, 2015
Running Time: 85 mins.
Director: Kohei Igarashi
Writer: Kohei Igarashi (Screenplay),
Starring: Goichi Mine, Yusuke inaba, Ran Taniguchi, Koji Harada, Tomomitsu Adachi, Ran Arai, Rina Tanaka, Yuki Inagaki
Kohei Igarashi studied at the Tokyo University of the Arts which is where Kiyoshi Kurosawa teaches. His film has shades of Pulse (2001) to it what with the apocalypse angle which makes it intriguing but it also looks gorgeous! It was at this year’s Nippon Connection and I’m pretty devetated that I may not get to see it!
It is sometime in the near-future in a seemingly abandoned factory. A handful of workers spend their time playing video games, battling out love conflicts and aimlessly walking through gloomy offices and corridors while haunted by the ghosts of the dead in what seems to be the preamble to the apocalypse.
The Ninja War of Torakage
Japanese: 虎影
Romaji: Torakage
Release Date: June 20th, 2015
Running Time: 94 mins.
Director: Yoshihiro Nishimura
Writer: Yoshihiro Nishimura, Jun Tsugita (Screenplay),
Starring: Takumi Saito, Yuria Haga, Eihi Shiina, Kanji Tsuda, Maki Mizui, Mao Mita,
I’ve reviewed a couple of Yoshihiro Nishimura films here – Tokyo Gore Police and Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl and I’ll review a few more for my splatter season. This one stars Takumi Saito who I trashed for his performance in Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl (2009) but came to like in For Love’s Sake (2012). Co-star Eihi Shiina isn’t in many films but when she is, she’s memorable as anyone who saw Audition (1999) can attest.
Set in the Sengoku Period, Torakage (Takumi Saito) is retired ninja who left his old ninja ways to raise a family with his wife in a quiet village. All of that changes, one day, when the leader of the ninja clan he belonged to captures him and hold his family hostage in order to get hidden treasure. Torakage picks up his sword to defend his family, throwing oneself into a fight for the treasure.
Ju-on: The Final
Japanese Title: 呪怨ザ・ファイナル
Romaji: Juon Za Faibaru
Release Date: June 20th, 2015
Running Time: 91 mins.
Director: Masayuki Ochiai
Writer: Masayuki Ochiai, Takashige Ichise (Screenplay)
Starring: Airi Taira, Ren Kiriyama, Kai Kobayashi, Yoshihiko Hakamada, Miyabi Matsuura,
I’m reviewing a Ju-On film for my splatter season! I’ll let you guess which one. This is the latest, and reputedly the last in the franchise and it looks like a continuation of the last Ju-On, Ju-On: Beginning of the End.
Mai’s younger sister Yui is missing after taking a job at an elementary school where she was the teacher of Toshio Saeki, a student who never appeared in class. Mai finds out about Toshio and decides to visit the Saeki house for clues on her sister’s disappearance…
The Pearls of the Stone Man
Japanese: 愛を積むひと
Romaji: Ai wo Tsumu Hito
Release Date: June 20th, 2015
Running Time: 125 mins.
Director: Yuzo Asahara
Writer: Yuzo Asahara, Takuro Fukuda (Screenplay), Edward Mooney, Jr. (Original Novel)
Starring: Koichi Sato, Kanako Higuchi, Keiko Kitagawa, Shuhei Nomura, Hana Sugisaki, Hiroyuki Morisaki, Akira Emoto, Yo Yoshida,
Koichi Sato, lead actor in Starfish Hotel (2006) and Infection (2004) takes the lead role in a domestic drama.
Atsushi (Koichi Sato) and Ryoko (Kanako Higuchi) are a married coupled. They decide they want to live around nature and move to Biei in Hokkaido, Japan. Atsushi isn’t sure what to do with his free time, so Ryoko asks him build a stone wall around their house. Atsushi experiences tragedy, but later gets closer to his estranged daughter, Satoko (Keiko Kitagawa). Atsushi continues building the stone wall.
Takoyaki no Uta
Japanese: ローリング
Romaji: Takoyaki no Uta
Release Date: June 19th, 2015
Running Time: 76 mins.
Director: Takushi Chikakane
Writer: Takushi Chikakane (Screenplay),
Starring: Miho Tomizu, Ryoko Tanaka, Saki Furuwa, Sunny Francis
Takoyaki is my favourite Japanese food! I could eat it all day!
Miho and Karin Sawada are a mother and daughter who live in Kansai. Karin loves baseball and her works in a takoyaki shop. It’s summer and the air conditioning fails. The daughter is driven to destraction but the mother says wait until we ae more money. Opportunity will soon come calling!
Yakuza Apocalypse: The Great War of the Underworld
Japanese: 極道大戦争
Romaji: Goku dou dai sensou
Release Date: June 20th, 2015
Running Time: 125 mins.
Director: Takashi Miike
Writer: Yoshitaka Yamaguchi (Screenplay),
Starring: Hayato Ichihara, Riko Narumi, Lily Franky, Reiko Takashima, Kiyohio Shibukawa, Sho Aoyagi, Mio Yuki, Pierre Taki, Denden, Yayan Ruhian, Yuki Sakurai,
Yakuza Apocalypse: The Great War of the Underworld was at this year’s Cannes International Film Festival and it was part of the Director’s Fortnight where it was given mixed reviews. This seems like one for the fans!
Akira (Ichihara) is inspired the by fearsome reputation of the so-called “invincible” yakuza boss Genyo Kamiura (Franky) to become a yakuza himself. What he finds is not what he expected. His fellow gangsters don’t play by old-school rules of loyalty and honour. Even worse, they treat him like a fool and his sensitive skin means he cannot tattoos. Things change when Akira gets caught up in an assassination attempt on Genyo…
Ghost in the Shell: New Movie
Japanese Title: 攻殻機動隊 新劇場版
Romaji: Kōkaku Kidōtai Shin Gekijō-ban
Release Date: June 20th, 2015 (Japan)
Running Time: N/A
Chief Director: Kazuchika Kise, Director: Kazuya Nomura
Writer: Tow Ubukata (Screenplay),
Starring: Maaya Sakamoto (Motoko Kusanagi), Kenichirou Matsuda (Batou), Ikkyuu Juku (Daisuke Aramaki), Tarusuke Shingaki (Togusa),
Ghost in the Shell (GitS) is one of my favourite franchises and so new entries is good news, as far as I’m concerned. The trailer I have here features a potted history of the GitS franchise with new footage at the end. Fans should be at ease because it looks like the franchise is in safe hands with Production I.G bringing this to life under the direction of Kazuchika Kise, the guy behind the Arise reboot plut a Production I.G vet with work on all of the Ghost in the Shell movies and other titles like City Hunter, Goku II: Midnight Eye (that Manga UK dub is glorious!), Giovanni’s Island and Patlabor. The director is another interesting chap. Kazuya Nomura has directed episodes of incredible anime like Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, Dennou Coil and was involved in Ghost Hound and Mind Game. The script comes from Tow Ubukata who has written good cyberpunk titles like Mardock Scramble.
The story takes place in 2029 and involves Motoko Kusanagi, Batou, Togusa and the rest of Section 9 investigating the assassination of the prime minister and it looks like someone from Kusanagi’s past may be involved.
Guitar Madagascar
Japanese: ギターマダガスカル
Romaji: Gita- Madagasukaru
Release Date: June 20th, 2015
Running Time: 106 mins.
Director: Takeshi Kamei
Writer: Takeshi Kamei
Starring: Thominot Andrianjafy,
Straight from the film’s IMDB page:
Guitar Madagascar is a movie about the people of Madagascar, the fourth largest island in the world. It’s a movie about their views on life and death, and also about how everything is connected by a rich culture of music. In Madagascar, death is seen as one phase of eternal life. Via funerals and other rituals a dead person continues to have a presence among the living. For today’s people of Madagascar, music remains an essential way to interact with the spirits of their ancestors. Guitar Madagascar follows the travels of 5 musicians as they reconnect with their roots. These trips paint a picture of the lives of a people who live modestly off the land, and where a joyful music springs up at the smallest opportunity.
Okinawa Urizun no Ame
Japanese: 沖縄 うりずんの雨
Romaji: Okinawa Urizun no Ame
Release Date: June 20th, 2015
Running Time: 148 mins.
Director: Jean Yunkaman
Writer: N/A
Starring: Eiko Asato, Eriko Ikeda, Masao Ishikawa, Yoko Tamaki,
An American director examines the spirit of the people of Okinawa from the fighting with US forces in World War II to now with US military bases on the island.
KIRI: Shokugyo Koroshiya Gaiden
Japanese: KIRI 「職業・殺し屋。」外伝
Romaji: KIRI `shokugyou koroshi-ya.’ Gaiden
Release Date: June 20th, 2015
Running Time: 77 mins.
Director: Koichi Sakamoto
Writer: Hideaki Nishikawa (Original Manga), Hidehiro Ito, Itaru Er (Screenplay),
Starring: Yumiko Shaku, Yuki Kubota, Ayane, Atsushi Arai, Suzu Toshioka, Yuka Ohnishi, Ayame Misaki, Arisa Komiya,
This is based on a manga serialised in Young Animal and it’s about a woman with the job of an assassin who aims to take out people who love killing others.
Random music video:
BACANNO! is awesome. I want to make something like this.
