Happy weekend!
It’s a slow weekend in terms of films released. There are plenty of documentaries about World War II just in time for the events surrounding Japan’s surrender to Allied forces. The most interesting one out of all these is not the documentary about the fighter pilots but Children’s Tears: Searching for a Japanese Father which is about the mixed-race children fathered by Japanese soldiers in Indonesia and left behind. In terms of drama there’s Dressing Up which looks like business as usual when you read the plot looks different because the trailer provides sound and images that are off-kilter.
In the process of writing this I mined the usual sites like Cinema Café and IMDB and also found this site, Eiga Kawaraban, which comes from a Japanese critic which lists the latest film news (all in Japanese). I also found this streaming/download site named Load Show which looks like a pretty legitimate way to watch indie films legally, thus paying for them and giving money directly to the filmmakers. I’ll do a little more digging into this one because I like the look of it.
In terms of what is going on with my site I uploaded more images for the header and continued my Summer of Splatter by posting a review of the horror manga Litchi Hikari Club and then a preview of the live-action film of the same name. Expect a return to Sushi Typhoon next week!
What’s released in Japan this weekend?
Dressing Up
Japanese: ドレッシング アップ
Romaji: Doressingu Appu
Release Date: August 15th, 2015
Running Time: 68 mins.
Director: Yuka Yasukawa (More info on the director here)
Writer: Yuka Yasukawa (Screenplay)
Starring: Kirara Inori, Takuji Suzuk, Yuka Yasukawa, Karen Sato, Karen Sato, Marie Decalco, Tomoya Watanabe,
This was screened at the 2012 Nippon Connection and comes from Yuka Yasukawa, an up and coming voice who seems to be part of the wave of interesting and criminally neglected female filmmakers making the more interesting films coming from Japan. The story looks familiar – there was one released back in 2012 and shown at the Berlin International Film Festival called Just Pretended to Hear directed by Kaori Imaizumi – but the trailer has some emotionally frank and brutal moments of violence and the soundtrack is weird in the most intriguing way possible.
The film concerns the psychological struggle of a 13-year-old girl named Ikumi who has moved to a new town and lives with her father who finds it difficult to understand her. Ikumi only has memories of her mother to comfort her but she starts making friends at her new school. When she finds one of them being bullied she begins to act violently and have strange visions…
The Killing Curriculum
Japanese: キリング・カリキュラム 人狼処刑ゲーム 序章
Romaji: Kiringu Karikyuramu Jinrou Shokei Gemu Joshou
Release Date: August 15th, 2015
Running Time: 79 mins.
Director: Tomoyuki Furumaya
Writer: Hiroko Kanasugi
Starring: Ren Ishikawa, Sho Kasamatsu, Shuto Miyazaki, Yasukaze Motomiya, Takuya Negishi, Ami Saitô , Hiromi Sakimoto, Kazuma Takeda, Kôsuke Yonehara,
Jin-Roh Game is back for another low-budget school horror tale but instead of violence this one has boys love. So anyway, for those who don’t know, some psycho locks up a bunch of people and they have to play the “werewolf game” where one of them is a killer. Of course, these people bring in their emotional baggage to the fight so they turn on each other.
D-Boys D Stage 14th Twelfth Night
Japanese: Dステ14th 「十二夜」
Romaji: D Sute 14th Juuniyoru
Release Date: August 15th, 2015
Running Time: N/A
Director: N/A
Writer: Gou Aoki (Screenplay), William Shakespeare (Original Play), Kazuko Masuoka (Translation),
Starring: Masahiro Usui, Masashi Mikami, Atsushi Arai, Kaji Masaki, Ryosuke Ikeoka, Yoichiro Oumi, Yusuke Yamada,
Originally released in 2013, this is the second the D-Boy’s adaptation of the Shakespearean comedy “Twelfth Night”, a tale of brother and sister getting their identities mistaken after a little cross dressing and mistaken identity and the love they find. It’s the 14th D-Stage production cinema.
D-Boys D Stage 12th 「TRUMP」TRUTH
Japanese: Dステ12th 「TRUMP」 TRUTH
Romaji: D Sute 12th 「TRUMP」 TRUTH
Release Date: August 15th, 2015
Running Time: N/A
Director: N/A
Writer: Gou Aoki (Screenplay), William Shakespeare (Original Play), Kazuko Masuoka (Translation),
Starring: D-Boys: Nishii Yukito, Mitsuya Ryou, Jinnai Sho, Yamada Yuuki, Yamaguchi Kenki, Omi Youichirou,
Source for the synopsis and the information on the play:
This play was originally performed in 2013 and it features the D-Boys in “casting rotation,” with two different versions featuring the
D-Boys taking on different roles. The “Truth” version features the boys in their original roles as shown in the initial poster, while the “Reverse” version shows the second cast line-up as in the new, reversed poster. There will also be one “Marble” performance which is a mixture of the two.
A feast of blood, by vampires who have lost their immortality, spanning 7500 years───.
The “gymnasium” (clan) set up to educate and discipline young vampires undergoing “metamorphosis” (corresponds with human puberty).
Sophie, who is a dhampir (of mixed human and vampire blood), is hated and seen as filthy by everyone around him. Ul, who was born into one of the most prominent and distinguished families in the completely hierarchical vampire society, somehow becomes fascinated by the abominable Sophie. Meanwhile, while researching the “power of immortality” that vampires once possessed, Ur learns of the existence of the original vampire “Trump” who was made to live forever, and begins to thirst for eternal life.
Before long, Sophie and Ul are caught up in a fate profoundly connected to the legend of immortality───.
The young vampires that have lost their immortality are trifled with by the legend of the immortal Trump in this fleetingly beautiful “vampire entertainment.”
D-BOYS STAGE 10th Samishii Magnet Reds
Japanese: D-BOYS STAGE 10th 「淋しいマグネット」 Reds
Romaji: D-BOYS STAGE 10th 「Smishi Magunetto」 Reds
Release Date: August 15th, 2015
Running Time: N/A
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
Starring: D-Boys – Yuya Endo, Koji Seto, Hirofumi Araki, Tomo Yanagishita,
Originally released in 2010, this is the cinema screening of the theatrical play “Samishii Magnet Reds” based on the play “OUR BAD MAGNET.” Performed by D-BOYS. Apparently, it was adapted from a stage play by Douglas Maxwell from Scotland.
Mirai o Nazoru Shashinka Hatakeyama Naoya
Japanese: 未来をなぞる 写真家・畠山直哉
Romaji: Mirai o Nazoru Shashinka Hatakeyama Naoya
Release Date: August 15th, 2015
Running Time: 87 mins.
Director: Naoya Hatakeyama (IMDB)
Writer: N/A
Starring: Naoya Hatakeyama
Photographer Naoya Hatakeyama travelled to Iwate Prefecture to make this documentary which captures the devastation of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami and reveal what his hometown is like and the loss of his mother. He also shows the reconstruction of the areas that were affected and seeks to reveal the new relationship between cities and nature.
Hitorihitori no Senjou Saigo no Reisen Pairotto
Japanese: ひとりひとりの戦場 最後の零戦パイロット
Romaji: Hitorihitori no Senjou Saigo no Reisen Pairotto
Release Date: August 15th, 2015
Running Time: 117 mins.
Director: Tadayuki Kusuyama
Writer: N/A
Starring: Tadayuki Kusuyama (Narration), Kaname Harada, Takeshi Tabei, Kishiro Horikawa, Tsuneharu Shigeta, Hideo Kaneshiro
The Zero Fighter plane has entered the history book as a legend of the sky up there with the Supermarine Spitfire, the P-51 Mustang, and the Messerschmitt. Tadayuki Kusuyama collects together former pilots from Japan and America (including Japanese Americans), historians and relatives who talk about the plane and why it became a legend, the workmanship that went into its construction, the personnel involved in supporting the plane and pilot, and its effect in dogfights in battles like Pearl Harbour and Midway.
The last time I featured a film by this director was August 2013.
Children’s Tears Searching for Japanese Father
Japanese: 子供たちの涙 日本人の父を探し求めて
Romaji: Kodomotachi no Namida Nihonjin no Chichi o Sagashimotomete
Release Date: August 15th, 2015
Running Time: 49 mins.
Director: Yuki Sunada (IMDB)
Writer: Yuki Sunada (Screenplay),
Starring: N/A
During World War II, Japan snatched many European colonies and one of them was the Dutch East Indies, now known as Indonesia. This documentary looks at what happened when Japanese soldiers fathered children with Dutch/Eurasian women and the lives the children led after the conflict when they travelled with their mothers to Holland or remained in Indonesia. In trying to come to terms with discrimination and difference, they search for their fathers’, where the fathers’ went after the Japanese military were forced to withdraw and discover more about their own identity in the process. Yuki Sunada, the director, has an interest in World War II since her grandfather was a soldier. She looked at some of the fierce fighting that took place between the British Empire and Japanese soldiers in Burma in her last documentary, Dear Grandfather, I Am In England.
Dear Grandfather, I am in England
Japanese: 兵隊だったおじいちゃんへ
Romaji: heitaidatta ojīchan e
Release Date: August 15th, 2015
Running Time: 28 mins.
Director: Yuki Sunada (IMDB)
Writer: Yuki Sunada (Screenplay),
Starring: N/A
No Trailer
Originally made in 2003 in the UK, this short documentary sees the grandchildren of Japanese soldiers who fought in Burma travel to the UK to get a better understanding of what their ancestors went through.
Japanese Movie Box Office Results for this Weekend:
Jurassic World (Released: 2015/08/07)
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (Released: 2015/08/07)
Boruto Naruto the Movie (Released: 2015/08/07)
Minions Movie (Released: 2015/07/31)
Attack on Titan (Released: 2015/08/01)
Kamen Rider Drive: Surprise Future (Released: 2015/08/07)
The Boy and the Beast (Released: 2015/07/11)
Hero (Released: 2015/07/25)
Inside Out (Released: 2015/07/18)
The Emperor in August (Released: 2015/08/07)
Random music videos which I wrote this post to:
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions Battle Theme #19 – Antidote
Priest – The Game/ Waiting For The End To Come
