Happy weekend, readers!
The UK film festival season approaching and the imminent financial meltdown many Asian film fans will face when they want to attend Raindance, the London Film Festival and more (plus a screening of Hausu) is intimidating to think about. I’ll be busy over the next couple of months on trips to see some the films screening.
I wanted to finish off this splatter season in October and go back to reviewing dramas but there are plenty of films reviewed and still to be reviewed. I had hoped to get more horror manga reviews completed but I’m still standing at three with lots of films to cover so I guess they will be interspersed throughout the year. I did post one horror film this week and that was Puzzle (2014), a great little title from last year that seems to have gone unnoticed despite some fantastic directing and an intriguing story and characters.
What’s released this weekend?
This weekend’s releases feature a lot of sequels which meant I went back into previous trailer posts for information and updated trailers/changed information.
Round Trip Heart
Japanese: at Home ロマンス
Romaji: Romansu
Release Date: August 29th, 2015
Running Time: 97 mins.
Director: Yuki Tanada
Writer: Yuki Tanada (Screenplay),
Starring: Yuko Oshima, Koji Ookura, Yoshimi Nozaki, Masataka Kubota, Megumi Nishimuta,
We all know that former AKB48 idol Atsuko Maeda has blossomed into an actress of some talent but maybe we are missing out on another, less talked about former AKB48 girl… Yuko Oshima. She has been in a number of films for nearly a decade, always in a supporting role, but she won the attention of a lot of critics for her award-wiing turn in the drama Pale Moon (2014) last year. Today sees the launch of a film in which she takes the lead role and Mark Schilling over at the Japan Times gives her (and the film) a glowing review.
This one looks like down-to-earth fun. It comes from director Yuki Tanada, a leading voice in a generation of young women making more interesting films than their male counterparts. She has also written/directed critically admired films like One Million Yen Girl (2008), and The Cowards Who Looked to the Sky (2012).
The story concerns the limited express “Romancecar” railway service (a real thing) which links Tokyo’s Shinjuku Station with tourist destinations such as Odawara, Enoshima, and Kamakura and every day it carries twenty-something train attendant Hachiko Hojo (Oshima) back and forth. One trip sees her meet a sleazy movie producer passenger who helps her rediscover the gorgeous Hakone of Kanagawa prefecture and get past some memories involving a flighty mother abandoning her that have been holding her back from following her own path.
S: The Last Policeman: Recovery of Our Future
Japanese: at Home ロマンス
Romaji: S – Saigo no Keikan – Dakkan Recovery of Our Future
Release Date: August 29th, 2015
Running Time: 120 mins.
Director: Shunichi Hirano
Writer: Kazunao Furuya (Screenplay), Yoichi Komori, Yutaka Todo (Original Manga),
Starring: Osamu Mukai, Gou Ayano, Yui Aragaki, Nao Omori, Joe Odagiri, Munetaka Aoki, Anna Tsuchiya,
The National Police Agency has a Safety Rescue service which deals with extreme criminals and terrorists. Ichigo Kamikura (Mukai) and Iori Soga (Ayano) are two members of the Safety Rescue service and are assigned to case of a hijacked ship off the coast of Japan.
Yowamushi Pedal
Japanese: 弱虫ペダル
Romaji: Yowamushi Pedaru
Release Date: August 28th, 2015
Running Time: 90 mins.
Chief Director: Osamu Nabeshima, Director: Norihiro Naganuma
Writer: Reiko Yoshida (Script), Wataru Watanabe (Original Creator),
Starring: Daiki Yamashita (Sakamichi Onoda), Jun Fukushima (Shokichi Naruko), Atsushi Abe (Touichirou Izumida) Kousuke Toriumi (Shunsuke Imaizumi),
Studio: TMS Entertainment
Synopsis from ANN:
After winning the fierce Inter High race, Sakamichi and the other Sōhoku team members receive an invitation to compete in the Kumamoto Hi Province Mountain Range Race towards the end of summer. The top-tier teams from around the country compete in this race, including Sōhoku’s rivals Hakone Academy (which yearns to take down Sōhoku), Kyoto Fushimi, and Hiroshima Kureminami — as well as Kumamoto Daiichi High School’s team led by Shin Yoshimoto.
Tamayura: Graduation Photo Part 2 – Hibiki
Japanese: たまゆら 卒業写真 第2部 響 ひびき
Romaji: Tamayura: Sotsugyou Shashin Dai 1 2-bu Hibiki Hibiki
Release Date: August 29th, 2015
Running Time: 52 mins.
Director: Junichi Sato
Writer: Reiko Yoshida, Yuka Yamada, Sayaka Harada (Screenplay), Junichi Sato (Original Creator),
Starring: Kana Asumi (Kaoru Hanawa), Mayu Iizuka (Suzune Maekawa), Yuko Gibu (Maon Sakurada), Yuka Iguchi (Norie Okazaki),
This is the second of four Tamayura films planned for release this year and they all revolve around the daily lives of high school girls Fuu, Kaoru, Norie, and Maon and recently graduated Kanae who are all in the photography club.
The club gets two new members but despite new friends, their lively daily life remains unchanged. Yet, the four third-year students are slowly thinking about their own future dreams and paths as they face graduation in about a year.
Front and Back Chapter 2
Japanese: 表と裏第2章
Romaji: Omote to Ura Dai 2-shou
Release Date: August 28th, 2015
Running Time: 118 mins.
Director: Kenichi Fujiwara
Writer: Mayuko Yoshiyuki (Screenplay)
Starring: Kaname Endo, Shunsuke Daito, Hidekazu Akai, Masataka Fujishige, Manabu Hamada, Asuka Ishii,
A young and idealistic lawmaker named Kyoichi (Endo) and a yakuza named Shoji (Daito) who were childhood friends at the same orphanage. Both want to change a corrupt world but while Kyoichi does so through politics and charisma, Shoji uses violence and the two reunite to change society… “front and back.”
Satchan Shochan Sengo Minshuteki Dokuritsu Puro Funsenki
Sat-chan and Sho-chan: Pioneers of Japanese Independent Filmmaking
Japanese: 薩チャン正ちゃん 戦後民主的独立プロ奮戦記
Romaji: Sat chan Shou Chan Sengo Minshuteki Dokuritsu Puro Funsenki
Release Date: August 28th, 2015
Running Time: 94 mins.
Director: Hiroo Ikeda
Writer: Mayuko Yoshiyuki (Screenplay)
Starring: Yoji Yamada, Kyoko Kagawa, Miyako Tokuko, Saotome Katsumoto, Kei Yamamoto, Kaneto Shindo,
Satsuo Yamamoto and Tadashi Imai were two filmmakers who began work in the 1930s studio system before being conscripted into the army. Their filmmaking skills were first used to make propaganda but after the war they made anti-authoritarian works that explored social issues others, particularly right-wingers might like to sweep under the carpet. The two may have started out in the studio system but their most important films were self-produced during the post-war years, Japan’s golden age of cinema. They proved to be influential with all sorts of directors like Yoji Yamada and they all give their opinions and recollections of the directors.
TERROR OF HOUSE
Japanese: TERROR OF HOUSE テラーオブハウス
Romaji: Tera- Obu Hausu
Release Date: August 28th, 2015
Running Time: 83 mins.
Director: Hiroaki Tsunoda
Writer: Season (Shi-zun) Noda (Screenplay), Bitter Oolong (Original Story),
Starring: Mami Yamasaki, Misaki Ikeda, Misaki Nomura, Kisu Konishi, Okayasu Tabito,
I think this is a parody based on the reality television show Terraced House and uses the set-up of its group of men and women in a nice house together to make a horror film. Each of the characters dreams of success in showbiz and love and they spend their time talking late ito the night which is when a strange woman shows up.
Yuuwaku Yuujo Sora to Shido
Japanese: 誘惑遊女 ソラとシド
Romaji: Yuuwaku Yuujo Sora to Shido
Release Date: August 30th, 2015
Running Time: 70 mins.
Director: Tetsuya Takehora
Writer: Kosuke Komatsu (Screenplay),
Starring: Kasumi Kaho, RiKA, Riri Kouda, Darin Ishikawa, Atsushi Tsuda,
Two pink movie professionals make the move into more mainstream drama. Last week we had Yaru Otoko which was a story about a violent guy on the run from the cops meeting a woman chained up by her husband for a fetish video and this week we have two women who work in a sex shop and help out their customers… The director is Tetsuya Takehora.
D-BOYS 11th “Ku-ru no Tanjou” Birth of the Cool
Japanese: Dステ11th 「クールの誕生」
Romaji: D Sute 11th “Ku-ru no Tanjou”
Release Date: August 22nd, 2015
Running Time: N/A
Director: Kazuya Yamada
Writer: Satoshi Suzuki
Starring: D-Boys – Yuya Endo, Koji Seto, Hirofumi Araki, Tomo Yanagishita, Takahisa Maeyama, Tatsuya Okada, Masato Wada,
For the third week running we get to see a D-Boys stage play from around 2012 and it’s another historical musical. This time the D-Boys are salarymen in 1960s Japan and they are trying not to forget their dreams despite being swept away by the good times and hard work of an economy that is booming.
Japanese Movie Box Office Results for this Weekend:
Jurassic World (Release: 2015/08/07)
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (Release: 2015/08/07)
Minions Movie (Release: 2015/07/31)
The Boy and the Beast (Release: 2015/07/11)
Boruto Naruto the Movie (Release: 2015/08/07)
Attack on Titan (Release: 2015/08/01)
Inside Out (Release: 2015/07/18)
Hero (Release: 2015/07/25)
The Emperor in August (Release: 2015/08/07)
Pokémon the Movie: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages (Release: 2015/07/18)
