The week started with a post about a talk about film festivals hosted by the Japan Foundation. I then followed it up with a rather late review for Zero Focus, a film I saw back in February. This was my first film review since April which was quite a surprise but then I have been focussing on anime as of late. As far as my film viewing goes I watched World War z during the week and I enjoyed it a lot. Monday sees July start which means that it’s the beginning of the summer anime season and I will get more film reviews in and I’ll probably get a wrap-up post for the spring anime done at some point. Enough from me, here are the trailers.
Midsummer Formula 
Japanese Title: 真夏の方程式
Romaji: Manatsu no Houteishiki
Release Date: June 29th, 2013
Running Time: 129 mins.
Director: Hiroshi Nishitani
Writer: Masato Ozawa (Screenplay), Keigo Higashino (Original Novel)
Starring: Masaharu Fukuyama, Yuriko Yoshitaka, Anne Watanabe, Kazuki Ktamura, Gin Maeda, Jun Fubuki, Hikaru Yamazak
Oh great, another Keigo Higashino adaptation! He writes great modern detective thrillers and this one looks pretty good. The trailer opens with a very cool looking Masaharu Fukuyama calmly dealing with a very vocal Anne Watanabe before being drawn into a murder mystery by the sea. It looks like a lot of fun what with all the sun, sea and murder and the staff/cast list assures me that this will be solid at the very least. Both the director Nishitani, lead actor Fukuyama and supporting actor Kazuki Kitamura were involved in the adaptation of Higashino’s novel Suspect X. The police detective in the trailer is Yuriko Yoshitaka who was really impressive in Noriko’s Dinner Table, Adrift in Tokyo and A Story of Yonosuke, three great films from totally different directors/genres. I can’t leave without mentioning Jun Fubuki who is fantastic in Séance and Rebirth.
Manabu Yukawa (Fukuyama) is in the port city of Harigaura to take part in a discussion on submarine mineral resource development. He’s staying at an inn run by his aunt’s family and things seem to be going smoothly until one of the guests is found dead. He teams up with detective Kishitani (Yoshitaka) and a schoolboy on summer break named Kyohei (Yamazaki) to solve the case!
Princess Sakura: Forbidden Pleasures 
Japanese Title: 桜姫
Romaji: Sakura Hime
Release Date: June 29th, 2013
Running Time: 95 mins.
Director: Hajime Hashimoto
Writer: Hajime Hashimoto, Masahiro Yoshimoto (Screenplay)
Starring: Kyoko Hinami, Munetaka Aoki, DenDen, Yuma asami
Whoa, what a poster! I was almost sold but I’m not a complete sucker and I won’t fall so easily for a pretty face (and sexy body). What’s the trailer like? Whoa, what a trailer! It is pretty fun and colourful and sexy. This is going to be racy stuff with little left to the imagination but there does appear to be an equal amount of “antics”. The plot sounds silly but it is based on a kabuki place called Sakura Hime Azuma Bunsho which was written by Nanboku Tsuruya back in 1817. The gorgeous girl is Kyoko Hinami who is a new actress but she is very beautiful and will probably feature in more films. Munetaka Aoki (Fly with the Gold), Denden (Cold Fish) and the AV actress Yuma Asami (Siren X).
When Princess Sakura (Hinami) is attacked by a mysterious assailant she falls in love with him. The only way she can identify him is a tattoo on his body. In order to find the chap she gets the same tattoo and gives up her former life as a princess to work as a prostitute… Yeah. Anyway, the man who caused the princess to lose her mind is called Gonsuke (Aoki) and he is the target of assassins because he stole a scroll.
Uzumasa Jacopetti 
Japanese Title: 太秦ヤコペッティ
Romaji: Uzumasa Jacopetti
Release Date: June 22nd, 2013
Running Time: 83 mins.
Director: Moriro Miyamoto
Writer: Moriro Miyamoto, Toshihiko Matsunaga (Screenplay)
Starring: Shinji Wada, Kiki Hanaka, Masaki Kitahara, Shishimaru Ozawa, Seizo Fukumoto, Donpei Tsuchihira
The plot sounds crazy, the trailer features actors who look crazy, this could be the greatest film of 2013. It premiered at this year’s Nippon Connection so I went searching for some reviews and Midnight Eye came to the rescue and there was this ntriguing description:
Despite what its title suggests, Uzumasa Jacopetti plays less like Kansai mondo than a downtown version of Jeunet and Caro’s surreal slaughterhouse comedy Delicatessen.
The trailer looks so funny but there is gore so you have been warned.
The story is set in Uzumasa, Kyoto and it follows Shoji Hyakkan (Wada),a man who gives up his job to make a house held together by magnets for himself, his wife and son. When he’s caught stealing and killing a cow for its hide by a police officer (Kobayakawa) he isn’t locked up. No, in fact he’s given an interesting offer involving his dismemberment skills and local hoodlums. It’s an indie production from first-time director Moriro Miyamoto. Please someone, release this in the west!
God’s Tongue Kiss Championship THE MOVIE 
Japanese Title: ゴッドタン キス我慢選手権 THE MOVIE
Romaji: Goddotan kisugaman senshuken THE MOVIE
Release Date: June 28th, 2013
Running Time: 112 mins.
Director: Nobuyuki Sakuma
Writer: Nobuyuki Sakuma, Okura (Screenplay)
Starring: Shogo Kawashima/Hitori Gekidan, Hiroaki Ogi, Ken Yahagi, Osamu Shitara, Yuki Himura
God Tongue, the TV Tokyo late-night variety show chaos is on the big screen with plenty of erotic action in this spy thriller starring Shogo Kawashima who has lost his memory and is paired up with a sexy woman to take down an evil organisation who use erotic tricks to beat their enemies. Sounds awful. I mean awfully fun. It stars Hitori Gekidan (Rebirth, Dororo).
Ami? Amie? Tsukiatteneeyo 
Japanese Title: ami? amie? つきあってねーよ！
Romaji: ami? amie? Tsukaitteneeyo!
Release Date: June 29th, 2013
Running Time: 52 mins.
Director: Tomohiko Iwasaki
Writer: Tomohiko Iwasaki (Screenplay)
Starring: Koichiro Takami, Yuka Yoshino, Riko Matsui, Tomoko Hayakawa, Ikeshima Yutaka
This short drama comes from Tomohiko Iwasaki and was screened at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival. The tagline on the poster reads, ‘Boy meets girl, girl meets girl…’ and the trailer looks like fun. In this story, Gumi (Yoshino) and Tetsu (Takami) might be lovers. Or not because when a woman named Keiko (Matsui) shows up, Gumi gets second thoughts. Midnight Eye describes it as being… “clunky but also possessed a certain charm, largely thanks to an engaging young cast.” Watch the trailer and judge for yourself.
Moon Dream 
Japanese Title: ムーン ドリーム
Romaji: Mu-n Dori-mu
Release Date: June 29th, 2013
Running Time: 105 mins.
Director: Bobby Ologun, Keiji Miyano
Writer: Masato Ozawa (Screenplay)
Starring: Bobby Ologun, Nao Minamisawa, Naomasa Musaka, Thane Camus, Yayoo, Dante Carver, Toshikazu Fukawa, Akira Nakao, Guts Ishimatsu
This is the directorial debut of Bobby Ologun who is one of those talent dudes who turns up on panel shows. I won’t say anything snide because he’s also a mixed martial artist and famous in Japan. I am neither of those things and so I have to fear and respect his achievements in that order. This is his autobiographical film in which he plays himself and it is based on his experiences in Japan as he aims to become famous, the realities of prejudice shown to foreigners that some show and the kindness of others – especially Sayuri (Minamisawa), a foxy lady who helped him out. The film has a lot of foreign actors like Dante Carver and Thane Camus. The film trailer looks pretty good and seeing a non-Western perspective on Japan is quite a rare thing.
Trail 
Japanese Title: トレイル
Romaji: Toreiru
Release Date: June 29th, 2013
Running Time: 100 mins.
Director: Shuhei Hatano
Writer: Shuhei Hatano (Screenplay)
Starring: Yosuke Yamaguchi, Eiji Mitomi, Toru Fujimoto, Risa Tokmasa
This is the feature-length debut film of Shuhei Hatano. It’s about a group of creative types – a painter, a musician, a poet and… a girl, not sure what her skill is – who travel around forests and villages and encounter a writer of folklore from Argentina. The trailer doesn’t inspire any reaction from me. Characters lead us somewhere, their backs to us. Hardly engaging until the very end when the girl stares defiantly back into the camera.
I mean… What’s the deal? Why are you looking at me?? STOP IT!!! I’m the viewer!!!!
New Theatre Version of Hanako of the Toilet 
Japanese Title: トイレの花子さん 新劇場版
Romaji: Toire no Hanako-san Shin Gekijouban
Release Date: June 29th, 2013
Running Time: 88 mins.
Director: Masashi Yamada
Writer: Kokoya Anzu (Screenplay)
Starring: Yuka Ueno, Misaki Ayame, Ai Kiyoshi, Hitomi Tanaka, Rina Yamakawa
I had to do a double-take on the title because it reads strangely. Hanako-san of the toilet. A quick search revealed that it’s an urban legend and I do know of it. Here’s Wikipedia’s take:
According to the legend, a person who goes to the third stall in the girls’ bathroom on the third floor and knocks three times before asking “Are you there, Hanako-san”, will hear a voice answer “I’m here”. If the person enters the stall there will be a small girl in a red skirt.
Hanako-san is a popular and widespread urban legend, often played by school children as a rite of courage, or a method of hazing for new students, similar to the Bloody Mary urban legend in Western schools.
This is the third feature film to be based on the legend and the first film to be made in 15 years. It stars Yuka Ueno and is directed by Masashi Yamada, ace expert at making horror films set in schools as X-Game 2 and Scary Hide and Seek Alone attest. Here’s a creepy anime where Hanako is a character overseeing the grisly fate of a poor victim.
Sayo Nagasawa (Ueno) has moved to a rural town in the country to stay with her grandmother. She finds herself in the nightmare position of being the new transfer student in her high school but makes a friend in Maho. When Maho turns up dead in a toilet stall, Sayo finds herself in the middle of a series of grisly deaths. Love the J-pop happy opening before the blunt introduction of misery and horror in the trailer. The film looks better than a lot of low-budget J-horror I have reviewed.
Movie ‘Candidacy’
Japanese Title: 映画 「立候補」 
Romaji: Eiga “Rikkouho”
Release Date: June 29th, 2013
Running Time: 100 mins.
Director: Fujioka Toshimitsu
Writer: N/A
Starring: Shinzo Abe, Toru Hashimoto, Mak Akasaka, Koichi Toyama, Hideyoshi Hasiba Seizo
This documentary looks at different politicians like Mac Akasaka, a fringe politician from the Japan Smile Party who has contested various elections and lost them all (and his 3 million yen deposit). What makes him special is his flamboyant speeches and costumes. I guess the other candidates in this film are strange and/or controversial like Toru Hashimoto who the American woman seems shocked by.
Classic Cinema Kabuki
Japanese Title: シネマ 歌舞伎 クラシック
Romaji: Shinema Kabuki Kurashikku
Release Date: June 29th, 2013
Running Time: Various
Director: Masato Ozawa
Writer: Kokoya Anzu (Screenplay)
Starring: Utaemon Nakamura, Kanzaburo Nakamura, Shikan Nakamura
The Kabuki-za is a famous theatre in Tokyo which has played host to Kabuki shows since 1889. In 2010 the structure was demolished amid concerns about its ability to survive earthquakes (something the film Intermission picked up on) but in March, 2013, the theatre was recently reopened. To celebrate the reopening, four classic Kabuki plays with titles like Sumida River which is about a mother who is searching for her lost son I have little knowledge of Kabuki but the film company and owners of Kabuki-za, Shochiku, have put together this handy website. Each screening lasts somewhere between 20 and 60 minutes.
