Hello dear readers!
My song for the weekend!
I have had a busy week galavanting up and down the country and so I haven’t had much time to watch many films. That written, I watched a bunch of films Heat (1995), Dear Doctor (2009) and TV dramas like Rose Red, an adaptation of a Stephen King novel. I’ve started getting more work from film festivals which is great so more films for me to watch.
Two posts this week, the first for the release date for Sion Sono’s film, Love & Peace and the second post was for the Japanese Films at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
What’s released this weekend?
Himeanole
ヒメアノール 「Himeanole」
Release Date: May 28th, 2016
Running Time: 99 mins.
Director: Keisuke Yoshida
Writer: Keisuke Yoshida (Screenplay), Minoru Furuya (Original Manga)
Starring: Go Morita, Gaku Hamada, Aimi Satsukawa, Makoto Otake, Tsuyoshi Muro, Maho Yamada,
Keisuke Yoshida has directed two good films, My Little Sweet Pea (2013) and The Workhorse & the Bigmouth (2013) and he tries his hand at adapting a manga by Minoru Furuya, the man behind Himizu (2012). Watch the trailer and gasp as it goes from a rom-com to super-serious thriller! Also, Gaku Hamada (The Foreign Duck, The Native Duck, and God in a Coin Locker) looks good in this. I like the look of this!!
Synopsis: Susumu Okada (Gaku Hamada) works on a cleaning team. One of Susumu’s team, Yuji (Tsuyoshi Muro), asks Susumu to act as cupid and get a café worker named Yuka (Aimi Satsukawa) to go out with him. Things get complicated when she says she loves Okada. Even worse, Yuka has her own problems, a classmate of Susumu’s from high school, Shoichi (Go Morita), is stalking Yuka…
Hold My Hand
手をつないでかえろうよ シャングリラの向こうで 「Te wo Tsunaide Kaeroyo Shangurira no Mukou de」
Release Date: May 28th, 2016
Running Time: 107 mins.
Director: Yoko Narahashi
Writer: Masayuki Imai (Screenplay),
Starring: Jay Kabira, Sumire, Nanami, Taiju Okayasu, Atsushi Yoshida, Itsuji Itao, LiLiCo, Katsuya, Tomoko Fujita,
Synopsis: Masato (Jay Kabira) is a school pupil in a special class in middle school because he is mentally slower than other people. Unfortunately he becomes the victim of bullying but he finds solace from a fellow pupil named Sakura (Nanami) who has a similar learning disability. The two become attracted to each other and eventually marry but to protect Sakura, Masato becomes a criminal and works for the yakuza. It looks like it will all go wrong when he meets a mysterious girl named Reiko (Sumire) who asks him “What is God? What is history? What are human beings?” Masato thinks back on his honeymoon and Sakura.
The Match Girl
燐寸少女マッチショウジョ 「Macchi Shoujo Macchi Shoujo」
Release Date: May 28th, 2016
Running Time: 94 mins.
Director: Hiroshi Uchida
Writer: Kitaji Ishikawa (Screenplay), Sanami Suzuki (Original Manga)
Starring: Sumire Sato Yutaka Kobayashi, Takafumi Honda, Kensho Ono,
Synopsis: Rin (Sumire Sato) is the titular match girl. Her matches are special because they are “delusion matches” which turn momentary delusions into reality in their flickering flames. What delusions will this mysterious girl spark up?
Wolf Girl and Black Prince
オオカミ少女と黒王子 「Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Oji」
Release Date: May 28th, 2016
Running Time: 116 mins.
Director: Ryuichi Hiroki
Writer: Fumi Nikaido, Kento Yamazaki, Nanao, Tina Tamashiro, Ryo Yoshizawa, Nobuyuki Suzuki, Mugi Kadowaki,
Ryuichi Hiroki flits between mainstream and passion projects again. Fans of films like Vibrator and Tokyo Trash Baby still find plenty to love in even the glossiest of titles like this one which stars Fumi Nikaido (Himizu, Why Don’t You Play in Hell?). I’ve only reviewed one of his films here and that’s Kimi no Tomodachi (2008).
Synopsis: High school girl Erika Shinohara (Fumi Nikaido) pretends she has a boyfriend when she is with her friends but maintaining the façade of a relationship is hard with nothing but her word to go on so she finds a pretty boy on the street and takes his picture abd pretends that he is her boyfriend. The boy is Kyouya Sata (Kento Yamazaki) and he attends the same school as Erika so she asks Kyouya to be her pretend boyfriend little realising that behind the pretty face is a dark side.
Lyrical School no michi tono sogu
リリカルスクールの未知との遭遇 「Ririkaru Suku-ru no michi tono sogu」
Release Date: May 28th, 2016
Running Time: 75 mins.
Director: Demo Tanaka
Writer: Demo Tanaka, MC BOO, Junya Kato (Screenplay),
Starring: Ayaka, Mei, Yumi, Ami, Minan, Hime, ANI, Zen-la-rock,
I used to listen to Hip Hop back in high school but not much these days since the recent acts (mainstream at least) coming out of America don’t hold a candle to The Wu-Tang Clan, Lord Finesse, MF Doom and others from the ‘90s. Figures that I’d get back into the genre through Japan. Lyrical School are a group of talented, bubbly girls who bring the fun back to a genre that badly needs it.
Synopsis: Lyrical School are a hip-hop idol unit which is made up of talented girls, ayaka, mei, yumi, ami, minan, hime. They hang out in a warehouse where they create their music. One of their props is a doll which came from outer space! One day it comes to life and tells them it doesn’t have the energy to go back to its home. To make the energy it needs the girls orchestrate a party that attracts a large crowd so they can gather power….
Conflict: Saidai no koso
少女椿「Conflict: Saidai no koso」
Release Date: May 28th, 2016
Running Time: 163 mins.
Director: Kenichi Fujiwara
Writer: Kenichi Fujiwara (Screenplay),
Starring: Sho Aikawa, Sosuke Takaoka, Izam, Mikio Ohsawa, Hideo Nakano, Hiroshi Shinagawa,
Synopsis: This movie sees Yakuza fighting half grey (criminals unaffiliated to any crime syndicate) in a free-for-all which may upset the old criminal order. The film stars Sho Aikawa who appears in gangster films pretty regularly like Dead or Alive. I’ve reviewed two of his films – Serpent’s Path and Eyes of the Spider (1998).
Anohito – The One
あのひと 「Anohito」
Release Date: May 28th, 2016
Running Time: 87 mins.
Director: Ichiro Yamamoto
Writer: Ichiro Yamamoto (Screenplay), Sakunosuke Oda (Screenplay)
Starring: Hidenori Ono, Naohiko Washio, Ajiho Sugiyama, Boiru Nakajima, Takako Ueno, Seizo Fukumoto, Anna Kawashima,
I first wrote about this for the film’s international premiere at Nippon Connection 2016 and that festival ends tomorrow.
Synopsis: In a film where the past and present mixes we see the daily lives of four young soldiers who are raising the orphaned son of their commanding officer. As they each decide to go working in munitions factories, it is up to four women to take care of the boy as they wait for the men to return. It is based on a script from 1944 and shot in long black-and-white takes but it takes place in a strange present where clothes, locations and other things are familiar but the war still rages on.
Onna Hieraruki- Teihen Shoujo
女ヒエラルキー底辺少女 「Onna Hieraruki- Teihen Shoujo」
Release Date: May 28th, 2016
Running Time: 71 mins.
Director: Toshiyuki Morioka
Writer: Rumi Tsunoda (Screenplay), Utako Suzuki (Original Work),
Starring: Natsumi Hirajima, Ami Tomite, Nanami Abe, Mariko Sumiyoshi, Ayane Okayama, Rino Higa,
Synopsis: Utako Suzuki’s manga is adapted into a film starring Natsumi Hirashima, one of the original AKB48 idols. It’s a story set in a high school where a girl named Momoko (Hirashima) is at the bottom of the school hierarchy with no friends, boyfriend, or nything fun to do. She’s an outsider and treated like a fool by her classmates. Momoko is going to snap….
Japanese Movie Box Office Results for this Week:
Zootopia (2016/04/23)
The Magnificent Nine (2016/05/14)
If Cats Disappeared From the World (2016/05/14)
Detective Conan: The Darkest Nightmare (2016/04/16)
After the Storm (2016/05/21)
64: Part 1 Prequel (2016/05/07)
Captain America Civil War (2016/04/29)
Crayon Shin-chan Movie 24: Bakusui! Yumemi World Dai Totsugeki (2016/04/16)
Girlz und Panzer der Film (2015/11/21)
Gundam: The Origin III Dawn of Rebellion (2016/05/21)
