Happy mid-week, everyone!(?!?!?)
This post is late because I was doing a lot of press work at the Osaka Asian Film Festival and working late into the night on the final two days. I maintained by cool better than last year but a few mistakes slipped in because I tend to rush to complete work. Still, the team pulled through. There was that dull pressure that comes after exhaustion sets in on the final night but I found the experience gratifying. It’s almost all over now and I’m travelling. I’m currently staying with a cool friend for the night before moving on to a new location tomorrow. My reviews for films I have seen at the Osaka Asian Film Festival are starting to be published such as Here and Here and Nagisa on this blog and I’ve got interviews to transcribe and get checked before publishing. So, plenty of work to do!
I hope everyone is having fun.
What was released last weekend?
Ai-chan: the Teen Detective from Yoshimoto Shinkigeki 
よしもと新喜劇映画 女子高生探偵 あいちゃん 「Yoshimoto Shinkigeki Eiga Joshi Kosei Tantei Aichan」
Running Time: 86 mins.
Release Date: March 17th, 2018
Director: Kazuhiro Nakamura
Writer: Nobuko Nishii (Screenplay)
Starring: Ai Sakai, Yasushi Kawabata, Airi Tanigawa, Kokoro Naiki, Sae Murase, Tomoko Tabata, Toshio Kakei, Narumi Koga, Runa Yamao, Kyoko Yanagihara,
Synopsis: Ai (Ai Sakai) is a big girl and she was bullied by prettier girls in high school so she developed an aversion to them. She’ll have to get over that aversion if she is to protect the idol girls of NMB48 from a bomb threat as part of her role as a teen detective!
Chihayafuru: Musubi 
ちはやふる 結び 「Chihayafuru Musubi」
Running Time: 128 mins.
Release Date: March 17th, 2018
Director: Norihiro Koizumi
Writer: Norihiro Koizumi (Screenplay), Yuki Suetsugu (Original Manga)
Starring: Suzu Hirose, Shuhei Nomura, Mackenyu Arata, Mone Kamishiraishi, Yuma Yamoto, Yuki Morinaga, Mio Yuki, Mayu Matsuoka, Jun Kunimura, Miyuki Matsuda,
Synopsis: The saga of Chihayafuru continues as she takes on the world of Karuta battle tournaments as a senior in high school.
Dynamite Graffiti 
素敵なダイナマイトスキャンダル 「Suteki na Dainamaito Sukyandaru」
Running Time: 138 mins.
Release Date: March 17th, 2018
Director: Masanori Tominaga
Writer: Masanori Tominaga (Screenplay), Akira Suei (Autobiographical Essay)
Starring: Tasuku Emoto, Atsuko Maeda, Toko Miura, Machiko Ono, Kazunobu Mineta, Yutaka Matsushige, Jun Kunimura, Motoki Ochiai,
Synopsis: The autobiographical film of magazine editor and essayist Akira Suei, it documents his strange upbringing in which his mother and her younger lover killed themselves with dynamite in a forest, his work at a factory during the day and studying design at night school, and his battles against censorship as an erotic magazine editor.
Eiga Precure Super Stars! 
映画プリキュアスーパースターズ！ 「Eiga Puri kyua Su-pa- Suta-zu!」
Running Time: 70 mins.
Release Date: March 03rd, 2018
Director: Yoko Ikeda
Writer: Shoji Yonemura (Screenplay), Izumi Todo (Original Creator)
Starring: Haruka Fukuhara (Himari Arisugawa/Cure Custard), Inori Minase (Kirarin/Ciel Kirahoshi/Cure Parfait), Karen Miyama (Ichika Usami/Cure Whop), Saori Hayami (Ha-chan/Kotoha Hanami/Cure Felice),
Animation Production: Toei Animation
Synopsis: The 24th film in the franchise follows the Pre Cure girls who are trying to protect a baby who has appeared from the sky…
Magic Town 
マジックタウン 「Majikku Taun」
Running Time: 69 mins.
Release Date: March 17th, 2018
Director: Chihiro Ikeda
Writer: N/A
Starring: Chihiro Ikeda
Synopsis: Chihiro Ikeda (IMDB) has an impressively diverse filmography including writing the script for Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s film Creepy and here she wants to turn the camera on kids in Fukuroi city, Shizuoka Prefecture, including one who wants to be a director.
Niwatori Star 
ニワトリ★スター 「Niwatori Suta-」
Running Time: 135 mins.
Release Date: March 17th, 2018
Director: Kanata Urofu / Kanata Wolf
Writer: Kanata Wolf, Kiyotaka Inagaki (Screenplay), Kanata Wolf (Original Work)
Starring: Arata Iura, Narita Ryo, Eiji Okuda, Kanji Tsuda, Ryohei Abe,
Synopsis: Blonde-haired, tattooed twenty-something Rakuto moves from Okinawa to Tokyo. He leaves behind a daughter and and makes friends with his roommate Sota, an older guy who sells weed to pay the rent on a room in a dilapidated apartment building run by a nymphomaniac landlady. They are surrounded by other misfits who lead aimless lives and rebel against Japan but when the yakuza murder one of their number, Rakuto and Sota realise they must change their lives…
Kamisama no wadachi check point of the life 
神さまの轍 check point of the life 「Kamisama no wadachi check point of the life」
Running Time: 86 mins.
Release Date: March 17th, 2018
Director: Yu Sakudo
Writer: Yu Sakudo (Screenplay),
Starring: Atsushi Arai, Yutaka Izumihara, Kanji Tsuda, Amane Okayama, Kae Onuki, Shin’nosuke Abe, Ayumu Mochizuki,
Synopsis from IMDB: Set around Ide, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan, Sasaoka Yuri and Ogawa Yosuke have been friends since they were children. They are crazed about bicycling. The two grow up through interacting with people in town.
Youth Discovery Film 
素敵なダイナマイトスキャンダル 「Seishun disukabarii firumu doko datte seishun-hen」
Running Time: 96 mins.
Release Date: March 17th, 2018
Directors: Yuuji Nakamae, Go Koizumi, Hideki Shibuya, Takeshi Tokai,
Writer: Takeshi Tokai (Screenplay),
Starring: Shota Takasaki, Hikohiko Sugiyama, Sayako Mizuki, Taro Hasegawa,
Synopsis: The third in a series of film collaborations between experienced film makers and younger talents.
There were a series of short stop-motion animation films by Tomoyasu Murata screened on the weekend.