Happy weekend!
I hope everyone is well!
I’m in work but I have an art talk at an embassy to attend in London on Monday which is my next day off. I’m putting the finishing touches to a review and studying Japanese regularly. This week I posted reviews for Night Working and Filled with Steam here and Jimami Tofu over at V-Cinema. The Cannes film festival has kicked off and there are a lot of interesting titles to read about once the reviews come through.
What’s released this weekend in Japan?
The Blood of Wolves 
孤狼の血 「Korou no chi」
Running Time: 126 mins.
Release Date: May 12th, 2018
Director: Kazuya Shiraishi
Writer: Junya Ikegami (Screenplay), Yuko Yuzuki (Original Novel)
Starring: Koji Yakusho, Tori Matsuzaka, Yoko Maki, Tomoya Nakamura, Pierre Taki, Shido Nakamura, Yosuke Eguchi, Renji Ishibashi,
F*CK YEAH! Crazy Koji Yakusho is fun Koji Yakusho. For the record, I’m a big fan of his mostly thanks to his work with Kiyoshi Kurosawa but his performance in The World of Kanako was some next level stuff. This film taps into a similar energy but it is directed by Kazuya Shiraishi who made two lacklustre crime films, The Devil’s Path and Twisted Justice. His Roman Porno, Dawn of the Felines was okay.
Synopsis: It is the summer of 1988 in the fictional city of Kurebara, Hiroshima. The disappearance of an employee of a financial company leads to squeaky-clean cop Shuichi Hioka (Tori Matsuzaka) getting paired with veteran detective and rumoured-to-be corrupt cop Shogo Ogami (Koji Yakusho) just as a war between yakuza clans heats up.
Sweating the Small Stuff 
枝葉のこと 「Edaha no koto」
Running Time: 114 mins.
Director: Ryutaro Ninomiya
Writer: Ryutaro Ninomiya (Screenplay),
Starring: Ryutaro Ninomiya, Yuki Hirose, Tomoki Kimura, Yuki Miyoshi, Yasumi Yajima, Tetsuo Ninomiya, Daiki Matsumoto,
Indie director Ryutaro Ninomiya’s film, The Charm of Others was at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2013. He’s back with his sophomore film that stars himself and Shinji Imaoka, the famous pink film director. This was at the Locarno Film Festival and Vancouver International Film Festival last year and this year’s Rotterdam International Film Festival. This film is somewhat autobiographical for the director who shot it in the places he has lived.
Synopsis: Ryutaro is a 27-year-old guy who works as a mechanic in a garage in Yokohama. He’s confident if he is stuck in his routine of drinking with friends, but there’s something eating away at him. We follow his life over a single weekend when he breaks his routine and hooks up with a waitress and spends time meeting Ryuko, the mother of an old friend, who was a surrogate mother after his own passed away. She has fallen gravely ill and does not have much time left…
Summer Blooms 
四月の永井夢 「Shigatsu no Nagai Yume」
Running Time: 93 mins.
Release Date: May 12th, 2018
Director: Ryutaro Nakagawa
Writer: Ryutaro Nakagawa (Screenplay),
Starring: Aki Asakura, Takahiro Miura, Yuriko Kawasaki, Yumiko Takahashi, Fumiko Aoyagi, Kotaro Shiga, Keiko Takahashi,
Synopsis: 27-year-old Hatsumi Takimoto (Aki Asakura) has a secret. Could it be the reason why she quit her job as a junior high school music teacher three years ago and now works part-time as a waitress at a neighbour’s soba shop? When she receives a letter from her lover who died three years ago, she finds that the secret may come out as her world starts moving again…
Mifune: The Last Samurai 
Running Time: 80 mins.
Director: Steven Okazaki
Writers: Stuart Galbraith IV, Steven Okazaki
Starring: Keanu Reeves (Narrator), Toshiro Mifune, Kyoko Kagawa, Haruo Nakajima, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Koji Yakusho, Shiro Mifune,
Synopsis: Keanu Reeves narrates a documentary about one of the most famous, if not the most famous Japanese actor in the history of cinema: Toshiro Mifune. People who have watched him in Yojimbo and Throne of Blood will attest that he is a massive screen presence and we get to see what made him special through archive footage as well as enjoying the reminisces of collaborators and fans from around the world.
Garden in Movement 
動いている庭 「Ugoite iru niwa」
Running Time: 85 mins.
Release Date: May 12th, 2018
Director: Kenichi Sawazaki
Writer: N/A
Starring: Gilles Clement, Tomoki Yamauchi, Emmanuelle Marez,
Synopsis: This is a documentary about Gilles Clement (website with more about him), a French gardener, landscape artist, and novelist who is pretty famous. He has been influenced by a visit to Japan and his research into Japanese gardens.
Love x Doc 
ラブｘドック 「RabuxDokku」
Running Time: 113 mins.
Release Date: May 11th, 2018
Director: Osamu Suzuki
Writer: Osamu Suzuki (Screenplay),
Starring: Yo Yoshida, Hiroshi Tamaki, Ryoko Hirosue, Shuhei Nomura, Erika Karata, Kotaro Yoshida,
Synopsis: Love in the kitchen! Asuka Goda (Yo Yoshida) runs a successful confection store but bitterness rises when she finds herself hearing the confession of love a young trainee pastry chef has for her. Seiya Hanada (Shuhei Nomura) has fallen in love with his 40-year-old boss little realising that she had done something similar at another store whilst being in a relationship with a gym trainer named Shunsuke Nomura (Hiroshi Tamaki). Fortunately, there’s a love clinic which can tell a person all of the secrets of love with a gene test…
Kujira no Shima no Wasuremono 
クジラの島の忘れもの 「Kujira no Shima no Wasuremono」
Running Time: 98 mins.
Release Date: May 12th, 2018
Director: Yuji Makino
Writer: Ureha Shimada (Screenplay),
Starring: Ito Ono, Win Morisaki
Synopsis: Aimi (Ito Ono) is a young woman who lives in Okinawa. She chose it because it is a place where she can see whales jumping out of the water, something she used to to with her mother who she lost in the Hanshin Earthquake in 1995. Unfortunately, she has never seen any whales and what’s more, she is losing the will to live. It is around this time that she meets a young man named Koa Guen (Win Morisaki) who has travelled from Vietnam to Okinawa for training at an IT company. His attitude to life refreshes Aimi and she develops feelings for him… This is based on a true story and produced in commemoration of the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Vietnam.
Kamen Rider Amazons Season 2 the Movie: Reincarnation 
劇場版 仮面ライダーアマゾンズ シーズン2 輪廻 「Gekijouban Kamen Raida- Amazonzu Shi-zun 2 Rinne」
Running Time: 98 mins.
Release Date: May 12th, 2018
Director: Hidenori Ishida, Ryuta Tasaki,
Writer: Yasuko Kobayashi (Screenplay), Shotaro Ishinomori (Original Creator),
Starring: Tom Fujita, Masashi Taniguchi, Rena Takeda, Ayu Higashi, Yu Kamio.
Website IMDB KAMEN RIDER WIKIA
Synopsis: This is the second of two compilation movies based on the Kamen Rider Amazons series which was released on Amazon prime in 2016. This collects the second season as everybody gets hyped for a brand new story/continuation that will be released next week. The story follows Jin Takayama and Haruka Mizusawa, two Kamen Riders who battle against people who have dormant, experimental cells which turn them into creatures called “Amazons”.
Hiragana Danshi – Prelude – 
劇場版 ひらがな男子 序 「Gekijouban Hiragana Danshi ~Jo~」
Running Time: 67 mins.
Release Date: May 11th, 2018
Director: Seiji Mizushima
Writer: Bakarhythm, (Script),
Starring: Yuuki Kaji (A), Minami Shinoda (I), Ayumu Murase (Ko), Chisato (Hi), Tomokazu Sugita (Nu),
Animation Production: DIRECTIONS
Synopsis: In a world where people have lost the ability to read and write alphabets, one lone calligrapher retains the skill to read and write characters. She is searching for “Hiragana Danshi” (Hiragana Men), personifications of the different syllabary letters in the Japanese hiragana alphabet. With them, she can bring letters back to people!!!
Kuchisan
Running Time: 76 mins.
Release Date: May 12th, 2018
Director: Maiko Endo
Writer: Maiko Endo (Screenplay),
Starring: Raizo Ishihara, Eleonore Hendricks, Chizuru Lee, Maiko Endo, Kokoro Kohatsu, Seiya Miyagi, Issei Fukuhara,
Synopsis: An indie film collaboration between Japanese and Americans about a boy awaiting the end of the world in Okinawa.
Technology 
四月の永井夢 「Shigatsu no Nagai Yume」
Running Time: 73 mins.
Release Date: May 13th, 2018
Director: Maiko Endo
Writer: Maiko Endo, India Menuez (Screenplay),
Starring: India Menuez, Oliver Dench, Tristan Reginato, Surendar,
Synopsis: The Wonders of Technology, Genetic Engineering, Biotechnology Science series covers subjects from Robots, Transportation, Agricultural Science, Science in the Third World, Making Plants Grow Plastic & New Miracles from Science. Students will develop a basic understanding of the fundamentals of Technology and work their way up to more complex subjects. Science and technology can transform how we train for sports and competition and also make it safer for exploring our planet’s different environments. Learn how computers, robotics and virtual reality are being used to increase our mental and physical capabilities. Includes suggestions for careers in this field of study.
SHOOT X Spiritual Game 
SHOOT X 霊撮ゲーム 「SHOOT X reito ge-mu」
Running Time: 70 mins.
Release Date: May 12th, 2018
Director: Hiroaki Abe
Writer: Hiroshi Yamashita (Screenplay),
Starring: Reina Fujie, Mayu Momosaki, Akiho Furuno, Tsukasa Kuroiwa, Karin Tachibana, Tetsu Nakaima,
Synopsis: AKB/NMB alumnus Reina Fujie stars in a found footage movie as one of three girls who are competing for 10 million yen in a ghost hunt. The thing is, people who try and track down the spirit end up disappearing…
Butterfly Sleep 
蝶の眠り 「Chou no Nemuri」
Running Time: 110 mins.
Release Date: May 12th, 2018
Director: Jeong Jae-Eun
Writer: Jeong Jae-Eun (Screenplay),
Starring: Miho Nakayama, Kim Jae-Wook, Hidekazu Mashima, Masanobu Katsumura, Shun Sugata, Masatoshi Nagase, Asami Shibuya,
Synopsis: Ryoko Matsumura (Miho Nakayama) is a popular writer who has agreed to teach at a university. She also knows that she could inherit Alzheimers. As she contemplates what she could do with her life before such a terrible blow, she meets an international student named Chan-hae (Kim Jae-Wook). Even though he is in his 20’s and she is in her 50’s, they fall for each other….
Last Hold! 
ラスト・ホールド！ 「Rasuto Ho-rudo!」
Running Time: 90 mins.
Release Date: May 12th, 2018
Director: Yukinori Makabe
Writer: Namio Kawakami, Kenji Takami (Screenplay),
Starring: Ryouichi Tsukada, Hikaru Iwamoto, Tatsuya Fukasawa, Shota Watanabe, Daisuke Sakuma, Ryohei Abe
Synopsis: A university climbing club is about to be closed down because it has one member but that one member recruits six ikemen freshmen. Hijins and handsome boy modelling ensues.
Clingy Girlfriend 
恋愛依存症の女 「Renaiizonshou no onna」
Running Time: 199 mins.
Release Date: May 12th, 2018
Director: Satoshi Kimura
Writer: Ryutaro Nakagawa (Screenplay),
Starring: Hiraku, Mayu, Makoto Shinoda, Mizuho Osu, Hinata Otsuka, Hiromi Yoshida, Tomoyo Shibukawa,
Synopsis: See interweaving tales of love told over 199 minutes.