Happy weekend, people!
I hope everybody is doing well!
Think about the people who live in the western part of Japan who have lost a lot due to the heavy rain and consider donating to relief efforts if you can spare the money. Times are tough so prayers and positive energy and raising awareness is also good. Here’s a link to Time Out which has a number of options. Good news came in the form of the boys and the coach rescued from the cave in Thailand. Well done rescuers and the people who supported them.
As for me, I ducked out of some social engagements due to a physical injury I’ve had since last week Monday but I watched three films and got three film reviews done. I also watched Sicario II: Soldado in a cinema with my mother and sister and really enjoyed what turned out to be a thrilling film. Great performances from Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro and some hair-raising action scenes! I posted a preview of the awesome-looking Asian Film Festival Dallas which has lots of great Japanese films. I also posted an old interview from the Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF) involving Rina Tanaka and her cast and crew from her film, Filled with Steam. The Fantasia International Film Festival launched this week in Canada and it has some killer titles!
What is released this weekend in Japan?
Ginmaku-ban shonan no kaze ichigoichie 
銀幕版 湘南乃風 一期一会 「Ginmaku-ban shonan no kaze ichigoichie」
Running Time: 79 mins.
Release Date: July 13th, 2018
Director: Jun Takahashi
Writer: N/A
Starring: RED RICE, HAN-KUN, SHOCK EYE, WAKADANNA
Synopsis: Shonan no Kaze are a popular reggae group from Japan and they have been together since they debuted in 2003. This documentary looks at the bandmates during their history and at more recent performances.
Pokemon the Movie: Everyone’s Story 
劇場版ポケットモンスター みんなの物語 「Gekijouban Poketto Monsuta- Minna no monogatari」
Release Date: July 13th, 2018
Running Time: 100 mins.
Director: Tetsuo Yajima
Writer: Aya Takaha, Eiji Umehara (Screenplay),
Starring: Rica Matsumoto (Satoshi), Ikue Otani (Satoshi’s Pikachu), Megumi Hayashibara (Musashi), Mana Ashida (Largo), Rina Kawaei (Risa),
Animation Production: OLM, Wit Studio
Synopsis: Satoshi and his Pikachu are at Frau City for the annual Wind Festival which celebrates the fact that the city is blessed with wind from the Legendary Pokémon Lugia. It is there that they meet five strangers struggling with life who find that Pokemon may helm them achieve some growth. These people include Largo, a mysterious girl found in a forest, and Risa, a Pokemon beginner and a high school girl.
Shino Can’t Say Her Own Name 
志乃ちゃんは自分の名前が言えない 「Shino-chan wa Jibun no Namae ga Ienai」
Running Time: 110 mins.
Release Date: July 14th, 2018
Director: Hiroaki Yuasa
Writer: Shin Adachi (Screenplay), Shuzo Oshimi (Manga)
Starring: Sara Minami, Aju Makita, Tetsu Watanabe, Riku Hagiwara, Akana Ikeda, Akari Kakimoto, Kaoru Okunuki, Jun Aonami,
Synopsis: High school girl Shino Ooshima (Sara Minami) has difficulties pronouncing words that start with vowels including her own name. Because of this, she has few friends. She meets Kayo (Aju Makita), a girl who loves music but is tone-deaf. The two decide to work together to start a band.
Watashi no jinsei nano ni 
私の人生なのに 「Watashi no jinsei nano ni」
Running Time: 103 mins.
Release Date: July 14th, 2018
Director: Keinosuke Hara
Writer: Keinosuke Hara (Screenplay), Kiyuu Azuma, Tomohide Kiyoshi (Novel)
Starring: Kang Ji-Young, Yu Inaba, Motoki Ochiai, Miho Ninagawa, Yuria Eda, Takao Handa, Toshie Negishi, Mariko Akama,
Synopsis: Mizuho Kinjo (Kang Ji-Young) was a promising rhythmic gymnast who was on the fast track to the Olympics until a spinal cord disease left her disabled from the waist down. Feeling crushed and bitter, she figures her future is bleak until a man with a guitar enters her life and draws her out of her negative thinking and gives her hope.
Kalanchoe 
カランコエの花 「Karankoe no Hana」
Running Time: 39 mins.
Release Date: July 17th, 2017
Director: Shun Nakagawa
Writer: Shun Nakagawa (Screenplay),
Starring: Mio Imada, Sho Kasamatsu, Chihiro Nagase, Arisa, Makoto Sudo, Haruna Hori,
Synopsis: This short film won the Grand Prix competition at the 2017 Tokyo International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival for its drama about how people react in a school when some pupils are rumoured to be gay and lesbian.
Akabeko
あかべこ 「Akabeko」
Running Time: 25 mins.
Release Date: July 14th, 2018
Director: Hidenori Takahashi
Writer: Hidenori Takahashi, (Screenplay),
Starring: Niko Sano, Eriko Tomiyama, Kikuko Kanazawa, Chiharu Ookubo,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0fnojv_PXg&feature=youtu.be
Synopsis:This short was at the 2015 SKIP City International D Cinema Film Festival and it looks beautiful from the still images. The story follows six-year-old Mika who has travelled to her grandparents’ house in Aizu with her mother for the birth of a new baby. Mika is upset over the lack of attention she is getting and so she takes a cow shaped talisman called an “Akabeko” which was meant for the baby and runs away. Then she meets a mysterious woman…
Kono machi de kuraseba 
このまちで暮らせば 「Kono machi de kuraseba」
Running Time: 42 mins.
Release Date: July 14th, 2018
Director: Hidenori Takahashi
Writer: Hidenori Takahashi, (Screenplay),
Starring: Sho Kasamatsu, Haruka Imou, Kikuko Fujimoto, Hiroshi Katsuno,
Rough Synopsis: A young man who wants to be a forestry worker in a small town in Kumamoto Prefecture has a rocky relationship with his mother. However, a tradition surrounding a special type of cedar trees and a life-threatening illness will reconcile them.
Peace Nippon 
ピース・ニッポン 「Pi-su Nippon」
Running Time: 111 mins.
Release Date: July 14th, 2018
Director: Hiroyuki Nakano
Writer: Hiroyuki Nakano, Akihisa Shibasaki (Screenplay),
Starring: Dai Watanabe, Sakino Oikawa,
Synopsis: So, the director of the Tajomaru film I reviewed years ago is back with a documentary! This film looks at the real beauty of Japan and captures it in more than 200 places in 47 prefectures nationwide at a 4K resolution. It took eight years to make this film. It’s part of a project that will document Japan now for future generations to understand things such as the “Four Seasons in Japan” and the “Spirit of Japan”.
Everyday is Alzheimer’s The Final Death Becomes Us 
毎日がアルツハイマー ザ・ファイナル 最期に死ぬ時。 「Mainichi ga arutsuhaimā za fainaru saigo ni shinu toki.」
Running Time: 72 mins.
Release Date: July 14th, 2018
Director: Yuka Sekiguchi
Writer: N/A
Starring:
Synopsis: Yuka Sekguchi’s mother Hiroko was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease a number of years ago and Yuka has had to care for her. Yuka has documented her exploration of what Alzheimers is and how people with the disease can be cared for. This is the latest part of the series looks at options for dying after her mother was hospitalised for an extended period and ended up with pain in her hip joints. With support seemingly hard to give and her mother suffering, Yuka travels to Europe to look at them. I first wrote about in 2014 but stretches back to 2012 in this IMDB page which needs to be merged with the director’s other one.