Happy weekend, everyone!
I hope you are all doing fine!
Life has been a bit of a trudge recently. I’m in the middle of a 12-day work week with early starts in the morning. I’ve just started doing film festival feedback forms. The weather is getting darker and colder. I managed to get a good dose of sleep last night and keep up my exercise routine so I’m feeling good. I need to get some dynamism back. Anyways, I posted reviews for Vampire Clay (2017) and Re:born (2017) and my review for Naomi Kawase’s film Vision (2018) went live on v-cinema. I hope you guys have managed to watch some great films.
What is released this weekend?
Lovers on Borders 
ポルトの恋人たち 時の記憶 「Boruto no koibitotachi toki no kioku」
Running Time: 139 mins.
Release Date: November 10th, 2018
Director: Atsushi Funahashi
Writer: Atsushi Funahashi (Screenplay),
Starring: Tasuku Emoto, Yuta Nakano, Ana Moreira, Antonio Duraes, Flavio Hamilton, Alex Miranda, Miguel Monteiro, Valdemar Santos,
This international co-production looks fantastic. It’s by Atsushi Funahashi, a man who works in both documentary and fiction. He has tackled the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami and the resulting radiation crisis from Fukushima in past works. Here he has created a story that spans the ages: Portugal in the 18th century and Japan of the 21st century. The lead actors take on the roles of two people separated by time.
Synopsis: Portugal in the 18th century, after the Great Lisbon earthquake of 1755. Souji (Tasuku Emoto) and Shiro (Yuta Nakano) were brought as slaves/servants from India to work on the reconstruction of the city. Souji may be mute but when meets and falls in love with Mariana (Ana Moreira) she understands and feels the same way but when he rebels against an aristocrat is shot dead he loses it all. She seeks revenge. Will she go through with it?
Japan in the 21st century, after the Tokyo Olympic Games. A Brazilian Japanese named Koshiro (Yuta Nakano) is laid-off from his factory job and commits suicide. He leaves behind his wife, a Portuguese woman named Marina (Ana Moreira). Hiiragi Kase (Tasuku Emoto) is the executive responsible for causing his death due to his decision to fire him. Marina wants revenge. Will she go through with it or will they come to some understanding?
GODZILLA The Planet Eater 
GODZILLA 星を喰う者 「GODZILLA Hoshi wo kuu mono」
Release Date: November 09th, 2018
Running Time: 90 mins.
Director: Hiroyuki Seshita, Koubun Shizuno
Writer: Gen Urobuchi (Screenplay),
Starring: Mamoru Miyano (Haruo Sakaki), Saori Hayami (Haruka Sakaki), Kenichi Suzumura (Akira Sakaki), Takahiro Sakurai (Metphies), Yuuki Kaji (adam Bindewald), Tomokazu Sugita (Martin Lazzari), Kana Hanazawa (Yuko Tani),
Animation Production: POLYGON PICTURES
Synopsis from ANN: 20,000 years into the future, the Earth is ruled by Godzilla. Pitted against him are the straggling remnants of the human race. The final chapter, GODZILLA:The Planet Eater, finds the Mechagodzilla city, the peak of scientific evolution and mankind’s best hope, burned to cinders. Godzilla Earth reigns supreme but he has one more challenge: the winged creature, KING GHIDORAH.
We Love 
ういらぶ。 「Uirabu.」
Running Time: 100 mins.
Release Date: November 09th, 2018
Director: Yuichi Sato
Writer: Natsuko Takahashi (Screenplay), Yukimo Hoshimori (Original Manga),
Starring: Hinako Sakurai, Sho Hirano, Tina Tamashiro, Hayato Isomura, Hiyori Sakurada, Kentaro Ito, Rina Ono,
Synopsis: A group of high school students who live in the same apartment block get into romantic twists and turns. It starts with Rin (Sho Hirano), a seemingly cold guy who makes cutting remarks about others but he has feeling for Yuu (Hinako Sakurai) who carries a flame for him but she is too nervous to say anything to a guy she thinks might not like her. Fortunately a guy appears to help smooth things.
My Retirement, My Life 
体操しようよ 「Taiso Shiyou yo」
Running Time: 109 mins.
Release Date: November 09th, 2018
Director: Takeo Kikuchi
Writer: Tadaatsu Shundo, Kiyoto Wada (Screenplay),
Starring: Masao Kusakari, Fumino Kimura, Maho Yamada, Kitaro, Daichi Watanabe, Emi Wakui, Miyoko Inagawa, Hairi Katagiri,
Synopsis: Michitaro Sano (Masao Kusakari) is a widower who lives with his daughter. He has filled his life with his work but upon retirement he finds he has a lot of free time. Just as he has to start thinking about what to do with himself another momentous change is upon him with his daughter Yumiko (Fumino Kimura) telling him that she has a boyfriend and might be getting married. As Michitaro ponders what to do with himself, he runs into the local radio callisthenics group and finds a new way to keep himself fit and occupied…
Asia Three-Fold Mirror 2018 Journey 
アジア三面鏡2018 Journey 「Asia Sanmen Kagami 2018 Journey」
Running Time: 83 mins.
Release Date: November 09th, 2018
Background:
This is the second instalment of the Asian Three-Fold Mirror series which brings together three accomplished directors from across Asia to co-create an omnibus films with a common theme. The common theme for this one is “journey” signifying travel beyond time and space. Crew and cast joined forces across national borders to depict the lives of characters who journey in China, Myanmar and Japan. One of Indonesia’s most popular actors, Nicholas Saputra, appears in all three omnibus episodes.
The Sea
Director/Writer: Degena Yun
Starring: Zhe Gong, Jin Chen,
Synopsis: A high-strung mother and her sullen daughter travelling from Beijing to the sea are enduring an awkward road trip. The daughter has no interest in what is going on but when they talk about the recently deceased father and their relatives, the daughter explodes in anger and the awkwardness continues until they reach the sea. As they sit in a small boat, their anger seems to have dissipated. What happens next?
Hekishu
Director/Writer: Daishi Matsunaga
Starring: Hiroki Hasegawa, Nandar Myat Aung
Synopsis: Suzuki is in Myanmar to help upgrade the railway system of the city of Yangon. To get a feel for the place he watches the cityscape passing by as he rides the circular railway that runs languidly through the city. It is on this trip that he meets a friendly passenger who quizzes him on the purpose of his job. Will upgrading the railway system really ease people’s everyday lives? After this chance meeting he starts questioning his purpose in coming to Yangon and starts to visit local people and places including a seamstress named Su Su and her family, as he tries to find an answer.
Variable No. 3
Director: Edwin
Writer: Prima Rusudi
Starring: Agni Prastistha, Oka Antara, Nicholas Saputra
Synopsis: Edi and Sekar are a married couple from Indonesia. They are travelling in Tokyo and are heading to a B&B that is owned by Kenji (Nicholas Saputra) but when Sekar sees Kenji she gets a shock because he is the spitting image of her former lover, Jati. Edi and Sekar aren’t having the happiest of marriages and so this throws another spanner in the works but when Kenji tells them that he is conducting research on contemporary Asian couples and asks for their cooperation, they accept. Kenji shows them three cards. One of cards shows the words, “Variable No. 3.” What does this mean?
Nunuko no Hijirisen HARAJUKU STORY 
ヌヌ子の聖★戦 HARAJUKU STORY 「Nunuko no Hijirisen HARAJUKU STORY」
Running Time: 99 mins.
Release Date: November 09th, 2018
Director: Takehiro Shindo
Writer: Manato Hamada (Screenplay),
Starring: Rinne Yoshida, Rinka Kumada, Satsuki Nakayama, Nanaha Itose,
Synopsis: Aoi and Rina are friends and college graduates who love to hang out in Harajuku. They are so close to each other they are more like twins. They get involved in a popular twin talent competition called “Nuneko” where the prize is appearing in a music video of the popular band “Orion”. However, fame and fortune aren’t so easily accessible as dodgy talent scouts and everyday life gets in the way of the girls…
Anemone: Eureka Seven: Hi – Evolution 
ANEMONE 交響詩篇エウレカセブン ハイエボリューショ「Anemone: Koukyoushihen Eureka Sebun Hai Eboryui-shon」
Release Date: November 10th, 2018
Running Time: 95 mins.
Chief Director: Tomoki Kyoda, Director: Hisatoshi Shimizu
Writer: Dai Sato (Screenplay),
Starring: Kaori Nazuka (Eureka), Yuko Sanpei (Renton Beams/Renton Thurston), Aya Hisakawa (Ray Beams), Juurouta Kosugi (Charles Beams), Kouji Tsujitani (Dewey Novak), Toshiyuki Morikawa (Holland Novak),
Animation Production: BONES
Synopsis from ANN: For the first time in the Eureka Seven franchise, the film will be set in Tokyo. The film centers on Anemone, a girl who lost her father in a battle in Toyko seven years prior to the film’s story, leaving her with only her stuffed toy Gulliver, and the AI concierge Dominikids for emotional support. Now she is a key part of a strategy by the experimental unit “Acid” to combat the seventh Eureka, “Eureka Seven,” an enemy of humanity that has killed 2.6 billion people. Driven to the brink, all of humanity entrusts its hope to Anemone as she dives deep into the interior of Eureka Seven.
Love Revolution 
愛・革命 「Ai Kakumei」
Running Time: 102 mins.
Release Date: November 10th, 2018
Director: Sam Leong
Writer: Sam Leong (Screenplay),
Starring: Natsuna, Hiroshi Shinagawa, Sam Lee, Candy Law, Denden, Raychell, Tomokazu Sugita,
Synopsis: Hong Kong made action love comedy in which Japanese cast play outlaws on the run in Thailand. Natsuna is a girl named Ai and she has fled to Thailand with her boyfriend to avoid Yakuza but they get mixed up with a local mafia boss…
Zoku Owarimonogatari 
続・終物語 「Zoku Owarimonogatari」
Release Date: November 10th, 2018
Running Time: 148 mins.
Chief Director: Akiyuki Shinbo,
Writer: Akiyuki Shinbo, Ayako Higashitomi (Screenplay), Isin Nisio (Original Creator)
Starring: Hiroshi Kamiya (Koyomi Araragi), Eri Kitamura (Karen Araragi), Yuka Iguchi (Tsukihi Araragi), Emiri Katou (Mayoi Hachijkuji), Chiwa Saito (Hitagi Senjougahara), Miyuki Sawashiro (Suruga Kanbaru),
Animation Production: SHAFT
Synopsis: High school student Koyomi Araragi finds his life changes when he gets involved with his classmate Hitagi Senjougahara who is influenced by supernatural forces. She is the first of a number of other girls who have some supernatural quirk in their lives. A whole series of books and anime have been made of Araragi’s misadventures. In this one, Owarimonogatari, the final season, high school graduation has been completed but his misadventures continue as he gets lost in a mirror world…
Umi ni noseta gazu no yume 
海にのせたガズの夢 「Umi ni noseta gazu no yume」
Running Time: 90 mins.
Release Date: November 10th, 2018
Director: Tetsutaro Yaguchi
Writer: Tetsutaro Yagichi (Screenplay),
Starring: Erina Kamiya, Ami Miyamae, Naoki Komatsu, Haruka Miwa, Kouji Kominami, Ako Yamamoto, Ayu Uchiyama, Kei Kotani, Akiko Oka,
Synopsis: Kamen Joshi idol Erina Kamiya plays a high school student in Kumano who meets a young movie director. It seems like a match made in heaven because she is in her school cinema club and dreams of being in the movie industry but she may find choosing between her dream and the reality of life in her hometown is a more difficult decision than expected…
SOUNDS LIKE SHIT the story of Hi-STANDARD 
Running Time: 117 mins.
Release Date: November 10th, 2018
Director: Wataru Umeda
Writer: N/A
Starring: Akihiro Nanba, Ken Yokoyama, Akira Tsuneoka,
Synopsis: A music doc which looks at the band Hi-Standard, a hardcore pink group which came into being in 1991, toured around the world, made five albums and then went on hiatus. Individual members went to work with other bands and on individual projects before reforming in 2015. The members talk frankly about their careers.
Jizo Libido 
地蔵とリビドー 「Jizo to Ribido-」
Running Time: 62 mins.
Release Date: November 10th, 2018
Director: Yoshiaki Kasatani
Writer: N/A
Starring: Yukiko Koide, Edward M. Gomez, Hiroaki Nakatsugawa, Hidenori Mukai,
Synopsis: Atelier Yamanami in Shiga Prefecture is the home of 88 residents, each of whom is an artist with a unique way of expressing themselves through various media. Their work is highly valued abroad and this documentary aims to show how their work is influenced by their mental state and why it is important. Information found on the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival.
Tsugaru no Kamari 
津軽のカマリ 「Tsugaru no Kamari」
Running Time: 104 mins.
Release Date: November 10th, 2018
Director: Koichi Onishi
Writer: N/A
Starring: Chikuzan Takahashi, Chikuzan Takahashi (Second Generation), Tetsuko Takahashi, Yoko Nishikawa,
Synopsis: Chikuzan Takahashi was a legendary shamisen player. He lost his eye sight due to measles at the age of 3 but mastered the instrument. His raison d’etre was to capture the sound of Tohoku since he is from Aomori. This doc is about him.