Happy weekend, everyone!
I hope everyone is feeling great!
Since the last time I wrote a trailer post I have spent my days either meeting thousands of people in my day job (I kid you not) or watching films from around Asia in the comfort of my home. I managed to finish off a big proof reading projects. In terms of writing on this blog, I posted a review of Blame !(2017), a preview of the Japanese Films at the Berlin International Film Festival 2019, and a glance at the Closing Film at Osaka Asian Film Festival 2019.
Here are the new films released this weekend:
Born Bone Born 
洗骨 「Senkotsu」
Running Time: 111 mins.
Release Date: February 09th, 2018
Director: Toshiyuki Teruya
Writer: Toshiyuki Teruya (Screenplay),
Starring: Ayame Misaki, Eiji Okuda, Michitaka Tsutsui, Yoko Oshima, Akira Sakamoto, Kyutaro Suzuki, Mariko Tsutsui,
This film was originally a short before being expanded into a feature film. It explores the “senkotsu ceremony”, an Okinawan custom involving the cleansing of the bones of the dead by relatives and loved-ones in seawater or sake after burial in the ground or open air, and then re-burying the bones. This ceremony passes on life from the dead to the living and the film uses it to show how a matriarch unites a family even in her death. Here’s my review. It stars Ayame Misaki, a former model who is making waves as an actor as seen in Hikari (2016).
Trailer for the feature:
Here’s one for the short:
Synopsis: Yuko Shinjo (Ayame Misaki) has taken a vacation from her job as a hairdresser in Nagoya to head home. She is pregnant and alone but that’s not going to stop her journey to Aguni Shima, a small island which lies to the west of the Okinawa. It is here that Senkotsu is still performed even though it is a tradition that has largely died out. Her mother Emiko recently passed away and so she will perform the ceremony with her family, her father Nobutsuna (Eiji Okuda), who is quietly devastated and nursing his grief with alcohol while living alone, and her argumentative older brother Tsuyoshi (Michitaka Tsutsui). Rumours swirl around the family but friends come to their defence as the trio find the time to face each other and themselves and overcome their individual hardships.
Back Street Girls: Gokudoruzu 
Back Street Girls ゴクドルズ 「Back Street Girls Gokudoruzu」
Running Time: 87 mins.
Release Date: February 08th, 2019
Director: Keinosuke Hara
Writer: Shoichiro Matsumoto, Hidehiro Ito (Screenplay), Jasmine Gyuh (Manga)
Starring: Jin Shirasu / Natsumi Okamoto (Kentaro Yamamoto), Reiya Masaki / Ruka Matsuda (Ryo Tachibana), Masato Hanazawa / Akane Sakanoue (Kazuhiko Sugihara), Ren Osugi, Tetsuya Sugaya,
Synopsis: Kentaro Yamamoto (Jin Shirasu), Ryo Tachibana (Reiya Masaki) and Kazuhiko Sugihara (Masato Hanazawa) are young and dangerous yakuza soldiers but one mistake on a hit and they find their lives are radically changed when their boss, eager to make money, demands the three get a sex-change to cash in on the idol boom. The three boys are now girls and debut as the idol unit “Gokudoruzu.”
21st Century Girl 
21世紀の女の子 「21 Seiki no Onna no Ko」
Running Time: 117 mins.
Release Date: February 08th, 2019
This title consists of 14 short films with an animated end-title sequence by female directors born in either the late ‘80s or ‘90s so they are all under 30. It features a roster of familiar names from international festivals like Aya Igashi and Yoko Yamanaka (Amiko) and lots of familiar actors like Ai Hashimoto (The Kirishima Thing), Rena Matsui (Dear Etranger), Erisa Yanagi, Shizuka Ishibashi (The Tokyo Night Sky is Always the Densest Shade of Blue), Mei Kurokawa, Sairi Itoh (Love and Other Cults), Kiki Sugino (Snow Woman), and Kaho Minami. It was screened at last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival which is where I got a lot of the details from.
Essentially, these are films made by women primarily for women and aim to capture the female experience. Please read this article on the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan website for more information.
Anytime, anywhere
Director: Yoko Yamanaka
Cast: Ayu Kitaura, Kaho Minami, Tenko Kamio, Kiki Sugino
8min. Color Japanese 2018 Japan
Mucous Membrane
Director: Ayaka Kato
Cast: Kyooko Hinami, Haruka Kubo
8min. Color Japanese 2018 Japan
projection
Director: Yurina Kaneko
Cast: Sairi Itoh, Shiori Doi, An Ogawa
8min. Color Japanese 2018 Japan
love desiccant
Director: Yuka Eda
Cast: Anna Yamada, Ryusuke Fujiwara
8min. Color Japanese 2018 Japan
out of fashion
Director: Kanae Higashi
Cast: Serena Motola, Nodoka Tsutsui
8min. Color Japanese 2018 Japan
Your Sheet
Director: Aya Igashi
Cast: Toko Miura, Kurumi Shimizu, Yu Koyanagi
8min. Color Japanese 2018 Japan
Mirror
Director: Risa Takeuchi
Cast: Kumi Takiuchi, Aki Asakura, Miyuu Teshima
8min. Color Japanese 2018 Japan
Sex-less, Sex-friends
Director: Momoko Fukuda
Cast: Mei Kurokawa, Kenta Kiguchi
8min. Color Japanese 2018 Japan
muse
Director: Yuka Yasukawa
Cast: Shizuka Ishibashi, Jun Murakami, Yuri Nakamura
8min. Color Japanese 2018 Japan
I wanna be your cat
Director: Rin Shuto
Cast: Akari Kinoshita, Kimio Taketani
8min. Color Japanese 2018 Japan
Spring-ing
Director: Aimi Natsuto
Cast: Haruna Hori, Sara Kurashima, Juri Fukushima
6min. Color Japanese 2018 Japan
reborn
Director: Yukari Sakamoto
Cast: Rena Matsui, Amon Hirai
8min. Color Japanese 2018 Japan
Low Resolution, High Emotion
Director: Hana Matsumoto
Cast: Ai Hashimoto, Sara Minami, Karin Ono, Erisa Yanagi
8min. Color Japanese 2018 Japan
For Lonesome Blossoms
Director: Ū-ki Yamato
Cast: Erika Karata, Momoko Takeuchi, Shiho
8min. Color Japanese 2018 Japan
End-title Animation
Director: Sakura Tamagawa
7min. Color 2018 Japan
40 Manbun no 1 1 in 400,000 
40万分の1 「40 Manbun no 1」
Running Time: 105 mins.
Release Date: February 08th, 2019
Director: Hirotaka Inoue
Writer: Hirotaka Inoue (Screenplay),
Starring: Kazuki Soejima, Haruka Tateishi, Teru Sato, Haruka Kubo, Shuji Kikuchi, Kokoro Asami,
Synopsis: Toru Nakanishi (Kazuki Soejima) is a lazy student and despite reaching his third year at university, he hasn’t prepared for what to do after that. Things change when a friend introduces the charismatic Haruhiko Ogino (Teru Sato) who teaches Toru Nakanishi how to get a job.
Saga of Tanya the Evil 
劇場版 幼女戦記 「Gekijouban Yojo Senki」
Release Date: February 08th, 2019
Running Time: 101 mins.
Director: Yutaka Uemura
Writer: Kenta Ihara (Screenplay), Carlo Zen (Original Creator)
Starring: Aoi Yuki (Tanya Degurechaff), Binbin Takaoka (Isaac Dustin Drake), Saori Hayami (Visha), Haruka Tomatsu (Mary Sioux),
Animation Production: Studio NuT
Synopsis: Tanya and her troops have defeated the Republic’s army but the Empire faces a new threat from the Russy Federation and so she and her men are sent to the front again. Their foes are many because a multinational army under the leadership of the Allied Kingdom has joined the conflict and one girl, Mary Sioux, wants to avenge the death of her father after he died battling the Empire.
City Hunter: Shinjuku Private Eyes 
劇場版シティーハンター 新宿プライベート・アイズ 「Gekijouban Shitei- Hanta- Shinjuku Puraibe-to Aizu」
Release Date: February 08th, 2019
Running Time: 95 mins.
Director: Kenji Kodama
Writer: Yoichi Kato (Screenplay), Tsukasa Hojo (Original Creator)
Starring: Akira Kamiya (Ryo Saeba), Kazue Ikura (Kaori Makimura), Marie Iitoyo (Ai Shindo), Harumi Ichiryusai (Saeko Nogami), Houchu Ohtsuka (Vince Ingrado), Keiko Toda (Hitomi/Rui Kisugi), Koichi Yamadera (Shinji Mikuni),
Animation Production: Sunrise
Synopsis: City Hunter is back and our heroic mega-lecherous private-eye named Ryo is protecting a woman named Ai Shindo, the daughter of a scientist recently killed in suspicious circumstances. The scientist had taken part in a project to create advanced military attack drones but left the project before completion with a key part. Now Ai is being hunted by the boss of the company overseeing the project, Shinji Mikuni, and Ryo is the only one who can save her.
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection 
コードギアス復活のルルーシュ 「Code Geass: Fukkatsu no Lelouch」
Release Date: February 09th, 2019
Running Time: 112 mins.
Director: Goro Taniguchi
Writer: Ichiro Okouchi (Screenplay),
Starring: Takahiro Sakurai (Suzaku Kururugi), Yukana (C.C.), Ami Koshimizu (Kallen Stadtfeld), Ayumu Murase (Shario), Keiko Toda (Shamuna),
Animation Production: Sunrise
Synopsis: The story continues on from the movies and series and it has been two since Lelouch launched his “Zero Requiem” plan.
Amanogawa 
あまのがわ 「Amanogawa」
Running Time: 103 mins.
Release Date: February 09th, 2019
Director: Shun Konii
Writer: Shun Konii (Screenplay/Original Story),
Starring: Momoko Fukuchi, Tomoko Ikuta, Club Matsumoto, Kumi Mizuno, Naoya Mizuno, Seishiro Nishida, Aya Sugimoto, Takayuki Yanagi,
This played at last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival.
Synopsis: Shiori is a high school student in Tokyo with fond memories of learning to play festival drums from her grandmother. However, she lives with her strict mother who is more concerned about education. Shiori struggles with life in Tokyo but when she travels to Yakushima on her grandmother’s behalf, she has a mystical encounter with a robot that can talk and her life opens up again. The two cross paths with various people and bring hope.