Aru hi mori no naka (2014, wtf)

[Takuma Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Takuma]

Aru hi mori no naka (あるひもりのなか) ("on a certain day in the woods" or "one day in the woods")



The 39th film is the Seishun H series. Let me just quote this guy who summarized it perfectly...



Trailer:
http://youtu.be/7sr8skMRm54

This was totally cool! Lovely retro special effects, consistent vision (of madness), just restained enough, much more imaginative than any of the recent pop films by Takashi Miike, Noboru Iguchi or Lisa Takeba. Oh, and it's also a tribute to Godzilla vs. Hedorah.

The storyline is about a yellow bear that comes to planet earth with a space ship to conquer the planet but warns us about it first. He forces a schoolgirl to spread to word or he will explode her panties. It later turns into a romance with a mad scientist's son (and we get the compulsory sex scene)

















The Japanese retail dvd will be released tomorrow. The rental was already out so I watched it today.

Seihun H is a series of very loosely related low budget films by promising/interesting non-mainstream filmmakers. It's produced by Artport and basically sells itself as a series of slightly sexy films for young adults. A bit similar to Love Cinema and other such projects. The films get a very limited theatrical release in Tokyo (usually one week) by default, and the best ones may play in some other cities as well.

The output is very diverse: anything from surreal sex comedies to fake documentaries and dramas. There were quite a few interesting films early on, such as Sakichi Sato's Zero Man vs. The Half Virgin, Koji Shiraishi's Cho akunin, and Kota Yoshida's Solo nante kudaranai which I haven't seen yet.

[sukebanboy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sukebanboy]

The storyline is about a yellow bear that comes to planet earth with a space ship to warn us about alien invasion. He forces a schoolgirl to spread to word or he will explode her panties. It later turns into a romance with a mad scientist's son (and we get the compulsory sex scene).

SOLD!!!

I hadnt heard of this series before this post...but you can bet your life I will be tracking this stuff down ASAP!!!

[Takuma Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Takuma]

A small correction about the storyline... I was a bit sleepy when I wrote that. The space invader is actually the bear himself, but he nevertheless wants to warn people that an alien (he) is going to invade.

SOLD!!!

I hadnt heard of this series before this post...but you can bet your life I will be tracking this stuff down ASAP!!!

The series quite a mixed bag. I've only seen four of the films so far, and they vary wildly in genre, quality and execution. I think the only real connection is production and distribution.

Here's the series website (Japanese):
http://cinema.artport.co.jp/h/

(the site design is a bit weird... you may have to scroll to the right to see all the content)

The series title, Seishun H, is a word play. Seishun means "youth". "H" is a bit trickier but let me try to explain it.

1) The Japanese love abbreviations, so they abbreviated the word hentai (pervert) into the initial "H".
2) The "H" is pronounced as "eich" in Japanese
3) When you type "eich" in Japanese katakana characters, it becomes "ecchi"
4) A new word, "Ecchi", was now born. It was given the meaning of "having sex" or "erotic"
4.1) Meanwhile, a bunch of Western anime fans started using the word ecchi as a genre of slightly naughty anime. The word does not have such a meaning in Japan, and no such thing as "ecchi anime" exist in Japan.

So what exactly does "Seihun H" then mean? Who knows. It's certainly not "Youth Hentai". But it is a series of youth(ful) films with sexual themes, so not so far off.

From the other ones I've seen Zero Man vs. the Half Virgin (2011) is a the best. It's a trendy romance / drama / comedy / fantasy directed by Takashi Miike screenwriter Sakichi Sato (Gozu, Ichi the Killer). The film follows a policeman who wakes up with no memory, but instead a new skill. He can see the number of other people's past sex partners (as the figure appears on their foreheads) when he "touches himself".

Despite the potentially rauchy concept and pink star Shijimi getting rid of her clothes once it's actually a very romantic film. Sato makes most out of his limited budget, utilizing wonderful pop/rock soundtrack and some visually mesmerizing scenes. The film is 20 minutes too long, but the energy and innovative camera angles keep it running. Also, it's got something of a rarity in an Asian movie: an awesome comedic performance by a foreign actor, Don Brown. My favorite comedy actor, Hiroshi Yamamoto (from Nobuhiro Yamashita's masterpieces), co-stars.













Trailer (which doesn't make it look half as good as it really is):
http://youtu.be/Yod-lcjwdbE?t=25s


Another interesting, though not entirely successful entry is horror director Koji Shiraishi's (Grotesque, Noroi) Cho akunin ("Super Villain"). The fake documentary style film follows a super-evil serial rapist who invites a pair of journalists to interview him. It's often hilarious and has a nice theme song, but the bland visual delivery can't quite carry the entire film. The majority of its 90 minute running time is basically people talking to the camera, which makes it feel too long for what it is.

Trailer:
http://youtu.be/aOylxRthyiE?t=25s

[sukebanboy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sukebanboy]

Thanks for all the info and recommendations....The completest that I am will mean that I will eventually plow my way through the whole series...good or bad...at some point. I dont expect them all to be good, but at least a little off kilter or original is enough for me!

Also, it's got something of a rarity in an Asian movie: an awesome comedic performance by a foreign actor, Don Brown.

You are stretching my trust of you and your opinions a bit far with this statement though!!!