Miscellaneous New Japanese Films Thread

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

For everything that I didn't bother giving a thread of its own, or didn't feel matched the forum profile well enough but nevertheless deserved attention.

Ok, let's start



夜だから　(Night, Because)

This looks interesting. I really don't know what's it gonna be like, but both the site and the trailer are oddly intriguing. The R18 rating only adds to the interest. Directed by Kouki Fukayama. Opens in Tokyo next month.

Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18JuCZ4J0jg

Site:
http://jillmotion.com/night.because/

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

Nice Takuma....EXACTLY what I need.

I have fairly limited acess to news about new Japanese releases that are worth a look..this thread will help me immensley!!!

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

I'm glad if this will be of help.



Japanese DVD and BD release date for Kazuyoshi Kumakiri's incents drama My Man (私の男): February 3, 2015. No subs mentioned.
- http://www.happinet-p.com/jp3/releases/BIXJ-0157

This is easily one of my favourite films of the year so far. A well written story of a middle aged man (Tadanobu Asano) who takes in a distant relative who lost her family in the 1993 earthquake, and then develops a love affair with her when she becomes a teenager (Fumi Nikaido). Well acted by Asano and Nikaido, and filmed by Kumakiri ih his usual realistic, grainy and understated way.

Cinematographer Ryuta Kondo used 16mm, 35mm and digital to give different parts of the film a different feel (the first 30 min, depicting her early childhood, is in 16mm; the main chunk of the film is in 35mm, and the final scenes set in Tokyo are in digital). Also excellent use of the snowy Hokkaido landscapes. Kumakiri is one of the best directors I know in using winter landscapes as a background for his films (well, he is from Hokkaido).

The film is based on a novel which was told backwards and always made it clear what time the events were taking place. Kumakiri has reverses the order and removed all references to time. This might make it sound more conventional but that's not quite true: it makes the film more challenging. He doesn't indicate it clearly when we jump forward in time, instead you have to observe it yourself by seeing how the characters and their personality change which means you have to pay much more attention and observe the characters as their personality changes throughout the film (or you can just see how the length of Nikaido's skirt changes )

The soundtrack is by Jim O'Rourke (United Red Army) again, who has scored most Kumakiri films of recent. The only real flaw in the film is a couple of artistic/symbolic scenes underlining the devilish nature of the relationship - something totally unnecessary in an otherwise fine film.

Thanks to the big stars, the film premiered in some major theaters but only found its audience when it moved to smaller theaters. For example, in Sapporo the film opened in the biggest multiplex in the city, but only played for 2 weeks. After that it was picked up by a small arthouse, who first played it three weeks but then at the last moment they extended it to four weeks... then five weeks... then six weeks... then seven weeks... the audience just kept coming in! I also ended up seeing it twice! Not one for major audiences who find it too sensitive and not melodramatic enough.


Teaser:

Trailer:

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

It will be of great help thanks!! (Although it will lead to me having less free time as I will now have more movies to acquire and watch!!!)

My Man (私の男) looks good an dI am glad that Tadanobu Asano is back into choosing interesting and good movies again!!

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

Here's an odd one: Chonoryoku kenkyubu no 3 nin. A harmless looking idol film project starring some Nogizaka 46 members but directed by Nobuhiro Yamashita and co-written by Kosuke Mukai (who has written all Yamashita classics) and pink director Shinji Imaoka (who also wrote one of Yamashita's earlier films)! WTF!

Trailer:
http://youtu.be/rYhyP59Z53c

Opens in December. Will go see it.

Yamashita was no doubt the best director working in Japan about 10 years ago. He made absolutely fantastic slacker films - the best the genre has ever seen. Ramblers (Realism no yado) (2003) especially is so good there's no words to describe how amazingly good it is (I've seen it 7 or 8 times and consider it the second best Japanese film of the 2000's, after Love Exposure). Yamashita has often been compared to Aki Kaurismí¤ki but the comparison is not quite fair. Both men love silent losers but Kaurismí¤ki has a tendency to be mean and feast in misery. Yamashita on the other hand loves his testicle-faced losers and always treats them with utmost sympathy. His protagonists are usually played by Hiroshi Yamamoto, a fantastic actor who is at his best when under-reacting to all the incredibly unlikely misfortunes life continuously throws at him.

Yamashita also made two other great slacker films - Hazy Life (1999) and No One's Ark (2002) - and one great drama based on ero manga (Cream Lemon, 2004) before going mainstream with Linda Linda Linda (2005) which is a rare gem of a mainstream film. It's a total crowd pleaser, but directed with the finesse of a slacker specialist and still full of Yamashita's trademark quiet humor. After that Yamashita also made the excellent black comedy / drama Matsugane Potshot Affair, which is totally not suitable for mainsteam audiences, and the mainstream friendly and gorgeously cinematographed small village drama A Gentle Breeze in the Village (2007), before running out of work for a long time.

He's back now, and although not at the level of his masterpieces, still making very nice films like Tamako in Moratorium (2013).

Hazy Life (Hiroshi Yamamoto and Teppei Uda)


Hazy Life: every damn stranger on the street wants to touch Yamamoto's hair. Typical Yamashita humor


No One's Ark: Yamamoto once again perfectly cast:


Ramblers: two men trapped in a God forsaken small town that is trying to suck the life out of them


Ramblers: Yamamoto in the bus


Linda Linda Linda: bus shots work in mainstream, too


Lovely behind the scenes footage from Linda Linda Linda


Matsugane Potshot Affair: a little boy finds a dead woman in the snow. He of course stars touching her boobs instead of getting help


Matsugane: we later discover she wasn't dead. She recovered in the morgue


A Gentle Breeze in the Village: mainstream again


A Gentle Breeze in the Village: absolutely lovely visuals


Tamako in Moratorium: return to slacker cinema (well, Drudgery Train was also). Atsuko Maeda makes unexpectedly good Yamashita heroine

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

And another Yamashita coming in Fabruary, Misono Universe, starring Subaru Shibuya and Fumi Nikaido.

Trailer in now on the official website (didn't work on Firefox for me, Internet Explorer plays in fine)
- http://misono.gaga.ne.jp/

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

A few other semi-interesting ones:

Wonderful World's End

Directed by Daigo Matsui (Sweet Poolside) and starring Ai Hashimoto. Opens in January.

Site:
http://ww-end.com/

Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwQFwStJJ0w




Sekai no owari no Izukoneko (世界の終わりのいずこãã“)

Some kind of crowd funded project for idol Izukoneko. Seems like they got three times as much money as they were aiming for. The trailer looks visually surprisingly good! I don't know who filmed it, but someone owes me a beer if it was Yuichi Kondo! And the film co-stars Shinji Imaoka!

Trailer:
http://youtu.be/uY4DXoyv4Ug

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

TAKUMA....14 idols are in this movie....You gonna see it???

info here...
Sekai no owari no Izukoneko (世界の終わりのいずこãã“)
http://tokyogirlsupdate.com/trailer-...140928209.html

I wll probably pass on these two.....not really appealing to my taste...:p

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

TAKUMA....14 idols are in this movie....You gonna see it???

info here...
Sekai no owari no Izukoneko (世界の終わりのいずこãã“)
http://tokyogirlsupdate.com/trailer-...140928209.html

I wll probably pass on these two.....not really appealing to my taste...:p

It doesn't make difference to me if it's 0 idols of 14 idols. It's the visual style that I liked about the trailer. I'll probably see it if it comes close enough to me.

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

It doesn't make difference to me if it's 0 idols of 14 idols.

Sure it doesn't ??...How about if they were naked???

Having idols in it kinda puts me off to be honest....all those shrilly voices and over-girly acting...BBRrrrrrr

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

Sure it doesn't ??...How about if they were naked???

Great, you're using logic against me

Having idols in it kinda puts me off to be honest....all those shrilly voices and over-girly acting...BBRrrrrrr

Depends on which idols you're talking about, though. Hiroko Yakushimaru? Atsuko Maeda? Hikari Mitsushima? BiS? Don't forget that many great films like Love Exposure are full of idols.

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

Although I haven't been so impressed with Ryuichi Hiroki recently, this looks semi-interesting:

Shota Sometani and Atsuko Maeda to star in Ryuichi Hiroki's "Sayonara Kabukicho"
- http://eigapedia.com/blog/shota-some...nara-kabukicho

Written by Haruhiko Arai, who has scripted many wonderful films like Distant Thunder, Oh Women! A Dirty Song, Tragedy of W, Vibrator, It's Only Talk). A bit less excited about the cast, although Maeda proved in Moratorium Tamako that she can be a rather good actress.

January 2015 release.

Trailer:

Website:
http://www.sayonara-kabukicho.com/

[/quote]

Review:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/rev...bukicho-730099

Also, Hiroki was publicly complaining about Maeda not doing any nudity in the film a while back
http://www.asagei.com/25269 (in Japanese)

Sad but expected. Maeda 1, Male Audiences 0
(and perhaps Maeda 1, Common Sense 0, considering this is a film about love hotels and sex...)

Speaking of Hiroki, although I think It's Only Talk is his masterpiece, I really like L'amant (2004). It's been a slow burner; I've never considered it a masterpiece and it certainly has its weaknesses, but I find myself returning to that film once in every two or three years. The topic (a schoolgirl selling herself to three middle aged men for one year), the cast (Tomorowo Taguchi, Ren Ohsugi etc.), the mesmerizing lovely gray cinematogrpahy and the perfect soundtrack...

And Hiroki's masterpiece: It's Only Talk (which, contrary to it's title, features little talk). Mesmerizing film + amazing performance by Shinobu Terajima (she's Junko Fuji's daughter, btw)

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

Another manga adaptation by Kota Yoshida: Sukimasuki

Based on manga by Umi Unita (Bunny Drop). Stars Keita Machida and Kokone Sasaki (she will show her boobs again, I'm sure)





Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsEnZghTkro
Site: http://sukima-suki.com/

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

I went to see Sayonara Kabukicho (Kabukicho Love Hotel). This is exactly what I was hoping from Hiroki and Arai. A perfect mix of relatively mainstream friendly bittersweet drama and indie sensibilities. Also, it's Hiroki back at urban cinema which is what he excels at (e.g. his masterpiece It's Only Talk, also scripted by Arai). Very well captured city atmosphere, too.

There's about half dozen stories, all taking place in a love hotel in Kabukicho during the course of one day and night. It's a lot of characters, but their stories are served as small fragments sprinkled around the main narrative, which follows the the young manager (Shota Sometani) doing a very long shift in the hotel. As a result, it doesn't even feel episodic. It's a very good script by Arai.

Also, I only now realized how good Hiroki is at directing his cast. Fine performances by everyone, including Atsuko Maeda. Although Hiroki complained publicly about Maeda not going topless I think that was the right decision because her performance thoroughly fine and it would've been a shame if it had been overshadowed by her boobs. The rest of the cast do the on-screen sex and nudity, but it's all depicted with humour and compassion. Of course, for cinematic reasons the hotel's customer base isn't exactly your average young and middle aged couples (but rather a Korean prostitute working her last day in Japan, an AV crew, a young yakuza etc.) but none of that usual narrow minded preaching is here to be found.

Easily Hiroki's best film in nearly 10 years from the ones I've seen. And the ending scene is just lovely. I wouldn't mind seeing the film again immediately.

Oh, and Sometani! This guy is 22 years old and during the past four years he has worked with Sion Sono (twice), Takashi Miike (twice), Ryuchi Hiroki, Sogo Ishii, Koji Wakamatsu, Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Shinji Aoyama. He just keeps appearing in interesting films one after another, and he's always good.



Schilling's review is also pretty much spot on:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/.../#.VMe8vy5-Dk8

[Rakesh R. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rakesh R.]

I thought "My Man" was a great film. The acting was solid, there was wonderful atmosphere, and the cinematography was exceptional as well. Nice to see Tatsuya Fuji still acting too.