by Ritesh Sharma
Ryosuke Hashiguchi‘s “Like Grains of Sand” is a quietly devastating film, one that never announces its brilliance, but instead seeps into your consciousness slowly, like grief you never had a name for. While Hashiguchi may be more widely known in cinephile circles for his later works, such as “All Around Us” or “Hush!,” it is in “Like Grains of Sand,” his early, bold, and deeply personal feature, that he lays down the emotional grammar of his cinema: stories that live in the margins, with characters who rarely find resolution but always find recognition.
The film, which premiered to critical acclaim in LGBTQ+ and independent film circuits, didn’t make a major splash commercially. But its legacy has endured quietly over the decades, passed on like a secret from one viewer to another. What sets “Like Grains of Sand” apart from most coming-of-age narratives is its refusal to romanticize youth.
Ryosuke Hashiguchi‘s “Like Grains of Sand” is a quietly devastating film, one that never announces its brilliance, but instead seeps into your consciousness slowly, like grief you never had a name for. While Hashiguchi may be more widely known in cinephile circles for his later works, such as “All Around Us” or “Hush!,” it is in “Like Grains of Sand,” his early, bold, and deeply personal feature, that he lays down the emotional grammar of his cinema: stories that live in the margins, with characters who rarely find resolution but always find recognition.
The film, which premiered to critical acclaim in LGBTQ+ and independent film circuits, didn’t make a major splash commercially. But its legacy has endured quietly over the decades, passed on like a secret from one viewer to another. What sets “Like Grains of Sand” apart from most coming-of-age narratives is its refusal to romanticize youth.
- 5/28/2025
- by Guest Writer
- AsianMoviePulse
Stars: Ryohei Suzuki, Fumika Shimizu, Ken Yasuda, Shôta Chiyo, Shunsuke Daitô, Narushi Ikeda, Nana Katase, Tsuyoshi Muro, Shun Oguri, Yoshinori Okada, Jirô Satô, Takashi Tsukamoto | Written by Yûichi Fukuda, Shun Oguri | Directed by Yûichi Fukuda
I love, nay Adore, completely-bonkers Far East flicks be they live-action or animation – hell, some of the first films I ever reviewed professionally (if anything I do can be called a profession) were titles like Big Man Japan and 13: Game of Death. So it’s safe to say that I’m part of the target [Western] audience for a film like Hk: Forbidden Superhero – even moreso given the ridiculous over-the-top ending that sees one of the films villains emerge in a giant mech that looks like a combination of two of my favourite kids TV shows: a Power Rangers Zord and the combiner Devastator from the original 80s Transformers cartoon.
Which is why I absolutely Loved this movie!
I love, nay Adore, completely-bonkers Far East flicks be they live-action or animation – hell, some of the first films I ever reviewed professionally (if anything I do can be called a profession) were titles like Big Man Japan and 13: Game of Death. So it’s safe to say that I’m part of the target [Western] audience for a film like Hk: Forbidden Superhero – even moreso given the ridiculous over-the-top ending that sees one of the films villains emerge in a giant mech that looks like a combination of two of my favourite kids TV shows: a Power Rangers Zord and the combiner Devastator from the original 80s Transformers cartoon.
Which is why I absolutely Loved this movie!
- 8/19/2020
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Stars: Ryohei Suzuki, Fumika Shimizu, Ken Yasuda, Shôta Chiyo, Shunsuke Daitô, Narushi Ikeda, Nana Katase, Tsuyoshi Muro, Shun Oguri, Yoshinori Okada, Jirô Satô, Takashi Tsukamoto | Written by Yûichi Fukuda, Shun Oguri | Directed by Yûichi Fukuda
I love, nay Adore, completely-bonkers Far East flicks be they live-action or animation – hell, some of the first films I ever reviewed professionally (if anything I do can be called a profession) were titles like Big Man Japan and 13: Game of Death. So it’s safe to say that I’m part of the target [Western] audience for a film like Hk: Forbidden Superhero – even moreso given the ridiculous over-the-top ending that sees one of the films villains emerge in a giant mech that looks like a combination of two of my favourite kids TV shows: a Power Rangers Zord and the combiner Devastator from the original 80s Transformers cartoon.
Which is why I absolutely Loved this movie!
I love, nay Adore, completely-bonkers Far East flicks be they live-action or animation – hell, some of the first films I ever reviewed professionally (if anything I do can be called a profession) were titles like Big Man Japan and 13: Game of Death. So it’s safe to say that I’m part of the target [Western] audience for a film like Hk: Forbidden Superhero – even moreso given the ridiculous over-the-top ending that sees one of the films villains emerge in a giant mech that looks like a combination of two of my favourite kids TV shows: a Power Rangers Zord and the combiner Devastator from the original 80s Transformers cartoon.
Which is why I absolutely Loved this movie!
- 9/23/2014
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
The official website for Hideyuki Hirayama’s upcoming World War II film Oba: The Last Samurai has been updated with a full trailer.
Inspired by a novel authored by former U.S. soldier Don Jones, the film focuses on a Japanese captain named Sakae Oba, aka “Fox” (Yutaka Takenouchi) who leads on of the last remaining units in Saipan. Oba and his troops employed guerrilla tactics to hold out against overwhelming odds before finally surrendering in December 1945, 3 months after Japan had surrendered to Us forces.
Other cast members include Toshiaki Karasawa, Takayuki Yamada, Tomoko Nakajima, Mao Inoue, Yoshinori Okada, Sadao Abe, Hideyuki Hirayama, and Bengal. Sean McGowan, Treat Williams, and Daniel Baldwin play American soldiers.
Toho will be releasing “Oba: The Last Samurai” in Japan on February 11, 2011.
Thanks logboy and cinemaasia.
Inspired by a novel authored by former U.S. soldier Don Jones, the film focuses on a Japanese captain named Sakae Oba, aka “Fox” (Yutaka Takenouchi) who leads on of the last remaining units in Saipan. Oba and his troops employed guerrilla tactics to hold out against overwhelming odds before finally surrendering in December 1945, 3 months after Japan had surrendered to Us forces.
Other cast members include Toshiaki Karasawa, Takayuki Yamada, Tomoko Nakajima, Mao Inoue, Yoshinori Okada, Sadao Abe, Hideyuki Hirayama, and Bengal. Sean McGowan, Treat Williams, and Daniel Baldwin play American soldiers.
Toho will be releasing “Oba: The Last Samurai” in Japan on February 11, 2011.
Thanks logboy and cinemaasia.
- 11/9/2010
- Nippon Cinema
Here’s the first Japanese TV spot for Hideyuki Hirayama‘s upcoming World War II film Oba: The Last Samurai.
As reported by Tokyograph back in May, the film stars 39-year-old Yutaka Takenouchi as a Japanese captain known as “Fox” who fights relentlessly against American forces near the end of the war, even though defeat is all but assured.
The story was inspired by a novel authored by former U.S. soldier Don Jones which focused on Japanese captain Sakae Oba. Oba led one of the last remaining units in Saipan and employed guerrilla tactics to hold out against overwhelming odds before finally surrendering in December 1945, 3 months after Japan had surrendered to Us forces.
Other cast members include Toshiaki Karasawa, Takayuki Yamada, Tomoko Nakajima, Mao Inoue, Yoshinori Okada, Sadao Abe, Hideyuki Hirayama, and Bengal. Sean McGowan, Treat Williams, and Daniel Baldwin play American soldiers.
Toho will be releasing “Oba: The Last Samurai...
As reported by Tokyograph back in May, the film stars 39-year-old Yutaka Takenouchi as a Japanese captain known as “Fox” who fights relentlessly against American forces near the end of the war, even though defeat is all but assured.
The story was inspired by a novel authored by former U.S. soldier Don Jones which focused on Japanese captain Sakae Oba. Oba led one of the last remaining units in Saipan and employed guerrilla tactics to hold out against overwhelming odds before finally surrendering in December 1945, 3 months after Japan had surrendered to Us forces.
Other cast members include Toshiaki Karasawa, Takayuki Yamada, Tomoko Nakajima, Mao Inoue, Yoshinori Okada, Sadao Abe, Hideyuki Hirayama, and Bengal. Sean McGowan, Treat Williams, and Daniel Baldwin play American soldiers.
Toho will be releasing “Oba: The Last Samurai...
- 9/29/2010
- Nippon Cinema
Here’s the first Japanese TV spot for Hideyuki Hirayama‘s upcoming World War II film Oba: The Last Samurai.
As reported by Tokyograph back in May, the film stars 39-year-old Yutaka Takenouchi as a Japanese captain known as “Fox” who fights relentlessly against American forces near the end of the war, even though defeat is all but assured.
The story was inspired by a novel authored by former U.S. soldier Don Jones which focused on Japanese captain Sakae Oba. Oba led one of the last remaining units in Saipan and employed guerrilla tactics to hold out against overwhelming odds before finally surrendering in December 1945, 3 months after Japan had surrendered to Us forces.
Other cast members include Toshiaki Karasawa, Takayuki Yamada, Tomoko Nakajima, Mao Inoue, Yoshinori Okada, Sadao Abe, Hideyuki Hirayama, and Bengal. Sean McGowan, Treat Williams, and Daniel Baldwin play American soldiers.
Toho will be releasing “Oba: The Last Samurai...
As reported by Tokyograph back in May, the film stars 39-year-old Yutaka Takenouchi as a Japanese captain known as “Fox” who fights relentlessly against American forces near the end of the war, even though defeat is all but assured.
The story was inspired by a novel authored by former U.S. soldier Don Jones which focused on Japanese captain Sakae Oba. Oba led one of the last remaining units in Saipan and employed guerrilla tactics to hold out against overwhelming odds before finally surrendering in December 1945, 3 months after Japan had surrendered to Us forces.
Other cast members include Toshiaki Karasawa, Takayuki Yamada, Tomoko Nakajima, Mao Inoue, Yoshinori Okada, Sadao Abe, Hideyuki Hirayama, and Bengal. Sean McGowan, Treat Williams, and Daniel Baldwin play American soldiers.
Toho will be releasing “Oba: The Last Samurai...
- 9/29/2010
- Nippon Cinema
Director: Yosuke Fujita. Review: Adam Wing. Some films defy description, if I were to describe to you the plot behind Yosuke Fujita’s quirky comedy Fine, Totally Fine you would probably choose to look no further. On paper it reads like one of the dullest movies ever made, delve a little deeper however and you will discover one of the freshest, funniest movies of the year. So lets see how you do, shall we? Teruo (YoshiYoshi Arakawa) is in his late twenties, he works as a park tree trimmer and lives at home with his family. In his spare time he helps out at his fathers second-hand bookshop and dreams one day of building the ultimate haunted house. He demonstrates his passion for scares throughout the movie with the aid of inventive homemade dummies and random spurts of comedy genius. Hisanobu (Yoshinori Okada) is one of his oldest friends, he...
- 5/10/2009
- 24framespersecond.net
- Yoshiyoshi Arakawa has been a recognizable face in Japanese cinema over the few years, appearing as a supporting character in some of the best films the country has to offer (Ping Pong, Memories of Matsuko). He finally gets his shot at a starring role in the offbeat comedy Fine, Totally Fine and boy does he run with it. The film follows three listless characters who form the most pathetic of love triangles while trying to make something of their lives. Teruo (Arakawa) is a horror geek who boasts about wanting to create the world’s scariest haunted house but is too lazy to make it a reality. His best friend Hisanobu (Yoshinori Okada), a straight-laced hospital administrator, plays Igor in his experiments in fear. Hopelessly quirky – and clumsy – Akari (Yoshino Kimura) provides the meat in their love sandwich as a socially awkward amateur artist who can’t find a
- 7/2/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
Fine, Totally Fine
Hong Kong Filmart
Yosuke Fujita's "Fine, Totally Fine", a comedy about lovable losers scoring petite triumphs, has invited comparisons with the deadpan, Jarmusch-like ironic comedies of Nobuhiro Yamashita. That is true in so far as both directors like to make slackers central characters, and both refrain from noisy, exaggerated farce. Of the two, Fujita is less conscious about setting down an auteur's stamp. Like a craftsman, he patiently develops comic scenarios that utilize to ingenious effect props, sets and characters that make perfect sense only in the film's off-kilter world.
Sporting juvenile but impish humor in the spirit of "Mr. Bean" with little psychological baggage, "Fine, Totally Fine" easily transcends language and cultural barriers. This is a sleeper well on its way to becoming a cult fave in the specialty Asian theater and DVD circuit.
Though Fujita won the Japan Film Angel Prize for new scriptwriters, there's not much of a plot to talk about. The frisson really comes from the characters, each carrying a rich and esoteric universe inside. Park gardener Teruo thinks life is one continuous Halloween. He gets his kicks from scaring people, and dreams of opening a haunted house of Disney proportions. Played by comedian Yoshiyoshi Arakawa (the milky-skinned masochist in Miike's "Like a Dragon"), he gets laughs just by facing the camera. His buddy, hospital clerk Hisanobu (Yoshinori Okada), is such a compulsive Mr. Nice Guy that he hires Akari as a manual worker, even when she arrives at her interview right after diving into a puddle.
Akari (Yoshino Kimura) is aptly described as "a beauty with a really minus aura." Literally all thumbs, she breaks anything she touches, even her own finger when pressing the elevator button. But she is also a gifted artist who feels more at home in the company of the homeless. When she stumbles into the lives of Teruo and Hisanobu, she provokes a childish rivalry. But love moves in mysterious ways. Though she's a bull in a China shop, she finds her ideal partner in a pottery restoration expert. Yoshino Kimura is a revelation. It's hard to imagine the irresistible siren of "Sukiyaki Western Django" and "Sakuran" metamorphosing into a bumbling and diffident klutz, but her acting is so convincing that she becomes more charming with each new blunder.
The film carries it off by superb comic timing, delivering running gags that become more amusing by cumulative effect. For example, Teruo's numerous tricks to scare people, or Akari's goofs, like failing to wrap a kinky bondage magazine in front of an increasingly nervous customer are not that funny taken out of context, but combined with the characters' unique traits, they are side-splitting. Kudos also go to the creative set and props design, as each interior is distinctively decorated, arrayed with paraphernalia that reflects every character's personality and predicament. Most inventive is the horror figures or head models of Teruo that jump out of every other frame like his freaky clones.
FINE, TOTALLY FINE (Zenzen Daijoubu)
Tohokushinsha/Stylejam Inc/Pony Canyon/Yomiuri TV
Sales Agent: Stylejam Inc
Credits:
Writer-director: Yosuke Fujita
Producers: Naoko Arai, Kozo Kogoe
Executive producer: Naoki Kai
Director of photography: Yoshihiro Ikeuchi
Music: Ekomomai
Production designer: China Hayashi
Editor: Zensuke Hori
Cast:
Teruo Toyama: Yoshiyoshi Arakawa
Akari Kinoshita: Yoshino Kimura
Hisanobu Komori: Yoshinori Okada
Eitaro Toyama: Keizo Kanie
Running time -- 110 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Yosuke Fujita's "Fine, Totally Fine", a comedy about lovable losers scoring petite triumphs, has invited comparisons with the deadpan, Jarmusch-like ironic comedies of Nobuhiro Yamashita. That is true in so far as both directors like to make slackers central characters, and both refrain from noisy, exaggerated farce. Of the two, Fujita is less conscious about setting down an auteur's stamp. Like a craftsman, he patiently develops comic scenarios that utilize to ingenious effect props, sets and characters that make perfect sense only in the film's off-kilter world.
Sporting juvenile but impish humor in the spirit of "Mr. Bean" with little psychological baggage, "Fine, Totally Fine" easily transcends language and cultural barriers. This is a sleeper well on its way to becoming a cult fave in the specialty Asian theater and DVD circuit.
Though Fujita won the Japan Film Angel Prize for new scriptwriters, there's not much of a plot to talk about. The frisson really comes from the characters, each carrying a rich and esoteric universe inside. Park gardener Teruo thinks life is one continuous Halloween. He gets his kicks from scaring people, and dreams of opening a haunted house of Disney proportions. Played by comedian Yoshiyoshi Arakawa (the milky-skinned masochist in Miike's "Like a Dragon"), he gets laughs just by facing the camera. His buddy, hospital clerk Hisanobu (Yoshinori Okada), is such a compulsive Mr. Nice Guy that he hires Akari as a manual worker, even when she arrives at her interview right after diving into a puddle.
Akari (Yoshino Kimura) is aptly described as "a beauty with a really minus aura." Literally all thumbs, she breaks anything she touches, even her own finger when pressing the elevator button. But she is also a gifted artist who feels more at home in the company of the homeless. When she stumbles into the lives of Teruo and Hisanobu, she provokes a childish rivalry. But love moves in mysterious ways. Though she's a bull in a China shop, she finds her ideal partner in a pottery restoration expert. Yoshino Kimura is a revelation. It's hard to imagine the irresistible siren of "Sukiyaki Western Django" and "Sakuran" metamorphosing into a bumbling and diffident klutz, but her acting is so convincing that she becomes more charming with each new blunder.
The film carries it off by superb comic timing, delivering running gags that become more amusing by cumulative effect. For example, Teruo's numerous tricks to scare people, or Akari's goofs, like failing to wrap a kinky bondage magazine in front of an increasingly nervous customer are not that funny taken out of context, but combined with the characters' unique traits, they are side-splitting. Kudos also go to the creative set and props design, as each interior is distinctively decorated, arrayed with paraphernalia that reflects every character's personality and predicament. Most inventive is the horror figures or head models of Teruo that jump out of every other frame like his freaky clones.
FINE, TOTALLY FINE (Zenzen Daijoubu)
Tohokushinsha/Stylejam Inc/Pony Canyon/Yomiuri TV
Sales Agent: Stylejam Inc
Credits:
Writer-director: Yosuke Fujita
Producers: Naoko Arai, Kozo Kogoe
Executive producer: Naoki Kai
Director of photography: Yoshihiro Ikeuchi
Music: Ekomomai
Production designer: China Hayashi
Editor: Zensuke Hori
Cast:
Teruo Toyama: Yoshiyoshi Arakawa
Akari Kinoshita: Yoshino Kimura
Hisanobu Komori: Yoshinori Okada
Eitaro Toyama: Keizo Kanie
Running time -- 110 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 4/8/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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