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The official website for the upcoming live-action film adaptation of an episode from Hirohiko Araki's Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe manga series, " At a Confessional ," released a new teaser trailer today. The clip introduces four additional cast members of the film — Arata Iura as Tamiya, Tina Tamashiro as Maria, Shigeyuki Totsugi as Sotoba, and Shunsuke Daito as Mizuo. Related : Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan: At a Confessional Live-Action Film Set for Release in May 2025 Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan: At a Confessional is set to release in Japan on May 23, 2025. As the first episode of the spin-off series to Araki's representative work, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure , " At a Confessional" was published in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in 1997, then was included in the manga's first tankobon volume released in 2013. The series centers on Rohan Kishibe, one of the main characters from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable . Rohan, a manga artist,...

"You really are a long way from home, aren't ya?" Purdie Distr. has debuted the official US trailer for an indie drama titled Tokyo Cowboy, from filmmaker Marc Marriott making his feature directorial debut. This premiered last year at the 2023 Tallgrass Film Festival, where it won Best Narrative Feature, and it also played at the Boston, Sedona, Newport Beach, and Heartland Film Festivals. A Japanese businessman goes on an unwitting journey of self-discovery when he takes a company trip from Tokyo all the way out to a Montana cattle ranch. When his Hardee's-burger-loving Japanese Wagyu-beef expert fails him, he is poised to misfire magnificently, unless he can figure out his own issues. "Now unsettled and off the grid in an alien culture, Hideki recalibrates his values and his life goals. Director Marc Marriott and cinematographer Oscar Ignacio Jiménez create a Big Sky setting that could reset any of us in need of self-discovery.

Sara Masuda's “cafune” is a short but sweet depiction of grief and reflection of a long life that ends just as a new one begins. Masuda is primarily active as a photographer, ranging from promotional materials to artistic works, having participated in a fair share of art galleries, including the Shibuya Street Gallery for the Shibuya Art Festival. Her work “Where is Deep Breath” was prominently showcased through digital signage in Shibuya. Additionally, she is a proactive director of music videos and short films, with “cafune” being her latest cinematic project.

cafune is screening at Short Shorts Film Festival and Asia

19-year-old university student Maye Sora is moving into her new apartment in Tokyo with the help of some friends. However, she receives a message from her sister, Karin, informing her that their grandfather has passed away, urging her to call their mother. She decides to put off confirming the news,...

Following Kazuya Shiraishi's excellent biopic “Dare to Stop Us”, which revolved around Koji Wakamatsu and his production company but essentially focused on Megumi Yoshizumi, a young aspiring director that joined the company in 1969, the sequel presents a somewhat similar story.

Hijacked Youth – Dare To Stop Us 2 is screening at Nippon Connection

This time, the setting is Nagoya in 1983, when Wakamatsu decided to open his own independent micro cinema, Cinema Skhole, and had Junji Kimata, a former programmer who was selling video equipment at the time, run it. The first part focuses on the relationship of the two and the struggles they faced in order to sustain the theater, which eventually led them to feature pinku films for the most part. The second and biggest part of the movie, though, focuses on the actual life of Junichi Inoue at the time, who dropped out of film school in order to become assistant director to Wakamatsu.

Based on the homonymous novel by Hitomi Kanehara, which she wrote when she was 19 years old (just like the protagonist of the book), “Snakes and Earrings” won the Akutagawa Prize, sold more than a million copies in Japan, and has been translated into sixteen languages, before being adapted to a movie by Yukio Ninagawa.

on Amazon by clicking on the image below

Lui is the epitome of the trendy girl. She dresses only in designer clothes, never goes anywhere without makeup, and has a sophisticated manicure. However, as a character, she stands out from the other girls in her circle, for a number of reasons. One night, while alone in a club, she meets Ama, who is the embodiment of the Japanese punk – red mohawk, piercings all over his face, and tattoos covering his body. What attracts Lui to him, however, is his split tongue. The attraction is mutual,...

“Kanae (Yoko Maki) struggles to manage her family's bathhouse after her husband, Satoru (Eita Nagayama), suddenly vanishes. She is often possessed by his memories, as well as memories from her childhood that she cannot recall. One day, Takayuki (Arata Iura), a boiler man, comes seeking work and shelter, which Kanae agrees to offer.” (Official)

Undercurrent is Screening as Part of The 2024 Japan Foundation Touring Program

Offering a synopsis only provides a starting point to the work of Rikiya Imaizumi, who, as the press material for the lead-up to the film touring as part of Japan Foundation states, “skilfully portrays the emotions that have long been locked away in people's hearts.” Extending on this concept, “Undercurrents” lingers in that moment of release, making the expression of one's inner emotions not as crucial as stating them. Much of the movie is left open as major questions brought up by characters to others...

Marc Marriot directs his first feature film, “Tokyo Cowboy,” a superb movie with a lot of heart that tells an uplifting fish-out-of-water story driven by cross-cultural interaction. The screenplay is a co-written effort by filmmaker Dave Boyle, and actress Ayako Fujitani, who also appears in the picture in a prominent role. Starring in what is his first international project is Arata Iura. “Tokyo Cowboy” would win “Best Narrative Feature” at the Tallgrass Film Festival.

Concerning the plot, businessman Hideki balances many priorities, from work-related practices to plans to settle down with his longtime girlfriend, Keiko, whom he also works with. For his latest project, he proposes to his bosses a trip to a profitless cattle ranch in Montana to try and turn the locale into a business asset. Upon approval, he flies there with spokesperson Wada to assist him on the work excursion. Yet, when his partner gets into an accident and is hospitalized,...

Japan Society announces Amiko directed by Yusuke Morii as the winner of the third Obayashi Prize at Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film. The film is selected from titles within Next Generation—the festival's sole competitive section introduced in 2020 dedicated to independently produced narrative feature films from emerging filmmakers in Japan.

The festival's only juried section, Next Generation awards the Obayashi Prize to the most accomplished title as determined by a jury of industry professionals. This year's distinguished jurors are: critic and essayist Moeko Fujii; Dan Sullivan, programmer at Film at Lincoln Center; and distributor Pearl Chan. The jury remarks:

“As Amiko peeks into calligraphy class watching other children practice discipline and character building, they play a game of who can spot her first. She is too much, too loud; she cannot be held inside the lines and there is no language to describe her. This is where the...

Coming-of-age dramas often focus on challenges that affect us all and how they can be overcome. But Yusuke Morii's “Amiko” focuses very much on a child that isn't like anyone else, and as such, those around her don't know how to deal with her, as a story of a unique life sees a unique comedy in a strong directorial debut.

Amiko (Kana Osawa) lives in a suburb of Hiroshima with her father (Arata Iura), pregnant mother (Machiko Ono) and older brother. They have what appears to be a very simple life of a young family, with a humble father, diligent mother and caring older brother for his eccentric and enthusiastic little sister. But tragic events strike, and the family all have their lives shaken up. All that is, apart from the naïve and bright-eyed Amiko.

While the rest of the family show clear signs of grief, Amiko is still...

First Love Hatsukoi is a Netflix romantic drama series written and directed by Yuri Kanchiku and starring Hikari Mitsushima and Takeru Satō.

In nine episodes you can follow the stories of Yae and Hurimichi as they reminisce about the time they fell in love.

Premise

Their lives did not turn out to be as wondrous as they had expected when then were young, free and madly in love. Everything was so much easier as teenagers, they had everything they could dream of, especially, love. Now, grown and disenchanted with life they will lean on their memories to make it through the day, one dull day at a time. No amount of lackluster, no harsh reality, will take that away from them, they will always have those beautiful memories.

First Love Season 1. Chapters When the Lilacs Bloom

Yae drives through the streets of Sapporo as a taxi driver. Back in her rural hometown,...

Mainichi Broadcasting System to attend Acfm for the first time.

Japan’s Mainichi Broadcasting System (Mbs) is launching sales on their first theatrical documentary Education And Nationalism, participating in the Asian Contents & Film Market (Acfm) for the first time.

The controversial film is also the first theatrical feature directed by award-winning journalist Hisayo Saika.

“Since Education And Nationalism deals with some of the very important historical issues between Korea and Japan during and after World War II, Acfm is the ideal market at the best timing for us to introduce this film to Korean buyers and audiences as well as those from other countries,...

For many in the West, Japan is considered one of the most well-organized nations in the world, a place where mentality and efficiency find their apogee, and the truth is that, for many years, particularly after WW2, this opinion was not much far from the truth. However, during the latest years and particularly through a number of documentaries that criticize the current system, it has become evident that a number of issues lie underneath the surface, and that many have to do with the now deceased, Shinzo Abe’s government. Hisayo Saika focuses on one of these issues, the revision efforts towards the darkest moments of Japanese history, essentially the Military Comfort Women, the mass suicide at the Battle of Okinawa, and the Nanjing Massacre, which actually starts from changing the facts in school textbooks. “Education and Nationalism” is still playing in theaters around Japan, and close to 40,000 people have already watched it.

The cinema of Hirokazu Koreeda is profoundly wonderful. His masterful storytelling and his elegant direction make for some unforgettable viewing experiences. Koreeda understands the complexions of human beings and brings them to the forefront in the scenarios he establishes in his movies. It would be hard to decide what is the director’s finest project. However, one thing is certain: his delicate feature “After Life” is a masterpiece.

Following the success of his film “Maborosi,” Hirokazu Koreeda proceeded with his next project. When constructing the concept for his next feature, the director took to his childhood memories of his grandfather, who gradually lost his memory during illness. These events would show the artist how important memory is to an individual’s identity. In conjunction with this, he would interview hundreds of people to prepare for this uniquely artistic work. Upon release, “After Life” would become a big hit and boost Koreeda’s popularity internationally.

With many narratives becoming more or less predictable due to the plethora of stereotypes and clichés attached to them, the tendency to mend their formula or connect them with other concepts is certainly understandable. Since the idea of the love story itself can be altered in any direction and has proven its flexibility in that context time and time again, readers and movie audiences alike have seen (or read) their fair share of these new kinds. In that context, “Parasite in Love”, the new film by Japanese director Kensaku Kakimoto, definitely fits this description as it combines elements of love drama with a comment on social anxieties and even a hint of post-apocalyptic drama. In interviews, the director goes one step further explaining his choice of characters in “Parasite in Love” with the lack of diversity in the society of his home country, with “the opinions of the majority” being...

Japanese coming-of-age movies tend to focus on tensions between family members and the pain of growing up, in order to generate drama, which, frequently, results in movies that are more entertaining than realistic. Rikiya Imaizumi, however, who has been making a splash the last few years with his prolific effort, chooses to implement a rather calm approach to present his comments about family and the concept of growing up.

“Skeleton Flowers” screened at Asian Pop-up Cinema

Yo is a high school student who has been living with her father, musical composer Nao, since her mother left them when she was still little. She aspires to be a painter, and her relationship with her father is rather harmonic, as much as the one she shares with her close friends and classmates. All that changes, however, when Nao informs her that he has decided to marry the woman she has been seeing,...

Middle-aged service worker Hideo (Itsuji Itao) shares his tiny apartment with an inflatable sex doll in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “Air Doll,” a contemplative, melancholy — if minor — study of loneliness. (This 2009 film from the director who would go on to make “Shoplifters” and “The Truth” is getting its first U.S. release.)

And though the label on the box reads “Lovely Girl Candy,” and Hideo finds real human interaction “annoying,” he gives the doll the name “Nozomi,” after a former girlfriend. She’s as close to being real as he wants, and she silently absorbs his minor monologues and grievances about his work day before he has sex with her.

There are other inanimate, less functional dolls in Hideo’s home: small figures on shelves, a bedside “Paddington”-style teddy bear, and linens decorated with nesting dolls. But it’s Nozomi who, one day while Hideo is at work, gains consciousness and living,...

When one thinks of a ninja, acrobatics, shuriken stars, and rooftop runaways are just a few things that typically come to mind. However, none of these are to be found in Yu Irie’s simply titled “Ninja Girl”. What’s instead on offer is a wicked satire that’s beautifully shot and manages to strike a perfect balance between dark humour and a heartfelt, character-driven narrative.

“Ninja Girl” is screening at New York Asian Film Festival

Miu (Saki Fukuda) is a shy civil servant who takes care of her dying grandpa (Shohei Uno.) in their small home. Thanks to her grandpa’s fierce opposition to the so-called Immigration Elimination Act, Miu comes under scrutiny in an already intolerable workplace. Things take a darker turn still when a family friend, Koji (Arata Iura), commits suicide, having aided the mayor in fraudulence to help push through the act. However, Miu finds that...

True Mothers (Asa g Kuru) Film Movement Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net linked from Rotten Tomatoes by: Harvey Karten Director: Naomi Kawase Writer: Naomi Kawase, Izumi Takahashi, based on the novel by Mizuki Tsujimura Cast: Hiromi Nagasaku, Arata Iura, Aju Makita, Reo Sato, Hiroko Nakamima, Tetsu Hriahara, Ren Komai, Taketo Tanaka Screened at: Critics’ link, […]

The post True Mothers Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

"Thank you for giving birth to him." Film Movement has unveiled an official US trailer for the latest feature film from acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Naomi Kawase. We first wrote about a teaser for this film last year, and it was initially scheduled to debut at the Cannes Film Festival (before the fest was cancelled). It will instead launch in "virtual cinemas" around the US at the end of this month after first opening in Japan last year. True Mothers, originally known as Asa ga Kuru in Japanese, is about a young Japanese couple that adopts a child, but then six years later they are contacted unexpectedly by the child's birth mother. Or at least a woman claiming to be the birth mother. Starring Arata Iura, Hiromi Nagasaku, Aju Makita, Miyoko Asada, Taketo Tanaka, and Ren Komai. True Mothers is also Japan's official submission to the Academy Awards this year. This...

Cannes beloved regular, filmmaker Naomi Kawase, was originally summoned to premiere her latest work “True Mothers” at this year’s edition, in spring. We all know what happened then, unfortunately, and the film was finally premiered at Toronto Film Festival last September and It is now in cinemas in Japan. Based on a novel that ignited discussions about adoption in Japan, the film takes in fact an approach more emotional than moral, leaving the adoption issue on the background.

“True Mothers” is streaming at Thessaloniki International Film Festival

The narration unfolds in a three-act mode, 2 of which are long flashbacks. We are immediately introduced to the serene middle-class Kurihara family in Tokyo. In an airy and bright apartment, Satoko (Hiromi Nagasaku) lovingly helps her 6-year-old boy Asato (Reo Sato) in the morning ritual of tooth-brushing and dad Kiyokazu (Arata Iura) takes him to school. Not long after, a phone call...

Cannes beloved regular, filmmaker Naomi Kawase, was originally summoned to premiere her latest work “True Mothers” at this year’s edition, in spring. We all know what happened then, unfortunately, and the film was finally premiered at Toronto Film Festival last September and It is now in cinemas in Japan. Based on a novel that ignited discussions about adoption in Japan, the film takes in fact an approach more emotional than moral, leaving the adoption issue on the background.

“True Mothers” is screening as part of the 2nd Annual HFPA Foreign Language Film Series

The narration unfolds in a three-act mode, 2 of which are long flashbacks. We are immediately introduced to the serene middle-class Kurihara family in Tokyo. In an airy and bright apartment, Satoko (Hiromi Nagasaku) lovingly helps her 6-year-old boy Asato (Reo Sato) in the morning ritual of tooth-brushing and dad Kiyokazu (Arata Iura) takes him to school.

Naomi Kawase is a divisive name on the festival circuit, though you might be surprised that’s the case when actually watching her work. A mainstay at the Cannes Film Festival for over two decades, Kawase boasts fluidity in form and feeling. She blends documentary and fiction while putting her stories within a context that reveres the natural world, an approach that has inspired admiration for some and annoyance for others. But whatever one accepts or rejects from Kawase’s films is irrelevant to the fact that she has a distinctive voice, and the way her vision adapts to or clashes against cinematic conventions can be a rewarding experience in itself.

True Mothers, Kawase’s adaptation of a novel by Mizuki Tsujimura, might be her most plot-heavy work to date. Structured as a mystery of sorts, it hinges itself on a central moment to tell two different stories. The first...

There are cinephiles who are transported to aesthetic nirvana by Naomi Kawase’s eco-spiritualism, and there are critics who flee her cinematic ashram. Neither will be wholly satisfied with “True Mothers,” the director’s contemplation of motherhood and adoption, which is her most plot-driven but least visually lustrous film yet. Like most of her previous features, this one also made Cannes’ official selection, only this one had to wait till Toronto to premiere after Covid struck. Resembling the relationship-based “Red Bean,” this dip into less mystical waters may give the film wider reach beyond French devotees to non-art-house fans of melodrama, especially in Asia.

Kawase’s father walked out at her tender age, letting her grandmother shoulder much of her upbringing. The wounds of abandonment are lyrically evoked in her debut “Suzaku,” as well as in “Shara” and “Still the Water,” while her enduring absorption with birth and her self-perception...

There’s a happy ending by the time “True Mothers,” Naomi Kawase’s saga of an adoptive family brought to a crossroads by the unexpected drop-in of their child’s birth mother, cuts to black, but there are plenty of moments of melancholy along the way. And oh, what a time it is, as “True Mothers” clocks in at just under two and a half hours, threatening to kill the emotional impact of this epically scaled, time-spanning, yet specifically intimate drama. Nevertheless,, and the Japanese director’s background as both a photographer and a documentary filmmaker brings a gossamer naturalism to this realistic tale about a young woman’s regrets over abandoning her child years after the fact.

Satoko (Hiromi Nagasaku) and Kiyokazu (Arata Iura) are a middle-class couple grappling with infertility in contemporary Tokyo. While Satoko desperately wants a child, Kiyokazu’s sperm (along with any sort of fathering streak) is blocked,...

Competition line-up includes five Cannes label titles.

San Sebastian International Film Festival (Ssiff) has revealed the first six features that will screen in competition at its 68th edition, including five Cannes label titles.

Films that will compete for the San Sebastian’s Golden Shell include: Sharunas Bartas’ In The Dusk; Naomi Kawase’s True Mothers; Dea Kulumbegashvili’s Beginning; François Ozon’s Summer Of 85; Takuma Sato’s Any Crybabies Around?; and Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round.

All except Sato’s new feature, which will receive its world premiere at San Sebastian, were previously in Cannes’ Official Selection. It follows...

Cannes Film Festival’s regular Naomi Kawase will not see her new movie “True Mothers” screened there this year unfortunately, despite being added to the list of 2020 Official Selections, and we will not be able to see it in theatres for a while either, for reasons that we all know, but it will probably be present in many line-ups of the new post-summer round of Festivals.

Synopsis

Based on Mizuki Tsujimura’s novel of the same name, “True Mothers” follows the story of Kiyokazu Kurihara and Satoko, a married couple struggling with infertility and trying every medical help in order to conceive biologically. However, after a long stream of unsuccessful attempts, the couple decides to adopt the child Asato instead. Then, six years later a woman comes into their lives and introduces herself as Hikari Katakura, She claims to be Asato’s biological mother and extorts them for money.

The film stars Arata Iura,...

More Cannes trailers! Spanish distributor Cine Maldito has debuted a lovely 30-second teaser trailer for the Japanese film titled True Mothers, the latest feature film made by acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Naomi Kawase. This was just announced last week as an official selection at the 2020 Cannes Film Festival, which is no longer happening this year, but they announced most of their line-up anyway. True Mothers, originally known as Asa ga Kuru in Japanese, is about a young couple that adopts a child, but then six years later they are contacted unexpectedly by the child's birth mother. Or at least a woman claiming to be the birth mother. The film stars Arata Iura, Hiromi Nagasaku, Aju Makita, Miyoko Asada, Taketo Tanaka, and Ren Komai. There's no dialogue in this trailer, only footage, and it already looks like an emotional rollercoaster. Here's the first official teaser trailer for Naomi Kawase's True Mothers, direct...

Kai Sayaka attended Joshibi University of Art and Design and worked as an art creator before she started working as assistant at independent films. She directed several short films that where screened at national and international film festivals. “Ondine’s Curse”, which was awarded at Skip City International D-Cinema Festival, was shown, and was met with acclaim at a screening at Paris’s Maison de la Culture du Japon, leading to “Red Snow“, her feature debut.

We speak with her about her inspiration for the film, the impressive visuals, the concept of memory, the atmosphere, and other topics.

What was the inspiration behind “Red Snow”?

I wanted to draw humans and to focus on memory. I started by exploring my own memories and some unforgettable realities, I unraveled each and every one of the shocking events where my memories, especially of my relatives, were lost. And I thought that memory is really ambiguous,...

As a love letter to Kyoto and the 110-year-old tram as a movie, “Randen” is a great sample of Japanese contemporary cinema, but also functions as a tour guide to the western part of the city. Let us take things from the beginning though.

“Randen: The Comings and Goings on a Kyoto Tram” is screening at Japan Cuts 2019

The story, which occasionally crosses over the borders to surrealism, revolves around three individuals and subsequently, three love stories. Eisei Hiraoka is a writer for Kamakura who is searching for material to write a book about the supernatural stories connected to the Randen tram. His search however, also brings him back to the past, during a visit to his wife’s hometown. Kako Ogura is a girl working for a local catering shop who meets an actor from Tokyo who wants to improve his Kyoto dialect. The two start hanging out reluctantly,...

If someone would mention Sayaka Kai in a conversation about Japanese cinema, most people would not know who you’re talking about. This would not be so surprising as Kai’s oeuvre, up until date only consisted of short-films. For those who surprisingly have heard about her will know her because of the acclaim the short-films (“Border Line” (2001), “Pellet” (2000)) she co-directed and her short movie “Odine’s curse” received.

When Kodachi (Arata Iura), a reporter, arrives in a small town, he has no other goal than to uncover the truth about the unsolved disappearance of Takumi thirty years ago. Kodachi suspects that Sayuri Eto (Nahana), the daughter of the prime suspect Sanae (Yui Natsukawa), must know more. But, just like her mother 30 years ago, she has no wish to cooperate. In his search for the truth, Kodachi also meets Kazuki Shirakawa (Masatoshi Nagase), the older brother of the disappeared Takumi.

As I have mentioned many times before, the family drama is the predominant genre in the (indie) Japanese movie industry, with tons of films of the category being produced every year. Hatsuki Yokoo makes his own effort with a multi-leveled drama filled with social commentary that also functions as a road movie. Let us see how he fared.

Amber Light is screening at Japan Film Fest Hamburg

The main character of the story is Ryota Hironaga. As a child, Ryota and his older brother had to watch their parents’ divorce and their father disappearing forever from their lives, leaving a struggling glass factory in Nagasaki behind. Now, at his 35, Ryota manages the factory successfully, but has already a divorce on him, where he actually acted just like his father, completely disappearing from the lives of his ex-wife and his two kids. His present wife, Yurie, is pregnant, and Ryota is...

During the latest years, Kazuya Shiraishi has emerged as one of the prominent names of the “entertaining” Japanese film, with works like “The Blood of Wolves” and “Birds Without Names” among others. This tendency of his continues in “Dare to Stop Us”, a rather appealing look at the work of Koji Wakamatsu (Shiraishi actually worked for his production company), through the eyes of an almost completely unknown assistant, Megumi Yoshizumi.

“Dare to Stop Us” is screening atUdine Far East Film Festival

The story begins in 1969, when Megumi, 21-year old at the time, manages to get to Wakamatsu’s “family” as assistant director, through a common acquaintance known as the Spook. While there (with there meaning an office where everyone gatheres to organize their movies), she meets a number of “figures” except the eccentric Wakamatsu, including Masao Adachi, Haruhiko Arai and Kenji Takama, who eventually becomes a love interest. At the beginning,...

During the latest years, Kazuya Shiraishi has emerged as one of the prominent names of the “entertaining” Japanese film, with works like “The Blood of Wolves” and “Birds Without Names” among others. This tendency of his continues in “Dare to Stop Us”, a rather appealing look to the work of Koji Wakamatsu (Shiraishi actually worked for his production company), through the eyes of an almost completely unknown assistant, Megumi Yoshizumi.

“Dare to Stop Us” screened at Helsinki Cine Aasia 2019

The story begins in 1969, when Megumi, 21-year old at the time, manages to get to Wakamatsu’s family as assistant director, through a common acquaintance known as the Spook. While there (with there meaning an office where everyone gathered to organize their movies), she meets a number of “figures” except the eccentric Wakamatsu, including Masao Adachi, Haruhiko Arai and Kenji Takama who eventually becomes a love interest. At the beginning, Wakamatsu ignores her,...

Director Yuichiro Tanaka goes all out in this drug-fuelled blend of yakuza crime drama and stoner comedy. “Smokin’ on the Moon” gives us a cast of crazy characters and extreme violence, but also makes time for an emotional tale of friendship.

Smoking on the Moon is screening at the 17th New York Asian Film Festival

The opening scenes are an assault on the senses as we see flashes of sex and drug use. Once things have calmed down, we are introduced to our two protagonists. Sota (Arata Iura) and Rakuto (Ryo Narita) are friends who spend their days sitting round smoking marijuana and working at the bar downstairs. Their easy existence is enlivened by various interesting characters, such as the cross-dressing bar owners and the pot-smoking guitarist outside their place. Sota attempts to make some money by selling marijuana, while Rakuto seems to have little enthusiasm for anything. We learn...

Japan has picked its Academy Award foreign-language submission: Berlin entry "Our Homeland." A panel of seven chose the film from 22 nominations. The film opened in Japan in August; here's THR's review. In this autobiographical debut feature from Yang Yong-hi, a South Korean (Arata Iura) who was sent to live in North Korea, after 25 years in exile, returns to visit his family in Japan under the eye of a government watchdog (Yang Ik-June). The director is a second-generation Korean now living in Japan. Yang has directed documentaries including "Sona, the Other Myself" (2010) and "Dear Pyongyang" (2005). The deadline for submitting foreign language entries is October 1. The Academy will announce the five nominees on January 15. [Variety.]  ...

The Fantasia International Film Festival is over for now, but don't be too sad; the 2013 dates have already been announced! Fantasia will be back from the 18th of July to the 6th of August 2013. In the meantime read on for the last news from the 2012 edition.

From the Press Release:

The festive atmosphere of Fantasia’s 16th edition will live on for several directors whose acquisition deals were announced during the festival: Boris Rodriguez, the Montreal director of Eddie: The Sleepwalking Cannibal, is celebrating his new contract for a theatrical release in the United States with Music Box Films. As well, Kern Saxton’s Sushi Girl was recently picked up by Phase 4 and Magnolia, while Quentin Dupieux’s Wrong will be distributed by Drafthouse Films.

The last juries have finished deliberating on this year’s competitions and are pleased to announce the following winners:

Aqcc Jury – Asian Section

President: Daniel Racine,...

by Steve Dollar

Running 22 days straight, Montreal's Fantasia Festival is at least a week longer than any other film festival I've heard of, which in practice makes the event feel like two or three different festivals, depending on what stretch you attend. A significant part of the first week has been a kind of alternate New York Asian Film Festival, overlapping the New York fest's programs and adding to them: Most notably, North American premieres of new films by Takashi Miike (keeping fans on their toes with his own variation on a high school musical, For Love's Sake) and Koji Wakamatsu (11/25: The Day Mishima Chose His Own Fate).

The latter film fits into the arc of Wakamatsu's recent work, like United Red Army, which offers hindsight on the violent revolutionary upheavals in 1960s Japan, a time and a culture that the filmmaker himself had a hand in shaking up,...

Kou Shibasaki, Yoko Maki, and Shinobu Terajima are set to star in a live-action adaptation of Miri Masuda’s popular “Su-chan” manga series.

Titled Su-chan Mai-chan Sawako-chan, the movie revolves around three women in their 30s who once worked together at a part-time job. Each try to overcome their worries and self-doubt while living hectic day-to-day lives, but they remain friends throughout it all.

Shibasaki will play Su-chan, a 34-year-old who’s been working at a cafe for about 10 years and has romantic feelings for the manager (Arata Iura, formerly Arata). Maki will play Mai-chan, a 34-year-old office automation machine manufacturer who is involved in an affair. Terajima will play Sawako, a 39-year-old web designer who lives with her mother and a grandmother who requires nursing care.

Shota Sometani, who recently received the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best New Young Actor at the Venice Film Festival for his performance in Himizu,...

The premise of Air Doll is one than will instantly alienate a lot of people which is unfortunate as it is a premise that Koreeda uses not in the most obvious ‘wacky’ way that people might expect but to investigate emotional subjects. The film is based on a Manga by Yoshiie Goda entitled The Pneumatic Figure of a Girl and centers on an inflatable sex doll who comes to life and explores the world around her.

The sex doll in question, Nozumi, is played by Bae Du-Na, whose performances in The Host and Linda Linda Linda and now this have made it clear that she is a talented actress who will hopefully continue to get roles that afford her the opportunity to show her obvious skills as an actress.

Nozumi is owned by a restaurant waiter Hideo (Itao Itsuji) who mostly treats her as if she were real, buying her clothes,...

[A bit of a divisive film, Kore Eda's Air Doll is being shown on the big screen at Fantasia, and here is Niels' very positive take on the film.]

When I first heard Koreeda was going to do Air Doll I was extremely pleased to see him return to what he does best: magical realism a la Japonais. Even though most Koreeda fans seemed a little weary of his latest experiment it turned into one of those projects just destined to be awesome. Air Doll sees Koreeda return to optima forma, giving the somewhat slacking Japanese drama genre a welcome kick in the butt.

Ever since I watched After Life (Asian film releases are completely random over here) I've been a big fan of his work. His other films didn't manage to evoke quite the same emotions for me, but if anything Koreeda consistently delivers quality work. His films radiate a level of humanity that is quite unique but when coupled with a fantastical premise his work really starts to flourish. Hence my excitement when I heard he was...

When I first heard Koreeda was going to do Air Doll I was extremely pleased to see him return to what he does best: magical realism a la Japonais. Even though most Koreeda fans seemed a little weary of his latest experiment it turned into one of those projects just destined to be awesome. Air Doll sees Koreeda return to optima forma, giving the somewhat slacking Japanese drama genre a welcome kick in the butt.

Ever since I watched After Life (Asian film releases are completely random over here) I've been a big fan of his work. His other films didn't manage to evoke quite the same emotions for me, but if anything Koreeda consistently delivers quality work. His films radiate a level of humanity that is quite unique but when coupled with a fantastical premise his work really starts to flourish. Hence my excitement when I heard he was...

The official website for Nobuhiro Doi‘s Hanamizuki has been updated with a full trailer. The film is named after and inspired by a hit 2004 single by singer Yo Hitoto which is also used as the main theme song.

Yui Aragaki stars as a Hokkaido high school student named Sae who lives with her mother Ryoko (Hiroko Yakushimaru) and dreams of attending a Tokyo university. Sae studies for her entrance exams while being watched over by the flowering dogwood tree (hanamizuki) planted by her father (Arata), who died when she was young. Eventually, she meets and falls in love with Kohei (Toma Ikuta), who is planning to stay in Hokkaido and become a fisherman like his father. When Sae leaves Hokkaido for university, they attempt a long-distance relationship, but it’s ill-fated. However, a miracle occurs ten years later…

Toho will be releasing “Hanamizuki” in Japan on August 21, 2010.

Thanks to logboy for the heads up.

The official website for Nobuhiro Doi‘s Hanamizuki has been updated with a teaser trailer. The teaser actually premiered on Japanese TV a few weeks ago, but it was predictably covered with morning news graphics and talked over by a chatty announcer.

The film is named after and inspired by a hit 2004 single by singer Yo Hitoto which is also used as the main theme song. Yui Aragaki stars as a Hokkaido high school student named Sae who lives with her mother Ryoko (Hiroko Yakushimaru) and dreams of attending a Tokyo university. Sae studies for her entrance exams while being watched over by the flowering dogwood tree (hanamizuki) planted by her father (Arata), who died when she was young. Eventually, she meets and falls in love with Kohei (Toma Ikuta), who is planning to stay in Hokkaido and become a fisherman like his father. When Sae leaves Hokkaido for university,...

Korean actress Bae Doo-Na stars in this film by Japanese director Kore-Eda (Hana, Nobody Knows). Kuuki Ningyo is adapted from a manga by Yoshiie Goda. It also stars Ping Pong‘s Arata in the role of the video clerk. Susumu Terajima, Jo Odagiri and Ryo Iwamatsu also star.

Chris Magee over at JFilm Pow Wow has done his darndest to translate the synopsis over at CinemaTopicsOnline

The kuuki ningyo, or “air doll” of the film’s title is owned by a man named Hideo. One day while he’s at work the doll comes to life and ventures out into the city. On one of her trips she stumbles across a video store and meets Junichi who works there part-time. Suddenly the doll experiences something she’s never felt before… feelings.

As it goes with any site launch for a film there isn’t much to look at yet. And...

Title says it all, really. We’ve been aware for a while now that quirky Korean actress Bae Doo-Na (The Host, Linda Linda Linda) would be teaming up with Japanese director Kore-Eda (Hana, Nobody Knows). What we didn’t know was that the film - adapted from a manga by Yoshiie Goda - would feature Bae as an inflatable sex doll who becomes conscious and strikes up a relationship with her owner, a video store clerk played by Ping Pong‘s Arata. Susumu Terajima, Jo Odagiri and Ryo Iwamatsu also star.