ryuganji: film news from japan

…and that’s really all you need to know. Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan will be releasing standard and deluxe box packages, as well as UMD and Blu-Ray editions, and all are currently up for preorder at Amazon Japan. Sure, it may resort to one of those cliched giant-entity-smashes-city-skyline apocalyptic endings, but it’s an unforgettable trip of challenging visual and narrative density, and fans of Kon’s work won’t be disappointed.

No word on English subs yet, but here are the details available at the moment:

Standard edition:

Discs: 1
Art director Ike Nobutaka explains the art of “Paprika” (15 minutes)
‘Karaoke’ dialogue: allows you to provide the voice for protagonist Chiba Atsuko
Audio commentary by Kon Satoshi and composer Hirasawa Susumu

Deluxe box edition:

Limited to 5,000 sets
Original double-sided box art by Kon Satoshi
760-page storyboard book including commentary and interviews
Discs: 2
Main feature disc: same as standard edition
Special features disc:
Making-of, including footage from the Venice and Tokyo international film fests (30 minutes)
Special discussion between Kon, author Tsutsui Yasutaka, and voice actors Furuya Toru and Hayashibara Megumi (30 minutes)
Shooting Paprika: behind the scenes, explaining the film’s 3D world from the cinematographer’s point of view (15 minutes)

(source: Box Office Japan)

Oscar-nominated Kikuchi Rinko looks to be emulating Watanabe Ken’s model of vocational rejuvenation, using a supporting role in a high-profile Hollywood film to reboot her domestic career. Although she’s by no means a newcomer, the media recognition Kikuchi gained from her much-lauded turn in “Babel” has rapidly elevated her to top-billed status at home, and at least for now she’s a hot property. However, local audiences will see her next in a “magical suspense comedy” that began filming before she became Kikuchi Rinko, international actress: Miki Satoshi’s “The Insects Unlisted in the Encyclopedia” (Zukan ni Notte nai Mushi).

A freelance writer (Iseya Yusuke) is given a bizarre assignment by the sexy editor of “Black Book Monthly” (Mizuno Miki): find a bug with the power to bring humans back from the dead, in order to report on the afterlife. With his trusty companion Endo (Matsuo Suzuki) in tow, he sets off on a quest for the elusive insect and along the way meets the mysterious Sayoko (Kikuchi), a former dominatrix and habitual wrist-cutter who delights in rubbing wasabi into her wounds. Yep, sounds like a Miki Satoshi movie to me. Other cast members include Iwamatsu Ryo, Fuse Eri, Matsushige Yutaka, Sasano Takashi, Mitani Noboru, Watanabe Hiroyuki, Takahashi Keiko, Shimada Kyusaku, Tsugumi and Mame Yamada.

Like Sabu and Yamashita Nobuhiro, writer-director Miki is one of the few Japanese filmmakers currently working who can deliver quirky and absurd humour without resorting to the blatant gurning and hysterics that are often passed off as comedy on the big and small screen here. He’s already built an impressive track record which includes episodes of the cult comedy series “Jiko Keisatsu” starring Odagiri Joe and Aso Kumiko, and three low-key but hilarious features: “Damejin“, “Kame wa Igai to Hayaku Oyogu” and “In the Pool“. This guy is definitely one to watch.

Filming on “The Insects…” initially took place in August 2006, but a toe fracture sustained by co-star Iseya brought the shoot to a halt until it finally resumed earlier this month. There isn’t much detail currently available apart from what I’ve written here, but you can catch an early glimpse of the madness in this preview. “The Insects Unlisted in the Encyclopedia” opens this June. (source: Sports Hochi)

Back in January of last year I wrote about 90-year-old Ichikawa Kon’s return to directing for a remake of his own “Inugami-ke no Ichizoku“. As it turns out, he’s got nothing on Shindo Kaneto (perhaps best known overseas for “Onibaba” and “Kuroneko“), who at 94 is Japan’s oldest active film director, and he’s not about to be outdone by a young upstart like Ichikawa.

At a February 11th talkshow held as part of a retrospective of director Yoshimura Kozaburo’s works at the Shinbungeiza cinema in Ikebukuro, Shindo revealed he is in the midst of preparations for “Hana aru Zasso” (unofficial translation: “Flowers in the Weeds”), to be shot on location in his hometown of Ishiuchi Village (now Itsukaichi Town, Saekiku Ward) in Hiroshima. “The model [for the central character] was a teacher of mine when I was in elementary school. They’ve already passed away, but I want to make a film about a teacher who lived to teach. Mind you, I don’t want people to think I’m making an education film.”

This will be his 44th film since making his directorial debut over fifty years ago in 1951 with “Story of a Beloved Wife” (Aisai Monogatari), and it follows his most recent effort “The Owl” (Fukuro, 2003). “Maybe I’ll make this one my final work. People live through their jobs. I want to stay true to mine, so I don’t mind if I collapse during the shoot.” (sources: Sanspo, Ginga Blog)

(source: Box Office Japan)