Before we see how he deals with chronic overactor Fujiwara Tatsuya in the former Matsuda Yusaku vehicle “Chameleon” opening next year, Sakamoto Junji will be shining a light on child prostitution and organ trafficking in Thailand with his next film “Yami no Kodomotachi” (”Children of the Dark” [thanks JG]) which stars Eguchi Yosuke, Miyazaki Aoi, Tsumabuki Satoshi and Sato Koichi.
Eguchi plays a Thailand-based newspaper reporter named Nanbu who begins researching a story on exploited children with the assistance of aid worker Otowa (Miyazaki) and freelance cameraman Yoda (Tsumabuki), but becomes increasingly mired in the struggle to save them.
Sakamoto himself wrote the screenplay based on the novel by Korean-Japanese author Yan Sogiru (Yang Seok-il), whose work has been adapted for the screen before in films like Kim Sujin’s “Through the Night” (Yoru o Kakete), Park Chul-Soo’s Japan-South Korea co-production “Kazoku Cinema”, and Sai Yoichi’s “All Under the Moon” (Tsuki wa Docchi ni Dete iru) and “Blood and Bone” (Chi to Hone). The first half of the book apparently focuses on the plight of one child and is said to be so graphic as to be virtually unfilmable, so considering the film’s production company Sedic International are on record as aiming for socially-conscious entertainment, Sakamoto has presumably tailored his script to focus on the daring actions of the Japanese protagonists.
Location shooting took place in Thailand from April 2007 over the course of a month, and the recently completed film will be released in Japan during this year’s summer holidays. (source: Cinematopics)