ryuganji: film news from japan

Waiting on a rain-drenched platform to catch the train to work this morning, my attention was drawn through the doors of an open carriage to a poster ad for English conversation school ECC featuring Kitano Takeshi. As mentioned on this blog before the Beat isn’t averse to a bit of commercial endorsement, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this is partially subsidising what’ll hopefully be the final instalment of his solipsistic trilogy, but if I’m not mistaken this is the first time he’s appeared in a campaign for one of the ubiquitous eikaiwa chains. Although Kitano doesn’t have a much of a reputation as a multilinguist, there was that one time when he was accepting the Golden Lion for “Hana-Bi” at the Venice Film Festival and apparently said in English something along the lines of “Let’s form another Italo-Japanese alliance and attack other countries!”

Inevitably one of the TV commercials (directed by Gu Su-yeon of “The Barbeque Movie: Bulkogi” and “Guuzen nimo Saiaku na Shonen”) has made it to YouTube (embedded below), but you can watch the whole series at the ECC website here. Click on the “CMを見る” button to watch the ads, or “CMメイキングを見る” to see a making-of video.

Ohisashiburi readers. Please allow me to partially compensate for my absence with the following snippets.

Toho are so desperate for people to see Ishii Katsuhito’s “Yama no Anata - Tokuichi no Koi” that they’ve slashed the ticket price from 1,800 yen to 1,000 yen. They’re calling it their “Bathing for the Soul” price, playing on the film’s setting of a remote mountain hot springs resort. Check out a snap of lead actress Maiko in kimono with director Ishii over on her blog. (source: Sanspo & Nice Rainbow blog)

“Asahiyama Dobutsuen Monogatari - Pengin ga Sora o Tobu” (something like “Asahiyama Zoo Story - Flying Penguins”), actor Tsugawa Masahiko’s third directorial effort as Makino Masahiko after “Wakeful Nights” and “Jirocho Sangokushi” (opening this autumn), has already finished shooting. It’s based on a true story (you can read about it here) that’s been told many times before in documentaries and TV dramatisations, but this is the first time it’s been made into a film. Nishida Toshiyuki plays zoo director Kosuge Masao, while Nakamura Masahi from “A Stranger of Mine” is zookeeper Bando Gen. (source: Sanspo)

This Variety Japan article features a couple of photos of Kitano Takeshi and his co-stars for his next film “Akiresu to Kame” (thanks JG).

Here’s one for Nick Rucka: Cinema Today have published the first photo of the barely recognisable cast of Nakashima Tetsuya’s “Paco and the Magic Picture Book“. From what I can make out, the front row is comprised of Kamikawa Takaya, Yakusho Koji, Ayaka Wilson and Kunimura Jun, and in the back row are Yamauchi Takaya, Gekidan Hitori, Tsuchiya Anna, Tsumabuki Satoshi, Abe Sadao, Kase Ryo and Koike Eiko.

Zoom In Online have interviewed “Megane” director Ogigami Naoko and you can listen to it on this podcast.

Some photos of the “Yatterman” cast from the March 27 press conference: Director Miike with Fukuda Saki, and Fukada Kyoko with her henchmen Namase Katsuhisa and Kendo Kobayashi. Note the conspicuous absence of Yatterman himself, Johnny’s Jimusho chattel Sakurai Sho, due to his masters’ notoriously tight-fisted approach to image rights.

Omori Mika is an accomplished television scriptwriter and director with many hit series under her belt, not to mention screenplay credits for films including the Ueto Aya vehicle “Install”, the upcoming “Detroit Metal City” with Matsuyama Kenichi, and “Tekkon Kinreet” director Michael Arias’ live action debut “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” (a remake of the 1997 German film with Til Schweiger). She’s also found the time to make her own low-key film directorial debut with “Nekonade“, starring ubiquitous character actor Osugi Ren and based on a TV series. He plays a middle-aged salaryman whose life falls apart when he’s laid off from his job, but finds solace in adopting a stray cat. Other cast members include Aoyama Noriko, Kurokawa Mei and Motai Masako. (source: Cinematopics)

Nagasaku Hiromi’s on a bit of roll after her critically-praised performance in “Funuke, Show Some Love You Losers!” and another solid turn in “Don’t Laugh at My Romance”, which should elevate expectations for her next film, a romantic comedy entitled “Dosokai” (literally “Class Reunion”). It’s written and directed by her co-star Takuma Takayuki, who heads the theatre group Tokyo Seleccion Deluxe and also wrote the screenplays for “Heat Island” and the low budget Aikawa Sho/Itao Itsuji aliens and yakuza caper “Worst Contact” under the pen name Satake Mikio. Takuma plays Minami, an adulterous film producer who half-heartedly asks his childhood sweetheart Yuki (Nagasaku) for a divorce and is shocked when she nonchalantly accepts. When his career also begins to fall apart, his high school friends come to his rescue. Sato Megumi, Shofukutei Tsurube, Utsumi Midori and Suzuki Sawa (rumored to be Nakamura Shido’s latest conquest) also appear. (source: Variety Japan & Cinematopics)

“Oka o Koete” is a novel by “the one singular man-of-letters Japan has today” Inose Naoki (who’s also well known for his condemnations of Japan’s centralised bureaucracy), and now pink film veteran Takahashi Banmei (”Hibi”) is directing an adaptation with an interesting cast that includes Nishida Toshiyuki, Ikewaki Chizuru, Nishijima Hidetoshi and most importantly (from my perspective) Shimada Kyusaku. Set in the early Showa period, the story follows working class ‘moga‘ Yoko (Ikewaki) who becomes personal secretary to author and founder of the Akutagawa and Naoki literary prizes Kikuchi Kan (Nishida) and is introduced to Tokyo’s burgeoning high society. She finds herself attracted to a handsome young editor named Ma Hae-song (Nishijima) descended from Korean nobility who dreams of returning to modernise his homeland, while at the same time the ageing Kan falls in love with Yoko and her youthful vitality. But war is looming on the horizon… Click here for the trailer. (source: Cinematopics)

“The Oshima Gang”, a documentary focusing on the production of Oshima Nagisa’s 1960 film “Night and Fog in Japan” and his subsequent break from Shochiku, is in the works with the architect of the low-budget medical experiment thriller series “Saru” series Hayama Yoichiro helming. Hayama hails from the same Shonan area of Kanagawa as Oshima, who also gave him his initial break at the age of 16 by selecting the first film he ever made for the Pia Film Festival. It’ll be a mix of interviews with Oshima’s wife and actress Koyama Akiko as well as scriptwriter Ishido Toshiro, cameraman Kawamata Takashi, composer Manabe Riichiro, producer Arai Tomio and other collaborators, and dramatisations of Oshima’s first steps as an independent filmmaker. A release is loosely scheduled for some time this summer. (source: fjmovie.com)
　
Final word goes to alternative universe Totoro.

(via Zaeega)

Now for some news that I really don’t care about: there will be a “Bayside Shakedown 3″. As the first sequel was the highest grossing live-action film in Japanese box office history (raking in over 17 billion yen), this hardly comes as a surprise.

The director-screenwriter combo of Motohiro Katsuyuki and Kimizuka Ryoichi return, as do core cast members Oda Yuji, Yanagiba Toshiro, Fukatsu Eri, Yusuke Santamaria and Mizuno Miki. Ikariya Chosuke has since passed away, but producer Kameyama Chihiro has hinted that he might yet make an appearance in some form. Oda’s schedule is packed this year, so shooting will begin in 2009 with a release date yet to be decided. Although a script hasn’t been written yet, Kameyama says the story will pick up after the actual five year break since the last movie, with some characters including Oda’s Detective Aoshima having since been promoted.

I know a lot of people enjoyed these films and I can concede that they work as undemanding light entertainment, but my problem is less with the inadequacies of the films themselves than the era they’ve brought about. The huge success of Fuji TV’s franchise ushered in the current spate of lackluster movies based on television series, and although it could be said they gave the film industry a much-needed boost by getting small screen audiences into the habit of going to see locally-made films in cinemas again, that brought along with it a dependence on television-grade acting, direction and aesthetics that’s become sadly prevalent in Japanese feature films today. （source: Sanspo)