Even though Paco and the Magical Picture Book seems like it’s pretty squarely geared toward little kids, it’s been getting a lot of attention in the west both for its director: Tetsuya Nakashima (Memories of Matsuko, Kamikaze Girls), and its star-studded cast: Koji Yakusho, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Anna Tsuchiya, Sadao Abe, Ryo Kase, and Eiko Koike to name a few. The story involves a little girl named Paco, played by newcomer Ayaka Wilson, who is staying in a hospital following a car accident that killed both her parents and left her with a brain injury that limits her memory to a single day. One day she tries to read her picture book on a bench next to grumpy old man named Onuki (Yakusho), but he bumps her off and laughs. However, as he discovers more about her he begins to change as a person and decides to do something special for her involving her picture book.

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A little girl named Paco (Ayaka Wilson) has a memory that only lasts one day to due a brain injury caused by a car accident which killed both her parents. While in the hospital she meets a selfish old man named Onuki (Koji Yakusho). He’s mean at first, but when he learns more about her he decides to something special for her involving her picture book.

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We’ve had death by videotape, death by dial-up Internet connection, death by cell phone, and death by pretty much every modern technological convenience you could possibly think of. That is, until now—because in one of the more unlikely product tie-ins in recent memory the upcoming teen horror flick Twilight Syndrome: Dead Cruise will feature death by Nintendo DS Lite. When I first wrote about this movie back in May I knew the story involved a vindictive bullying victim named Eri (Saki Terashima) who traps her classmates in a deadly virtual reality game while on a class trip, but I had no idea she’d actually be walking around controlling it through her DS touchscreen. Check out the trailer below to witness the unabashed commercialism for yourself.

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A bullying victim traps her classmates in a deadly virtual reality game while on a class trip.

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A dancer girl in a touring company (Momoe Yamaguchi) meets a high school boy (Tomokazu Miura) in a port town and experiences her first love. Based on a short story by Yasunari Kawabata which has been adapted several times.

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