Cinema fans and my F5 key should thank Jason Gray for pointing out that the trailer for Kiyoshi Kurosawa‘s Tokyo Sonata has finally been added to its official website. The film took home the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at Cannes back in May. Its story revolves around a salaryman whose family slowly falls apart after he loses the job that defined him. I’m sure that’s a drastic over-simplification given Kurosawa’s past work, so check out Midnight Eye for an early review with lots of words. I notice the trailer’s theme music is Debussy’s “Clair de Lune”. Hopefully this film can live up to the last critically-acclaimed masterpiece to make use of that, School Day of the Dead.

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Talk about coming out of nowhere. Today we present you with Gachi-ban, a movie that seems to have appeared out of thin air and yet already has a trailer and is primed for a limited 1-week showing starting July 19 at Cinemart Roppongi. Does this lack of prior PR mean it sucks? Quite possibly, but judging from the trailer it will at least give the kids some over-the-top delinquent schoolboy ass-kicking to tide them over until Crows Zero 2 comes out next year.

Created by long-time pinku director Hideo Jojo and co-written by Masao Iketani (Yakuza’s Kindergarten), the film is pretty much a direct spoof that makes no effort to hide that fact that it’s trying to capitalize on the success of Takashi Miike‘s Crows Zero with a quickly-produced “high-tension yankee movie”. The difference, however, is that they’re replacing Miike with Jyoujyou and Shun Oguri with Shunsuke Kubozuka (Saikano, Yo-Yo Girl Cop). Something tells me they won’t be hitting the 2.4 billion yen mark that “Crows” reached.

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Based on Suzuki Matsuo‘s own award-winning novel, Welcome to the Quiet Room stars former Jpop idol Yuki Uchida as a writer who suddenly finds herself in a psychiatric hospital for a suicide attempt she doesn’t remember. Matsuo directed this film adaptation himself, having previously directed the manic 2004 manga comedy Otakus in Love. Some people may get turned off by the quick shifts between absurd comedy and intense drama, but it’s something Matsuo is obviously adept at; having often worked with the likes of Satoshi Miki, Kankuro Kudo, and Sakichi Sato—all of whom enjoy dabbling in the absurd whenever possible.

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Asuka (Yuki Uchida) wakes up in the quiet room of a mental asylum quiet with no recollection of how she got there. The last thing she claims to remember is taking a bunch of pills before passing out. She eventually comes to grips with her situation and gets to know some of the other patients, including a thin goth girl named Miki (Yu Aoi)—who claims she’s only there because she has trouble eating—and AV actress Nishino (Shinobu Otake) who tends to enjoy manipulating other patients. At first Yuki seems to have a firm grasp on who the other “normal” patients are that she can relate to, but gradually details are revealed that show things aren’t always what they seem, and everyone (including her) are probably there for a valid reason.

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Asuka (Yuki Uchida) wakes up in the quiet room of a mental asylum quiet with no recollection of how she got there. The last thing she claims to remember is taking a bunch of pills before passing out. She eventually comes to grips with her situation and gets to know some of the other patients, including a thin goth girl named Miki (Yu Aoi)—who claims she’s only there because she has trouble eating—and AV actress Nishino (Shinobu Otake) who tends to enjoy manipulating other patients. At first Yuki seems to have a firm grasp on who the other “normal” patients are that she can relate to, but gradually details are revealed that show things aren’t always what they seem, and everyone (including her) are probably there for a valid reason.

watch »

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