Sokichi Miyata’s mellow, DV-shot road movie Bakabakance stars Kunihiro Suda, Erika Okuda (Tokyo Zombie), Kiyohiko Shibukawa (Ichi the Killer), Yosuke Nakajima, Yoshiyuki Morishita (Funky Forest), and Shirou Nozawa. The film won the 8th Tama Movie Festival “Tama New Wave” special prize back in November and will be released in Japan on July 5, 2008.

Michio (Suda) works at a small western-style restaurant and is slowly trying to get over the loneliness and depression caused by his girlfriend Ai (Okuda) leaving him for another guy six months earlier. To make things worse his boss suddenly takes off with all the money the business had, leaving all his employees to twist in the wind. When Michio goes home he finds Ai there waiting for him. She had recently broken up with her new boyfriend and needs a place to stay. Michio thinks this is ridiculously selfish of her, but since he’s still not over her he can’t seem to refuse. The next morning one of the cooks from the restaurant (Shibukawa) shows up and tells Michio he knows where the restaurant owner will be the following day. So the three of them go off on a drive in a little red convertible to confront him. Unfortunately the car overheats and they’re left stranded in a town by the beach. Now stuck together for a little longer than expected and unsure if they’ll make it to their destination in time, Michio and Ai have some unresolved issues to settle.

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Thanks to the nice people at Subway Cinema/NYAFF Nippon Cinema has 3 pairs of tickets to give away to the North American premiere of Masato Harada’s 2007 mystery/horror The Shadow Spirit (Moryo no Hako) to be held at the IFC Center during this year’s New York Asian Film Festival (6/24-7/6). For full details on the film and screening click here. Check out the original theatrical trailer here, but keep in mind the screening will be subtitled.

THE SHADOW SPIRIT (NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL)
(2007, Japan, Masato Harada)
Starring Shinichi Tsutsumi, Hiroshi Abe, Kippei Shiina, Rena Tanaka, Hiroyuki Miyasako, Mitsuki Tanimura
One of the world’s great journeyman directors, Masato Harada is like the Howard Hawks of Japan, able to create beautifully crafted dramas in almost any genre. Set in 1952, THE SHADOW SPIRIT sees a brutal string of murders break out like a rash across post-war Tokyo. A truly all-star cast comes together to investigate the demonic cult murders in this lush, period horror piece that winds up morphing into an out-of-the-blue science fiction film. 133 minutes, in Japanese with English subtitles.

Venue:
IFC Center
323 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10014
(212) 924-7771

Showtimes: FRI June 20, 12:45pm / TUE July 1, 1:15pm (you can choose either!)

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The contest is now over. Winners will be notified by email with further information.

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Hiroshi Takahashi, the man behind most of the Ring movie scripts and director of 2004’s ultra low-budget “Sodom the Killer” is back with a new project entitled Sea of Madness (Kyouki no Umi). The film was part of Yubari Fanta‘s Forum Theater competition back in March and not much else was heard about it until the official website was updated a few days ago. The movie was made on a nonexistent budget and clocks in at only 34 minutes, but its creators revel in how much they were able to cram into it under those constraints. Japanese moviegoers can revel along with them during midnight showings at Euro Space’s Shibuya theater from June 28-July 11.

The story revolves around the Prime Minister (Tomorowo Taguchi) as he tries to reform the Japanese constitution. Amidst rising tensions between the US and Japan due to the effects of the reforms on Article 9 (the “no war” clause), the US president is killed by a strange curse. Condoleezza Rice sends a member of the “FBI Spiritual Defense Team” (Yoko Chosokabe) to Japan to investigate. She takes the Prime Minister and his wife (Shoko Nakahara) to a secret base at Mt. Fuji and a doorway to Hell is opened. Then there’s some spiritual posession, some nukes, some low-budget odes to “The Sinking of Japan”, and yadda yadda yadda—this synopsis is taking longer than the movie itself.

Anyways, check out the trailer below—courtesy of a little underground site I sometimes use called YouTube.

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Earlier today it was announced that Sadao Abe (Maiko Haaaan!!!) will be added to the cast of Takashi Miike‘s live-action adaptation of the 1970’s cartoon series Yatterman. He will play an original character—a mysterious archaeologist with a hat and whip meant to be an homage to Indiana Jones. His character will play an integral role in the fight over the Dokuro Stone; a gem that can reveal the location of the largest gold vein in the world, and the main focus of the Yatterman story. Abe (38) was a fan of the original series as a child and the Yatter-King theme was his favorite song. He says working with Miike is a unique experience because there are many ad-libs and lines are often added at the film site, but he loves the challenge. Miike stated that he doesn’t think there’s another actor on Earth who could pull off this role.

source

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A new trailer for Minoru Kawasaki’s daikaiju comedy Monster X Strikes Back / Attack the G8 Summit, which I first wrote about here, was released yesterday—and unlike the first teaser it includes some actual footage! There was some confusion over whether this movie would be a full-blown comedy or a serious attempt at an old school monster flick. Judging from this new trailer, Kawasaki seems to have struck a nice balance between his trademark wacked-out sense of humor and his love of the genre, but we’ll have to wait a while to know for sure. “Monster X” opens July 26, 2008 in Japan. Below you’ll find the teaser followed by the new trailer.

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