Don Brown has awakened from hibernation and started blogging about Japanese movies again. Head on over to Ryuganji for a translation of an article on the success of Boys Over Flowers, a link to the new Shochiku YouTube channel, speculation on Takeshi Kitano possibly shirking his demi-god responsibilities, and some Nikkatsu fanboy glee.
Posted by kevin at 6:24pm EDT on Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Filed under: Horror, Future releases, Cast updates
As Tokyograph reported back in April, Otsuichi's story Shinizokonai no Ao is being turned into a movie starring Kenta Suga as a student who tries to kill an abusive teacher (Yu Shirota). Now comes word that Mitsuki Tanimura (God’s Puzzle, Real Onigokko) also has a co-starring role. Screenwriter Toshiyuki Morioka (Another Lonely Hitman, Fudoh) wrote about her participation on his blog back in June. Tanimura plays a pale blue girl covered in scars. Shooting took one month and every day she had to spend 3 hours in the makeup chair. Removing it took another hour. She says since it went on for so long it began to wreak havoc on her skin, but she was willing to deal with it because she had fun and experienced many new things in the role. Stay tuned for more info on this one in the very near future.
Posted by kevin at 3:05pm EDT on Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Filed under: Comedy, Future releases
Handsome Suits, the new comedy based on a paperback novel written by “SMAP x SMAP” variety show writer Osamu Suzuki will be released on November 1, 2008. The story involves a goofy looking chef named Takuro (Muga Tsukaji) who has never been with a woman in his 33 years. When his mother dies he returns from studying abroad in Italy to take over ownership of her diner, “Kokoro-ya”. Although his food is a hit with the ladies, his face and body are not. He falls in love with a part-time worker at the diner (Keiko Kitagawa) but she’s not attracted to him. One day Takuro enters a men’s wear store and a conspicuously good-looking store manager says he has the perfect suit in mind for him. The suit seems too tight, but as he reaches half an arm through one of the sleeves he’s transformed into a handsome new version of himself (Shosuke Tanihara). Soon his luck with women takes a turn for the better, to say the least. Only a 34-second teaser is out so far but in this case I think it pretty much sums up the entire movie.
Posted by kevin at 1:25pm EDT on Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Filed under: Fantasy, Future releases, New trailers
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.
Posted by kevin at 5:41am EDT on Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Filed under: Horror, Future releases, New trailers
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.
