A 30-second teaser for Shion Sono’s upcoming film The Land of Hope has been uploaded to the official YouTube channel of its distributor, Bitters End.

It’s set in the Japanese countryside and revolves around a couple, Yoichi (Jun Murakami) and Izumi (Megumi Kagurazaka), who are living in a village as humble dairy farmers with Yoichi’s parents Yasuhiko (Isao Natsuyagi) and Chieko (Naoko Otani).

One day, a huge earthquake strikes and an evacuation begins, but Yoichi is hesitant to leave their lifetime home behind. When he discovers his wife is pregnant, he must do whatever it takes to protect her and their unborn child. Meanwhile, their neighbors (Yutaka Shimizu, Hikari Kajiwara, Denden, and Mariko Tsutsui). have to make their own choice about evacuation.

“The Land of Hope” is scheduled for an autumn release in Japan. A quick UK release is also likely due to Third Window Films being one of the co-producers.

Edit: Replaced with subtitled version

Suzuka Morita of Idoling!!! and Mariya Suzuki of AKB48 are set to star in two new horror movies due out on the same day this summer.

Both movies, 2-channel no Noroi Shin Gekijoban: Honki (starring Suzuki) and Anata no Shiranai Kowai Hanashi Gekijoban (starring Morita), are theatrical versions of DVD releases which recently gained popularity.

Just a few days ago, it was announced that Morita will be graduating from Idoling!!! at the end of this month to concentrate on her acting, so she’s apparently wasting no time getting on with the next phase of her career.

In “Anata no Shiranai Kowai wa Gekijoban”, she’ll be playing a graduate student whose mother was killed by a prowler when she was a small child, leaving her emotionally scarred. Because of this, she seeks revenge by invoking a curse on the man in the form of a video.

Suzuki, who played the lead role in Jiro Nagae’s Kokkuri-san last year, will be appearing in the sequel to last year’s 2-channel no Noroi Gekijoban, which revolves around a cursed website inspired by a forum thread on the 2-chan message board. In contrast to her previous high school girl roles, Suzuki will get the chance to play an an adult for once, portraying a real estate agent struggling against a powerful evil presence.

Both will be released in Japan on June 2, 2012. Although technically separate movies, the actresses will be together for a joint stage greeting.

Source: Cinema Today

Say what you will about how tightly controlled Japanese movie publicity is, but they sure know how to keep a secret. Just one day from the theatrical release of Tsutomu Hanabusa’s Sadako 3D in Japan, the young actress playing the latest incarnation of Sadako has finally been revealed: Ai Hashimoto.

There was actually a preview screening held back in April, but the 12 minutes of end footage that would have revealed her identity was left out.

The casting puts her in good company. Although the first Sadako was played by kabuki actress Rie Inoo for her ability to move creepily, subsequent Sadakos were played by famous actresses such as Yukie Nakama and Tae Kimura.

Anyone who follows mainstream Japanese films should be pretty familiar with Hashimoto at this point. She’s appeared in a slew of movies since her debut in 2009. Most notably, her performance in Tetsuya Nakashima’s critically-adored 2010 film Confessions made her the ultimate “it” girl of teen film actresses over the past two years.

In the newest installment of the Ring series, Sadako’s curse is spreading faster than ever thanks to internet video sharing, and her essence floats around in the cloud waiting for an appropriate person to posses by climbing out of their computer monitor.

Unlike the first version of Sadako, who was portrayed as hideous and waterlogged after climbing out of a well, Hashimoto’s version remains a pretty girl, supposedly to entice people who see her into even more fear.

“Sadako 3D” opens in Japan this Saturday.

Source: Eiga.com

On Thursday it was announced that Teruyoshi Uchimura of the comedy duo Ucchan Nanchan is working on a new movie called Bokutachi no Koukan Nikki (literally “our exchange diary”), his first since his 2006 feature-length debut Peanuts.

The film is based on the novel “Geinin Koukan Nikki ~ Yellow Heart no Monogatari” by screenwriter and television personality Osamu Suzuki. The story revolves around a fictional manzai comedy duo that are forced to deal with various problems due to their sustained lack of success.

Last year, Masayasu Wakabayashi of the comedy duo Audrey and actor Kei Tanaka co-starred in a stage adaptation of the novel.

This version will star Atsushi Ito and Keisuke Koide as a comedy duo called “Bousou Swimmers” who have been living in utter obscurity since forming 12 years earlier. At the end of their tether, they decide to start an exchange diary as a way to communicate with each other.

Filming of “Bokutachi no Koukan Nikki” began on May 6 and a release is planned for sometime in 2013.

Source: Eiga.com