Ever since she made a splash in the movie industry at 18 for playing the 14-year-old daughter of a divorced manzai comedy team in Jun Ichikawa's Osaka Story, Chizuru Ikewaki has kept herself steadily employed by getting cast in supporting or co-starring roles alongside some of Japan's biggest stars in big budget movies and dramas on all the major Japanese networks. While this has certainly lead to a fairly successful career, she probably hasn't gotten as much credit as she deserves for her acting chops. Hopefully a leading-role in Banmei Takahashi's upcoming Oka o Koete (Over the Hill) will buck that trend.

In the film Chizuru plays Yoko, a recent graduate who's looking for work in early Showa era Tokyo. Her friend sets her up with an interview at Bungeishunju publishing company and she immediately catches the eye of Kan Kikuchi, eventually landing a job as his personal assistant. Kikuchi, played by character actor Toshiyuki Nishida, is a real historical figure who founded Bungeishunju and later went on to head Daiei Motion Picture Company. The story in the film, however, is completely fictional.
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Not really a story per se, as I probably don't follow Fever Dreams releases as closely as the extreme cinema set, but I just noticed Noboru Iguchi stuck this new Japanese poster art for The Machine Girl on his blog. It's nice and big - *really* big in fact, so click the image below for a full-sized version.



Source: Noboru Iguchi's blog

Links:
Eigapedia
Trailer at Twitch

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A press conference was held by Toei Company in Nerimaku Tokyo on Sunday for Kankuro Kudo's upcoming rock 'n' roll comedy Shonen Merikensack. Kudo was in attendance along with stars Aoi Miyazaki, Yuichi Kimura, Tomorowo Taguchi, Hiroki Miyake, Yusuke Santamaria, and Koichi Sato. The press conference covered fairly typical promotional fluff. Kudo expressed his appreciation of Toei's trust in him, Sato talked about the energy of the film and his love of rock music, and Miyazaki talked about how she was initially tentative because she doesn't like loud music but when she finally saw the band together she though it was really cool. She also said if she was ever in a band she'd want to play the drums.
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Here's one upcoming movie that may have gotten lost in the shuffle because of a mid-production title change. The official website for Takahisa Zeze's Flying Rabbits, formerly known as "Flying Girls" is now up along with a short teaser trailer. The movie is inspired by a Yusuke Fukada novel called "Tobe! Rabbits" in which two members of Japan Airlines's all-girl basketball team JAL Rabbits played on Japan's national team in the 2004 Olympics.

Flying rabbits opens September 13, 2008.

Links:
Official website - Click the last link of the navigation for the teaser
Original announcement at Tokyograph
Eigapedia

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Shinji Imaoka's Tasogare (Twilight) will premiere on February 16th. The story involves a 65-year-old plaster worker named Funakichi (Masaru Taga) who exchanges cell phone numbers with an old flame named Kazuko (Yasuko Namikibashi) at a class reunion while his wife is on her death bed. He continues clinging to his youth by doing things like going out to strip clubs with his buddies, getting drunk, and being busted for peeping. After his wife dies following one final moment of intimacy Funakichi and the recently-widowed Kazuko talk on the phone and the two newly-single seniors begin spending more time together.
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