Café Isobe (Junkissa Isobe) was released on July 5th and since it didn’t crack the top 10 at the box office it hasn’t been generating much news lately. Even so, it’s generally getting a really solid fan reaction on sites with rating systems like MovieWalker compared to other comedies that have been released in recent months.

Director Keisuke Yoshida spent the bulk of his career as a lighting technician for Shinya Tsukamoto (his movies have lighting?) before making a minor splash with his 2006 film, “Raw Summer” about a salaryman who stalks a teenage schoolgirl (Sola Aoi). Café Isobe isn’t quite so seedy, however. It’s about an irresponsible, flighty single father named Yujiro (Hiroyuki Miyasako) and his easily-annoyed daughter Sakiko (Riisa Naka). When Yujiro’s father dies suddenly he uses his inheritance to buy his own café in a feeble attempt to impress chicks. Unfortunately the cafe’s furnishings are so tacky that it only seems to attract elderly clientele and weirdos. Yujiro doesn’t seem to mind though, because part-tme waitress Motoko (Kumiko Aso) has him completely entranced, much to the chagrin of Sakiko—who isn’t particularly good at hiding her angst.

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Shonen Merikensack distributor Toei has come up with a bizarre-yet-innovative way to promote their upcoming punk rock comedy while generating good will by saving Japanese motorists gas money. Gas prices have reached 180 yen per liter recently; the highest price in history. Toei is offering a special sticker people can put on their cars so that when they fill up at “Usami” gas stations they can get a discount of 5 yen per liter. There will be 900 stickers total distributed evenly to 9 stores nationwide. If my math is right that amounts to about 18 cents per gallon. Not too shabby. Check out this image for a cutesy illustrated representation of the process.

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It’s a well-known fact that Sabu’s first film, Dangan Runner was the inspiration for Tom Tykwer’s 1998 German hit, “Run, Lola, Run”. The tremendous international success of that film eventually got programmers for Loews Theaters’ indie distribution arm, “The Shooting Gallery” to briefly re-name Dangan Runner “Non-Stop” and screen it in New York in the fall of 2000. Nothing really ever came from that, however; I don’t think distribution went far beyond those screenings and a short-lived stint on VHS (good luck finding a non-bootleg copy now—TSG doesn’t exist anymore). Unfortunately this moderate, short-lived hype may have been a bit misdirected because Sabu’s debut, like most filmmakers’ debuts, is probably his most disjointed offering to date. He’s since gone on to make a number of far-superior films, none of which have so much as sniffed a proper US release.

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Here’s one of those titles that sort of slipped through the cracks of web coverage last year that probably shouldn’t have. Thankfully the people at Japan Society have other ideas, and are going to screen Gummi, Chocolate, Pine at Japan Cuts on Thursday and Saturday. Click here for event details. The movie is based on the autobiography of Kenji Otsuki, vocalist of rock band Kinniku Shojotai. Takuya Ishida stars as a high school-aged Otsuki and Nao Omori plays him as an adult. But more importantly (to me at least) is the fact that Keralino Sandorovich—my personal favorite filmmaker that’s made 3 movies or less—wrote the screenplay and directed.

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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.

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