Three trailers this week and only one of them is from Japan. I’m busy reading Kim Newman’s Nightmare Movies – excellent read – so I’ll review that next week.
Ben-To
Release date: October
Running time: N/A
Director: Shin Itagaki
Starring: N/A
Bentō boxes are a famous Japanese cultural institution but I have never seen them depicted like this! Directed by Shin Itagaki who did the so-so Devil May Cry, I thought I’d throw this trailer in just to beef this week’s trailer post and because it looks like a full-on comedy take on a brilliantly simple and silly idea.
Poor high school student Yō Satō. Satō goes to the supermarket and discovers a bentō box (boxed meal) on sale. Before he can get to it, he ends up on the floor unconscious. Why? Well Satō has just entered the “supermarket survival battle” for half-price bentō, a no holds-barred extreme battle for food!
The Lady
Release date: N/A
Running time: 145
Director: Luc Besson
Starring: Michelle Yeoh, David Thewlis
A film about the Burmese pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi which stars martial arts legend Michelle Yeoh, it details her relationship with her British husband, Michael Aris (David Thewlis) which she maintained whilst under house arrest. I’m unsure about Luc Besson considering his directing career peaked with the underrated Fifth Element and has been walking wounded since but Aung San Suu Kyi is an inspirational figure.
Babycall
Release date: N/A
Running time: N/A
Director: Pål Sletaune
Starring: Noomi Rapace
As a J-horror fan I took one look at the trailer and felt vibes of the Dark Water kind. I’m hopeful this will be just as good because Noomi The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Rapace is a brilliant actress.
After escaping her violent husband, Anna and her 8-year old son, Anders, are on the run and move to a secret address in an apartment building. To ensure the safety of her son Anna buys a babycall but strange noises echo from elsewhere in the building including what she believes is the murder of a child. Meanwhile, Anders gets a mysterious, dark-haired friend who comes and goes a she wants.
Genkinahito 
Thanks for this post! 🙂 I love the plot of Bento. (Japan, you never cease to amaze me, hehe). And Babycall–even if I couldn’t understand a word of it–looked pretty intriguing. You’re right about the Dark Water vibe. Here are two movies I’ll be watching out for…well at least when they’re DVD versions are released as I’m pretty sure it won’t be shown in the Philippines. Sigh.
*their DVD versions, I mean
Thanks for the reply! Nice to hear from you.
The plot to ben-to sounds absolutely ludicrous and the action in the trailer looks over the top so I’m sold. I’m so used to seeing Bentō boxes in anime.movies as tools for conveying affection or modern art masterpieces that the injection of violence is a quite the contrast.