Day: April 11, 2020

Wonderwall, A Life Turned Upside Down: My Dad’s an Alcoholic, Mita Dances, The Dancing Homeless, Watashi wa bundan o yurusanai, Sacrifice, Mask Ward, Fukushima 50, Stardust Over the Town, Gekijouban Oishii Kyuushoku Final Battle, Matsuri no ato wa matsuri no mae Japanese Film Trailers

On By Genki JasonIn Japanese Film Trailers.2 Comments

Happy weekend, everyone!

Nobuhiko Obayashi

It has been a while. I hope you are all okay!

Yesterday we lost the legend that is Nobuhiko Obayashi. He died at the age of 82, almost four years when he was given just four months to live after being diagnosed with cancer. Even though I wrote reviews for just two films (Hausu  back in 2011 and Hanagatami in 2018), it feels like I wrote about him every year because his films were constantly in circulation. I was even inspired to visit Onomichi in 2018 and photograph some locations he filmed in. Anyway, he was feted around the world and worked to the very end, as evidenced by the large amount of films by him or connected to him at last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival.

It feels like the Japanese movie industry is in a gentle decline as adaptations, compilations, TV movies and mediocrities dominate due to production committees who hoover up profits while the artists making content are underpaid and have their creativity stifled. With Obayashi’s passing, the industry has lost some of its magic. He was imaginative and had a creative streak and boyish enthusiasm that made his films charming. We’ll not see an artist like him again so we should treasure the works he created, many of which will continue to be screened.

RIP Nobuhiko Obayashi

Anyway, I was in Japan for a month and I returned to the UK almost a fortnight ago after working at the Osaka Asian Film Festival. I’ve been publishing reviews and interviews I did while there and since returning to the UK, I’ve been in self-quarantine to make sure I don’t have Coronavirus so I’m kind of in the perfect position to keep writing even though the world is in the grip of a medical disaster (prompted by unfettered capitalism and poor governance mostly instituted by governments run by right-wingers).

Anyway, due to being busy, I missed all of March from the trailer posts. Due to Coronavirus, films are being pulled from Japanese cinemas, I can play catch-up.

What is released this weekend and what was released on the first weekend of March?

Continue reading “Wonderwall, A Life Turned Upside Down: My Dad’s an Alcoholic, Mita Dances, The Dancing Homeless, Watashi wa bundan o yurusanai, Sacrifice, Mask Ward, Fukushima 50, Stardust Over the Town, Gekijouban Oishii Kyuushoku Final Battle, Matsuri no ato wa matsuri no mae Japanese Film Trailers” →