Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time, Love, Life and Goldfish, Banzai! Here is Lover Road, Brave: Gunjyo Senki, Grave of Love, Shimajirou to Sora Tobu Fune Japanese Film Trailers

Happy weekend, everyone!

 

I hope that you are all well.

In normal times, as a member of the Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF), I’d be over in Japan watching films and meeting people. AND EATING OKONOMIYAKI! Instead, Covid-19 struck and it has been a year of keeping safe and rebuilding. I’ve been going into work occasionally but spent more time at home and this has been my situation for this year’s edition of OAFF. I’ve been helping out on various things whilst still writing reviews and conducting interviews (via e-mail) and so I’ve put up a bunch here already.

Keep Rolling – Thanks to this documentary, I now know everything there is to know about Ann Hui!

Three Sisters – You have to laugh otherwise you’d cry in this South Korean drama

The Slug – OHMYGOD,IWANTTOCRYINTHISSUBTLEANDHEARTBREAKINGFILMFROMSOUTHKOREA

JOINT – well-shot and gripping crime film charting Japan’s underworld!

yes, yes, yes – powerful drama that will make you love your family more!

An interview with the director of yes, yes, yes – find out the background to one of the best films of OAFF2021

Goto-san – Haha, a rom-com set in an internet cafe oH nO, we’ve turned a corner and now it’s a ride through the capitalist hellscape!

I hope that we all stay safe and overcome Covid-19. I know I’ll return to Osaka when that happens.

What was released this week?

An Email Interview with Akihiko Yano, Director of “yes,yes,yes” [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021]

I wish I were better at writing about acting because every now and then I watch a film where there are astonishing performance that I am spellbound and profoundly moved. In those situations, I want to wax lyrical to do justice to what I have seen. Of course, every other aspect of the film counts, too. When I watched the drama yes,yes,yes I was not quite prepared for the actors who are, raw vulnerable, surprising, realistic, and honest.

Director Akihkro Yano worked with his cast closely and stripped away most movie artifice to get phenomenal performances to convey the emotionally intense situation in his script. The story concerns a family reacting to the news that the matriarch Sayuri (Nahoko Kawasumi) may die. This sets off emotional chain reactions that cause conflict, particularly with teenage son Takeaki (Kazuma Uesugi), before there is eventually, healing. It is a heartfelt story and it felt real. Indeed, it made me cry multiple times and gave a feeling of catharsis as I took in its lesson of learning to appreciate and love those around and thought deeply about people in my own life.