The 21st Nippon Connection will take place from June 01st to the 06th and there is a roster of 80 films that will be screened online. On top of that, there will be talk sessions with directors and over 40 interactive workshops, talks, performances, and concerts.
The complete program as well as tickets for all films and events were made available on May 22md on the website NipponConnection.com. The films can be accessed from June 1st on Watch.NipponConnection.com. Some titles will be region-locked while others are available to stream worldwide. Whether a film can be streamed in your region or not can be discovered there. One film costs 6€ / £5 and can be viewed within 24 hours of it being started.
This post concentrates on all of the titles playing in the Nippon Cinema section. It follows on from a highlight post which gives an overview of the festival and some of the films I recommend.
Click on the titles to be taken to the corresponding Nippon Connection page which has details on dates and times.
Nippon Cinema
This section is dedicated to the big films that have recently been released and may have done the festival circuit. It gives a good idea of the types of things that make up contemporary Japanese cinema, with youth movies and first love mixing with family dramas, the occasional title that leans into the art house side of the spectrum, and the rare political movie.
ダンスウィズミー 「Dansu Uizu Mi-」
Release Date: August 16th, 2019
Duration: 103 mins.
Director: Shinobu Yaguchi
Writer: Shinobu Yaguchi (Screenplay),
Starring: Ayaka Miyoshi, Yuu Yashiro, Chay, Takahiro Miura, Tsuyoshi Muro, Akira Takarada,
I haven’t reviewed this one but I have watched it and it is absolutely one of the most fun and enjoyable films to have been released in Japan in the last five years. It has an uplifting story about chasing one’s dreams and making the best of a bad situation, a great soundtrack made up of pop hits reimagined with big band music, and dance scenes rife with comedy as it plays with the heroine’s desperate attempts to rid herself of the urge to dance, a feeling which strikes at the most awkward moments. Ayaka Miyoshi is simply stunning in this.
Synopsis: Shizuka (Ayaka Miyoshi) is a salarywoman preparing for a big meeting but after visiting a shady hypnotist and being left under a spell which causes her to break into song and dance whenever she hears music, even if it’s just a ringtone, Shizuka needs to get her head fixed and goes on the hunt for the hypnotist who has disappeared. Thus starts a road-trip musical!
破壊の日「Hakai no Hi」
Release Date: July 24th, 2020
Duration: 57 mins.
Director: Toshiaki Toyoda
Writer: Toshiaki Toyoda (Script),
Starring: Kiyohiko Shibukawa, MahiToThePeople (of the band GEZAN in his debut film role), Issey Ogata, Yosuke Kubozuka, Ryuhei Matsuda, Itsuki Nagasawa, Shima Onishi, Misa Wada,
Toshiaki Toyoda (Blue Spring, Porno Star, The Miracle of Crybaby Shottan) teams up with loyal actors Kiyohiko Shibukawa (Porno Star) and Ryuhei Matsuda (The Miracle of Crybaby Shottan) along with MahiToThePeople (of the band GEZAN in his debut film role), Issey Ogata (Tony Takitani), and Yosuke Kubozuka (Giri/Haji), to make a “state of the nation” type of film which would have been released on the opening day of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games. Corruption and indifference are in the air and Toyoda exhorts people to stand up to it. A year on, the Olympics are still on the horizon and those factors are still in play and still making people in Japan sick.
You can read my review here.
Synopsis: After a mysterious monster is found deep in a rural coal mine, rumours of a plague spread across the country and people experience an unexplainable mental illnesses. A young Shugendo practitioner named Kenichi (MahiToThePeople) is determined to exorcise the monster in all of its forms.
旅のおわり世界のはじまり 「Tabi no Owari Sekai no Hajimari」
Release Date: June 14th, 2019
Duration: 120 mins.
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Writer: Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Screenplay),
Starring: Atsuko Maeda, Ryo Kase, Shota Sometani, Tokio Emoto, Adiz Rajabov,
Kiyoshi Kurosawa teams up with a great cast to make a movie which is a co-production between Japan and Uzbekistan to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. Two of the leading actors have worked in his films before, Atsuko Maeda being the lead in Seventh Code and having a supporting role in Before We Vanish, Shota Sometani having a supporting role in Real. It may seem like an odd mix of subject and performer but Kurosawa works some magic for a melodrama/musical/travelogue. I have to admit that I was crying at the end. You can read my review here.
Synopsis:Yoko (Atsuko Maeda) is a reporter for a TV variety program and her assignment is to host a series of segments of a travel programme at various place in Uzbekistan. This is a country that once flourished as the centre of the Silk Road but Yoko and her crew find a place that is alien and a people who are hard to understand. Things don’t quite go according to plan for Yoko and her crew and it turns into a slog. This is especially true for Yoko who is suffering from an existential crisis but, one day, drawn by a mysterious voice, Yoko departs from the company of her compatriots and loses herself in various aspects of the country. Doing this will help her find herself…
すばらしき世界 「Subarashiki Sekai」
Release Date: February 11th, 2021
Duration: 126 mins.
Director: Miwa Nishikawa
Writer: Miwa Nishikawa (Script), Ryuzo Saki (Original Novel)
Starring: Koji Yakusho, Taiga Nakano, Isao Hashizume, Meiko Kaji, Seiji Rokkaku, Masami Nagasawa, Narumi Yasuda, Yukiya Kitamura,
Under the Open Sky is the latest work from Miwa Nishikawa, one of Japan’s best directors. You may know her from Sway (2006) or Dear Doctor (2009). This is the first film she has directed that isn’t based on a novel or script written by herself. It is based on a novel by Ryuzo Saki named Mibuncho.
Synopsis: Masao Mikami (Koji Yakusho) has spent 13 years in prison for committing a murder while living the life of a yakuza. Upon his release, he struggles to re-integrate and even begins to think about his mother, from whom he was separated from as a child. However, he becomes connected with various people including a crew from a TV station who want to make a programme that shows his life.
よこがお 「Yokogao」
Release Date: July 26th, 2019
Duration: 111 mins.
Director: Koji Fukada
Writer: Koji Fukada, Kazumasa Yonemitsu (Screenplay),
Starring: Mariko Tsutsui, Mikako Ichikawa, Sosuke Ikematsu, Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Hisako Okata, Ren Sudo, Miyu Ogawa,
Koji Fukada’s is one of Japan’s rising auteurs. From his earliest works like Human Comedy Tokyo (2008) and Hospitalite (2010) to Au revoir l’ete (2013), Harmonium (2016) and The Real Thing (2019), what he does his peel back the layers of a person to reveal their true self.
That formula works well since Harmonium won the Prix du Jury in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. At the Tokyo International Film Festival 2019, he had an entire programme dedicated to him.
A Girl Missing stars Mariko Tsutsui who has been doing stellar work as seen in Jam (2018) and Antiporno (2016) and she returns here with a strong cast including Mikako Ichikawa (Rent-a-cat (2012)), Mitsuru Fukikoshi (Cold Fish (2011)) and two newbies both in NDJC 2019 films, Ren Sudo (Last Judgement) and Miyu Ogawa (Quiet Hide-and-Seek).
Synopsis: Ichiko (Mariko Tsutsui) is a visiting nurse who has earned the trust of her patients. She has been helping Motoko (Mikako Ichikawa) study for the purpose of becoming a care worker. Ichiko is the only person with whom Motoko is open with. One day, Motoko’s younger sister Saki (Miyu Ogawa) disappears. A week later Saki returns home unharmed, but the person arrested for her kidnapping is an unexpected person for Ichiko who is soon suspected of being involved in the abduction…
あのこは貴族 「Ano ko wa Kizoku」
Release Date: February 26th, 2021
Duration: 124 mins.
Director: Yukiko Sode
Writer: Yukiko Sode (Script), Mariko Yamauchi (Original Novel)
Starring: Mugi Kadowaki, Kiko Mizuhara, Kengo Kora, Shizuka Ishibashi, Rio Yamashita, Yukiko Shinohara, Kei Ishibashi,
Based on Mariko Yamauchi’s novel of the same name, Aristocrats follows two women with different lives who live in Tokyo.
Synopsis: Hanako Haibara (Mugi Kadowaki) is in her late twenties and is from a well-to-do background (perhaps cloistered) in Tokyo and is looking for a man to marry. After getting dumped by her boyfriend Koichiro (Kengo Kora), she questions her path in life. Meanwhile, Miki Tokioka (Kiko Mizuhara) is from a less affluent background. She came to Tokyo from Toyama prefecture and studied and worked hard to get to into a prestigious university and, after tough times where she questioned the meaning of everything, she now works at an IT company but is also uncertain about life. These two different women are brought together by Koichiro.
閉鎖病棟 「Heisa Byoutou」
Release Date: November 01st, 2019
Duration: 117 mins.
Director: Hideyuki Hirayama
Writer: Hideyuki Hirayama (Screenplay), Hosei Hahakigi (Novel)
Starring: Tsurube Shofukutei, Gou Ayano, Nana Komatsu, Ryota Bando, Yoshiyuki Morishita, Reiko Kataoka, Toshie Negishi, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Satomi Koabayashi,
Three great actors in an intriguing drama… Tsurube Shofukutei (Dear Doctor), Gou Ayano (The Light Shines Only There) and Nana Komatsu (The World of Kanako).
Synopsis: Hidemaru Kajiki (Tsurube Shofukutei), Chu-san (Gou Ayano) and high school student Yuki (Nana Komatsu) are patients at a psychiatric hospital in Nagano Prefecture. They each have a different reason to be there. For example Chu-san suffers from auditory hallucinations while Yuki refuses to go to her high school. They try to live positively but when a murder happens, one of them is accused…
Release Date: December 11th, 2020
Duration: 80 mins.
Director: Kaizo Hayashi
Writer: Kaizo Hayashi (Script),
Starring: Masatoshi Nagase, Shiro Sano, Hirohito Goto, Kazuhiko Kanayama, Kaito Yoshimura, Masami Horiuchi, Shima Ohnishi, Sarara Tsukifune,
An omnibus film where Masatoshi Nagase takes the lead role in each story.
Synopsis: Bolt
Following an earthquake, a bolt in a nuclear power plant comes loose and radioactive cooling water begins to leak from a pipe. A group of men volunteer to stop the leak by tightening the bolt.
Life
Two men go to a house in an area 20 kilometres away from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. It is in an area designated an evacuation zone, but an elderly person refused to leave and so when that person died, these two men were assigned to clear out their belongings.
Good Year
A woman who has abandoned her family on Christmas night travels to a factory where a man is creating something.
My Blood & Bones in a Flowing Galaxy 
砕け散るところを見せてあげる 「Kudakechiru Tokoro o Misete Ageru」
Release Date: April 09th, 2021
Duration: 127 mins.
Director: SABU
Writer: SABU (Script), Yuyuko Takemiya (Original Manga)
Starring: Taishi Nakagawa, Anna Ishii, Kai Inowaki, Kaya Kiyohara, Airi Matsui, Takumi Kitamura, Hana Kino, Tomoyo Harada, Akiko Yada, Shinichi Tsutsumi,
Synopsis: Kiyozumi Hamada (Taishi Nakagawa) is the golden boy in high school and a strong believer in justice. When he takes a bullied student named Hari Kuramoto (Anna Ishii) under his wing, the two grow closer but this drags Kiyozumi into a dangerous situation.
Release Date: January 24th, 2020
Duration: 127 mins.
Director: Rikiya Imaizumi
Writer: Atsushi Asada (Script)
Starring: Hio Miyazawa, Kisetsu Fujiwara, Sakura Sotomura, Wakana Matsumoto, Honoka Matsumoto,
Here’s an interview over at the Japan Times with lead actor Hio Miyazawa.
Synopsis: When Shun (Hio Miyazawa) went on a class trip to Enoshima as a high schooler, he met and fell in love with Nagisa (Kisetsu Fujiwara). Thus began a relationship that lasted all the way through to university when it ended after Nagisa told Shun that he didn’t see a future with them still being together. They decided to break up. 13 years later and Shun lives alone in the countryside but, one day, Nagisa shows up with his six-year-old daughter Sora (Sakura Sotomura). Shun is scared to come out as gay but after living a lonely life in the countryside, the presence of his ex and Sora brightens his life. However, difficulties arise as Nagisa and his ex-wife fight for custody of Sora…
サヨナラまでの30分 「Sayonara made no 30 pun」
Release Date: January 24th, 2020
Duration: 114 mins.
Director: Kentaro Hagiwara
Writer: Satomi Oshima (Script)
Starring: Mackenyu Arata, Takumi Kitamura, Sayu Kubota, Riho Makise, Yutaka Matsushige, Sho Kiyohara,
I had zero expectations of this drama other than it would be glossy. I was in floods of tears at the end. Some really compelling performances and a finely honed sentimental edge allowed this film to slice through my cynicism and end on an uplifting note.
Synopsis: Sota Kubota (Takumi Kitamura) is a shy and sullen university student who is about to step into the world of work. One day, he undergoes a most radical personality change when he picks up a cassette tape dropped by Aki Miyata (Mackenyu Arata), a confident musician who died a year ago. Thanks to this tape, Aki takes over Sota’s body and soon he becomes able to play a guitar in front of others. It turns out that Aki wants to reunite his band and see his former girlfriend Kana (Sayu Kubota). The only hitch is that the duration of the possession only lasts around 30 minutes and time begins to run short with each session…
ひとよ 「Hitoyo」
Release Date: November 08th, 2019
Duration: 123 mins.
Director: Kazuya Shiraishi
Writer: Izumi Takahashi (Screenplay),
Starring: Takeru Satoh, Ryohei Suzuki, Mayu Matsuoka, Yuko Tanaka, Kuranosuke Sasaki, Mariko Tsutsui, Hanae Kan, Megumi,
I was not a fan of this one (as explained in my review) but other people really appreciate it’s drama so maybe I was being too hard on it. That’s what I thought at first but after watching The Slug and Three Sisters, two Korean films that deal with similar subject matter…
Synopsis: Koharu (Yuko Tanaka), in an effort to protect her three children from their abusive father, murdered the man. It shattered their family and sent them on wildly different paths. 15 years later, the family reunites again, each bearing scars from their traumatic background…
ある町の高い煙突 「Aru machi no takai entotsu」
Release Date: June 22nd, 2019
Duration: 130 mins.
Director: Katsuya Matsumura
Writer: Katsuya Matsumura, Yoshinori Watanabe (Screenplay), Jiro Nitta (Original Novel)
Starring: Dai Watanabe, Asato Ide, Riria Kojima, Koji Kikkawa, Tatsuya Nakadai, Shinya Oowada, Ayako Kobayashi, Hiroyuki Watanabe,
This one can be streamed by viewers inside and outside Germany
Synopsis: A town in southern Ibaraki Prefecture finds itself deluged by pollution from the nearby factories owned by Hitachi Kozan, a lead manufacturer that started operating in the region in 1905. Smog and sulphur toxins clog the air and it is blamed for the crop failure and dangerous amounts of pollution that make the place unsafe. Things begin to change in 1910 when locals demanded that Hitachi do something. In comes a team of Hitachi’s engineers led by Junpei Kaya (Dai Watanabe) who works with the villagers, represented by Saburo (Asato Ide), the young grandson of the village elder (Tatsuya Nakadai). They supervise the building of what was then the tallest chimney in the world at 155.7 meters. On top of that a meteorological centre is built alongside the chimney to monitor the weather and wind, factors in controlling the amount of smoke released into the atmosphere. As a result, the once pollution-infested air cleared up dramatically and the chimney became a model for manufacturers across Japan.
記憶にございません！ 「Kioku no Gozaimasen」
Release Date: September 13th, 2019
Duration: 127 mins.
Director: Koki Mitani
Writer: Koki Mitani (Screenplay) Yutaka Kono (Novel)
Starring: Kiichi Nakai, Dean Fujioka, Yuriko Ishida, Koichi Sao, Yuki Saito, Yo Yoshida, Eiko Koike, Masao Kusakari, Yoshino Kimura,
Japan’s premiere comedy writer Koki Mitani comes up with a political comedy that stars solid actor Kiichi Nakai who is a regular player for Mitani’s works.
Synopsis: Keisuke Kuroda (Kiichi Nakai) is the most unpopular prime minister of Japan ever. During one of his speeches he is struck by a rock. After waking up in a hospital bed it becomes apparent that he has lost his memory. The only people aware that he has lost his memory are his secretaries. Not even his family and certainly nor the electorate knows. With all of his memories gone, he thinks about making changes to the country.
風の電話 「Kaze no Denwa」
Release Date: January 24th, 2020
Duration: 139 mins.
Director: Nobuhiro Suwa
Writer: Nobuhiro Suwa, Kyoko Inukai (Script)
Starring: Serena Motola, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Tomokazu Miura, Toshiyuki Nshida, Makiko Watanabe, Shoko Ikezu,
The review for this one at the Japan Times website makes the drama sound powerful. It was selected for last year’s Berlinale where it garnered a Special Mention as part of the Generation 14plus Competition.
Synopsis: Haru is 17 years old and has lived in Hiroshima with her aunt ever since losing her family in the Great East Japan Earthquake. When her aunt (Makiko Watanabe) falls ill, Haru is left with nobody to take care of her and so she decides to travel back to her hometown of Otsuchi in Iwate Prefecture. It is there she hears of the “Wind Telephone” It is a white phone booth with a disconnected black telephone inside. With it, the living can contact the dead. As Haru journeys to the phone, she encounters various people and discovers others who have lost something or someone…
楽園 「Rakuen」
Release Date: October 18th, 2019
Duration: 129 mins.
Director: Takahisa Zeze
Writer: Takahisa Zeze (Screenplay) Shuichi Yoshida (Novel)
Starring: Gou Ayano, Hana Sugisaki, Koichi Sato, Nijiro Murakami, Reiko Kataoka, Asuka Kurosawa, Shizuka Ishibashi, Toshie Negishi, Akira Emoto,
This is based on the short stories “Aota Y Jiro” and “Yorozuya Zenjiro” by Shuichi Yoshida. His novels are popular and have been adapted many times with Rage, The Ravine of Goodbye, The Story of Yonosuke, Villain, and Parade already getting the big screen treatment.
Synopsis: A little girl is kidnapped and the only witness, Tsumugi (Hana Sugisaki), is left traumatised. With the kidnapper never having been caught, paranoia runs high. 12 years later, a girl goes missing along the same road. Takeshi (Gou Ayano) is a lonely young man who sells recyclable products with his mother and he is suspected of the kidnapping. Fearing the situation, he flees.
One year later, another man named Zenjiro (Koichi Sato) is accused. He lives with his pet dog near the road where the two kidnapping cases took place but is he guilty? Horrifying revelations soon emerge from the case…
スペシャルアクターズ 「Supesharu Akuta-zu」
Release Date: October 18th, 2019
Duration: 109 mins.
Director: Shinichiro Ueda
Writer: Shinichiro Ueda (Screenplay)
Starring: Hiroki Kono, Takuya Fuji, Ayu Kitaura, Yosuke Ueda, Yaeko Kiyose,
Shinichiro Ueda, director of One Cut of the Dead, once again makes an ensemble comedy with a cast gathered from a workshop.
Synopsis: Kazuto is a timid young guy who prefers to stay indoors to watch the adventures of the psychic hero Rescueman instead of being stressed by going outside and dealing with people. He had wanted to be an actor but a certain medical condition that causes him to faint at the first sign of stress affects him. Despite this, thanks to his brother, he joins an acting agency where he takes on small roles such as being a stand-in at a funeral. The stakes are raised when he ends up being recruited for a real life drama when a young woman named Yumi asks for help from the Special Actors to save her family’s inn from being sold to a brainwashing cult. The Special Actors devise a complex plan that depends upon Kazuto…
凪待ち 「Nagi Machi」
Release Date: June 28th, 2019
Duration: 124 mins.
Director: Kazuya Shiraishi
Writer: Masato Kato (Screenplay), Katsuhisa Minami (Original Story)
Starring: Shingo Katori, Yuri Tsunematsu, Naomi Nishida, Ken Yoshizawa, Takuma Otoo, Lily Franky,
From the director of The Blood of Wolves, Twisted Justice and The Devil’s Path comes this bleak-looking thriller.
Synopsis: A man named Ikuo (Shingo Katori) spends his days drinking and gambling. When his debts become too much, he is forced to move with his partner Minami (Yuri Tsunematsu) and her daughter to her hometown of Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture. Things get back on track after Minami opens up a beauty salon and Ikuo becomes a fisherman. It seems like happiness is within reach for the three but things begin to happen as her ex-husband comes back on the scene and Ikuo gets mixed up with more bad characters. Then Minami dies…
台風家族 「Taifu Kazoku」
Release Date: September 06th, 2019
Duration: 108 mins.
Director: Masahide Ichii
Writer: Masahide Ichii (Screenplay) Yutaka Kono (Novel)
Starring: Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Megumi, Machiko Ono, Erika Osanai, Tatsuya Fuji, Rumi Sakakibara,
Synopsis: The Suzuki family name fell into disrepute when parents Mitsuko Suzuki (Rumi Sakakibara) and Ittetsu (Tatsuya Fuji) robbed a bank. Their kids, eldest child Kotetsu (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi), second child Kyosuke (Hirofumi Arai), third child Rena (Megumi) and youngest child Chihiro (Tomoya Nakamura), found their lives derailed and dreams cancelled as they are shunned around town. Ten years later, and with no sign of their parents ever coming back, the children gather in order to hold their parents’ imaginary funeral and divide their property. Rivalries emerge…
戦慄せしめよ 「Senritsu seshimeyo」
Release Date: N/A
Duration: 89 mins.
Director: Toshiaki Toyoda
Writer: N/A
Starring: Kiyohiko Shibukawa,
Available to stream everywhere except Japan
Synopsis: Filmmaker Toshiaki Toyoda recorded the collaboration between composer Koshiro Hino and Taiko ensemble Kodo over the course of one month on the small island of Sado. The powerful performance of drumming combined with shots of the snow-clad nature surrounding them created a unique film that was released on the internet earlier this year.
脳天パラダイス 「Noten Paradaisu」
Release Date: November 20th, 2020
Duration: 97 mins.
Director: Masashi Yamamoto
Writer: Suzuyuki Kaneko, Masashi Yamamoto (Script),
Starring: Kaho Minami, Seiko Ito, Soran Tamoto, Mayu Ozawa, Kentaro Okochi, Akira Emoto, Jun Murakami, Hyunri, Arata Furuta,
This one can be streamed by viewers inside and outside Germany
Synopsis: Due to his bankruptcy, Shuji Sasaya (Seiko Ito) and his family are facing having to give up their large mansion on the outskirts of Tokyo. This throws the family into a spin. His daughter, Akane (Mayu Ozawa), writes on Twitter, “Let’s have a party today at my place. Anyone can come!!” In the blink of an eye, a mob of people descend on the place including Shuji’s ex-wife Akiko (Kaho Minami), a gay couple looking for a wedding venue, elementary school students who want to rent a shower, two men cultivating suspicious plants, and others who want to have a wedding, a funeral and even a festival at the mansion. Obviously, chaos ensues…
More information on the complete program is available on the festival homepage: NipponConnection.com
Previous coverage of Nippon Connection:
Nippon Connection 2017 Anime Shorts Features Documentaries Preview Roman Porno
Nippon Connection 2020 Nippon Connection highlights, Nippon Visions, Nippon Cinema, Nippon Docs, Nippon Animation
Genkinahito 
Some interesting titles in that line-up, shame they region block most of them… 😦
Indeed! DANCE WITH ME was a LOT of fun!
And guess what I just found on KissAsian? 😉 😀
I enjoyed the film a lot. I hope you do, too.