The House of the Lost on the Cape, Chotto Kita-chousen made itte kuru ken., Hana no Sumika, Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya – Licht Nameless Girl, Earwig and the Witch (Movie Version) Japanese Film Trailers

Happy Weekend!

I hope you are well.

This week I posted about the Venice and Toronto International Film Festivals and one other trailer post.

What else was released this weekend?

My Sorry Life, The Method of Repulsing the Dove, Yume handan, soshite kyoufu taiken e, When I Was Called by a Former Man it Was a Different Dimensional Space, Planet Prince 2021, Zero-One Others: Kamen Rider Vulcan & Valkyrie Japanese Film Trailers

Happy Weekend!

I hope you are well.

This is part one of a two-part trailer post.

What is released this weekend?

Japanese Films at the Toronto International Film Festival 2021 (September 09th-18th)

This year’s Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 09th to the 18th and they have announced their programme which consists of 100 films. This is a hybrid event with in-person and online screenings. Take a look!

Japanese Films at the Venice International Film Festival 2021 (September 01st to September 11th)

The Venice International Film Festival is going to take place from September 01st to September 11th. There are two films programmed!

Arano, BanG Dream! FILM LIVE 2nd Stage, A Girl on the Shore, Gekijouban Kiniro Mosaic Thank You!!, Miruku no Kevin THE MOVIE, Kaidan Shin-mimibukuro G-Men Last Tour Japanese Film Trailers

Happy Weekend, Again.

I hope you are well.

This is a follow-up to yesterday’s trailer post. Six more trailers!

What else is released this weekend?

Ninja Girl, Drive My Car, Last of the Wolves, One Summer Story, Kaguya-sama: Love is War Final, Inori Maboroshi ni Nagasaki o Omou Koku (Toki) Japanese Film Trailers

Happy Weekend.

©2021 “Jigoku-No-Hanazono”Film Partners

I hope you are doing well.

This is the first of a two-part trailer post. I’m still a bit ill but hoping that I am on the path to recovery. I slowed down with my reviews this week and only did I Don’t Fire Myself and then wrote some articles providing festival coverage, one for Japan Cuts and the other for the Edinburgh International Film Festival. I also wrote a review for Jigoku no Hanazono: Office Royale. I also took part in a Heroic Purgatory podcast recording covering the classic 1995 cyberpunk anime Ghost in the Shell, which, to me, is a perfect film.

What is released this weekend?

Japanese Films at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2021

The Edinburgh International Film Festival takes place from the 18th to the 25th of August and there is one Japanese film there. 

I Don’t Fire Myself 나는 나를 해고하지 않는다 Director: Lee Tae-Gyeom (2021) [New York Asian Film Festival 2021]

I Don’t Fire Myself   

나는 나를 해고하지 않는다 「Na-neun Na-reul Hae-go-ha-ji Ahn-neun-da」

Release Date: January 28th, 2021

Duration: 110 mins.

Director: Lee Tae-Gyeom

Writer: Lee Tae-Gyeom, Kim Ja-en, (Script),

Starring: Yoo Da-In (Jung-Eun), Oh Jung-Se (Seo Choong-Sik),

IMDB

I Don’t Fire Myself is a slow-burn drama depicting resistance against corporate exploitation. It does this through the journey, both mental and physical, of lead character Jeong-eun (Yoo Da-in), a technical administrator whose bosses, in an attempt to make her quit work, force her join a subcontracting company located in the middle of nowhere with the proviso is that if she can stick out her year-long exile she can return to her original job. It will be tough because the tasks Jeong-eun will have to do are a far cry from the admin she specialised in as she joins a team of four rough-and-ready guys in scaling and maintaining pylons along a coastal landscape.

Getting off to an atmospheric start, we see Jeong-eun’s descent from the city to the outer edges of civilisation via a long drive along country roads. Her fancy car and business attire mark her as an outsider to the small-town folk she meets, especially her new colleagues who ride out to work with dirty and battered boots, coveralls, harnesses, hardhats, and ropes while she remains behind to do paperwork in the company’s small office.

The story then moves forward with a depiction of her attempts at getting to know the guys, the economic troubles of their company, and getting past prejudice as she grows into her new role. Resistance to her presence is more complicated than her being a woman, for she is an outsider foisted upon this tight-knit group of men when they are in a dire financial situation. That, and she is relatively untested in the art of pylon climbing. Even if she can cope with the work, someone on the team will lose their job because Jeong-eun’s salary has to be paid from their dwindling budget.

A Preview of Japan Cuts 2021 (August 20th – September 02nd)

Japan Cuts runs from August 20th-September 2nd for its 2021 edition. It is a hybrid event with in-person screenings and online screenings via a virtual cinema. There are 8 features that will be screened in a theatre and 21 features and 12 shorts that will screened online across 14 days.

The selection is good as it covers indie and studio features, shorts, both live-action and animated, and a grip of modern classics. This highlight has been split up into the following sections with each of the films and their details. I hope it will help people decide what they want to see:

 In Theatre | Experimental Spotlight | Documentary Focus |Feature Films | Shorts | Classics | Next Generation

Last of the Wolves 孤狼の血 LEVEL2 Director: Kazuya Shiraishi (2021) [New York Asian Film Festival 2021]

Last of the Wolves   

孤狼の血 LEVEL2   「Korou no Chi Level 2」

Release Date: August 20th 2021

Duration: 139 mins.

Director: Kazuya Shiraishi

Writer: Junya Ikegami (Script), Yuko Yuzuki (Original Novel)

Starring: Tori Matsuzaka, Ryohei Suzuki, Nijiro Murakami, Nanase Nishino, Taichi Saotome, Takumi Saito, Kotaro Yoshida, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Miwako Kakei, Susumu Terajima, Hiroki Miyake,

Website IMDB

The Last of the Wolves is director Kazuya Shiraishi’s sequel to Blood of the Wolves, his well-received 2018 yakuza film. With his latest work, he returns to the crime world of Yuko Yuzuki’s novel trilogy but only going as far as taking key elements and characters as scriptwriter Junya Ikegami concocts a brand new story that provides thrills and spills perfect for a gangster film.

Set three years after the bloody climax of The Blood of Wolves, detective Shuichi Hioka (Tori Matsuzaka) has stepped up into his former partner’s position to implement a plan to control the local yakuza and prevent further gang wars in Kurehara and Hiroshima. This delicate balance of power is upset by a vicious gangster named Uebayashi (Ryohei Suzuki) who is back on the streets following time in the infamous Abashiri Prison. He is looking to avenge a gang boss slain in the previous film and that sets him on a collision course with Hioka. Along the way, many people will get hurt.