I’m careening from one thing to another. I started the week writing aboutthe Udine and Cannes film festivals before posting a news article and interview with the curator of a season of documentary films made by Kazuo Hara/Sachiko Kobayashi which are available to stream in North America via Japan Society. I’ll be reviewing these films over the next week. I also posted trailers yesterday.
This week I watched Assault on Precinct 13, Ronin, and the first half of Psycho-Pass Season 3. I also watched the Hara/Kobayashi films Goodbye CP and Extreme Private Eros: Love Song 1984.
The first film was highly enjoyable up until the extended (and overly long) finale and I felt that it captured the manga perfectly. The trailer indicates that the stunts and action have grown even more grandiose!
Synopsis:Akira Sato (Junichi Okada) is the legendary killer known as The Fable. He is continuing to keep a low profile in Osaka with his partner Yoko (Fumino Kimura) as they pretend to be ordinary siblings. He maintains his part-time job at a design company called Octopus where his boss, Takoda (Jiro Sato), and colleague/love interest, Misaki (Mizuki Yamamoto), are unaware of his hidden life of assassinations. The team at Octopus become the target of extortion when a seemingly innocent NPO run by a seemingly nice guy named Utsubo (Shinichi Tsutsumi) brings in a contract killer Suzuki (Masanobu Ando) to get money out of them. Akira must step in and use his skills.
Who is the funniest man in comedy and why is it Stephen Chow circa the 1990s? pic.twitter.com/s0tNKUZYz5
— Heroic Purgatory: An Asian Cinema Podcast (@HeroicPurgatory) June 3, 2021
I hope you are all doing well.
I only published one film review this week, Mrs. Noisy, which I highly recommend watching. There were two films released at the start of the week which I posted about. On Sunday last week I took part in a Heroic Purgatory podcast recording of a Stephen Chow film from the 90s.
What are the next batch of films released this weekend?
Two films are released today in Japan: Kakegurui the Movie: Zettai Zetsumei Russian Roulette had its premiere back in April but a general release was pushed back to now due to the Japanese government imposing a state of emergency which, first, closed many cinemas, and then placed cinemas under reduced opening hours.
The second film released today looks like an interesting indie that draws upon the Covid-19 pandemic as material. While everyone and everything felt the impact of the pandemic, women were particularly affected by job cuts and domestic violence which saw a spike and a resultant rise in the suicide rate amongst females. Child abuse also rose during this period. It was a dynamic seen globally but this is among the first films to directly draw upon it for a story. You can read a little more about the issue here.
This is the follow-up to yesterday’s trailer post. Not much news from me other than I will be recording another episode of Heroic Purgatory tonight! It’ll cover a Hong Kong comedy via Stephen Chow!
The state of emergency in Japan continues to grind on as the government struggles to control Covid-19. It has been extended until the end of June. Rules have been relaxed for some business and cinemas will be able to open but with reduced hours.
Looks like all the efforts have gotten the word 映画館 in main news headlines. 👏 Under the extended emerg. declaration (June 1-20) Tokyo cinemas will be allowed to operate under shorter hours rather than be shut altogether 👏 👏 https://t.co/AvTzY36NH9
I watched the films And Soon the Darkness, Natural Born Killers, Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwelllers, and Takeshi Kitano’s A Scene at the Sea and Kids Return. The Heroic Purgatory podcast also launched its latest episode which is dedicated to Kitano’s HANA-BI. I had fun revisiting the director’s works and interesting talking about interpretations.
What is released this weekend? This is a two-part trailer post so come back tomorrow for more!
This post is an offshoot from the one published earlier this week and it focuses on all of the documentaries that will be screened. Most of these documentaries are restricted to Germany but two are available for many territories worldwide. Check the descriptions.
The documentary films in this year’s NIPPON DOCS section offer insights into various topics: sports and cults, ways of living and the desperate desire to live free. The film are done with different formal approaches, from experimental narrations, ethnographies, and political diatribes caught on hidden cameras. They interconnect with cautious biographical observations to paint a picture of contemporary Japan. All films in this section are eligible for the NIPPON DOCS AWARD.
