A mixed week in movie terms. Himizu flopped on its opening weekend leading Third Window Films to suspend future theatrical releases. It didn’t deserve to happen because it’s a brilliant film. Seriously, everybody needs to support labels like Third Window Films, Terracotta, Masters of Cinema, Artificial Eye so they keep releasing great gilms. In other news I started my Korean movie season and reviewed Arirang which was interesting but the best high? I went to see Prometheus yesterday and I absolutely loved it. Speaking as a fan of the Alien franchise I loved it. Sir Ridley Scott has delivered another classic – anybody who disagrees is wrong.
What do the Japanese movie box-office charts look like?
- Men in Black III
- Thermae Romae
- Dark Shadows
- The Final Judgement
- Girls for Keeps
Will Smith proves he is still a global superstar but Thermae Romae is still in the top five! After dropping to number three last week it clawed its way back up to two. Nikkatsu’s The Final Judgement enters at four while Black Dawn entered at seven. What Japanese films get released today?
Signal – Monday’s Ruka 
Romaji: Sigunaru ~ Getsuyobi no Ruka
Japanese Title: シグナル月曜日のルカ
Release Date: 09th June 2012 (Japan)
Running Time: 112 mins.
Director: Masaaki Taniguchi
Writer: Hirotoshi Kobayashi, Yoshinobu Kamo,Hisashi Sekiguchi (original novel),
Starring: Azusa Mine, Takahiro Nishijima, Kengo Kora, Ken Utsui, Shunya Shiraishi, Yurie Midori
A mystery/romance film based on Hisashi Sekiguchi’s novel of the same name the lead role is taken by a new face in the form of Azusa Mine while Takahiro Nishijima (Love Exposure, Himizu) provides the male romantic lead. Other big names include Kengo Kora (Norwegian Wood), and Yurie Midori (GANTZ).
Ruka (Mine) is a young woman who has not left the theatre where she has worked as a projectionist for the last few years. This is set to change when university student Keisuke (Nishijima) arrives to work at the cinema oer summer and becomes attracted to Ruka.
Genkinahito 