While the Women are Sleeping 女が眠る時 (2016) Director: Wayne Wang

While the Women are Sleeping     

While the Women are Sleeping Film Poster

女が眠る時 「Onna ga Nemuru Toki」　

Release Date: February 27th, 2016

Duration: 103 mins.

Director: Wayne Wang

Writer: Michael Ray, Lee Shin-ho, Mami Sunada (Screenplay) Javier Marias (Original Story)

Starring: Takeshi Kitano, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Sayuri Oyamada, Lily Franky, Shioli Kutsuna, Makiko Watanabe, Hirofumi Arai,

Website IMDB

An undercooked psycho-sexual thriller, While the Women are Sleeping wastes a stellar cast – Hidetoshi Nishijima (License to Live), Takeshi Kitano (Hana-bi), Lily Franky (Like Father, Like Son), Makiko Watanabe (Love Exposure) – on a poor story.

We are at a posh holiday resort on the Izu Peninsula with unhappily married couple Kenji (Hidetoshi Nishijima), an author, and Aya (Sayuri Oyamada), a book editor.

They are spending a week at the hotel over the summer. It is a bit of work and play, as she disappears during the day to coach an author while Kenji is left to his own devices and flip-flops between procrastination and wading through writer’s block. Although picture perfect together, marital strain is apparent as they snipe at each other over him skimping on sex and whether he should write or start life over as a salaryman. Things go really off the rails when they encounter a strange couple amongst the other guests.

Shin Ultraman シン・ウルトラマン (2022) Director: Shinji Higuchi [New York Asian Film Festival 2022]

Shin Ultraman   

シン・ウルトラマン 「Shin Urutoraman」

Release Date: May 13th, 2022

Duration: 112 mins.

Director: Shinji Higuchi

Writer: Hideaki Anno (Script), 

Starring: Takumi Saito, Masami Nagasawa, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Soko Wada, Daiki Arioka, Akari Hayami,

Website IMDB

Saturday Jul 23, 1:00pm

Film at Lincoln Center

Director Shinji Higuchi and Producer Tomoya Nishino will attend the screening.

Full disclosure, I am not a tokusatsu fan and I am lukewarm when it comes to kaiju eiga. Despite the lack of enthusiasm, I loved Shin Godzilla and so when news dropped that Ultraman, Japan’s biggest tokusatsu-vs.-kaiju series was getting a revival courtesy of Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi, the duo behind Shin Godzilla, I was intrigued enough to watch it. I wasn’t disappointed.

The film kicks off with a big bang as we are thrown into a the middle of a series of kaiju attacks on Japan delivered by a machine-gun montage of various mammoth monsters mashing their surroundings accompanied by expressive exposition-heavy on-screen text that gives us the lowdown on the creatures, the Japanese government’s response, and introduces the S-Class Species Suppression Protocol Enforcement Unit – or SSSP team – we will be following who are formed to exterminate these extra-terrestrial enemies.

Led on the field by the unflappable Captain Kimio Tamura (Hidetoshi Nishijima), their number consists of super-sexy sardonic strategic planner Shinji Kaminaga (Takumi Saitoh), nerdy megane-wearing biologist Yumi Funaberi (Akari Hayami), and scruffy-haired sci-fi otaku unparticle physicist Akihisa Taki (Daiki Arioka). Working hand-in-hand with the Japanese Self-Defence Forces, they tackle towering titans of mass destruction. Creepy-crawly-esque or lizard-like in design, these creatures exhibit different attacks which the SSSP team analyse and neutralise. 

Creepy クリーピー 偽りの隣人 Dir: Kiyoshi Kurosawa (2016)

Creepy       

Creepy Film Poster

クリーピー 偽りの隣人 「Kuri-pi- Itsuwari no Rinjin」　

Running Time: 130 mins.

Release Date: June 13th, 2016

Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Writer: Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Chihiro Ikeda (Screenplay), Yutaka Maekawa (Original Novel)

Starring:  Hidetoshi Nishijima, Teruyuki Kagawa, Yuko Takeuchi, Masahiro Higashide, Haruna Kawaguchi, Ryoko Fujino, Toru Baba, Misaki Saisho,

Website IMDB

I have been sitting on this film review for nearly two years. Due to the tragic death of Yuko Takeuchi, I have released it in her honour. This film is available to view for free on Amazon Prime in Japan and the UK, so please take the time to watch it and see Yuko Takeuchi in action.

Kiyoshi Kurosawa has crafted some chilling antagonists in his horror films, all based on original scripts. The amoral magnetism of the mesmerist Mamiya from Cure and the ghosts of Pulse are some of the most memorable, but they were just the symptom and not the cause of the main character’s true conflicts. Alienation caused by society was at fault for channelling these monsters into everyday settings. This sense of disconnection is something Kurosawa masterfully utilised in the family drama Tokyo Sonata where a patriarch and his clan lose their cohesion after he loses his job and the family each reformulate their sense of place in the world. With family time made unbearable by the barely suppressed anger and disappointment each character feels, it strikes a very realistic chord whilst being scary like much of Kurosawa’s horror output. Creepy is based on a book by Yutaka Maekawa and while Kurosawa may not have scripted the antagonist, he is one of his most odious bad guys yet.

“He gave me the creeps.”

Ex-detective Koichi Takakura (Hidetoshi Nishijima) quits the Tokyo police force after a psychopath almost kills him. He ups roots and moves with his wife Yasuko (Yuko Takeuchi) to the suburbs and takes up work as a university lecturer in criminal psychology. Their new life seems stable enough. He thinks his job is fun, she is busy as a housewife and their new house seems pleasant but things turn sour when they introduce themselves to their next door neighbours. One set, the Tanakas’, aren’t interested in getting to know them and then there is Mr. Nishino (Teruyuki Kagawa) who seems to hide his wife and daughter Mio (Ryoko Fujino) from the outside world.

Penguin Highway ペンギン・ハイウェイ Dir: Hiroyasu Ishida (2018) [Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival 2019]

Penguin Highway      

ペンギン・ハイウェイ 「Pengin Haiuei」

Release Date: August 17th, 2018

Running Time: 119 mins.

Director: Hiroyasu Ishida

Writer: Makoto Ueda (Screenplay), Tomihiko Morimi (Original Script)

Starring: Kana Kita (Aoyama), Yuu Aoi (Mysterious Lady), Hidetoshi Nishijima (Aoyama’s Father), Megumi Han (Hamamoto), Naoto Takenaka (Hamamoto’s Father),

Animation Production: Studio Colorido

Website  ANN  MAL

Ten years since his three-minute student short film Fumiko’s Confession brought him to worldwide attention, Hiroyasu Ishida has taken the helm of his first feature, Penguin Highway, for Studio Colorido. A little more calm and controlled than his manic and comedic debut, what remains the same is his knack for telling a tale from a kid’s perspective and with a lot of heart.

Based on a same-named book by Tomihiko Morimi, the story takes a child’s-eye view of the world by following the adventures of Aoyama and his coterie of friends who live in a quiet suburban town. These bright and bubbly kids are charmers as they all display cute foibles while getting lost in their everyday squabbles and learning more about their world in a laid-back summertime atmosphere. Things take a turn for the fantastical as penguins start popping up everywhere without warning.

Su-ki-da 「好きだ,」(2006) Dir: Hiroshi Ishikawa (4/5)

I recently landed a role as contributor to V-Cinema and I have reviewed a number of films for the website. I have been something of a fan and enjoyed listening to their podcasts when they have covered Japanese cinema so I’m pretty excited to be a part of the team and helping to highlight Japanese cinema. Writing reviews is something I enjoy doing and I hope people enjoy reading my reviews!

My second review for V-cinema was for the film Su-ki-da which is the second film from Hiroshi Ishikawa. It’s an improvement on the first film and has a great performance from Aoi Miyazaki. Ishikawa makes a slightly more conventional film in the shape of a romance but with Ishikawa’s long game way of storytelling. I’m going to write about all three of Ishikawa’s films. This is just a snippet of the review with images and links to a little research. The full review can be found through a link at the bottom just before a bunch of images:

Tokyo.Sora 「Tokyo.Sora」(2002) Dir: Hiroshi Ishikawa (3.5/5)

I recently landed a role as contributor to V-Cinema and I have reviewed a number of films for the website. I have been something of a fan and enjoyed listening to their podcasts when they have covered Japanese cinema so I’m pretty excited to be a part of the team and helping to highlight Japanese cinema. Writing reviews is something I enjoy doing and I hope people enjoy reading my reviews!

My first review for V-Cinema is of Tokyo.Sora, a film from Hiroshi Ishihara. He has three films under his belt and this is his debut. This is just a snippet of the review with images and links to a little research. The full review can be found through a link at the bottom:

Tokyo.Sora   

Tokyo Sora Film Poster

Tokyo.Sora「Tokyo.Sora」

Release Date: October 29^th, 2002

Running Time: 127 mins.

Director: Hiroshi Ishikawa

Writer: Hiroshi Ishikawa

Starring: Yuka Itaya, Haruka Igawa, Manami Honjou, Ayano Nakamura, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Sun Cheng-Hwa, Keishi Nagatsuka,

IMDB

Hiroshi Ishikawa has had a long career in filmmaking but only has a few features films to his name. His work as a TV commercial and music video director stands in stark contrast to the slow moving dramas he writes and directs where not a lot is said out loud and the audience is expected to tease out just what is going on from the accretion of detail in slow-paced films. From this, his debut, to his more current film, the world of his characters inhabit is a very lonely place.

Dolls ドールズ (2002)

Dolls   

ドールズ 「Do-ruzu」

Release Date:  2002 (Japan)

UK Release Date: March 14^th, 2016

UK Distributor: Third Window Films

Running Time: 114 mins.

Director: Takeshi Kitano

Writer: Takeshi Kitano (Screenplay),

Starring: Miho Kanno, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Tatsuya Mihashi, Chieko Matsubara, Kyoko Fukada, Kanji Tsuda, Kayoko Kishimoto, Ren Osugi, Yuko Daike,

IMDB

Dolls is a beautiful film about love, love that is betrayed and love that is lost and regained. It is a gorgeous film visually and aurally, absolutely stunning at points.

Third Window Films Release Takeshi Kitano’s Dolls on Blu-ray on March 14th

Third Window Films are releasing a series of films by Takeshi Kitano on Blu-ray as Office Kitano updates the titles with 2K masters. Regular readers will know that I have reviewed Hana-bi and Kikujiro and next Monday I hope to review the latest film to get a release in the series, Dolls.

I was in high school when this was released and I must admit to being turned off by the obvious artiness of it, which isn’t to say that it’s bad so much as my taste ran more to his more violent gangster films. When I was in university I came to love his more sedate films like A Scene at the Sea and Kids Return. Like those two films, Dolls doesn’t feature Kitano acting on screen and it features a score by Joe Hisaishi (his last collaboration with Kitano). I suppose now is a great time to see how far my views have changed since it’s getting a release on March 14^th!

Here’s some info from a press release!

Maison de Himiko 「メゾン・ド・ヒミコ」2005

La Maison de Himiko    

メゾン・ド・ヒミコ「Mezon do Himiko」

Release Date: August 27^th, 2005

Running Time: 131 mins.

Director: Isshin Inudo

Writer: Aya Watanabe (Screenplay),

Starring:  Kou Shibasaki, Joe Odagiri, Min Tanaka, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Hiroki Murakami, Hirokazu Inoue, Chiharu Muraishi, Kira Aoyama, Hiroshi Okochi, Shinichi Hatori,

Website IMDB

La Maison de Himiko is the title of the film and the name of the retirement home, for gay men, which is at the centre of the narrative. It is a place where people are open and accepting of others when the outside world can be judgemental and sometimes cruel and it is the place where one young woman finds herself coming to terms with the darkest of emotions that have hampered her life.

Shindo (Wonder Child) 神童 (2007)

Shindo (Wonder Child)      

Shindo Film Poster

Japanese Title:  神童

Romaji: Shindou

Release Date: April 21^st, 2007

Running Time: 120 mins.

Director: Koji Hagiuda

Writer: Kosuke Mukai (Screenplay),

Starring: Riko Narumi, Kenichi Matsuyama, Satomi Tezuka, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Tamae Ando, Masahiro Komoto, Shihori Kanjiya, Akira Emoto,

Japanese cinema has a unique category of film known as seishun eiga (youth films or coming-of-age films). These are a pretty common in Japan because many are made to serve as a star-vehicle for some young up and coming talent. Shindo stands out by taking the audience into the world of its main protagonist and lets us experience things as she does.

Shindo can translate into genius or prodigy and the prodigy here is Uta Naruse (Riko Narumi). Her name means song and she is a musical prodigy, a gifted pianist. She could read sheet music before she could speak and can play complex pieces from memory.