Kamakura is one of the old capitals of Japan and the most magical place in the country according to Destiny: The Tale of Kamakura. In this CG-heavy adventure, a young woman discovers her new husband’s titular home town is where the borders between life, death, fairytale and reality are blurred as she and her beloved embark on a magical fantasy adventure.
You can never truly know another person, the old existentialist saying goes. It’s not necessarily that people hide various aspects of their character and history, it’s also that people change all of the time. With that in mind, Daihachi Yoshida’s movies dwell in that gap between the fixed persona and the shadows his characters hide and we see the sometimes hilarious, sometimes tragic actions that barely repressed desires and fears make people perform. The Kirishima Thing looked at the politics of high school life with longed-for and thwarted romances between members of various cliques while Pale Moon looked at the weight of expectation from society through the tale of a normal woman and her desire to escape into fantasy in order to feel desired. They all operate with varying tones of drama and comedy and it is much the same in The Scythian Lamb where tight-knit community is asked to accept a group of outsiders with troublesome pasts and hidden intentions.
The psychological thriller manga Museum is getting a live-action adaptation. I wrote about it back in November last year and had a search for the manga but couldn’t find it. A teaser trailer came out in June and I tweeted about it but I want to blog about it because it looks good. Japan has seen a spate of gritty films recently but the teaser suggests this one has the atmosphere while the people in front of and behind the camera promise that this is going to be decent at the very least. Just look!
There is a woman who roams a riverbank in a contemporary Japanese city. She pulls a cart which has a selection of cats in the back. This is actually part of her business. As she moves at a leisurely pace she calls out to people through a megaphone with simple slogans and questions to attract the right customers:
“Rent-a-cat. Rent-aaaaaaaaaa-cat. Feeling lonely? I’ll lend you a cat.”
Today is a big day in Japan. Sadako 3D is released and you can bet that it’s going to dominate the Japanese charts for the next few weeks which is only to be expected but I hope that other films get a look in. By other films I mean Rent a Cat. Totally at the other end of the movie spectrum, ever since this indie film debuted at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year it has interested me.
Detective Conan: The Mystery of the Eleventh Striker
Kamen Rider X Super Sentai Super Hero Taisen
We Were Here: Part 2
Last week’s newest release, Space Brothers, managed to get in at number two but was held off the top spot by Thermae Romae, another manga adaptation which is spending the second week at number one. Chronicle of my Mother dropped down two places to number 7 with SPEC: The Movie at 8 while Home remains at number ten. There’s only one American film in the top ten but since it stars Tadanobu Asano it’s not totally unreasonable.
I first saw this title when I wrote my post rounding-up the Japanese films at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival where it garnered glowing reviews. Now that its Japanese release is here more critics have heaped praise on the film. I hope that someone in the UK picks it up for distribution. It stars Mikako Ichikawa (Memories of Matsuko) and Ken Mitsuishi (Himizu).
Sayoko (Ichikawa) walks along a river daily with a cart full of cats. Why? Well she rents cats to lonely people. Unfortunately Sayoko is lonely herself and finds it easier to deal with cats than people but things get interesting when a face (Tanaka) from her past turns up.
I first saw this title when I wrote my posts rounding-up the Japanese films at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival. Unfortunately there was no trailer available until now. It stars Mikako Ichikawa (Memories of Matsuko) and Ken Mitsuishi (Himizu) and Kei Tanaka (Tajomaru). This looks like a genuinely charming title and I hope it gets a release in the UK.
Sayoko (Ichikawa) walks along a river daily with a cart full of cats. Why? Well she rents cats to lonely people. Unfortunately Sayoko is lonely herself and finds it easier to deal with cats than people but things get interesting when a face from her past (Tanaka) turns up.
