Quirky Guys and Gals サビ男サビ女 (2011)

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Quirky Guys and Gals Basic InformationQuirky Guys and Gals is a production from New Cinema Workshop where students learning to be producers handle making movies. With this production they give four directors a story outline to work with which results in four entirely different comic vignettes peeking at dark topics and celebrating the overcoming of accepted social boundaries through the unlocking of a quirky side. It could have been painfully unfunny but succeeds at being very amusing and original in most sections.

Quirky Guys and Gals (Sabi Otoko, Sabi Onna) ties together four stories of people searching for a spark in their lives. Yosuke Fujita (Fine, Totally Fine) leads off with “Cheer Girls,” an entertaining tale of a woman (Nanami Sakuraba) whose passion is to lead cheers—though not for sports teams. Rather, she finds common people and creates anthems to encourage them in everyday life. Tomoko Matsunashi’s “Boy? Meets Girl,” is a Tootsie remake in a high-school setting. Mipo O’s “Claim Night” sees the 30-something Mayuko (Tomochika) return home to find the electricity in her apartment turned off, yet when she finally gets a repairman to come over, their over-the-top confrontation gives rise to a wildly comedic situation. Lastly, Gen Sekiguchi (Survive Style 5+) offers up “The House Full of ‘Abandoned’ Businessmen” a quaint tale of a housewife who collects out-of-work salarymen to try and give them a fresh start.

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Quirky Guys and Gals UK DVD

Third Window Films have announced that they are going to release Quirky Guys and Gals on the 3rd of October 2011. This is an anthology film from some interesting directors including Yosuke Fujita (Fine, Totally Fine) and Gen Sekiguchi who was the genius behind Survive Style 5+ a particular favourite of mine.

 

Quirky Guys and Gals

UK Release Date: 3rd of October 2011

Running time: 91 mins

Certificate: 12

Directors: Yosuke Fujita (Fine, Totally Fine), Gen Sekiguchi (Survive Style 5), Mipo O, Tomoko Matsunashi.

Starring: Kyoko Koizumi (Tokyo Sonata, Sakuran), YosiYosi Arakawa (Tokyo!, Kamikaze Girls), Keisuke Horibe (Love Exposure, Tokyo Gore Police), Yoshiyuki Morishita (Juon: The Grudge, Turtles are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers, Fireworks)

Synopsis

Quirky Guys and Gals (Sabi Otoko, Sabi Onna) ties together four stories of people searching for a spark in their lives. Yosuke Fujita (Fine, Totally Fine) leads off with “Cheer Girls,” an entertaining tale of a woman (Nanami Sakuraba) whose passion is to lead cheers—though not for sports teams. Rather, she finds common people and creates anthems to encourage them in everyday life. Tomoko Matsunashi’s “Boy? Meets Girl,” is a Tootsie remake in a high-school setting. Mipo O’s “Claim Night” sees the 30-something Mayuko (Tomochika) return home to find the electricity in her apartment turned off, yet when she finally gets a repairman to come over, their over-the-top confrontation gives rise to a wildly comedic situation. Lastly, Gen Sekiguchi (Survive Style 5+) offers up “The House Full of ‘Abandoned’ Businessmen” a quaint tale of a housewife who collects out-of-work salarymen to try and give them a fresh start.

Quirky Guys and Gals ImageDVD BONUS FEATURES:

Anamorphic widescreen transfer with optional English subtitles

Special messages from all four directors

Exclusive interviews with all four directors

Theatrical Trailer

Quirky Cheerleaders

I’m looking forward to this release because it has a cast who have been in some of my favourite films of all time (Tokyo Sonata being one) and some of the more interesting directors in Japan to (so that’s what Sekiguchi-san has been doing…). As is usually the case with Third Window Films the bonus features are awesome and the DVD case looks top notch. The DVD is released on the 3rd of October.

Quirky DVD Cover