Official Launch of Loaded Films Ltd.

I'm very pleased to announce the official launch of Loaded Films Ltd. Loaded Films represents the culmination of a decade of freelance work in the Japanese film industry and the hub for all future activities we undertake. We're continuing our work in translation and consultation and further branching out into production, beginning with my short film Yukuharu, now in the final phase of post.

Eiko Mizuno Gray takes on the role of company president while I serve as vice president and creative producer. We'll be working hard to maintain our relationships with existing clients and collaborators as well as expanding our network. We look forward to working with all of you!


有限会社ローデッド・フィルムズの公式HPが立ち上がりました。引き続き、映画関連の翻訳業務やコンサルティング業務に加え、インディペンデントな映画製作も開始いたしました。第一弾作品は、ジェイソン・グレイ監督の短編「Yukuharu」です。

弊社の業務内容をHPでご確認いただければ幸いに存じます。
今後とも真摯に業務に取り組んでまいりますので、何卒宜しくお願い致します。


Eiko Mizuno Gray
Jason Gray

Happy New Year! / Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu!

A very Happy New Year to all my friends, family and film world fellows and femmes. All the best for 2012 -- the year of the dragon! 本年もどうぞよろしくお願い申し上げます！

2011 was a hell of a year in Japan, in all senses of the word. The mix of natural disaster devastation, nuclear fears, rallying spirit, public outrage, government shakeups, massive corporate malfeasance and yakuza crackdowns was heady. Led by my wife's strong spirit of volunteering we became inaugural members of Niji-Iro Cinema (official site (J), fundraising blog). I probably feel more attached to Japan than I ever have...

Personally I got back into writing and filmmaking, with the final touches being made on my short film Yukuharu and the festival submission process underway. Yukuharu also marks the first in-house production for our new company, Loaded Films Ltd. The company officially culminates of all our freelance film work over the past ten years and will be the force behind its future evolution. Look for the Loaded Films company website very soon. In the meantime you can check out the integrated English news blog portion here. There are already some exciting developments in the works.

As for this blog, it was stopped dead in its tracks by my focus on Yukuharu and a fall festival season packed with four events in a row, including jobs in Busan and the fantastic city of Tallinn, Estonia (see aforementioned blog). Aside from fairly constant Twitter and Facebook posts I may go back to using this space for longer missives on films or other things that don't "fit" those SNS or Loaded Films news.

Until next time, all the best!

Two Looks for Takashi Shimizu's Rabbit Horror 3D / Tormented

Two very different visual campaigns for Shimizu Takashi's upcoming psychological scarefest Rabbit Horror 3D (『ラビット・ホラー3D』), also known by the more generic export title Tormented.

The image on the right is sales agent Fortissimo Films' key visual for the film's Venice (Aug 31-Sept 10) and Sitges (Oct 6-16) one-two punch.

Between those two international fest dates the film receives its domestic release here in Japan on September 17th by Phantom Film.

Which style do you prefer?

A friend who worked on the set for the whole shoot said Tormented far surpasses The Shock Labyrinth 3D both as a film and in terms of the use of 3D (much "smarter" in this case). With an undeniably strong cast, he says it's a well crafted and acted psychological family drama with both fantasy and scare elements, but that hardcore horror fans expecting Ju-On redux might be disappointed. Looking forward to it.

Editing Yukuharu - The Fading of Spring

As it swelters outside (and I try to be frugal with the A/C inside) I'm holed up with my short film Yukuharu - The Fading of Spring (see my August 4th entry).

I'm cutting the film on an older Intel iMac with Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Production Premium and a phenomenal support utility called PluralEyes that syncs multiple sound sources automatically. So far everything is progressing smoothly, which enables me to get into "the zone". In the 90s that zone was sitting in a closet-sized editing suite with 16mm film hanging all around me and obsessing over single frames. I still do that, but without the whirring Steenbeck and clunking splicer.

Until around 2007 -- the last time I really shot and cut anything of note -- I had always been a Final Cut Pro person. However, after several discussions with my talented and highly-knowledgeable cinematographer Paul Leeming, I see now that Premiere (and its native integration with CS) has surpassed FCP in many respects. Not the mention the backlash against FCP X (dissed by some as "iMovie Pro"), which can't even open older FCP project files, while Premiere can.

Back to cutting. Hope to post some official high-res stills by the end of this month.

Hard Romanticker - Shota Matsuda Goes Gangster

Just a brief post on a movie I recently subtitled for Toei studios entitled Hard Romanticker (『ハードロマンチッカー』). There's no official site yet but Toei has a release page for it. When I translated the press notes it had been slated for an early spring 2012 release but has now been pushed forward to November 26.

The film is directed by Japan-born Korean Gu Su-yeon, whose last feature was The Yakiniku Movie: Bulgogi (『THE 焼肉 MOVIE プルコギ』), starring Matsuda Ryûhei. Hard Romanticker's cast is led by Ryûhei's younger brother Shôta, whom you know from Ikigami or TV drama/movie franchises Liar Game and Boys Over Flowers. Or if you're more kuwashii about your Japanese cinema, you may have seen him in Ômori Tatsushi's dark indie effort A Crowd of Three (Kenta to Jun to Kayo-chan no Kuni,『ケンタとジュンとカヨちゃんの国』) which had its world premiere at TOKYO FILMeX in 2009.

Hard Romanticker is based on Gu's semi-autobiographical eponymous novel published in 2001 by Kadokawa Haruki's imprint. With his hair dyed platinum blonde, Matsuda stars as "Gu," a second-generation Korean living life as a high school dropout working part-time jobs and getting into violent conflicts on the streets of Shimonoseki. A brutal act of revenge gone wrong sets the story in motion. Gu is tangentially involved at best, but with his paradoxical mix of guilt, cold detachment and violent nihilism he pisses off one too many people and ends up a target of the whole town.

Shimonoseki (Yamaguchi prefecture) is of course the birthplace of legendary Japanese film star Matsuda Yûsaku, daddy of both aforementioned Matsuda brothers and himself of half-Korean ancestry (see Midnight Eye's feature: Yusaku Matsuda: Lost Rebel). The project is going for synergy with the Matsuda name, its rebellious protagonist, the zainichi angle and the location (there's also a sojourn over the bridge to the blingy Kokura district of Kitakyûshû).

Toei Animation excepted, some feel Toei studios proper has lost its identity over the years. They're hoping to regain some of their old-school mojo with Hard Romanticker and future projects. I'll let the paid and pro-am film critics have the last word but I think Hard Romanticker is a fairly cool Mean Streets-like film for the current generation here.

Hard Romanticker features a large cast of juvenile delinquents played by Nagayama Kento, Emoto Tokio, Watabe Gôta, Kawano Naoki, Ochiai Tomoki, Endô Yûya, Kaneko Nobuaki, Ishigaki Yuma and Endô Kaname. Bringing a dose of adult reality to the film are Maki Claude (good to see him again), Watanabe Dai, Ashina Sei, Maki Yôko, Nakamura Shidô, Watabe Atsurô (amusing), Hakuryu and super-veteran Awaji Keiko (her debut was Kurosawa's Stray Dog!).

The "Niji-Iro 'Rainbow' Cinema Support Project"

If you've been following me on Twitter or Facebook (my personal page and/or Loaded Films) over the past few months you know I've mentioned "Niji-Iro Cinema" (にじいろシネマ) on many occasions. Niji-Iro (literally "Rainbow-coloured") Cinema is a non-profit organization that screens free movies for survivors of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster that hit Japan this March and remains an ongoing catastrophe to this day.

Niji-Iro Cinema was founded by Saitama-based home theater company Budscene this April. My wife Eiko Mizuno Gray was the first member to join the team, followed by several other core members from the world of film. Thus far, there have been approximately fifteen Niji-Iro Cinema events across Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures (Iwate is being planned). Strong distributor support from the likes of 20th Century Fox, Asmik Ace, Universal Pictures, Shochiku and Toei Video has enabled a growing library of titles as well as t-shirts and other goods.

Niji-Iro Cinema's screenings of both Hollywood and Japanese movies come complete with free popcorn made in old-school cinema popcorn machines. When possible, hot food and cold ice cream have also been provided between screenings.

Budscene made a sizable outlay in the early days to get the ball rolling, but luckily the costs of transportation up to Tohoku are now subsidized and accommodations are managed by the Niji-Iro team at each location. What we're now trying to raise money for is food. To put it another way, we want to hire food providers as a means to give back to a region where jobs are very scarce.

If you take a look at the right-hand side of the blog you'll see a widget for the "Niji-Iro 'Rainbow' Cinema Support Project" IndieGoGo campaign. There, you can find out everything you need to know about what Niji-Iro Cinema is, how the money will be used and how contributors will feel the direct, positive impact they've made. To reiterate, the Niji-Iro Cinema screenings will continue on as they have since April. This is a related support campaign focused specifically on food, drinks and other items we'd love to offer kids and everyone else who attends.

Thanks for reading and please spread the word!

"Yukuharu - The Fading of Spring" Principal Photography Complete

It's been quite a while since I've touched the blog. I'd been in pre-production on my short film Yukuharu - The Fading of Spring (『行く春』). That was interspersed with doing my small part for Niji-Iro Cinema (a non-profit initiative that screens movies for disaster survivors across Tohoku), a bit of work for Screen and subtitle translation for a new Toei crime drama entitled Hard Romanticker (『ハードロマンチッカー』).

I'm happy to announce that principal photography on Yukuharu was completed this past weekend and it went very, very well. There was quite a lot of filming packed into two days but our cast and crew were fantastic. It had been over 10 years since I was behind a camera directing narrative -- it was a thrill to see the words on the page of my screenplay come to life. As I tweeted a couple of days ago "We captured Amazing images, performances, sounds and moments of humanity."

As I enter post-production I will be posting credits and more info about the film, as well as images. As Yukuharu was the first film produced under the Loaded Films Ltd. banner (our little company established earlier this year - see our Facebook page) there should be some kind of Yukuharu subsite under the official Loaded Films website when that's up and running. I also posted regular updates on the film's IndieGoGo project page. Another thank you to those who contributed.

More updates soon!

Makoto Ohtake's "Dark on Dark" to Screen at New York Asian Film Festival

This year's lineup for the New York Asian Film Festival (July 1-14) has been unveiled, and quite a selection it is. The full press release should be up on the official site very soon (Edit: all you need to know is now at the preceding link) but until then Mubi.com has a rundown of all the titles with (internal) links to info on each film and director. If you want to know which guests will be making the trip to NYC and all the gory details you can read the full text-only press release here.

The list includes Japanese titles that are being co-presented with Japan Society's Japan Cuts festival (July 7-22), which will announce its own full lineup imminently. In short, NYC will be offering a tokumori portion of Japanese film content for more than three weeks this July. Even living in Tokyo, I feel left out. And there are overflowing platters of Korean, Hong Kong, Chinese, Taiwanese and Southeast Asian cinema, too.

I wanted to mention that Ohtake Makoto's short film Dark on Dark - which I translated almost a year ago - will have its international premiere. NYAFF programmer and friend Marc Walkow saw the film earlier this year and good-naturedly berated me for not telling him about it previously. So, I put the right people in touch and voilà. It's always gratifying when I can go beyond just translation and help get good films seen by overseas audiences. Dark on Dark is some of the most curious, fleshiest 17 minutes you'll ever experience. It screens before Tsugita Jun's Horny House of Horror (Fashion Hell, 『ファション・ヘル』).

Matsumoto Takes Center Stage at Locarno

Yesterday, the Locarno International Film Festival (Festival del Film Locarno) announced that it will be screening the international premiere of Matsumoto Hitoshi's Saya-zamurai (『さや侍』) this August, following the film's Japanese bow on June 11. There will also be a spotlight on Matsumoto himself, with his previous two feature films given another airing.

Here's the press release:

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30.05.2011 Tribute to Hitoshi Matsumoto
The 64th Festival del film Locarno will host the international premiere in Piazza Grande of Scabbard Samurai (Saya-zamurai), the latest feature from Japanese filmmaker Hitoshi Matsumoto.

Hitoshi Matsumoto on the set of Scabbard Samurai

The film, starring newcomer Takaaki Nomi and Jun Kunimura (Kill Bill: Vol. 1), is produced by Yoshimoto Kogyo, Kyoraku Sangyo and Phantom Film, and goes on theatrical release in Japan next June 11.

Highlighting the occasion of the premiere, Festival del film Locarno will pay tribute to Hitoshi Matsumoto with screenings of the director’s two other features to date, Big Man Japan (Dai-Nipponjin, 2007) and Symbol (Shinboru, 2009).

As Olivier Père, Artistic Director at Locarno, puts it, «from a background in television, in which his shows and personality have achieved immense popularity in Japan, Matsumoto has come to cinema and, in only three full-length features to date, has invented and experimented with new forms of comic fiction. Highly original, shifting between burlesque, surrealism and popular genres, his new ideas have proved capable of surprising and delighting even the most blasé of audiences. This is one of the main revelations in contemporary cinema over the past few years, and we are pleased to be able to celebrate in Locarno the work of a remarkable artist and his extraordinary comedy and imagination».

A national celebrity in his home country as a television comedian, Hitoshi Matsumoto began his directing career in 2007 with Big Man Japan. The film went on from a Directors’ Fortnight premiere in Cannes to garner widespread acclaim, achieving record box office success in Japan. Matsumoto followed it up in 2009 with Symbol, which was presented at a number of international festivals, including Toronto, Busan and Rotterdam.
The 64th Festival del film Locarno will be held from August 3 to 13, 2011.

-----

As you can see, the film's been given the export title Scabbard Samurai, which is a literal translation. They could've come up with something more evocative in my opinion, but there it is.

I wrote at some length about my admiration for Scabbard Samurai last month after seeing a press screening. When I tweeted back on April 26 about a potential festival slot after Cannes, it was Locarno I was referring to.

I had somewhat lamented the fact that Cannes went for a remake (Miike's Hara-kiri: Death of a Samurai) instead of a completely original effort like Matsumoto's -- in retrospect it seems the latter would've gotten stronger critical notices. But now Matsumoto's latest film and his growing body of work will, in a way, get more attention in its Locarno setting than it would've amidst the large (and quite strong) playing field on the Croisette this year.

Looking forward to live reports later this summer.

Best Copy Printing - Al-Qaeda Did My Bootleg Video Jackets

With the killing of Osama bin Laden saturating the news, my mind has drifted back to the September 11 attacks. I'm also recalling a 9/11-related anecdote with origins a few years prior to that.

My Toronto brothers and I were big collectors of obscure cult and foreign films in the 80s and 90s. Before DVD, it was all about VHS (and later laserdiscs). Friends such as Olympic ski coach Dennis Capicik, Toronto film festival vet Colin Geddes, spaghetti western king Mike Ferguson, Canadian DVD industry honcho John Theodorou, Erik Sulev, special makeup FX guy Cameron Scholes and Steve Fentone all outdid me in terms of encyclopedic knowledge and video hoardes. Nonetheless, I was part of the gang and published 10 issues of a pretty successful fanzine called Sub-Terrenea (sic). If you've ever wondered how Toronto has given birth to cult movie institutions like Twitch Film, Midnight Madness and Rue Morgue to name a few, it's because the fans are some of the most voracious in the world.

A big part of fandom was bootlegging. In the pre-internet days that was done through personal connections, mailing lists and conventions. If we could've bought the movies we would've, but many of them simply didn't exist in a commercial format in North America, or anywhere. We certainly purchased massive amounts of legitimate new and used releases. But if you wanted to watch Goodbye Uncle Tom in English you needed a copy from the Greek release. The 137m version of Dawn of the Dead? A telecine of the 16mm print. Obscure kung fu titles? That would be recordings of late-night TV broadcasts.

When colour photocopiers made a quantum leap in the 90s (leading some to almost get away with printing counterfeit money) it was a boon to bootleggers who wanted a spiffy box for their cassette. At that time the machines were not self-serve and it wasn't uncommon for a shop to refuse customers who wanted to duplicate copywritten material.

One shop that couldn't have cared less and had all the latest equipment was Best Copy Printing on Charles St. in the heart of Toronto. It was run by Middle Eastern men in their 30s and 40s. They were always polite and would copy anything we wanted, including jackets for sexually explicit Eurotrash. They were happy to take our money and get us out of there as quickly as possible so they could get back to their work. My friend Dennis and I thought something was odd about the place but couldn't put our fingers on it. What was obvious was that despite a paucity of patrons these peculiar printers were busy as hell at all hours of the day.

The nature of the place came into starker relief when I got my own job at a print shop walking distance away, but with an altogether different clinetele. We did high end business stationary, brochures and sold an unrivaled selection of paper and card stock (washi was too pricey to import, though). When there was no work to do there was a fair amount of standing around and calling girlfriends.

If we were in a pinch for Canon colour toner cartridges I'd head on over to Best Copy and they'd happily sell me some. As always, the little shop's machines were working away. Orders were boxed up. Men would drift in and out, greeting each other in Arabic.

On another movie tangent, this was around the time I started designing and co-editing the book "AntiCristo: The Bible of Nasty Nun Sinema & Culture", written by old cohort Steve Fentone. It was eventually published in 2000. It's long out of print and will likely never see a second edition. I see it now commands several hundred dollars for a used copy alone.

In 1998 I departed for Japan, leaving Toronto and the printing biz behind.

Fast forward to September 2001. I'm back in Toronto for the film festival when the planes hit the World Trade Center. Not long after the attacks Canadian links to the terrorist cell that brought down the Twin Towers made the news. Best Copy Printing was apparently connected to Islamic extremists and Al-Qaeda itself. An RCMP investigation dubbed "Project O Canada" discovered Best Copy had been churning out fake IDs and Canadian immigration forms. Paper stock, ink and laminates left behind by the nineteen 9/11 hijackers closely matched the supplies the busy bodies at Best Copy were using. According to witnesses, ringleader Mohammed Atta frequented, and even worked at Best Copy in the spring of 2001. The store is still visible on Google street view Toronto, so I assume it remained open under the same name until quite recently.

As many in the world wait for a photo confirming the terrorist mastermind's death, a foggy image of an Osama bin Laden portrait on the walls of Best Copy (later found by authorities) comes to mind. But I can't be sure...

Japan's Next Great Director - Hitoshi Matsumoto's "Saya-zamurai"

It goes without saying that there's been a lot of upheaval in Japan this spring. This part of the country is beginning to normalize, but full recovery in Tôhoku will take years. On a personal front I've been simultaneously waylaid and kept occupied, with a considerable amount of freelance work including subtitles, a screenplay polish, and a Japan Cannes special for Screen. My film viewing has been spotty at best. Other than five or six titles at the Okinawa International Movie Festival (OIMF) I've only seen a handful of films since March.

I did, however, make sure I caught a press screening of Saya-zamurai (『さや侍』) at Shochiku HQ in Higashi-Ginza on Thursday. This is the third directorial effort by famed comedian Matsumoto Hitoshi (松本人志), who previously gave us Dai Nipponjin and Symbol. Once again, Matsumoto's film is produced by powerful talent agency Yoshimoto Kôgyô, which he's belonged to for almost 30 years (they also run the aforementioned OIMF).

Potential mild spoilers follow.


For those who don't partake in the Tweetverse, following are some blurbs of mine related to the screening:

Saya-zamurai is BRILLIANT. Madness it didn't get a shot at Palme d'Or glory. Matsumoto was a very creative director, but now he is an Artist

『さや侍』は素晴らしい作品です！期待をはるかに超えました。松本監督が今から国際的に認知されるんじゃない。北野のレベルで。
(translation: "Saya-zamurai is magnificent! It far exceeded my expectations. I think it will gain Matsumoto international attention at the level of Kitano.")

@hori_naka マジですよ！映画鑑賞中、10年に1～2回しか泣かない。この作品はその中の一本で～す。
(translation: "I only cry at movies around once or twice a decade. This is one of those times.")

@hori_naka Yes, kooky Nomi Takaaki - 働くおっさん - will make people everywhere cry. And samurai movie lovers will die!


Some brief background on the film: Nomi Takaaki (野見隆明) plays samurai and local "water level adjuster" Nomi Kanjûrô. We meet Nomi during a desperate escape through the woods from some unseen conflict. After collapsing in exhaustion his little daughter Tae (Kumada Sea) catches up to him and we realize Nomi has thrown away his sword out of refusal to fight, leaving only its scabbard ("saya") at his hip. Going rônin violates the laws of the land and there's soon a price out on Nomi's head. Now on the lam, Nomi suffers Tae's relentless chastising ("You call yourself a samurai?") and attempts to kill him by a trio of bumbling assassins (Ryô, ROLLY and Fukkin Zennosuke) in taciturn shame. He's soon arrested and presented to an eccentric lord (Kunimura Jun) who offers Nomi a way to clear his name: The boy prince has lost the ability to smile since the death of his mother and Nomi has exactly 30 days to bring that smile back or he must commit seppuku. No man has succeeded in the feat thus far, and so begins the battle of, and for, Nomi's life...

Making his big screen debut, Nomi Takaaki is a real-life oddball who has worked as a chef, a seller of paintings, and currently a bartender in Golden Gai (right next to Yoshimoto's Tokyo HQ). He's appeared numerous times on Matsumoto's comedy shows since 2003, including Hataraku Ossan Gekijô (something like "Working Stiff Theater"), which was broadcast from 2006-2007. Here is a video of Nomi's first appearance. It's in Japanese but you'll quickly get a sense of what he's like. It's not an act.





When I heard the concept behind Saya-zamurai, and even while watching the film, there was a tinge of cruelty in the idea of putting this hopelessly awkward man in his 50s through such outrageous physical humiliations -- everything from being thrown from an elaborate mechanical rodeo horse, to snorting udon noodles, to being shot out of a cannon into the sea. But when Nomi's pièce de résistance arrives, the true samurai spirit of this film bursts to the fore. It's no accident that Matsumoto gave his protagonist the same family name.

Kumada Sea, who plays Tae, deserves a huge amount of praise. At all of 9 years old (and looking even younger) she plays an incredibly strong female character who commands the screen on many occasions. Her range outdoes most of her adult contemporaries. I'll be shocked and disappointed if she isn't nominated for best actress laurels (and a lock on a "best newcomer" Japan Academy Prize).

I don't know how audiences or critics will receive the film, but I was floored. I was floored because everything that came before the end built up to it in an atypical way. There was a cumulative effect that worked almost subconsciously. And yet it's all there in Matsumoto's expertly written screenplay. Those who dug the helpings of WTF in Dai Nipponjin and Symbol may be disappointed in Saya-zamurai's more orthodox narrative. For me, it distills Matsumoto's deeply developed comedy sense, humiliation and all, anchored by a father-daughter story that may not have been possible for him to depict before having a little girl of his own (born just after Symbol was completed). In only three films, self-confessed movie geek Matsumoto has achieved a coalescing of ideas and aesthetics in the way Kitano did with Hana-bi.

Yoshimoto told me how disappointed they were that Saya-zamurai didn't get into Cannes. I can clearly see why they were pinning their hopes on it. Perhaps "two samurai films" was too much for the competition there, but original work (which all of Matsumoto's films have been) should trump remakes or adaptations in my opinion.

In summary, Matsumoto has taken a major step forward with Saya-zamurai. There is still plenty of the playful (and highly imaginative) goofiness found in his other work, but here it's such an integral part of a story that builds to an unexpected emotional wallop.

Looking forward to hearing other views.

Poster for Pink Film Musical "Underwater Love"

Press Release From Rapid Eye Movies:

Dear kappa-friends (and those to be),

An offbeat joint venture: From Germany’s Rapid Eye Movies and Japan’s Kokuei Company comes a whimsical pink film musical about a woman and a sea creature. Directed by pink-film veteran Shinji IMAOKA (Lunch Box, Frog Song), shot by Christopher Doyle the famed cinematographer behind Hero and countless films by Wong Kar Wai and with music by Germany’s Stereo Total, UNDERWATER LOVE - A PINK MUSICAL promises to be unlike anything you’ve ever seen.
UNDERWATER LOVE - A PINK MUSICAL was shot in 5 days, one take only.

UNDERWATER LOVE - A PINK MUSICAL will have its world premiere at Tribeca Film Festival on Friday 22nd, 2011 in New York!
Thereafter it will be screended at Udine's Far East Film Festival and then as a market premiere in Cannes. International sales is handled by Films Boutique.

UNDERWATER LOVE - A PINK MUSICAL
a film by Shinji IMAOKA
Japan/Germany 2011, 87 min.

Story:
Asuka works in a lakeside fish factory. She is just about to be married to her boss. One day, she encounters a Kappa, a water creature living in the lake and learns that it is the reincarnation of Aoki, her first love.
What ensues is a zany spectacle of love, music and sex.

I visited the set of Underwater Love - A Pink Musical (Onna no Kappa, 『おんなの河童』) last summer. In case you missed it, here is my set report.

See previous Underwater Love posts here and there.

"Yukuharu - The Fading of Spring" Sample Image

Yesterday my cinematographer Paul Leeming and I shot some preliminary/B-roll footage, sans actors, during the height of cherry blossom season here in Tokyo. The above image is a frame grab from the footage, which Paul put through a quick post process based on what we discussed in terms of the film's look in the flashback images. The learning curve from my 16mm and MiniDV days has been steep but Paul is a stone cold expert at explaining the pros and cons of various formats, how to get the most out of what you shoot and using the right tools to achieve what you want.

This initial work has me excited about moving onto the main shoot next month.

Edit: I've noticed just recently that the compression on Photobucket images has gotten much worse. Won't be using it anymore -- trying Tinypic as an alternative until I sort some webspace. Any other hosting suggestions that don't compress?

Contribution to "World Film Locations: Tokyo"

I've contributed a few pieces of writing to an upcoming book on Japanese cinema entitled "World Film Locations: Tokyo," which will be published this July. It's the latest volume in a series that examines cities through their portrayal in movies. Here is the press blurb from UK publisher Intellect Books:

World Film Locations: Tokyo gives readers a kaleidoscopic view of one of the world’s most complex and exciting cities through the lens of world cinema. 50 scenes from classic and contemporary films explore how motion pictures have shaped the role of Tokyo in our collective consciousness, as well as how these cinematic moments reveal aspects of the life and culture of a city that are often hidden from view. Complimenting these scenes from such varied films as Tokyo Story, You Only Live Twice, Godzilla and Enter the Void are six spotlight essays that take us from the wooden streets of pre-19th century Edo to the sprawling “what-if” megalopolis of science fiction anime. Illustrated throughout with dynamic screen captures World Film Locations: Tokyo is at once a guided tour of Japan’s capital conducted by the likes of Akira Kurosawa, Samuel Fuller, Chris Marker and Sofia Coppola while also being an indispensible record of how Tokyo has fired both the imaginations of individuals working behind the camera and those of us sitting transfixed in movie theatres.

I wrote about the depiction of Tokyo in three films: Hiroki Ryûichi's It's Only Talk, Kurosawa Kiyoshi's Tokyo Sonata and Gaspar Noé's Enter the Void (Hard to pick one review for this beast. Suggestions?). Illustrated with full-colour frame grabs throughout and edited by Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow's Chris Magee "World Film Locations: Tokyo" should be a decent addition to any Japanese film fan's bookshelf.

"World Film Locations: Tokyo" is currently available for pre-order on many book selling sites, including Amazon (US, UK, Japan).

Watch Japanese Movies in Hong Kong & Toronto and Help Japan!

I'd like to bring attention to another film-related fundraising effort, co-ordinated by pictures dept. president Shiomaki Yûko (汐巻裕子), who's been one of the most active Japanese film industry figures on the international scene for years.

Her campaign, entitled "Support Japan - GAMBARE," is being run through fundraising site JustGiving Japan. You can of course contribute directly through the website by credit card (instructions in English, Chinese and French).

Or (or even better, And) if you happen to be in Hong Kong next week, you can attend a 35mm screening of Masaaki Taniguchi's Time Traveller: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Toki wo Kakeru Shôjo)『時をかける少女』 ), with proceeds going to the campaign. This has been arranged with the film's Hong Kong distributor Panorama Entertainment. One of the many reviews for the film here (Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow).

Screening Date: Thursday 24th March at 12:00 (121min)
Screening Venue: Agnes B Cinema, Hong Kong Art Center
*Note: screening will be in Japanese with Chinese subtitles

Additionally, pictures dept. in cooperation with Chris MaGee of the aforementioned J-Film Pow-Wow are arranging a Toronto fundraising screening of J-film fan favourite Fine, Totally Fine (Zenzen Daijôbu, 『全然大丈夫』) (see my Dec 16 2007 entry). Details soon.

As a cherry on top, the campaign is endorsed by director Sono Shion, whom pictures dept. worked with on his latest film Guilty of Romance (Koi no Tsumi, 『恋の罪』). So you better listen! Yûko's initiative also got a mention in this article by Mark Schilling for The Japan Times.

You can download a PDF of the full press release here (日本語のプレスリリース)

The campaign is part of a larger effort to raise money for the Civic Force (日本語).

What has the Civic Force done for the disaster so far? Here is a paragraph from the English page on their site which explains it in a nutshell:

Civic Force, Japan's leading NGO in disaster response and relief, dispatched the helicopter-emergency teams immediately to the field to grasp the situation and delivered first rescue goods. Civic Force was the first rescue NGO on the ground. Based on the survey, we identified the most affected and vulnerable area and started to help people.

It must be said that while the nuclear threat is dominating the media (and creating unwarranted panic), there are survivors of the initial quake and tsunami who are still at great risk and unfortunately dying. The Civic Force will help combat that devastating reality.

Please Donate to Help Rebuild Japan

As I write this on a quiet, sunny Sunday in northwest Tokyo, other parts of the country are in complete ruins. My adopted country of almost 11 years - a place I now consider home - has been devastated. Watching and reading about tragedy after tragedy has been exhausting. People's lives have been swept away in tsunamis, crushed under tons of debris, and now irradiated by damaged nuclear power plants. There are conflicting reports on how far radiation particles may reach, and to what levels.

The official magnitude of Friday's earthquake has been upgraded to 9 and the chance of a magnitude-7 aftershock is currently at a worrying 70%. The death toll is sure to climb into untold thousands. It's a nightmare. A nightmare now known alternatively as "The 2011 Sendai earthquake and tsunami" / literally "Tōhoku region Pacific Ocean offshore earthquake" (Tôhoku Chihô Taiheiyô Jishin) 「東北地方太平洋沖地震」) or "The Great East(ern) Japan Earthquake" (Higashi Nihon Daishinsai「東日本大震災」).

There are several articles a minute being published by media outlets across the world (in the English language alone). You can find them through Google News' stream here.

But the resilience of people in this country is legendary. A microcosm of this: a 60-year-old man adrift on top of his house in the ocean 15km off Futabachô, Fukushima Prefecture has just been saved. Japan will recover. The rescue effort is in now in full force, with physical and monetary international aid coming in. And the use of SNS services to stay in touch and offer assistance has been astounding.

I can't thank people enough for all the phone calls, emails, Facebook comments, tweets, and mobile phone texts to confirm that I and my loved ones were okay. We are.

My experience of the quake that hit on Friday afternoon was minor compared to those in the Tôhoku region, but at the time it was the single most frightening episode of my life. I was working at home - I live on the 5th floor of a wide, terraced apartment complex that is seven stories at its highest point. When the tremor suddenly upgraded to severe shaking things began to rain off the shelves. I had the presence of mind (stupidity?) to place fragile items on the floor before they fell and shattered, buffered my flatscreen TV and Mac computer with pillows, switched off the electricity mains (gas turns off automatically) and quickly left the building via the stairs. The ward office is right across the street so I took refuge there and watched the TV in the lobby with a crowd of local residents. Moments later came those unforgettable aerial shots on NHK of the tsunami swallowing up farms, houses and highways near Sendai. New video and photographs from previously unreachable areas are coming in constantly. The scope of destruction is beyond words.

My wife was working near Tsukiji (famous for its fish market) and had no choice but to walk all the way home -- a trek of almost 4 hours. With no mobile phone communication possible, I rode my bicycle to a pre-arranged meeting point roughly half way, near Ikebukuro. Along the usual route I take I was amazed to see thousands of people walking the streets, all talking to each other. Tokyo has a reputation for being a place where people mind their own business but on this day everyone was in it together. Throughout Friday and Saturday there were unnerving aftershocks, which has made it difficult to sleep. I pity people stranded on rooftops and other locations in the wintry north and hope Japan's amazingly capable rescue teams reach them soon.

Chris Magee of the Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow sent out a group email to writers in the Japanese cinema blogosphere in an effort to coordinate donation efforts among our little community. We ended up selecting the Japan Society in New York, both for its strong ties to Japanese cinema and of course its legitimacy and trustworthiness in getting money directly to those in need. Please donate by clicking the widget at the top-right corner of this blog. This link will also be present on a host of other well-known sites in the community (full list to come soon).

Short Film Project "Yukuharu - The Fading of Spring"

When I was in film school it was all about directing, followed by editing and writing. I was in 16mm hell (which was, I later realized, heaven).

I never planned to become a film journalist/translator/consultant or all around benriya. They are things I'm lucky and grateful to have had a chance to do, especially in Japan. There are a thousand worse ways to earn a living. Nonetheless, it's been quite a few years of putting time and energy into other people's movies to put it bluntly, though I'm certainly not done with such work. Things are moving along with Max Mannix' Yellow Earth, I'm still translating (this is the latest movie) and writing for Screen International.

I previously mentioned a refocus on my own feature scriptwriting, which is progressing. Now I'd like to make a short film. It's been quite some time since I shot anything narrative, but if not now then when?

I've decided to try out crowd source funding for my project Yukuharu - The Fading of Spring. I was disheartened to find out that Kickstarter limits fundraising projects to US residents, but was pleased to discover IndieGogo soon after.

I'm currently working on the story for Yukuharu and will go into pre-production later this month. Project details can be found here.

Yoroshiku!

Nippon Connection 2011 - Highlights Revealed

Allow me to reproduce the whole press release just sent out by Nippon Connection ahead of this year's edition (April 27 - May 1 2011). Sounds like another great one.


----------

Press Release, February 24, 2011

Nippon Connection 2011 - Preview on the Festival Program
11th Japanese Film Festival, Frankfurt am Main
April 27 – May 1, 2011

There’s only a few weeks left to the starting shot of the eleventh Nippon Connection Film Festival and the preparations are in full swing. From April 27 to May 1, 2011 more than 100 of the latest Japanese short and feature films will find their way to Frankfurt, among them many international premieres with the film makers in attendance. The biggest festival of Japanese film is topped off by a rich and sensuous cultural program. We are happy to reveal a number of the festival’s highlights.

In the NIPPON CINEMA program section, fans of the renowned animation studio Ghibli can at last enjoy a new masterpiece. Nippon Connection will present the German premiere of ARRIETTY, with the famous animation artist Hiromasa YONEBAYASHI (key animator of PONYO and SPIRITED AWAY) serving as director for the first time. The screenplay was written by none other than Hayao MIYAZAKI. Keichi HARA’s film COLORFUL proves that unique animation films are also created outside Studio Ghibli. The expressiveness of his poetic novel adaptation places him among the most talented anime directors of our time.

After the success of Kazuyoshi KUMAKIRI and his film NON-KO at the festival of 2009, this year’s audience can look forward to SKETCHES OF KAITAN CITY. In his atmospherically dense film, KUMAKIRI refers to a series of short stories by the late author Yasushi SATO. Quite another key is struck in HELL DRIVER: cult director Yoshihiro NISHIMURA (TOKYO GORE POLICE) has staged a splatter film full of non-stop action and a host of zombies. Using various allusions and distinctive ideas, NISHIMURA proves to have a strong grasp of the genre. Nippon Connection will also present the feature debut of German resident artist Hideaki HOSONO as a European premiere. In this bizarre and gaudy debut work, the congenial screenplay having been written by Kankuro KUDO (GO, PING PONG), Tadanobu ASANO plays an author whose friends are involved in a conspiracy for his murder. All premiere films will be eligible for the NIPPON CINEMA AWARD endowed with 2,000 Euros and sponsored for the seventh time already by Bankhaus Metzler.

In the new program section NIPPON VISIONS (formerly known as Nippon Digital), exhibiting the diversity of Japanese independent film and new digital formats, the festival audience can experience the latest work of Takahisa ZEZE (MOON CHILD, PANDEMIC) who rose to fame in the nineties with his pink films. In the course of four and a half hours, his epic HEAVEN’S STORY depicts the lives of various protagonists, involving them in repeated encounters and confronting them with bitter strokes of fate. In a special feature, Nippon Connection will give a broad insight into the latest graduation projects of the GRADUATE SCHOOL OF FILM AND NEW MEDIA of TOKYO UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS in Yokohama - one of the most important film academies in Japan, promoting talented newcomers under the direction of Kiyoshi KUROSAWA. Independent animation film is also present at Nippon Connection: the outstanding film MIDORI-KO by Keita KUROSAKA can be qualified as a surrealist masterpiece and has been drawn and animated virtually as a one-man project by the director himself. Animation film group CALF enriches the festival with a practical approach: besides presenting an exclusive film program, they will also invite the audience to their animation workshop.

The cooperation with JVTA (Japanese Visualmedia Translation Academy) for supporting young film makers will be continued with this year’s festival. For the second time, JVTA will donate the NIPPON VISIONS AWARD (formerly known as Nippon Digital Award) which will go to the best feature film of the NIPPON VISIONS section based on the decision of an international expert jury. The winner will be provided with a subtitling for their next film.

NIPPON RETRO is dedicated to the enfant terrible Sion SONO, who made himself known as a poet during his youth and who has been working successfully as a director for 25 years. Many of his films, such as SUICIDE CLUB and NORIKO`S DINNER TABLE, have been shown at international festivals. His virtuosic talent for narration culminated in LOVE EXPOSURE, receiving both the Caligari Film Award and the FIPRESCI Award at the 2009 Berlinale.

Once again, NIPPON CULTURE will offer a wide variety of exciting events ranging from traditional art forms to Japanese pop culture. The Japanese cheerleading troupe „Gamushara-Oendan“ will certainly animate the festival audience in their performances and workshops. Many other events will allow an active experience of Japanese culture: The balance of mind and body is fostered in a yoga workshop with Yukari MATSUYAMA, a kendo session with the General Consul of Japan, Toyoei SHIGEEDA, as well as in shiatsu workshops and the special baby massage workshop provided by aceki e.V.. Another innovation is the NIPPON KIDS section and its workshops, where children can playfully learn about Japanese culture.

The exhibition on Japanese wrapping design curated by Bianca Beuttel, an artist living in Japan, promises to be a special highlight. You can also experience traditional Japanese dancing and try out some ikebana and origami for yourself. And of course, the festival will not abandon its highly popular classics: culinary indulgence is provided by a cooking workshop and the tea and sake lounge, along with the festival’s traditional film breakfast. Nippon Home Cinema with Roberto Cappelluti and many other events at the festival will create a joyful atmosphere.

Adding to numerous lectures and talks with film makers as well as celebrating the 150th anniversary of German-Japanese Friendship, the Department for Japanese Studies at Frankfurt University will hold a colloquium on the topic “Grown Up: All Alone. Life Scripts of a New Generation in Contemporary Literary Texts“.

Friday night will see a unique performance by the outré pop band OSCA from Berlin, while on Saturday, April 30, DJ Hito, who is already a Nippon Connection legend, will make all the party people dance “Walpurgis Night style”.

Nippon Connection is under the patronage of Mrs. Eva Kühne-Hörmann, Hessian Minister of Science and the Arts, Prof. Dr. Dr. Matthias Lutz-Bachmann, Vice President of Goethe University Frankfurt, and the General Consulate of Japan in Frankfurt. Even with its increasing audience response, the internationally renowned festival is still organized on a voluntary basis by the non-profit association Nippon Connection. In order to support the vivid cultural exchange, the festival offers special sustaining memberships. Friends of Nippon Connection are also offered a chance to sponsor specific events in the NIPPON CULTURE section and become active partners of the festival.

Locations
Students’ House on Bockenheim Campus Bockenheim (Festival Center), Orfeo’s Erben Cinema, Mal Seh’n Cinema, Exhibition Hall 1A, Kunstraum Westend


Press Contact
Dennis Vetter, Mobil: +49 (0)176 6163 0693
presse@nipponconnection.com, www.nipponconnection.com

Stills and Info
www.nipponconnection.com/presseserver/
Username: nipponpresse
Password: nipponpresselogin

Cold Fish: True Crime Inspiration + Yoshiki Takahashi Interview

Ahead of the January 29 release of Nikkatsu/Sushi Typhoon title Cold Fish (Tsumetai Nettaigyo,『冷たい熱帯魚』) here in Tokyo I wanted to offer up a little exclusive on this cinematic beast from director Sono Shion (lately I've started writing "Shion" as that's how the director himself spells it on Twitter).

I've conducted an interview with the film's co-screenwriter and graphic designer Takahashi Yoshiki (brief bio here). He reveals some very interesting facts about the development and production of Cold Fish that haven't been brought to light before. The artwork above is an unused version of the poster courtesy of Mr. Takahashi himself, who described it as looking like an ad for a "Korean straight-to-video movie." While it is certainly busier than his usual style it's very cool nonetheless.

The image half way down the interview is a collage I quickly threw together. The top two photos are of course Cold Fish lead actors Denden and Kurosawa Asuka in Venice (photo copyright Peter van der Lugt). On the bottom are little-seen colour pictures of the murderous, rare dog-breeding couple Kazama Hiroko and Sekine Gen, who partially inspired their onscreen characters of Aiko and Murata. As you can clearly see Denden bears quite a striking resemblance to Sekine. It's funny that Denden had happened to work with Sono on Be Sure to Share before Cold Fish had even been cast (if my timing is not mistaken).

(Potential spoilers from here to the end of the post)


Based in Saitama, the couple's MO of poisoning people with strychnine, separating meat from bone in a shower room, scattering the small cubes of flesh in rivers, burning the bones down to ash in oil drums and scattering those ashes in remote locations is identical. Additionally, their list of victims also has parallels to what's in the film, with some gender and situational reversals. As brilliantly played by Denden, Murata has the same sociopathic self-belief in his criminal brilliance that Sekine did. "I should be awarded the gold medal for murder," Sekine once boasted.

See this 2009 Japan Today article on the upholding of their death sentences as well as the Japanese wikipedia entry on the case for a highly-detailed account of their crimes. Both Sekine and Kazama remain on death row at the Tokyo Detention House in Katsushika-ward, with Kazama being only the 12th woman in post-WWII Japan to make it there.

This interview is also cross-posted at Twitch Film, where you can find multiple reviews and other info on Cold Fish.

Without further ado:

Takahashi Yoshiki Interview

Jason Gray: How did you get involved as a co-writer on Cold Fish?

Takahashi Yoshiki: I've been working with the film's producer Chiba Yoshinori (the guy who is behind the Sushi Typhoon label and also known for producing Yatterman, The Machine Girl and numerous movies) for more than a decade. He brought me the idea to make a movie out of real murder cases, placing the dog owner one in the center. As you know, I have several professions including graphic designer, movie critic and I also do sometimes write articles on murder cases. So he thought it might be a good idea to throw it to me and see what would happen. At that time, we didn't have a director.

JG: At what stage was the project when you came on board? Did you work on the story with Sono Shion before the writing of the script began?

TY: As I told you in the previous answer, I was involved when the whole project started. My first draft was more true crime-oriented, and the protagonist was Murata, not Shamoto. Also, Shamoto had a son instead of a daughter. Shamoto's family problems, especially with his wife (in my first draft he was divorced years ago and having trouble with his son), were later brought by Sono.

JG: Sono Shion tends to write alone (EXTE and HAZARD being a couple of exceptions). How did things work on Cold Fish? Did you each take turns on a draft or sit in a room and work on it together?

TY: Yes, we did take turns. The radical change took place when he threw me back his first draft. Still, he once told me that ideas started to grow when reading my first draft. Anyway, I found Sono's first draft interesting and liked it a lot, plus there were some themes which were typically Sono's. So I wrote the second draft trying not to lose those things but to also add something new myself.

JG: Sono mentioned having an interest in true crime at the TOKYO FILMeX Japan premiere of Cold Fish. I assume you do as well. Aside from the Saitama dog lover serial murder case what other crimes inspired the story?

TY: Partially the Sengoku Jesus case (more details here, Japanese only) and the Matsunaga Futoshi case (more details here).

JG: In relation to the Saitama serial murders, what was the process of deciding which facts to use and which to alter or drop completely?

TY: In the beginning, I and Chiba decided not to use dogs. Because dogs are so cute we thought the audience might just end up looking them. Plus, it's difficult to handle hundreds of dogs on set. So I came up with an idea of tropical fish breeders, because I happen to remember there were a lot of luxury tropical fish stores around Roppongi and Shinjuku when the bubble economy was at its peak. There are many similarities between dog breeders and fish traders, too. Or perhaps I can say that there are some oddities in businesses which deals in things or animals that can't really be priced. Also, the Saitama case took place over a long time period. We wanted this film to be a roller coaster ride, so we did everything we could to make the pace faster.



JG: As co-writer are there scenes, lines of dialogue or moments in Cold Fish that you're particularly proud of?

TY: Murata's machine-gun dialogue delivery and the nuance of the spoken word in the entire film. It might be difficult to see it through the subtitles, but I did my best not to use "cinematically banal dialogue". The spoken words in this film are just like what people hear and say every day. It brings a certain level of reality to the film, I hope.

JG: When you saw the finished film, what surprised you most?

TY: The bloody fight scene between Shamoto and Aiko. That was improvised on the set. In the script Shamoto simply smashes Aiko's head with a statue of Mother Mary (several times, of course).

JG: Were you on the Cold Fish set and if so what was that experience like compared to other sets you've been on?

TY: I went to the set twice, and was impressed by the art direction, because it looked as real as possible despite the budget. And of course the way Sono directed the film. We can't provide multiple cameras like Hollywood movies do, but to get the same freedom for editing, Sono repeats the whole scene several times from different angles. It's not a very popular way of moviemaking in Japan, especially for a low budget film. Sometimes people only shoot a scene from a certain angle and that's it - no coverage at all (it really happens on so many sets). Sono's direction was totally different from that approach. Plus, I noticed he is always actor-oriented. He concentrates on the acting and lets the cameraman and other crew members do their jobs.

JG: You mentioned to me previously that you were collaborating on a follow-up screenplay with Sono. Was that what later became Guilty of Romance?

TY: Sorry, but no. I was once doing research for Guilty of Romance, but Sono came up with his script very fast. Some other projects are under wraps so there could be another Shion/Yoshiki collaboration in the future, but not Guilty of Romance. I did make the motion graphic title sequence for the film though.

JG: Among your various talents you're a prolific graphic designer (including the Cold Fish visuals and its clever tagline). Has your move into screenwriting been a natural progression for you?

TY: I guess it has been. I really love cinema and this business so much, and screenwriting is one of the best ways to contribute.

JG: Finally, what are you working on now and what are your future plans in terms of writing?

TY: I am now working on some scripts, not yet to be revealed. One of them is based on a true murder case like Cold Fish. The others will be more "genre," meaning sci-fi and/or horror. Nothing is certain at this time so let's see what's going to happen next!

JG: Thank you.

Happy New Year 2011! / Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu!

A very happy New Year to family and friends in Japan and beyond.
皆様、明けましておめでとうございます。本年も宜しくお願いします！

My first oshôgatsu in Japan was New Year's 1999, meaning I've made one cycle of the Chinese zodiac (jûnishi), returning once again to Year of the Rabbit (usagidoshi, 卯年).

2010 was a decent 12 months for my film life in Japan.

Some translation highlights last year: did subtitles for Lee Toshio's BOX! (and treatment for Lee's PPP project Miracle); Sabu's 12-episode TV series Troubleman (you'll be able to see the latter half of it as part of the Run, Salaryman, Run! series screening Jan 26-Feb 5 at Japan Society in NYC); subtitles for Sori Fumihiko's upcoming Tomorrow's Joe (Ashita no Joe, 『あしたのジョー』). Some potential jobs lined up for this year but nothing set in stone.

As a journalist I continue to write for Screen International though less than in previous years. In 2011 I wrote 38 articles for screendaily.com vs. 64 last year, but my print pieces (the monthly magazine and special festival issues) remained on par. Wrote a couple interesting things for sites such as CNNGo and Japan Subculture. Also did my first radio interview as Screen correspondent, speaking about The Cove (though never got paid by the bumbling berks at the BBC). Making my first contribution to a film book in 2011 -- should be an interesting volume.

Got into a little production work with some co-ordination for a Canal+ documentary on Tokyo (see my Nov. 28 entry) and a popular Canadian kids television show filming its first segment in Japan. Best set visit was to Imaoka Shinji and Christopher Doyle's pinku eiga extravaganza. I saw various scenes from the film at the end of October and it's a doozy. Other set visits included Furyô Banchô director Naitô Makoto's return to feature films Cry Tomorrow (Asu Naku, 『明日泣く』) and an NHK drama directed by Ochiai Masayuki for which I took off my shirt and pants... Aiming to be part of shoots both small and big in 2011.

Being so busy, I saw less films than I usually do meaning I'll have to bow out of my annual Midnight Eye best of list participation but a few of the homegrown titles that impressed me were:

- Wakamatsu Kôji's Caterpillar (see my April 14 entry)
- Nakashima Tetsuya's Confessions (Kokuhaku, 『告白』)
- Miike Takashi's 13 Assassins (Jûsannin no Shikaku, 『十三人の刺客』)
- Nakamura Yoshihiro's Golden Slumber
- Sono Shion's Cold Fish (Tsumetai Nettaigyô, 『冷たい熱帯魚』)
- Miura Daisuke's Boys on the Run
- Ôgata Atsushi's Cast Me if you Can (Wakiyaku Monogatari, 『脇役物語』) was a cute indie film.
- Ôtake Makoto's Dark on Dark (see my July 21 entry) was my favourite short of the year (biased as I am being that I translated it).
- Not a movie, but seeing Kaji Meiko's first ever concert at a hotel ballroom in Shinjuku was a memorably surreal experience.


As I stated in my Christmas post the year ahead will be more about my own screenwriting and creative pursuits, which began in earnest in the fall. I prayed for my success on that front at the local shrine last night but ultimately you have to create your own luck...