Random Japanese movie news

China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Thailand, etc
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Re: Random Japanese movie news

Post by HungFist »

Looks slightly interesting

Kuso gaki no kokuhaku (2012)
- http://www.kuso-gaki.com/
- http://youtu.be/vIHIJ42kgBs

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Re: Random Japanese movie news

Post by HungFist »

TC Entertainment just announced a big load of English subbed Japanese BD's for 2012/09/05. Includes films like Joze, the Tiger and The Fish, Tennen kokekko, Sakuran...
- http://www.allcinema.net/prog/softcalen ... ategory=#2
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Re: Random Japanese movie news

Post by HungFist »

Screen violence is in the eye of the beholder

Japan Times' film critic Mark Shilling after being beaten half dead in Rome
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Re: Random Japanese movie news

Post by Tenchu1998 »

Violence is cruel, obviously. Especially when it so suddenly and unexpectedly hits you without a moment of hesitation. I have not been assaulted or subjected to any real sort of dangerous violence. I know of a person who was almost killed when some neo-nazis randomly brutally assaulted him in the street. He described his condition and the damage for me, and it all sounded crazy. The cruelty of real-life violence is hard to depict realistically in movies. Just the impact on the person can be utterly devastating, and the physical damage on the body is hard to understand. Still, 300 violent movies in, and we refer to some of it as "graphic violence" because it's a film - but I think that if you're going to depict violence, then you should show how visceral it really is. The assaulted survivor said that even he couldn't truly re-create his (then) bloody, swollen head when doing a violent movie scene of his own. He wanted to show the reality of assault, but he found it tricky getting the make-up effects proper. The Tsukamoto stuff in 'Tokyo Fist' and also the beating scenes in 'Kotoko', I think comes quite close to what he might have looked like. It's crazy how the head gets swollen and hard, and it's not always a safe bet to think it'll heal properly.

In Japanese movies - and other films, too - I think there is much excess for dramatic effect, and I understand that - It's a movie, after all. But then there is that one scene in the Godfather 1 when the police chief breaks Michael's jaw, I think is a good example of how it often only takes one calculated punch to the face in order to afflict great damage. I remember even when I first saw Kitano's Zatoichi, I understood immediately why the fighting in that film is so swift (although stylized and unrealistic in many ways), which relates to what the article is saying about Kitano's own experiences.

I would like to see more realistic Kung Fu movies. The experts say, in real life you go directly for the lethal parts of the body, and fights are usually very short. I think Bruce Lee managed to push in that direction, as far as the rawness and swiftness of the fighting in his movies. I would like to see someone take that maybe a step further, and work with it creatively.
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Re: Random Japanese movie news

Post by Lourdes »

Kitano violence is pretty brutal: Immediate, loud, and with visible results. In his earlier films it was infrequent and off-putting, in later works he seems to revel in it and the violence is the point (Outrage...), a real change. Asian cinema is filled with violence, the slapping of subordinates and students to extended fight scenes with battered and bloody heros. I can't think of many films which don't have some domestic abuse at a minimum.

Tarantino does violence with visual style, to cool music; It's unrealistic and extreme, further from real life.
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Re: Random Japanese movie news

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It's not entirely rare to have films cut down for R15+ in cinemas, then followed by uncensored R18+ version on home video. But when you see a PG-12 film re-released with an R18+ rating...

This was the case with Undressed Minako (Hadaka no Minako) - a drama dealing topics such as domestic violence. The film opened in theaters last fall with a PG-12 rating (and a seemingly very misleading happy-go-lucky posters), but was no hit at box office. The filmmakers are now trying again, re-releasing it in theaters in February with an R18+ rating, followed by R18+ DVD and BD releases in March.

Original theatrical poster:
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R18+ DVD
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Site:
http://minako-movie.com/

Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzfqidotwFg
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Re: Random Japanese movie news

Post by HungFist »

What ever happened to Akihiko Shiota?

Clumsy but interesting breakthrough with Moonlight Whispers, followed by a small masterpiece with Gaichu (Harmful Insect), then the silly Canary, the bad looking special effects film Dororo, and now Dakishimetai - a film I've come to hate even though I haven't seen it. I've had to sit through it melodrama-tearjerker-for-females-who-love-B-grade-TV-melodrama trailer too many times at the theater. And the theme song is playing every damn day at the train station. They even gave me a miniposter at the theater when I was buying ticket for Only God Forgives. It's plain impossible to especape from these endless "boyfriend/father/brother/cousin/dog is dying but let's recall the good days" -dramas Japan keeps churning out.

Never even realized the film was by Shiota before seeing Schilling's review

Dakishimetai trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzx1KcK_kAE

For comparison, Shiota masterpiece, Gaichu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo2hYJZTOUM

The difference is quite obvious from the theme song alone.
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Re: Random Japanese movie news

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BELLRING少女ハートの6次元ギャラクシー (Bellring shojo heart no 6 jigen galaxy) (2014)

Horny House of Horror (2010) director Jun Tsugita helms high school girls with machine guns. Stars pop idol group BELLRING少女ハート (Bellring Girls' Heart). Opens in May (in no less than one theater, hopefully in a few others later)

Teaser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl9y8qTUmlA&sns=tw

Site:
http://brsh-movie.com

Looks so unpromising at this point that I won't make a thread for it (yet at least)

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Re: Random Japanese movie news

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Bellring got a new trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVNyDOiGd4U

Looks a bit better, still hardly any good


In other news, Recenty, My Sister is Unusual (最近、妹のようすがちょっとおかしいんだが). Potentially passable slightly naughty anime-->live action fun. Theatrical release next month.

Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQi37ZLafIY

Site:
http://imocyo.jp/imocyo.html

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A little less ero, still something that could only come out of Japan: Sweet Poolside

"Toshihiko is a first-year high school student who’s insecure about his inability to grow body hair. Ayako, on the other hand, is excessively hairy but has trouble shaving for her swimming club. Fascinated by Ayako’s ability to grow hair, Toshihiko agrees to personally shave her arms and legs for her in secret. Over their time together, he begins to have feelings for her."
- http://eigapedia.com/movie/sweet-poolside

Based on manga. Directed by Daigo Matsui (Afro Tanaka). June release.

Teaser:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuyrN6Qycos

Site:
http://sweetpoolside.jp/

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Re: Random Japanese movie news

Post by HungFist »

夜だから (Night, Because)

This looks interesting. I really don't know what's it gonna be like, but both the site and the trailer are oddly intriguing. The R18 rating only adds to the interest. Directed by Kouki Fukayama. Opens in Tokyo next month.

Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18JuCZ4J0jg

Site:
http://jillmotion.com/night.because/

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Re: Random Japanese movie news

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And another Miike coming in March: Kaze ni Tatsu Lion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpR24oSCNkU

Info:
http://asianwiki.com/Kaze_ni_Tatsu_Lion

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Re: Random Japanese movie news

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Tokyo Mukokuseki Shoujo (東京無国籍少女), a new film by Mamoru Oshii coming July 25. Apparently a remake of Kentaro Yamagishi's short film of the same title (2012). Stars Nana Seino.

Trailer:
http://youtu.be/UKZ5ohS389I

Trailer for the original short:
http://youtu.be/vZldUvfD7AQ

Site:
http://mukokuseki-movie.com/

Via Brian Ruh
- https://twitter.com/animeresearch/statu ... 9302209536
- https://twitter.com/animeresearch/statu ... 6540000256

Doesn't look too good to me, but let's see.
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Post by HungFist »

Here's a very interesting post regarding film distribution by Third Window Films' Adam Torel:

Actually, to be fair many of those directors you have mentioned we were the first to release their titles in the West and at the time they were not bankable names and their film rights were incredibly cheap. For Sion Sono we paid almost nothing for Love Exposure and titles like Himizu and Cold Fish we were the first to release them so didn't pay very much. In fact we were actually the first in the world, and that includes Japan, to release Cold Fish on home video...

Same goes for Tetsuya Nakashima. We were the first to release both Memories of Matsuko and Confessions in the West and therefore picked them up before their prices rose. In fact, our sleeve designs for Confessions, Himizu and Love Exposure were used by nearly all other territories for their releases, with Confessions used in all Western releases (Spain, Italy, Germany, etc) and Himizu and Love Exposure not just used in Western territories, but even the Japanese video releases!!

Nowadays we cannot afford to release the latest films from directors like Sion Sono and Tetsuya Nakashima, but when we first started releasing them we picked them up for very cheap as they were not as well known in the West and therefore we were actually the ones who took risks on them before other distribution companies came in and escalated the prices to a point where we could no longer compete...

In fact it can be much harder with the bigger titles, as usually these are titles not just with higher price tags, but with releases in other territories with english subtitles, so many people on here will go to sites like Yesasia and buy the Korean or Hong Kong releases before we have the chance to release overseas, and it's not easy to convince a sales agent that this is the case...

The titles which do best for us are usually unknown ones as despite their unknown title which assumes there's a larger risk, the prices on them can usually be that 10 can be bought for the price of a Miike film or a big Korean blockbuster like FRIEND 2. Titles like SHADY and GREATFUL DEAD are perfect examples of quality films that have no other releases in the world, plus cost next to nothing to acquire so the risk is infinitely less. Most of our biggest sellers have been titles or thought of as hard-sell genres such as 'Fine, Totally Fine', 'Funuke: Show Some Love You Losers', 'Turtles are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers', 'Adrift in Tokyo', 'Fish Story', 'Sawako Decides', yet titles like LESSON OF EVIL which you'd imagine would have all the necessary box-office potential don't make money as they're much more expensive to license and have already found their audience due to releases overseas...

- http://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p ... count=1154
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Re: Random Japanese movie news

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Post by HungFist »

More about Third Window Films' Business:
http://feature.wildgrounds.com/third-window-films/
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Re: Random Japanese movie news

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Ken Ninomiya's SLUM-POLIS is getting a theatrical release in Japan.

New trailer
http://youtu.be/nmHbAG0nV_8

Site:
http://www.slum-polis.com/

I think he did this film a few years ago, and it played on some festivals abroad last year. I saw his more recent film The Limit of Sleeping Beauty at Yubari this year and while flawed, it showed a lot of promise (in fact, it was one of the most audio-visually stylish films I've seen from Japan in years). This guy is only 23 years old, so he would have been maybe 21 when he shot SLUM-POLIS. Certainly someone to keep an eye on.

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Re: Random Japanese movie news

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Hentaidan + Damager (Noboru Iguchi, 2015)

A trailer popped up for these two as they are screening them in a few cinemas later this year:

http://youtu.be/TeQ_99xxqPY

Both are super-cheap, and in case Hentaidan, super gross fun. I think they are better than anything else Iguchi has done in recent years. Now that I see the trailer for Hentaidan it looks even more amateurish than I recall it being; in any case, the film actually works for being so utterly disgusting. Obviously the trailer can't show much of that...

I wrote a bit more about the films in my blog and posted some photos from the Yubari screening in the other thread.

Here's the video from the Damager screening one more time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s8-m8sC-ys
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Re: Random Japanese movie news

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Fixing Japanese cinema's image problem
- http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/fixing-jap ... ge-problem

Very interesting read and good stuff Adam Torel.
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Re: Random Japanese movie news

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Dragon Black (Mitsuki Koga, Rina Takeda, Asami) (2015)

This is a straight to DVD film with obviously almost no production values to speak of, however, the cast should be of some interest: Mitsuki Koga (Bushido Man), Rina Takeda and Asami. The director is Jirô Ishikawa

The Japanese DVD came out last week. It's also going to have a (very) limited theatrical run from Dec. 19.

Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwbPN54_ABg

Site:
http://all-in-ent.com/ippan/1512/01.html
http://www.all-in-ent.com/dragonblack/#top

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Re: Random Japanese movie news

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Koji Shiraishi just released a new film, Vauxhall Rideshow, which was made exclusively for 4DX theatres. It only runs 25 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp-miHgggQM

Here's one guy sharing his feelings after the screening:
"I saw Vauxhall Rideshow. The smell of high school girl is amazing! High school girls are amazing! Thank you, director Shiraishi!!"
- https://twitter.com/zeonic_dragon/statu ... 0622834688

Site:
http://4dxmovie.jp/
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Re: Random Japanese movie news

Post by HungFist »

Noboru Iguchi has done a new film: Slaveman *
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x-s8r-nH7w

Looks poor.

* or Slavemen. The Japanese title is スレイブメン (Slavemen) but the website slaveman-movie.com
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Re: Random Japanese movie news

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Noboru Iguchi's Ghost Squad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv9ZUOWbrG0
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Re: Random Japanese movie news

Post by Guro Taku »

Damn. That was brutal.
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Re: Random Japanese movie news

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Takahisa Zeze has made a film version of popular AV actress Mana Sakura's (Karate Kill) novel Saitei. Opens Nov. 25.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbFcp_NLBRE

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Re: Random Japanese movie news

Post by Guro Taku »

Takashi Miike's new flick LAPLACE'S WITCH (ラプラスの魔女), a tiresome and bloated "thriller" comes out on DVD/BD November 14th.

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English subtitled trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLxEI0qaTpI
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