Bullets 'n' Babes

A new film by Eiji Uchida (Greatful Dead), produced by Third Window Films' Adam Torel *

Tetsuo is a lowlife. As a film director, he had an indie hit many years back, but refuses to go against his artistic integrity. One day, two new students come to his school: Minami, a naive girl from the countryside who wants to be an actress, and Ken, a scriptwriter. Tetsuo thinks Minami could be a real star, and Ken has a brilliant script that could relaunch his career as a director. With the help of an unsavory film producer, they strive to turn this project into something tangible, but Minami's ability starts to impress others, and Tetsuo's world soon falls apart.
- http://2015.tiff-jp.net/en/lineup/works.php?id=56

Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSHd9mB1C48

More at Twitch:
http://twitchfilm.com/2015/09/exclusive ... eijis.html

* Earlier this year I tried super hard to venture to a new level by making my first 100% self-produced film! Selling half my personal collection of 60s vinyl and running crowdfunding campaigns in both the UK and Japan I could make the film 「下衆の愛」- 'Lowlife Love' possible!
- https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =3&theater

I saw this last year when it was in theatres. It was kind of good, but I wasn't really enthusiastic about it. I've grown a bit tired of these modern indie films by young filmmakers who seem the be making movies for themselves, about themselves, clueless of what other filmmakers have done before them. Lowlife was a pretty ok film, and not all of the fore-mentioned "accusations" apply to this film, but somehow when I see Uchida's work I can't help but to occasionally associate him with those filmmakers. When you do a low key film about very "daily" topics you really need something exceptional to make it special to those who don't belong to your "group"...

Well, that's just me. Japanese indies do have an audience in Japan, the same people who will go see every new Japanese indie that gets a theatrical release. Perhaps I just belong to the wrong "group".

Looking back at the film now, with the Harvey Weinstein stuff and all, I think the film came out 2 years too early. Japanese film industry has its own little Harveys, and this film shows it. The film should be more timely now.