The Nobuhiro Yamashita thread

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Re: The Nobuhiro Yamashita thread

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Don Brown wrote:Moriyama Mirai & Kora Kengo to star in Yamashita Nobuhiro's next, based on Akutagawa Prize-winning novel KUEKI RESSHA. Set in 1987, Moriyama plays a 19-yr-old junior high graduate & port laborer who makes ¥5500 a day & whose dad is a sex offender.
- http://twitter.com/#!/ryuganji
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Re: The Nobuhiro Yamashita thread

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HungFist wrote:
Don Brown wrote:Moriyama Mirai & Kora Kengo to star in Yamashita Nobuhiro's next, based on Akutagawa Prize-winning novel KUEKI RESSHA. Set in 1987, Moriyama plays a 19-yr-old junior high graduate & port laborer who makes ¥5500 a day & whose dad is a sex offender.
- http://twitter.com/#!/ryuganji
Teaser:
http://www.nipponcinema.com/trailers/ku ... sha-teaser
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Re: The Nobuhiro Yamashita thread

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HungFist wrote:
HungFist wrote:
Don Brown wrote:Moriyama Mirai & Kora Kengo to star in Yamashita Nobuhiro's next, based on Akutagawa Prize-winning novel KUEKI RESSHA. Set in 1987, Moriyama plays a 19-yr-old junior high graduate & port laborer who makes ¥5500 a day & whose dad is a sex offender.
- http://twitter.com/#!/ryuganji
Teaser:
http://www.nipponcinema.com/trailers/ku ... sha-teaser
The trailer actually looks rather good:
http://www.nipponcinema.com/trailers/ku ... ha-trailer

We ain't gonna get old school Yamashita, but at least it seems to be a good mainstreamer with recognizable Yamashita touches... and Atsuko Maeda. Ex-AKB-48 member who in Ichikawa's How to Become Myself proved she can actually act!!
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Re: The Nobuhiro Yamashita thread

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HungFist wrote:
HungFist wrote:
Don Brown wrote:Moriyama Mirai & Kora Kengo to star in Yamashita Nobuhiro's next, based on Akutagawa Prize-winning novel KUEKI RESSHA. Set in 1987, Moriyama plays a 19-yr-old junior high graduate & port laborer who makes ¥5500 a day & whose dad is a sex offender.
- http://twitter.com/#!/ryuganji
The trailer actually looks rather good:
http://www.nipponcinema.com/trailers/ku ... ha-trailer

We ain't gonna get old school Yamashita, but at least it seems to be a good mainstreamer with recognizable Yamashita touches... and Atsuko Maeda. Ex-AKB-48 member who in Ichikawa's How to Become Myself proved she can actually act!!
Getting very excited... Schilling's review:

"something of a throwback to his black comedy beginnings... it's a wonder the film got released by major distributor Toei.
- http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/ff2012 ... _j5zFKT6xV

and Yama interview

"My early films made people laugh, so I wanted to do that again"
- http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/ff2012 ... _j50VKT6xV

also note that the film is rated R-15. And the screenplay is by Shinji Imaoka!
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Re: The Nobuhiro Yamashita thread

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'kueki ressha' has been successfully generating absolute zero heat in the west, which is a good sign of a truly japanese film these days, i'm guessing.

for what it's worth, there looks to me to be a major downturn in the cinematic qualities of much of recent J film, and this is one of the rare examples of films that look as well made as a lot more stuff seemed to be a decade ago. dunno if that's right or if it makes sense, it's just it stands out for more than it's story - because it actually looks like a film.

if anyone doesn't need subs but wants a cheaper option for 'Shinya Shokudo', korean releases are out there, the second due any day soon.
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Re: The Nobuhiro Yamashita thread

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ok, since it seems I'm not gonna have time to translate my Finnish Kueki ressha review anytime soon (or ever), here's just brief remarks in English:

The Drudgery Train (Kueki ressha, 2012)

Fan favorite Nobuhiro Yamashita's welcome return to slow paced, rather non-commercial cinema. With a 19 year old protagonist who burns his money on booze and strippers, and whose father is a sex criminal, it's certainly a film of old school Yamashita ingredients.

The minimal and slightly overlong film is, however, neither quite like nor as good as Yamashita’s early slacker masterpieces. Perhaps because of the source material – an autobiographical novel by Kenta Nishimura, adapted into screenplay by pink maestro Shinji Imaoka – Yamashita opts for slightly darker tones than expected. The recognizable Yamashita moments of quiet comedy are still to be found, though.

The start studded cast fare reasonably well, especially Mirai Moriyama who takes a minor gamble with his career. AKB48’s only acting capable member Atsuko Maeda is passable as well, though the whole cast suffers in comparison to Yamashita’s early works and their stars.

Flawed but pleasing, Kueki ressha may have a bit of difficulties finding its audience despite the puzzling Toei multiplex distribution that feels almost like a twisted joke by itself.

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Re: The Nobuhiro Yamashita thread

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mark schilling rates it - http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/ff20120706a2.html

aka 'drudgery train'.
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Re: The Nobuhiro Yamashita thread

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Trailer for Yamashita's new film Moratorium Tamako, starring Atsuko Maeda, out next month.
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUeJx71r-pA

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Re: The Nobuhiro Yamashita thread

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Two reviews for Moratorium Tamako

"A gently quirky film that recalls the oddball charm of Linda, Linda, Linda"
- http://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the- ... 56.article

"Charming and easy-to-enjoy film"
- http://www.greenteagraffiti.com/biff201 ... rium-2013/

I was just thinking that the trailer looks so boring (and with that damn female voice over that I've grown sick of) but the reviews convinced me otherwise. Opens on Saturday.
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Re: The Nobuhiro Yamashita thread

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Re: The Nobuhiro Yamashita thread

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Finally caught Moratorium Tamako after four weeks of "to be or not to be". And I'm happy I did: the film is 10 times better than the trailer.

Nobuhiro Yamashita started his career with minimalist, pitch perfect slacker films such as Ramblers (2003). He later entered mainstream cinema, but never quite lost his indie qualities. Moratorium Tamako is a nice example of Yamashita helming a somewhat mainstream project in his own, recognizable style.

Yamashita’s latest is a very simple film. With a running time of only 78 minutes (lovely!), and most of which is dedicated to the leading girl Atsuko Maeda lying on the floor, playing Playstation, or sleeping, there truly isn’t much melodrama going on. But small details and quiet humour have always been Yamashita’s strength. Moratorium Tamako is no exception.

Yamashita’s love and sympathy for his unlucky protagonists is once again evident in Moratorium Tamako. This is what sets Yamashita apart from some of his rivals, such as the more mean spirited Yuya Ishii, or even Aki Kaurismäki. Yamashita smiles at his characters, but never makes cruel fun of them. He can identify and sympathise with, say, a girl who failed finding a job and now spends her days reading manga and lying on the floor, as in Moratorium Tamako.

With his last two films, Yamashita has found his new heroine in Atsuko Maeda. The unlikely pairing of a slacker director and former AKB 48 idol is actually quite functional. Maeda is surprisingly natural as a lazy, not-into-anything Yamashita heroine, yet retaining her cute looks and easy-going mainstream appeal that just might be what Yamashita needs to get his films financed.

It is, in fact, quite unusual for a Yamashita film to center so strongly around one character (instead of a duo or trio of ill-lucked protagonists). It is perhaps because of this that Moratorium Tamako is an even quieter film than Yamashita’s films in general. That being said, there are two important supporting characters; Tamako’s single father, and a quiet elementary school boy who is an especially Yamashitan character.

Of course, Moratorium Tamako is by no means a match to Yamashita’s unparalleled Osaka era films (Hazy Life, No One’s Ark, Ramblers), but it's a pleasurable small film. Like all of Yamashita's films (and unlike most small scale Japanese films these days) the film also looks solid. It was shot on digital, but it has a pleasing, roughly film-like look to it.

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(screencaps from the trailer)
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Re: The Nobuhiro Yamashita thread

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Tamako JP BD and DVD 2014/06/25
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- http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_dvd. ... sid=926016

No subs listed unfortunately. The film doesn't have much dialogue, though.
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Re: The Nobuhiro Yamashita thread

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Two new films coming from Yamashita

The first one is Chonoryoku kenkyubu no 3 nin in December. The film stars some idols, but it was written by Kosuke Mukai and Shinji Imaoka...
- http://www.bs-tbs.co.jp/chonoryoku3/

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Another one coming in Fabruary, Misono Universe, starring Subaru Shibuya and Fumi Nikaido.
- http://misono.gaga.ne.jp/
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Re: The Nobuhiro Yamashita thread

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Trailer for Chonoryoku kenkyubu no 3 nin
- http://youtu.be/rYhyP59Z53c

I still don't know what to make out of this. Oh well, I'll see it in December anyway.

My Yamashita ratings so far (feature length films only):

Hazy Life (1999) - 3.5/5
No One's Ark (2002) - 4.5/5
Ramblers (2003) - 5/5
Cream Lemon (2004) - 3.5/5
Linda Linda Linda (2004) - 4/5
Matsugane Potshot Affair (2006) - 4/5
A Gentle Breeze in the Village (2007) - 4/5
The Drudgery Train (2012) - 3.5/5
Tamako in Moratorium (2013) - 3.5/5

I haven't seen My Back Page.
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Re: The Nobuhiro Yamashita thread

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HungFist wrote: Another one coming in Fabruary, Misono Universe, starring Subaru Shibuya and Fumi Nikaido.
- http://misono.gaga.ne.jp/
Trailer on the official website (didn't work on Firefox for me, Internet Explorer plays in fine)
- http://misono.gaga.ne.jp/

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Re: The Nobuhiro Yamashita thread

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Re: The Nobuhiro Yamashita thread

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HungFist wrote:
HungFist wrote: Another one coming in Fabruary, Misono Universe, starring Subaru Shibuya and Fumi Nikaido.
- http://misono.gaga.ne.jp/
Trailer on the official website (didn't work on Firefox for me, Internet Explorer plays in fine)
- http://misono.gaga.ne.jp/

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Went to see it last weekend. Mini-review below:

Misono Universe (Japan, 2015) [DCP]
Nobuhiro Yamashita is one of the few Japanese indie favourites who never lost their distinctive style even after going mainstream. In fact, he appears to be unable to make a bad movie. Misono Universe is a pure crown pleaser on the surface - a gangster with a memory loss becomes a pop star after he is taken in by a small band - but Yamashita helms it with his usual deadpan humour, slow pace and attention to detail. He does a lot of small things against mainstream norms, e.g. the short beating in the beginning leaves the protagonist's face scarred for the rest of the film. As a whole, however, probably due to the script penned by Tomoe Kanno instead of Kosuke Mukai, the film is not a good as Yamashita's other movies. Pop star Subaru Shibutani is decent in the lead role, but it's the hugely talented Fumi Nikaido who is the real star of the film. Her acting is such a pleasure to follow even in scenes where supposedly nothing is happening.

Schilling makes some good points, too.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/201 ... PsrAS5-Dk8

Unfortunately I missed Chonoryoku kenkyubu no 3 nin. It was playing around Christmas and I just couldn't find the time.
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Re: The Nobuhiro Yamashita thread

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Two new films coming in 2016:

[Ryuhei] Matsuda also plays the protagonist of Nobuhiro Yamashita's “My Uncle,” a philosophical freeloader scheming to save up for a trip to Hawaii to reunite with the girl of his dreams.

Director Yamashita continues to be quietly prolific, keeping one foot in the commercial arena and the other in the independent scene. His other feature scheduled for release, “Over Fence,” starring Joe Odagiri, Yu Aoi and Shota Matsuda, is an adaptation of a novel by author Yasushi Sato, whose “Sketches of Kaitan City” and “The Light Shines Only There” provided dark and heavily dramatic material for two excellent films.


- http://ajw.asahi.com/article/cool_japan ... 1601080010

Yamashita directing Yu Aoi! That's my dream come true!

oh, and there's still no DVD/BD release of Chonoryoku kenkyubu no 3 nin. It's available on some streaming service(s?) though.
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Re: The Nobuhiro Yamashita thread

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I finally watched the short film collection DVD I bought years ago. Let's see:

Night Imitate Summer (Japan, 1996) [DVD] - 1/5
Amateurish 8mm short film gives no indication of Yamashita's talent. The 11 minute film follows a salesman who finds himself in a building full of crap and crappy people. Yamashita's trademarks are nowhere to be seen, and the film is not really worth a watch even as a curiosity.

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Rotting Woman (Japan, 1997) [DVD] - 3/5
This must be the most unusual thing Yamashita has ever done: a gruesome zombie film dedicated to Lucio Fulci. Shot on 16mm, the film shows one woman's slow transformation into a zombie after being fatally bitten. It's simple film, but the short running time (10 min) makes it work and the gore effects are great. The film was shows on quite a few international festivals, where audiences probably labelled Yamashita a rising horror talent. How ironic for a director who, in reality, became known as the Japanese Aki Kaurismäki.

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Season Seeds (Japan, 1998) [DVD] - 2/5
Two lazy guys stuck in a small apartment. This one is starting to feel a bit like a Yamashita film, and it stars Yamashita himself, but it's neither very funny not especially interesting. 8mm again, runs 19 minutes.

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Hiroshi and Rolan (Japan, 1999) [DVD] - 1/5
Frustrating 12 minute short film about a Japanese guy and a very irritating foreign girl in a small hot room. This is not the kind of clever understated humour Yamashita became known for. The only point of interest is Hiroshi Yamamoto in the starring role. Runs 12 long minutes, shot on Hi8 and looks like crap.

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105 Yen Hamburger is Not Cheap(Japan, 2000) [DVD] - 2/5
Yet another one room dialogue film, this time about fast food and dating. Yamamoto co-stars and improvises - one can hear Yamashita laughing behind the camera. He's having more fun than the audience. The 15 minute film, shot on digital, feels oddly amateurish considering Yamashita had already completed his enjoyable debut feature film Hazy Life (1999) by that time.

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Re: The Nobuhiro Yamashita thread

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HungFist wrote: Director Yamashita continues to be quietly prolific, keeping one foot in the commercial arena and the other in the independent scene. His other feature scheduled for release, “Over Fence,” starring Joe Odagiri, Yu Aoi and Shota Matsuda, is an adaptation of a novel by author Yasushi Sato, whose “Sketches of Kaitan City” and “The Light Shines Only There” provided dark and heavily dramatic material for two excellent films.[/i]
Teaser:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiF2OFUqIjI

Website:
http://overfence-movie.jp/
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Re: The Nobuhiro Yamashita thread

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HungFist wrote:Two new films coming from Yamashita

The first one is Chonoryoku kenkyubu no 3 nin in December. The film stars some idols, but it was written by Kosuke Mukai and Shinji Imaoka...
- http://www.bs-tbs.co.jp/chonoryoku3/

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Chônôryoku kenkyûbu no 3 nin (Japan, 2014) [VoD] - 2/5
Nobuhiro Yamashita is no stranger to cinematic experiments, but this goes to a whole new level. It started with Shinji Imaoka contributing a screenplay for a high school girl sci-fi film. Kosuke Mukai then wrote a fake documentary screenplay about the making of that movie (which had not been filmed yet). Yamashita hired three idols to star in the sci-fi film, without telling them he was also filming the faux-documentary at the same time. He then had a small army of other actors pretend to be filmmakers, agents, and other crew, to have the girls believe they were making a sci-fi film.

The outcome is an odd, but overlong and rather cheap experiment with occasional moments of genius. The best part is a 15 minute sequence where Yamashita works his magic to get a solid performance out of one of the girls. After failing a scene where she's supposed to get angry after being insulted, Yamashita had her co-stars brutally insult her real personality (rather than the character she plays) and everything she represents as an idol, eventually evoking a genuine and spirited response. Too bad the rest of the film doesn't reach this level, and feels more like a tongue in the cheek experiment than a real movie.

There is no dvd release of this movie; only VoD (Hulu Japan).
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Re: The Nobuhiro Yamashita thread

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Don Brown on Over the Fence:
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201609090001.html

Oh, and I saw Linda Linda Linda on 35mm a week ago, which was a total joy. It's the rare Japanese mainstream debut by an indie filmmaker that isn't a compromise or a total sell-out. It feels totally Yamashita while at the same time being perfectly mainstream and having solid production values. The last 30 min has a couple of moments I don't entirely like (Ramones, crowd reaction) but otherwise it's almost perfect.

Although I could not stay till the end of the event, it was great finally seeing Aki Maeda live after the film. She was a charming girl at the time of filming in 2004, and now 12 years later she's become an equally charming and beautiful 31 year old woman.
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Re: The Nobuhiro Yamashita thread

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HungFist wrote:
[Ryuhei] Matsuda also plays the protagonist of Nobuhiro Yamashita's “My Uncle,” a philosophical freeloader scheming to save up for a trip to Hawaii to reunite with the girl of his dreams.


Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmM9pP538o0

Doesn't quite look as interesting as I was hoping for, but let's see.
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Re: The Nobuhiro Yamashita thread

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Saw Over the Fence and pretty much hated it. This is now two Yamashita films (with Chônôryoku kenkyûbu no 3 nin) in a row that I'm extremely happy I missed in theaters because I would've been so bored had I been trapped there for 2 hours...

Over the Fence (オーバーフェンス) (Japan, 2016) [DVD] - 1.5/5
Nobuhiro Yamashita, whose slacker masterpiece Ramblers (2003) I've seen seven times, directing Yu Aoi, whose talent and beauty I adore, should have resulted in something special. Over the Fence, however, is so painfully dull a drama that I struggled to make it to the end. It's the third part in the Hakodate trilogy (preceded by the very good Sketches of Kaitan City, and the highly praised The Light Shines Only There), and features Joe Odagiri is a guy who falls in love with bipolar girl Yu Aoi. Strangely enough, it's Odagiri who is the more watchable of the two, Aoi being almost nerve wrecking. That may be more due to the character than the actress, but in the end it matters not. Yamashita's usual dry humour and energetic delivery are sparse here, and the film's musical score is especially bad.
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Hardcore looks watchable:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja2Kzb5VZuo

This is at Tokyo International Film Festival (aka the dullest film fest in the world) and I'll even be in Tokyo the same day it screens but I won't be at TIFF cause I have more important stuff to do. But I might catch this in theatre when it opens 2018/11/23. R15+ rating attached.
- http://hardcore-movie.jp/

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