Kept (Ra) (2014) (R.I.P. Maki Mizui)

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Kept (Ra) (2014) (R.I.P. Maki Mizui)

Post by HungFist »

When I wrote all this stuff in 2010 in the Sushi Typhoon topic...
HungFist wrote:
HungFist wrote: Here's an interesting girl. She plays a (male) Astro-Mutant in the film. Looks like she's quite closely associated with Nishimura and pals, having appeared in numerous films by them. And her blog is great. There was bit where she was writing how she "escaped" from her manager and sneaked into movie theater to see Tetsuo 3.

Not quite a pure angel though. She's got a bit side business in AV, although she doesn't appear to be a full on star. And her idol pics were enough for google to block some links based on how young she looks. Her age appears to be a national secret. August 10th birthday, but absolutely no mention of year anywhere. Not as far as I could find, anyway.

As you can see, the stuff from her blog is pretty great.

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More about Maki from dvdmaniacs (ah. avmaniacs that is)

Sheldon Warnock at AV Maniacs wrote:

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Like Ruby Aiba (Aiba Rubi) and Tsubasa Haruya - stars of Yasushi Koshizaka's J-sploitation movies Missing 44 (Misshingu 44) and Missing 44: The Final Stage (Misshingu 44: za fainaru sutêji) - Maki Mizui currently is managed by Hotcha Promotion (Haccha Puromôshon).

Mizui worked as an assistant to Yoshihiro Nishimura on such movies as Noboru Iguchi's The Machine Girl (Kataude mashin gâru) - see the photo above.


I remember her now. I've seen her in some making off docs and TGP Short Collection end credits I think... I was always wondering who's that incredibly cute girl. I probably have screencaps too... let me see

TGP Short Collection end credits (From TGP R2J DVD)
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The Machine Girl Making Of (From The Maachine Girl R2J DVD)
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And more Maki

Sheldon Warnock at AV Maniacs wrote:
The "TGP Short Collection end credits" photo was taken during the pre-production of Tokyo Gore Police...

Yoshihiro Nishimura official blog:
December 23, 2007 entry #1
http://blog.livedoor.jp/ni4yo4/archives/51445507.html
http://livedoor.2.blogimg.jp/ni4yo4/img ... 8f2de5.jpg


March 22, 2008 Tokyo Gore Police "promotion event" at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival:
Cay Izumi (Izumi Kai), Sayako Nakoshi (now Maki Mizui), and Tsugumi Nagasawa
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October 21, 2008 screening of Tokyo Gore Police at the Theater N Shibuya:
Tsugumi Nagasawa, Sayako Nakoshi (now Maki Mizui), and Cay Izumi (Izumi Kai)
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... I didn't quite expect that three years (2013) later I would meet her and talk with her a couple of times at Yubari Film Fest. Or that 4 years later (2014) she would hand me some sushi (again at Yubari) :lol:

She seems like a very nice girl indeed, but obviously hasn't had an easy life. She was kidnapped as a teenager by a sex criminal, but managed to escape unharmed (the other victims weren't that lucky). It also seems she ventured to AV when she was still underage. At least last year you could still clearly see cut marks on her arms, too.

I don't know how exactly she met Yoshihiro Nishimura, but she's been working for him at least since she was 14 years old. Due to Nishimura's close associations with Sion Sono, Mizui also worked as an assistant in Sono's movies such as Noriko's Dinner Table at the age of 15.

This year she was once again in Yubari with Nishimura, but not only as Nishimura's assistant, but also as a first time director whose debut film Kept (Ra) was nominated for the Grand Prix. When it didn't win, Mizui walked on the stage and asked the president of the jury (Kichitaro Negishi) why? I saw her later and there were tear in her eyes all evening. I wish I could have said something nice to her, but being essentially a stranger I felt it might not be appropriate.

Kept is based on her own experiences as the victim of a kidnapping. It's a very powerful, extremely dark movie with a magnificent soundtrack based on Alex Proyas' film Spirits of the Air, Gremlins of the Cloud. There are some symbolic scenes that don't quite work, though, and the characterization somewhat cuts corners. Nevertheless, it's a very interesting and highly personal film. It was produced by Nishimura, who also served as Mizui's assistant and co-editor.

Here she is with Nishimura in Yubari this year:
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And another picture (via Zeonic Dragon)
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And a few old ones from 2005 and 2006 via Nishimura's blog
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I must say I'm really happy for her, and its somehow heart warming to see how she and Nishimura work together. They seem almost like father and daughter, except that fathers rarely stick a fake penis into their daughter's forehead for a special effects movie :lol:

Poster, trailer and website for Kept (Ra)
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- http://vimeo.com/86968100
- http://www.mmizui.com/ra
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Re: Nikkatsu's Sushi Typhoon

Post by HungFist »

Wrote a more coherent review of Kept (Ra):
http://sketchesofcinema.wordpress.com/2014/03/25/kept/
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Re: Nikkatsu's Sushi Typhoon

Post by HungFist »

Guro Taku
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Re: Kept (Ra) (Maki Mizui, 2014)

Post by Guro Taku »

The DVD finally came out in December!

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Re: Kept (Ra) (2014) (R.I.P. Maki Mizui)

Post by HungFist »

Resurrecting an old thread with terrible news from a few months ago: Maki Mizui is dead. Suicide apparently. She was 32.

She died in July, but I didn't get the news until a few days ago as I haven't been following anything related to new Japanese cinema for years.

I seems she made some pretty bad allegations about Nishimura last year. Physical and sexual abuse, as well as being forced to work without pay. It seems they had an ongoing dispute about the production costs of Ra as well.

I didn't know her personally of course, but I talked to her a few times in Yubari.

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Guro Taku
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Re: Kept (Ra) (2014) (R.I.P. Maki Mizui)

Post by Guro Taku »

That's very tragic and sad to find out. I don't say this often when someone passes but in her case, considering the rough life she had to live, I really do hope she can rest in peace now.
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