Ahead of a March 8, 2024 theatrical release in Japan, the live-action My Home Hero film unveiled a main trailer and visual today, previewing a thrilling crime drama, several new characters and "Insomnia" by Eve ( Jujutsu Kaisen Op) as the theme song. Main Visual Following up a live-action series adaptation that aired in October 2023, My Home Hero 's film adaptation is directed by Takahiro Aoyama, Takayoshi Tanazawa, Daisuke Yamamoto and Hirofumi Mori, with a script by Tsuyoshi Sakurai and Susumu Funabashi and soundtrack composed by Hiroaki Tsutsumi. The films stars Kuranosuke Sasaki as protagonist Tetsuo Tosu, alongside Kyohei Takahashi, Ryubi Miyase, Toshiyuki Itakura, Shunsuke Daito, Yasushi Fuchikami, Sho Nishigaki, Shunya Kaneko, Danshun Tatekawa, Misuzu Kanno, Takuma Otoo, Tae Kimura and Kenjiro Tsuda. Related: Feature: My Home Hero and the Courage of Fatherhood Based on the manga by Naoki Yamakawa and Masashi Asaki, Takashi Kamei ( JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind episode director) directed...
- 1/10/2024
- by Liam Dempsey
- Crunchyroll
Love Life is one of those films that really wears its screenplay. The plot follows a mother’s attempts to come to terms with the death of a child, but it’s more about unusual paths the journey takes for her to get there. The director is Kôji Fukada, a filmmaker who studied under Kiyoshi Kurosawa and cites Rohmer as a key influence. The first of Fukada’s films to complete for one of the grand festival awards, it premiered this week in what has been if not the best, then at least the glitziest Venice lineup in recent memory. Amongst the stars, Love Life (named for an Akiko Yano song of the same name) is jarringly everyday in color palette and setting, but has just the right amount of scope, filmmaking nous, and unusual choices to hold its own and even stand out.
A neat film of knotty ideas,...
A neat film of knotty ideas,...
- 9/6/2022
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
‘Love Life’ Review: Koji Fukada’s Life-After-Loss Drama is Full of Tragedy But Strangely Lightweight
Even the most solidly founded of marriages can be strained and shattered by the death of a child. For handsome, wholesome Japanese couple Taeko and Jiro, however, that tragedy shows up all the fault lines that were already in their young relationship, and that’s before living ghosts of the past show up for both partners. Koji Fukada’s “Love Life” unabashedly embraces melodramatic contrivance in its examination of modern middle-class love tested as much by social prejudices as by personal demons; it just does so with such pallid, polite reserve that its sentimentality never becomes transcendently moving. As such, this agreeable but overlong pic finds the Japanese writer-director still struggling to regain the form of his jolting 2016 Cannes prizewinner “Harmonium.”
That film was an exercise in disorienting tonal contrast and conflict, with a vein of blood-dark comedy running through severely tragic events. “Love Life,” on the other hand, is an earnest,...
That film was an exercise in disorienting tonal contrast and conflict, with a vein of blood-dark comedy running through severely tragic events. “Love Life,” on the other hand, is an earnest,...
- 9/6/2022
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
The apartment at the center of Love Life, Koji Fukada’s mellow study of grief and dislocation, is, like the film, compact and practical. A long table, surrounded by a narrow bench and various chairs, occupies the center of the living room. The kitchen is tucked in a corner. Near the entrance: a bathroom with a short tub, a sink, a toilet. Toward the rear: sliding doors leading to a balcony overlooking a hideous concrete lot; a bedroom on the right. Evidence of family life is everywhere: height marks etched into a wall, trophies, diplomas, a child’s drawings, books, clothes on hooks, shoes in corner.
Taeko (Fumino Kimura), Jiro (Kento Nagayama) and their 6-year-old son, Keita (Tetta Shimada), live in this unfussy space, and how they interact with it is one of the most edifying aspects of Fukada’s latest feature. With Love Life,...
The apartment at the center of Love Life, Koji Fukada’s mellow study of grief and dislocation, is, like the film, compact and practical. A long table, surrounded by a narrow bench and various chairs, occupies the center of the living room. The kitchen is tucked in a corner. Near the entrance: a bathroom with a short tub, a sink, a toilet. Toward the rear: sliding doors leading to a balcony overlooking a hideous concrete lot; a bedroom on the right. Evidence of family life is everywhere: height marks etched into a wall, trophies, diplomas, a child’s drawings, books, clothes on hooks, shoes in corner.
Taeko (Fumino Kimura), Jiro (Kento Nagayama) and their 6-year-old son, Keita (Tetta Shimada), live in this unfussy space, and how they interact with it is one of the most edifying aspects of Fukada’s latest feature. With Love Life,...
- 9/5/2022
- by Lovia Gyarkye
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Click here to read the full article.
Six years after his 2016 film Harmonium won Cannes’ jury prize in the Un Certain Regard section, Japanese director Koji Fukada is taking the big step up into Venice’s main competition with the emotionally intense family drama Love Life.
Fukada’s rise to the top tier of the international festival circuit has been telegraphed for some time. His breakthrough family comedy Hospitalité won best picture in the Japanese cinema category of the 2010 Tokyo International Film Festival, and in 2020 that same event featured him as its director in focus with a mini-retrospective. Effectively, the Tokyo festival’s organizers were arguing that Fukada was worthy of the type of top-level industry attention that Venice has now bestowed upon him.
Fukada’s ninth feature, Love Life tells a taut domestic drama about a newly married Japanese couple (Fumino Kimura and Kento Nagayama) enjoying a peaceful existence...
Six years after his 2016 film Harmonium won Cannes’ jury prize in the Un Certain Regard section, Japanese director Koji Fukada is taking the big step up into Venice’s main competition with the emotionally intense family drama Love Life.
Fukada’s rise to the top tier of the international festival circuit has been telegraphed for some time. His breakthrough family comedy Hospitalité won best picture in the Japanese cinema category of the 2010 Tokyo International Film Festival, and in 2020 that same event featured him as its director in focus with a mini-retrospective. Effectively, the Tokyo festival’s organizers were arguing that Fukada was worthy of the type of top-level industry attention that Venice has now bestowed upon him.
Fukada’s ninth feature, Love Life tells a taut domestic drama about a newly married Japanese couple (Fumino Kimura and Kento Nagayama) enjoying a peaceful existence...
- 9/1/2022
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film Review: Lost Girls And Love Hotels (2020): A Salacious Affair Without Real Humans Means Nothing
Lost Girls And Love Hotels Review — Lost Girls and Love Hotels (2020) Film Review, a movie directed by William Olsson, and starring Alexandra Daddario, Takehiro Hira, Carice van Houten, Misuzu Kanno, Kate Easton, Andrew Rothney, and Yasunari Takeshima. You know, for a movie that’s supposed to be dramatic and titillating, Lost Girls [...]
Continue reading: Film Review: Lost Girls And Love Hotels (2020): A Salacious Affair Without Real Humans Means Nothing...
Continue reading: Film Review: Lost Girls And Love Hotels (2020): A Salacious Affair Without Real Humans Means Nothing...
- 9/20/2020
- by Scott Mariner
- Film-Book
The Covid epidemic must be rough for sex addicts — something that lends at least a temporary tinge of nostalgia to “Lost Girls & Love Hotels,” whose promiscuous heroine seems unconcerned even about old-school Std risks. This adaptation of a 2010 semi-autobiographical novel by Canadian Catherine Hanrahan stars Alexandra Daddario as a North American expat in Japan, escaping murky demons via endless partying and anonymous sexual encounters.
Hitting notes variably redolent of “50 Shades” and “Looking for Mr. Goodbar,” with the added element of cultural dislocation, William Olsson’s film works as an atmospheric mood piece and sometime erotic drama. It’s less successful as a character study. That creates a certain hollowness at the core of a movie that ultimately should expose the tortured psychology of a figure who instead not only remains elusive, but never fully earns our sympathy or interest. Astrakan Film is releasing the feature (which was reportedly shot on...
Hitting notes variably redolent of “50 Shades” and “Looking for Mr. Goodbar,” with the added element of cultural dislocation, William Olsson’s film works as an atmospheric mood piece and sometime erotic drama. It’s less successful as a character study. That creates a certain hollowness at the core of a movie that ultimately should expose the tortured psychology of a figure who instead not only remains elusive, but never fully earns our sympathy or interest. Astrakan Film is releasing the feature (which was reportedly shot on...
- 9/17/2020
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
"Sometimes the mask is prettier than the thing behind it..." That line sticks with me more than any other from this trailer. Astrakan Film has debuted the full-length official trailer for the indie drama titled Lost Girls & Love Hotels, the latest film from Swedish filmmaker William Olsson (An American Affair). We featured the first teaser trailer last month. Set in Tokyo and adapted from Catherine Hanrahan's novel, the film is about an American woman trying to forget her past by drifting around dangerous nightlife and love hotels in the city. Alexandra Daddario stars as Margaret, co-starring with Takehiro Hira as a Yakuza gangster named Kazu, and a cast including Carice van Houten, Misuzu Kanno, and Kate Easton. This looks sultry and complex, a raw and honest and intimate Tokyo drama that digs deep into our fragile psyche. Here's the full official trailer (+ poster) for William Olsson's Lost Girls & Love Hotels,...
- 8/13/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
"Sadness is a hair away from melancholy..." Astrakan Film has released the first teaser trailer for an indie drama titled Lost Girls & Love Hotels, the latest from Swedish filmmaker William Olsson (An American Affair). Set in Tokyo and adapted from Catherine Hanrahan's novel, the film is about an American woman trying to forget her past drifting around dangerous nightlife. Alexandra Daddario stars as Margaret, co-starring with Takehiro Hira as a Yakuza gangster named Kazu, and a cast including Carice van Houten, Misuzu Kanno, and Kate Easton. It's described as "an intoxicating exploration of contemporary Tokyo's duality... [it's] a provocative journey inviting you to get lost within the darkest corridors of Japan in hopes of experiencing fleeting moments of beauty." This is just a teaser as the film is slated for release in September this year. Haven't heard of this before but looks good. Always down for films in Tokyo about the city's allure.
- 7/9/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
The Japanese film “37 Seconds” is deceptively delicate and quietly tough. Not unlike its protagonist. We first glimpse Yuma as she rides a crowded commuter train in Tokyo. From the camera’s angle, you might think she’s a kid. Her face is tentative, youthful. She’s shorter than the people around her because she’s in a wheelchair. She has cerebral palsy — as does Mae Kayama, the actress who portrays her — and she has been the sole concern of her mother since her father left, shortly after her birth.
Writer-director Hikari’s first feature won two prizes in the Panorama section of the Berlin Film Festival last February, followed by an international festival run. Americans can find it on Netflix. Well-paced, artfully shot and edited, “37 Seconds” mixes anime and illustration with live-action to tell the story of the 23-year-old aspiring artist seeking liberation. Yuma ghost writes friend Sayaka’s manga comics.
Writer-director Hikari’s first feature won two prizes in the Panorama section of the Berlin Film Festival last February, followed by an international festival run. Americans can find it on Netflix. Well-paced, artfully shot and edited, “37 Seconds” mixes anime and illustration with live-action to tell the story of the 23-year-old aspiring artist seeking liberation. Yuma ghost writes friend Sayaka’s manga comics.
- 1/31/2020
- by Lisa Kennedy
- Variety Film + TV
Takumi Saitoh is a Japanese actor and model, well known for starring with Aya Ueto in the popular romantic TV-series-turned-film “Hirugao”; his 2017 directorial debut “Blank 13” was a film about a problematic father/son relationship and it turned up to be a very pleasant surprise.
The enigmatic title refers to a 13-year gap in the relationship between Koji (Issei Takahashi) and his father (Lily Franky), a pathological gambler who had suddenly vanished in thin air, leaving behind the wife and their two children. If on one hand his disappearance had freed the family from an inconsiderate father and the constant stream of deb collectors and troubles that came with him, on the other had forced Koji’s mother to work nights and days to make ends meet and consequently leave the two boys to their own devices. All in all, lots of reasons to resent the man and it doesn’t...
The enigmatic title refers to a 13-year gap in the relationship between Koji (Issei Takahashi) and his father (Lily Franky), a pathological gambler who had suddenly vanished in thin air, leaving behind the wife and their two children. If on one hand his disappearance had freed the family from an inconsiderate father and the constant stream of deb collectors and troubles that came with him, on the other had forced Koji’s mother to work nights and days to make ends meet and consequently leave the two boys to their own devices. All in all, lots of reasons to resent the man and it doesn’t...
- 2/5/2019
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
HBO Asia’s “Folklore” is a six-episode, hour-long series that takes place across six Asian countries – Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Each episode is based on a country’s deeply-rooted myths and folklore, featuring supernatural beings and occult beliefs. The respective episodes are helmed by a director from that country and filmed locally in the country’s primary language. In the particular segment, Takumi Saitoh deals with the myth of the tatami ghost, one of the most famous Japanese “legends”.
Folklore is available to Us subscribers on HBO Now®, HBO Go®, HBO On Demand and partners’ streaming platforms
Makoto Kishi, a mute murder scene writer whose mentality is unstable to say the least, return to his home for his father’s funeral, and the past hits him quite hard with a number of shocking memories emerging in his head. At the same time, he discovers a secret door...
Folklore is available to Us subscribers on HBO Now®, HBO Go®, HBO On Demand and partners’ streaming platforms
Makoto Kishi, a mute murder scene writer whose mentality is unstable to say the least, return to his home for his father’s funeral, and the past hits him quite hard with a number of shocking memories emerging in his head. At the same time, he discovers a secret door...
- 2/2/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Casey Affleck-directed drama Light Of My Life, starring Affleck, Elisabeth Moss and newcomer Anna Pniowsky, will get its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in the Panorama section. The dystopian drama, about a father and his young daughter who are trapped in the woods, is one of a raft of additions to the Panorama lineup. Scroll down for the lineup in full.
A total of 45 films from 38 countries, including 34 world premieres, will screen in the section. Panorama’s opening film will be Flatland by Jenna Bass, in which a bride and her pregnant friend make a liberating getaway across South Africa.
Among the strand’s highlights are Affleck’s first narrative feature as director, which is produced by The Imitation Game outfit Black Bear Pictures; Jayro Bustamante’s Ixcanul follow-up Tremblores (Tremors), about a father who tries to break free from his past after breaking the silence about...
A total of 45 films from 38 countries, including 34 world premieres, will screen in the section. Panorama’s opening film will be Flatland by Jenna Bass, in which a bride and her pregnant friend make a liberating getaway across South Africa.
Among the strand’s highlights are Affleck’s first narrative feature as director, which is produced by The Imitation Game outfit Black Bear Pictures; Jayro Bustamante’s Ixcanul follow-up Tremblores (Tremors), about a father who tries to break free from his past after breaking the silence about...
- 1/21/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
22 films in the Panorama programme so far, with nine directorial debuts.
The first 22 titles from the 2019 Berlin Film Festival (Feb 7-17) Panorama programme have been revealed.
Scroll down for the full line-up
The European premiere of UK director Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir, starring Tilda Swinton, her daughter Honor Swinton-Byrne and Tom Burke, and the world premiere of Seamus Murphy’s Pj Harvey documentary A Dog Called Money are among the titles confirmed today.
The line-up also includes the directing debuts of actors Jonah Hill (Mid90s) and Alexander Gorchilin (Acid), and Rob Garver’s documentary What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael,...
The first 22 titles from the 2019 Berlin Film Festival (Feb 7-17) Panorama programme have been revealed.
Scroll down for the full line-up
The European premiere of UK director Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir, starring Tilda Swinton, her daughter Honor Swinton-Byrne and Tom Burke, and the world premiere of Seamus Murphy’s Pj Harvey documentary A Dog Called Money are among the titles confirmed today.
The line-up also includes the directing debuts of actors Jonah Hill (Mid90s) and Alexander Gorchilin (Acid), and Rob Garver’s documentary What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael,...
- 12/18/2018
- by Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
The Berlin Film Festival has revealed a large selection of movies for its Panorama strand. Section head Paz Lázaro and co-curator and programme manager Michael Stütz have revealed 22 titles, 14 of which will be world premieres.
Among highlights are Jonah Hill’s directorial debut Mid90s; Jamie Bell starrer Skin, about the USA’s neo-Nazi scene; Tilda Swinton drama The Souvenir; and What She Said: The Art Of Pauline Kael, about the legendary film critic.
Panorama Films:
37 Seconds – Japan
by Hikari (Mitsuyo Miyazaki)
with Mei Kayama, Misuzu Kanno, Makiko Watanabe, Shunsuke Daitō, Yuka Itaya
World premiere – Debut film
Director Hikari, aka Mitsuyo Miyazaki, tells the story of Yuma, a young Japanese woman who suffers from cerebral palsy. Torn between her obligations towards her family and her dream to become a manga artist, Yuma struggles to lead a self-determined life.
Dafne – Italy
by Federico Bondi
with Carolina Raspanti, Antonio Piovanelli,...
Among highlights are Jonah Hill’s directorial debut Mid90s; Jamie Bell starrer Skin, about the USA’s neo-Nazi scene; Tilda Swinton drama The Souvenir; and What She Said: The Art Of Pauline Kael, about the legendary film critic.
Panorama Films:
37 Seconds – Japan
by Hikari (Mitsuyo Miyazaki)
with Mei Kayama, Misuzu Kanno, Makiko Watanabe, Shunsuke Daitō, Yuka Itaya
World premiere – Debut film
Director Hikari, aka Mitsuyo Miyazaki, tells the story of Yuma, a young Japanese woman who suffers from cerebral palsy. Torn between her obligations towards her family and her dream to become a manga artist, Yuma struggles to lead a self-determined life.
Dafne – Italy
by Federico Bondi
with Carolina Raspanti, Antonio Piovanelli,...
- 12/18/2018
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Jonah Hill’s directorial debut, “mid90s,” about a 13-year-old skateboarder’s coming of age, and a documentary on influential film critic Pauline Kael are among the works that will screen in the Panorama section of the upcoming Berlin Film Festival.
Films starring Tilda Swinton and Jamie Bell and titles from countries including Israel, Brazil and Japan were also announced in the first batch of 22 Panorama selections unveiled by the Berlinale on Tuesday. Nine of the films are debut works, and 14 will have their world premiere in the German capital. The section is curated by Paz Lázaro and co-curator and program manager Michael Stütz.
“mid90s” follows teenage Stevie as he joins up with four skateboarding punks who take him under their wing. Variety described Hill’s debut film as “a slice of street life made up of skittery moments that achieve a bone-deep reality. And because you believe what you’re seeing,...
Films starring Tilda Swinton and Jamie Bell and titles from countries including Israel, Brazil and Japan were also announced in the first batch of 22 Panorama selections unveiled by the Berlinale on Tuesday. Nine of the films are debut works, and 14 will have their world premiere in the German capital. The section is curated by Paz Lázaro and co-curator and program manager Michael Stütz.
“mid90s” follows teenage Stevie as he joins up with four skateboarding punks who take him under their wing. Variety described Hill’s debut film as “a slice of street life made up of skittery moments that achieve a bone-deep reality. And because you believe what you’re seeing,...
- 12/18/2018
- by Henry Chu
- Variety Film + TV
Although the vast plethora of Japanese dramas dealing with dysfunctional families has offered a number of contemporary masterpieces, I always found a fault in the majority of these movies; they tend to lag, particularly near the end, somewhat overextending their welcome. Actor turned director Takumi Saitoh presents a film, in his feature debut, that takes care of this “fault”, in an effort that netted him the Fantaland Audience Award in Yubari and the Best Director in the Asian New Talent Award section in Shanghai.
Blank 13 is screening at Japan Cuts 2018
The film is based on the true story of broadcast writer Koji Hashimoto, revolves around a family of four and unfolds it two different timelines, with the intro credits providing the dichotomy between past and present, although some flashbacks are also included.
Masato Matsuda is the father, a total loser who spends his time gambling and building up debt, with...
Blank 13 is screening at Japan Cuts 2018
The film is based on the true story of broadcast writer Koji Hashimoto, revolves around a family of four and unfolds it two different timelines, with the intro credits providing the dichotomy between past and present, although some flashbacks are also included.
Masato Matsuda is the father, a total loser who spends his time gambling and building up debt, with...
- 7/21/2018
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Takumi Saito is a well-known Japanese actor, heartthrob and model, notorious for the popular TV-series-turned-movie “Hirugao: Love in the Afternoon” with actress Aya Ueto. Saito’s directorial debut “Blank 13” is the tale of an alienated son, longing and struggling to engage one last time with his father, holding on to a handful of memories. The movie is based on the true story of a friend of Saito and it turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
Blank 13 is screening at the Toronto Japanese Film Festival
The title “Blank 13” refers to the 13-year gap in the relationship between Koji (Issei Takahashi) and his father (Lily Franky). An unrepentant gambler and liar, the father had vanished in thin air 13 years before, leaving behind his wife and his two young children. On one hand, his escape from responsibilities had felt like liberation for the family, increasingly harassed by creditors, but it had also...
Blank 13 is screening at the Toronto Japanese Film Festival
The title “Blank 13” refers to the 13-year gap in the relationship between Koji (Issei Takahashi) and his father (Lily Franky). An unrepentant gambler and liar, the father had vanished in thin air 13 years before, leaving behind his wife and his two young children. On one hand, his escape from responsibilities had felt like liberation for the family, increasingly harassed by creditors, but it had also...
- 6/18/2018
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
This great recent Japanese epic is all but unknown here — and is the kind of adult historical show that we seem incapable of these days. The intense diplomatic storm at the end of WW2 with an Army command willing to sacrifice the nation in a national suicide pact, is given an exciting, thoughtful treatment
The Emperor in August
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
2015 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 136 min. / Street Date August 15, 2017 / Nihon no ichiban nagai hi ketteiban / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: Koji Yakusho, Masahiro Motoki, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Shin’ichi Tsutsumi, Tori Matsuzaka, Kikuo Kaneuchi, Misuzu Kanno, Katsumi Kiba.
Cinematography: Takahide Shibanushi
Film Editor: Eugene Harada
Original Music: Harumi Fuki
Based on the novel by Kacutoshi Hando
Produced by Hirotaki Aragaki, Nozumi Enoki
Written and Directed by Masato Harada
How does Twilight Time do it? Every time they offer a foreign title I’ve never heard of, it comes up a winner.
The Emperor in August
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
2015 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 136 min. / Street Date August 15, 2017 / Nihon no ichiban nagai hi ketteiban / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: Koji Yakusho, Masahiro Motoki, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Shin’ichi Tsutsumi, Tori Matsuzaka, Kikuo Kaneuchi, Misuzu Kanno, Katsumi Kiba.
Cinematography: Takahide Shibanushi
Film Editor: Eugene Harada
Original Music: Harumi Fuki
Based on the novel by Kacutoshi Hando
Produced by Hirotaki Aragaki, Nozumi Enoki
Written and Directed by Masato Harada
How does Twilight Time do it? Every time they offer a foreign title I’ve never heard of, it comes up a winner.
- 9/9/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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