Shinku - Deep red [Jmovie] (Rina Uchiyama, Fumiyo Kohinata, Maki Horikita)

Title: Shinku (aka The Deep Red)
Starring: Rina Uchiyama, Fumiyo Kohinata, Asami Mizukawa, Maki Horikita
Released: 10th February 2006

Synopsis
With a title that means “deep red” in Japanese, Shinku is certainly an appropriate name for the movie considering its bloody subject matter. Boasting a screenplay by the late novelist Nozawa Hisashi (who committed suicide in 2004) and based on his identically titled book, Shinku is a compelling drama that focuses on the strange relationship that develops between two people who find their lives irrevocably changed as a result of a horrible multiple homicide. The first person traumatized is the lone survivor of the terrible family bloodbath, a girl who grows up to be a pretty college student played by Uchiyama Rina (from the TV series “Musashi”). The second person affected by this heinous crime is the daughter of the murderer, a young girl who ends up becoming a tattooed bartender played by Mizukawa Asami (from Go and 69). A full decade after the crime, the killer is finally going to be executed, and the surviving member of the massacre decides to reach out and befriend the murderer’s daughter. A tentative, odd sort of friendship blossoms between these two people, both of whom seem to have little in common personally, and every reason in the world for not wanting to meet. Yet they do, but not without reservations. And really, is this friendship quite what it seems? Or is it all part of some twisted plan for vengeance? As the dramatic tone of the film soon transforms from social drama into pure terror and blood-splattering horror, audiences are taken on a whirlwind ride to a dark destination they could not have expected. With a unbelievable climax, Shinku is a terrifying, atmospheric, and eerily realistic tale of psychological terror that will leave audiences breathless!

Official Site
Trailer

April 10, 2008 · Filed Under Japanese Movies, Maki Horikita

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Heaven Bookstore [Jmovie] (Yuko Takeuchi)

Heaven’s Bookstore (天国の本屋, ‘Tengoku no honya) is a 2004 Japanese film directed by Tetsuo Shinohara about a struggling classical pianist who is sent to heaven to work in a bookstore. It is based on two novels, written by Atsushi Matsuhisa and Wataru Tanaka.

Plot

Kenta (Tetsuji Tamayama), a classical pianist, is fired from his orchestra, and gets drunk in a bar. He wakes up the following morning in what turns out to be a bookstore in heaven. The owner of the bookstore had brought him there, and explains that people live to be 100; people who die before this age go to heaven to live out the rest of their allotted time, before they are reborn on earth.

In heaven he meets Shoko (Yuko Takeuchi), a pianist who he had admired on earth. Together, they start work on a special composition that she had started writing but not finished on earth.

Meanwhile, on earth, Shoko’s niece Natsuko (also played by Yuko Takeuchi) wants to organise a fireworks display that was discontinued twelve years ago. It turns out that Shoko had been engaged to Takimoto (Teruyuki Kagawa), a talented firework maker, but her hearing had been damaged by a firework accident he caused. As a result she stopped playing music, he stopped making fireworks, they split up, and later she died.

Natsuko wants Takimoto to make his special ‘loving fireworks’ for the fireworks display. These are the special fireworks that inspired Shoko to compose her special composition, uncompleted when Takimoto stopped making them. He is vehnemently opposed to making fireworks again.

However, at the end of the firework display ‘loving fireworks’ unexpectedly appear in the sky, set-off by Takimoto. Kenta returns to earth and plays Shoko’s now completed composition to accompany them. Natsuko and Kenta meet. They run off laughing into the dark.

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April 4, 2008 · Filed Under Japanese Movies, Takeuchi Yuko

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Koisuru Madori [JMovie] (Aragaki Yui, Matsuda Ryuhei, Kikuchi Rinko)

Beautiful college student Yui (Aragaki Yui) moves into her own apartment for the first time, beginning a new life of independence. Still green when it comes to life and love, she soon develops a crush on her moody upstairs neighbor Takashi (Matsuda Ryuhei). It turns out that Yui’s apartment is actually the former abode of Takashi’s ex-girlfriend Atsuko (Kikuchi Rinko) whom Yui also befriends by chance. And thus begins an unexpected journey of romance and friendship for these three very different people. Read more

March 24, 2008 · Filed Under Aragaki Yui, Japanese Movies

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Love on Sunday - Last Word [JMovie] (Horikita Maki, Kubozuka Shunsuke, Takaoka Saki)

Koisuru Nichiyoubi - Watashi Koishita (”Love on Sunday - I Loved”) is director Hiroki Ryuichi’s second title for BS-i satellite channel’s “Japanese Break Through Films” series. While the first Koisuru Nichiyoubi was about farewell, follow-up Koisuru Nichiyoubi - Watashi Koishita, starring Horikita Maki (One Missed Call Final, Always - Sunset on Third Street) and Kubozuka Shunsuke (Big Bang Love, Juvenile A), revolves around a final reunion. Koisuru Nichiyoubi - Watashi Koishita’s melodramatic premise and teen drama stars qualify the film for “pure love” status, but the method of storytelling is different from other films of the genre. The film is noticeably absent of the grand melodrama and overt hearttugging one might expect, and instead maintains a realistically subdued air of adolescent languor. The use of handheld camera and a raw screenplay keep the proceedings organic, as if capturing a slice of life as it happens.

Seventeen-year-old Nagisa (Horikita Maki) lost her mother to cancer, and she has just been diagnosed with the same disease. With only three months left to live, she calmly leaves for Chiba to visit her first love, Satoshi (Kubozuka Shunsuke). Her junior high sweetheart has since grown into a full-fledged slacker, living alone by the sea and working odd jobs. He takes her in like an old friend, unaware that Nagisa is ill. When Nagisa realizes that Satoshi is sleeping with a married woman (Takaoka Saki), she must come to terms with her first love and her final days. Read more

March 21, 2008 · Filed Under Japanese Movies, Maki Horikita

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