Closed Notes [Jmovie] (Sawajiri Erika, Yusuke Iseya, Yuko Takeuchi)
Title: クローズド・ノート
English: “Closed Note”
(Kurozudo noto)
Release: September 29, 2007 (nationwide cinema release)
Production Company: Toho
Cast:
Sawajiri Erika
Yusuke Iseya (Casshern, Memories of Matsuko, Honey & Clover, …)
Yuko Takeuchi (The Ring (Ringu), Be with You, Spring Snow, …)
Director:
Isao Yukisada (”Crying Out Love, in the Center of the World”, …)
Synopsis
Kae, a college student who dreams of becoming a teacher, discovers a notebook in the house she has just moved into. The notebook turns out to be the diary of a woman, Mano Ibuki, who had just started teaching in primary school. Kae becomes absorbed by the woman’s pure heart, reading about her life and love. She falls for a painter, Ishitobi, while working at her part time job. As time passes, she finds out an unexpected sad truth.
Theme Song: Love & Truth (By YUI.)
Waruboro [Jmovie] (Matsuda Shota, Aragaki Yui)
Matsuda Shota and Aragaki Yui take audiences back to rough-and-tumble high school days in their new film Waruboro. Based on Gets Itaya’s autobiographical novel, this brawling youth film about love, friendship, and fisticuffs is set in the 1980s, and Matsuda Shota and company have the hairstyles to prove it. Rising to fame after Hana Yori Dango, Matsuda took supporting gigs in 2006’s A Cheerful Gang Turns the Earth and A Long Walk, and he gets his first leading film role here as a rebellious juvenile delinquent. Matsuda’s Ko-chan crosses paths with girl-next-door Yamada, played by current it-girl Aragaki Yui who won Best New Performer accolades at the 50th Blue Ribbon Awards for her impressive 2007 trifecta of Waruboro, Koizora, and Koisuru Madori (which incidentally co-starred Matsuda Shota’s brother, Matsuda Ryuhei). Directed by Sumida Yasushi, Waruboro also features up-and-coming heartthrobs Kimura Ryo and Seiji Fukushi from Nodame Cantabile and D-BOYS members Kaji Masaki and Shirota Yu (The Prince of Tennis).
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!
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.
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
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
A dog in the sidecar (Saido ka ni inu) (2007) [J-movie] (Takeuchi Yuko)
Film Director: Kichitaro Negishi
Screenplay: Akiko Tanaka | Katsuhiko Manabe
Producer: Masako Tanabe
Casting: Arata Furuta | Hiroshi Yamamoto | Kana Matsumoto | Kippei Shiina | Kirin Kiki | Kyoko Yanagihara | Masa Tommies | Mimura | Minori Terada | Sawa Suzuki | Takeru Taniyama | Yoichi Nukumizu | Yosuke Kawamura | Yuko Takeuchi | Yusuke Iseya
Genre: Drama | - JAPANESE
HERO - The movie [Jmovie] (Takuya Kimura, Takako Matsu, Hiroshi Abe)
Talking about the making of Hana Yori Dango - The movie
The upcoming movie, of course. It will be the final piece of film about HYD.
4 years since the end of HYD2, and Tsukushi and Doumyouji prepare to get married . . . when Tsukushi’s precious super-expensive wedding tiara is stolen. Recovering the item requires the help of F4 and trips to Hong Kong and Las Vegas.
Hatsuyuki no koi (Virgin snow) [K-J-Movie] [NEW, FIXED VERSION] (Lee Jun Ki, Miyazaki Aoi, Shioya Shun) (highly recommended !!!)
Directed by: Han Sang-hee
Starring: Lee Jun Ki, Miyazaki Aoi, Shioya Shun, Morita Ayaka, Yagyuu Miyu, Otoha, Yoki Miko, etc.
Jointly produced by: CJ Entertainment, Kadokawa Herald Pictures and GuardTec
Hatsuyuki no Koi is a Korea-Japan joint production movie, starring two of the hottest young stars from Asia, Lee and Miyazaki.
King and The Clown’s Lee Jun Ki and NANA’s Miyazaki Aoi star in the highly anticipated romance Virgin Snow (a.k.a. Hatsuyuki no Koi). Directed by Han Sang Hee, this glossy joint production provides the rare chance to see two of Japan and Korea’s top young stars together in a pure love story that transcends cultural and linguistic boundaries. With location shooting in Kyoto and Icheon, the film is backdropped by beautiful scenery, providing the perfect setting and atmosphere for a brief yet everlasting love. Virgin Snow also features Shioya Shun (Pacchigi!) and Morita Ayaka (Way of Blue Sky).
Korean college student Kim Min (Lee Jun Ki) moves to Kyoto with his father, a renowned professor and artist. Young and energetic, everything is new and exciting for Min as he explores his new home. On a fine spring day, he encounters Sasaki Nanae (Miyazaki Aoi) at a shrine, and falls in love at first sight. When he discovers that Nanae attends the same university as him, Min tries hard to win her heart. Though she is aloof at first, Nanae is touched by Min’s sincerity and they soon develop a close bond despite the language difficulties. They make a pact to go to Seoul together and stroll under winter’s first snowfall. But one day, Nanae suddenly disappears…
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Question of the week
How do you not love her ? :)
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- Nản chí
