The Far East Film Festival in Udine announced its official line-up this week. The Japanese selections include both mainstream award-winners and quirky genre and cult films. Here are the trailers for this year's films with links to reviews.
Cannonball Wedlock (婚前特急, 2011)
- a comedy/drama directed by Koji Maeda
- review by Mark Schilling
- International Festival Premiere
Confessions (告白, 2010)
- a revenge drama directed by Tetsuya Nakashima
- adapted from a 2009 bestselling novel by Kanae Minato
- won Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Editor at the 34th Japanese Academy Awards
- Italian Premiere
- reviews by Mark Schilling, Virginie Sélavy and Niels Mattijs
The Lady Shogun and Her Men (大奥, 2010)
- period drama by Fuminori Kaneko
- adapted from the manga by Fumi Yoshinaga
- International Festival Premiere
- Variety review
The Lightning Tree (雷桜, 2010)
- a mystery/romance directed by Ryuichi Hiroki
- adapted from the novel by Mari Ueza
- stars Masaki Okada and the luminous Yu Aoi
- review by Mark Schilling
- European Premiere
Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night (2010)
- a horror film directed by Toshikazu Nagae
- International Festival Premiere
- review
SABI♂ SABI♀ – Quirky Guys and Gals (2011)
- an omnibus comedy directed by Yosuke Fujita (Fine, Totally Fine
), Tomoko Matsunashi, Mipo Oh, Gen Sekiguchi
- starring the always hilarious YoshiYoshi Arakawa
- aka Groovy Guys, Groovy Girls
- review by Mark Schilling
- International Festival Premiere
Seaside Motel ( シーサイドモーテル, 2010)
- a black comedy directed by Kentaro Moriya
- European Premiere
Underwater Love (おんなの河童, 2011)
- pink musical by Shinji Imaoka
- a German-Japanese co-production
- cinematography by Christopher Doyle
- Jason Gray behind the scenes report
- European Premiere
Villain (悪人, 2010)
- a dark, romantic drama by Sang-il Lee (Hula Girls
)
- won Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress at the Japanese Academy Awards
- won Best Film, Best Director and Best Suporting Actor at the Kinema Jumpo Awards
- won Best Film at the Mainichi Film Awards
- European Premiere
- JFilm Pow-Wow Review
Wandering Home (酔いがさめたら、うちに帰ろう, 2010)
- a drama directed by Yoichi Higashi
- Italian Premiere
- JFilm Pow-Wow Review
Yakuza Weapon (極道兵器, 2011)
- a violent action-comedy co-directed by Yudai Yamaguchi and Tak Sakaguchi
- based on the Ken Ishikawa manga
- read more about the film
- European Premiere
