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London- and Paris-based production, finance and sales company Film Constellation is reporting a raft of sales from Berlin on chef drama “Grande Maison Paris,” a standalone feature film from the world of Japanese hit series “La Grande Maison: Tokyo.”

The film has sold in Taiwan (Cai Chang), South Korea (Media Castle), Mainland China (DDDream), Hong Kong and Macau (First Distributors), Thailand (Sf Cinema), Spain (A Contracorriente Films), Cis (Arna Media), and Israel (YesDBS), with additional territories in South East Asia, and Eastern Europe in negotiations.

Toho and Sony Pictures Entertainment released the film in Japan early in January, where it has now grossed over $26 million (4 billion yen), making it one of the early local hits of this year.

Sony Pictures Entertainment releases in France, with other international releases beginning in March 2025.

Set in the high-stakes world of Parisian culinary excellence, the film stars Japanese icon Takuya Kimura, reprising his lead role from the series,...

Exclusive: Here’s first-footage of Paris-set chef drama Grande Maison Paris, the standalone feature spinoff from the world of Japanese hit series La Grande Maison: Tokyo.

Set in the high stakes world of Parisian culinary excellence, the film is led by Japanese star Takuya Kimura (Blade of the Immortal) reprising his lead role from the series, and popular Korean actor and rapper from band2PM Ok Taec-yeon (Hansan: Rising Dragon).

Three Michelin star Japanese chef Kei Kobayashi (of Paris restaurant Kei) created the film’s cuisine. Pic gets its world premiere at the upcoming San Sebastián Film Festival.

Toho will release in Japan. Sony Pictures International Productions will release in France, with London and Paris-based finance, production and sales company Film Constellation handling international sales.

The official synopsis reads: “Famous Japanese chef Obana (Takuya Kimura) opens a new restaurant in Paris in the quest for his elusive third Michelin star.

Live-action anime adaptations have always been a hot topic of debate within the fandom. Plummeted by negative reviews from both critics and fans, whether they deserve it or not, most live-action films and series based on anime face overwhelming dismissal. After all, it's a strenuous task to strike a balance between capturing the original anime's magic and accurately bringing larger-than-life storylines into a grounded medium.

Unsurprisingly, most live-action anime adaptations fail to live up to fans' demands and often unrealistic expectations — even when the production has a decent budget, great special effects, and talented actors. Worst of all, community prejudice will always push back and find something to rage about. However, some anime live-action anime proved skeptics wrong by doing justice to the source material.

Updated on January 25, 2024 by Angelo Delos Trinos: Even if anime fans refuse to admit it, live-action anime have come a long way since the...

Netflix has unveiled the first trailer for its latest live-action original series from Japan, Burn the House Down, set to launch globally on July 13.

A domestic revenge thriller, the show stars Mei Nagano (My Love Story!, Hanbun, Aoi) as Anzu Murata, a young woman whose childhood was torn apart when her family’s home burned down, prompting her parents to divorce. Convinced that her ailing mother was wrongly accused of the conflagration, Anzu goes undercover to work as a housekeeper for the suspicious woman who married her father in the wake of the blaze — convinced that she can gather evidence and discover the truth of what really happened.

The show is an adaptation of the popular manga Burn the House Down (Mitarai-ke Enjō Suru), which ran in Japan from 2017 to 2021. Kodansha USA Publishing began releasing the manga in English in June 2022.

‘Burn the House Down’

The lead cast includes: Asuka Kudo,...

By Olivia Popp

Premiering at the Tokyo International Festival and moving to the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, “The Clone Returns Home” is Kanji Nakajima’s virtually unknown grounded sci-fi turned imaginative meditation on memory, life, and what can’t be captured within humankind’s attempt to control life. With Nakajima’s dreamscape and near-fantastical tale of being human, it’s no wonder that the movie easily attracts comparisons to Tarkovsky’s “Solaris.” The Japanese director brings his 2006 Sundance / Nhk International Filmmaker’s Award screenplay to life in this pensive piece with a small cast and a simple premise.

on Amazon by clicking on the image below

After an introduction to the world of the film, in which a space agency is experiencing unexpected and unforeseen deaths among its astronauts, the astronaut Kohei Takahara (Mitsuhiro Oikawa) is given the option to prepare materials so that the agency may create...

Eiga.com is reporting that a new spin-off movie of the popular Aibou (Partners) series titled Aibou Series: X Day is in the works.

In 2009, Partners supporting character Mamoru Yonezawa (Seiji Rokkaku) got his own spin-off movie titled Partners: CSI Files. X Day will feature Metropolitan Police Department criminal investigator Kenichi Itami (Kazuhisa Kawahara) and cyber crime specialist Akira Iwatsuki (Kei Tanaka) in a brand new partnership.

In 2008, the first Partners movie, starring Yutaka Mizutani and Yasufumi Terawaki, built on the success of TV Asahi’s long-running TV drama by earning 4.44 billion yen at the box office.

In 2010, Mitsuhiro Oikawa teamed up with Mizutani for Partners: The Movie II which earned 3.17 billion yen.

Series 10 of the drama ended in March, and marked the end of Oikawa’s run.

The new movie will be directed by Hajime Hashimoto with a screenplay by Takeharu Sakurai, both of whom work on the TV drama.

Animeigo and Entertainment One will release the Japanese science fiction drama movie The Clone Returns Home on DVD on July 26.

Troubling memories live on in the sci-fi drama The Clone Returns Home.

In the film, an astronaut (Mitsuhiro Oikawa) dies on a mission, but never fear — he’s got a clone, which has been imprinted with his memories. Unfortunately, the clone malfunctions and fixates on a tragic memory from the dead astronaut’s youth. The clone runs away to find answers and solace from his troubling memories, much to the dismay of his wife (Eri Ishida) and the clone manufacturing company.

The winner of the 2006 Sundance Nhk International Filmmaker’s Award, The Clone Returns Home was directed by Kanji Nakajima and produced by Wim Wenders, who was nominated for an Oscar for the documentary Buena Vista Social Club.

This film has picked up a quite a following over the years,...

What are film genres but mere indications of a film's content. They might tell you what a film is about but they won't say anything about style, atmosphere or execution. The Clone Return Home is classified as sci-fi and that's okay, but those expecting a bustling space adventure, alien warfare or high-tech gadgetry can stop reading right now. Nakajima is aiming for something very different. And better.

The film industry would have you believe that films are best seen on the big screen, in theatres and festivals. While this is definitely true for a certain line of movies there is no place like home to watch The Clone Returns Home. Far away from potential shuffling, babbling, ring tones, crunching, yawning or people with busy festival schedules. This films deserves to be seen as far away as possible from all those distractions. It's much better to enjoy its subtleties in a...

Year: 2009

Directors: Kanji Nakajima

Writers: Kiyoshi Inoue

IMDb: link

Trailer: link

Review by: Bob Doto

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

The Clone Returns Home is a measured take on a complex subject: the self and its identity in the world. This isn’t, however, a film about race, class, or sexuality (although of course all the above can be read into any narrative), but rather Tcrh is a film about twins, clones, and the memories of the dead, and how the enormity of all that, becomes one.

When we think of a film dealing with clones, it seems natural to expect that film to also deal with technology and space. Outer space. Clones are of course the marker of all things futuristic, along with flying cars and bots that clean your house. Although Tcrh does involve space (lead character, Kohei, played by Mitsuhiro Oikawa is an astronaut after all) Tcrh handles the...

[Our thanks to Dustin Chang for the following review.]

Kanji Nakajima’s meta-physical Japanese sci-fi illustrates the moral implications of human cloning in a very direct yet elegant manner. Kohei Takahara (Mitsuhiro Oikawa), an astronaut with a young wife and dying mother gives consent to a new “life insurance” policy, before his mission. His memories and DNA are stored in a massive computer system. He will be regenerated should he die in the line of duty. Incidentally, Kohei is the survivor of twins. His quieter twin, Noboru, died in a tragic childhood accident that Kohei feels responsible for.

U.S. Dramatic Competition

This year's 16 films were selected from 1,026 submissions. Each film is a world premiere.

Adam (Director-screenwriter: Max Mayer)

A strange and lyrical love story between a somewhat socially dysfunctional young man and the woman of his dreams. Cast: Hugh Dancy, Rose Byrne, Peter Gallagher, Amy Irving, Frankie Faison.

Amreeka (Director-screenwriter: Cherien Dabis)

When a divorced Palestinian woman and her teenage son move to rural Illinois at the outset of the Iraq war, they find their new lives replete with challenges. Cast: Nisreen Faour, Melkar Muallem, Hiam Abbass, Yussuf Abu-Warda, Alia Shawkat.

Big Fan (Director-screenwriter: Robert Siegel)

The world of a parking garage attendant who happens to be the New York Giants' biggest fan is turned upside down after an altercation with his favorite player. Cast: Patton Oswalt, Michael Rapaport, Kevin Corrigan, Marcia Jean Kurtz, Matt Servitto.

Brief Interviews With Hideous Men (Director-screenwriter: John Krasinski)

When her boyfriend leaves with little explanation,...

• Germany's Oliver Hirschbiegel and Denmark’s own Lone Scherfig and Nicolas Winding Refn are among those representing their latest works in the World Dramatic Competition. The selection committee had the crazy task of bringing down the total number 1,012 submissions down to 16. Films screening in World Cinema Dramatic Competition are: Before Tomorrow (Le Jour Avant Lendemain) / Canada (Directors: Madeline Piujuq & Marie-Helene Cousineau)—A wise old woman fights to survive impossible circumstances with her young grandson in the Canadian arctic. Cast: Peter-Henry Arnatsiaq, Paul-Dylan Ivalu, Madeline Piujuq Ivalu, Mary Qulitalik, Tumasie Sivuarapik. U.S. Premiere Bronson / UK (Director: Nicolas Winding Refn; Screenwriter: Brock Norman Brock)—Bronson traces the transformation of Mickey Peterson into Britain's most notorious, dangerous, and charismatic prisoner, Charles Bronson. Cast: Tom Hardy. North American Premiere Carmo, Hit the Road / Spain (Director and Screenwriter: Murilo Pasta)— A lonely, handicapped smuggler and a beautiful girl embark on a reckless ride

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