News

You have probably heard about money laundering. But what about Room Laundering? Director and writer Kenji Katagiri wants to tell you more about that in his same-titled debut film.

“Room Laundering” is part of the Asian selection at Fantasia International Film Festival

Room Laundering means to restore the reputation of an apartment. Why was the Reputation damaged? Because someone got killed or killed himself there. The Japanese law demands the landlord to inform the new tenant about the previous happenings, which will make it very hard to sell the apartment. There is a loophole, though. This information obligation lasts until the first new tenant after the incident, moves in.

And this is where the story kicks in. Miko, played by Elaiza Ikeda (“The Many Faces of Ito” 2017), is a young woman, who works as a placeholder. Whenever there is a murder room or a suicide apartment, her phone rings and she has to move in,...

Stars: Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Maya Okano, Shugo Oshinari | Written and Directed by Eiji Uchida

When you decide to delve into Asian cinema, it is like a treasure trove sometimes. Sure, there are many genres such as horror that dominate sometimes, but there are also many more waiting to be discovered. One such treasure is Lowlife Love aka Gesu no ai, which is a must for fans of the filmmaking process.

Tetsuo (Kiyohiko Shibukawa) is a lowlife film director living off the fame of his one hit indie movie he made years ago. Now thirty-nine he refuses to move from the indie scene as it would go against his ‘artistic integrity’. Abusing his actors and fast losing their trust, it is not until Minami (Maya Okano) arrives at his film school that his true love of film is reignited. When he loses Minami to the corrupt world of filmmaking though, his world begins to unravel.

Directors & Producers Are All Lowlifes! Or so says director Eiji Uchida in the tagline of his latest black comedy, Lowlife Love. We've been big fans of the director here at Twitch since his deliciously dark comedy Greatful Dead broke out of Japan to prove a popular draw at many international film festivals last year. Having covered the campaign to get his latest off the ground back in March, we're delighted to present the trailer for the finished film on the day it's announced to play at next month's Tokyo International Film Festival.    In Lowlife Love, take a walk on the wild side of Japan's indie film making scene with good-for-nothing scum-bag Tetsuo as he attempts to stop thinking about sex for long enough to put...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...