News

Yusuke Morii graduated from the Department of Film, now Nihon Institute of Cinema, and entered the industry as part of the production department of Shunichi Nagasaki’s The Witch of the West is Dead (2008). The screenwriter and filmmaker has also worked as an assistant director to Tatsushi Omori on the film Every Day a Good Day (2018). His directorial debut, Amiko (2022), is based on the novel Kochira Amiko by Natsuko Imamura and is selected for IFFR 2023.

On the occasion of his film screening at IFFR, we speak with him about the titular character, being a parent to such an unusual child, Kana Osawa, the reaction of the audience in Japan, and many other topics.

Amiko is screening at International Film Festival Rotterdam

Why did you decide to adapt the particular novel by Natsuko Imamura?

I feel a lot of discomfort towards society and I wanted to express that particular feeling...

The eighth Helsinki Cine Aasia ended on Sunday March 15th. Eighteen films from East and Southeast Asia were screened during the four-day festival.

The most popular films at this year’s festival were the warm Tibetan family drama Balloon, which opened the festival, and the ambitious Chinese arthouse drama Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains.

Japanese films have always been audience favourites at Helsinki Cine Aasia. This year’s most popular Japanese films were the comedy-drama Only the Cat Knows, the serene and elegant Only the Cat Knows and the picturesque They Say Nothing Stays the Same.

Helsinki Cine Aasia’s guests were also Japanese. Director Amano Chihiro and actor Nagao Takuma participated in all screenings of their film Mrs. Noisy during the festival.

“Mrs. Noisy”

In addition to films, the festival weekend included discussions with experts that deepened and opened new perspectives into the themes of some of the films.

The third edition of the Japannual Film Festival takes place from 1st to 6th of October in Vienna. This year, the festival celebrates the 150th anniversary of Austrian-Japanese diplomatic relations with an excellent selection of films, showing the highlights of the bygone year. Besides the modern cinema, Japannual features two movies of the infamous director Koji Wakamatsu accompanied by the short films of video artist Yuri Muraoka.

The opening film “Blue Hour” (2019), a multi-layered comedy about a sudden family visit, is the first feature by female director Yuko Hakota and was already celebrated at the Nippon Connection Festival for its portrayal of strong female characters.

Strong female characters can also be seen in Kosai Sekine’s “Love at Least” (2018) and Momoko Fukuda’s “My Father, My Bride” (2019). Both directors will be present at the festival and so it the actress Shuri, who gives an intriguing performance of a mentally ill...

Tatsushi Omori’s career to date has been steady, if unspectacular, with a series of gentle films over the last decade-or-so, often delivered by a solid cast, culminating in ‘Every Day a Good Day’ starring the late Kirin Kiki. His latest effort, the delightfully titled ‘When My Mom Died, I Wanted to Eat Her Ashes’ based on Satoshi Miyagawa’s manga, again puts together a nice cast in a tale of a son who cannot be without his mother, through sickness, health and even death.

“When My Mom Died, I Wanted to Eat Her Ashes” screened at the Toronto Japanese Film Festival:

Satoshi (Ken Yasuda of Studio Ghibli voice-acting fame) is at his mother’s funeral, alongside father Toshiaki (Renji Ishibashi) and brother Yuichi (Jun Murakami). Alone with her body, he talks to her as if she is still alive.

We are then taken to Satoshi’s childhood and shown...

A strangely addictive film where – apparently – nothing happens is the new work of director Tatsushi Ohmori, also sadly destined to be remembered as the last appearance of Japanese Cinema’s beloved dame, Kirin Kiki. Based on the essay “Nichinichikorekojitsu: Ocha ga Oshietekureta 15 no Shiawase” by Noriko Morishita, “Every Day a Good Day” will surprise those of the public, accustomed to Omori’s previous, more unconventional plots.

“Every Day a Good Day” is screening at the Toronto Japanese Film Festival

The film quietly follows 20 years of the life of Noriko (Haru Kuroki). Starting in 1985, we are introduced to Noriko as a 12-year-old girl returning home after attending a screening of “La Strada” with her family. Noriko is bored, predictably she didn’t enjoy the film and Omori will use Fellini’s film again, to highlight her development during the following years. Jump to 1993, she is a 20-year-old college student, still bored and indecisive about her future.

Centrepiece Highlight

World Premiere of “Dance With Me”

Director Shinobu Yaguchi, Lead Actress Ayaka Miyoshi in attendance

Opening Night

North American Premiere of Masayuki Suzuki’s mystery thriller, “Masquerade Hotel“

Special Guests:

Star of “Love’s Twisting Path” – Mikako Tabe

Director of award-winning “Born Bone Born” – Comedian Toshiyuki Teruya “Gori”

Director Tatsushi Omori – “When My Mom Died, I Wanted to Eat Her Ashes” and “Every Day a Good Day”

Star of “The Gambler’s Odyssey 2020” – Takumi Saitoh

The samurai, of the cinematic variety, are set to descend on Toronto this summer. They are joined by reluctant sake brewers, yakuza assassins, tea ceremony sages, deadly mahjong-playing robots, dashing hotel detectives, and calculating masters of “corporate kabuki”.

Now in its eighth year, the 2019 Toronto Japanese Film Festival brings Toronto audiences 28 of the finest contemporary Japanese films recognized for excellence by Japanese audiences and critics, international film festival audiences and the Japanese Film Academy.