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Belgium-France-Canada co-production movie “Kokoro” filmed in Oki Islands in Shimane Prefecture

2016.07.26

A French friend of mine mentioned about the movie in her recent e-mail.
I hear that the movie is based on a French novel “Le Coeur régulier” published in 2010
and it is a Belguim-France-Canada co-production.
In the movie, a Japanese great actor Jun Kunimura plays one of the main characters.

The movie was shot in four countries and the scenes in Japan were shot in April last year.
The location is the cliffs called Sekiheki(Red cliffs) in Oki Islands, Shimane Prefecture.
In fact, in the original, it was set in Tojinbo Cliffs in Fukui Prefecture, but they didn’t give permission to film due to its story.
So the staff went location hunting all over Japan and found the cliffs in Oki Islands.

The novel is based on a true story, which is about a former police officer who has rescued
people commit suicide by jumping from the Tojinbo cliffs.
The model is Yukio Shige, who is called “Mister Please Wait”.
If the Japanese translation publishes in the future, I would like to read it.

The movie has already released in France but will be released in Japan next year
and it also may be shown in some film festivals.
I am looking forward to seeing the movie in Japan. (H.S)

“NINJA THE MONSTER”

2016.02.04

Movies

Japanese actor Dean Fujioka, who broke through as a star recently
by a NHK’s morning serial drama.
At last, the character he played passed away in the drama the other day,
and a lot of female fans got depressed because they cannot see him in the drama any longer.
At any rate, the more I know, the more Dean Fujioka is really a multi-talented person.　
He speaks four languages as he had lived in foreign countries for a long time,
works as a musician and also, surprisingly he can box for real. 　
In this film “NINJA THE MONSTER” which was released only abroad first,
he played ninja and showed the ability of swordplay.
Although it is a low-budget movie, I hope to see the film sometime in Japan as well. (H.S)

STAR WARS and KUROSAWA

2016.01.19

Movies

It is well known that “Star Wars” series have greatly influenced by KUROSAWA films.
And it is believed that the first one in 1977 was referred to KUROSAWA’s “The Hidden Fortress”.
Actually, its famous characters C-3PO and R2-D2 were based on Tahei and Matashichi in the movie.
Also, Darth Vader’s helmet was designed from Japanese kabuto (samurai warrior’s helmet).
Come to think of it, the fighting scene with the lightsabers looks like Japanese style swordfighting.
Hereby, I would like to introduce you to an interesting video (2’41”) which both movies’ scenes were compared and edited on YouTube. (H.S)