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Billed as “Blue Fight” in Japan, “Blazing Fists” is inspired by Mma fighter Mikuru Asakura’s autobiography “Street Legend” but also retains intense anime/manga elements, as much as a subtle homage to Japanese cinema of the 90s and 00s, including Miike’s own works.

Blazing Fists is screening at International Film Festival Rotterdam

While in juvenile prison, Ryoma meets the strongest individual there, Ikuto and the two soon become best friends, even though their relationship owes a lot to the fact that the latter does not know the role the former played in his arrest. Inspired by a lecture by martial artist Mikuru Asakura, the two soon decide to join Breaking Down, a fighting tournament he organizes. Before they do that though, they have to train, pass an audition, and deal with Jun, the guy who has taken Ikuto’s place as the strongest in the area, and his gang.

Fukada Kyoko, 38, a Japanese actor with a long list of major film and TV credits, has been diagnosed with adjustment disorder, her agency, Hori Production, announced Thursday. She is withdrawing from all work commitments while she recovers.

It is rare for a Japanese talent of her stature to publicly announce that they are suffering from mental health problems. One comparable case is that of Empress Masako, who received a similar adjustment disorder diagnosis in 2003.

According to the announcement Fukada has been ailing since the spring of last year. This month she was diagnosed with adjustment disorder by her physician and is now devoting herself to her recovery.

She was scheduled to star in an upcoming Fuji TV serial drama, which will now have to be recast. Also, the release of her latest film, “Lupin’s Daughter,” is set for this October, but Fukuda’s participation in promotional activities is in doubt.

Mixing genres through a barely coherent narrative and a visual presentation that borders on the epileptic through its use of intense coloring and frequency of cuts has been one of the traits of contemporary Japanese cinema for many years. This kind of productions usually end up in seemingly silly, but also quite rich in context and entertaining films, that also seem to “loan” from other, older movies. Probably the main representative of the style is Tetsuya Nakashima, but other directors, like Mika Ninagawa, have also adopted the approach, while Obayashi’s last works also moved towards the same direction. Yoshimasha Ishibashi tries his hand in the style.

“Milocrorze: A Love Story” is screening at Fantasia Festival

The story unfolds in four different axes. The first one is set like a children’s movie and revolves around a rather colorful boy (literally) named Ovreneli Vreneligare who eventually meets Milocrorze in a...

There are few filmmakers in Japan whose work is quite as immediately recognizable as Nakashima Tetsuya. Even as he has evolved over the last fifteen years from the candy-colored pop explosion of Kamikaze Girls to his gritty 2015 thriller, World of Kanako, he maintains a unique visual and editorial style that makes his work compelling. With his latest film, It Comes, Nakashima tries his hand at horror and manages to utilize his perspective to tell a gripping, visceral, emotionally rich story that plays its card very close to the vest. Hideki (Tsumabuki Satoshi) is a boisterous salaryman who has just gotten married to Kana (Kuroki Haru), a quiet young woman who seems desperate to fit the role of the devoted wife. More than a little tipsy...

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

Screened

Hong Kong International Film Festival

HONG KONG -- When it comes to quirky and eccentric fashion, you can't beat Japan's youth culture. One current trend is the Lolita look, where teenage girls doll themselves up in frilly, Bo-Peep dresses full of embroidered lace and rococo romanticism. The amusing Kamikaze Girls shows what happens when one such delicate flower finds an unlikely ally with a rough and foul-mouthed girl from a biker gang. It's the kind of rollicking rebel-chick flick that should score well in venues that appreciate Quentin Tarantino films.

In fact, stylistically Kamikaze outdoes Tarantino at his own flamboyant game. Director Nakashima Tetsuya, making his feature film debut after an award-winning career in commercials, is fearless with cinematic tricks. He jumps the narrative back and forth in time, employs numerous freeze frames and animation sequences, has characters talk directly to the camera and compiles a soundtrack that is schizophrenically mishmash.

In short, the premise of Kamikaze might be similar to a younger and kitschy "Thelma & Louise," but it is never less than appealingly surreal.

Japanese idol Fukada Kyoko is the bonnet-wearing Momoko, a high-schooler with a bad case of small-town ennui. Her ineffectual yakuza-wannabe dad sells fake designer goods, while Mom flew the coop years earlier to enter the beauty pageant circuit. Momoko's only escape is to imagine herself among the aristocrats of 18th century French nobility.

While selling her dad's counterfeit Versach merchandise online, she meets Ichiko (Anna Tsuchiya), a biker chick whose look is very different from Momoko. Unlike the typical Harley leather mama, Ichiko looks more like Shirley Manson -- red lipstick and raccoon mascara eyes -- with a samurai robe. Despite their fashion differences, deep down the two are equally lonely and alienated misfits. As the two outcasts bond, they go to Harajuku, look for a mythical queen of the girl biker gangs and delve into some personal soul searching.

Not just another rebellious teen tale, Kamikaze also is wildly ironic fun. However, it is less a comedy than a full-on live-action manga, which is not surprising given that the story is based on an animated novella. Tetsuya captures the book's sly yet brash commentary about Japanese society and its ever-conspicuous obsessions. At the same time, it also is a touching tale of friendship that is, like Ichiko, too cool to let its street-wise facade drop for even one sentimental minute.

Appropriately outlandish in parts but with a heart as golden as the cinematography's glinting sun, Kamikaze Girls might be kawaii cute, but it rules with its own brand of girl power.

KAMIKAZE GIRLS

Toho Co. (Japan)

TBS Pictures

Credits:

Screenwriter-director: Nakashima Tetsuya

Producers: Ishida Yuji, Hirano Takashi, Ogura Satoru

Story: Novala Takemoto

Director of photography: Ato Shoichi

Art director: Kuwashima Towako

Music: Kanno Yoko

Editor: Toyama Chiaki

Cast:

Momoko: Fukada Kyoko

Ichiko: Anna Tsuchiya

No MPAA rating

Running time -- 103 minutes...