SHOCHIKU co.,ltd Contactus
Home Lineup Library FilmSearch SpecialContents AboutUs Trailer MarketingMaterials

| 2007 LINEUP |

CANNES 2007 (May 16-26, 2007)

Shochiku Office at CANNES 2007
Res. du Grand Hotel, Albatros 1C
Tel: +33 (0)4 93 38 12 15 / Fax: +33 (0)4 93 38 16 39
Representative: Masaki KOGA
Kiwamu SATO (cell) +81 90 8038 5276
Satoko ISHIDA (cell) +33 (0) 673 563 918
Shion KOMATSU (cell) +33 (0) 673 669 664
Junko KAWAGUCHI (cell) +33 (0) 673 756 597
Chiyo MORI (cell) +33 (0) 673 758 851
Email: ibd@shochiku.co.jp

VEXILLE (original title: Vexille)
Directed by SORI
MARKET PREMIERE
Director: SORI (PING PONG, Producer - APPLESEED)

From the creators of APPLESEED, comes a Full CG animation Sci-Fi Action film. 2077 - 10 years has passed since Japan had decided to leave the United Nations to go into isolation. They have completely blocked the islands with an ultra magnetic field which prevents anyone to see what is going inside, nor for people to travel in/out of the country. This was a result to opposing to a treaty which UN has passed, preventing the development of all bio and robot technology which has evolved drastically and has become a threat to the human beings. When Japan finally begins to move, the US government sends in a special force team SWORD, lead by a female commander Vexille, to investigate what is really happening inside the closed country.
Genre: ACTION / CGI Animation
Running time: 109min
VEXILLE
Screening Schedule
May 17 (Thu) 14:00 at Palais K
May 19 (Sat) 14:00 at Palais K
Detail
GENGHIS KHAN - To the Ends of the Earth and Sea
(original title: Aoki Ookami - Chi Hate Umi Tsukirumade)

JAPAN AND MONGOLIA co-production / In celebration of the 800th anniversary of the founding of Mongolia
Directed by Shinichiro Sawai
MARKET PREMIERE
TRAILER
Director: Shinichiro Sawai (YAMATO,W's Tragedy)
Starring: Takashi Sorimachi (YAMATO)

Genghis Khan - the man who built history's greatest Empire. People called him "The Blue Wolf". With a production budget of US$30million, four months on location in Mongolia,this Japan-Mongolia co-production reveals the mystery behind Genghis Khan's life. Assailed himself by doubts over the secret of his birth,facing conflict and betrayal by his sworn friend,and his mixed feeling of love and hatred for the son who bears the same burden... Together with the scenes such as an intense battle in which 5,000 Mongolian Army soldiers appear,and over 27,000 people mounted as extras to film this entertainment epic,the hero now emerges from the history that has concealed him for so long.
Genre: DRAMA / EPIC
Running time: 136min
GENGHIS KHAN - To the Ends of the Earth and Sea
Screening Schedule
May 16 (Wed) 18:00 at Palais G
May 19 (Sat) 18:00 at Olympia 4
Detail
KITARO
(original title: GeGeGe no kitaro)

Directed by Katsuhide Motoki
MARKET PREMIERE
TRAILER
Director: Katsuhide Motoki ("Free & Easy" series, Drugstore Girl)
Starring: Eiji Wentz (voice -Brave Story)
Yo Oizumi (voice -Howl's Moving Castle, Sprited Away)

A popular animation adapted into live-action for the first time using cutting edge CGI from studios around the world, including Centro Digital Pictures ("Kill Bill", "Kung Fu Hustle") and starring Eiji Wentz from the popular duo, WaT. Kitaro is a half human, half creature (yokai) who keeps an eye on the human society to save them from the evil attacks from another world. He finds that a magical ball that controls all powers had been brought into the human world, and stops it from falling into the wrong hands.
Genre: ACTION / Family
Running time: 103min
KITARO
Screening Schedule
May 16 (Wed) 16:00 at Palais G
May 21 (Mon) 13:30 at Arcades 3
Detail
TOKYO TOWER - Mom & Me, and sometimes Dad (original title: Tokyo Tower - Okan to Boku to Tokidoki Oton)
Directed by Joji Matsuoka
MARKET PREMIERE
TRAILER
Director: Joji Matsuoka (Swimming Upstream,Twinkle)
Starring: Joe Odagiri (Sway,SHINOBI),Kikikilin (Kamikaze Girls)

Based on a national best-seller auto-biography (sold over 2million copies),starring Joe Odagiri,one of the most acclaimed actor in Japan. This is the story of Mom (Okan),Me (Boku - Masaya),and sometimes,Dad (Oton). Born in the coal mining city in Fukuoka,Masaya grows up with inheriting both sides of the genes of his forever hopeless and reckless Dad and the gentle and strong Mom. After going into a complete downfall (probably succeeding the Dad's side),his life suddenly changes when Mom is found sick with cancer,and she comes to live with him under the bright lights of Tokyo...
Genre: DRAMA
Running time: 142min
TOKYO TOWER - Mom & Me, and sometimes Dad
Screening Schedule
May 19 (Sat) 9:30 at Palais I
May 21 (Mon) 18:30 at Palais I
Detail
SUMMER DAYS WITH COO (original title: Kappa no Coo to Natsuyasumi)
Directed by Keiichi Hara
MARKET PREMIERE
Director: Keiichi Hara ("Crayon Shin-chan" series)

Koichi Uehara is a fourth grade student living in the suburb of Tokyo. One day, he picks up a large stone which turns out to be a fossil of a baby "Kappa"(=A Japanese mythical water creature) sleeping underground for the past 300 years, and names it "Coo". Koichi and Coo become good friends and starts living with his family. However, Coo could not adjust to the life style in Tokyo and starts to miss his family. On a hot summer day, Koichi and Coo decide to go on an adventurous road trip to find his peers. Directed by one of the top animators of the generation, Keiichi Hara, who had created numbers of box office hit feature films in Japan.
Genre: ANIMATION / Family
Running time: 136min
SUMMER DAYS WITH COO
Screening Schedule
May 17 (Thu) 18:00 at Olympia 3
May 18 (Fri) 17:30 at Arcades 3
Detail
FRANZ KAFKA'S A COUNTRY DOCTOR
(original Title: Kafka Inaka Isha)

Directed by Koji Yamamura
MARKET PREMIERE
TRAILER
Director: Koji Yamamura ("Mt. Head" Oscar Nomination 2003,Annecy 2003 Grand Prix)

Based on famed Jewish-Czech writer Franz Kafka's short prose, "A Country Doctor" from 1919. A hapless country doctor describes with breathless urgency a night-time summons to attend a young patient. Events soon take on a surreal aspect as "unearthly horses" transport him instantaneously to the bedside. The doctor, preoccupied with personal distractions and grievances against those he is employed to care for, fails to find what is revealed to be a vile, fatal wound. He is humiliated by the villagers who are "always expecting the impossible from the doctor, " and doomed to an endless return trip, losing everything.
Genre: DRAMA
Running time: 21min
FRANZ KAFKA'S A COUNTRY DOCTOR
Screening Schedule
May 17 (Thu) 21:30 at Palais E
May 20 (Sun) 12:30 at Gray 2
May 21 (Mon) 21:00 at Palais D
Detail
MUSHIKING
The King of Beetles SUPER BATTLE MOVIE -Altered Beetles of Darkness-

Directed by Junpei Mizusaki
TRAILER
Director: Junpei Mizusaki

A smash hit card game is now adapted to the big screen. Deep in a green forest,happily lives beetles and elves. The story is about MushiKing,king of beetles and a child elf,Popo who are good friends. However, their peaceful lives were getting threaten by large beetles from counties far away, brought by humans controlled by dark elf Adar. MushiKing, Popo and their friends work together to fight against these evil forces to bring back peace to the forest.
Genre: ANIMATION / Action / Children
Detail
LOVE AND BERRY - Magic of Happiness
Directed by Tomomi Mochizuki
TRAILER
Director: Tomomi Mochizuki (Shinigami no Ballad: momo the girl god of death)

Two 14 year old girls named LOVE and BERRY are trying to enter Magic school. Their task is to make a lonely girl, Yumi happy. They teach Yumi how to dance and have fun dressing up using their magic. Introduced in 2004 as a card game for girls, the popularity has expanded spinning off to books, music CD, dance DVD and other merchandising. Now comes a feature film of this popular franchise.
Genre: ANIMATION / Children
Detail
JIGYAKU NO UTA
(original title: Jigyaku No Uta)

Directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi
Director: Yukihiko Tsutsumi (TRICK,Love Collage)
Starring: Miki Nakatani (Ring,Ring 2,Memories of Matsuko)
Hiroshi Abe (Trick,Survive Style 5+)

A hopeless woman and a hopeless man. A woman that loves the man whatever happens,and a man that can't exactly express his feelings and just turns over the table - out of irritation,short temper,and sometimes love. Would being together become a nightmare,or a love that will sustain them to live with happiness and hope for a better tomorrow?
Genre: Drama / Romantic Comedy
JIGYAKU NO UTA
Promo Screening Schedule
May 17 (Thu) 20:30 at Palais E
May 20 (Sun) 11:30 at Gray 2
May 21 (Mon) 20:00 at Palais D
Detail
DENSEN-UTA (original title)
Directed by Masato Harada

Director: Masato Harada (Bounce ko GALS, Inugami)
Starring: Ryuhei Matsuda (Big Bang Love, Juvenile A, Nana, Nightmare Detective), Yusuke Iseya (Sukiyaki Western Django, CASSHERN, Sea Without Exit)

Original story by Yasushi AKIMOTO, writer of the mega hit movie One Missed Call (Chakushin Ari) series.
As the project was in development with an idea of an “infectious song (Densen-Uta)”, one of the staff called out… “There was a real Densen-Uta!” He discovers on the internet of a song back in 1933, Hungary, which caused mysterious deaths of many people. In “Densen-Uta”, high school girls get mixed up in the Japanese version of this infectious song, and with the help of third rate gossip magazine reporter, tries to solve the mystery and horror behind the song. They come to know just how real, an urban legend can become. Coming Summer 2007.

Genre: HORROR
DENSEN-UTA
Promo Screening Schedule
May 17 (Thu) 20:30 at Palais E
May 20 (Sun) 11:30 at Gray 2
May 21 (Mon) 20:00 at Palais D
Detail
MIDNIGHT EAGLE
Directed by Izuru Narushima

Director: Izuru Narushima (Fly, Daddy, Fly, writer - An Adolescent)
Starring: Takao Osawa (Helen the Baby Fox, Into the Sun, Crying Out Love, in the Center of the World), Yuko Takeuchi (Ring, Heaven’s Bookstore), Hiroshi Tamaki (Waterboys)

Amidst a blizzard in the Northern Alps of Japan, a battle begins that will decide the fate of 127 million people!
In the skies above the severe winter conditions of the Northern Alps, a top secret American forces’ stealth bomber known as the “Midnight Eagle” suddenly vanishes. Its payload is a “specialized warhead.” If it were to explode, the entire nation of Japan would be hurled into an unprecedented calamity. An ex-war photographer who now only takes nature photos in the mountains accidentally encounters the incident, and gets behind the scene, preventing the weapon to fall into the wrong hands. Coming Winter 2007.

Genre: ACTION
MIDNIGHT EAGLE
Promo Screening Schedule
May 17 (Thu) 20:30 at Palais E
May 20 (Sun) 11:30 at Gray 2
May 21 (Mon) 20:00 at Palais D
Detail
MIRAI YOSOUZU (original title)
Directed by Hiroshi Chono

Director: Hiroshi Chono (debut, First assistant director for "The Grudge")
Starring: Nao Matsushita (Adiantum Blue, XX)

A beautiful love story based on two smash hit songs from a popular band DREAMS COME TRUE, "Mirai Yosouzu" and "Mirai Yosouzu II" (meaning "a map for the future"). The story is about a young couple attending the same university believing that their love for each other will never end. However, as time goes by and they graduate, their future starts to part as they both begin moving forward to capture their own dreams. The heart-wrenching story travels from Tokyo to the beautiful setting in Barcelona, as their paths cross once again. Will they be able to find a future together that they have rendered in the past? Coming Fall 2007.

Genre: ROMANTIC DRAMA
MIRAI YOSOZU
Promo Screening Schedule
May 17 (Thu) 20:30 at Palais E
May 20 (Sun) 11:30 at Gray 2
May 21 (Mon) 20:00 at Palais D
Detail
YOJI YAMADA PROJECT (title TBA)
(original title: Kabei)

Directed by Yoji Yamada

Director : Yoji Yamada (The Twilight Samurai, Love and Honor)
Starring: Sayuri Yoshinaga, Tadanobu Asano (Zatoichi), Mitsugoro Bando (Love and Honor)

Tokyo, 1940.
The modest happiness in which our family lived vanished one cold morning. My father was arrested under the Maintenance of Public Order Act. My mother, my grandmother, my little sister and I were left with no sign he would be set free. That day our lives changed…
Genre: DRAMA
Detail
LOVE AND HONOR (original title: Bushi no Ichibun)
Directed by Yoji Yamada
Director: Yoji Yamada (The Twilight Samurai)
Starring: Takuya Kimura (2046, Howel's Moving Castle-voice)

The third of the Samurai Trilogy.
A follow up to the two very successful samurai dramas,"The Twilight Samurai" and "The Hidden Blade", Oscar nominated director Yoji Yamada brings another strong story of a samurai,who fights for his faith. The film depicts a strong and deep love between a young samurai who loses his eyesight during a mission and his wife who eventually sacrifices herself to save her husband's honor. The film opened in Japan with big Box Office success,projected for US$50million domestically.
Genre: Drama / Samurai
Running time: 121min
Detail
HANA (original title: HANAYORI MO NAHO)
Directed by Kore-Eda Hirokazu
 
Director / Writer: Kore-Eda Hirokazu (Nobody Knows,After Life)
Starring: Junichi Okada (Tokyo Tower, Fly, Daddy, Fly)
Rie Miyazawa (The Twilight Samurai, Ashura)
Tadanobu Asano (Café Lumière, Zatoichi)

Director Kore-eda Hirokazu, brings out his first samurai film after his internationally praised "Nobody Knows". The story follows a young samurai fated to avenge his father's death. However, the huge problem is that he is helpless with swords. As he also finds himself enjoying the everyday life with his poor but colorful neighbors, he starts to cherish life. Stuck between the vengeance and honor of a samurai and the bright future in life, what is the final step he decides to take?
Genre: DRAMA / Samurai
Running time: 127min
Detail
SEA WITHOUT EXIT
(original title: Deguchi no nai Umi)

Directed by Kiyoshi Sasabe
TRAILER
Director: Kiyoshi Sasabe (Half a Confession - Han ochi)
Writer: Yoji Yamada (director / writer for "The Twilight Samurai", "The Hidden Blade"), Motofumi Tomikawa (The Eel)
Starring: Ebizo Ichikawa, Yusuke Iseya, Juri Ueno

A strong drama written by two of the most talented writers in the Japanese film industry. It is the end of WWII, when Japan already had a sense of losing the war, but still had to send in young soldiers to fight. The desperate Japanese Navy decides to take a plan on a special submarine attack named "kaiten"(special attack submarine or "manned torpedo"). Koji Namiki, a talented young baseball player, awaits for his fate to take his mission within the gloomy ocean depths,and remembers what has taken him out into the sea.
Genre: DRAMA / WWII
Running time: 121min
Detail
GHOST TRAIN
(original title: Otoshimono)

Directed by Takeshi Furusawa
TRAILER

Director / Writer: Takeshi Furusawa (writer credit for "Doppelganger")
Starring: Erika Sawajiri (SHINOBI, Pacchigi)

"Beware of the haunted tracks." A series of mysterious incidents happen on a commuter train. People who find the same railway pass disappear one after another. A young train operator always spots a body laying on the tracks. Victims are pulled into the tracks as the speeding train arrives... This all seems to be happening around the same tunnel, where it seems to be the nest of all the nightmares. Based on the urban legend of the haunted tracks, the film takes to a dimension where evil lurks in everyday life, awaiting to take in the next victim.

Genre: HORROR
Running time: 94min
Detail

| 2007 LINEUP |

back

JAPANESE copy