JAPAN CUTS 2015: Check Out The Trailer For 100 YEN LOVE

If you're keen on the summer film festivals and love to spice things up, Japan Cuts is certainly offering up its own fair share of titles that promise a variety of drama, comedy and action. That said, In The Hero helmer Take Masaharu's late 2014 boxing dramedy, 100 Yen Love, has a little bit of everything to offer with an artful performance led by actress Ando Sakura making her way to the ring, gloves and all.

SYNOPSIS:

Play video games with your nephew when he gets home from school, pick up junk food at the local ¥100 convenience store, and pass out reading manga. Such is the life of Ichiko Saito (played by the luminous Sakura Ando), a 32 year old living at home with her parents and recently divorced sister. When their working class home gets too small for both sisters, her mother pushes Ichiko into the world and she gets a job at the nearby konbini. She befriends a gruff amateur boxer (Hirofumi Arai), but cruel reality soon pushes her to don the gloves herself. As Derek Elley of Film Business Asia writes, “Ando triumphs in [this] quirky tale of a social misfit's transformation,” exceeding all expectations in a physical performance of absurd comedy and deep pathos.

The film will mark it's North American premiere during the festival on July 16 with Ando gracing the crowd for an introduction and subsequent Q&A. Check out the inital update with a link to the website for further scheduling.

JAPAN CUTS Announces Its Summer 2015 Line-Up!

Japan Society is back once again to host this summer's installation of Japan Cuts with a list of feature film premieres. Surely enough, you can count on the action genre getting some attention as well with titles like Strayer's Chronicle, Snow On The Blades (a.k.a. Revenge Of The Pomegranate Tree Hill), and Neko Samurai 2. Yep, and that's ten whole days of exciting new Japanese cinema and more with special guests in attendance, and it all begins on July 9.

North America’s largest festival of Japanese cinema, JAPAN CUTS presents the A to Z of new film made in and around Japan for its exciting and expanded ninth edition. Premiering a thrilling slate of blockbusters and independent features never before seen in NYC, JAPAN CUTS redefines itself with fresh sections on documentary, new classics, avant-garde and more special guest stars and auteurs than ever, with a focus on the rebellious edge of contemporary Japan. Don’t miss a moment of this frenetic 10-day festival filled with outrageous comedies, action epics, heart-wrenching dramas, radical documentaries, brooding romances, psychedelic animation and otherworldly fantasy, plus parties, award ceremonies, drink, food and live music!

Tickets are now available along with a special offer from Japan Society for $2 discount with the purchase of five tickets, but you'll have to call it in or make the arrangements at the box-office. You can find out plenty more at the official website listing all the coming titles, and most of them have new trailers now viewable in the playlist beneath.