Revisting "The Magic Hour"

 I initially downloaded the Japan movie “The Magic Hour” back in 2009 when I was high on love for Haruka Ayase and was desperately grabbing everything I could find of hers. including Oppai Volleyball, Happy Flight, Amemasu no Kawa and the excellent Cyborg SHE, enjoying them all!

When it came to Magic Hour, however, I was to find that the subtitles that came with it were either corrupted or incompatible with my files, and though I tried gamely to watch the show without subtitles for about 30 minutes, in the end I had to give up!

I DID notice , however, that Ayase Haruka’s role was only a very small part, perhaps due to her being still new to the scene, and thus I didn’t place a really high priority on seeking out subtitles that would work, and instead just put it on a backburner. It wasn’t until recently when I was going through and re-watching some of my old Ayase Haruka movies for a Drama Otaku ranking list I was making,  that I realized I STILL had not yet fully watched the Magic Hour and still needed to find subtitles for them!

Luckily we live in the wonder age of technology not only was I able to find the Magic Hour subbed, but these were terrific DVD rips, just fantastic HQ files compared to the old avi files I had tried to watch before! I was now set! Well I just finished watching it in its entirety, and as the saying goes, “It’s better late than never” because my GOSH was this movie GOOD! Oh, so much FUN with winsome humor and slapstick shticks, I haven’t  laughed so hard in such a long time!

The MAGIC HOUR telss the tale of a Bingo (Satoshi Tsumabuki) who gets caught with Mari (Eri Fukatsu), the mistress of the town’s underworld boss Tessio (Toshiyuki Nishida), and is all set to sleep with the fishes until he promises that he can hook the gang up with DELLA TOGASHI, a legendary hit-man that Boss Tessio has been dying to meet!

Only problem is, Bingo actually has no IDEA how to contact this assassin and was only lying to get his feet out the door. He tries in vain to find the man, but with time running out, it seems like he's out of luck!  But when he happens to spy a film crew shooting down the street, he has a revelation: NO ONE knows what this guy Della Togashi dude looks like, and figures he can just HIRE someone to PRETEND to be the man! 

They set their sights on a down-and-out stand-in actor named Murata Taiki  (Koichi Sato) to play the role of the assassin Della Togashi. Naturally an actor wouldn’t accept such a dangerous role, and the only way Bingo can get him to cooperate is to trick him into thinking he’s working on an ACTUAL movie! 

By pretending to be a hotshot director, Bingo convinces him that the fantastic new movie will be him playing a hitman for Don Tessio, with no script and completely on the fly ad-libbing! At first Murata balks at such a plan, but eventually comes around as it's the only gig he's got!

Seems sure to fail, and everyone is skeptical that they can pull this off, especially Mari, who is incensed to have to play along with this farce! But so passionate is Murata with his ‘role” that he convinces the Don, the Gang, and even those around him, that he might actually be the real deal!

Even as things are running smoothly things are SURE to come crashing down sooner or later, and when it does, it will take all their talents, savvy, and movie-making skills to get themselves out of it! 

A fun, entertaining show set in that magical wonderland of movie-making, and as they run around movie sets and filming, we see nice little homages to Hollywood featuring fun cameos from such stars as Nakai Kiichi, Amami Yuki, Suzuki Kyoka, Tanihara Shosuke and even Karasawa Toshiaki!

And BTW, I downloaded this movie primarily for my love of Ayase Haruka, but what I wasn't prepared for was how doggone ADORABLE Eri Fukatsu was as the sassy and selfish Mari, my GOSH, she stole very scene she was in!! SUCH a CUTIE!!!

What a wonderful movie to watch over the weekend! So glad that I was finally able to give this fine film the proper attention it deserves!!!!

BT,  looking at the imdb page for The Magic Hour, the poster reminded me so much of the cover art for the fantastic Keigo Higashino story "Miracles of the Namiya General Store"(which I wrote about here), and it occurred to me how smilar in "feel" these two books had. Sweet, Winsome, and full of heart, these both were stories that made you feel good and feel like a kid again!

Come to think of it, Toshiyuki Nishida was in the movie version of Namiya General Store, too!

Calling Dr. Kevorkian: Go Ayano and Keiko Kitagawa on the Case in "Dr. Death no Isan: Black File"

Ayano Go and Kitagawa Keiko in Dr. Death no Isan

Very thought provoking standalone movie (which somehow feels like part of a longer series) from 2020,  dealing with the subject of the assisted suicide/dying with dignity debate. The film follows two detectives, Inukai Hayato (Go Ayano) and Takachiho Asuka (Kitagawa Keiko) when, following up on a regular death from cancer, hears from a child that the deceased was visited by a mysterious man just hours before his passing.

When interviewing the widow, she denies any foul play and says that her husband passed naturally from the cancer. But a seized video camera provides footage confirming the child's story: There WERE visitors beforehand, a snow-white haired doctor and silent nurse.

Faced with this proof, the widow comes clean. She was indeed visited by a Doctor and Nurse, but it was by her husband's own choosing. Wracked with pain and the misery of burdening his family with debt building up day after day,  he sought to end it all, and thus called upon the man called Dr. Death, who arrived and, with mercy, gave him a lethal injection to put his tormented body to rest.

With further pordding, the wife says she made the call out to the legendary doctor via a website where those with terminal illnesses can make a plea for a visit from the Doctor and be put out of their pain.

Tracking down guests who have put in requests on the website, Inukai and Takachiho find no less than five other such mercy killings, and when they pay visits to the survivors,  they only have gratitude for the mysterious doctor, and see him as a savior.

This is problematic for the duo as they see this "Doctor" as nothing more than a specialized serial killer, and the subject is particularly troubling for Detective Inukai, who himself has a young daughter battling a seemingly terminal illness. He would NEVER want his daughter to choose  a suicidal death, and cannot imagine how the other families can live with themselves for letting their loved ones go in such a fashion.

Bedridden, weak and suffering, as time goes on and the guilt of financial burden builds up, even Iunkai's daughter wonders if it might be best for all is she were to take the 'easy" way out. And when Dr. Death hears of Inukai's daughter's possible request, it it more imperative than ever that the Detective duo catch him before he can contact his daughter! A psychological cat-and-mouse game begins...

This was really a great movie, and I really liked not just the story and its ideas, but the characters of Inukai and Takachicho. I mentioned earlier, but this fim seems like part of a series as the roles seem pretty well-established even from the very beginning, as if we're supposed to know who they are already.

Smart, quick thinking and totally cool,  these we character you loved seeing in action, whether tracking down the killers or even just grousing at the bar about their personal problems.

Would LOVE to see more movies with these two!!!

Your Monthly Keiko

Happy Keiko for July! These past few months have been banner ones for the Keiko Kitagawa fan, with her awesome drama "Anata wo Ubatta Sono Hi kara" about to wrap up, and news of a brand new theatrical film "NIGHT FLOWER" announced!

From Yahoo Japan:

KEIKO KITAGAWA stars in “NIGHT FLOWER", HER FIRST TIME STARRING IN A MOVIE in 4 YEARS!

Actress Keiko Kitagawa (38) will play the role of a drug dealer, completely changing her previous pure image, in the movie "Night Flower" , directed by Eiji Uchida), which will be released on November 28. This will be her first starring role in a movie in four years since "First Love" (directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi) in 2021.

Director Uchida's second Midnight series, following the 2020 film "Midnight Swan," (which won the Japan Academy Prize for Best Picture for its sensitive depiction of the struggles of transgender people), is an ambitious work written and scripted by Uchida. It is a human suspense story in which Natsuki, played by Kitagawa, struggles as a drug dealer to raise her two children.

She plays a strong character almost makeup-free, with messy hair and speaking in Kansai dialect. Kitagawa said that when she read the script, she was "shocked." Kitagawa is also a mother of two children, and said, "Drug trafficking is not right, but I am strongly attracted to the idea of ​​giving up everything for your children."

It has been 2 years since Kitagawa and Director Uchida have worked together on WOWOW's 2011 drama "Drama W: Sunset." Kitagawa, who is from Hyogo Prefecture, said that Director Uchida explained to her about the role she will be playing as a mother living in the Kansai region. Although it is a role she has never played before, she said, "I hope viewers will watch over the strong desire of a mother to protect her child, and her down-to-earth determination to somehow live a positive life in a corrupted world."  

When Director Uchida was writing the script for "Midnight Swan," he imagined a mother living in the criminal world of the night, which was the original idea for the story. Regarding Kitagawa, he praised her, saying, "She took on the difficult role of a drug dealer, and on set, she exploded with overwhelming acting that I had never seen before. I am happy to be able to see the moment when Kitagawa enters her next phase as an actress."

WOW, sounds SO intriguing! As someone living outside of Japan, however all I am able to do is cross fingers that NETFLIX or some other streaming site will host it once it finishes its theatrical run!  Such a LONG wait!