Kore-eda Hirokazu

[Michael McCaskey]

You can get a Hana yori mo nao nyu mon, "preview" DVD, 花よりなほ―岡田准一改メ青木宗左衛門、put out by Shochiku (SHV). The bar code number is 4988105049116. 

It lasts 77 min., and gives some of the plot away, but still leaves lots of plot for the regular full DVD, which may come out this fall. This preview DVD is very good, very well done, and the sound track is pleasing, but there are no subtitles.

It seems to me that earlier publicity about the film indicated that it would be based on a story or stories by Fujisawa Shuhei, but this DVD seems to make it clear that the script is an original effort by Kore-eda alone, not based on any other particular source.

It's about a bunch of people living in a nagaya, a sort of small Edo tenement block, and all their different interlocking stories and situations. Kore-eda has gotten very well-known actors, including Terajima Susumu and Asano Tadanobu to play most of the roles, even minor ones. Kore-eda shows how some of the scenes were directed/shot as well.

This preview DVD is really enjoyable, and well worth watching more than once, unlike some other film preview DVDs I've gotten in the past. I got my copy from Amazon Japan.

The Kore-eda site is

www.KORE-EDA.com/hana

The Shochiku site is

www.shochiku.co.jp

There's also apparently a Shochiku DVD "shop," the Shochiku DVD Customer Center, at 0120-210-246, a phone answered only from 10 am-1 pm, and then 2-5 pm, Tokyo time, on weekdays only.

Best Wishes,

Michael McCaskey



----- Original Message -----
From: "cla.kaidan at virgilio.it" <cla.kaidan at virgilio.it>
Date: Wednesday, May 31, 2006 10:31 am
Subject: Kore-eda Hirokazu

> I'm writing a thesis about Kore-eda Hirokazu.
> I'd be grateful if 
> someone could help me in finding his first video works ("However", 
> "Lessons from a calf", "Without memory"...) or any information 
> about 
> his documentary work.
> I'm also looking for infos about his new film 
> "Hana yori mo naho".
> Thanks in advance
> Claudia
>