Friday, March 20, 2009

Daihachi Yoshida follows up “Funuke Show Some Love” with the story of a real-life con man

by Chris MaGee

Daihachi Yoshida's “Funuke Show Some Love, You Losers!” has definitely had a lot of love thrown it's way in the past year. The pitch black comedy that stars Eriko Sato, Aimi Satsukawa, and Hiromi Nagasaku as a trio of feuding siblings recovering from the death of their parents in a car accident snagged Yoshida best director awards at last year's Yokohama Eigasai and the Warsaw International Film Festival and appeared on many critics top ten lists for 2008. I know for a fact that a few loyal readers of the Pow-Wow blog are big fans, but I'm sad to say that I've yet to see this really interesting sounding film.

Now to make me feel even more out of the loop Tokyograph is reporting that Yoshida (above right) is currently shooting his follow up to "Funuke". Titled "Kuhio Taisa" the film stars Masato Sakai (After School, Climbers High) as Captain Kuhio, a real-life con man who throughout the 70s and 80s seduced women by passing himself off as a military pilot, convincing them that if they married him that they would get a pay out from the Japanese government. According to Kazumasa Yoshida's non-fiction book "Kekkon Sagishi Kuhio Taisa" which forms the basis for the film what actually occurted after the wedding day was that the Captain would run off with the women's life savings. When he was finally arrested in the mid-90s it was estimated that he'd stolen over ¥100 million. Actresses Yasuko Matsuyuki, Hikari Mitsushima, and Yuko Nakamura will portray some of Captain Kuhio's unfortunate victims in what sounds like another dark comedy from Yoshida.

Principal photography on "Kuhio Taisa" is set to end late next month with a Japanese theatrical release scheduled for the fall.

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