The first peek at Kou Shibasaki in Mai Tominaga's "Shokudo Katatsumuri"

by Chris MaGee

At the beginning of June we reported on how director Mai Tominaga would be following up her 2006 feature filmmaking debut "Wool 100%" with an adaptation of Ito Ogawa's novel "Shokudo Katatsumuri". The book (and now film) tell the story of a daughter (Kou Shibasaki), who after having her heartbroken returns to live with her mother (Kimiko Yo). Once home the two set up a restaurant where they only take one reservation per day.

I really liked Tominaga's use of stop-motion animation, fairy tale visuals and surreal symbology in "Wool 100%" and apparently there will be more of the same in "Shokudo Katatsumuri"... but you can't tell that from the teaser trailer that Kevin Ouellette has just posted at Nippon Cinema. All we get are still photos of Shibasaki looking forlorn and thoughtful and the standard deep, soothing male narrators voice from a million and one syrupy Japanese romance films. "Shokudo Katatsumuri" just started shooting in May, so let's hope that Tominaga and crew are hard at work in post-production filling in the gaps with her own brand of inspiring and odd visuals.

Until then click here for a handful of pics of Shibasaki from the film.