Yusuke Iseya directs his sophomore feature film

by Chris MaGee

Yusuke Iseya is a unique actor, no doubt about it. Starting out as a rebellious talent in Hirokazu Koreeda's "After Life" and "Distance" he has gone on to star in such mainstream hits as "Casshern", "Memories of Matsuko" and the recent "13 Assassins". Iseya hasn't lost his rebellious, or should we now say adventurous, streak entirely. He starred in the ambitious Fernando Meirelles screen adaptation of the José Saramago novel "Blindness" and has himself directed a feature film, the 2002 yakuza film "Kakuto". Now Iseya will be adding another directorial effort to his resume according to a report this week posted at Tokyograph.

Iseya has recently finished shooting his sophomore film titled "Seiji". Based on a novel by author Tomoki Tsujiuchi the film tells the story of a man named Seiji who operates a drive-in movie theatre and his interactions with the drive-in's female owner and its regular audience. Unlike Iseya's debut feature "Kakuto" though "Seiji" will not feature him in the leading role, in fact Iseya's work on "Seiji" is entirely behind the camera. No word has been released yet on which actor is playing the lead role or which other talent has been cast in this intriguingly simple tale, but here's hoping that word is released soon (hopefully with a trailer).

Expect to see "Seiji" in Japanese theatres some time next summer.