Tokyo Film Fest Makes Rollicking Start With Premiere of Bloody Samurai Flick ’11 Rebels’

The thirty seventh Tokyo Worldwide Movie Competition bought off to a memorably splashy begin Monday evening with the world premiere of filmmaker Shiraishi Kazuya’s frenetic and wildly bloody samurai motion flick 11 Rebels. 

In recent times, Japan’s preeminent cinema occasion has been trying to revitalize and rebrand itself as a not-to-be-missed cultural event within the Asia-Pacific area. After years of organizational drift, the pageant, below the management of present chairman Hiroyasu Ando, is on a mission to spice up its attain and repute into one thing extra commensurate with the nation’s highly effective cinematic previous and the ever-growing enchantment of Japanese tradition across the globe. 

In that sense, 11 Rebels was maybe the right decide for this 12 months’s opening gala screening. A throw-back samurai slasher, the movie relies on a decades-old screenplay by the late, nice scriptwriter Kasahara Kazuo, finest identified for his cult traditional yakuza movie Battles With out Honor and Humanity (1973). Over its 2.5 hour-plus runtime, 11 Rebels contains a slew of younger rising Japanese stars, relentless swordplay, improvised explosives, some very slashy beheadings and a fancy plot involving political intrigue and various double-crossings. 

Produced by Toei, 11 Rebels opens theatrically in Japan on Nov. 1, with a U.S. launch anticipated someday subsequent 12 months from specialty distributor Nicely Go USA. 

The movie’s full solid walked the crimson carpet within the Japanese capital’s upscale Ginza district forward of the pageant’s official opening ceremony. Shogun star Tadanobu Asano, who will obtain The Hollywood Reporter‘s Trailblazer award at a gala occasion Wednesday evening, was greeted with a hero’s welcome as he stepped out in assist of his indie characteristic Ravens, which can premiere later this week in an out-of-competition slot on the pageant. Different native stars in attendance included Rinko Kikuchi (Babel, Tokyo Vice), actress Ai Hashimoto, and Irie Yu, the fest’s director in focus for 2024. 

Main film figures from elsewhere in Asia have been additionally out in drive. Hong Kong display legends Tony Leung and Johnny To, each serving on Tokyo’s major competitors jury this 12 months, made an look, as did Sylvia Chang and Midi Z of Taiwan, and Zhao Liying of mainland China. 

The U.S. movie presence was mild on opening evening, however Hollywood star energy might be felt later within the pageant when Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II makes its Asia premiere on the occasion on Nov. 5. The screening is a coup for the Tokyo fest, which used to repeatedly host Hollywood premieres however suffered a dry spell over the previous decade as the main studios shifted their advertising efforts in direction of China’s once-booming field workplace. Gladiator II stars Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Fred Hechinger and Connie Nielsen are all anticipated to attend the Tokyo screening. 

Contained in the Tokyo’s fest’s opening ceremony, company have been handled to welcome speeches from Ando and Kikuchi, and an outline of the movie lineup introduced by a large anime character who appeared on a screening hanging over the stage. 

Previously decade, it has been customary for the sitting Japanese prime minister to ship a press release of assist to the pageant. Muto Yoji, financial system and commerce minister, appeared in individual on the ceremony and took the stage to hail the latest international curiosity in Japanese movie and tv, together with final 12 months’s Oscar winner Godzilla Minus One and Disney’s hit samurai collection Shogun.

Japan held its common election over the weekend, leading to a brutal set of outcomes for the ruling Liberal Democratic Get together, which misplaced its long-held coalition majority. Minister Muto comfortably held on to his seat in Sunday’s election however two of his cupboard colleagues misplaced their seats.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who’s now busy attempting to kind a brand new coalition authorities following the snap election he fatefully known as after being chosen as ruling occasion chief final month, despatched a video message to the movie pageant. 

Ishiba’s remarks have been greeted warmly by the movie business figures on the ceremony, as they steered the brand new administration intends to proceed the nationwide authorities’s rising latest curiosity in supporting the leisure sector. 

“Japan’s content material business boasts exports on the dimensions of semiconductors,” mentioned Ishiba, who additionally pointed to a Japan-Italy co-production treaty signed not too long ago. “The federal government is working to put the groundwork to additional encourage the event of the Japanese content material business by supporting the expansion of the subsequent era of creators and optimizing enterprise transactions,” he added.