Yuya Yagira returns to the spotlight with "Subete wa Umi ni Naru"

by Chris MaGee

Last August film fans were stunned by the news of the overdose of Yuya Yagira, the 18-year-old actor who gained international acclaim with his debut role in Hirokazu Kore-eda's 2004 drama "Nobody Knows". (You can read our original coverage here.) At the time the media was still reeling from the accidental drug overdose of actor Heath Ledger, but the speculation was that Yagira may have been imploding like so many child stars before him. Yagira vehemently denied that the overdose was a suicide attempt and instead insisted that he had simply taken too many doctor prescribed sedatives after a fight with his parents. Regardless of the cause or what Yagira's intentions were he has definitely been keeping a low profile since then. In November he actually released a novel in Japan titled “Yama nai ame” but avoided returning to the screen... that is until now.

Yagira will make his return to films in Akane Yamada's directorial debut "Subete wa Umi ni Naru." He will portray a nerdy high school student, bullied by his class mates, who finds solace in literature. When he meets a clerk, played by Eriko Sato (Cutie Honey, Kuchisake-onna) it's love at first sight. Yamada, who previously wrote the screenplays for Yeming Wang's "Tea Fight" and Tetsuo Shinohara's "Clearness" plans to have "Subete wa Umi ni Naru" completed by the spring of 2010.

Part of me is glad that Yagira has returned from what has obviously been a very difficult period for him, but another part of me still feels a bit bad for him. You have to remember that when he made his debut in "Nobody Knows" he was just a 13-year-old kid with absolutely no acting experience. The film was released and suddenly he was picking up awards for best actor at the Cannes Film Festival. You almost wish that Yagira, if he so wished, could just go back to being a normal kid. Well, at least that's what I think. Share your thoughts in the comments.

Thanks to Tokyograph and Japan Zone for the details on this. Thanks also to Sankei Sports for the above still from "Subete wa Umi ni Naru."

Yuya Yagira hospitalized after drug overdose

by Chris MaGee

Not a lot of details on this yet, but 18-year-old actor Yuya Yagira was hospitalized late Friday (Japan time) after suffering a drug overdose. Yagira is most famous for being the youngest actor to win Best Actor at the Cannes International Film Festival for his performance as an abandoned boy who takes acre of his siblings in Hirokazu Koreeda's 2004 film "Nobody Knows". He was only 14 at the time. Now a fixture on Japanese television Yagira had apparently written in his blog earlier this month that he was cutting back on TV appearances due to illness.

We'll be keeping our eye out for more details on this developing story and wish Yagira-san a speedy recovery. Here's hoping that this isn't another story of a child star publicly burning out. Thanks to Yahoo Canada for the report.

UPDATE: This is really sad news. Yuya Yagigra's overdose doesn't seem to be the result of a hard night of partying or a Heath Ledger type accidental overdose of prescription medication, but a suicide attempt. Don Brown over at Ryuganji.net has more details, but thankfully Yagira has survived the attempt and is expected to make a full recovery. Check out the video below that ran on Japanese television about this very sad story:

Yuya Yagira returns to the spotlight by authoring a novel

by Chris MaGee

A few days ago my girlfriend asked me “have you heard anything more about the ‘Nobody Knows’ kid?” The kid she was referring to is Yuya Yagira who starred in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s 2004 film “Nobody Knows” and subsequently became the youngest Best Actor recipient at that year’s Cannes Film Festival. As many of you know Yagira was rushed to hospital in August after an overdose of prescription tranquilizers. Whether it was suicide attempt or an accidental overdose as Yagira maintains will probably never be known, but since then the 18-year-old young star has been keeping a low profile. That is until now.

Cinema Today is reporting that Yagira is returning to the spotlight not as an actor but as an author. As Yagira explains it at the website for publisher Stardust Press he had an idea for a film after ending a relationship with an old girlfriend, but the pieces never came together to make the idea a reality, so with the help of writer Rin Inoue he adapted the story to the page as “Yama nai ame,” a novel to be released in Japan on November 5th. It tells the story of two young men, Katsura and Tachibana, who work as couriers. They both fall for the same girl, a waitress at a local café, an already complicated situation, but things are complicated further by the pair’s drug and alcohol abuse.

Really sunny material, but if you remember no one is particularly sunny at 18. As to whether people will draw parallels between the characters in the novel and its young author remains to be seen. I think it’s just good to see that Yagira is working things out with the written word and not more trips to the hospital.

Yuya Yagira denies suicide attempt

by Chris MaGee

There's more news in the continuing drug overdose of actor Yuya Yagira that occurred on Friday. The story of how the "Nobody Knows" star ended up in a Tokyo hospital suffering from an overdose of prescription medication has fluctuated from it being an accident to a suicide attempt. Well, word has come from Yagira himself in the form of a message to his fans posted at his official site yesterday.

According to Yagira he got into an argument with his parents and took some tranquilizers that his doctor had prescribed for him, but he apparently miscalculated the dosage and ended up calling the ambulance himself after feeling ill. Now doing fine he apologizes to his fans for causing them any distress.

I honestly don't think we'll ever get to know what exactly happened with this, but again I just have to say I'm glad that Yagira has fully recovered and that I hope this is not an indictaion of the beginning of another child star spiraling out of control.

Thanks to Tokyograph for the report.

Takashi Shimizu set to direct Japan's first 3D horror feature "The Shock Labyrinth"

by Chris MaGee

It seems that a lot of the big names of the J-Horror boom have been moving on stylistically in the past couple of years. Kiyoshi Kurosawa has moved onto international acclaim with his 2008 Drama "Tokyo Sonata", and Hideo Nakata, while not abandoning chills completely, has broadened his horizons with the "Death Note" spin-off "L: Change the World" and is currently working on the English-language thriller "Chatroom". While these to horror heavy-weights have moved on from lank-haired Japanese ghost girls "Ju-on" director Takashi Shimizu (above) has kept the scares coming with films like "Marebito", "Reincarnation" and his Hollywood remakes "The Grudge" and "The Grudge 2". Now there's word from Screen Daily and Tokyograph that the 37-year-old director will be helming Japan's first live-action 3D feature film.

Based on an original screenplay by Daisuke Hosaka and titled "The Shock Labyrinth" the film chronicles the surprise and confusion of a group of young people following the return of their friend Yuki who went missing a decade before, and her mysterious illness that causes them to rush her to the hospital. The only thing is that instead of arriving at the hospital emergency the friends find themselves trapped in a haunted labyrinth-like mansion.

The cast, headed up by "Nobody Knows" star Yuya Yagira, are currently filming at the Senritsu Meikyu haunted house attraction at the Fuji-Q Highland amusement park. It was this attraction, which holds the Guinness World Record for the longest haunted house attraction in the world, that inspired the film and Shimizu, Yagira and his castmates Misako Renbutsu, Ryo Katsuji, Ai Maeda, Erina Mizuno, and Suzuki Matsuo are currently doing night shoots at the park.

"The Shock Labyrinth" is due in Japanese theatres in October.

Takashi Shimizu brings a new visual flare to "The Shock Labyrinth"

by Chris MaGee

At the beginning of the month it was reported that "Ju-on" director Takashi Shimizu was going to be helming Japanese cinema's first 3D horror feature. Titled "The Shock Labyrinth" the film will follow a group of young men and women who must uncover the mystery of what happened to their good friend Yuki who returns after 10 years of of being missing. Upon her return she succumbs to a mystery illness, one severe enough that her friends rush her to the hospital, but instead of ending up there they end up in "The Shock Labyrinth", a huge haunted house based in part, and actually filmed in Senritsu Meikyu haunted house attraction at the Fuji-Q Highland amusement park, the largest haunted house, according to The Guinness Book of World Records, on Earth.

It seems like the perfect project for Shimizu who is one of the last remaining stalwarts of the now dwindling J-Horror movement from earlier this decade. His dank, shadowy aesthetic brought to life in his "Ju-on" films would be a perfect fit for this kind of project, right? Well, think again. Not that Shimizu's not a good fit, he is, but that he's bringing the same visual style to "The Shock Corridor". A slew of new promotional stills have popped up at both Jason Gray's blog and over at Quiet Earth and they feature a new and impressive look from Shimizu. Gone are the muted tones of "Ju-on" and in is a vibrant, crisp colour palette that accentuates the scares in the film. I have to say I'm impressed. I honestly wasn't that excited when I first read the news of "Thge Shock Corridor", but now I have to say I'm curious to see it either in 3D or not, just to see what visual innovations Shimizu and his crew come up with.

To see what I mean follow the links above to check out star Yuya Yagira and the rest of the cast in the truly haunting "Shock Labyrinth".

Weekly Trailers

All to the Sea - Akane Yamada (2010)

Akane Yamada directs the screen adaptation of her own novel, "All to the Sea". Eriko Sato stars as Natsuki, a bookstore clerk who gets wrapped up in the lives of a dysfunctional family after apprehending the mother shoplifting. Natsuki soon begins to fall for the only sane member of the family, the serious-minded 17-year-old son Mitsuharu, played by Yuya Yagira.




Angel's Egg - Mamoru Oshii (1985)

Before his career-defining adaptation of Shirow Masamune's sci-fi manga "Ghost in the Shell" there was Mamoru Oshii's 1985 animated film "Angel's Egg". In a post-apocalyptic world a young girl carries an egg that she believes will hatch a magical bird. She wanders the blasted, surreal landscape with a soldier she befriends on the road.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Shinichiro Watanabe to attend Toronto screening of "Genius Party"

by Chris MaGee

In my recent posts I've been goin on about how New York was the place to be this summer, which probably has been pissing off you Torontonians off to no end this being the Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow and all. Well now hometown boy Todd Brown over at Twitch has given us a reason to be proud to live in the T-Dot.

As previously reported Todd is one of the programmers at this year's Worldwide Short Film Festival and he managed to arrange the Canadian premiere of Studio 4 ºC's "Genius Party" and "Genius Party Beyond" on June 12th at 7:15 at the Varsity Cinema. If that wasn't already good enough he has word that Shinichiro Watanabe, writer and director of "Cowboy Bebop" and "Samurai Champloo" will be in attendance for the double bill and he will be part of a question and answer session with the audience!

Watanabe is behind the final segment in the omnibus film of seven shorts. Titled "Baby Blue" it follows two students on a day where they play hooky from school. Yuya Yagira, best known for his breakout role in Hirokazu Koreeda's "Nobody Knows" and Academy Award nominee Ronko Kikuchi provide the voice talent.

So, I have one question for you all: I have my tickets, do you? Hope to see you all there!