Tuesday, March 14, 2017

First-day-screening event of new movie "Shabondama"

The first-day-screening event of new movie "Shabondama" (Soap bubble) was held at Cine Switch Ginza on 4 March which was attended by the director Higashi Shinji and cast members Hayashi Kento, Fujii Mina, Aijima Kazuyuki and Hata Motohiro who sings the movie's theme song "Ai". However, Ichihara Etsuko who is currently hospitalised due to auto immune myelitis and Watabiki Katsuhiko who was down with flu were absent from the event.

The movie which is based on the same-titled novel by Nonami Asa, features Hayashi as a young man who is a repeat offender. While on the run, he meets an elderly lady (Ichihara) and starts to question the meaning of his life and what he has to do in order to start afresh.

Filming was done entirely in Shiiba Village in Miyazaki Prefecture. Hayashi recounted fondly that during the filming, the locals were very welcoming towards them and visited the filming set every day to give them snacks. As Hayashi is about to celebrate his 10th anniversary as an actor since he made his debut in the movie "Battery" on 17 March 2007, he revealed that he was very happy to be able to work as an actor and act in this movie with great actors like Ichihara and Watabiki which will no doubt be a memorable highlight in his career.

Higashi who made his debut as a director at the age of 53, revealed that he was very happy about the movie being ready to meet the public. During the filming, Ichihara told the director that she wondered if anyone would want to watch their movie since the story is quite plain and the cast is relatively plain although the leading man is handsome. However, upon seeing the full-house audience on the day of the event, Higashi said that he would be sure to tell Ichihara about this good result.

In order to express his thanks to the cast, Higashi presented bubble-shaped brooches to the cast and gave Ichihara's to her agency's representative Kumano Katsuhiro. Kumano revealed that Ichihara is still undergoing rehabilitation at the hospital and that she is expected to return to work in May if all goes well.

Source: Eiga.com

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