At the Movies

Lady Gaga and Godzilla Star at 2018 Tokyo Film Festival

Culture

The opening and closing films for the 2018 Tokyo International Film Festival have been announced as A Star is Born and Godzilla: The Planet Eater.

The 2018 Tokyo International Film Festival will kick off on October 25 and run to November 3. Hollywood movie A Star is Born opens the festival ahead of its Japanese release in December. The remake of the 1937 classic is directed by Bradley Cooper, who also stars alongside Lady Gaga. Japan’s favorite monster closes off the event in Godzilla: The Planet Eater, the third part of a new anime trilogy.

Godzilla: The Planet Eater. (© 2018 Tōhō)

The festival will also give a gala screening to Tsutsumi Yukihiko’s Ningyō no nemuru ie (The House Where the Mermaid Sleeps), a film based on a novel by author Higashino Keigo.

Ningyō no nemuru ie (© 2018 Ningyō no nemuru ie Production Committee)

Tokyo International Film Festival

  • Dates: Thursday, October 25 to Saturday, November 3, 2018
  • Venues: Roppongi Hills, Ex Theater Roppongi, Tokyo Midtown Hibiya, Hibiya Step Square
  • Website: https://2018.tiff-jp.net/en/

Opening Film

A Star is Born (Japanese release December 21, 2018)

Lady Gaga makes her silver screen debut in this remake of the classic 1937 romantic drama. The film is also actor Bradley Cooper’s first time directing a feature-length movie. Gaga plays a young singer with dreams of success in the music business, but who lacks confidence in her looks and talents. Cooper is the rock star who discovers her. Gaga’s compelling performance has already won the film praise after showings at festivals in Venice and Toronto.

Closing Film

Godzilla: The Planet Eater (Japanese release: November 9, 2018)

The film is the final installment of the Godzilla franchise’s first computer animated trilogy. In the two preceding films, Godzilla takes over the Earth, forcing humans to flee, but the third episode sees the legendary kaijū face a new challenge from King Ghidorah. The film is co-directed by Shizuno Kōbun and Seshita Hiroyuki and is based on a story and script by Psycho-Pass writer Urobuchi Gen. Voice actors Miyano Mamoru, Sakurai Takahiro, and Hanazawa Kana reprise their earlier roles.

Gala Screening

Ningyō no nemuru ie (The House Where the Mermaid Sleeps) (Japanese release November 16, 2018)

Based on a bestseller by Higashino Keigo, this film stars Shinohara Ryōko (Kamikaze Girls) and Nishijima Hidetoshi (Dolls) as a couple on the verge of divorce who face a terrible choice when their daughter is pronounced brain-dead. Tsutsumi Yukihiko (2LDK) directs.

(Originally published in Japanese on September 28, 2018. Banner photo: A Star is Born. © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and Ratpac-Dune Entertainment LLC.)

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