I recently rented Yasuo Inoue's "rinjin 13go" aka "The neighbor no 13" from my local video store. I've always been a fan of Santa Inoue's "Tokyo Tribes" comics for their bleak shallowness and quirky stories so I was keen to see a film adaptation of one of his manga.

Silent hill has been "filmitised". I wished it, but cursed its coming.

There's a new おしゃれ(stylish) looking cinema opening up in Shibuya at the end of this month named q-ax, while the name sounds stylish and is being touted as the cinema- connoisseurs choice of cinema, the exterior and location leave a lot to be desired, slap bang next to 109 building (the gyaru mecca of Tokyo), what initially looked to be developing into an elegant architectural dream is now looking like a dropped piece of chalk wrapped in tinfoil in the heart of Shibuya.

One redeeming quality is the 1st floor is dedicated to a cafe and bar space which seems eager to emulate European art house cinema cafe aesthetics and atmosphere, as well the schedules seem devoid of foreign film and seem focused on Japanese cinema.

I hope to attend shortly after the opening so more later.

This film is airing in cinemas at the moment in Japan - Kidan.

The title means "Strange Story", the trailer beign shown on TV at the moment is dripping in weird religious imagery. It's an adaptation of a Daijiro Morohoshi horror manga, featuring all the trade marks you expect of J-horror, but with mixed up Christian / Shinto ethics.

One to look forward to on DVD (I can't manage a film without subtitles, especially if it's an arty weird one) I wonder if it will make it to foreign shores for cinema or DVD release ?