Yume Jûya (Ten Nights of Dreams, 2006)

I first read of this portmanteau film based on the Meiji-era serial by Natsume Sôseki (of I Am a Cat and Botchan fame) at least a year ago at Anime News Service, from whence the above image is also taken – though mostly live action (and including segments by ex-animation director Ichikawa Kon and the director of Koi no Mon) one is co-directed by Amano Yoshitaka and painted in the full watercolour style of his Ga-nime OAVs Fantascope ~tylostoma~ and Tori no Uta! Being the pessimist I am, I accepted that nothing so delicious would ever achiche distribution in English-speaking countries (though it at least had more chance of doing so than Tori no Uta – the one of the three which most piques my interest – and will probably make it as far as France) but made a mental note to look out for it at the next Leeds International Film Festival. It didn't show up at the festival but it is now, after two years, getting a limited release in North America, followed by an English-subtitled DVD there in October. See the bottom of this article for dates and locations. The onderhond blog, meanwhile, has a review of the completed film.

I've also been meaning to do an update on the current status of another portmanteau film, Peur(s) du noir (Fear(s) of the Dark, 2007). That should be coming with the next update, possibly as an amendment to this post.

Current music: Igor Stravinsky – Pulcinella