Kazuyoshi Kumakiri's Green Mind, Metal Bats (Seishun ☆ kinzoku batto) is scheduled to have its world première at the 35th International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) on January 30th at 9:30 p.m. (21:30), and to subsequently be screened there on February 1st at 3:00 p.m. (15:00), February 3rd at 5:00 p.m. (17:00), and February 4th at 10:30 a.m. (10:30).
The screenplay for Green Mind, Metal Bats (Seishun ☆ kinzoku batto) was written by Takashi Ujita, based on the eponymous manga Seishun ☆ kinzoku batto - a.k.a. "Seishun Kinzoku Bat" - by Tomohiro Koizumi. The movie's cast apparently includes Pistol Takehara (Takehara Pisutoru), Masanobu Andô, Maki Sakai, Susumu Terajima, director Kôji Wakamatsu, Noriko Eguchi, Megumi Satô, Yûsuke Kamiji, and Shûji Yamamoto.
Here's a description of Green Mind, Metal Bats from the English-language page (see below for link) for the movie on the IFFR website: "Baseball film, but not a sport film. But - just to make up - it does have a supporting role for Wakamatsu Koji as the spirit of Babe Ruth. A failure continues to practice his swing and excessively. Any change is progress in his case - even the encounter with a problem-causing alcoholic bitch. Gentle and atmospheric. Based on manga, like so many Japanese dramas.
When Kumakiri was asked by producer Kimura whether he was interested in filming the manga Green Minds, Metal Bats, he certainly did not expect a particularly good-natured subject. Not only because of the title, but also because Kimura is known for many extreme Miike Takashi films and because Kumakiri himself made his début with the splatter film Kichiku. Since A Hole in the Sky (Tiger Awards Competition 2001), Kumakiri has however developed into a steady, mature and tender chronicler of loves and obsessions in modern Japan. When it became apparent that the story was about young people who are all victims in their own pathetic way of their love for baseball, he accepted the challenge. The three protagonists have ended up going nowhere. Nanba is without money and a girlfriend. At secondary school, the future seemed promising: in those years, he played baseball at the highest level. But in the local supermarket where he has a part-time job, his colleagues think he is 'kind of yucky'. When he meets the aggressive alcoholic Eiko, the peace and quiet in Nanba's life is over. He also comes into contact with the frustrated policeman Ishioka, an old team mate who had to give up his sporting career because of an elbow injury. Wakamatsu Koji, the legendary maker of pink film classics such as Sex Jack (1967) and Ecstasy of Angels (1972), plays the spirit of Babe Ruth; we also see Terajima Susumu, star of films by Kitano and Kore-Eda."
Kumakiri's previous directing credits include The Volatile Woman (Kihatsusei no onna) - which is scheduled to have its European première at IFFR 2006 - The Ravaged House: Zoroku's Disease (Tadareta ie: 'Zôroku no kibyô' yori) - one of the movies in the Hideshi Hino's Theater of Horror (Hino Hideshi no za horâ: kaiki gekijô) hexalogy - Antenna (Antena), Hole in the Sky (Sora no ana), and Kichiku: Banquet of the Beasts (Kichiku daienkai).
IFFR: Green Mind, Metal Bats (English)
IFFR: Green Mind, Metal Bats (Dutch)
IFFR: The Volatile Woman (English)
IFFR: The Volatile Woman (Dutch)
The Volatile Woman official subsite
The Ravaged House: Zoroku's Disease trailer (downloadable 0.7 MB WMV file)
The Ravaged House: Zoroku's Disease official webpage
Antenna official subsite
Hole in the Sky official subsite