Japan’s Nikkatsu is launching sales on actor-director Naoto Takenaka’s Downfall, an upcoming live-action feature based on Inio Asano’s manga of the same name, at content market TIFFCOM.
The adaptation of the manga, also known as Reiraku, will be a dark drama starring Takumi Saitoh of Shin Ultraman as a formerly successful manga artist. He will be joined in the cast by Shuri (Wandering), who plays a prostitute he becomes interested in, and Megumi, who plays his wife.
The story follows the artist as he struggles to come up with an idea for his next work and subsequently flounders in relationships with his editor and wife. When he encounters a woman who lets him be himself, he decides to set off for her hometown with her.
Nikkatsu launched sales today on Takenaka’s 10th film as a director at the ongoing TIFFCOM online (October 25-27), which runs alongside Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF).
A prolific actor, Takenaka’s credits as a director include Nowhere Man, which also centres on a manga artist and won the Fipresci prize at Venice in 1991, and biographical feature Tokyo Biyori.
Produced by Nikkatsu and Happinet Phantom Studio, Downfall is set for a release in Japan on March 17, 2023.
At the Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM) in Busan earlier this month, Nikkatsu launched sales on director Daishi Matsunaga’s gay romance drama Egoist and Tetsu Maeda’s suspense film Do Unto Others. The former is playing in TIFF’s international competition.
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