As a program advisor for the Udine Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy, I have spent the last few months scouting Japanese films for the next edition, which will be held April 26 to May 4. This doesn't mean I've seen all the upcoming releases — sales companies are often not ready to screen their Golden Week or summer films so early in the year — but I am building up an idea of what might and might not work for our audience.
Looking at the 2019 line-ups from domestic distributors, I see the same puzzle-plot mysteries and weepy romantic dramas that appear as regularly on local screens as the cherry blossoms do each spring. With a few exceptions, these films, which are green lit for their idol stars or on the basis of their source material, be it a manga or best-selling novel, are hard sells outside of Japan.
Other perennials are the sentimental, sluggishly paced family or social- problem dramas, that are usually set in the remote countryside, which tend to appeal to older audiences but put this older reviewer in a coma.