Someone goes to a spa, beach, or retreat*

“There’s something almost poetic about finding a hairpin in the bath. It’s like the sole of my foot has been pierced by poetry.”

– Nanmura, via

Relaxing at an onsen, a soldier steps on the titular kanzashi. Now injured with too much time on his hands, he and his fellow nosy patrons go out looking for its owner.

 

* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for July is, for unknown reasons, mostly not date-related and follows some sort of vacation narrative.

 

Someone enjoys a drink or beverage*

“On the bus, the air was so thick, he felt woozy. A wailing infant shook with tears and the woman beside him reeked with the stink of cheap perfume.”

– narrator

On a sweltering summer day, Detective's Murakami's Colt gets stolen on a crowded bus. He must delve deep into the sticky sweaty seedy underbelly of Tokyo to retrieve it.

 

* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for July is, for unknown reasons, mostly not date-related and follows some sort of vacation narrative.

A scene with a cat for Garfield the Cat Day (USA)

 

A mother and daughter who are raped and murdered by a rogue samurai, return as cat-shaped onryō, vengeful spirits.

An actor, director or character from Utah – National Utah Day (USA)

 

Billy the Kid steps out of a huge poster of Monument Valley right into a Tokyo bar and becomes its bar keeper. Together with a samurai, a WW2 G.I, Marx-Engels (not a typo), the Japanese weather service number 177 and others, he keeps the tavern safe from various thugs roaming the streets.

A pet for National Hug Your Cat Day (USA) *

“Had I the time to keep a diary, I’d use that time to better effect; sleeping on the veranda”

– The cat

A school teacher's house cat observes and comments his household's going-ons as a microcosm of Japan's paradoxical Meiji period. The second adaptation of Sōseki Natsume's 1900s satirical novel.

 

* The event falls on June 4

An actor, director or character named Anthony for National Anthony Day (USA).

“Everything comes from the Great Book of Nature. Human attainments are an already printed book.”

– Antoni Gaudí

A comedian, or set in Brooklyn or NYC, for Jerry Seinfeld's birthday (1954).

 

Rakugo (落語, litt. “story with a fall”), is a style of Japanese comedy performed while seated. Armed with a few props, the rakugoka recites a comical monologue using pitch and gestures.

 

A dramatic retelling of the life of rakugoka Katsura Beikyo II. Keima Kyo, a talented rakugoka, is offered apprenticeship from an older successful performer, but refuses. Young and arrogant, he decides to take over the other man's act instead.

Golf (or a tiger) in honour of Tiger Woods' 1997 Masters Tournament victory.

 

Reiko (Yoko Shiraki), a professional model – is groomed into playing the circuit by the editor of a golfing fashion magazine. The rookie's unexpected success draws in all sorts of fans, including the obsessive.