Yuriko’s Aroma dir.Kota Yoshida

Japan / 2010 / 74min. / Eromorous Commedy

You’re nothing but a pervert!

ユリ子のアロマ　Yuriko no Aroma　Yuriko’s Aroma

Yuriko

Single, female, 30-something, aromatherapy masseuse. Turn-ons: smelly kendo gloves. Turn-offs: sex

Ayame

Single, female, 20-something, curvaceous. Turn-ons: Yuriko

Tetsuya

Single, male, 17, with a buzz cut. Special interests: getting girls and getting laid.

INTRODUCTION

Everybody’s perverse in one way or the other!

Kota Yoshida won the special jury’s award at Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival 2008 for a movie he wrote and directed, Big Sister Goes with Her Brother/Onechan ototo to iku. Hours before the award ceremony, he had a stroke and cerebral aneurysm at an unusually young age, and collapsed. Yuriko’s Aroma is the first movie he’s directed since his stroke. The movie depicts the funny and kinky adventure of a late-blooming 30-something masseuse. The story of Yuriko’s belated coming-of-age is both titillating and refreshing.

Liberation of Body and Mind!

For his first post-stroke movie, Director Yoshida wanted Noriko Eguchi for the title role. Eguchi had also starred in Yoshida’s film, Big Sister Goes with Her Brother playing the title character. (She won the CO2 Best Actress Award for her performance.) Also starring in Yuriko’s Aroma is Shota Sometani, who recently gave a remarkable performance when he starred in Masanori Tominaga’s Pandora’s Box. Supporting the leading actors is Saori Hara, a movie star of both adult and non-adult oriented movies. Special guest star Jun Miho adds an assured performance to Yuriko’s Aroma, a new wave eroticomedy.

SYNOPSIS

Some things are just impossible to resist…

Yuriko(played by Noriko Eguchi) is a 30-something aromatherapy masseuse. Her specialty is healing tired souls with her exquisite choice of aromas and her sensitive touch. She has a dark secret. It’s a 17-year-old high school boy, Tetsuya(played by Shota Sometani). She’s drawn to his special aroma…his sweaty body odor. But he is her boss’s nephew! As Yuriko struggles with her dilemma over Tetsuya, well-endowed Ayame(played by Saori Hara) demands private aromatherapy lessons from Yuriko…

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

I dropped out of university to make movies. One after the other my self-financed shorts had gained recognition. My career was on its way up. I married and had a child. I was doing fine as a responsible adult.

That all changed in my late 20s. I had a stroke and a cerebral aneurysm simultaneously. This left me bed-bound. I lied on a hospital bed day in, day out. There was nothing else in the room. There was nothing I could physically do. I had to quickly come to terms with the hopelessness of my condition. I was hardly doing anything but I was barely alive. I started to lose sense of who I was. Eventually I came to think that I was zero. The crew had called me the Director. I had been supporting my family. I had thought I was doing okay up until then.

After the surgery I had unbearable migraines which I managed to survive. Rehabilitation was painstakingly slow. I finally came home, but my perception of it had changed. Home looked different when I thought I was somebody. Now I just stood there like a child hoping to redeem myself.

Yuriko’s Aroma is a story of a woman who redeems herself. First she lets go of her inhibitions when she gives in to her attraction to Tetsuya’s aroma. Then she reveals her secret to Tetsuya’s aunt. It’s a two-stage redemption she forces herself through.

We can choose the hard way. We don’t have to but we can make a slight difference from who we were yesterday. We can stop living like we did yesterday. That’s what I learned from my rehabilitation and that’s what’s reflected in Yuriko’s Aroma. The title character, of course, has a strong will to act on her impulses. I don’t but I wish someday I can.

DIRECTOR: Kota Yoshida

Tokyoite Yoshida was born in 1978. While he was a Waseda University student (from which he eventually dropped out) he joined ENBU seminar, an educational community for young filmmakers and film actors. Directors Tetsuo Shinohara and Keisuke Toyoshima were his mentors. While with ENBU, Yoshida directed his first self-financed short movie, Peanuts/Rakkasei. After graduating from ENBU, he became a professional production assistant until he joined Shaiker, Co. Ltd., a production company in 2004. There he edited a behind-the-scenes video of Takashi Shimizu’s The Great Horror Family/Kaiki Daikazoku and wrote the screenplay for Keisuke Toyoshima’s Siberia/Shiberia. He also directed a direct-to-video horror, Supernatural Photos/Shinreishashin Jusatsu. Along with his work at Shaiker, he continued making his own movies. His medium-length film, Big Sister goes with her Little Brother/Onechan, Ototo to iku, was received well both nationally and internationally. His first feature-length movie was in preparation when he had a stroke- a rare occurrence for someone of his age. This put his career on hold temporarily. After surviving the surgical operation, Yoshida concentrated on his rehabilitation. As he recovered, Yoshida wrote and directed a TV drama for the national television station. In January 2010, he completed his first feature, Yuriko’s Aroma.

FILMOGRAPHY

Peanuts/Rakkasei

(8mm/color/30minutes/2002 written and directed by Kota Yoshida)

the Shiro Sano Award and 2nd place runner at Waseda Film Festival, etc.,

Tears of an Elephant/Zo no Namida

(MiniDV/color/stereo/20 minutes/2005 written and directed by Kota Yoshida)

Special Jury’s Award at Nishi Tokyo Citizen’s F.F. etc.,

Coming with My brother/Onechan, Ototo to iku

(MiniDV/color/stereo/45 minutes/2008 written and directed by Kota Yoshida)

Jury Special Award at Yubari Int’l Fantastic F.F., the 3^rd at Nippon Connection, etc.

Yuriko’s Aroma

(HDCAM/color/stereo/73 minutes/2010 written and directed by Kota Yoshida)

invited by Yubari Int’l Fantastic F.F. and Nippon Connection

PRODUCTION NOTES

Preparing for this eroticomedy, Director Yoshida recollected on an episode his old kendo(swordsmanship) teammate had. He got turned on by the smell of a girl’s kendo glove. Yoshida switched the gender and wrote a screenplay revolving around a woman who is turned on by the smell of a boy’s locker room. Yoshida imagined her to have a finely developed sense of smell, probably in the aromatherapy business. Knowing nothing about the business, Yoshida visited many aromatherapy salons and interviewed many masseuses. After numerous revisions the final draft was completed in May, 2009.

Yoshida had the actor Noriko Eguchi in mind when he wrote Yuriko’s Aroma. She’d starred in his previous movie, Big Sister Goes with Her Brother and he adores her performances. Eguchi’s career had advanced since making Big Sister and her schedule was tight. But she was more than happy to make herself available for Yoshida’s first feature after his recovery. Another protagonist of the movie is Tetsuya, a high school boy who single-mindedly wants to get laid. The character is reflective of the director’s high-school self. Yoshida cast Shota Sometani, as an image of his younger self. Once the leading actors were engaged, supporting actors Saori Hara and the seasoned Jun Miho came on board.

In the development and the screenwriting phase, Yoshida got feedback and opinions from other movie professionals.

The principal photography was done in the style of a self-financed film, which he is more at ease with. As the film was an erotica/comedy, it soon attracted investors. The fact that Yoshida was making a comeback after his fateful stroke also helped finance the movie. Preparation began in XXXX, XXXXX, and on XXXX of XXXX, the photography commenced. A year passed in rehabilitation and another year passed in preparation before Yoshida called Action! The result of his hiatus was a lot of juggling with the busy schedules of the actors. Postproduction wrapped on XXXX XXXX and Yuriko’s Aroma was completed.

CAST PROFILES

Noriko Eguchi

Eguchi was born in Hyogo, Japan on April 28, 1980. After her first performance in Takashi Miike’s Shangri-la/Togenkyo no Hitobito in 2002, Eguchi quickly established herself as a multitalented actor appearing in movies, TV dramas and advertisements. In 2004 she got her first starring role in Yuki Tanada’s The Moon and The Cherry/Tsuki to Cherii. Her unique presence became a signature for Jiko keisatsu, the TV cop show series. She has been expanding her repertoire in a wide range of projects with both new and seasoned filmmakers. Other movies she’s appeared in include Isshin Inudo’s Josee, the Tiger and the Fish/Joze to tora to sakana tachi(2003), Shinobu Yamaguchi’s Swing Girls/Suwingu garuzu(2004), Kazuyuki Izutsu’s Break Through!/Pacchigi!(2005), Ryusuke Hashiguchi’s All around Us/Gururi no koto(2008), Yoshihiro Nakamura’s Fish Story/Fishu Sutori(2009) and Satoshi Miki’s Instant Swamp/Insutanto Numa(2009).

Shota Sometani

Sometani was born in Tokyo on September 3, 1992. His first movie appearance was when he was 9 in Stacy. After a successful career as a child actor he starred as Hibari in Masanori Tominaga’s Pandora’s Box/Pandora no Hako(2009). Other credits include Fumihiko Sori’s Ping Pong/Pinpon(2002), Miwa Nishikawa’s Mock Strawberries/Hebi Ichigo(2003) and Kensaku Watanabe’s Cheer Cheer Girl/Furefure Shojo(2008). His latest, Makoto Shinozaki’s Tokyo Island/Tokyo jima is to open in 2010.

Saori Hara

Hara was born in Hiroshima, Japan on the New Year’s Day, 1988. She can be found in multitude of media, including TV, radio, adult-oriented videos, self-titled videos, movies and magazines. Her admirable physical attributes attract men and her positivity attracts women as well. Her autobiography, My Real Name is Mai Kato was published in 2009, which revealed a lot about her private life and went on to be a bestseller. Hara’s movie appearances include Kenji Murakami’s Infected Country/Saikin Retto(2009) and Masayuki Miyano’s Lala Pipo: A Lot of People Lalapipo(2009).

Noriko Kijima

Kijima was born on March 22, 1988 in Nagano Japan. She first gained popularity modeling for teen pictorial magazines. She has her own pictorials and videos published, and appears frequently on TV variety shows and in stage productions. Her movie appearances include 2009’s cult hit The Machine Girl/Kataude mashingaru, directed by Noboru Iguchi.

Jun Miho

Miho was born in Shizuoka, Japan, on August 4, 1960. She started acting in blue films in the 80s. In 1981 she starred in Mamoru Watanabe’s The Pain a High School Girl in the Uniform Feels/Seihuku Shojo no Itami. In the following year she won the Blue Ribbon Award for the Promising Newcomer with her performance in Yasuro Uegaki’s The Pink Curtain/Pinku no Karten. Extending her career beyond the boundary of the blue films Miho has appeared in numerous movies and TV shows. Miho earned a regular role as the daughter of Umetaro in the Tora-san movie franchise. In 1987, Japan Academy Awards honored her with the Best Supporting Actress Award for her performance in Tora-san’s Island Encounter/Otoko wa tsurai yo: Shibamata yori ai o komete, and The Heaven and Earth of Kinema/Kinema no Tenchi(both directed by Yoji Yamada). Recently, prolific Miho appeared in Takahiro Miki’s Solanin/Soranin(2009), Hideo Sakaki’s Kidnapping Rhapsody/Yukai Rapusodi(2009), Masahiro Kobayashi’s A Journey with Haru/Haru tono Tabi(2009) and Tatsushi Omori’s A Crowd of Three/Kenta to Jun to Kay-chan no Kuni(2009).

SPEC

2010/JAPAN/color/HDCAM/16:9/stereo/74 minutes/©SHAIKER, ACE DUECE, THERE’S ENTERPRISE INC., MAKOTOYA CO.,LTD. And WAKO

www.yurikonoaroma.com/

RELEASE

Yuriko’s Aroma  May 8 2010 theatrical release in Japan

Coming with My brother   June 19 2010 theatrical release in Japan

FILM FESTIVAL

Yuriko’s Aroma will be shown on

2011.5.25〜5.29　the 12th JAPANESE FILM FEST HAMBURG / GERMANY screening date is 5.26 17:30

2010.11.23～11.28　the 1st ZIPANGU FEST / London – UK　screening date is 11.26 19:00 pm

2010.9.26～10.10　the 18th RAINDANCE FILM FESTIVAL / London – UK　screening date is 10.9 20:45pm

2010.10.7～10.17　the 5th CAMERA JAPAN : Yuriko’s Aroma and Coming with My Brother/ The Nether Lands　screening dates and location are 10.8 24:00pm Kriterion – Amsterdam　and 10.14 22:00pm Lantaren Venster – Rotterdam

2010.8.19-29　Japanese Film Festival Singapore 2010 : Japanese Currents / Singapore　 screening date and place: Aug.27th 19:30pm- Director attended there  [Director’s greetings movie for Singapore] video.php?v=423875941044

2010.7.22-25　the 2nd Shinsedai Cinema Festival : Closing Film / Canada　screening date and place: July.25th 20:00pm-

2010.4.14-18　the 10th Nippon Connection : Nippon Digital, won a Special Mention / Germanyscreening date and place: Apr.15th 20:15pm- @ Festival Cntre

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