Contemporary Japanese Cinema
Mahō Shōnen☆Wild Virgin
Dir. Ugana Kenichi
Japan 2019, 103’
Subtitles: Polish & English
In Japan, there is an urban legend that "When you turn 30 as a virgin you become a wizard".
Mikio Hoshimura (Tomoya Maeno) is a typical “salary-man” in a Japanese insurance company. No matter what he does in life, he can’t ever seem to succeed. His sales performance at the company is the lowest, has no relationship history and is still a virgin at the age of 29. Hisonly friend in life is his colleague at work, Tsukino (Tateto Serizawa).
One day, a very cute woman named Akiyama (Hinako Sano) joins the company and Hoshimura falls for her. Moreover, Akiyama is a big fan of the superhero Wild Virginia, of whom Hoshimura has loved since childhood. On the day before Hoshimura’s 30th birthday, the staff at the company throw a welcome party for Akiyama at a local bar. There Akiyama is sexually harassed by Hoshimura boss Koike (Takayuki Hamatsu). Hoshimura tries to protect Akiyama, but gets beaten up badly instead. Then, out of nowhere a baboon creature enters, and Hoshimura and Akiyama flee, but as the clock ticks down to his 30th birthday, Hoshimura starts to feel strange power
Awards and Festivals
BIFFF - Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival
Ugana Kenichi
Born April 20, 1984. Graduated from the Aoyama Gakuin School of Management. When he was in college, he became interested in directing, writing and editing as well as acting, and started making films. As a director, his first directorial work Screeeam won high praise at numerous international film festivals, mainly in the United States. In the years following that three of his shorts films were each selected for the Short Film Corner of the Cannes International Film Festival. In 2011, a special spotlight on director Ugana Kenichi was held at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival. In the summer of 2016, he directed the world’s first feature film about Japan’s Ganguro Gals sub-culture called Ganguro Girls Riot which featured many up and coming young actors such as Baba Fumika , Yanagi Elisa , MamiyaShotaro and Murakami Nijiro . The film was a big success in Japan and played in cinemas constantly for 8 months. His follow up to Ganguro Gals Riot was in 2018 with Saraba Silence a movie depicting a world in which entertainment such as music, movies and books are banned. It stars some of Japan’s most popular young actors in Sumire and Kaito Yoshimura and was an independent hit in cinemas.
Filmography
2010 Access (short)
2011 Smell (short)
2016 Ganguro Gals Riot
2021 Rolling Marbles
Cast & Crew
Director: Ugana Kenichi
Screenplay: Ugana Ken’ichi, Kentaro Imada, Imamura Ryuji
Cinematography: Yaegashi Toshiharu
Editing: Komino Masashi
Costume Design:
Cast: Maeno Tomoya, Serizawa Tateto, Sano Hinako, Tanaka Makoto, Hamatsu Takayuki, Saito Takumi, Mizuishi Atomu, Yu Hutami Shiho, Isahara Rii
Producer: Tsukasa Shin’ichiro, Onogawa Hiroyuki,
Production: Vandalism Co., Ltd.
Language: Japanese
Colouration: Colour
