Icarus Films Sets The DVD Releases Of Tokyo Idols And Mr. Gaga For Oct. 3

There are certain elements of Japanese culture that simply do not translate to the West.   The obsession with turning a baseball game into a five or six hour evening event, the world of anime (and Cosplay … although popular enough here is nothing like it is in Japan) and the sexually-charged interest in girl bands and solo female artists (J-Pop).   

This latter obsession (aka: “popular phenomenon”) is the subject of Japanese documentary filmmaker Kyoko Miyake’s Tokyo Idols.   A fascinating film that The KimStim Collection will be bringing to the domestic DVD marketplace — with Icarus Films handling the sales and distribution efforts — on Oct. 3. 

The film made its debut at Sundance earlier this year, worked the international film circuit — where only the few who attend such events got to see it — and now with the DVD release, Tokyo Idols will now reach a far wider audience.  It is certainly worth a look, especially for the strangeness of it all … some things in the Japanese culture have a life all of their own.

There might be as many as 10,000 young women who are active in either bands or as solo artists in just the Tokyo area, so Miyake narrows it down to just one, Rio, a popular artist with legions of fans — she even has her own YouTube channel. 

We see her perform, workout, travel the street of Tokyo and we meet some of her devoted fans (some, perhaps a little too devoted).   It is an interesting cultural phenomenon that Miyake captures to a “J.”

Tokyo Idols is presented in Japanese with English subtitles.

Also getting an Oct. 3 DVD release date is Israeli documentary filmmaker Tomer Heymann’s award-winning Mr. Gaga: A True Story of Love and Dance, a look at the life and times of Batsheva Dance Company choreographer, Ohad Naharin.

Ohad Naharin, for those not familiar with the world of dance, is an internationally acclaimed choreographer (and musician), whose unique dance-company style is referred to as Gaga (hence the titled).  

The film had an arthouse run earlier this year, which generated domestic ticket sales of $173,994 … the ARR is 242 days.

The film follows Naharin on his world travels — with stops in such far-flung places as Israel, Japand and Sweden — and intersperses tidbits about his career and personal life, including dance sequences that date back to the mid-1970s.

Mr. Gaga: A True Story of Love and Dance is presented in Hebrew and English (with English subtitles) and includes as bonus goodies behind the scenes rehearsal footage, additional archival performance footage and interview sessions.