Good Move Finds Early Response to Yuya Ishii’s ‘Things We Never Said’

Korean specialty distributor D.O. Cinema has picked up local rights to Yuya Ishii’s “All The Things We Never Said,” which is bowing at the virtual edition of the Cannes Market, where it is represented by Hong Kong based sales agent Good Move Media.

“Things We Never Said” stars Taiga Nakano, Wakaba Ryuya and Yuko Oshima and is set for a fall festival bow, before theatrical releases confirmed for China, Japan and now Korea. D.O. specializes in releasing Japanese films in Korea and has previously handled several titles by Ishii (“Tokyo Night Sky Is Always the Densest Shade of Blue” and “The Great Passage”).

Jostling for top ranking on Good Move’s virtual slate is “Me and the Cult Leader,” a documentary about coming to terms with the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway. Directed by Atsushi Sakahara, it had a triumphant world premiere last week at the Sheffield Doc Fest.

Other new titles on Good Move’s slate include “Drama Queen,” a Vietnamese, female-driven action-comedy directed by Kay Nguyen and starring Huong Giang. The action focuses on a person with both gender and body image issues who joins a beauty contest, while trying to escape from a murderous gang. The film had a local release through CJ-CGV on Valentine’s Day, shortly before coronavirus changed the course of the box office.

Another Vietnamese title, “Goodbye Mother,” combines two genres — gay coming out and bedside weepie — in a single drama directed by Trinh Dinh Le Minh. Its non-commercial playdates have included the Busan, Hawaii and San Diego Asian festivals.

“Two Blue Stripes” is pitched as unconventional, non-judgemental teen pregnancy story from Indonesia. It is the directorial debut of one of the country’s most prolific screenwriters and producers Gina S. Noer and became one of the top local films of 2019 at the Indonesian box office.

Good Move specializes in handling titles hailing from the Asia’s less fashionable territories. It is also representing youth drama “Posesif” from Indonesia, human-trafficking story “Aqerat,” fine art documentary “I’ve Got the Blues” and documentary “Yasmin San,” a portrait of Malaysian director Yasmin Ahmad.