Critics and movie fans alike are raving about Japan’s entries at the Venice International Film Festival. “Gake no Ue no Ponyo” (Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea), the latest anime feature from Miyazaki Hayao (67), had its screening on Sunday and received a five-minute standing ovation. Afterwards, in a scene such as organizers said they’d never seen before, the “maestro” was mobbed by autograph hunters (photo). Of the 21 movies entered in the competition, nine had been screened as of Sunday and Ponyo had received the best newspaper reviews so far. Four of the major papers gave it four stars, while Il Manifesto gave it the maximum five. And the Hollywood Reporter website has described Ponyo as the only “masterpiece” so far in an otherwise “lethargic” festival. Up until Monday’s reviews, the best-received film had been Kitano Takeshi’s “Akiresu to Kame” (Achilles and the Tortoise), so the chances of a Japanese movie taking the Golden Lion have to be considered good.
• Former bikini model Inoue Waka (28) has been chosen as a last-minute replacement for Hatano Hiroko (32) in the TV Asahi drama series “Salaryman Kintaro.” On August 19, just days before filming was scheduled to start, Hatano announced her pregnancy and marriage to J-League soccer star Suzuki Keita (27). She has a long history with the drama, making her debut as an actress on the first series in 1999. There have been four series based on the popular manga, all on the TBS network and starring Takahashi Katsunori (43), with the last airing in 2004. The switch to a different network, and with Nagai Masaru (30) as the new leading man, is very rare. Inoue and Nagai have worked together before, co-starring in the 2006 TV Asahi series “Kuroi Taiyo.” Meanwhile, the theme song for the series will be a tune by popular duo Yuzu. Their connection with Kintaro goes back to 2000, when the manga’s creator Motomiya Hiroshi (61) did the jacket design for their single “Aa Seishun no Hibi.” In a further coincidence, Yuzu member Kitagawa Yujin (31) will have another role in the autumn drama season, co-starring with Horikita Maki (19) in the Fuji TV series “Innocent Love.”
• Amuro Namie‘s latest hits collection, “Best Fiction,” is on top of the Oricon album chart for the fifth straight week. So far sales have reached over 1.25 million, putting it at least 70,000 ahead of the year’s next best seller, “Exile Catchy Best.” It’s the first album in almost 11 years to achieve the defeat – a Glay hits album did it at the end of 1997 – and the first in 25 years by a solo female artist (the last was Nakamori Akina’s “Memoir” in 1983).
• NTV’s annual weekend telethon did as well as expected in the audience ratings. Overall, it had an 18.6% rating, tied with last year for the show’s second-best ever result. As usual the high point was the emotional arrival at Nippon Budokan of the celebrity marathon runner. As comedienne Edo Harumi completed her grueling 113km run, the rating jumped to a peak of 41.1%. It was the highest ever for a female runner and third highest overall, behind last year’s run by veteran comedian Hagimoto Kinichi (67) and lawyer (now politician) Maruyama Kazuya (62) in 2005.