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Heat Island (2007)

Release date: October 20, 2007

Director: Osamu Katayama

Cast: Yu Shirota, Yuu Koyanagi, Ryo Kimura, Shouhei Suzuki, Naoya Urata (AAA), Tomiko Van, Chiaki Ito (AAA), Papaya Andre, Atsushi Taninaka, Toyohara, Yoshimasa Kondo, Shigeki Hosokawa, Takeshi Ihara, Sousuke Takaoka, Matsuo

    "Heat Island" 「ヒートアイランド」 is based on a crime thriller book written by Kakine Ryuosuke. The premiere was set for an early summer 2007 release but for unexplained reasons, the date has been pushed back to an early autumn 2007 release. The story is about a street gangster named Aki (Yu Shirota) who runs around Shibuya (a district in Tokyo)  placing bets and causing trouble. He is the leader of Team: Guilty who is made up of Kaoru (Ryo Kimura), Jun (Yu Koyanagi), Satoru (Shouhei Suzuki), Takeshi (Naoya Urata), and Nao. When Takeshi gets into a scuffle at a bar, he accidentally stumbles across a bag that contains 30,000,000 yen (roughly 250,000 USD)  that was in the hands of of a petty Kansai crime group. He delivers the money to Aki and Team: Guilty is in a lot of trouble when they realized that the money was actually taken from an illegal casino operated by the Yakuza, which was stolen from a rich mogul, and is now looking to be taken by a terrorist group! Team: Guilty has to think fast in order to out smart all of the dangerous criminals or risk being killed in the crossfire.

Buy "Heat Island" on DVD @ CD Japan
 

Nao

   Nao is the only female member of Aki's gang. Under the profession of a model, she's straight forward, good natured, and downright stylsih. Keiko mentioned in her now deceased blog that although she read the "Heat Island" novel, she had the freedom to portray Nao as she liked because Nao is a character strictly made for the movie. In the few pictures there is to see of her, Nao has a "ghetto geisha" look (term used to describe Japanese girls who dress in glamorous hip-hop attire--think Baby Phat). The girl to get, Nao uses her beauty and charm to set up the bad guys and occasionally make up for the lack of smarts the other members of Team: Guilty seems to suffer from.

The Music of "Heat Island"

"Heat Island"- Rock 'A' Trench

   The theme song to "Heat Island" is called---guess!---yeah, "Heat Island"! It's performed by the new Japanese pop-rock group, Rock 'A' Trench. Rock 'A' Trench was an indie band that recently signed onto Taisuke Records. They debuted not too long ago with a mini album called, "Locker Trench" and their first Maxi single, "Higher." The group is an all male band consisting of five members: The lead singer/ guitarist, Daisuke Yamamori; keyboard and trumbone, Takuya Hatakeyama; electric and acoustic bass, Shin Kawahara; guitar and back-up singer, Hiroyuki Toyoda; and drummer Hayato Otake. The lead singer, Yamamori (the one who constantly wears ridiculous hats) is Japanese American---growing up between Tokyo and NYC very much like Hikaru Utada. He's obviously bilingual as you can tell from the crystal clear English in the band's songs.

   The group over all isn't bad at all. They sound like a totally mellow version of UVERworld, which isn't bad per say. They mix the typical pop-rock sounds with some reggae beats, or they just rock out loud--- and they do it well. You can tell by their first few PV's that they are aren't even that big yet--lol, their PVs look so cheap! And don't contain MTV or other music TV labels so you know that they aren't getting much airtime. "Heat Island" barely ranked on the Oricon charts but it's still a great song.


Rock 'A' Trench- Heat Island

01. Heat Island (watch the PV)
02. Traveler
03. Mirror Dayz
04. Heat Island (reprise)

Buy @ PlayAsia




Motion Picture Soundtrack
 
   Of the 15 song featured on the Heat Island OST only the song, "New Wave" is original to the soundtrack. The rest are carefully selected  J-urban songs set to fit certain parts of the movie. "J-urban" (Japanese Urban Music) is basically hip-hop and R&B the Japanese way---rappers and soulful singers to boot. And big names like AI, SOUL'd OUT, BENNIE K, SOULHEAD,  MINMI and some indie bands are feature artists that create a flavorful head bangin' soundtrack. Not all the artists listed are J-urban. Some are more pop-rock, ect. like A Hundred Birds (a 30 multi-artist orchestrated band), UPLIFT SPICE, and After Yuu two are the Americans Lupe Fiasco and Sean Paul.

01. Catwalk- SOUL'd OUT
02. Give it to Me- Sean Paul feat. Keisha Cole
03. UNITY- BENNIE K
04. 花火の色 (Hanabi no Iro)- UPLIFT SPICE
05. Never Enough- Home Made 家族
06. In The Back Street- TWO-J
07. Feel Like Jumping- SOULHEAD
08. あわいいろ feat. TeN- A Hundred Birds
09. XXX feat. Koda Kumi- SOULHEAD
10. Are Yu Ready- MINMI
11. Sunshine- Lupe Fiasco
12. Midnight U...- さかいゆう(After Yuu)
13. So Crazy! feat. So'Fly- I THE TENDERNESS
14. Fly For You- Mary
15. New Wave- Rock 'A' Trench