It was revealed on June 13th that actress Keiko Kitagawa will be starring in the film "Night Flower" (directed by Uchida Eiji, scheduled for release on November 28th). On the same day, a trailer and teaser visuals were released. In this film, Kitagawa plays the protagonist, a mother by day and a drug dealer by night. The trailer shows her without makeup, speaking in a rapid-fire Kansai dialect and revealing her emotions, while the teaser visual shows her with almost no makeup on, shaking her blue inner-colored hair, gazing into the distance.
This work was conceived, written and directed by Director Uchida, who also directed the 2020 film "Midnight Swan," which drew attention for depicting the bond between a transgender protagonist and a young girl. Natsuki (Kitagawa), who works part-time during the day and at a snack bar at night to raise two children while barely making ends meet, decides to take on a dangerous job to make her children's dreams come true. It turns out to be "drug trafficking." This human suspense story follows Natsuki, who lives as a mother by day and a drug dealer by night, and asks where she will end up...
Kitagawa recalled that when she first read the script for the film, she was "shocked," and said of the main character, Natsuki, "She's a mother who happens to have the worst possible circumstances piled up, but it could be me, or anyone else. I felt that this is not something that could happen to someone else." She added, "I hope viewers will watch over the mother's strong desire to protect her child, and her down-to-earth determination to somehow live a positive life in a corrupted world."
Director Uchida commented on Kitagawa's acting, "On set, she exploded with overwhelming acting, the like of which I had never seen before. I am happy to have been able to see the moment when Kitagawa enters the next phase as an actress."
