One of my primary goals at the Hong Kong Filmart last month was to try and get a look at Tetsuya Nakashima's Paco and the Magical Picture Book if at all possible. But while the latest from the director of Kamikaze Girls was available for sale in the market the only screening held for it was a strictly invitation only, strictly buyers only affair and since I don't have hundreds of thousands of dollars at my disposal to purchase film rights - unless somebody out there wants to give them to me - I was sadly unable to talk my way in. But faced with the prospects of a sad and despondent Canadian the sales agent did relent to a degree and agreed to show me a few scenes from the film right there in the booth. And zowie. This one's a pure children's film and every bit as color saturated and imaginative as you'd expect from Nakashima with his fertile imagination unleashed in a children's fantasy world. There's at least one fully CGI character in the film - a decision I'm never a real fan of - but it seemed to be handled pretty well and the live action cast is absolutely spectacular.

Now, speaking of that cast. If I hadn't known who they were going in there's no chance I would have recognized them and now I can show you why, Don Brown from Ryuganji having spotted the first character shot from the film. Koji Yakusho is the one with the crazy mad scientist hair in the front left and I defy you to pick Ryo Kase out of the lineup. This is going to be fun ...