It was a tough and long process for actor Iseya Yusuke to adapt Tsujiuchi Tomoki's award-winning best-seller, "Seiji", but five years after he started to write the script, the movie is finally nearing its release.

"Seiji -Riku no Sakana-" ("FISH on LAND") is Iseya second work as a director and aside from writing the script, it also took him a very long time to find the perfect actors for this movie. Eventually he casted the actors Nishijima Hidetoshi and Moriyama Mirai as the two protagonists. The movie was already filmed at the end of 2010 and screened at the '24th Tokyo International Film Festival' last month, but it won't be released until February next year. The screening at the festival was sold out within one minute after the tickets went on sale, but now everyone is able to get a first taste of this human drama in form of a mellow trailer.

Set in the beautiful nature of Japan, the story is about a college senior (Moriyama) who goes on a lone journey with his bicycle during the summer vacation. Along the way he comes across a drive-in called 'HOUSE475' and his manager, Seiji (Nishijima), who seems to live a genuine life unlike himself. He decides to help him out at the drive-in and rediscovers the meaning in his life.

As the title of the movie suggests, it's about a man who feels like a fish on land and has given up with his life - "Everyone who can't get rich becomes unhappy". Fortunately there are people who unintentionally become his saviors, like the woman played by Yuuki Nae, the blind old man played by Tsugawa Masahiko, and of course, Seiji from the drive-in.

Despite not revealing too much of the characters, the trailer sucks you in with its beautiful rural landscape, deep atmosphere and impressive portrayals of the two protagonists.

"Seiji -Riku no Sakana-" is going to open in Japan on February 18th.

Check out the trailer below!

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Sources: Cinema PIA, Cinema Today, eiga.com