Yamada Takayuki is taking his international profile to new heights with this ambitious Australia-Japan collaboration—a prestige supernatural romance that showcases his dramatic range beyond the provocative "Naked Director." The cross-cultural production highlights genuine creative partnership between two film industries.
Sources close to production hint at intense chemistry between Yamada and Australian co-star Amelia Zadro, with one insider noting the emotional weight of their scenes has even crew members tearing up. The ambitious three-period structure reportedly pushed the budget higher than initially planned—but producers consider it worth every dollar.
First production block wrapped December 2025 in Australia; second Japan block began May 20, 2026 with third Australian block scheduled for October 2026. Yamada plays Takayuki, a tech magnate whose Tanabata-night obsession tears open a portal across the karmic cycle he and his beloved were meant to escape.
Three lifetimes of chasing someone who doesn't want to be caught? That's not romance—that's a cautionary tale with stunning cinematography. We'll be watching when this one drops.
Yamada Takayuki is diving deep into obsession—across centuries, no less—in "Tanabata: The Evening of the Seventh," an ambitious supernatural romance that spans Edo-period Japan, 1865 New South Wales, and 2027 Australia. The Japanese actor, best known internationally for Netflix's provocative series "The Naked Director," stars as a tech magnate in the contemporary thread who locates the modern incarnation of a woman he's loved—and sought to possess—across multiple lifetimes. When his fixation hits its peak on Tanabata night (July 7), it literally tears open a portal pulling both back into their karmic cycle.
Yikes. Australian production company Titantale Film is currently mid-shoot, with the Japan production block kicking off May 20 this year. The project is fully funded out of Australia with Japanese production service partners—a notable reversal of the typical Hollywood-Japan dynamic that producer Sabin Gnawali clearly hopes will open doors for future collaborations between the two countries. "'Tanabata' is a rare opportunity to build an Australia–Japan feature with genuine scale, cultural specificity and international ambition," Gnawali told Variety.
"Yamada Takayuki brings extraordinary presence and recognition to the project, and his involvement gives the film a meaningful bridge between Japanese audiences and the wider global market." The first production block wrapped in December 2025, with a third Australian block scheduled for October—meaning this cross-continental labor of love isn't close to finished. Writer-director Gillian Roberts has built the entire narrative around Tanabata, the Japanese star-crossed lovers festival celebrated annually on July 7. "'Tanabata: The Evening of the Seventh' comes from a belief that our inner world also exists in an outer world that moves across time, space and dimension," Roberts explained.
"I wanted to create a visually poetic romantic drama with a supernatural and sci-fi edge, where landscape, ancestry and unseen forces shape the characters' journey." Supporting Yamada are Australian actors Amelia Zadro as Kotori and Caspar Hardakar as Charmerae—though given the soul-cycles-at-play premise, expect those character names to carry more weight than they initially appear. The story follows three incarnations of the same souls across a karmic cycle of love and possession, which raises uncomfortable questions about consent that the film will apparently explore.
Here's where it gets interesting for drama hounds: the logline explicitly frames Yamada's character as someone who "locates" his beloved across lifetimes with the intent to possess her. That's not a meet-cute—that's a stalking pattern given cosmic proportions. Whether Roberts and team frame this as tragic obsession or problematic behavior they'll interrogate remains to be seen, but the setup certainly gives Yamada plenty of material to work with.
The actor proved he could handle intense psychological territory in "The Naked Director," and this project seems designed to let him explore that range without the explicit trappings of his previous work. Australia-Japan co-productions are rare enough to warrant attention on their own; add a provocative supernatural premise and one of Japan's most recognizable actors, and you've got a project worth tracking closely through its October wrap date.
