The 8th Annual Japanese Film Festival, showcasing Japanese society, culture and people will introduce many facets of Japanese society, past and present, through the big screen. All the films are in Japanese with English subtitles. Free tickets will be available at the box office on the day of screening.
The highlight of the Festival will be a brand-new animation "Metropolis" which was just released in Japan in June. This retro-future animationm is spectacularly rendered in its visual style, combining the best in Japanese cel animation with the latest in digital technology and Jazz music.
To South Africans, Japan's society may appear homogeneous. However, racial issues do exist in Japan, one of which is depicted in "For Kayako" about Korean residents in Japan. "Lullaby of the Earth" explores how strong willed women are trapped in the cruel circumstances of Japan's modern history. "Duo" is a fusion of improvisation, screenplay, and documentary about a young woman who embarks on a journey to regain herself.
Two films are repeated due to their popular response in previous festivals. The black and white cinematography and the tempo of "Labyrinth of Dreams" make this unique film very special. "Village of Dreams" is a picturesque portrayal amid the beautiful scenery of rural Japan.
Cape Town (Sep) Johannesburg (Oct) Pretoria
(Oct-Nov)Cinema Nouveau contact numbers:
- Johannesburg - Rosebank Mall: (011) 880-2866
- Pretoria - Brooklyn Mall: (012) 346-3435
- Cape Town - V&A Waterfront: (021) 425-8223
2/DuoNobuhiro Suwa / 1996 / 90 Min.
Cast: Eri Yu, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Makiko Watanabe
This debut film for Suwa is a highly ambitious one, making use of improvisation on location, and it aims to catch the moment of fusion of screenplay and documentary. Suwa asked the actors to forget about the screenplay they were given beforehand, and to make dialogue and situation by themselves through many rehearsals. Moreover, the inserted interviews of the actors make this film multi-layered.
Yu (Yu), a shopkeeper girl in a boutique, lives with Kei (Nishijima) who wants to be an actor. They make a quarrel on a trifle, and the next day, Kei suddenly asks Yu to marry him. His proposal confuses her, and she begins to wonder what kind of person she really is. Kei doesn't know what to do with Yu who has lost the balance of her mind. One day, she disappears, and she starts her journey to regain herself.
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For Kayako (Kayako no Tameni)Kohei Oguri / 1984 / 117 Min.
Cast: O Sunghil, Kaho Minami
During Japan's occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945, the number of Korean residents in Japan increased to about 2.5 million. Today, there are some 600 thousand Korean residents in Japan. They have suffered from a variety of problems, including discrimination, low paying jobs, and the loss of their identity as Koreans. This film depicts the story of the meeting, brief romance and separation of a second-generation Korean resident of Japan and a Japanese girl. Oguri (of Muddy River, 1981) focuses on young Koreans in Japan -- their thoughts about life and love; their feelings about their nation and their race.
Korean undergraduate Im Sanjun (Sunghil) visits his uncle Kunaboji, who is married to a Japanese named Toshi and has a stepdaughter Kayako (Minami). Sanjun and Kayako later start exchanging letters, but life won't be easy for them.
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Labyrinth of Dreams (Yume no Ginga)Sogo Ishii / 1997 / 90 min.
Cast: Reina Komine, Tadanobu Asano
This is an unusual love story of a bus conductor who falls in love with a driver who may have killed her friend.
Tomiko (Komine), a bus conductor in a rural town, learns about the death of Tsuyako, who is also a conductor. At Tsuyako's funeral, Tomiko hears that Tsuyako's boyfriend looks similar to the serial killer of the conducter. He allegedly killed conductors after fooling around with them. Then, Tomiko receives a letter written by Tsuyako before her death, which describes her confused feelings about her boyfriend Niitaka (Asano), suspecting that he maybe the serial killer. The day Tomiko receives the letter, Niitaka transfers to her company. Moreover, she learns Niitaka is her bus driver and Tomiko tries to get close to him hoping to revenge Tsuyako's death. However, she becomes attracted to Niitaka who asks her to marry him. This black and white film takes you into a dream-like illusion with its fantastic photography in a rural town.
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Lullaby of the Earth (Daichi no Komoriuta)Yasuzo Masumura / 1976 / 111 Min.
Cast: Mieko Harada,
One of Masumura (1924-86)'s last films, Lullaby of the Earth continues the interest in strong willed women trapped in the cruel circumstances of Japan's modern history.
The story takes place in the 1930s in Shikoku. 13 year old Rin is sold into sexual slavery on an island after her grandmother's death. Refusing to be defeated by her fate, she sings the lullaby of the film's title for comfort. Rin first works as a maid and learns from a boy she meets how to row the boat that takes prostitutes to the boats waiting outside the harbor. When Rin has her first period, it is time for her to begin working as a prostitute.
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Metropolis (animation)Rintaro / 2001 / 105 Min. (South African Premiere)
Screen Play: Katsuhiro Otomo
Based on the classic manga (comic) by Osamu Tezuka in the late 1940s, the Godfather of Anime and Manga, Metropolis was brought to the screen by two of the most respected figures in Japanese animation today: Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira) and Rintaro (X, Galaxy Express 999). In fact, Rintaro began his career working for Tezuka on his popular Astro Boy (Tetsuwan Atom) television series.
Set in the future, Metropolis is a grand city-state populated by humans and robots, the cohabitants of a strictly segmented society. Amidst the chaos created by anti-robot factions, detective Shunsaku Ban and his sidekick Ken-ichi are searching for rebel scientist Dr. Laughton, to arrest him and seize his latest creation, Tima, a beautiful young girl. When they locate them, Shunsaku quickly comes to realize that the eccentric scientist is beyond their reach, protected by a powerful man and his fierce desire to reclaim a tragic figure from his past.
More than fifty years since it was first imagined, Tezuka's vision of the inability of scientific progress to fulfill basic human needs confirms him as a prophet as well as a fabulist. Written by Otomo and directed by Rintaro, the retro-futurism of the story is spectacularly rendered in its visual style, combining the best in Japanese cel animation with the latest in digital technology.
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Village of Dreams (Enonaka no Boku no Mura)Yoichi Higashi / 1996 / 112 Min.
Cast: Mieko Harada, Keigo & Shogo Matsuyama
Having won the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, Village of Dreams deserves to be recognized as a picturesque portrayal; probably more so because it is based on the nostalgic rendering of the childhood of the twin artists Keizo and Shogo Matsuyama. The beautiful scenery of rural Japan may well be viewed as a vivid depiction of the shared images of a Japanese hometown. The film also shows how these sensitive twins perceive the incomprehensible and often unfair adult society. The twin artists reckon that the image that appears in this film is indeed the source of inspiration for their drawings. A serene and beautiful piece.
