Tag Archives: japan cuts

JAPAN CUTS: THE KIRISHIMA THING

Life is turned upside down and inside out when a high school hero suddenly and unexpectedly disappears in THE KIRISHIMA THING

THE KIRISHIMA THING (Daihachi Yoshida, 2012)
Japan Society
333 East 47th St. at First Ave.
Sunday, July 14, 7:30
Japan Cuts series continues through July 28
212-715-1258
www.subwaycinema.com
www.japansociety.org

Life goes completely out of whack when a massively popular student suddenly and mysteriously disappears in Daihachi Yoshida’s splendid examination of the trials and travails of high school, The Kirishima Thing. With no advance warning, superstar athlete and dreamy stud Kirishima can’t be found, missing class and volleyball practice, thoroughly confusing his friends and teammates. His girlfriend, the beautiful Risa (Mizuki Yamamoto), doesn’t know where he is. Risa’s clique of cool girls, including Sana (Mayu Matsuoka), Mika (Kurumi Shimizu), and Kasumi (Ai Hashimoto), start growing apart. The not extremely talented Koizumi (Taiga) is forced to replace Kirishima on the volleyball team. Aya (Suzuka Ohgo) plays sax on a rooftop while actually spying on her secret crush, the handsome Hiroki (Masahiro Higashide), who is Sana’s girlfriend and Kirishima’s best friend. Another of Kirishima’s friends, Ryuta (Motoki Ochiai), shows up to school with ridiculously curly hair. And Kasumi begins spending more time with nerd-geek Ryoya (Ryunosuke Kamiki), who decides to defy his film teacher by going ahead and making the zombie flick Student Council of the Living Dead. Tensions heat up, fears rise to the surface, and standard hierarchical relationships go significantly off kilter as Kirishima’s unexplained absence affects everyone’s position in high school society and makes them reexamine the purpose of their young lives. Based on the omnibus novel Kirishima, Bukatsu Yamerutteyo (“Did You Hear Kirishima Quit?”) by Ryo Asai, The Kirishima Thing cleverly deals with genre clichés as Yoshida (Permanent Nobara, The Wonderful World of Captain Kuhio) and cowriter Kohei Kiyasu tackle the myriad issues that face teenagers on a daily basis, evoking both Beckett and Kurosawa through a John Hughes-like lens with scenes that are retold from multiple viewpoints but don’t provide any firm answers. Winner of Best Picture, Best Director, Most Popular Film, and Outstanding Achievement in Editing at the 2013 Japan Academy Prize awards show, The Kirishima Thing is screening July 14 at 7:30 at Japan Society as part of the Japan Cuts series, a copresentation with the New York Asian Film Festival.

JAPAN CUTS: THERMAE ROMAE

Public baths architect Lucius Modestus (Hiroshi Abe) is amazed by what he sees as he travels back and forth through time in THERMAE ROMAE

THERMAE ROMAE (Hideki Takeuchi, 2012)
Japan Society
333 East 47th St. at First Ave.
Sunday, July 14, 5:15
Series runs July 11-21
212-715-1258
www.japansociety.org

Adapted from Mari Yamazaki’s popular manga series, Thermae Romae is a bizarre, hysterical tale about the importance of public baths throughout history. In the year 128, architect Lucius Modestus (Hiroshi Abe) has lost his mojo, losing his job to a youngster with more modern ideas and being hounded by his wife to have greater ambition. Down on his luck, he is contemplating his bleak future when he sees a crack at the bottom of a pool, which sucks him into a contemporary Japanese bath house where a bunch of old men are relaxing. The confused fish out of water is amazed by what he sees, from bottled drinks to a clothing basket, and upon magically returning to Rome, he adds these elements to a new bath design that is a huge hit. Soon, every time he goes into water in Rome, he ends up in Japan, bumping into the adorable Mami Yamakoshi (Aya Ueto) and bringing back more ideas, eventually designing bath houses for Emperor Hadrian (Masachika Ichimura), who believes the public bath is a key way to maintain a good relationship with the common people. But despite his success, Lucius can’t help feeling like a fraud, and things only get more complicated when he gets involved in the political machinations of Rome revolving around Hadrian’s successor, either the dedicated Antoninus (Kai Shishido) or self-obsessed womanizer Ceionius (Kazuki Kitamura). Abe is a riot as Lucius, displaying wonderful deadpan flare as he stands naked in front of men and women, refers to the modern-day folk as a flat-faced tribe, and gazes in wonder at a flush toilet. His trips from Rome to Japan evoke the tunnel in Being John Malkovich, complete with appropriately goofy special effects. Writer Shōgo Mutō and director Hideki Takeuchi keep things moving at a playful pace, celebrating social interaction as well as potential romance, complete with a fun Greek chorus of Japanese bath lovers. A sequel has just come out in Japan, but you can catch the first film on July 14 at 5:15 as part of the annual “Japan Cuts” series at Japan Society, which runs July 11-21 and includes such other works as Takashi Miike’s Lesson of the Evil, Yukihiro Toda’s There Is Light, Yuki Tanada’s The Cowards Who Looked to the Sky, Mika Ninagawa’s Helter Skelter, and Keishi Otomo’s Rurouni Kenshin, many of which are copresentations with the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s New York Asian Film Festival.

JAPAN CUTS: 13 ASSASSINS

Kôji Yakusho sidebar at Japan Cuts festival includes Takashi Miike’s brilliant 13 ASSASSINS

FOCUS ON KOJI YAKUSHO: 13 ASSASSINS (JÛSAN-NIN NO SHIKAKU) (Takashi Miike, 2010)
Japan Society
333 East 47th St. at First Ave.
Saturday, July 21, $12, 8:20
Japan Cuts series continues through July 28
212-715-1258
www.13assassins.com
www.japansociety.org

Japanese director Takashi Miike’s first foray into the samurai epic is a nearly flawless film, perhaps his most accomplished work. Evoking such classics as Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, Mizoguchi’s 47 Ronin, Aldrich’s The Dirty Dozen, and Eastwood’s High Plains Drifter, 13 Assassins is a thrilling tale of honor and revenge, inspired by a true story. In mid-nineteenth-century feudal Japan, during a time of peace just prior to the Meiji Restoration, Lord Naritsugu (Gorô Inagaki), the son of the former shogun and half-brother to the current one, is abusing his power, raping and killing at will, even using his servants and their families as target practice with a bow and arrow. Because of his connections, he is officially untouchable, but Sir Doi (Mikijiro Hira) secretly hires Shinzaemon Shimada (Kôji Yakusho) to gather a small team and put an end to Naritsugu’s brutal tyranny. But the lord’s protector, Hanbei (Masachika Ichimura), a former nemesis of Shinzaemon’s, has vowed to defend his master to the death, even though he despises Naritsugu’s actions. As the thirteen samurai make a plan to get to Naritsugu, they are eager to finally break out their long-unused swords and do what they were born to do. “He who values his life dies a dog’s death,” Shinzaemon proclaims, knowing that the task is virtually impossible but willing to die for a just cause. Although there are occasional flashes of extreme gore in the first part of the film, Miike keeps the audience waiting until he unleashes the gripping battle, an extended scene of blood and violence that highlights death before dishonor. Selected for the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and nominated for the Silver Lion at the 2010 Venice Film Festival, 13 Assassins is one of Miike’s best-crafted tales; nominated for ten Japanese Academy Prizes, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay (Daisuke Tengan), Best Editing (Kenji Yamashita), Best Original Score (Koji Endo), and Best Actor (Yakusho), it won awards for cinematography (Nobuyasu Kita), lighting direction (Yoshiya Watanabe), art direction (Yuji Hayashida), and sound recording (Jun Nakamura). 13 Assassins is screening at Japan Society on July 21 at 8:20 as part of the Japan Cuts sidebar “Focus on Kôji Yakusho” and will be introduced by the actor; the July 20-21 mini-festival also includes such other Yakusho vehicles as his directorial debut, Toad’s Oil, as well as Shuichi Okita’s The Woodsman and the Rain, the New York premiere of Masato Harada’s Chronicle of My Mother, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cure, and Masayuki Suo’s original Shall We Dance?

NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL / JAPAN CUTS: MONSTERS CLUB

MONSTERS CLUB is another offbeat and unusual tale from Toshiaki Toyoda

MONSTERS CLUB (MONSUTAZU KURABU) (Toshiaki Toyoda, 2011)
Japan Society
333 East 47th St. at First Ave.
Sunday, July 15, 6:00
Japan Cuts series continues through July 28
212-715-1258
www.subwaycinema.com
www.japansociety.org

Two years ago, Japanese auteur Toshiaki Toyoda presented The Blood of Rebirth at the New York Asian Film Festival and Japan Cuts, his first movie in four years following a hiatus involving drug charges, as well as his previous work, 2005’s extraordinary Hanging Garden. The iconoclastic Osaka-born director of such other films as Blue Spring and 9 Souls is now back at the dual festivals with his latest, another bizarre, offbeat tale, Monsters Club. Inspired by Unabomber Ted Kaczynski’s manifesto that called for revolution, Toyoda has crafted another surreal mood piece that can be as mesmerizing as it is frustrating and silly. Ryoichi Kakiuchi stars as Eita, a quiet, disciplined young man who has quit society and instead lives in the middle of a snowy forest, where he calmly chops wood, cleans his cabin, and sends out letter bombs to kill corrupt corporate executives and politicians. There he is visited by his supposedly dead brother, Yuki (Yôsuke Kubozuka), as well as a strange, haunting face-painted creature (Pyuupiru) who is an oddly charming mix of Sid Haig’s freakish Captain Spaulding from House of 1000 Corpses and Hayao Miyazaki’s adorable Totoro. But soon the idyllic little life Eita has built for himself is threatened as he discovers it’s not so easy to escape from today’s must-stay-connected world. A weirdly meditative tone poem, Monsters Club is screening at Japan Society on July 15 at 6:00 and will be followed by a Q&A with director Toyoda.

NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL / JAPAN CUTS: ASURA

An animal-child is hungry for food — and blood — in Keiichi Sato’s striking anime, ASURA

ANIME FROM HELL: ASURA (Keiichi Sato, 2012)
Japan Society
333 East 47th St. at First Ave.
Thursday, July 12, $12, 8:00
Series runs July 12-28
212-715-1258
www.japansociety.org
www.subwaycinema.com

Based on George Akiyama’s banned 1970-71 manga and inspired by the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan, Keiichi Sato’s Asura is a striking and shocking tale of survival. In fifteenth-century Kyoto, a child is born in what seems like the middle of hell. His starving mother has thoughts of devouring her newborn son, but he manages to survive, becoming a ferocious cannibal himself, living off of human flesh while he roams a nightmarish, postapocalyptic landscape. Named Asura (voiced by seventy-five-year-old actress Masako Nozawa), the animal-child is taken in by a gentle Buddhist monk (Kinya Kitaoji) and later helped by a young woman named Wakasa (Megumi Hayashibara), both of whom try to teach him elements of humanity, but it might be too late to change him from a monster into a young boy. Using a hybrid of 2D and 3D techniques, Sato (Tiger & Bunny) has created a visually stunning world of muted colors and effects that meld with a powerful soundtrack, resulting in an unrelenting battering of the senses. Asura is no coming-of-age story; instead, it continually goes to unexpected places, filled with twists and turns that lead to yet more bloodshed, though not without a yearning if unsentimental heart at its core. And be sure to hang around through the final credits. Asura is screening July 12 at Japan Society as part of the Anime from Hell section of the New York Asian Film Festival and Japan Cuts.

NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL / JAPAN CUTS: SCABBARD SAMURAI

Nomi faces a daunting task in Hitoshi Matsumoto’s SCABBARD SAMURAI

SCABBARD SAMURAI (SAYA ZAMURAI) (Hitoshi Matsumoto, 2011)
Friday, July 6, Film Society of Lincoln Center, Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th St. at Amsterdam Ave., 212-875-5601, 3:30
Saturday, July 14, Japan Society, 333 East 47th St. at First Ave., 212-715-1258, 1:00
www.subwaycinema.com/nyaff12

Having given up on life following the death of his wife, wayward samurai Nomi Kanjuro (first-time actor Takaaki Nomi) roams nineteenth-century Japan with an empty scabbard, running away from confrontation while accepting the verbal wrath of his extremely embarrassed nine-year-old daughter, Tae (Sea Kumada). After surviving three fanciful and fantastical — and far too silly and stylized — attacks by a trio of oddball bounty hunters (Ryo, Rolly, and Zennosuke Fukkin), Nomi is arrested and brought to a castle where the boy prince has not cracked even the hint of a smile since the recent death of his mother. Nomi is faced with the 30-Day Feat — every day for a month, he has the opportunity to try to make the prince smile. If Nomi fails, he must commit a very public seppuku. And so begins a comic series of events in which the dour Nomi, who barely ever speaks, turns into a kind of dark clown, but it’s clear that it’s going to take something very special to end the prince’s dilemma. Written and directed by Hitoshi Matsumoto (Big Man Japan, Symbol), Scabbard Samurai is an offbeat, charming black comedy about going on with life after experiencing tragic loss. Nomi is forced to try to make the boy prince smile, yet Nomi does not smile himself, rejecting his future even through the taunts of his daughter, who is very much alive and wants a more satisfying life. The inclusion of the three bounty hunters, who form a kind of Greek chorus, is unnecessary and detracts from the story’s otherwise more serious themes, but Scabbard Samurai is still an entertaining film that continually takes surprising twists and turns. Scabbard Samurai is screening July 6 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and July 14 at Japan Society, a copresentation of the New York Asian Film Festival and Japan Cuts.

NYAFF 2011 / JAPAN CUTS: A BOY AND HIS SAMURAI

A BOY AND HIS SAMURAI offers an unusual take on the fish-out-of-water tale

A BOY AND HIS SAMURAI (CHONMAGE PURIN) (Yoshihiro Nakamura, 2010 )
Film Society of Lincoln Center, Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th St. at Amsterdam Ave.
Sunday, July 3, $13, 12:30, and Monday, July 4, $13, 6:30
Series runs July 1-14, ten-film pass $99
212-875-5601
www.filmlinc.com
www.subwaycinemanews.com
www.japansociety.org/japancuts

Following audience favorites Fish Story in 2009 and last year’s Golden Slumber, Japanese director Yoshihiro Nakamura returns to the New York Asian Film Festival with the North American premiere of the often silly but mostly charming heartwarmer A Boy and His Samurai. Based on a manga by Gen Araki, the family-friendly film focuses on single mother Hiroko (Rie Tomosaka) and her young son, Tomoya (Fuku Suzuki), whose lives get turned upside down when Kijima Yasube (Ryo Nishikido) suddenly shows up, claiming to be a samurai from the Edo Period some 180 years ago. In exchange for food and lodging, Yasube helps around the house, doing the cooking and cleaning and looking after Tomoya while Hiroko is at work. When Yasube shows a knack for making amazing desserts, he puts down his sword in favor of a pastry knife, but trouble awaits this mild-mannered samurai. Yasube adapts a little too quickly to the modern world in this fish-out-of-water tale, but every time it threatens to become too conventional, taking the easy way out, Nakamura adds just enough twist and turns to keep it fresh. Tomosaka and Nishikido are fine in their fairly standard roles, but Suzuki is the real star as the cute kid excited to have a father figure around. A joint presentation of the NYAFF and Japan Cuts: The New York Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema, A Boy and His Samurai is screening July 3 at 12:30 and July 4 at 6:30 at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center.