Cycle
From 18.04. To 09.05.2005.
Program of Japanese contemporary films
Films in cycle
Waterboys
(2001)
Directed by: Shinobu Yaguchi
PHOTOGRAPHY: Yaguchi Shinobu, Yuichi Nagata
Synopsis:
A group of high school boys joins a swimming team, because of the new attractive trainer. Later they realize that she is in fact training synchronized swimming. Quite a few boys leave the team, because they do not want to take part in a sport for girls. However, five boys decide to continue training…
color, 90 minuta
PROJECTION:
Tuesday 26.04.2005 AT 21:00
Monday 18.04.2005 AT 19:00
Don't Look Back
(Doko made mo ikou, 1999)
Directed by: Akihiko Shiota
PHOTOGRAPHY: Kazuhiro Suzuki
Synopsis:
Ten-year-old Akira (Yusaku Suzuki) and Koichi (Shingo Mizuno) are best friends from school in a Tokyo suburb. In the second half of the year, they change classes and slowly their relationship changes. Akira meets Shuna (Yuya Suzuki), a lonely boy who is a crafty maker of plastic models. Koichi becomes closer with the problematic Samajimo who is a petty thief. This is an intimate film by Akihiko Shiote about an unsentimental friendship and growing up. Influences by Susumu Hani and Francoisa Tr...
color, 75 minuta
PROJECTION:
Wednesday 27.04.2005 AT 19:00
Monday 18.04.2005 AT 21:00
Twinkle
(Kira kira hikaru, 1992)
Directed by: Joji Matsuoka
PHOTOGRAPHY: Norimichi Kasamatsu
Synopsis:
Shoko (Hiroko Yakushimaru) is a twenty-seven-year-old translator. She is emotionally unstable and prone to drinking. Mutsuki (Etsushi Toyokawa) is a thirty-year-old doctor and a homosexual. He wants to break up with the student Kono (Michitaka Tsutsui). Shoko and Mutsuki meet for the first time at a so-called omiai, a meeting in order to arrange a marriage. Shoko and Mutsuki are convinced that their “abnormality” is what connects them and hope for their marriage to succeed.
color, 98 minuta
PROJECTION:
Wednesday 27.04.2005 AT 21:00
Tuesday 19.04.2005 AT 21:00
All Under the Moon
(Tsuki wa dotchi ni deteiru, 1993)
Directed by: Yoichi Sai
PHOTOGRAPHY: Junichi Fujisawa
Synopsis:
Taxi driver Kang Chung Nam (Goro Kishitani), originally from North Korea, now lives in Japan. He works in Niigata for his former school friend Kim Seil (Shigemitsu Ogi). His colleagues are a completely lost former boxer who hates all Koreans (except Chung Nam) and an Iranian immigrant who work in Japan illegally. However, Chung Nam is more interested in women than his job. In his mother’s restaurant, he meets a Philippine waitress, Connie (Ruby Moreno), who only causes him trouble.
color, 109 minuta
PROJECTION:
Monday 02.05.2005 AT 21:00
Wednesday 20.04.2005 AT 19:00
Knockout
(Dotsuitaru nen, 1989)
Directed by: Junji Sakamoto
PHOTOGRAPHY: Norimichi Kasamatsu
Synopsis:
This is the acclaimed debut by a leading Japanese independent film director and one of the first Japanese films about aggressive misfits. Boxer Eiji Adachi (Hidekazu Akai) loses his title in a fight against Eagle Tomoda (Masaharu Owada). He gets hurt badly and retires. He opens his own boxing school and hires the former champion as a trainer. However, many of the boxers do not accept Adachi’s violent methods. Adachi decides to return to the ring at any cost…
color, 110 minuta
PROJECTION:
Wednesday 04.05.2005 AT 19:00
Wednesday 20.04.2005 AT 21:00
August in the Water
(Mizu no naka no hachigatsu, 1995)
Directed by: Sogo Ishii
PHOTOGRAPHY: Norimichi Kasamatsu
Synopsis:
Inhabitants of Genkai suffer from terrible heat and a mysterious illness. A girl, Izumi Hazuki (Rena Komine), arrives to town and causes a stir in her school, mainly between boys. She is a champion water jumper. Soon, she becomes close with Mao (Shinsuke Aoki) and they decide to participate in the traditional festival Yamagasa. Their friend Miki, who is a fortune-teller and horoscope maker, warns them that that day may be dangerous for Izumi... This is an atypical film by one of the most intere...
color, 117 minuta
PROJECTION:
Friday 06.05.2005 AT 19:00
Thursday 21.04.2005 AT 21:00
Kaza-hana
(2001)
Directed by: Shinji Somai
PHOTOGRAPHY: Hiroshi Machida
Synopsis:
Koji (Tadanobu Asano), a successful businessman wakes up under a cherry tree with an unknown woman, Yuriko, (played by former pop star Kyoko Koizumi, known as Kyon Kyon). She claims that he promised her, while drinking together, to escort her to Hokkaido, the northern part of Japan, to visit her daughter. This road film follows the story of two destructive people, a businessman and a woman that works in the porno industry. This is Shinji Somai’s last film. The title refers to the snowflakes that...
color, 116 minuta
PROJECTION:
Monday 09.05.2005 AT 19:00
Monday 25.04.2005 AT 19:00
Sumo Do, Sumo Don't
(Shiko funjatta, 1992)
Directed by: Masayuki Suo
PHOTOGRAPHY: Naoki Kayano
Synopsis:
Sumo is the Japanese national sport, but among young Japanese men it is regarded as “three K”, (kitsui, kitanai, kiken, or hard, dirty and dangerous), or very unpopular. Shuhei (Masahiro Motoki), a young student, agrees with these opinions. His professor, Anayama, (Akira Emoto), a former sumo champion, blackmails him: if Shuhei wants to graduate, he has to save the university’s sumo club. The club has just one member, a skinny loser named Aoki (Naoto Takenaka), and will soon be dismantled. In or...