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07
Jan

Japan Foundation UK Touring Programme 2011 (4 February – 28 March)

No sooner has one Japanese film festival finished in the UK than another begins. Yes, its that time of year again when the Japan Foundation UK prepares to launch its annual touring programme, and as usual I’ve been onboard as programme advisor.

I’m more excited about this year’s than I’ve been in some time because the theme is not so constraining as it has been in previous years. Entitled Back to the Future: Japanese Cinema Since the Mid-90s, what we’ve aimed to do this time round is simply showcase some of the most important filmmakers of the past 20 years, the major names who have emerged after the time when everyone was pronouncing Japanese cinema more or less dead. This was a great trip down memory lane for me, back to the time when we started off Midnight Eye over ten years ago and began championing the likes of Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Takashi Miike, who were at the time virtually unheard of outside of Japan.

Isao Yukisada's Go - ten years old this year!

The aim was to take a couple influential directors active in the early 1990s (Kurosawa and Miike), a handful who hit their stride in the early part of the new millennium (Isao Yukisada, Isshin Inudo and Nobuhiro Yamashita) and two to watch for now (Yuya Ishii and Yuki Tanada). This gave us a far broader and more varied pool of films to select from than usual, and a great chance to reintroduce the big names that got me into Japanese film in the first place.

It was important to remember that though I and other Japanese film fans might be well versed in the works of, for example, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, it is fair to assume that most of the British public probably aren’t, and so opportunities to catch Cure on the big screen are rare things indeed, and it is all the more amazing when you realise that one of the most influential and effective films in the J-Horror genre has never been released on DVD over here. Similarly, while there was a phase in the early 2000s when seemingly Miike only had to fart and it would get put out on DVD, one of the titles that got missed was also, in my opinion, one of his most impressive, The Bird People in China. And then there were brilliant titles like Isao Yukisada’s Go, which made a huge impact at the time, but never got picked for overseas distribution because companies like Tartan were swamping the market with its ‘Asia Extreme’ crap and alienating a whole generation from Japanese film. Josee, the Tiger and the Fish is a great example of this sort of thing – a film that did the festival rounds and impressed most who saw it, but it never really went anywhere in terms of DVD distribution. Inudo and Yukisada were two of the most profitable directors working in the Japanese industry during the past decade, yet they’re virtually unknown in the West.

Almost unbelievable to think that Kiyoshi Kurosawa's masterful Cure never got a UK DVD release

So without the constraints of the themes of the previous years (the family in Japanese film, women in Japanese film etc), this years’ programme more simply gave us a chance just to select good films, entertaining crowd-pleasers that represent the very best of the past twenty year that haven’t been shown widely in the UK before. Even then, there were a few surprises about what was actually available. Its funny, but you think that films that the late-90s and or early-2000s were fairly recent in terms of the broad sweep of cinema history, but I was amazed by the number of titles we looked at where the only subtitled prints were too poor condition to screen or the original production company had gone bankrupt and the current rightsholders were unknown. There are a lot of pretty major titles from the past decade will probably never see light of a projector again. Shocking.

Bird People of China - still one of Miike's finest, IMHO

The season kicks off at the ICA on 4 February and runs for 9 days before heading to a number of other cities: Belfast, Edinburgh, Nottingham, Bristol and Sheffield.

Before its opening, I’ll be giving an introduction to the season on 27 January from 6.30pm at the Japan Foundation, so please come along. Its free, although you need to inform them you are coming an advance, and it will be a great chance to talk with me and others about Japanese cinema and this year’s programme – and you get a free glass of wine at the end (maybe two or three if you’re quick!)

Details of my talk can be found on the Japan Foundation website here.

Details of the season are here, but I’m also pasting them below (you’ll note in my last post I mentioned “wrestling with WordPress” – apologies for the formatting below, but it is simply not doing what I am asking it, damn it!) :

Anyone remember this one? A rare chance to catch Isshin Inudo's touching 2003 film Josee, the Tiger and the Fish on the big screen

From the Japan Foundation Website

This year’s Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme focuses on the marked resurgence of Japanese cinema from the mid 1990s onwards. Including established names such as Kiyoshi Kurosawa as well as up-and-coming talent Yuya Ishii, the featured directors have carved a new path for the future and contributed to the recent success of Japanese cinema around the world. Showcasing a great breadth of creativity, the 2011 line-up offers UK audiences an insight into a pivotal period which changed the landscape of Japanese cinema and provided the industry with a new lease of life.

2011 Film line-up:

Linda Linda Linda

Dir: Nobuhiro Yamashita, Japan 2005 (114min, 35mm, subtitles)

Cure

Dir: Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan 1997 (115min, 35mm, subtitles)

Dir: Isao Yukisada, Japan 2001 (122min, 35mm, subtitles)

Sawako Decides (Kawano Sokokara Konnichiwa)

Dir:Yuya Ishii, Japan 2009 (112min, 35mm,subtitles)

Josee, the Tiger and the Fish (Joze To Tora To Sakana Tachi)

Dir: Isshin Inudo, Japan 2003 (116min, 35mm, subtitles)

One Million Yen Girl (Hyakumanen To Nigamushi Onna)

Dir: Yuki Tanada, Japan 2008 (121min, 35mm, subtitles)

The Bird People in China (Chugoku No Chojin)

Dir: Takashi Miike, Japan 1998 (102min, 35mm subtitles)

Date: 4 February 2011 – 28 March 2011

Touring venues:

4 – 13 February ICA Cinema, London

21 – 24 February Queen’s Film Theatre, Belfast

4 – 10 March Filmhouse, Edinburgh

11 – 16 March Broadway, Nottingham

18 – 20 March Arnolfini, Bristol

22 – 28 March Showroom Workstation, Sheffield

Posted at 10:28 on 07 January 2011

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02
Sep

Titles Announced for London’s Raindance Film Festival, 30 September – 11 October 2009

Love Exposure

I’ve been champing at the bit over the past few weeks waiting to announce the titles being screened at this year’s Raindance, but now I’m just about to do it, it seems the programme announcement might be overshadowed by another piece of Raindance-related news, namely the banning of this year’s festival trailer. Don’t want to dwell too much on this, as the powers that be have given their reasons in a letter that can be read here. Nevertheless, I can’t help but think this represents something of a sense-of-humour failure from the guys who once had us all singing along “Baba, baba, baba ba, bababa” before the screenings started, and fails to view the trailer in the spirit intended. Anyway, I’ve written already in my Grotesque post of August 19th about the futility of censorship in the internet age, so to prove my point, I’ll redirect any potentially interested parties to it here. I’d be interested if anyone has any opinions on this matter.

Anyway, the full schedule has yet to go online, but for now I just want spill the beans about the films I’ve been involved in selecting (this is my website, after all…) Most of these are in the Japanese section, though I also brought a couple of other titles to the attention of the festival. In the run up to the main event, I hope to give you a bit more information on at least some of these. There’s some brilliant stuff playing this year, so hope to see as many of you there as possible.

Japanese Women Filmmakers at Raindance

Since 2002, Raindance Film Festival has continued in its strong support for Japanese filmmaking, with its Way Out East section the largest annual showcase for new Japanese cinema in the United Kingdom, screening at least ten recent features and documentaries annually. The 17th Raindance Festival, held between 30 September – 11 October 2009, this year turns its spotlight on the rising tide of women filmmakers in Japan, with a special selection of five features and one shorts program from some of the country’s most exciting talent.

Kakera - A Piece of Our Life

Director Momoko Ando will be in attendance to introduce the World Premiere of her debut feature, A PIECE OF OUR LIFE – KAKERA -. The film, scored by Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha, is a touching portrait of a romantic relationship between Haru, a college student whose relationship with her self-centred boyfriend is going nowhere, and Riko, a bisexual medical artist who makes prosthetic body parts. Born in 1982, Ando is the daughter of the acclaimed actor-director Eiji Okuda and the sister of rising starlet Sakura Ando, who features in two other films in the Way out East section, LOVE EXPOSURE and AIN’T NO TOMORROWS. A former student of the Slade School of Fine Art, her return to London to present her new film and serve as one of the festival’s Jury Members promises to be an unforgettable experience.

Also in attendance will be Sachi Hamano, the most prolific female director in Japan with over 400 films to her name, mainly in the genre of the erotic pink film. She will be here to present her 2001 non-pink title LILY FESTIVAL, a comedy drama in which the inhabitants of a residential home for women, aged between 69 and 91, find their passions rekindled when the first male resident moves in amongst them, a 75-year-old lothario with a charming manner and a colourful past. Hamano will be accompanied by LILY FESTIVAL’s screenwriter Kuninori Yamazaki.

Ain't No Tomorrows

Yuki Tanada’s debut feature MOON AND CHERRY played to great aplomb at Raindance in 2006. Her most recent film, AIN’T NO TOMORROWS, is a multi-threaded drama portraying the tangled emotional dynamics of a group of six highschoolers as they reach the age of sexual awareness.

Hotaru

The critically-garlanded Naomi Kawase emerged as the vanguard for the new wave of women filmmakers in Japan after becoming the youngest winner of Caméra d’Or award for best new director at Cannes Film Festival in 1997 for her film SUZAKU. Her feature THE MOURNING FOREST received the Grand Prix at the same festival in 2007, while this year she received the Golden Coach Award for life achievement. Raindance will be screening the new 2009 edit of her rarely seen 2001 film HOTARU, a naturalistically-shot romantic drama between a stripper and traditional craftsman played out against the four seasons in the scenic Nara region where Kawase lives.

Mime-Mime

Yukiko Sode’s MIME-MIME (2008) was one of the discoveries of last year’s Pia Film Festival, launched in 1977 to promote new talent in the world of independent filmmaking. An eccentric portrait of a fractious young woman, Makoto, who lives alone, has a relationship with her mother and sister that borders on downright hostility and plays dangerous sexual games with her married former high-school teacher, it is a distinctive and promising debut.

Raindance will also present a program of three short films from the PEACHES FESTIVAL, an annual event now in its third year organised by Atsuko Ohno (the producer of Raindance Best Feature winner in 2004, MAREBITO: THE STRANGER FROM AFAR, directed by Takashi Shimizu) in conjunction with the Film School of Tokyo to promote first-time women directors. The films are EMERGER, BUNNY IN A HOVEL and CSIKSPOST.

Alongside this year’s special focus on Women Directors, Raindance will feature UK premiers of five other recent Japanese titles, including the epic LOVE EXPOSURE, an unpredictable and near indescribable tour-de-force from maverick director Sion Sono (SUICIDE CIRCLE, EXTE), which won the FIPRESCI Prize and Caligari Film Award at this year’s Berlin Film Festival and the audience award at the New York Asian Film Festival.

Lalapipo

Following on from the successful screenings last year of Miki Satoshi’s ADRIFT IN TOKYO and TURTLES ARE SURPRISINGLY FAST SWIMMERS, comes the director’s latest comic romp INSTANT SWAMP. With a script by Tetsuya Nakashima (KAMIKAZE GIRLS, MEMORIES OF MATSUKO), Masayuki Miyano’s LALAPIPO offers an uproarious and vibrant comic portrait of those at the heart of Japan’s outlandish sex industry.

Vacation

In Hajime Kadoi’s startling drama VACATION, a middle-aged prison guard on death row volunteers to act as a “supporter” during the execution of a condemned prisoner, in order to receive a week’s break from work to go on honeymoon with a bride he barely knows, while in Yasunobu Takahashi’s LOCKED OUT, a six-year-old boy crosses paths with a man on the run and besieged by violent visions.

Tokachi Tsuchiya’s eye-popping documentary A NORMAL LIFE PLEASE blows the lid on the Japanese government’s gradual easing of labour regulations as an overworked truck driver and his family are menaced by a yakuza gang hired by his own employers after he joins his workers union, while the insightful US-Japanese co-production of BEETLE QUEEN CONQUERS TOKYO looks at Japan’s relationship to the insect world.

A Normal Life Please

Outside of the Way Out East section, the Homegrown UK strand will showcase great British filmmaking talent, including the European Premiere of DOWN TERRACE “Ken Loach meets The Sopranos”- attended by Director Ben Wheatley and cast Julia Deakin (HOT FUZZ, SHAUN OF THE DEAD, SPACED) and David Schaal (CLUBBED, KIDULTHOOD, THE OFFICE). The Documentary Strand includes contentious films such as PLAYING COLUMBINE by Danny Ledonne, which raises moral questions surrounding the shoot to kill video games inspired by the Columbine High School massacre in 1999. UNTIL THE LIGHT TAKES US provides a fascinating look at the violence and scandal that rocked the Norwegian Black Metal scene in the early 90s. Darkthrone’s Nocturno Culto will make a rare appearance to DJ at the post-screening party.

Until the Light Takes Us

Sitting on this year’s stellar jury is: Riz Ahmed (Shifty, The Road To Guantanamo), writer/director Armando Iannucci (The Day Today, I’m Alan Partridge, In The Loop), Peter Bradshaw, film critic (The Guardian); actress Kerry Fox (Bright Star, Shallow Grave); director Momoko Ando (Kakera); Billy Childish: artist, musician, poet, writer, filmmaker; Christine Langan, Creative Director, BBC Films; writer and documentary filmmaker Jon Ronson (The Men Who Stare At Goats, Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes); Jamie Graham – Assistant Editor, Total Film; Julia Brown – Commercial Director, Apollo Cinemas; Producer Andy Williams and legendary musician/actor Tom Waits.

The festival will be held at the Apollo Cinema, Regent Street, London, between 30 Sept – 11 October 2009.

Tickets, festival passes and more details are all on the Raindance website.

Posted at 0:01 on 02 September 2009

Filed under news.

27
Aug

Midnight Eye Latest Update

Our 117th update, no less, since we kicked off the site back in 2001, and again, a slightly sex-themed one, with one of the most interesting voices from Japan’s new wave of women director talking about her new film, and a Roland Domenig’s latest installment in his highly informative look at the sex education genre.

There’s also details on a competition we’re running at the end of this post in conjunction with the BFI’s Nagisa Oshima season, which I mentioned a few weeks ago.

Hope you enjoy the read!

INTERVIEW: Yuki Tanada

Jasper Sharp interviews one of the leading lights of the new generation of Japanese filmmakers, director of such widely praised films as Moon and Cherry and Ain’t No Tomorrows.

(Just to give something of a taster for this year’s Raindance, I can now exclusively reveal that Yuki Tanada’s latest film, Ain’t No Tomorrows, is one of the titles by Japanese Women Directors playing at this year’s Raindance Festival. I hope to get a post out with the full lineup in the coming week.)

Sakura Ando in Ain't No Tomorrows

FEATURE: A History of Sex Education Films in Japan, Part 3

Our in-depth look continues in part three: the seiten films, in which we run into some very familiar names from Japanese film history. By Roland Domenig.

History of Sex Education Films in Japan

Midnight Eye Competition – Nagisa Oshima Retrospective Tickets

Starting August 28 and throughout September and October, the BFI Southbank in London will celebrate the astounding films of Japan’s foremost modern master Nagisa Oshima, with a complete retrospective of his films. The director spearheaded Japan’s new wave and in the 60s and 70s was as famous and influential as Godard. Plus a rare opportunity to see a selection of his television work.

As a centrepiece of the season the BFI will release In the Realm of the Senses (Ai no Corrida, 1976), which is considered Oshima’s masterpiece and one of the most erotic films ever made. The political repression in the Japan of 1936 serves as a backdrop to this sensuous exploration of sexual dependency, which is based on Japan’s most infamous sex-crime.

In the Realm of the Senses opens on 28 August at BFI Southbank and selected cinemas nationwide. For more information, visit http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/nagisa_oshima.

And now for the competition:

To coincide with its Nagisa Oshima season, the BFI is offering two pairs of tickets to see The Realm of the Senses during its run at the BFI Southbank, which will go to the first two people who can correctly name the first ever film treatment of the Sada Abe Incident – so we want the name of the film, the year, and its director please. Send your answers in to editorial@midnighteye.com.

Obviously, this competition is only open to UK residents, and if you’re not going to be anywhere near London during September, then there’s no point applying, as you’ll only be depriving someone else of the chance to see this film in all its uncut full-screen splendour.

Posted at 16:41 on 27 August 2009

Filed under news.

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