The Boston Festival of Films from Japan
The Boston Festival of Films from Japan runs February 1, 2018 – February 28, 2018 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Featuring the live-action manga adaptation Blade of the Immortal , the 100th feature film from provocative and prolific director Takashi Miike, & the timely documentary Resistance at Tule Lake (2017), which chronicles a 1943 uprising at a Japanese concentration camp in California. The festival kicks off on February 1 with a free screening of the anime Your Name (2016), a film with gorgeous imagery and deep emotional resonance that quickly became one of the most popular films of all time in Japan.
Your Name directed by Makoto Shinkai
Two strangers find themselves linked in a bizarre way. When a connection forms, will distance be the only thing to keep them apart? Gorgeous imagery and a universally resonant story made Makoto Shinkai’s masterpiece Your Name one of the highest-grossing films of all time in Japan.
Friday, February 2, 2018
Girl bands and their pop music permeate every moment of Japanese life. Following an aspiring pop singer and her fans, Tokyo Idols explores a cultural phenomenon driven by an obsession with young female sexuality, and the growing disconnect between men and women in hyper-modern societies.
Saturday, February 3, 2018
Teiichi: Battle of Supreme High directed by Akira Nagai
Teiichi dreams of one day being the ruler of his own empire, but to get there he needs to make sure that his candidate for class president at his elite high school wins the election. This is a high school election fought with all the fervor or a nasty, national campaign. Lies, bribery, sabotage and scandal all come into play as the boys fight it out to determine who will be the next class president.
Sunday, February 4, 2018
Jellyfish Eyes directed by Takashi Murakami
Takashi Murakami's feature-film debut is a loving homage to Japanese popular culture. When a young boy moves with his widowed mother to the Japanese countryside, he discovers that their apartment is inhabited by a strange creature—and that very little is what it appears to be in the sleepy town.
RESISTANCE AT TULE LAKE tells the long-suppressed story of 12,000 Japanese Americans who dared to resist the U.S. government's program of mass incarceration during World War II. Branded as "disloyals" and re-imprisoned at Tule Lake Segregation Center, they continued to protest in the face of militarized violence, and thousands renounced their U.S. citizenship. Giving voice to experiences that have been marginalized for over 70 years, this documentary challenges the nationalist, one-sided ideal of wartime "loyalty."
A grisly unsolved murder links three seemingly unrelated stories in three different Japanese cities, in this arresting ensemble thriller from director Sang-il Lee (Unforgiven). A typically masterful score by composer Ryuichi Sakamoto brings a note of elegance to this cleverly crafted mystery.
Harmonium directed by Kōji Fukada
With his highly perceptive attention to character, director Kōji Fukada creates an explosive family drama with Harmonium. Intended as a companion piece to the black comedy Hospitalité (2010), Harmonium captures the collapse of a seemingly ordinary Japanese family. Life for Toshio, his wife, and their younger daughter Hotaru carries on as usual until he hires the mysterious Mr. Yasaka, an old acquaintance dressed in white who has just been released from prison, in his workshop. Harmonium captivated critics and audiences alike during the 69th Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize.
Blade of the Immortal directed by Takashi Miike
Samurai Manji has taken a lot of lives, both innocent and guilty, and now lives life in feudal Japan as a criminal. After being cursed with immortality until he kills enough evil men, Manji meets a young girl who enlists him to be her body-guard. Swearing loyalty, protection and vengeance against the group of sword fighters who slaughtered her family, the unlikely duo set on a remarkable quest to make right against those who did them wrong.
Harmonium directed by Kōji Fukada
From the director of Au Revoir L'Ete and Hospitalité, Fukada’s HARMONIUM is an off-kilter take on that most venerable of Japanese genres — the family drama, which screened to great acclaim at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, where it was awarded the Un Certain Regard Jury prize.
Rage directed by Lee Sang-il
A grisly unsolved murder links three seemingly unrelated stories in three different Japanese cities, in this arresting ensemble thriller from director Sang-il Lee (Unforgiven).
Over the Fence directed by Nobuhiro Yamashita
Shiraiwa (Joe Odagiri) is a man who neglected his family. After his wife deserts him, Shiraiwa leaves Tokyo and goes back to his hometown, Hakodate City. Yet, he never stops by his home where his parents live, but instead chooses to live on unemployment insurance while going to vocational school. Shiraiwa leads a life of repetition, just going back and forth from his flat and the school, participating in school assignments, and taking part in practice for the upcoming inter-department softball tournament. One day, when he goes to a hostess club with his friend Daijima (Shota Matsuda), Shiraiwa meets an odd hostess named Satoshi (Yu Aoi), who imitates the movements of a bird…
Oh Lucy! directed by Atsuko Hirayanagi
A middle-aged woman in Tokyo escapes droll office life when she chances upon an English class taught by a charming American. Soon she’s renamed Lucy, she develops a penchant for hug-hellos, and she’s following a postcard from San Diego to find love, adventure, and her spunky niece in Southern California.
Blade of the Immortal directed by Takashi Miike
Based on a popular manga of the same name, the 100th film by master director Takashi Miike (13 Assassins) tells the epic tale of Manji, a highly skilled samurai who becomes cursed with immortality after a legendary battle. Haunted by the brutal murder of his sister, Manji knows that only fighting evil will allow him to regain his soul. He promises to help a young girl named Rin avenge her parents, who were killed by a group of master swordsmen led by ruthless warrior Anotsu. The mission will change Manji in ways he could never imagine
Teiichi: Battle of Supreme High directed by Akira Nagai
Based on the manga Teiichi no kuni by Usamaru Furuya, this spectacular teen comedy follows Teiichi Akaba, a student at a prestigious private male high school known for producing important politicians and bureaucrats. To achieve his dream of eventually becoming prime minister of his own empire, Teiichi must first be elected student council president, a position that promises special privileges and a better shot at political opportunities after graduation. The race for the presidency rapidly escalates to hilarious extremes of bribery, sabotage, and scandal.
Jellyfish Eyes directed by Takashi Murakami
Artist Takashi Murakami made his directorial debut with Jellyfish Eyes, taking his boundless imagination to the screen in a tale of friendship and loyalty that also addresses humanity’s propensity for destruction. After moving to a country town with his mother following his father’s death, a young boy befriends a charming, flying, jellyfish-like sprite—only to discover that his schoolmates have similar friends, and that neither they nor the town itself are what they seem to be. Pointedly set in a post-Fukushima world, Murakami’s special-effects extravaganza, made on a modest budget, boasts unforgettable creature designs and carries a message of cooperation and hope for all ages.
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Over the Fence directed by Nobuhiro Yamashita
In this unique romance, a recently divorced man named Shiraiwa (Joe Odagiri) relocates to another town to start a new life. Shiraiwa, whose marriage ended under traumatic circumstances, begins the process of healing in his own way—he signs up for carpentry lessons at a vocational school, and starts training for the upcoming season of local baseball. When one of his classmates brings him to a local “hostess club,” Shiraiwa meets an eccentric hostess, Satoshi, who takes an instant liking to him, and the two form a unique bond. Over the Fence is the third in a trilogy of adaptations based on short stories by Japanese novelist Sato Yasushi, who wrote extensively about a fictional seaside town based on his home city of Hakodate.
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