Venue : RKV Studios – Red Carpet Preview Theatre, Chennai Date : 06th – 08th October 2017
Schedule
1. Sketches of Kaitan City| Dir.: Kazuyoshi Kumakiri | 2010 | 152 min | (06 Oct 2017 | 6.30 pm)
Winner of the Lino Brocka Grand Prize and the award for Best Actor (ensemble cast) at the 12th Cinemanila International Film Festival, this film features several protagonists and storylines, played out by professional actors and residents of Hakodate, the city on which the original short story was modeled. Director Kumakiri Kazuyoshi, who boasts a number of international film awards, such as from the Berlin International Film Festival, depicts the bittersweet events in the lives of people in Hakodate, a regional city connected by a streetcar network. A laid-off man and his younger sister go up a mountain to see the first sunrise of the year. Meanwhile, Haruo has inherited his family’s gas business, but things aren’t going well in his new endeavor and he becomes increasingly frustrated.
2. All Around Us | Dir.:Ryosuke Hashiguchi | 2008 | 140 min | (07 Oct 2017 | 5.00 pm)
The latest by Hashiguchi Ryosuke after six years since Hush! which was officially entered in the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes International Film Festival. The title refers to one’s “immediate surroundings”. The film is ambitious as it looks at the immediate surroundings of ordinary people who live in a corner of a city whilst it also captures the historical background including the emotional crises which prevailed in Japan from 1990s onwards. Punctilious Shoko, who works for a publishing company, marries free-wheeling Kanao who drifts with the currents. On advice from his senior, Kanao takes up a job as a courtroom sketch artist. Trials of gruesome cases take place in the courtroom, such as the stabbing of elementary school pupils and indiscriminate mass murder by a cult group. Shoko, in the meantime, gradually suffers a nervous breakdown after losing her first baby soon after its birth. Kanao is flustered with her state but tries somehow to accept it. The story concludes with the suggestion that the two finally attain happiness together.
3. Pecoross’ Mother and Her Days| Dir.: Azuma Morisaki | 2013 | 113 min | (07 Oct 2017 | 7.20 pm)
Veteran director Morisaki Azuma’s adaptation of Okano Yuichi’s essay manga following the daily life of a nebbish son and his dementia-stricken mother. Its talented cast includes Iwamatsu Ryo, Harada Kiwako, and 89-year-old Akagi Harue in her first starring role in a film. Divorcee Yuichi (Iwamatsu) is a company employee who devotes himself to his manga and musical endeavors. When his mother Mitsue (Akagi) develops dementia, he reluctantly decides to place her in a nursing home. As Mitsue spends time with its idiosyncratic inhabitants, her memories gradually lead her to retrace her past.
4. Being Good | Dir.: Mipo Oh | 2015 | 121 min | (08 Oct 2017 | 5.00 pm)
Live action drama adaptation of Nakawaki Hatsue’s same-titled novel. Director O Mipo won the award for Best Director at the 38th Montreal World Film Festival for The Light Shines Only There. The film won the NETPAC Award at the 37th Moscow International Film Festival. Okano is a rookie elementary school teacher stressed out because his students won’t listen to him. Meanwhile, Masami is in anguish as she continues abusing her own daughter. The lives of people dealing with their own troubles intertwine and they discover hope a new.
5. The Letter| Dir.: Jiro Shono | 2006 | 121 min | (08 Oct 2017 | 7.00 pm)
Tsuyoshi, the elder brother, and Naoki, the younger brother, have been helping each other since they lost their parents. When Tsuyoshi becomes unemployed, however, he commits a robbery in order to obtain the school tuition fees for Naoki and, in the process, kills someone by mistake. While his elder brother is serving his sentence, Naoki undergoes a rough life. Naoki’s hope to escape his troubled life fails because of his elder brother, and gradually, Naoki begins to despise his brother. Naoki later marries Yumiko who always supports Naoki by his side, but Yumiko ends up being victimized by people around her because of the marriage. Naoki is no longer able to endure the unreasonable discrimination and writes to his elder brother to explain all the difficulties he has been facing, and asks to sever their ties as brothers. Tsuyoshi learns the truth from the letter and realizes for the first time the significance of his crime. The film highlights what it means to commit a crime and what is punishment through the lives of these brothers. Based on a novel of the same title by Higashino Keigo, a prestigious Naoki Award winning writer who excels at mystery. This is the first movie directed by Shono Jiro.
Venue : RKV Studios – Red Carpet Preview Theatre, Chennai Date : 06th – 08th October 2017
