11 new films, which are made after 2015, will be screened at Cinema. Japanese Film festival already becomes a popular annual event in autumn and winter. We hope many audiences enjoy these Japanese films and deepen their interest in Japan through the Japanese Film Festival 2017.
In Hanoi, Japanese Film Festival will open from 27 Oct to 11 Nov at National Cinema Center, 87 Lang Ha, Ba Dinh District.
In Ho Chi Minh City, Japanese Film Festival will open from 24 Nov to 09 Dec at CineStar Hai Ba Trung, 135 Hai Ba Trung, District 1.
In Da Nang City, Japanese Film Festival will open on 05, 07, 13 and 14 Jan 2018 at Le Do Cinema, 46 Tran Phu St, Hai Chau District.
Film list:
1. An (2015/dir. KAWASE Naomi) screening in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City only
Sentaro is an owner of a small street side stand-alone pancake shop which is visited by only few regular customers everyday. He is specializing in dorayaki, a little pancake filled with “an” or red bean paste. One day Sentaro finds himself confronted an odd but sympathetic old lady looking for work. At first he rejects the woman as politely as he can despite her effort to convince him. Nevertheless, a taste of her homemade bean paste itself later on changes his mind, which starts a special relationship that is about much more than just street food.
2. Tsukiji Wonderland (2016/dir. ENDO Shotaro) screening in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City only
Documentary film on “Tsukiji Fish Market”, the center of fish culinary world. “Why does Tsukiji continue to fascinate people around the world?” The treasured secret will finally be revealed as a documentary film.
Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo, renowned as “the world’s largest fish market|” is significant not only by its scale but more by the unique role it has played in Japanese food culture. All the best fish around the world, about 2,000 tons of fish worth sixteenth million dollars arrive at Tsukiji every morning. There are about seven hundred intermediate whole sellers called “nakaoroshi” running their own fish shops under one roof.
3. Her Love Boils Bathwater (2016/dir. NAKANO Ryota)
Fubata closed a public bathhouse (sento) for business after her husband disappeared suddenly. She lives with her daughter Azumi who suffers from bullying at her school. One day, Fubata finds out she is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Without telling her daughter, Fubata gives herself four important duties to fulfil before she dies: 1) to bring her husband back and reopen the public bathhouse; 2) to make her daughter more independent; 3) to introduce someone important to her daughter; 4) to tell her daughter a secret she has been keeping for a long time.
4. The Long Excuse (Nagai Iiwake) (18+)
Sachio Kinugasa, a popular author under the pen name of Kei Tsumura, loses Natsuko, his wife of many years, in a bus accident. With any affection long gone from their marriage, Sachio has to feign bereavement. Then one day he meets Omiya, the husband of a friend of Natsuko who died in the same accident, a truck driver devastated by the loss of his wife who has been left with two children. Without really knowing why, Sachio offers to go regularly to the Omiya home and look after the boy and the girl. When you suddenly lose a family member, how do you get your life back? Portrayed with a rigorously keen sense of psychology and a gentleness of vision, this is a heart-rending and heart-warming new work about ‘parting and meeting’.
5. Rudolf, the black cat (2016/dir. YUYAMA Kunihiko, SAKAKIBARA Mikinori)
Rudolf, a cute little black cat suddenly gets lost and separates from his beloved master. Through no fault of his own, Rudolf finds himself on a long-distance truck bound for Tokyo. Getting lost in an old downtown, he meets with Ippai-attenna, a cool big striped Lone Cat that is feared by anyone hearing his name.
Unable to return home, Rudolf starts his life as a stray cat together with the Lone Cat. Many life lessons learned from Ippai-attena who isn’t all that he seems to be, can Rudolf find his way home in the end?
6. Asian Three-Fold Mirror 2016: Reflections (2016/dir. Brillante Ma. Mendoza (Philippines), YUKISADA Isao (Japan), Sotho Kulikar (Cambodia)
The Asian Three-Fold Mirror project brings together three globally acclaimed directors from Asia to co-create omnibus films with a common theme. The first of the omnibus film series, Asian Three-Fold Mirror 2016: Reflections, reflects on the history and culture of the chosen countries generating new points of light. Under the theme of “Living Together in Asia”, crew and cast joined forces across national borders to depict the lives of characters who journey between Japan and Cambodia, the Philippines and Malaysia. These works aim to help bring together people in Asia.
7. Tora-san of Goto Island (2016/dir. OURA Masaru)
Filmed over a period of 22 years, this intimate portrait of family follows the Inuzuka clan who reside in the Goto Islands of Nagasaki. Tora rules the roost, running an udon noodle-making business with the help of his wife and seven kids.
As time passes, the household endures various events—from childbirth and upbringing to separation and reunion—providing a remarkably in-depth and heartwarming look into the unique bonds that prevail over generations.
8. Daytime Shooting Star (2017/dir. SHINJO Takehiko)
Suzume Yosano is a naïve, country girl who transfers to a high school in Tokyo. When she gets lost on her first day in the big city, a man named Shishio comes to her rescue. He turns out to be her homeroom teacher. Suzume begins to develop feelings for Shishio that she has never felt before…
“I’m in love with you.”
Suzume’s straightforward confession of love places Shishio in an awkward situation as her teacher. While Shishio grapples with how to respond, Suzume’s classmate Mamura, who supposedly has an aversion to girls, tells her he’s in love with her. What will become of Suzume’s first love…?
9. ReLIFE (2017/dir. FURUSAWA Takeshi)
27-year-old Arata Kaizaki joins the ranks of the unemployed, after an incident causes him to quit his job after only five months. He meets a strange man named Ryo Yoake, who urges him to participate in a social reintegration program called “ReLIFE” that involves taking an experimental drug that will rejuvenate his appearance by 10 years for a period of one year.
Thinking he has nothing to lose, Kaizaki reenters high school, where he gradually forms a strong bond with a unique group of classmates including Chizuru Hishiro. Kaizaki finds himself falling in love with Chizuru, but once the one-year experiment expires, he will be erased from her memory…
What will become of their love? What future will Kaizaki choose to pursue after ReLIFE? The story will take a surprising and dramatic ending.
10. Survival Family (2017/dir. YAGUCHI Shinobu)
One day, electricity suddenly disappears?!
TVs, refrigerators, smartphones and computers…everything requiring electricity comes to a total halt!
The Suzukis are an average household living in Tokyo.
Even when the mother tries to make conversation, the father is focused on the TV, the son on listening to music, and the daughter on her smartphone’s SNS. They’re a typical family, together but divided. But one day, the Suzuki household encounters a crisis! When they wake up in the morning, all the electrical appliances have stopped! They assume it’s just their house, but soon find out the outage has occurred everywhere. They think they can get by putting up with it for just one day, until another day passes, and yet another.
What seemed to be a normal power outage is in fact, something much more…It’s then that the father, Yoshiyuki, makes the decision of a lifetime:
“We’re going to escape from Tokyo!”
11. Honnouji Hotel (2017/dir. SUZUKI Masayuki)
“Honnouji Hotel” is a surprising and mysterious story that Mayuko (Haruka Ayase), who is dealing with a crossroad in life: marriage, has experienced. Mayuko can’t make a right decision about her future as there is an invisible and tangible wall keeping her from doing so. Are getting married and being a housewife what she is really looking for?
Mayuko decides to visit Kyoto for a while to think about this important decision of her life. Stop by Honnouji Hotel by accident, Mayuko totally doesn’t know that she is being taken to the past of 400 years ago (1582) and meets with Nobunaga Oda (Shinichi Tsutsumi), the most controversial king demon or tyrant in the history of Japan. Nobunaga is also known as a very talented and ambitious leader who laid the foundation for the unification of the country in the feudal era. Unexpectedly being pulled into political schemes but it helps Mayuko finally find her life purpose.
