October 22 to 28: Japanese Film Festival

This year is a special year for the Philippines and Japan. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between these two neighboring countries.

In connection with this commemoration, the Japanese Consulate in Cebu extends to one and all the warm invitation to come for the Japanese Film Festival scheduled from October 22 to 28 at Cinema 4 of the Ayala Center.

This year's Japanese Film Festival has been made possible through the energetic involvement of the Japanese Consulate in Cebu, together with the active participation of Japan Foundation, the Cebu Japanese Chamber of Commerce, the Japanese community in Cebu, and Ayala Center.

The three films selected for special showing will run for a week at various hours, starting from 1 in the afternoon till about past 10 in the evening. And what a treat for interested viewers, the film festival is free throughout the whole week!

The three films showcase Japan's famous film personalities, from actors to directors and producers. The three films also move from Japan's past to the present, taking the audience back to the days of the Japanese samurais and transporting them to contemporary Japan showing the involvement of a Korean-Japanese cab driver with a Filipino bar hostess.

Dora-Heitai, translated as the "Alley-Cat Magistrate" is a 111-minute film whose story was written by Yamamoto Shugoro, directed by Ichikawa Kon, and the screen play by The Committee on Four Knights that includes world-famous Kurosawa Akira together with Ichikawa Kon, Kinoshita Keisuke and Kobayashi Masaki. This movie's cast includes popular stars Asano Yuko, Yakusho Koji, and Sugawara Bunta. This film centers on the mission of a new magistrate, Koheita Mochizuki, played by Koji Yakusho, who pretends to be a decadent official so as to complete his "undercover mission" to rid the feudal domain of crime bosses ( yakuzas ) in cahoots with the courtiers in the castle. Watch how Dora-heitai sets out to pursue his dangerous assignment and why the clerk at the town magistrate's office noted ironically that "this is the first time in history that a town magistrate has failed to show up at the office from the day of his appointment to the day of his resignation." Will Dora-heitai succeed and survive his dangerous mission? Come and see this film so you will know the answer to this question!

The Twilight Samurai ( Tasogare Seibei ) is the first full-scale period film by the master of Japanese film industry Yamada Yoji ( famous for the Tora-san series, The Yellow Handkerchief, A Class to Remember, and other titles ). Many of the Cebu viewers will certainly relate and sympathize with Iguchi Seibei ( played by Sanada Hiroyuki ), a widower struggling to make ends meet to support his two young children and his old senile mother on his meager salary. Rather than accept invitations after work to drink and feast with his superiors and colleagues, Seibei goes home directly from work every twilight ( tasogare) to take on other jobs for his family, hence his nickname Twilight Seibei. He saves his former sweetheart ( played by the beautiful Miyazawa Rie) from her abusive husband and gets involved as well as with a clan whose superiors want him to assassinate another samurai. What will happen to Seibei at the end will be worth your time at Ayala's Cinema 4!

Finally, the third film entitled " All under the Moon" ( Tsuki wa dochi ni dete iru ) is a 109-minute hilarious comedy that received major Japanese film awards in 1993. Directed by Shi Yoichi with the cast of Kashitani Goro, Chi Yong Sung, and Iwaze Moeko, the story revolves around a Korean-Japanese taxi driver who falls in love with a Filipino entertainer working for a bar owned by his mother. Do watch this film and be entertained by the antics of the film's characters. Get to see as well how a Filipina entertainer reacts to a Korean-Japanese suitor. This film may be interesting too for the curious who want to see what Japanese bars are like and what type of work Filipino entertainers do in Japan.

Enjoy these films that are brought to you not only for free, but for a full week at the Cinema 4 of Ayala Center from 1 PM till evening from October 22 to 28!

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