2015 Japanese Film Festival, August 19-23
This article was submitted for my column yesterday. I still do not understand why it did not see print. I also do not know why no one alerted me earlier about my article not appearing yesterday. This also happened for my Saturday, August 15, column. Again, no one took time to alert me about printing difficulties hours ahead of printing deadline. I certainly hope that such miscommunication or lack of communication does not continue so that my submitted articles will finally see print again, starting today.
Despite two more days left for our readers to watch this year's Japanese Film Festival, we hope you can still catch up and enjoy four more films scheduled for today, August 22 and tomorrow, August 23 at the Ayala Cinema 4.
Two films will be shown during the weekends at 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Film#4, OUR FAMILY (Bokutachi no kazoku) and Film #5, PARASYTE (Kiseiju) will be shown Saturday, August 22 and for Sunday, Films#6 (THERMAE ROMAE II) and Film#7 TADA'S DO-IT-ALL HOUSE: DISCONCERTO (Mahoroekimae kyosokyoku).
If you can have time to watch all the movies, doozo! Bring others along and treat yourselves to several days of free Japanese film viewing and allow yourselves to know more about Japan through these movies.
If you cannot watch all the movies, the synopsis shared by Japan Foundation Manila that Ms. Lucy Labra of the Japanese Consulate in Cebu kindly relayed may be of help.
Film #4 , the first film to be shown today is entitled OUR FAMILY (Bokutachi no kazoku) . It is a drama directed by Ishii Yuya, whose The Great Passage was selected as Japan's entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards. This film is adaptation of Hayami Kazumasa's same-named novel and depicts a struggling family who believe in miracles as the mother's impending death propels them toward dissolution. The Wakana family's mother, Reiko (Harada Mieko), has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Sons Kosuke (Tsumabuki Satoshi) and Shunpei (Ikematsu Sosuke) are bewildered when her high-interest debt and father Katsuaki (Nagatsuka Kyozo)'s hefty loans come to light. What is the unexpected miracle performed by this hopelessly struggling family?"
The next Saturday movie, to be shown at 7 p.m. – PARASYTE or Kiseiju–is a "Science Fiction/Fantasy where Director Yamazaki Takashi uses lavish special effects in his live action adaptation of Iwaaki Hitoshi's world-renowned SF manga, a thrilling and humor-laced depiction of the battle between humans and "parasytes" that take over and feed off human bodies. Humans are threatened with extinction due to mysterious "parasytes" that live off human bodies. When the right hand of high school student Shinichi (Sometani Shota) gets taken over, he nicknames the parasite "Righty" and develops an unusual friendship."
For Sunday, Film#6 THERMAE ROMAE II is a "sequel to the spectacle-laden comedy Thermae Romae, a live action adaptation of Yamazaki Mari's popular comic and depicts the humor arising from the contrast in time and space between bathhouses in ancient Rome and contemporary Japan. The film is the first Japanese production shot on location in Bulgaria, and was realized on a grander scale than the first film. Roman Empire bathhouse architect Lucius (Abe Hiroshi) for some reason travels in time to contemporary Japan whenever he's stuck for new ideas. Lucius, who was working on constructing a new bathhouse, finds himself wrapped up in a conflict that divides the Roman Empire."
Finally, Film#7, the second for Sunday TADA'S DO-IT-ALL HOUSE: DISCONCERTO (Mahoroekimae kyosokyoku) is a drama to a live action adaptation of Miura Shion's Naoki Prize-winning series. Three years have passed since old pal Gyoten (Matsuda Ryohei) reunited with Tada (Eita), who runs a handyman shop in the outskirts of Tokyo. One day, Tada finds himself in a jam when Gyoten's former wife puts her young daughter in his care. Plus, the local gangster organization pushes him to investigate a mysterious cultish group."
Enjoy and happy viewing!
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