Additional goody-bag printed scalloped paper medallions (affixed to chocolate mint candies)
We attended the 6th Sacramento Japanese Film Festival at the Crest Theater this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The films this year (descriptions from the festival guide):
- Departures (2008)
"Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) is a young cellist in a small Tokyo orchestra that goes belly up. Unemployed, he sells his precious 18 million yen cello, and returns to live in his boyhood home which is inherited from his mother. Thinking it’s for a travel agency, Daigo answers a want ad “Working with Departures.” The ad is for “an encoffiner” or funeral worker who cleans and grooms bodies for burial in front of the deceased’s family. The pay is very good but the job, called “nokanshi” is not respected. Daigo takes the job and doesn’t tell his wife, Mika (Ryoko Hirosue). At first, he is sickened by the process. He learns that the ceremony which is done with grace and skill, gives dignity to the dead and comfort to the bereaved. A young girl gets her mother’s favorite lipstick to use, and a grieving husband tells Daigo that his wife “has never looked so beautiful.” Through his wise and kind boss, Sasaki (Tsutomu Yamasaki), who can enjoy a huge meal afterwards, Daigo begins to feel what Roger Egbert calls, “a deep and unsensational acceptance that the Japanese have of death.” Director Yojiro Takita’s use of flashbacks show Daigo’s relationship with the father who abandoned him and make the younger man’s self discovery and forgiveness of that parent believable. The film’s humorous episodes offer a relief from the exploring of bonds between the departed and those of us who are still engaged with the process of living. Departures is a wise, funny, and poignantly absorbing movie." - K-20: Legend of the Mask (2008)
"A big action, super hero adventure movie that rewrites history. World War II never happened because Japan and the U.S. negotiated peace. Tokyo is called Teito. It is 1949, the nobility rule, and society is divided into the haves and have nots. A phantom thief K-20 has 20 disguises which enable him to steal priceless art and jewels. K-20 also wants the Tesla Transmitter, a wireless energy device, which can reduce Teito to ashes and conquer the world. K-20 frames the hero, a poor circus acrobat, Heikichi (Takeshi Kaneshiro), to take the rap and go to jail as the captured K-20. Heikichi’s prison pals spring him from jail, and Heikichi makes use of his acrobatic skills to climb buildings, soar from bridges and wage war against K-20 to clear his name and bring down K-20. The final showdown will keep viewers riveted to their seats." - Throne of Blood (1957)
"Akira Kurosawa created a cinematic masterpiece in Throne of Blood by blending Shakespeare’s MacBeth plot with Japanese Noh Theater. Noh drama uses masks, symbols, dance and music, and Kurosawa puts these elements in the film. The saga begins when two warriors, Washizu (Toshiro Mifune) and Miki (Minoru Chiaki) lose their way in a forest during a raging storm. They meet an old hag who prophesizes military victories. Washizu’s ambitious, power hungry wife, Asaji (Isuzu Yamada) pushes her husband to ruthlessly kill his rivals. Washizu’s bloodstained rule creates opposition and his destruction fulfills the old woman’s prophecy. The character Lady Asaji is unforgettable. Her immobile face is like a Noh Mask; and she gracefully glides across the screen in Noh’s stylized manner. Lord Washizu’s inevitable end surrounded by phalanx of arrows is one of the great moments of cinema." - White on Rice (2009)
"Jimmy (Hiroshi Watanabe) is a clueless 40-year old from Japan who relocates to Salt Lake City to live with his married sister, Aiko (Nae). He wants a new wife because his supply of frozen cooked meals from his ex has run out. White On Rice’s non-stop laughs come from Jimmy’s social denseness at work, at home, and with women. Aiko’s husband, Tak (Mio Takada) wants Jimmy to go away and his marriage to be what it once was. Nephew Bobby (Justin Kwong) and Jimmy are room mates and the boy has more on the ball than the Uncle. Bobby is the entrepreneur who mows lawns and washes cars for pay and the gifted kid who is bored in class. Jimmy mentors Bobby saying, “… after puberty you will be as tall as the girls!” Director-writer Dave Boyle loves his characters and infuses White On Rice with the guilelessness and the warmth of spirit reminiscent of Laurel and Hardy and Jacques Tati’s Mr. Hulot." - Memories of Matsuko (2006)
"Matusko’s nephew, Sho, arrives to clean out his aunt’s apartment. Matsuko (Miki Nakatani) has been discovered murdered in a field. Sho (Eito) pieces together the life of a woman he never knew through a neighbor, former lover, and loyal friend- a punk rocker, a yakusa, and a successful porn star. Memories of Matsuko is funny, tragic, scary, joyous, and uplifting. Through flashbacks covering 40 years, Matsuko’s life is relived through painfully realistic scenes, Japanese rap, and Hollywood, Bob Fosse style musical extravaganzas. School teacher, to call girl, to gangster’s moll, and prison inmate, Matsuko is a woman who looked for love with the wrong men in all the wrong places. Scenes of domestic abuse and prison life are blended with Disney singing birds, hip hop prison songs, and Christian hymns. Sho concludes that life becomes worthwhile when we give. Matsuko gave throughout her life until the end; therefore her life was successful. Memories of Matsuko is a tremendously innovative cinematic accomplishment with deeper meanings, outstanding musical sequences, and over the top cinematography. Miki Nakatani won the 2007 Best Actress Award from the Japanese Academy Awards, the Asian Film Awards, the Mainichi Film Concours, and the Kinema Junpo Awards. Memories of Matsuko has sexual and violent scenes."
- Departures
Wow; just wow. Yōjirō Takita knocked it out of the park with this one. Highly recommended, A++, would buy again. - Throne of Blood
A classic adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Toshirō Mifune is just a giant of an actor (see, also, Seven Samurai, Rashomon). Isuzu Yamada is his equal as wife Asaji. Downsides: Tedious at times; did we really need five minutes of Washizu and Miki riding horses through the fog? Highly recommended. - Memories of Matsuko
Violence. Dysfunction. Debasement. Pain. Loneliness. Abandonment. A few rays of happiness shine through the thunderclouds in Matsuko's first few decades of life. Instead of breaking, the storm subsides into unending scuddy gray winter skies that eventually break her. A tragedy, for sure. Or is it? Did I mention it is a musical? Memories of Matsuko takes Julie Andrews' Maria Ranier character from The Sound of Music and puts her into a noir pachinko game/meat-grinder, challenging the viewer to remain indifferent. The religious message of "salvation through works" seems tacked-on and unsatisfying. Overall, a monster of a film with catchy songs and an incredible performance from Miki Nakatani, who won a well-deserved 2007 Japanese Academy Award for Best Actress. - K-20: The Legend of the Mask
Great action sequences and special effects, with about as much plot and dialogue as one might expect from a blockbuster action film. This film never really gets us to care about the characters, but who cares? Things blow up, there is a giant Tesla machine threatening to turn the world to ash, and lots of acrobatics and action keep the pace moving. This is Bud Light, not micro-brew, if you will, and sometimes that is just fine on a hot summer night. - White on Rice
Hiroshi Watanabe puts in a fine performance as Jimmy, a recently divorced, 40-year-old man-child who gets by on the increasingly tenuous patience of his sister Aiko's family. Jimmy starts and ends the movie in pre-pubescence, his comedic naiveté the only interruption in his host family's life of boredom and monotony. Eventually, Jimmy's obsessive attraction to Aiko's niece goes too far, and it starts the predictable PG-rated road-to-redemption story. By movie's-end, Jimmy magically ends up with an attractive, got-it-together girl ready to follow him anywhere as attendant. Funny moments exist: after Aiko's husband slips and falls on a knife, the hospital ER doc thinks he attempted to commit seppuku, causing Aiko to burst into fits of giggles. The film dips just enough into creepy stalker territory with Jimmy to make the audience catch its breath. Then things get better. Overall, a well-executed film, with mostly believable characters (save Jimmy and Bob, Aiko's 10-year-old wunderkind son).
- Just made the connection Isuzu Yamada (Asaji, from Throne of Blood) was the woman who played the role of Omocha in the movie The Sisters of the Gion, which Dawn and I saw earlier this spring. Ms. Yamada is still alive at the age of 93. Amazing.
- Noticable lack of political sponsorship this year. Where are you, Doris Matsui?
- The event staff are so friendly. All class.
- We sat in better seats this year and saved our necks. In previous years, we sat in the lower section.
- The festival broke up the five movies this year over three days. Instead of an opening night film and four films on Saturday, there was an opening night film and two films each day on Saturday and Sunday. I think this worked out well.
- The festival was moved from mid-May to mid-July this year, due to scheduling problems at the Crest Theater. I think this worked out better for students. We missed the fourth annual festival because of school pressures. I hope this continues in 2011.
- The vendor tables at this year's event featured origami paper cranes and cards, which were pretty cool.
- Speakers announced the festival pulls in only 40% of its funds from ticket sales. The remainder comes from private and corporate donors.
- Corporate donors this year did not surpass the Silver Screen Circle ($250 - $499) of sponsorship. Times are tough all-around, it seems.
- A number of volunteers from the Sacramento Japanese United Methodist Church donated big bucks to underwrite the Saturday and Sunday films. I think they were the ones introducing the films on stage. They are the people really keeping this festival alive, so hats off to you!
Links to Previous Years
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