Shortbread cookie provided with peasant tea during intermission of "Seven Samurai"
Dawn and I attended the 7th annual Japanese Film Festival of Sacramento this weekend. This year, the committee selected the following films (descriptions from the festival guide):
- "Dear Doctor" (2009; Trailer (in Japanese)):
"Winner of two Japan Academy Awards for Best Screenwriter/Best Supporting Actress. A doctor faithfully serves 1,500 residents in a Japanese Mountain Village. Dr. Ino is humble and selfless and he makes house calls. The villagers think he is a saint. The doctor is actually a fake, would be physician. The story is about a decent man who is caught in a web of his own lies and wants out. The reaction of the villagers when they learn the truth is acid comedy. Film maker Miwa Nishikawa's movie asks what counts in life and how well do we know each other?" - "Still Walking" (2008; Trailer):
"Two adult children return to visit their parents in a family reunion. Family tensions and old hurts contrast with the peaceful setting in a beautiful seaside town. Grandfather Kyobei hides behind his newspaper at the family table. Grandmother Toshiko is cute as she bustles around the kitchen throwing insults saying, "I'm not being cruel, it's normal." Second son, Ryo can't live up to his parents' memory of his dead brother. Brilliantly acted, Director Hirokazu Kore' eda's 7th film has parallels with Ozu's Tokyo Story." - "Tokyo Godfathers" (2003; anime; Trailer):
"It's Christmas Eve in Tokyo. An alcoholic, Gin, an aging drag queen, Hana, and a teenage girl, Miyuki, are unlikely friends who are homeless. They discover an abandoned baby girl in a trash barrel. In their odyssey of learning how to care for a baby, they learn about themselves. The film pays loving tribute to the Tokyo's snowy winter beauty. Director Satoshi Kon's animated film is one of the rare movies which use anime to tell a story of human suffering, love, and redemption which is too painful to be realized in live action." - "The Harimaya Bridge" (2009; Trailer):
"American Daniel Holder goes to Japan to bring back his late son's art work. He dislikes the Japanese because his own father died in a Japanese prisoner of war camp during WWII. While wrestling with his personal demons in Japan he finds peace within himself. Producer Danny Glover has a supporting role in the movie which is in English with Japanese subtitles and in Japanese with English subtitles. African American film writer and director, Aaron Woolfolk was a junior high school English teacher in rural Japan. Beautifully shot scenes are Japanese in spirit and technique and reveal Woolfolk's love for that country." - "One Big Hapa Family" (2010; Trailer):
"Documentary with live action and anime. Yonsei Japanese Canadian Jeff Chiba Stearns uses his anime art to explore four generations of intermarriage in the Koga family. The story of the Canadian Issei, Nisei, Sansei, and Yonsei generations is told through interviews, archival photos, historical film footage, home movies, and animation. Issues of racism, integration, and the instinct to retain the Japanese Culture and language are expressed with a freshness, wonderful sense of humor and open heart. In his journey of self-discovery, documentarian Stearns also explores the reasons why over 98% of Japanese Canadians have intermarried." - "Seven Samurai" (1954; Trailer):
"Akira Kurosawa's great film inspired the next 50 years of international film making. The story is simple and clear. Farmers in a small village approach seven ronin samurai to teach them how to fight bandits who will rob their barley crop. The samurai agree for daily rice and lodging. Seven Samurai is anchored in Japan's feudal values of caste and social hierarchy. Kurosawa also argues for individual worth and humanism through Seven Samurai's misfits and renegade heroes. The battle scene of sweeping tides of men moving from a higher to lower plane has been called one of the glories of world cinema. There is deeper meaning in this movie by one of the greatest film makers at the height of his powers. The samurais win the battle but it is the villagers who are the winners."
My favorites, in order, excluding Seven Samurai, starting with my most favorite:
- "Still Walking": What happens when familial expectations fall apart? An annual family reunion strains and strengthens social ties. The movie sensuously highlights Japanese food preparation, summer heat, childhood friendships and adult dysfunctions. By turns both cruel and kind, the family's matriarch and patriarch find their attempts at control over their childrens' lives frustrated--or do they impact them more than their children let on? Rich landscapes of Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan inspire. This was my favorite movie, showing limits of control and our ability to forgive and accept our own loved ones.
- "Dear Doctor" (2009): A quack in a remote Japanese mountain village finds his practice challenged by unexpected developments. Everyone suspect--and accepts. The town has never had it so good; or has it? Another lushly-filmed movie in high summer, the greens and the mountains dazzle. A study in contrasts between institutional and rural doctor-patient relationships, Shôfukutei hits all the right notes.
- "Tokyo Godfathers" (2003; anime): In the cool dark of the theater, I felt the fall of snow watching this film. Set at Christmas, three homeless companions make a discovery which will change their lives forever. Winter is pitch-perfect, even if some scenes and plot resolutions stretch credibility.
- "The Harimaya Bridge" (2009): This movie had moments of greatness (for example, the Shinto shrine marriage). Bennet Guillory comes across as a caricature of Americans abroad. Misa Shimizu shines, as do Saki Takaoka and actress Misono. Cinematography in Kochi Prefecture is amazing. A great debut film by Oakland, CA-native Aaron Woolfolk.
- "One Big Hapa Family" (2010): A short (50-minute) documentary of growing up Japanese-Canadian, by Jeffrey Chiba-Stearns. I actually liked this a lot, but could not rank it higher than a feature film and all its attendant challenges. Chiba-Stearns talks in detail, showing several provocative historical photos about the Canadian Japanese internment camps and how World War 2 triggered mass assimilation of Japanese-Canadians. Informative, entertaining, and moving--and this was my lowest ranked screening! :o)
- Gave my ticket to Seven Samurai to a friend who had never seen it; I watched it in 2010. Just an epic film.
- Overall, another great festival year.
- The crowed seemed bigger this year--we missed out on getting a goodie bag on opening night, as we arrived just before showtime and they had ran out. So--no list of goodie bag items, this year.
- The goodie bags did look the same as last year, however (small #3 brown paper shopping bag), with rice crackers, coupons, organic seeds, and so forth.
- Noticable lack of political sponsorship (again) this year. Where are you, Doris Matsui?
- On Thursday, we attended a rare screening of Kenji Mizoguchi's film "Osaka Elegy" (1936), a companion piece to his film "Sisters of the Gion" (1936), which they screened in 2010.
- Coincidentally, the Sacramento Trash Film Orgy (http://trashfilmorgy.com/) kicked off their summer schedule this evening with a Zombie Walk, so as we exited the theater, we encountered zombies wandering about for the midnight showing of "Return of the Living Dead" :o)
- First year I remember raffles--one before The Harimaya Bridge and one before Seven Samurai
- Another first--peasant tea and cookies during the intermission of Seven Samurai.
- Hats off to the staff of the Crest Theater--all class.
- Tables in the lobby: books for sale, cards for sale, donations for Japan relief fund, donations for the Sacramento Japanese United Methodist Church, and so forth.
- Not sure why, but this year I did not feel as moved by any of the films. :o| Distracted by so many other things going on in my life, presently, I guess.
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