feature: The Japanese Film Festival 2014 Highlights
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Every year I really do look forward to the Japanese Film Festival Ireland. I know I’ve complained about this before but it’s always worth highlighting – even living in Dublin, it’s very rare that you will get the opportunity to see Japanese films on the big screen, particularly new Japanese films. In fact, any Asian films are rare enough.
Much kudos then should be heaped upon the crew of access>CINEMA who, in conjuntion with the Embassy of Japan and with the support of the Ireland Japan Association and the Japan Foundation, work to bring us some of the best that Japanese cinema has to offer.
You can check out the full schedule by day here and find booking links on the brand new Japanese Film Festival website but for those of you who are looking for a few suggestions… here are mine.
Nicola’s picks for the Japanese Film Festival 2014
Lesson of Evil is screening in Dublin and Cork.
05 April 2014 | 23:30 – Gate Cinema, Cork
12 April 2014 | 22:50 – Light House Cinema, Dublin 7
Hasumi is a popular teacher among students at Shinko Academy, a private high school, and well respected by the faculty and the PTA. However, one of the students Reika feels something menacing lurking beneath his shining reputation…
Takashi Miike returns! Or rather, he never went away. In fact he’s got 4 more films after this listed on his IMDb. What this is though is a return to though is his blood-soaked slasher ways. Sounds like a must see so.
07 April 2014 | 19:00 – EYE Cinema, Galway
09 April 2014 | 18:30 – Triskel Arts Centre, Cork City
11 April 2014 | 18:30 – Light House Cinema, Dublin 7
On Friday afternoon, star athlete Kirishima quits the volleyball team, sending his teammates, girlfriend and classmates into an anxious, bewildered tailspin. The Kirishima Thing is a poignant look at the fragile and irrational nature of high school social dynamics.
Winner of Best Film & Best Director at the Japanese Academy Awards, The Kirishima Thing looks to be a change of pace from the usual type of Japanese films that do make it to these shores. i.e. it’s not animated and it doesn’t sounds like there’s a massacre at the end. Now I could be wrong about that but hopefully not. Which is not to say that I don’t enjoy animated films or massacres, but sometimes it’s nice to see something different.
04 April 2014 | 15:45 – Gate Cinema, Cork
10 April 2014 | 19:00 – EYE Cinema, Wellpark Retail Park, Galway
13 April 2014 | 20:00 – Light House Cinema, Dublin 7
17 April 2014 | 19:30 – Garter Lane Arts Centre, Waterford
Based on the novel by Shuichi Yoshida (Villain), plain 18-year-old Yonosuke travels rom Nagasaki to Tokyo to begin a life in the big city. Sixteen years later, things are very different for Yonosukes’ clutch of friends, and the journey to finding out just how different sits at the heart of the latest by the typically whimsical Okita..
Last year’s The Woodsman and the Rain was one of the finds of the festival… so given that this is the latest from that same director, I definitely think it will be worth a look.
06 April 2014 | 19:00 – EYE Cinema, Galway
08 April 2014 | 18:30 – Triskel Arts Centre, Cork City
08 April 2014 | 19:00 – University of Limerick , Kemmy Business School, Limerick (tickets on the door)
11 April 2014 | 20:30 – Light House Cinema, Dublin 7
16 April 2014 | 19:30 – Garter Lane Arts Centre, Waterford
Patema has lived her whole life underground, following a catastrophic attempt to harness alternative power sources, when her community were driven to settle in a dark, cramped network of tunnels. She roams them by torchlight, dreaming of adventures on the surface. But she gets more adventure than she expects when she sneaks into a forbidden area that takes her above ground
On the grounds that I really should highlight an animated film, and that you are bound to already know that Hayao Miyazaki’s latest, The Wind Rises, is in the festival… I thought I’d tell you about Patema Inverted. Well, for those reasons and because it’s sounds a bit sci-fi… and you know I love sci-fi.
You’ll need to enable the captions to get the subtitles on this one.
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