feature: Japanese Film Festival 2017 Highlights
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The 9th Japanese Film Festival kicks off in Dublin tonight at the Light House cinema and as always it’s coming to you with a great selection of Japanese films, many of which you won’t get another chance to see in the cinemas of Ireland. This year the touring festival is taking in Dundalk, Cork, Galway, Maynooth, Sligo, Limerick, Dublin and Waterford.
If you’re not familiar with the festival, each year the Embassy of Japan and access>CINEMA, with support from the Ireland Japan Association and the Japan Foundation, bring us a great range of both animated and live action drama and comedy. It’s been 9 years now, and long may it continue!
You can find the full programme here, but below I’m highlighting my top picks for the festival.
Nicola’s picks for the Japanese Film Festival 2017
We Are X is screening in Dublin and Galway.
02 April 2017 | 21:00 – EYE Cinema, Wellpark Retail Park, Galway
05 April 2017 | 21:15 – Light House Cinema, Market Square, Smithfield, Dublin 7
X JAPAN (formerly X) might not be a household name in the West, but they’re one of the most successful and iconic heavy metal bands of all time… through ups and down X JAPAN have come back and this film follows the surviving members as they prepare for a major performance in New York’s Madison Square Garden.
Why am I recommending it? I’m thinking this is going to be like Anvil: The Story of Anvil, which was an excellent film packed with curious characters with a side of wistfulness.
Destruction Babies is screening in Cork and Dublin.
04 April 2017 | 18:15 – Triskel Arts Centre, Tobin St., Cork City
07 April 2017 | 22:45 – Light House Cinema, Market Square, Smithfield, Dublin 7
Taira is a quiet but frustrated and angry young man who one day decides to leave his seaside hometown. He soon moves to a new town where he embarks on a path of mindless destruction
Why am I recommending it? I’m purely going on the title here. It’s described as a drama / thriller / comedy on IMDb, so may not be one for the faint-hearted!
Her Love Boils Bathwater is screening in Cork, Dublin and Waterford.
06 April 2017 | 18:30 – Gate Cinema, North Main Street, Cork
09 April 2017 | 20:15 – Light House Cinema, Market Square, Smithfield, Dublin 7
11 April 2017 | 19:30 – Garter Lane Arts Centre, Waterford, Co. Waterford
When Futaba is diagnosed with terminal cancer, giving her only months to live, she decides she is going to make the most of her remaining time by reuniting her family and reopening the closed bathhouse.
Why am I recommending it? Nominee for Best Film at the Academy Awards of Japan and winner of Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, Her Love Boils Bathware looks to be one of the strongest films in the festival.
Nagasaki: Memories of My Son is screening in Dublin only.
06 April 2017 | 18:00 – Light House Cinema, Market Square, Smithfield, Dublin 7
Years after her son’s death in the atomic bomb attack in 1945, his mother Nobuko is unexpectedly visited by his ghost.
Why am I recommending it? This was Japan’s nomination for the Oscars and comes to us from the writer of The Twilight Samurai
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