One of Australia’s premier festivals returns for its 21st year, as the Japanese Film Festival Australia announced almost 40 films that will make their way across the country in various forms. That’s an amazing amount of content for our Asia in Focus section of The Reel Bits.
This year’s selection features a mixture of contemporary dramas and comedies, animated features, and a 35mm retrospective on B-movie director Seijun Suzuki, who passed away in February this year. We’ve broken it down for you into 11 gems from Japan that you can’t miss.
JFF kicks off its national leg on 13 October in Canberra, touring through Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, and Sydney before coming to a close in Melbourne on 3 December. Follow along with our JFF 2017 coverage as we go along!
Mumon: The Land of Stealth
Yoshihiro Nakamura (The Magnificent Nine) returns with an adaptation of Ryou Wada’s novel. Leading man Satoshi Ohno is from the boy band Arashi, who also provide the title song “Tsunagu (つなぐ Bond).” What more could you want in an opening night film?
Watch it because… Ninja vs. samurai. ‘Nuff said.
Her Love Boils Bathwater
Already selected as Japan’s official contender for the foreign language film Oscar, Ryota Nakano’s second feature follows follows Futaba (Rie Miyazawa), a terminally ill woman who decides to put her daughter Azumi (Hana Sugisaki) on the right path by getting her past and her secrets in order. The winner of three Japan Academy Prizes following its release in October last year, this is sure to make some ‘best of’ lists for 2017 as well.
Watch it because… it might help you complete your Oscars bingo card next year.
Radiance
Festival favourite Naomi Kawase (Still the Water) returns with the film that won the prize of the Ecumenical Jury at Cannes this year. Misako writes voiceovers for vision-impaired film viewers, attempting to conjure the complexity of cinematic images through description alone. Presenting her latest work to a panel, she is confronted by Masaya – a renowned, now partially sighted photographer – who condemns her writing as overly subjective. Full Review >>
Watch it because… Nothing is more beautiful than what disappears before your eyes.
Antiporno
Sion Sono will always come with a firm recommendation from us regardless of the festival he appears on. Indeed, we’ve recommended him at MIFF, SUFF, and RevFest over the last few years. One of several films he’s directed in the last year or so, it was a response to notorious studio Nikkatsu to make an updated version of a Roman Porno using all the conventions of the style. That means nudity and/or sex every 10 minutes. (See also: Wet Woman in the Wind).
Watch it because… The combination of Sono and Nikkatsu style Roman Porno is just too delightful to pass up.
Before We Vanish
Kiyoshi Kurosawa science-fiction film comes straight from the Un Certain Regard section at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. It follows three aliens who travel to Earth in preparation for a mass invasion, taking possession of human bodies. Variety called it an “absurdist political satire.” We call it a must see at the JFF.
Watch it because… It only just came out in Japan. This is as fresh as they come.
Birds Without Names
We’ll recommend anything with Yu Aoi in it, especially when she’s starring opposite Sadao Abe in Kazuya Shiraishi’s (Dawn of the Felines) adaptation of Mahokaru Numata’s novel. Fresh from its Toronto International Film Festival premiere, it’s a mystery wrapped in desire.
Watch it because… of the phenomenal cast and the dark desire.
Dear Etranger
Mark Schilling of The Japan Times said of this film that “Realism in Japanese family dramas…does not often get this real.” For her sixth feature, director Yukiko Mishima brings the powerhouse presence of Tadanobu Asano as a middle-aged man struggling with his life post divorce and remarriage.
Watch it because… this could be the film that makes Yukiko Mishima the Japanese director to watch.
ReLIFE
Already making several ‘best of’ lists for 2017, the adaptation of the manga of the same name by Yayoiso is sure to be a crowd-pleaser. Anime Now called it the “best adaptation of the source material” they’d ever seen.
Watch it because… everyone wants a second chance at life.
In This Corner of the World
An animated war film where the conflict is kept in the background, allowing a moving microscopic view of how it impacts people on the fringes. Aesthetically beautiful, it uses lead character Suzu’s artist eye to give an impressionistic view of events. Comparable to Studio Ghibli’s best. Full Review >>
Watch it because… everyone needs a good cry.
Neko Atsume House
Based on the mobile game of the same name, this stars Atsushi Ito (I Am a Monk). This is here to prove we aren’t just about doom and gloom. We’re also about cats.
Watch it because… Kitties are kawaii!!!
Branded to Kill
There’s a stack of films starring Shishido Jo in the Classics Program this year, including the wonderfully titled Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards! Whatever you do, go and see one of them. Seijun Suzuki’s film from the notorious studio Nikkatsu is a low-budget and energetic yakuza film from a director accused off making “movies that make no sense and no money.”
Watch it because… Shishido Jo’s artificially enlarged cheekbones have been described as everything from “ruggedly handsome” and “chipmunk like.”
A full list of film can be found japanesefilmfestival.net The national tour of Canberra, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, Sydney and Melbourne, kicks off on 13 October and runs through to 3 December 2017.
- CANBERRA – 13 to 22 October 2017 at Dendy, Canberra Centre
- ADELAIDE – 19 to 22 October 2017 at GU Filmhouse Adelaide
- BRISBANE – 25 to 29 October 2017 at Event Cinemas Brisbane City Myer Centre
- PERTH – 1 to 5 November 2017 at Hoyts Carousel, Cannington
- SYDNEY – 16 to 26 November 2017 at Event Cinemas George Street
- MELBOURNE & CLASSICS – 23 November to 3 December 2017 at Hoyts Melbourne Central & ACMI Cinemas
- CANBERRA CLASSICS – 6 to 7 October 2017 at National Film and Sound Archive
- SYDNEY CLASSICS – 1 to 25 October 2017 at Art Gallery of NSW
