Can’t wait until the end of the year for the best of Japanese cinema? Australia’s Japanese Film Festival is bringing back a selection of films throughout July and August to tie us over until the main event.
After the success of the 2018 program, this season presents a series of films adapted from novels—crime thriller THE CRIMES THAT BIND (July 25), fantastical anime adventure PENGUIN HIGHWAY (August 15), and dysfunctional love story meets murder mystery BIRDS WITHOUT NAMES (August 29).
Based on the book by bestselling crime novelist Keigo Higashino, THE CRIMES THAT BIND was an official selection of JFF 2018. Kyoichiro Kaga is an unconventional detective called on to solve the mysterious death of a woman in a Tokyo apartment when police hit a brick wall. His investigation leads him to Hiromi Asai, a celebrity theatre director whose glamorous world seems far removed from the case.
PENGUIN HIGHWAY is adapted from Morimi Tomihiko’s award-winning novel. When we reviewed it last year for Fantasia Film Festival, we called it an “energetic animated debut aimed squarely at younger audiences maintains a sense of wonder through a surprising amount of scientific methodical rigour.” It’s a delightful film, and your chance to see anime on the big screen without going to yet another Ghibli retrospective.
Last but not least is the excellent BIRDS WITHOUT NAMES, mostly because 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. Originally screening in Australia back in JFF 2017, it’s a mystery wrapped in desire.
Presented by the Japan Foundation in Sydney, tickets are now on sale at Event Cinemas George Street box office and online.
