Shinozaki's Not Forgotten

[Tom Mes]

>However, I did catch Shinozaki Makoto's "Wasurerarenu Hitobito/Not
>Forgotten" a couple of weeks ago.  Has anyone had a chance>to see this yet?

I saw Not Forgotten at the Rotterdam Film Festival in January of this year 
and was mightily impressed. It is a very touching and thoughtful film, a 
celebration of life in my opinion. It has some interesting things to say 
about work ethic and corporate life which make this film an extension of 
some of the themes in Okaeri.

Although I have heard some reactions that the ending would be a letdown or 
too much of a deviation from the tone of the film, I have to disagree and 
say that it was perfectly justified and fitting within the context of the 
film. It was also very interesting to see Shinozaki's references to the work 
and themes of Sam Peckinpah, particularly in these final moments.

I wrote a review of Not Forgotten, which was published on Midnight Eye a few 
months ago:
http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/notfrgot.shtml

Is there any news on foreign distribution for this film? It's played at a 
few festivals here and there (Nantes, Rotterdam, Melbourne, London's Unseen 
Gems from Japan season), but no word on actual theatrical distribution. 
France was interested, but the negotiations were allegedly cut short because 
the French distributor's offer was too low.

Tom Mes

Midnight Eye
http://www.midnighteye.com


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