The Japan Foundation Film Series - Part 6 (English Press Release)

[Jason Gray]

KineJapan Members,

Below is the full English press release from FILMeX for
the upcoming Japan Foundation Film Series - 'The Masters
and Jidaigeki' (I had posted the Japanese release last
week).

If you know anybody off-list who will be in Tokyo and
would be interested, please forward this to them!

Best,
Jason Gray

-----

News Release
                                                May 31,
2006
                                                TOKYO
FILMeX
-----------------------------------------------
The Japan Foundation Film Series Part 6
The Masters and Jidaigeki
A Special Three-day Film Showings with English Subtitles
-----------------------------------------------

Masumura Yasuzo, Ito Daisuke, Uchida Tomu, Imai Tadashi,
Kurosawa Akira and Ichikawa Kon
---

Presented by: The Japan Foundation
With the special cooperation of: TOKYO FILMeX Organizing
Committee
With the cooperation of: Kadokawa Pictures, Toei and
Shochiku

A single ticket: \600 at the door only.
A single ticket for members of JF Supporter’s Club: \500
at the door only.

Venue: OAG Hall (7-5-56 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo)
Nearest station: Aoyama-itchome Sta.(Ginza and Hanzomon
subway lines), Exit
A4

Info.(Tokyo FILMeX Office)     Tel:03-3560-6394
(11:00-17:30, weekdays 
only)
The Japan Foundation Forum     Tel:090-3647-4963 (June
23-25 only)

---------
For more than 20 years, the Japan Foundation has been
showing subtitled
Japanese films overseas as part of its efforts to
introduce Japanese 
culture
to the world. In 2004, the Japan Foundation began offering
these
English-subtitled prints to foreign residents of Japan so
that they would
have the opportunity to experience the wealth of Japanese
cinema.
 
We have organized 5 film events in the last two years, and
as the sixth
event, we are proud to present “The Masters and
Jidaigeki.
” Japanese 
period
dramas, called jidaigeki, are popular not only in Japan.
They have
passionate fans, there have been many masterpieces, they
have spawned many
great sub-genres, and they continue to develop by adding
contemporary
tastes.  For the 6th film event, we selected films from
1950s and 1960s by
masters of Japanese cinema and also starring charismatic
actors.
 
In addition to film screenings, there also will be a
lecture by Dr. Keiko
McDonald, adding different perspectives to enjoying
jidaigeki period 
dramas.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The Wife of Seishu Hanaoka (Hanaoka Seishu no Tsuma)
1967 / 99 min. / B&W, cinemascope / Kadokawa Pictures
(Daiei)
Director: Masumura Yasuzo / Based on a novel by: Ariyoshi
Sawako /
Screenwriter: Shindo Kaneto  / Cinematographer:
KobayashiSetsuo / Art
Director: Nishioka Yoshinobu / Music: Hayashi Hikaru
Cast: Ichikawa Raizo, Wakao Ayako, Takamine Hideko, Ito
Yunosuke, Watanabe
Misako

A drama surrounding a medical doctor, Hanaoka Seishu, who
successfully
carried out the first surgery in the world using general
anesthesia.  Set 
in
Kishu (present-day Wakayama prefecture) in the late 18th
to early 19th
centuries. Okae grew up admiring Otsugi, famous for her
beauty and wisdom.
Okae eventually marries Otsugi’s son, Umpei (who assumes
the name Seishu
later) only to find out that she has to fight Otsugi to
try to win his
affection.  Umpei dedicates himself to studying
anesthesia, and both women
volunteer to have the still being developed anesthetic
tested on them.
Based on a best-selling novel by AriyoshiSawako.  Masumura
Yasuzo, of 
Giants
and Toys (1958) and Manji (1964) fame, depicts the fierce
and yet noble
battle between the mother and the wife.  Wakao Ayako and
Takamine Hideko
share the screen, and Ichikaza Raizo, known for his roles
in swordplay
films, stars as the doctor.

---------------------------------------------------------
The Inner Palace Conspiracy (Oboro Kago)
1951 / 97 min. / B&W, standard / Shochiku
Director: Ito Daisuke / Based on a novel by: Osaragi Jiro
/ Screenwriter:
Yoda Yoshitaka / Cinematographer: Ishimoto Hideo / Art
Director: Mizutani
Hiroshi / Music: Suzuki Seiichi
Cast: Bando Tsumasaburo, Tanaka Kinuyo, Yamada Isuzu,
Tsukigata Ryunosuke,
Sada Keiji, Mitsui Koji

A tragic-comical mystery set in the late 18th-century Edo.
An all-star cast
headed by Bando Tsumasaburo made for a highly profitable
new-year release.
Ito Daisuke, who had been active since the silent era,
revels in his
signature moving shots.  Okatsu, a lady in waiting and
candidate for the
Shogun’s concubine, was found dead, and her childhood
friend, Shinnosuke,
was the last one to see her alive and thus is suspected as
her killer.
However, a purse found at the scene of murder was that of
another concubine
candidate, Misawa. Mukaku, a priest, and Kuranosuke, one
of the shogun
’s
retainers, investigates a conspiracy masterminded by
power-hungry Numata,
with help from Kichitaro, a small-time crook, and Onaka, a
worldly geisha.

---------------------------------------------------------
A Bloody Spear at Mt. Fuji (Chiyari Fuji)
1955 / 94 min. / B&W, standard / Toei
Director: Uchida Tomu / Based on a novel by: Inoue Kintaro
/ Screenwriters:
Yahiro Fuji, Tamikado Toshio / Cinematographer: Yoshida
Teiji / Art
Director: Suzuki Takatoshi / Music: Kosugi Taichiro
Cast: Kataoka Chiezo, Tsukigata Ryunosuke, Kitagawa
Chizuru, Tashiro 
Yuriko,
Kato Daisuke

Set in the 18th century, this road movie portrays a young
samurai, Kojuro,
who travels on foot to Edo with his two servants, Genta
and Gonpachi.  They
meet an assortment of people walking in the same direction
―a salesman,
traveling performers, an orphan, a group of pilgrims, and
others. Spearman
Gonpachi always worries about his master and Genta’s
drinking habits. On
their way to Edo, finally they meet their tragic end… The
last sword
fighting scene is simply powerful. This is the first
postwar film from
Uchida Tomu, and Ito Daisuke, Ozu Yasujiro, Shimizu
Hiroshi, and Mizoguchi
Kenji are just a few giant figures of Japanese cinema who
helped Uchida to
make this after being away from the scene for 13 long
years.  It is also
noteworthy that Kataoka Chiezo, usually typecast as a
hero, plays the
servant here.

---------------------------------------------------------
Bushido: Samurai Saga (Bushido Zankoku Monogatari)
1963 / 123min. / B&W, cinemascope / Toei
Director: Imai Tadashi / Based on a novel by: Nanjo Norio
/ Screenwriters:
Suzuki Naoyuki, Yoda Yoshitaka / Cinematographer: Tsuboi
Makoto / Art
Director: Kawashima Taizo/ Music: Mayuzumi Toshiro
Cast: Nakamura Kinnosuke, Tono Eijiro, Watanabe Misako,
Mori Masayuki, Mita
Yoshiko

An unusual drama focusing on the inhuman characteristics
of feudalistic
society.  Imai Tadashi looks at the way exceptional
loyalty leads the
characters to extreme acts of self-sacrifice experienced
by seven
generations of a fictional family from medieval times to
the present.
Members of Iikura family have met grueling fates―some of
them had to die 
by
committing seppuku, others had their loved ones violated
by their lords,
others died carrying out a suicide bombing attack or
becoming a corporate
slave.  Nakamura Kinnosuke, famous as one of the biggest
jidaigeki stars,
plays all of the heroes from the seven different periods
of time with 
vigor.
The film received a Golden Bear at the Berlin Film
Festival.

---------------------------------------------------------
Rashomon (Rashomon)
1950 / 88 min. / B&W, standard / Kadokawa Pictures (Daiei)
Director: Kurosawa Akira / Based on a novel by: Akutagawa
Ryunosuke /
Screenwriters: Kurosawa Akira, Hashimoto Shinobu /
Cinematographer: 
Miyagawa
Kazuo / Art Director: Matsuyama Takashi / Music: Hayasaka
Fumio
Cast: Mifune Toshiro, Kyo Machiko, Mori Masayuki, Shimura
Takashi, Chiaki
Minoru, Ueda Kichijiro, Honma Fumiko, Kato Daisuke

One of the best known works of Kurosawa Akira, this film
won the Golden 
Lion
at the Venice Film Festival.  Based on a novel by
Akutagawa Ryunosuke, this
film delves deep down into the human psyche by telling a
story surrounding 
a
dead samurai.  The film is set in the war-torn 10th
century. A samurai is
found dead in the shrubs with stabbed wounds.  He was
apparently murdered,
while his wife was raped. Tajomaru, a robber suspected of
rape and murder
was arrested.  However, Tajomaru, the samurai’s wife, and
the dead samurai
(talking through a medium) all tell stories that
contradict one another. . 
..
..  The stellar ensemble cast of Mifune Toshiro, KYO
Machiko, Mori Masayuki,
and Shimura Takashi is sheer joy to watch.  Staff members
such as famed
cameraman Miyagawa Kazuo show great teamwork as well.

---------------------------------------------------------
Revenge of a Kabuki Actor (Yukinojo Henge)
1963/113min. / color, cinemascope / Kadokawa Pictures
(Daiei)
Director: Ichikawa Kon/ Based on a novel by: Mikami
Otokichi /
Screenwriters: Ito Daisuke, Kinugasa Teinosuke, Wada Natto
/
Cinematographer: Kobayashi Setsuo / Art Director: Nishioka
Yoshinobu /
Music: Akutagawa Yasushi, Yagi Masao
Cast: Hasegawa Kazuo, Yamamoto Fujiko, Wakao Ayako,
Nakamura Ganjiro, Katsu
Shintaro

Set in Edo period theater, Yukinojo, a famous kabuki actor
who plays female
roles, is secretly plotting to avenge his father by
killing those who 
caused
his father’s demise.  Yukinojo approaches Dobe Sansai,
one of the enemies,
but Namiji, Sansai’s daughter, who knows nothing about
Yukinojo
’s past,
falls in love with Yukinojo immediately after seeing him
on stage.
Yamitaro, a leader of thieves, and Ohatsu, a man-hating
woman burglar,
further complicate and enliven this drama of revenge. 
This was famous
heart-throb Hasegawa Kazuo’s 300th film appearance, and
he plays both
Yukinojo and Yamitaro.  Jazzy music by Akutagawa Yasushi
(novelist
Ryunosuke’s son), as well as interesting artistic design,
lighting, and
photography, all contribute to this stylish film by
Ichikawa Kon.

/////////////////////////////////
＜Timetable＞　

June 23 (Fri.)
18:30　The Wife of Seishu Hanaoka /1967 / 99 mins. /
Masumura Yasuzo

June 24 (Sat.)
13:30　The Inner Palace Conspiracy / 1951 / 98 min. / Ito
Daisuke
15:45　A Bloody Spear at Mt. Fuji / 1955 / 94 min. /
Uchida Tomu
18:00　Bushido: Samurai Saga / 1963 / 123 min. / Imai
Tadashi

June 25 (Sun)
13:30　Rashomon / 1950 / 88 min. / Kurosawa Akira
15:15　Lecture by Dr. Keiko McDonald
18:00 Revenge of a Kabuki Actor  / 1963 / 113 min./
Ichikawa Kon

----------------------------------------
Contact:
TOKYO FILMeX office (Okazaki)
3rd Floor, 5-5-11, Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0052
TEL: 03-3560-6394 FAX:03-3586-0201
e-mail:  okazaki at filmex.net