Hikikomori

[Alex Zahlten]

There is an incredible amount of films involving a hikikomori theme in the so-called jishu eiga genre, that is: films produced by the directors themselves, often extremely low-budget and relying on informal networks of distribution. 
These could be interesting for you, becuase they often take a different approach to more commercial projects (this does not necessarily mean a more refelcted one). Two that come to mind for me are the pseudo-documentary "home" by Takahiro Kobayashi (2001, Kobayashi was a student at the japan academy of visual arts at the time), where the director ostensibly  films his hikikomori brother, who reacts violently. And "Monosugoi kick" by Takashi Urai (2003, Urai was a student at the Film School of Tokyo at the time). The latter is a humorous treatment of the subject, where the hikikomori in question sings a love song to his kotatsu, and when he decides to finally leave the house he and his kotatsu leave together and go skiing.

Both were shown at the Nippon Connection Film Festival some years ago.

Best,

Alex


-------- Original-Nachricht --------
Datum: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 13:10:09 -0500
Von: "Rob Smith" <robixsmash at gmail.com>
An: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Betreff: Hikikomori

> I apologize if this has been brought up before I joined the list, but I
> was
> wondering if anyone could offer a list of Japanese films about hikikomori
> (that have English subtitles, of course), whether as the main plot or as a
> subplot.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> -- 
> -rob
> http://www.robixsmash.com/

-- 
alex at nipponconnection.de

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