Playing at San Francisco Indie Festival, 10-11 Feb: This World of Ours/Oretachi no sekai

[Jonathan M. Hall]

This World of Ours (Oretachi No Sekai)

Directed by: Ryo Nakajima
?This is a tough and pitiless account of teenage nihilism...a  
hyperbolic scream of pain at the darkness and injustice of the  
world? (Vancouver International Film Festival)

Ryo Nakajima?s debut feature was penned after emerging from a post- 
high school ?shut-in? period (apparently common in Japan), and his  
malaise translated into a powerful film about apathy, self-loathing  
and self-destruction ? and yet its very existence is a hopeful  
gesture. A handful of characters with peripheral connections weave in  
and out of each others? storylines with mutual disregard: a high  
school girl who hides her crippling insecurity behind manipulative  
power-games; a sociopath and his sexist goon-squad, the hallway bully  
who becomes a shell of himself when his favourite victim turns the  
tables. Through the experiences of their everyday lives ? which  
include social terrorism, attempted murder, self-cutting, suicide,  
gang-rape and revenge - all find that the world has no place for  
them. Their only options seem to be self-effacing compromise, or  
dying young and making a loud noise on their way out. Explosion or  
implosion is inevitable.

The film violently accelerates and slows down at will; sentimentality  
is revealed only to be mutilated moments later by callousness. Other  
films are referenced (most notably A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, whose  
influence is felt not only visually but also in the warped classical  
soundtrack), and indeed a certain universality lends to the film?s  
appeal ? but THIS WORLD OF OURS is a unique statement of youthful  
anguish that stands apart from others of its ilk. (Kier-La Janisse)

Co-Presented by the Japan External Trade Organization

Sunday 10 Feb 2008 9:30 pm (Victoria Theater)

Monday 11 February 9:30 pm (Roxie Cinema)
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