[KineJapan] Obayashi RIP

William C. Thompson wct1 at columbia.edu
Sat Apr 11 11:55:31 EDT 2020


Marcus,

Per your Hollywood Reporter link, *Labyrinth of Cinema *was featured in a
special presentation at the TIFF last year, so some KJers should have seen
it:

*Labyrinth of Cinema* had been scheduled to be released in Japan on the day
of his death. The date has been pushed back because of the coronavirus
pandemic, which has closed theaters.

"Director Obayashi fought his sickness to the day of the scheduled release
of his film. Rest in peace, director Obayashi, you who loved films so much
you kept on making them," the announcement said.

The film was showcased at the Tokyo International Film Festival last year,
which honored him as a "cinematic magician" and screened several of his
other works.



Bill

On Sat, Apr 11, 2020 at 11:46 AM Markus Nornes via KineJapan <
kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:

> Oops. Don’t know how I missed that. I’m glad to hear Aaron will write
> more.  Not to put pressure on him (!), but I know he made a concerted
> effort to seek out and systematically watch every Obayashi film he could
> get his hands on before the Yale event. He has many interesting things to
> say about them and the visit to New Haven.
>
> Has anyone seen the new film?  There were surely previews before the
> postponement...
>
> Markus
>
>
>
> On Sat, Apr 11, 2020 at 9:54 AM Alexander Jacoby <
> alexanderjacoby at brookes.ac.uk> wrote:
>
>> Dear Markus,
>>
>> Aaron had actually announced this yesterday; perhaps it somehow slipped
>> out of your inbox. In case that happened to others too, his message read as
>> follows:
>>
>>
>> "Very sad to hear of the passing of the great film director Obayashi
>> Nobuhiko, whom I've welcomed to Yale and my house. His new film, Umibe no
>> eigakan, was about to hit theaters, but was delayed because of the
>> coronavirus crisis.
>>
>> I will write more about this later, but I offer his family, who were so
>> kind to us, our deepest condolences."
>>
>> https://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/news/202004110000014.html
>>
>>
>> Although I never myself met Obayashi personally, it is very sad news.
>> There are many engaging films in his output, and they convey a sense of an
>> agreeable personality behind them.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>>
>>
>> ALEX
>>
> --
> ---
>
> *Markus Nornes*
> *Professor of Asian Cinema*
> Department of Film, Television and Media, Department of Asian Languages
> and Cultures, Penny Stamps School of Art & Design
>
> *Department of Film, Television and Media*
> *6348 North Quad*
> *105 S. State Street*
> *Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1285*
>
> _______________________________________________
> KineJapan mailing list
> KineJapan at mailman.yale.edu
> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/kinejapan
>
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