Eiga Sai 2010 Schedule and Synopses
Wednesday, June 30th, 2010
The Japan Foundation, in cooperation with Embassy of Japan, the Shangri-La Plaza Mall, and the UP Film Institute, will be holding Eiga Sai 2010 in celebration of Japan-Philippines Friendship Month. Eiga Sai 2010 is all about contemporary films. I’m looking forward to the lineup.
All films will be shown with English subtitles. Admission is free.For detailed screening schedules and inquiries, please access the Japan Foundation, Manila website: www.jfmo.org.ph or call the JFM telephone numbers (+632) 811-6155 to 58.
Franz Kafka’s A Country Doctor
Running Time: 0:21
Director: Yamamura Koji
Cast: Shigeyama Sensaku, Kanehara Hiromi, Shigeyama Ippei
A country doctor gets an emergency call in the middle of a snowy winter night. The doctor finds an open wound full of worms on the side of the sick boy. To the singing of children, the doctor is stripped of his clothes and placed in bed with the boy.
Miyori in the Sacred Forest (Animation)
Running Time: 1:56
Director: Yamamoto Nizo
Cast: Aoi Yu
Eleven-year-old Miyori shuts her heart from the rest of the world after her separated parents desert her. She is entrusted in the care of her grandmother who lives near a forest. Miyori soon encounters unbelievable things and gradually realizes that the forest is more than what it seems.
TOKYO TOWER Mom & Me, and
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 2:22
Director: Matsuoka Joji
Cast: Odagiri Jo, Kiki Kirin, Uchida Yayako
The film alternates between the past, in which Masaya narrates his life story, and the present, in which Masaya watches his mother die of cancer in the hospital.
Fourteen
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 1:54
Director: Hirosue Hiromasa
Cast: Namiki Akie, Hirosue Hiromasa
The film portrays the faint hope that is generated by the interaction between adults who have not recovered from trauma they suffered when they were 14 years old.
Glasses
Running Time: 1:46
Director: Ogigami Naoko
Cast: Kobayashi Satomi, Mitsuishi Ken, Ichikawa Mikako
It’s early spring and still chilly when Taeko a stressed out career woman leaves her stressed out life in the city for an island vacation. There is no sightseeing spot on the island and people come here to “twilight.” Taeko stays at “Hamada,” run by Yuji (Mitsuishi Ken). Expecting to be left alone, she’s put off when Yuji sits down to eat with her. She’s even more disgruntled when Sakura, a mysterious woman who comes yearly from somewhere in the early spring, takes the liberty of entering her room to wake her up! But seeking haven at another hotel proves absurd and Taeko awkwardly returns to her unconventional hosts.
There is also an intriguing exercise called “merci taiso,” which the residents on the island do as part of their daily routine but only during spring. Taeko is bewildered but begins to yield to their pace as she spends more time in the island. (more…)
