PREVIOUS FILM SERIES
Japanese Film Series in 2008
General Information
Film Schedule
Contact
General Information
In 2008, The Consulate General of Japan, the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Literature, Communication and Culture and the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Modern Languages presented a Japanese film festival featuring "Ghosts, Legends, and Technology in Japanese Cinema." The series was co-curated by Angela Dalle Vacche, Allison Whitney, Andrea Wood, and Olga Solovieva. Each film was introduced by a faculty member. Poster and web design for the series were done by Jenifer Vandagriff.
The series was included Kenji Mizoguchi`s "Ugetsu," regarded by some as one of the greatest Japanese films ever made, Masaki Kobayashi`s masterpiece "Kwaidan," five years in the making, and Cannes International Film Festival winner Kiyoshi Kurosawa`s "Pulse".
Film Schedule
Monday, March 25, 2008
UGETSU (Stories of Moonlight)
(1953, 94 minutes, b&w)
Master director Kenji Mizoguchi`s film adapts two 18th century short stories to create one of the cinema`s acknowledged masterpieces. Two poor villagers dream of wealth, power and fame; one comes under the spell of a seductive ghost princess, while the other cheats his way to become a samurai. As they pursue their goals in war-torn, late 16th century Japan, their wives suffer. Winner of a Silver Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival, Ugetsu is a key example of Mizoguchi`s biting criticism of male vanity alongside female intelligence and compassion, and of the director`s extraordinarily beautiful cinematography and staging. Cast with leading film stars of the fifties (Kinuyo Tanaka, Machiko Kyo, Masayuki Mori), it is generally regarded as one of the greatest Japanese films ever made. In Japanese with English subtitles.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
KWAIDAN: Parts 1 and 2
(1964, 85 minutes, color)
Director Masaki Kobayashi invested five years of preparation before shooting this anthological adaptation of four tales of the supernatural by Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904), a best-selling author of books on Japan. The first two stories will be shown March 27. The first, "Black Hair," stars Rentaro Mikuni as a poverty-stricken samurai who leaves his kind wife (Michiyo Aratama) to marry the daughter (Misako Watanabe) of a wealthy official. After years of misery with this woman he returns to his first wife to find a bitter surprise. In the second, "The Woman of the Snow," a woodcutter (Tatsuya Nakadai) and his brother take shelter from a snowstorm in a deserted hut. However, trouble arises when a strange woman (Keiko Kishi) appears. In Japanese with English subtitles.
Friday, March 28, 2008
KWAIDAN: Parts 3 and 4
(1964, 85 minutes, color)
Director Masaki Kobayashi invested five years of preparation before shooting this anthological adaptation of four tales of the supernatural by Lafcadio Hearn. Parts 3 and 4 will be shown March 28. The third story, "Hoichi the Earless," features a blind temple musician (Katsuo Nakamura), who is known for his mastery of the ballad of the Heike clan. A samurai ghost bids him sing the ballad at the Heike tomb, and Buddhist priests protect him by painting his body with a depiction of the sacred text. In the last tale, "In a Cup of Tea," a samurai (Ganemon Nakamura) famed for courage, has a recurring vision of the face of another samurai in his tea. Shot entirely on a soundstage to allow the director complete control of the film's palette, it`s a stunning display of sensuous color, perfectly suited to these otherworldly tales of the macabre. Takemitsu`s "musique concrete" score is eerily appropriate. In Japanese with English subtitles.
Monday, March 31, 2008
KAIRO (Pulse)
(2001, 118 minutes, color)
Winner of the "Un Certain Regard" competition at the Cannes International Film Festival?this horror film tells the story of a group of young Tokyo residents to whom strange things begin to happen after their friend hangs himself. One friend sees visions of his dead friend in the shadows on the wall; another finds a diskette that seems to have a strange virus, and when he puts the diskette into his computer, a message appears: "Do you want to meet a ghost?" Separately, they witness an unraveling horror, all leading to a steady decrease in Tokyo`s population. Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. In Japanese with English subtitles.
Contact
Questions? Contact Angela Dalle Vacche at"angela.dallevacche
lcc.gatech.edu" or (404) 365-9239.