Anyone interested in a samurai remake of Unforgiven starring Ken Watanabe? Everyone? Oh, okay then. The Japanese Film Festival is almost upon us, bringing with it another series of eclectic films. Running from 3rd to 17th April, the films will screen at various outlets in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Waterford, and Limerick, and while we urge you check jff.ie for more details here is a rundown of some of the highlights…
Hollywood has a strong history of updating and remaking Japanese stories so we’re more than a little curious to see what happens when the roles are reversed with this samurai interpretation of Clint Eastwood’s Oscar-winning Unforgiven. While the pistols are swapped for swords, the 1880’s Meiji-era setting is somewhat faithful to the ‘last days of the Wild West’ vibe of the original. But will the 1992 version’s commentary on screen violence carry over?
The late Dublin-based animator Jimmy T. Murakami might be best known for his 80s classics The Snowman and When The Wind Blows, but movie fans of a certain age will recall the Magnificent Seven meets Star Wars space opera that was Battle Beyond The Stars. The director is the focus of Sé Murray Doyle’s (Dreaming The Quiet Man) Jimmy Murakami: Non Alien, which follows Murakami as he returns for the first time to California’s Tule Lake concentration camp, the destination for most Asian-Americans during World War II. As he recounts his story of his evacuation, Murakami takes the viewer through his Hollywood career…
If Takashi Miike can be described as prolific, ‘bizarre’ is also fitting. Ever since 1999’s squirmy horror Audition, Miike has been pushing the boat out, challenging audiences with his oddball stories. Following up his samurai duo 13 Assassins and Hari-Kiri (is last film, the bonkers Ace Attorney, never got a release here), Miike’s Lesson Of Evil promises to be just as difficult. As a popular high school teacher attempts to eradicate bullying in his school with extreme measures, a jealous rival in the staff room goes digging into his past and comes with some startling results…
"Libraries gave us power… and we shot a lot of people." Okay, so that’s not the Manic Street Preachers line but it seems to be the basis of Library Wars. Set in the near future where the government have cracked down on subversive material, libraries across the land have formed the Library Force, crack teams dedicated to defending their libraries…
There will sure to be a bittersweet atmosphere during the screening of The Wind Rises. Animation fans will know that this may be the last film by Mayao Miyazak (Howl’s Moving Castle), but the co-founder of Studio Ghibli promises to go out on a high with a decades-spanning epic inspired by the writings of Jiro Horikoshi, the designer of the Zero, the fighter plane that controlled the pacific during the first half of World War II. Animation fans are in for a feast with a screening of Miyazak’s modern classic Princess Monoke, and those who like their sci-fi will be happy to know that the latest Ghost In The Shell spin off Ghost In The Shell Arise Parts 1&2 is on offer. And there’s Patema Inverted, which tells the story of a girl who finally makes it above ground after living her entire life in the dark tunnels beneath the city.
For more info just get yourself over to yonder JFF.ie
