Screening at the ICA and further afield from February, here are seven films to watch from the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2024
Kicking off on February 2 in London – and travelling through 30 cities including Manchester, Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff until March 31 – is the 21st annual Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2024; the biggest and brightest of its kind in the UK.
The latest programme of films, collated under the banner of ‘Unforgettable: Memories, Times and Reflections in Japanese Cinema’, offers 24 choice cuts that showcase some of the country’s most esteemed creative talents. Among them: prize-winning efforts from Venice Film Festival and the Japanese Academy Awards; a semi-pornographic feature that marks the 50th anniversary of a unique Japanese filmmaking genre; and a zen foodie drama featuring a sensational jazz score.
With contemporary animated works, leading female filmmakers, and even one or two classics from yesteryear completing the selection elsewhere, the JFTFP builds on a reputation already cemented by its 2022 and 2023 editions. Check out some of AnOther’s favourites from the 2024 programme below – screening at the ICA and further afield from this month.
Hand (Daigo Matsui, 2022)
To the less-discerning viewer, the latest work from Daigo Matsui – director of Jim Jarmusch-inspired London East Asia Film Festival 2022 highlight Just Remembering – might come across as simply a poignant journey of self-discovery for its lead character, Sawako (Akari Fukunaga). The film follows the mid-twenties office worker as she navigates relationships with older men before finding solace in a romance with an ex-colleague her own age. The reality – underscored by the racy sex scenes that drop almost exactly every ten minutes – is stranger: the film was intended to work as an arthouse drama, but also as a softcore porno.
Commemorating the 50th anniversary of Nikkatsu Studio’s ‘Roman Porno’ (literally: romantic pornography) line, Hand was one of three new productions designed to promote the diversity and artistry of a genre unique to Japan. Once a ploy to pry salarymen into struggling theatres with the promise of bare skin and erotic themes, ‘Roman Porno’ films would boom in the 70s as studio investment and broad creative freedom granted new opportunities to serious filmmakers trying to prove their worth. Hand bridges the gap between high and low culture amply – with strong acting performances and a sensitive approach to storytelling; notably, the source material is by award-winning gender-neutral author Nao-Cola Yamazaki.
A Man (Kei Ishikawa, 2022)
Against a backdrop of crisp, mountainous countryside, a woman named Rie mourns the loss of her husband on the first anniversary of his passing. As she kneels at a small altar, a nearby presence raises his concern: the photo displayed is not of Daisuke – but someone else entirely. Faced with the possibility that her husband may have been assuming another man’s identity, widowed Rie requests for a lawyer to conduct a background check – which ends up raising more questions than answers.
This taut slow-burner was a highlight at Venice 2022 before winning big at the Japanese Academy Awards: A Man would claim eight prizes from its 13 nominations that year, including Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Film, plus acting awards for stars Satoshi Tsumabuki (World of Kanako), Masataka Kubota (First Love), and Sakura Ando. The latter actress is currently enjoying great prominence following a string of head-turning roles – including those in Godzilla: Minus One, and the Hirokazu Kore-eda masterworks Shoplifters and Monster.
Ice Cream Fever (Tetsuya Chihara, 2023)
Pink umbrellas, vivid red wine bars and neon blue book shops pop in this tale of four women intertwined through their patronage of the Shibuya Million Ice Cream store – adapted from a story by Mieko Kawakami, the internationally acclaimed author behind Heaven, Breasts and Eggs and All the Lovers in the Night.
It’s an ultra-stylish debut feature by former advertising and fashion art director Tetsuya Chihara (who will present the film at select screenings in the UK), who excels through a dazzling visual style that marries creative editing and shakycam with monochrome and hyper-saturated colour footage. Imaginative ice cream flavours such as ‘Peppermint Splash’ and ‘Crazy Marble’ offer an ample reflection of the film’s vibrant personality – embodied elsewhere by a creative soundtrack that jumps from Japanese hip hop to dream pop, dub and techno.
Shadow of Fire (Shinya Tsukamoto, 2023)
After a five-year-absence, cult filmmaker Shinya Tsukamoto – best known for 1989 cyberpunk classic Tetsuo: Iron Man – returns to channel Grave of the Fireflies and Come and See as he completes a loose trilogy of war-concerned films. Whereas Pacific island-set Fires on the Plain follows a starving, tuberculoid soldier during the dying days of WWII; and Killing a fledgling samurai recruited by a mysterious stranger to fight a civil war; Shadow of Fire’s focus is a subject altogether more innocent: a poverty-stricken orphan in the lawless black markets of a carpet-bombed post-war Japan.
The Venice 2023 ‘Best Asian Film’ awardee keeps in close quarters with its grubby stars – for the entire dirt-brown first half, the camera doesn’t leave the decaying tavern-turned-brothel that houses the nameless boy subject (child actor Tsukao Oga, outstanding). When we finally do leave these bleak confines, we discover that the outside world is no less forgiving. A mercurial final score by long-time collaborator Chu Ishikawa provides some vivid aural highlights as the film gravitates towards its moving, lingering finale.
Sabakan (Tomoki Kanazawa, 2022)
First-time director Tomoki Kanazawa lands firmly on his feet with this utterly charming coming-of-age tale – which harks back to classics like Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me and Hirokazu Kore-eda’s I Wish. Told entirely through flashback, Sabakan follows two schoolboys in the mid-80s as they set off to ‘Boomerang Island’ to see the dolphins rumoured to gather there. Poverty-stricken troublemaker Kenji (Konosuke Harada) is the chief instigator – convincing wide-eyed Hisada (Ichiro Banka) that he will be jailed for not handing in the 100-yen coin he found on the street in to the police unless he joins him on his quest.
It will prove a life-changing adventure for both – in a story enriched by strong child actor performances; a whimsical score by Michiru Oshima; and stunning cinematography that captures bright blue skies, luscious green forests, ripe orange trees and gently rippling shores.
The Zen Diary (Yuji Nakae, 2022)
Based on an essay about food by leading author Tsutomu Mizukami, The Zen Diary is an entrancing and soul-nourishing exploration of the meditative qualities of farming, foraging and cooking – shot documentary-style in the frosty Japanese countryside. The focus is Kenji Sawada (a former rock star whose acting credits include The Happiness of the Katakuris and Hiruko the Goblin) as elderly recluse Tsutomu who, as a child, ran away from a Buddhist monastery after being instructed in the ways of zen cooking as a novice monk.
Broken into chapters that reflect the passing of the months over a single year, the film’s greatest asset is its close-up cinematography (often reminiscent of foodie shows like Chef’s Table) – which delectably captures the scrubbing of taro; the fermenting of cabbage; the baking of rice over fire; the roasting of angelica tree roots; and the salting and pickling of plums. Guiding the gentle narrative through the seasons is Yoshihide Otomo’s brilliant jazz score, which adds even more flavour through wild sax jams and subtle ambient flourishes.
Hoarder on the Border (Takayuki Kayano, 2022)
For a film largely set in homes overcome with impenetrable clutter and waste, Hoarder on the Border offers a surprisingly neatly arranged story across its many satisfying chapters. The omnibus comedy-drama follows the work of a specialised cleaning company whose job is roughly analogous to that of UK TV icons Kim and Aggie from How Clean Is Your House?. Leading the line is former pianist Rituko (Ryô Shinoda), forced to give up his passion due to a physical disability, who encounters all kinds of memorable hoarders as he goes about his work as an extreme home cleaner.
They include a former porn-star single mother whose adult movies are precariously hidden from her young child; a Filipino migrant worker mourning the death of his mother; and a cantankerous old man prone to throwing garbage at his neighbours. And with scurrying cockroaches, never-ending hair blockages and walls of trash juxtaposed with such bright and endearing characters, the film’s personality fully matches its innovative concept.
The 21st annual Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2024 runs from 2 February – 31 March 2024.