27th Cinema Nippon
2016/8/22
The Nihongo Kaiwa Kyookai Society (NKKS) in collaboration with Nandan, I & CA Department, Government of West Bengal and Consulate General of Japan in Kolkata organized the 27th Cinema Nippon. A selection of four Japanese films with English subtitles were screened at Nandan II, Kolkata on 20 and 21 August 2016.
This Japanese film festival provided a unique opportunity to understand the various facets of the life and culture of the people of Japan. It is an initiative to promote the cultural ties and exchange between India and Japan. People came in huge numbers and thoroughly enjoyed the films.
This Japanese film festival provided a unique opportunity to understand the various facets of the life and culture of the people of Japan. It is an initiative to promote the cultural ties and exchange between India and Japan. People came in huge numbers and thoroughly enjoyed the films.
Film Synopsis and Screening Schedule
Saturday | 20 August 2016 | 4:30 PM
The Yellow Handkerchief
Runtime: 108 min
Release Date: October 1, 1977
Director: Yoji Yamada
Cast
Ken Takakura as Yusaku Shima
Chieko Baisho as Mitsue Shima
Tetsuya Takeda as Kinya Hanada
Kaori Momoi as Akemi Ogawa
Runtime: 108 min
Release Date: October 1, 1977
Director: Yoji Yamada
Cast
Ken Takakura as Yusaku Shima
Chieko Baisho as Mitsue Shima
Tetsuya Takeda as Kinya Hanada
Kaori Momoi as Akemi Ogawa
Plot: In this heart-warming classic comedy, three complete strangers, with their own personal stories, embark on an impromptu road trip to Hokkaido. The trio consists of heartbroken Kinya, recently dumped by his girlfriend, Akemi who randomly joins him on the road and Yusaku, who has just been released from prison. He tells them that he wrote a postcard to his wife the day he was released from prison and told her to put a yellow handkerchief on a high pole by their house if she still wanted him back.
Saturday | 20 August 2016 | 6:30 PM
Sumo Do, Sumo Don’t
Runtime: 104 min
Release Date: January 15, 1992
Director: Masayuki Suo
Cast
Masahiro Motoki as Shuhei Yamamoto
Misa Shimizu as Natsuko Kawashima
Naoto Takenaka as Tomio Aoki
Akira Emoto as Professor Tokichi Anayama
Plot: With students more interested in football and scuba-diving, Professor Anayama, a former university sumo champion, blackmails graduating (and slim) student Yamamoto into joining the decimated university sumo team, or he doesn’t graduate. Along with Aoki (the incompetent club veteran), Tanaka (a lonely, overweight boy), Haruo (Yamamoto’s brother, who’s sick of wresting in drag in the pro-wrestling club), and Smiley (who agrees only for the free room and board), the team start training even though none of them cares about sumo at all. Gradually, they develop a love and respect for the traditional sport.
Sunday | 21 August 2016 | 4:30 PM
Swing Girls
Runtime: 105 min
Release Date: September 11, 2004
Director: Shinobu Yaguchi
Cast
Juri Ueno as Tomoko Suzuki (Tenor Sax)
Yuta Hiraoka as Takuo Nakamura (Piano)
Shihori Kanjiya as Yoshie Saito (Trumpet)
Yuika Motokariya as Kaori Sekiguchi (Trombone)
Plot: Tomoko and her classmates are given a reprieve from their dreary summer math class with the job of delivering lunch to their high school brass team at a stadium. However, they fall asleep in the train and deliver the lunch late due to which all members of the brass band fall sick except for Takuo who demands that Tomoko and her classmates join the brass band to compensate for their fault. He takes it upon himself to train the girls, first with physical exercises to improve their stamina and then teaches them how to play their brass instruments.
Unfortunately the original brass team recovers from their illnesses just before the next game and rejoins the brass team. The girls are now left without a club to play their music for or any instruments to play with in their free time. After some moments of despair, the girls take the initiative to start their own Jazz band.
Sunday | 21 August 2016 | 6:30 PM
After the Flowers
Runtime: 107 min
Release Date: March 13, 2010
Director: Kenji Nakanishi
Cast
Keiko Kitagawa as Ito
Masahiro Komoto as Saisuke Katagiri
Shuntaro Miyao as Magoshiro Eguchi
Ayumi Ito as Kayo
Plot: Set in Edo period, Japan, a woman risks her life to keep her true love.
Ito, daughter of an elite samurai, encounters Magoshiro Eguchi. Magoshiro is an ordinary samurai who sparks an attraction with Ito. Ito challenges Magoshiro to a sword match using bamboo sticks. Magoshiro accepts. The pair's duel causes sparks to fly an attraction from both sides.
Meanwhile, Ito faces an arranged marriage with Saisuke Katagiri but develops a fondness for Magoshiro who on the other hand is pledged to the smiley and chirpy Kayo.