TOKYO RENAIJIN Vol. 2: LOST IN TOKYO x KIRITORU
Revisiting Two Views of Tokyo Youth Vol. 2
Venue: Uplink FactoryDec 23 (Sat), 2017: 16:50 and 19:40
Official website: www.uplink.co.jp/event/2017/49416/
Theater website: www.uplink.co.jp
Tariff: ￥2,000
Talk event: Stage appearance and talk with filmmakers after the screening
Title: 東京恋愛人:『東京失格』×『キリトル』上映会 (Tokyo Renaijin: Tokyo Shikkaku x Kiritoru Joeikai)
Director: Kotaro Ikawa / Joe Tanaka (井川広太郎 / 田中情)
Duration: 91 mins / 60 mins
After the success of last March’s Tokyo Renaijin event, Volume 2 arrives with two ultralow-budget debut features by young directors who make their homes in Tokyo and have put the sprawling city at the center of their film's.
Lost in Tokyo marked the feature debut of Kotaro Ikawa (Tokyo/Lovers, Kimisarazu), who world premiered it at the Vancouver International Film Festival in 2006, earning effusive praise and comparisons to legendary director John Cassavetes’ own 1959 debut, Shadows. The film also took the Audience Award at the 2007 Cinema Digital Seoul.
Lost in Tokyo, directed by Kotaro Ikawa (井川広太郎)
Japanese with English subtitles | 91 mins
Trailer: http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaF62loA9Ys/
Official website: http://lostintokyo-en.seesaa.net/
Ikawa trained as a cameraman, and was a one-man crew for the film, which is about two friends who are mourning the loss of a buddy. It begins with a colorful flashback, with 20-something Takkun (Takuya Fukushima), Takachan (Takahiro Iwasaki) and Eiji (Eiji Kamikura) recalling how they’d formed a rock band while in college. Several years later, Eiji has suddenly died, and Takkun and Takachan decide to get smashed after the funeral.
Some three days on (!!), they wind up in a recording studio, where Takkun, who still sings in a band but hasn’t hit the bigtime, tries drunkenly to record some tracks with his band, finally nailing it. As Variety critic Robert Koehler wrote, “Lost in Tokyo is composed of small sequences that speak volumes about the dreams and limitations of basically decent young men who have neither bought into the corporate rat-race nor determined an independent course for themselves.”
Kiritoru, directed by Joe Tanaka (田中情)
Japanese with English subtitles | 60 min
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGXjOynckH4
Official website:http://www.jffh.de/2011/kiritoru/
Another film about fear of the future and Tokyo’s strange way of helping us avoid it is Kiritoru (2009), the medium-length feature directorial debut of Joe Tanaka, who also wrote the screenplay. It tells the story of Kaya and Koichi, who meet cute in a smoking area (where else?), when Koichi comes over, grabs Kaya’s hand and says, "Wanna go somewhere?" Before she has a chance to consider, she’s been whisked away and into a budding relationship, although when Koichi tells her he’s dying the next day, she begins to question exactly who this whirlwind guy really is.
At the heart of the film are pressing issues confronting the youth of 8 years ago, who aren’t that different from today’s. The film looks at freeters (part-time or unemployed young adults), NEETs (Not in Employment, Education, or Training), and hikikomori (shut-ins), and if the gaze seems empathetic, that is due to Tanaka’s own experiences as a freeter and NEET.
Uplink Factory
Please be sure to check with the theater before going.