HIBIYA CINEMA FESTIVAL 2021
Free Starlight Screenings Under Godzilla’s Watchful Gaze
Venue(s): Tokyo Midtown Hibiya, Hibiya Step Square open air screen. ※In case of rain, the event will be held at 9th floor Mitsui Conference BASE Q HallOct. 22 (Fri), 2021 – Oct. 28 (Fri), 2021: 18:15〜21:00
Language: Japanese with English subtitles
Official website: www.hibiya.tokyo-midtown.com/hibiya-cinema-festival/
Tariff: Free
Advance tickets: On-the-day tickets are available
Talk event: Directors on stage 18:15〜
Title: 日比谷シネマフェスティバル 2021 (HIBIYA CINEMA FESTIVAL 2021)
Running just before the Tokyo International Film Festival and Tokyo Filmex kick off, the expanded fourth annual Hibiya Cinema Festival includes a package of seven English-subbed titles that were shown at the Toronto Japanese Film Festival in June. They’re all screening for free on the giant screen in the open air at Hibiya Step Square, practically underneath Godzilla’s snout. With only 50 deck chairs available, it’s no wonder they’re already booked. But there will be day-of ticket opportunities, so get there early (and take a jacket for these cool evenings!).
The screenings will be preceded by brief talk sessions with the directors of each film (except for Naomi Kawase, who will appear on video, since she’s busy putting the final touches on her Tokyo 2020 documentary). The sessions will be streamed live online so that you can enjoy them at home, just in case there aren’t enough seats available at the venue.
You should try to catch all the films, of course, but these three are really unmissable:
October 27 (Wed) 18:45
Wife of a Spy スパイの妻
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
115 min
Starring: Yu Aoi, Issei Takahashi
This marvelous Venice Silver Lion winner just swept the Asian Film Awards, with prizes for Best Film, Best Actress (for Yu Aoi) and Best Costume Design, for Valerian Spring Tree. Set on the eve of the outbreak of WWII in Kobe, the lush period drama features Aoi as Satoko Fukahara, who suspects her mysterious (and very wealthy) husband Yusaku (Issey Takahashi) is a US spy, until he takes a trip to Manchuria and learns of atrocities involving the Japanese military. On his return, he’s determined to bring them to light, but this invites grave danger … as well as Satoko’s reconsideration of where her loyalties should lie. Current director du jour Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car), a former student of Kurosawa’s, and Tadashi Nohara cowrote the screenplay with Kurosawa, and its Hitchcockian look at Japanese war crimes — and its aftermath—is increasingly heart stopping.
October 26 (Tue) 18:45
True Mothers 朝が来る
Director: Naomi Kawase
139 min
Cast : Nagasaku Hiromi / Iura Arata
A Cannes 2020 selection and later, Japan’s submission to the Oscars, Kawase’s True Mothers is probably her most mainstream film to date, and possibly her most moving. It stars Hiromi Nagasaku and Arata Iura as wealthy, doting parents of a young son whom they had adopted after nearly divorcing over their inability to have children. When they receive a phone call from a young woman claiming to be their son’s birth mother and demanding either the boy or a payoff, Kawase flashes back to the story of the teenage Hikari (Aju Makita, who won Best Supporting Actress at the Asian Film Awards), and the process of her pregnancy. While her journey may feel familiar to those of us from countries in which adoption is commonplace, the film helped incite a wider dialogue in Japan, where the topic of teenage pregnancy is rarely discussed.
October 25 (Mon) 18:45
Ora, Ora Be Goin' Alone おらおらでひとりいぐも
Director: Shuichi Okita
137 min
Cast: Yuko Tanaka
Yuko Tanaka shines, as do her three costars (Kankuro Kudo, Gaku Hamada, Munetaka Aoki) in Shuichi Okita's adaptation of a beloved Akutagawa and Bungei Literary Prizewinning novel written in the unusual Tohoku dialect (which explains the film's strange title). Tanaka plays 75-year-old widow Momoko, who lives alone in an old house and does little else than make frequent visits to the hospital and to the library, where she takes out books on ancient anthropology. One day, she realizes that Me, Myself and I — dressed exactly as she is, and played hilariously by the three actors cited above — have joined her, and life is no longer so lonely. However, the trio is intent on pushing her in the direction of life, and she eventually realizes how much she enjoys it. The production design and surreal song-and-dance numbers, as well as Yu Aoi playing Tomoko in her youth, are just icing on the cake.
Other Films
October 22 (Fri), 18:45
The Brightest Roof in the Universe 宇宙でいちばんあかるい屋根
Director: Michito Fujii
115 min
Starring: Kaya Kiyohara, Kaori Momoi
October 23 (Sat), 18:45
HOLD ME BACK 私をくいとめて
Director: Akiko Oku
133 min
Cast: Non, Hayashi Kento
October 24 (Sun) 18:45
MIO’S COOKBOOK みをつくし料理帖
Director: Haruki Kadokawa
131 min
Starring: Honoka Matsumoto
October 28 (Wood) 18:45
Yowamushi Pedal 弱虫ペダル
Director: Koichiro Miki
112min
Starring: Ren Nagase (King & Prince)
Tokyo Midtown Hibiya Outdoor Screen
Running just before the Tokyo International Film Festival and Tokyo Filmex kick off, the expanded fourth annual Hibiya Cinema Festival includes a package of seven English-subbed titles that were shown at the Toronto Japanese Film Festival in June. They’re all screening for free on the giant screen in the open air at Hibiya Step Square, practically underneath Godzilla’s snout. With only 50 deck chairs available, it’s no wonder they’re already booked. But there will be day-of ticket opportunities, so get there early (and take a jacket for these cool evenings!).
The screenings will be preceded by brief talk sessions with the directors of each film (except for Naomi Kawase, who will appear on video, since she’s busy putting the final touches on her Tokyo 2020 documentary). The sessions will be streamed live online so that you can enjoy them at home, just in case there aren’t enough seats available at the venue.
You should try to catch all the films, of course, but these three are really unmissable:
October 27 (Wed) 18:45
Wife of a Spy スパイの妻
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
115 min
Starring: Yu Aoi, Issei Takahashi
This marvelous Venice Silver Lion winner just swept the Asian Film Awards, with prizes for Best Film, Best Actress (for Yu Aoi) and Best Costume Design, for Valerian Spring Tree. Set on the eve of the outbreak of WWII in Kobe, the lush period drama features Aoi as Satoko Fukahara, who suspects her mysterious (and very wealthy) husband Yusaku (Issey Takahashi) is a US spy, until he takes a trip to Manchuria and learns of atrocities involving the Japanese military. On his return, he’s determined to bring them to light, but this invites grave danger … as well as Satoko’s reconsideration of where her loyalties should lie. Current director du jour Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car), a former student of Kurosawa’s, and Tadashi Nohara cowrote the screenplay with Kurosawa, and its Hitchcockian look at Japanese war crimes — and its aftermath—is increasingly heart stopping.
October 26 (Tue) 18:45
True Mothers 朝が来る
Director: Naomi Kawase
139 min
Cast : Nagasaku Hiromi / Iura Arata
A Cannes 2020 selection and later, Japan’s submission to the Oscars, Kawase’s True Mothers is probably her most mainstream film to date, and possibly her most moving. It stars Hiromi Nagasaku and Arata Iura as wealthy, doting parents of a young son whom they had adopted after nearly divorcing over their inability to have children. When they receive a phone call from a young woman claiming to be their son’s birth mother and demanding either the boy or a payoff, Kawase flashes back to the story of the teenage Hikari (Aju Makita, who won Best Supporting Actress at the Asian Film Awards), and the process of her pregnancy. While her journey may feel familiar to those of us from countries in which adoption is commonplace, the film helped incite a wider dialogue in Japan, where the topic of teenage pregnancy is rarely discussed.
October 25 (Mon) 18:45
Ora, Ora Be Goin' Alone おらおらでひとりいぐも
Director: Shuichi Okita
137 min
Cast: Yuko Tanaka
Yuko Tanaka shines, as do her three costars (Kankuro Kudo, Gaku Hamada, Munetaka Aoki) in Shuichi Okita's adaptation of a beloved Akutagawa and Bungei Literary Prizewinning novel written in the unusual Tohoku dialect (which explains the film's strange title). Tanaka plays 75-year-old widow Momoko, who lives alone in an old house and does little else than make frequent visits to the hospital and to the library, where she takes out books on ancient anthropology. One day, she realizes that Me, Myself and I — dressed exactly as she is, and played hilariously by the three actors cited above — have joined her, and life is no longer so lonely. However, the trio is intent on pushing her in the direction of life, and she eventually realizes how much she enjoys it. The production design and surreal song-and-dance numbers, as well as Yu Aoi playing Tomoko in her youth, are just icing on the cake.
Other Films
October 22 (Fri), 18:45
The Brightest Roof in the Universe 宇宙でいちばんあかるい屋根
Director: Michito Fujii
115 min
Starring: Kaya Kiyohara, Kaori Momoi
October 23 (Sat), 18:45
HOLD ME BACK 私をくいとめて
Director: Akiko Oku
133 min
Cast: Non, Hayashi Kento
October 24 (Sun) 18:45
MIO’S COOKBOOK みをつくし料理帖
Director: Haruki Kadokawa
131 min
Starring: Honoka Matsumoto
October 28 (Wood) 18:45
Yowamushi Pedal 弱虫ペダル
Director: Koichiro Miki
112min
Starring: Ren Nagase (King & Prince)
Tokyo Midtown Hibiya Outdoor Screen
Please be sure to check with the theater before going.