UNDER THE TURQUOISE SKY

A Young Man Finds Himself in the Steppes

Venue: Theater Guild Daikanyama
April 8 (Sat): 16:00; April 9 (Sun): 17:00; April 16 (Sun): 17:00, 2023
Official website: undertheturquoisesky.com/
Theater website: theaterguild.co/
Theater website: theaterguild.co/movie/detail/undertheturquoisesky/
Trailer: bit.ly/3mTdIZB
Tariff:  ¥2,200 with one drink.
Advance tickets: Visit the theater for details. https://theaterguild.co/movie/
Talk event: The director and a guest will appear after the screening.

Title: ターコイズの空の下で (Turquoise no Sora no Shita de)
Director: KENTARO　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 Duration: 95 min

Not surprisingly, the exquisitely odd, beautifully lensed Under the Turquoise Sky is back by popular demand with English subtitles this weekend at Daikanyama Theater Guild, followed by a chat in English with multicultural writer-director Kentaro. You will laugh, you will be moved, you will see things you’ve probably never dreamed of — and you will most certainly be glad you went.

Kentaro’s extraordinary feature debut, the Japanese/Mongolian/French co-production was shot with an 8K camera mostly on location in the magnificent steppes of Outer Mongolia, and scooped up the FIPRESCI International Film Critics Award and the Talent Award (R.W. Fassbinder Award) on its world premiere at the 68th International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg.

A road movie in the best buddy-bonding sense, Under the Turquoise Sky follows Takeshi (Yuya Yagira), a spoiled young scion whose life of dissipation is interrupted when his ailing grandfather (Akaji Maro) sends him to search for the daughter he had fathered with a Mongolian woman during WWII. Takeshi’s unlikely guide is Mongolian horse thief Amaraa (Amra Baljinnyam, who also cowrote the script), whose earnest attempts to carry out his assignment are cause for much mirth.

Needless to say, the trip does not go as smoothly as planned. The men encounter numerous disruptions, from inevitable wrong turns to transport breakdowns to crossed signals from a variety of colorful locals, including one lovely young woman who charms Takeshi with scoops of the slightly alcoholic local horse milk.

But the film’s many detours and genre-blending vignettes provide ample opportunities for sumptuous visual enchantment, as well as for Yagira (best known for his Cannes award-winning performance in Nobody Knows), to radiate a relaxed charisma that is rarely in evidence. He seems to be genuinely delighted by what he sees — and viewers are sure to feel the same.

Theater Guild

 

 

Venue: Theater Guild Daikanyama
April 8 (Sat): 16:00; April 9 (Sun): 17:00; April 16 (Sun): 17:00, 2023
[possibly additional screening from 14:00 on April 16 (Sun). Check on the theater website.]
Official website: undertheturquoisesky.com/
Theater website: theaterguild.co/