Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Mohawk (2017)

MOHAWK is a visceral cinematic gut punch with a sharpened bone dagger. It is a carefully constructed thriller that will leave you staring at the screen wondering what the hell just happened (in a good way).

It is 1814 in upstate New York. America is once again at war with England. Englishman Joshua Pinsmail is attempting to get the Mohawks to break their treaty with America and side with England. He not only wants to help his country but get a better life for his lover and her people. Things however become complicated when Calvin Two Rivers, the brother of Oak, Joshua's lover, massacres a stockade of sleeping Americans. What was supposed to be the method of last resort begins sending out unexpected shock waves. Things then go from bad to worse when a detachment of American soldiers show up with hell close behind.

And hell it is. Once Mohawk gets into high gear and away from the too talky set up the film morphs into a high octane chase film with stomach turning realistic violence. Blood flows, brains are splattered and bones broken leaving those on screen dead or dying and the the audience sick. Director Ted Geoghegan has made a film that doesn’t shy away from showing the nastiness of life and death of two centuries ago. People die horribly. People die slowly drowning in their own blood and viscera. There are no quick deaths. It’s a graphic analog of the court room scene from William Friedkin’s RAMPAGE where we sit in silence for as long as it took to strangle someone to death.

Don’t let my mentioning of blood fool you, there is a hell of a lot more going on in MOHAWK than the violence. First and foremost the fact that this is a wicked chase film where who is the cat and who is the mouse is always changing. While moving at slower pace than modern action films there is still a real sense of urgency to what happens. Lives are in the balance and once cannot just burst in and spray everyone with a machine gun. The guns are a one shot and if you can’t reload quickly there is going to be trouble. There is one shoot out early in the film where people are more or less standing around at close quarters shooting, missing and then reloading. It makes for an odd affair for anyone expecting a John Woo style shoot out, but the fact is this is what gunfights were in the early nineteenth century. Once the one and done mentality sinks in and the audience understands it the suspense goes up because you realize that you have to pick your shot and have a second plan…and a third…and maybe a fourth... it makes for a nerve jangling affair as we are forced to reconsider our modern action movie mentality.

While my weakness for well-done action films will have me thinking of MOHAWK as primarily that, the script by Ted Geoghegan and bestselling novelist Grady Hendrix is aiming to do more. In a talk with Ted on Twitter he described the film as a "sad, angry, anti-colonialist thriller about proto-Trumpers" but I don't think the description is wholly apt. To be certain the film is sad, angry and anti-colonialist, but to connect it straight into Trumpers sells the film way short. We have to remember the film was being put together before the current President was ascending from his cesspit to the swamp. There is a complexity to events that belie it simple being anti-Trump. Events are put into motion by a slightly self-serving individual with good intentions. He wants to help England while trying to free the Mohawks. From there we end up with a series of events where everyone missteps and finds their lives further imperiled. In a weird way the only ones who come out on top are the only ones who don’t act- the Mohawks off screen that the trio of Oak, Calvin and Joshua are trying to reach. The reasons why everyone missteps stupidity, racism, family, love, love of country, following orders, all add shading and paths to ponder as to whether things could have played out differently.

To be honest this is a film that is going to require multiple viewings to full disentangle thematically. The reason for that is watching the film the first time through you don’t really have much of a chance to ponder much beyond what is going on. I was simply carried along with the action and the motion. I found it hard to make notes because I was too engaged with what was happening on screen. However I had to force myself to write things down because I knew that I was going to not only have to review the film but conduct interviews connected with the filmmakers.

While I love most of MOHAWK I am not so enamored of the opening section of the film. Too much of the set-up is done in exchanges of dialog that don’t feel natural. The exchanges between the various characters is exactly how people who are in the middle of something wouldn’t speak because they wouldn’t need to explain everything. Thankfully the problem only lasts a couple of minutes, just long enough to allow the plot to kick. Once everyone, including the audience, is up to speed the film just goes straight on to the end.

This is a great film. It’s a super change of pace that will delight anyone who wants a cinematic change from the big budget Hollywood productions.

Highly recommended.

MOHAWK opens in select theaters and on VOD Friday

Have Sword Will Travel Sun March 11, 7.00pm at the Quad

For the latest edition of our monthly series co-presented and programmed with Subway Cinema, we present a double bill of Chu Yuan's expertly choreographed The Magic Blade on 35mm and Chang Cheh's tale of bloody vengeance, Crippled Avengers


The Magic Blade
Chu Yuan, 1976, Hong Kong, 97m., 35mm
A near-perfect mixture of swordplay, fantasy, martial arts, heroic bloodshed, and more Ti Lung greatness than any moviegoer could ever ask for, in some of the best choreographed fights in wuxia history. It remains one of the true classics of the Shaw Brothers library.

In Mandarin with English subtitles

© Licensed by Celestial Pictures Limited. All rights reserved.

Followed by...


Crippled Avengers (aka Return of the Five Deadly Venoms)
Chang Cheh, 1978, Hong Kong, 99m, DCP
Crippled Avengers may be the ultimate movie featuring the martial artists known as “The Venom Mob.” Warlord Chen Kuan-Tai goes insane after his enemies kill his wife and cripple his son. He proceeds to maim anyone who crosses his path. Four of his victims unite to seek bloody vengeance.

In Mandarin with English subtitles

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

20th Annual Boston Underground Film Festival Unveils Beyond-Cinema Bounty on Cambridge from March 21st through the 25th First Wave Titles Include Opener My Name is Myeisha, Revenge, Let the Corpses Tan, a 35th Anniversary Screening of Liquid Sky and More!

Cambridge, MA – New England’s spring festival season is nigh, with the 20th annual Boston Underground Film Festival returning to Harvard Square, bringing with it a five day fever dream of vanguard and description-defying filmmaking, including soul- thrillers/killers/chillers, to the Brattle Theatre and Harvard Film Archive from March 21st through the 25th. This year’s program includes some of the festival’s most eclectic and challenging selections to date, highlighting the harrowing, the horrifying, and the heady.


Kicking off the big 2-0 is the East Coast premiere of My Name is Myeisha, a phantasmagorical meditation on a beloved teen’s life cut tragically short, told from her perspective at the moment of her unjust death. “BUFF is deeply honored to mark its twentieth birthday by celebrating the poignant, powerful story of Myeisha (Tyisha Miller, the real-life inspiration for Myeisha), a young woman who did not make it to hers,” says Director of Programming, Nicole McControversy.

On the heels of its 2018 Slamdance world premiere, where it garnered both the Audience Award for Beyond Feature and the Slamdance Acting Award for breakout performance by lead Rhaechyl Walker, My Name is Myeisha is a bold and beautiful adaptation of co-writer Rickerby Hinds’ play, Dreamscape, that demands and deserves your attention. Director Gus Krieger and star Walker will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A.


BUFF is taking its love of the beyond to the next level with a rare repertory screening of Slava Tsukerman’s underground masterpiece of avant-garde sci-fi and queer cinema, Liquid Sky. Nearly 35 years to the day since its theatrical release, BUFF is ecstatic to be presenting this neon-drenched, new wave, electroclashtastic cult classic on lush 35mm. Inspiring generations of creatives, filmmakers, musicians, and weirdos since its debut, Liquid Sky is a mind-melting must-see on the big screen.


Speaking of melting minds, BUFF is bringing double trouble from the French film vanguard with the East Coast premiere of Coralie Fargeat's genre-flipping, outré feature debut Revenge and the New England premiere of BUFF alumni Bruno Forzani & Hélène Cattet’s piece de resistance, Let the Corpses Tan. Fargeat revamps the rape-revenge thriller subgenre, spinning a subversive monomythic tale of female survival and rebirth with fierce and formidable Matilda Lutz in the lead. Forzani and Cattet deliver another gorgeous, sensory-saturated homage to vintage genre, this time honing their craft in pulpy poliziotteschi perfection against a bullet-riddled spaghetti-Western backdrop.


Bleeding into the realm of real-world horror, BUFF is thrilled to host the US premiere of Turkish writer-director Onur Saylak’s chilling debut Daha and the New England premiere of British writer-director Deborah Haywood’s stunning, deeply personal first feature Pin Cushion. While Haywood explores the visible and invisible wounds of intergenerational bullying as experienced by a mother and daughter in small town England, Saylak examines the cycle of intergenerational violence between a father and son caught up in the refugee smuggling trade in small town Turkey.


On the lighter side, BUFF is pleased as pizza to present the World Premiere of Stacy Buchanan & Jess Barnthouse’s homegrown horror doc Something Wicked This Way Comes and the New England Premiere of Aaron McCann & Dominic Pearce’s Aussie-by-way-of-Japan mocku-doc Top Knot Detective. Buchanan & Barnthouse give New England’s pop-horror-culture the full-feature treatment, exploring the region’s viability for growing our independent film scene with input from genre luminaries, horror fans, natives, and local filmmakers. McCann & Pearce explore Japan’s most beloved ronin detective, Sheimasu Tantai, from the 1970s style martial arts series RONIN SUIRI TENTAI (Deductive Reasoning Ronin), and his Oz-based cult fandom so thoroughly and hilariously that it’s nigh impossible to discern fact from fiction...it’s somehow beyond both.

As usual, we’ll have: Our kid-friendly annual Saturday Morning Cartoons program with cereal smorgasbord, programmed and hosted by renowned curator, author, publisher, and founder of the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies, Kier-La Janisse; a veritable bounty of shorts programming celebrating fantastic music videos, animation, transgressive horror; and more! More than you could ever imagine.

Festival passes, which include admission to all films and parties, are only available (at a significantly reduced rate) through BUFF’s ongoing Kickstarter through noon EST on February 28th. Thereafter, only individual screening tickets will be available online for advanced sales and at the Brattle Theatre box office day of.

Festival Passes & Ticket Package Presales are available through Kickstarter
until noon EST February 28th: bit.ly/KickstartBUFF20
###
BOSTON UNDERGROUND FIRST WAVE:

Breaking Point: The War for Democracy in Ukraine (2017)

In a world where Russian interference is front page news, three time Oscar winner Jonathan Harris's BREAKING POINT THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY IN UKRAINE is a vital document and a must see.

Chronicling the struggle for Ukraine to be free from Russian/Soviet control the film is a stirring portrait of a country that, as the first line of it's national anthem says "is not dead yet".  Full of first person interviews and on the ground footage it reveals how forces tied to Russia are seeking to control and loot the country. Indeed the film forcefully reveals how one recent leader took billions from the country.

While the US has to struggle with hackers and influence peddlers, Ukraine's battle is much more violent as the Russians have armed anti-democracy forces and turned them loose in the country to cause all sorts of death and destruction. That the country is still standing is a testament to the spirit of a great people.

You will forgive the lack of criticism concerning the film but there is little to say other than see this film. A beautifully made document it lays out the history of the country and explains why Russia wants to get its hands on the country. It is also a magnificent portrait of a nation that refuses to lay down and die. In its way this is a perfect example as to how to make a documentary.

BREAKING POINT THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY IN UKRAINE opens Friday in theaters.

They Remain opens Friday

Phillip Gelatt’s They Remain is a frustrating film. It is without a doubt a very good film. It hits all the right notes generating a good amount of suspense but at the same time it doesn’t do anything with its story that we haven’t seen before.

The plot of the film has a pair of researchers going to investigate the site of a notorious massacre. A Manson-like cult murdered hundreds of people and now the site is the scene of weird animal and environmental happenings. The pair is to investigate what is happening.

If you like weird horror and culty films then you’ve seen this before. Yes the details are different but the basic plot is one we’ve seen before. While it’s not fatal it takes what could very well be one of the best films of the genre and turning it into just a good one. I was several steps ahead of the film and while I enjoyed the hell out of it I would have loved it had it simply surprised me somewhere along the road.

Whether you’ve seen this sort of thing before or not I highly recommend the They Remain. You will enjoy it- how much will entirely defend upon how often you’ve been down this road before.

Monday, February 26, 2018

THE PORT JEFFERSON DOCUMENTARY SERIES ~ SPRING 2018 - THIS IS CONGO


DATE/TIME: Monday, April 9, 2018
LOCATION: Theatre Three,
412 Main Street, Port Jefferson, NY
TICKET PRICES: $7.00 general admission, tickets@door (no credit cards)

THIS IS CONGO
THIS IS CONGO is a riveting, unfiltered immersion into the world’s longest continuing conflict and those who are surviving within it. Following four compelling characters: a whistleblower, a patriotic military commander, a mineral dealer and a displaced tailor —the film offers viewers a truly Congolese perspective on the problems that plague this lushly beautiful nation. Colonel ‘Kasongo’, Mamadou, Mama Romance and Hakiza exemplify the unique resilience of a people who have lived and died through the generations due to the cycle of brutality generated by this conflict. Though their paths never physically cross, the ongoing conflict reverberates across all of their lives.

Sponsored by the Greater Port Jefferson/ Northern Brookhaven Arts Council, the Port Jefferson Documentary Series brings directors, producers or stars of each film into the theater for an up-close and personal question-and-answer session. Our guest speaker will be the director, Daniel McCabe.
Running Time: 93 minutes; Year: 2017; Country: Congo; Language: Multi-lingual with English subtitles

PORT JEFFERSON DOCUMENTARY SERIES
(www.portjeffdocumentaryseries.com) is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and by the Suffolk County Office of Film and Cultural Affairs, Steve Bellone, County Executive

Room 213 (2017) NYICFF 2018

It is not an oxymoron to say that you can have a truly chilling horror film without any violence. The fact that ROOM 213 exists is complete proof of that since it is a creepy ghost story where there is no violent behavior anywhere in it.

Elvira is 12 and really doesn't want to go to summer camp. She agrees to go because one of her friends is going too. However things begin to go off the rails when her friend is unable to go. Things get worse when their room is wrecked when the faucet floods the room. With nowhere else to go Elvira and her soon to be new friends Meja and Bea are moved to room the locked room 213. The room has been locked because weird things happen in it. As the girls begin to navigate the week and the problems of growing up they too are forced to endure weird happenings....

While clearly a family film, ROOM 213 is actually a scary little movie. There is genuine suspense and chills as the the girls begin to get a sense that maybe there is a ghost wandering the halls of the camp. There are scares, but nothing violent and ugly- after all how many ghosts actually kill people except in the movies? To be certain they will do weird things and occasionally scare the snot out of you but almost never to they kill anyone. Here the chills come from the situations and the carefully crafted thrill sequences. Trust me on this the end of this film is creepy.

I completely understand why NYICFF is running the film, its a feature length version of their Heebie Jeebie shorts collection. This really is a scary film the whole family can enjoy- but keep in mind that this is a scary film even though there is no blood or violence anywhere in it.

Highly recommended for anyone who wants to see a solid horror film, ROOM 213 plays this weekend at NYICFF one last time. Tickets can be had here.

Hondros (2017) opens Friday and goes digital March 6


I saw HONDROS at Tribeca last year. With the film opening Friday and a digital release next week I'm reposting the review.

HONDROS is a very good portrait of photojournalist Chris Hondros who produced a fantastic body of work before being killed in a mortar attack in Libya.

This look at Hondros' career the film is full of fantastic images (see above) which become truly over whelming on a big theater screen. The film is a stark chronicle of the cost of war and we see what happens when people clash.

Despite taking a detour to follow up on the family in roadside shooting in Iraq (its really good but slightly out of place) the film manages to give a wonderful accounting of one man's life and what he achieved in photography and in real life. It is most moving when we see how Hodros gave back and how because of him some of the people in his pictures were changed by knowing him. See the guy below- he was sent to college by Hondros and became a police chief.

Recommended

THE ALIENIST: Episode 6: ASCENSION

As we go into the home stretch things heat up and end with one hell of a closing shot.

I am going to be brief and try not to spoil anything but the episode has the team using Stevie as bait to try and lure the killer  out of hiding on what they think should be the next day that he will strike. However as they put their plan into operation things begin to spin out with several unexpected turns.

This is a good episode that deftly balances the central mystery with the personal lives of the everyone. We get more information of the good doctor and witness some great moments between the characters which then pay off in unexpected ways later one.

Personally I'm loving the series and I'm jonesing to get to see how it all comes out - despite knowing how it all comes out having read the book. I can't wait to get the chance to binge the whole series so I can get lost in the story once again.

Sunday, February 25, 2018

Nightcap 2/25/18 - Thoughts on a possible future piece on movies that are just sort of there

Not that many of you have noticed but the regular Sunday nightcaps have kind of drifted off. It's not that I haven't wanted to do them, more it's simply I've been heading in differing directions both in my personal life and in the film world.

I've also been watching a lot of films. I'm running back on my schedule of pre-2017 when I was frequently doing three, four or five films a day. Lest you think that's all I do remember many are program films from the 30's and 40's that run around an hour and lots of exploitation films that run around 90 minutes. I'm watching stuff that looks interesting to me and not something being spoon fed to me by PR people. Its me cinematically recharging my batteries as I remind myself that there are great films out there that have been abandoned  and need to be put on  people's radar.

As a result of all of this watching I've been stockpiling reviews. As it stand now if all of the reviews were collapsed to fill the Tribeca slots Unseen would run on its own until sometime in July, maybe August. When I say I have been watching movies I mean it.

While there have been lots of good ones and lots of bad ones I'm running more and more into films that are just sort of there. Watching them they kind of engage but at the same time if you walked off in the middle you'd kind of forget you were watching them. Once finished they are gone from your memory.

Take for example GUERRILLA GIRL about a young woman fighting for the resistance in occupied Greece who ends up fighting commies. It sound interesting and on some level it kind of is for the weird choices it makes but by the 20 minute mark you're ready to move on to something else.

Then there is SWORD OF THE EMPIRE which is an ancient Rome set film about the barbarians and the fall of the Empire. Supposedly it's a low rent version of Anthony Mann's FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE but despite some great set pieces I simply don't care enough to try and make the connection.

And I've seen a lot more recently but frankly I simply can't remember the lot of them. They simply fade from memory- not when done but while they are running. How the hell did some of this utterly forgettable films get made? Watching them I completely understand how many of them are completely off everyone's radar. I suspect even the filmmaker don't remember they made some of the turkeys.

I've seen enough recently that I'm trying to work out hat to do with them.   Good bad or indifferent all films should be noted but how do you note something that you're forgetting as it is happening before you?

It should be noted that this is different than films that put you to sleep. I'm doing a piece on that when I can tie in a few more titles, hell some of the sleepers are pretty interesting even if they produce sleep. Just sort of there films are just that they exist but I'd be hell bent to say any more than that.

I have no idea of my making note of them but it might...we'll see...

Short Films Two NYICFF 2018

I love the shorts at the New York International Children's Film Festival. Every year they present some of the best films of any length at the festival and I'm always heartbroken that more people can't see the wonders of the films.

Normally I mainline a whole bunch of the collections in a day or two and write them all up at once but this year I'm seeing the shorts in bits and pieces over the course of the festival so in order to make sure you get out to see the great shorts I'm writing them up as a I see them.

The first collection I saw at the festival was SHORT FILMS TWO and it has some truly magical films in it.

BIRD KARMA world premiered at the festival. This is the first of the new series of shorts being produced by Dreamworks.  The film concerns a bird catching and eating fish and what happens when a golden one comes his way. A true visual piece of art this film is a fine example of the high level of art work being turned out by many animators. As eye candy it is a visual marvel. Having seen the film twice in one day (it played before BIG FISH & BEGONIA) I'm still not sure if it worked. I know that the audience reaction was slightly confused as the ending brought almost no reaction with a couple of quiet whispered questions from some of the people around me during the second screening. Yea the early bits brought laughs but the end brought crickets.

HOME
Animated story of a sheep on a farm and their human grandfather and goat uncle. Its a good little story.

FLY LADY FLY
The worst film of the bunch. A nice idea, a young girls wants to use a drone so a parrot with clipped wings can fly, poorly acted and not particularly well done. Frankly I love the idea but the execution and the choice to make everyone but our heroine goofy wrecks the film.

SAMEDI CINEMA
Okay film about two boys trying to see Spike Lees Malcom X.It's a nice idea that kind of just misses.

IRON HANDS
Crying out to be feature film this is the story of a young girl who wants to join a weight lifting team and the man who helps her. I loved this and wanted to see how it continued on- please some one make this a feature with these actors.

BANGO VASSIL
Charming film about two kids who end up on an ice flow and the surprising person who comes to their aid. This is a great film about how people who think they shouldn't get along can find a common ground.

IF YOU FALL
An eight year old navigates learning to ride a bike while her parents struggle to find a place for each other in their lives. Its a nice little film.

ZARA AND THE OTHERS: GORILLA BRAINS FOR DINNER
Zara is a young girl with an off beat family which makes it tough for her to make friends. To be honest I'm not sure what I think of this weird little gem owing to the fact that I'm not quite sure that it's spiral from full out weird to reality works. Most definitely a one of a kind film, but perhaps this would have been better in the Heebie Jeebie collection

THE THEORY OF SUNSET
Hands down one of the best films of 2018 of any length. Its a film that follows the course of a day from sunrise to sunset. It is also deeply wonderful and incredibly profound. I can not say enough good about the film other than it is wickedly cool and a must see.

Captain Black (2018) Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival

Mike, a restaurant manager, whose life is a mess, discovers the comic book about the heroes Captain Black and Kitt Vixen. He is so taken with the character that he dresses as the hero for a costume party. Hooking up for a one night stand with a woman dressed as Kitt Vixen, his life is thrown into chaos when he discovers who the young woman really is. It’s an encounter that leaves him shaken and re-evaluating his life up to this point and reaching for a way to go on.

Captain Black is a one of those dramas that hangs with you. A portrait of a lost soul writer/director/star Jeffrey Johnson has made a film that is raises any number of issues and leaves one pondering. I was left wondering about how do we handle the choices we make and the repercussions that follow? The key twist, which I am intentionally being vague about, forces us to ponder what about the choices we make not knowing all the facts- facts which would have made the choice a no go. It’s easy to understand why Mike is shattered as a result.

This is a good little drama. Johnson has fashioned a script that gives us a whole slew of engaging characters for us to root for and then turns up the heat. While things can be a little rambling at times, it is never fatal and ultimately works in the film’s favor allowing for a nice shading to everything and everyone. We get a sense of life beyond the sides of the screen.

Ultimately what makes Captain Black of interest is the fact that Jeffrey Johnson has made a film that doesn’t follow the typical inde film path. It is a film that attempts to deal with serious subjects in a non-cliché way. While it isn’t always perfect it, still manages to force the audience to engage with it. In an age where so many films simpkly are empty eye candy it is delightful to find a film that strives to do more.

Worth a look.

Saturday, February 24, 2018

Horus, Prince of the Sun (1968) NYICFF 2018

Apologies to NYICFF for not reposting the review of  what they are screening as HORUS, PRINCE OF THE SUN in time to help fill up the screening earlier today at the festival. While the audience was a good size the screening should have been standing room only. I didn't realize that I had indeed reviewed the film but under a different name, THE LITTLE NORSE PRINCE which was the title it was reissued on DVD in the UK.

In any case I found the review from 2011 and I'm now reposting it so that you all might consider buying a ticket or two for the remaining screenings on March 10th and 11th at the IFC Center and the Museum of the Moving Image. (Tickets can be had here)

And one last note- if you have seen the film before but only on TV then buy a ticket and go see it because the film looks awesome in true big screen widescreen.




Isao Takahata is the director of the animated Grave Of Fireflies, and founder of Studio Ghibli. His first feature film is set nominally in a Norse country, but it sure seems like old Russia to me. Hols, a young boy/man/teenagerish kid, lives with his father on the edge of an ocean. Not long after he removes a thorn (actually the sword of the sun), from a giant rock man, Hols' father dies. He tells his son the story of how a devil named Grunwald had spread evil in their old village and caused things to fall apart. Hols' father, wanting to keep his then infant son safe, fled into the wilderness. As a dying wish he urges Hols to go back and find his people. Traveling with Coro (his friend, who is a bear), he sets out to find them. In the process he meets Grunwald, who wants Hols to join him and Hilda, a girl with a lovely singing voice and a dark secret.

Moving like the wind this is an 80 minute movie that has enough plot for at least another hour. This isn't a bad thing since the film keeps moving at all times. It's a beautiful film, filled with an endless series of set pieces. Actually I don't think there is a bad sequence in the entire picture. To be honest the script is a real mess. It doesn't move at times so much as lurches from thing to thing. The dialog is also often stilted, which I'm guessing is the result of too faithful a translation from the Japanese (there are times when you really need to reword things. And no this is not a bootleg or a print from Asia, it's the official UK released DVD).

Messy script or no, I think this is a masterpiece. It's a great grand adventure that hooks you and drags you along for 80 minutes. As I said the set pieces are spectacular and the sense of magic is wonderful. We have a hero who is truly heroic and some characters who are very close to being real. The design of the film has echoes of later anime projects, not just Ghibli, which helps give it a nice feel of familiarity when it's not being wholly original. Strangely the film feels very much like the Russian fantasy films of directors like Aleksandr Ptushko. It's supposed to be set in a Norse country but the design of the costumes is very Russian.

I really liked this a great deal. To be certain it's flawed, deeply, but there is something about the central story thread that allows the film to survive as something wonderful. I recommend it.

Five Doctors (2017) hit VOD Tuesday

Spencer is a stand up comic and actor living in LA who returns to his upstate New York hometown to see his five doctors armed with a large binder detailing his symptoms. As his friend Jay drives him around town, Spencer attempts to avoid his friends and family while trying to figure out why he actually came home.

Funny small scale road comedy is for the most part a delight. Working best in the small moments and throw away lines 5 DOCTORS worms it's way into your heart despite the prickliness of it's lead character. To be honest despite laughing all through the film, it took me awhile to really warm to Spencer who is a bit too self absorbed. Despite the initial bumpiness, the laughter and the charming characters around our hero worked their magic and I was about half way into the film when I realized that I was going to have to investigate what the release plans for the film are because this is a film I want to share.

5 DOCTORS hits VOD Tuesday and is recommended.

Friday, February 23, 2018

New York International Children's Film Festival opens with LU OVER THE WALL

And we're off and running....
It was weird being at the SVA Theater for the Opening Night. While there is nothing wrong with the theater the fact that the better part of the previous two decades of the festival it opened at the Directors Guild just made things a little odd. For one thing this year Hubert and I didn't have to get on line super early because the theater seems much bigger than the Guild.

Still Opening Night is Opening Night which is all that matters. The film year is now truly underway and all is right with the world- at least cinematically.

The evening began as it always does with a speech from the stage, thanking everyone for coming, mentions of the sponsors and this year highlighting the new additions like ANIMAL JUBILEE,  BOYS BEYOND BOUNDARIES and FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS MEXICO. From there it was a quick T-shirt toss and we were off and running.

After a short piece on the NYICFF educational programs we got a modified version of the classic opening video.

Before the feature they ran ANIMATION (ACCORDING TO CHILDREN) which plays in Shorts One. It is a charming 2 minute piece where kids try to explain animation.

The feature was Masaaki Yuasa's LU OVER THE WALL and if you don't have tickets you're going to either wait on the stand by line for the remaining two festival screenings or wait until May when GKids releases it.

The film follows Kai, a depressed teen who relatively recently moved with his dad to his family's home town by the sea. Kai tinkers with music with hi computer and when his friends find out they try to get him into their band.  At the same time the town is supposedly the home waters for the mer-people. Many in the town don't believe they exist and those that do think they are evil and eat humans. However since they like music a mermaid named Lu comes into contact with Kai and his friends thus causing all sorts of complications as a result.

Joyous, wonderful and happy, LU OVER THE WALL is frequently one of the most viscerally emotional films you will ever see. In simpler terms it will move you to tears for no determinable reason other than it is just so damn cool.

I'm still processing it.

It is one of a kind and totally unique. The only way I can describe it is as if Hiyao Miyazaki went to Warner Brothers to make Ponyo with Tex Avery and Chuck Jones while John K offered suggestions while scoring it to an infectious J-Pop score that is perfectly translated in the English dub. That's not really what it is but it will put you in the ball park.

Animation style shifts depending on the moment.Masaaki Yuasa, like in his other films, isn't teathered to any one style and simply animates to what the moment needs. He then ties his images to one of the most perfect scores around. The resulting marriage of image and sound over rides the logic centers of the brain and tickles the heart strings.

I mention over riding the logic centers because to be quite honest the plot of the film is often messy. Clearly there is internal logic, it's just not always clear- which in this case is fine because the sound and image and characters carry the day.

I have no idea what to say other than I was moved to tears several times. Don't ask me why or how - I don't know. All I know is I was and am delighted it happened.

I am intentionally not telling you about the wonders contained in the film because you have to see them for yourself- though I will give you a clue and saw mer-dogs.

WOW and WOW.

I wish I had known they were playing this in English because I would have brought my niece who would have gone crazy for it.

This is a must see...and one you want to stay through the credits since there are little bits of animation that delight all through it with a parting shot that brought an audible sigh to those in the auditorium.

After the screening there was a members party in the lobby but because it was so crowded and because there were more movies on the schedule for tomorrow we headed out.

Thank you to everyone at NYICFF for a super Opening Night.
Opening Night Party

Information from the Japan Society on their co-presentation with MOMA of: Kazuo Miyagawa: Japan's Greatest Cameraman

NYC's Most Comprehensive Celebration of Japanese Cinematographer Encompasses 30 Years and 27 Films of One of the Most Influential Film Artists in History

Retrospective Series at Japan Society and MoMA Features Masterpieces and Rarities in 35mm & a World Premiere Restoration of Yasujiro Ozu's Floating Weeds

Kazuo Miyagawa: Japan's Greatest Cameraman

April 12-29, 2018, at The Museum of Modern Art
April 13-28, 2018, at Japan Society

** Related Screenings March 2 & April 6 at Japan Society, and April 6-12 at Film Forum **

New York, NY – Working intimately with directors like Yasujiro Ozu, Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi and Kon Ichikawa on some of their most important films, Kazuo Miyagawa (1908-99)pushed Japanese cinema to its highest artistic peaks through his lyrical, innovative, and technically flawless camerawork. Considered the greatest cinematographer of postwar Japanese cinema whose career endured through the 1990s, Miyagawa has influenced generations of leading filmmakers around the world.

In celebration of the 110th anniversary of Miyagawa's birth, and coinciding with Japan Society's 110th Anniversary season, the Society presents Kazuo Miyagawa: Japan's Greatest Cameraman. Co-organized and co-presented by The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), with additional titles screening at Film Forum and as part of the Society's Monthly Classics series, this career-spanning selection displays the preeminent cinematographer's great versatility, including major masterpieces and rarely shown titles, screening in 35mm and new digital restorations. Spanning two months and three venues, the citywide celebration encompasses 27 films, representing over 30 years of Miyagawa's career.

The series at Japan Society launches April 13 with a brand new 4K restoration of Ozu's Floating Weeds, featuring an introduction with Miyagawa's son Ichiro Miyagawa and Miyagawa's longtime camera assistant Masahiro Miyajima, followed by a public reception. Additional highlights among the Society's selection are very rarely screened 35mm prints imported from Japan unavailable on streaming or U.S. home video, including The Rickshaw ManA Certain KillerThe Devil's Temple, and The Spider Tattoo. Also screening on 35mm are the seldom screened Ballad of OrinZatoichi and the Chest of Gold and Odd Obsession, as well as the 4K restoration of Tokyo Olympiad. Landmark classics Rashomon and Street of Shameround out the Society's presentation.

For its portion of the series, MoMA presents the World Premiere of the Floating Weeds restoration for the series launch on April 12, as well as repeat screenings of Japan Society's lineup and additional titles through April 29, including Bamboo Doll of EchizenChildren Hand in HandConflagrationGonza the SpearmanHer BrotherSilenceSinging LovebirdsSuzakumonTaira Clan Saga,  The Gay Masquerade, and Sisters of Nishijin.

Preceding the retrospective, new 4K restorations of Mizoguchi's A Story From Chikamatsu and Sansho the Bailiff, both shot by Miyagawa, run at Film Forum from April 6-12.  Additionally, Japan Society screens films featuring the work of Miyagawa as Monthly Classics, including Kurosawa's Yojimbo on March 2, and Mizoguchi's Ugestu on April 6.

"There hasn't seen a substantial retrospective of Miyagawa's incredible work in New York City since 1981 when Japan Society presented 25 films with Miyagawa in attendance," said Aiko Masubuchi, Senior Film Programmer at Japan Society. "On the occasion of his 110th birthday and our 110th anniversary, it is an honor to partner with MoMA and work with Film Forum to expand the line-up for the largest, most comprehensive retrospective dedicated to the master cinematographer, and give a new generation of New Yorkers an opportunity to fully appreciate one of the most seen but least known film artists in history."

"Kazuo Miyagawa is credited with having invented a filmmaking technology, the 'bleach bypass,' on Kon Ichikawa’s Her Brother (1960), a process by which he gained greater control over color saturation and tonality," said Joshua Siegel, Curator, Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art. "For more than 50 years, such technological and artistic innovations have influenced cinematographers as far ranging as Vittorio Storaro and Roger Deakins, who have similarly used Miyagawa's bleach bypass technique to cast a silvery sheen over their color images, as well as other conceits like his use of mirrors outdoors to create dappled effects of sunlight and shadow."

Tickets for Japan Society Screenings: $13/$10 seniors and students/$9 Japan Society members, except for screening of Floating Weeds + reception: $17/$14/$13. Ticket buyers who purchase tickets for at least three different films in the same transaction receive $2 off each ticket.

For MoMA's full line up and ticket information, visit moma.org. For Film Forum's related selections, visit visit filmforum.org.

JAPAN SOCIETY SCREENING SCHEDULE
All films below screened at Japan Society and presented in Japanese with English subtitles.

Floating Weeds (Ukigusa)
Friday, April 13 at 7:00 pm
**New 4K restoration
**Introduction with Ichiro Miyagawa, Kazuo Miyagawa's son, and Masahiro Miyajima, Miyagawa's longtime camera assistant
**Followed by a reception
1959, 119 min., DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Yasujiro Ozu. With Ganjiro Nakamura, Machiko Kyo, Ayako Wakao, Hiroshi Kawaguchi.
When an aging actor returns to a small seaside town with his travelling kabuki troupe, he is reunited with a former lover and their illegitimate son, bringing out the bitter jealousy of his current mistress. A remake of his own 1934 silent classic, Yasujiro Ozu's third foray into color filmmaking resulted in one his most visually evocative films—a late period masterpiece that marries the director's distinct style with Miyagawa's extraordinarily deep understanding of color and light. With this brand new restoration, the film is given dazzling new life. "In Floating Weeds, [Miyagawa] created the most pictorially beautiful of all of Ozu's pictures." —Donald Richie


Rashomon                         
Saturday, April 14 at 4:30 pm
1950, 88 min., DCP, b&w, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Akira Kurosawa. With Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyo, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura.
Speaking about Miyagawa's camera work for Rashomon, director Akira Kurosawa said, "I think black-and-white photography reached its peak with that film." An international breakout success, Kurosawa's magnificently shot film about the unknowability of truth burst doors open for Japanese cinema when it won the Golden Lion at the 1951 Venice Film Festival. Working with the master director for the first time, Miyagawa pushed the possibilities of cinematographic expression and technique with elaborate tracking shots, expressive lighting with mirrors, and, most famously, by shooting straight into the sun. "Rashomon is a film where the camera has a starring role." —Akira Kurosawa


The Rickshaw Man (Muhomatsu no Issho)                                                                                          
Saturday, April 14 at 7:00 pm
1943, 80 min., 35mm, b&w, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Hiroshi Inagaki. With Tsumasaburo Bando, Ryunosuke Tsukigata, Keiko Sonoi, Kyoji SugiCo-presented with The Japan Foundation.
This seldom seen classic about a crude but honest rickshaw man who falls in love with an army captain's widow is an early highlight in Miyagawa's career, directed by his frequent collaborator Hiroshi Inagaki (whose 1958 color remake is better known). Marked by Miyagawa's ambitious camerawork, the film culminates in a tour-de-force display of technical skill with a meticulously planned 2 ½ minute sequence in which 46 individual shots are superimposed to create a sublime dream-like montage of light, shadow and movement—all accomplished without an optical printer or light meter.


A Certain Killer (Aru Koroshiya)                                               
Tuesday, April 17 at 7:00 pm
1967, 82 min., 35mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Kazuo Mori. With Raizo Ichikawa, Yumiko Nogawa, Mikio Narita, Mayumi Nagisa. Print courtesy of National Film Center, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.
A stylish crime thriller by genre director Kazuo Mori from a script by Yasuzo Masumura, starring Daiei superstar Raizo Ichikawa as a nihilistic ex-kamikaze pilot restaurateur who moonlights as a contract killer for the yakuza. A solitary figure, the silent hitman's ascetic lifestyle is intruded upon by an insistent young woman and ambitious gangster who eventually plot to betray him. Shot amidst a backdrop of barren wastelands and equally stark interiors, Miyagawa's muted colors and precise widescreen framing visually match the icy, calculated persona of Ichikawa's killer in this little-known late '60s gem.
   

Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold (Zatoichi Senryo-kubi)                                                                                    
Friday, April 20 at 7:00 pm
1964, 83 min., 35mm, color, in Japanese with live English subtitles. Directed by Kazuo Ikehiro. With Shintaro Katsu, Mikiko Tsubouchi, Machiko Hasegawa, Tomisaburo Wakayama.
In this sixth installment of the popular Zatoichi film series, the blind masseur is mistakenly accused of stealing a large sum of tax payments belonging to poor villagers. To clear his name, he sets out to find the actual thieves. Both working on the Zatoichi series for the first time, director Kazuo Ikehiro and Miyagawa inject a hefty dose of style with impressive visuals, including a flashy opening credit sequence and an unforgettable final showdown between Shintaro Katsu's Zatoichi and a sadistic rival swordsman played by Katsu's brother Tomisaburo Wakayama.


Tokyo Olympiad (Tokyo Orinpikku)                                                                                        
Saturday, April 21 at 2:00 pm
** New 4K restoration
1965, 170 min., DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Kon Ichikawa.
Commissioned by the Japan Olympic Committee, director Kon Ichikawa and Miyagawa supervised a team of 164 cameramen, furnished with over 100 cameras and almost 250 lenses, to cover every angle of the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games. Whittled down from over 70 hours of footage, the result is an epic yet intimate film that captures the human drama of the games with artistry and supreme technical skill. Initially rejected by the Olympic organizers, it nevertheless went on to become a huge international sensation and remains one of Ichikawa's (and Miyagawa's) greatest achievements. Winner, 1965 Cannes Film Festival FIPRESCI Award. "So singular and stylized is Ichikawa's approach to his record of the 1964 Olympics that it can hardly be called a documentary."—James Quandt, Cinematheque Ontario


The Devil's Temple (Oni no Sumu Yakata)                                                                                           
Saturday, April 21 at 6:00 pm
1967, 82 min., 35mm, color, in Japanese with live English subtitles. Directed by Kenji Misumi. With Shintaro Katsu, Hideko Takamine, Michiyo Aratama, Kei Sato. Print courtesy of National Film Center, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.
A woman visits an abandoned mountain temple outside Kyoto in medieval Japan where her husband, a fallen nobleman turned vicious killer, is living with his lover. Failing to win him back, she refuses to leave for months until a traveling priest seeking shelter enters the temple and unwittingly instigates a deadly battle of wills. Primarily known for his masterful chanbara films, director Kenji Misumi teamed with Miyagawa to transform this four-person chamber drama about exorcising evil into an operatic, visually flamboyant and psychologically charged masterpiece of mood and claustrophobic mise-en-scene.


The Spider Tattoo (Irezumi)                                                                                       
Saturday, April 21 at 8:00 pm
1966, 86 min., 35mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Yasuzo Masumura. With Ayako Wakao, Akio Hasegawa, Gaku Yamamoto, Kei Sato. Print courtesy of National Film Center, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.
In this darkly erotic Junichiro Tanizaki adaptation directed by Yasuzo Masumura, a beautiful young woman is abducted and sold to a geisha house where a large spider is unwittingly tattooed on her back. Motivated by a supernatural thirst for vengeance, she ruthlessly manipulates the men who lust after her, leaving a pile of bodies in her wake. Using Eastman stock, Miyagawa referenced the rich colors and sharp tones of ukiyo-e woodblock printing to create images that emphasize contrast and clarity, paying particular attention to vibrant whites and reds—especially blood.
  

Street of Shame (Akasen Chitai)                                                                                              
Saturday, April 28 at 2:00 pm
1956, 87 min., 35mm, b&w, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. With Ayako Wakao, Aiko Mimasu, Machiko Kyo, Michiyo Kogure.
Kenji Mizoguchi's final collaboration with Miyagawa (after eight films together) was also his final film—a heart-wrenching drama about the lives of five women working at Dreamland, a brothel in Tokyo's red light district, who struggle to reconcile their dreams in the face of a grim socioeconomic reality. Primarily known for his elegant period films, Mizoguchi's swan song is startlingly contemporary, imbued with documentary-like realism that implements his eye for imaginative blocking and use of deep focus. A poignant summation of the great director's thematic and stylistic interests.


Odd Obsession (Kagi)                                                                                   
Saturday, April 28 at 4:30 pm
1959, 107 min., 35mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Kon Ichikawa. With Machiko Kyo, Ganjiro Nakamura, Junko Kano, Tatsuya Nakadai. Co-presented with The Japan Foundation.

When injections can no longer rejuvenate an aging man's declining virility, he discovers that jealousy offers a good substitute. Taking advantage of an attraction between his daughter's handsome lover and his younger wife, he orchestrates an affair between them to reawaken his once-insatiable libido. Adapted from Junichiro Tanizaki's famous novel, Kon Ichikawa's farcical black comedy about aging and male sexual anxiety features Miyagawa's uniquely subdued color cinematography, which emphasizes the contrast between black shadows and white light to illuminate the film's complex treatment of the conflict between private passions and public decorum. Winner, 1960 Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize. "A beautifully stylized and highly original piece of filmmaking—perverse in the best sense of the word, and worked out with such finesse that each turn of the screw tightens the whole comic structure." —Pauline Kael


Ballad of Orin (Hanare Goze Orin)                                                                                           
Saturday, April 28 at 7:00 pm
1977, 117 min., 35mm, color, in Japanese with live English subtitles. Directed by Masahiro Shinoda. Shima Iwashita, Yoshio Harada, Tomoko Naraoka, Tomoko Jinbo. Print courtesy of National Film Center, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.
A late career highlight for Miyagawa, this gorgeously shot film about the life and tribulations of a wandering outcast goze (blind female musician) in early 20th century Japan had Miyagawa and director Masahiro Shinoda travel all over the country to scout picturesque locations. After interviewing surviving goze in preparation, Miyagawa (whom Shinoda suggested was the film's "real director") resolved to, "create a sense of the ideal beauty that these blind women had inwardly visualized." The result is some of most beautiful color photography in the veteran cameraman's large body of work. Winner, 1978 Japan Academy Prize and Mainichi Film Award for Best Cinematography. "If Ballad of Orin were photographed with the usual Japanese competence, it would be worth seeing. The camera of Kazuo Miyagawa raises it higher." —The New Republic


≥≥RELATED TALK AT JAPAN SOCIETY

Saturday, April 14 at 3 pm
During this special conversation, Ichiro Miyagawa, eldest son of Kazuo Miyagawa, and Masahiro Miyajima, Miyagawa’s longtime camera assistant, will discuss the legendary cinematographer’s life and work. The talk will be moderated by Joanne Bernardi, Professor of Japanese and Film and Media Studies at the University of Rochester, who studied with Miyagawa from 1976-77 at Osaka University of the Arts.
Approx. 60 min. This event is free with the purchase of a ticket to any film in the series. Seating is limited. Ticketholders will be accommodated on a first-come, first-served basis.


≥≥RELATED 'MONTHLY CLASSICS' SCREENINGS AT JAPAN SOCIETY

Yojimbo                                              
Friday, March 2 at 7:00 pm
1961, 110 min., 35mm, b&w, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Akira Kurosawa. With Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yoko Tsukasa, Isuzu Yamada.
In writing about Akira Kurosawa's scruffy samurai classic starring the iconic Toshiro Mifune, preeminent Japanese film historian Donald Richie matter-of-factly states, "Yojimbo is the best-filmed of any of Kurosawa's pictures." A masterclass in widescreen framing and composition, the black and white cinematography by Kazuo Miyagawa (and second unit cameraman Takao Saito) maximizes the film's minimal set, mostly consisting of a small town's dusty main road, with ingenious use of deep focus and wide angle lenses. Hugely influential in style and subject,Yojimbo went on to inspire a number of reworkings, including Sergio Leone's career-catapulting western A Fistful of Dollars.                                                                                                                                                                                            
Ugetsu                 
Friday, April 6 at 7:00 pm
1953, 94 min., DCP, b&w, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. With Machiko Kyo, Mitsuko Mito, Kinuyo Tanaka, Masayuki Mori.
This new 4K restoration of Kenji Mizoguchi's towering masterpiece offers viewers an opportunity to appreciate the nuance of cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa's exquisite images. A haunting and elegant fable about the illusory nature of desire set during the civils wars of Japan's 16th century, Ugetsu seamlessly weaves reality and fantasy together with painterly images that unfurl like scenes from an emaki scroll. Among the film's many breathtaking moments, the waterfront picnic between a potter and the ghost of a noblewoman is reportedly the only scene Miyagawa shot for Mizoguchi (out of eight total films) for which the famously stone-faced director complimented him.

ABOUT KAZUO MIYAGAWA
  
"Naming the most skillful cinematographer of a country is often a difficult task. In Japan the job is simplified somewhat by the international reputation earned by Kazuo Miyagawa," wroteAmerican Cinematographer in 1960. By then a respected industry veteran renowned for his work on masterpieces like Rashomon and Ugetsu, Miyagawa would go on to solidify his standing as Japan's preeminent cinematographer throughout the rest of his extraordinary career, working on over 130 films, many of them among the best Japanese cinema has to offer.

Miyagawa, born in Kyoto in 1908, found the roots of his interest in image making through an early study of sumi-e ink painting, which informed his appreciation of the subtle tonal variations within black and white. This eventually led him to take up monochrome still photography as a teenager. After high school, Miyagawa landed a job at Nikkatsu's Kyoto studio. He worked in the film lab, developing and tinting prints until he joined the cinematography department in 1928, where he cut his teeth as a focus puller and second-unit cameraman.

Miyagawa continued to develop his technical expertise and ingenuity, receiving his first credit as cinematographer in 1935. Often working on comedies during this time, he earned the nickname "the comic cameraman." It was in 1943 that he had a major artistic breakthrough with The Rickshaw Man, directed by his early mentor Hiroshi Inagaki, with whom he learned to effectively use tracking shots, cranes and other cinematographic devices. The Rickshaw Man was produced by Daiei--who took over Nikkatsu's Kyoto studio that same year, and for whom Miyagawa continued to work almost exclusively until 1969.

After contributing to the immense success of Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon in 1950, Miyagawa worked with Kenji Mizoguchi on several of his most well-known films--including UgetsuSansho the BailiffA Story from Chikamatsu and his first color film, New Tales of the Taira Clan--helping perfect Mizoguchi's signature visual style. He continued to make his mark at Daiei with other major directors like Kozaburo Yoshimura and Kon Ichikawa, working on up to five films a year. Never hesitating to experiment with cinematic technique, Miyagawa tested the limits of new technologies such as anamorphic formats and color film stocks. Perhaps most notably, he is credited with innovating a bleach bypass film-developing technique for Ichikawa's Her Brother, resulting in a uniquely washed out color.

Throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s, Miyagawa also worked with several of Japan's most inventive genre directors such as Kazuo Mori and Kenji Misumi, tackling yakuza, chanbaraand exploitation films, including several entries in the popular Zatoichi series. In the later part of his career, he found a creative partner in Japanese New Wave auteur Masahiro Shinoda, with whom he continued to make visually superlative films that garnered international attention such as Silence and Ballad of Orin, the latter of which earned him a Japanese Academy Prize for Best Cinematography. In 1978, Miyagawa received the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon from the Japanese government for his contributions to Japanese art. In 1981, he was honored by members of the American Society of Cinematographers at a tribute hosted by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

Miyagawa remained professionally active into his eighties, spending the last part of his life teaching film technique at Osaka University of the Arts, and passed away in Tokyo in 1999 at the age of 91.

~

Japan Society Film offers a diverse selection of Japanese films, from classics to contemporary independent productions. Its aim is to entertain, educate and support activities in the Society's arts and culture programs. For more, visit www.japansociety.org/film.
Founded in 1907, Japan Society in New York City presents sophisticated, topical and accessible experiences of Japanese art and culture, and facilitates the exchange of ideas, knowledge and innovation between the U.S. and Japan. More than 200 events annually encompass world-class exhibitions, dynamic classical and cutting-edge contemporary performing arts, film premieres and retrospectives, workshops and demonstrations, tastings, family activities, language classes, and a range of high-profile talks and expert panels that present open, critical dialogue on issues of vital importance to the U.S., Japan and East Asia.

During the 2017-18 season, Japan Society celebrates its 110th anniversary with expanded programming that builds toward a richer, more globally interconnected 21st century: groundbreaking creativity in the visual and performing arts, unique access to business insiders and cultural influencers, and critical focus on social and educational innovation, illuminating our world beyond borders.

Japan Society is located at 333 East 47th Street between First and Second avenues (accessible by the 4/5/6 and 7 subway at Grand Central or the E and M subway at Lexington Avenue). For more information, call 212-832-1155 or visit www.japansociety.org.

Kazuo Miyagawa: Japan's Greatest Cameraman at Japan Society is made possible through the generous support of The Globus Family. Japan Society Film is generously supported by the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Endowment Fund. Additional season support is provided by The Globus Family, Masu Hiroshi Masuyama, James Read Levy, Geoff Matters, David S. Howe, Dr. Tatsuji Namba, Mr. and Mrs. Omar H. Al-Farisi, Laurel Gonsalves, and Akiko Koide and Shohei Koide.

The series at The Museum of Modern Art is sponsored by MUFG Union Bank.