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Kinema Japan

The Wexner Center will go abroad again this summer with the film series Kinema Japan. This year’s summer series—both inside in its Film/Video Theater and out on the plaza—offers many moments of reflection and appreciation for one of the world’s great film traditions. Works include some of the most revered Japanese directors, including Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa, contemporary filmmakers including Takashi Miike and Hirokazu Kore-Eda, and many other films from Japan’s vital film history. Two of the films will feature live music performed by local musicians Larry Marrotta and Sue Harshe.

David Filipi, director of film and video at the Wex, notes, "The series should prove to be a wonderful showcase for the rich film history of Japan as it features a variety of genres and directors from the past 80 years. The devastating earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 struck soon after we finalized the schedule. With this in mind, it's difficult to think of the series as a 'celebration' but we do hope that it offers numerous opportunities to reflect on the traditions and achievements of Japanese cinema."

All films are copresented by Ohio State’s East Asian Studies Center, which will gather donations for disaster relief in Japan at the Wex Drive-in events on June 16, July 21, and August 18.

The full schedule

**Denotes Wex Drive-In

** Thursday, June 16 at dusk: Lost in Translation (2003), Sofia Coppola’s celebrated follow-up to The Virgin Suicides, follows the budding relationship between an aging actor (Bill Murray) and a recent college graduate (Scarlett Johansson) as both cope with failing relationships and the existential loneliness brought about by a stay in Tokyo (102 mins., 35mm).



Tuesday, June 21 at 7 pm: Tokyo Story (1953), also a part of the Film History 101 series, is a quiet film that tells a devastating story of an aging couple’s trip to Tokyo to visit their children, only to be neglected by their self-absorbed offspring. Regularly cited as one of the greatest films ever made and one of the most poignant films about growing old, Tokyo Story is inspired in part by Leo McCarey’s Make Way for Tomorrow (1937) (136 mins., 35mm).



Thursday, July 7 at 7 pm: Ran (1985), Akira Kurosawa’s riff on Shakespeare’s tragedy King Lear, is the epic tale of an aging 16th-century warlord with a legacy of bloodshed who intends to divide his kingdom between his three disloyal sons. Two beautifully choreographed, stunningly shot, carnage-filled battle scenes steal the show. Nominated for four Oscars including Best Director, it won for Costume Design (160 mins, 35mm).



Friday & Saturday, July 8 & 9 at 7 pm (double feature): 13 Assassins (2010), director Takashi Miike’s departure from his signature lurid and extremely violent fare, takes on the traditional samurai film. The film follows a band of 13 assassins bent on killing the out-of-control younger brother of the Shogun (126 mins, 35mm). 9:45 pm: In Yojimbo (1961), Toshiro Mifune stars as a ronin (masterless samurai) who convinces the three crime bosses in a small town to hire him as protection against the others. Heavily influenced by American westerns and remade by Sergio Leone as A Fistful of Dollars (1964) (110 mins, 35mm).





Thursday, July 14 at 7 pm: Onibaba (Demon Woman) (1964) is Kaneto Shindo’s erotic horror classic about an impoverished mother and daughter-in-law in Medieval Japan who eke out an existence by murdering stray samurai and selling their belongings (103 mins, 35mm). 9 pm: In Kuroneko (Black Cat) (1968), a murdered mother and daughter-in-law rematerialize as ghosts to exact their revenge on samurai who pass by their house (95 mins, 35mm).





Thursday, July 21 at 7 pm: Godzilla (1954) became a pop culture icon, a metaphor for nuclear weapons, and one of the biggest film franchises in history. Godzilla was unleashed upon Japanese audiences, and eventually the world, for the first time in this sci-fi monster classic. This is the original, full-length Japanese version with all of the dark humor and anti-H-bomb messages missing from the American version (95 mins, 35mm).



** Thursday, July 21 at dusk: Battle in Outer Space (1959), a colorful sci-fi film from Japan, is full of some of the most impressive special effects that the era had to offer. Set in the future (1965!) when Earth is attacked by aliens armed with anti-gravity rays and mind-control, humanity responds by launching two rocketships to attack the alien beachhead on the moon. With inventive space battles (including flying saucers versus lunar tanks), the film is a splendid spectacle that some have seen as an influence on later films, including Star Wars. In Japanese with English subtitles (90 mins., 35mm).



Thursday, July 28 at 7 PM (triple feature): I Was Born, But… (1932), performed with live music by Larry Marotta, is one of director Yasujiro Ozu’s most beloved silent films. It’s a humor-filled, poignant depiction of childhood focused on two young brothers who are embarrassed by their father’s station in life (100 mins, 35mm). 9 pm: The grim Woman of Tokyo (1933), with live music by Sue Harshe, tells the story of a young couple whose engagement is threatened when rumors surface that the groom-to-be’s sister has a secret life as a prostitute (47 mins, 35mm). 10 pm: The only existing footage from Ozu’s I Graduated, But… (1929) finishes the night (14 mins, 35mm).

Friday & Saturday, July 29 & 30 at 7 pm (double feature): Sword of Doom (1966), considered by many to be the greatest sword fight film ever, follows a savage samurai-for-hire (Tatsuya Nakadai) who is haunted by the fear of revenge, not to mention the superior skill of a rival master swordsman (Toshiro Mifune). Shot in stunning widescreen, black-and-white film (119 mins, 35mm). 9:45 pm: Karate-Robo Zaborgar (2011) depicts the evil secret society Sigma’s plan to harvest the DNA of Japan’s leader in order to build an “ultimate weapon.” Standing in Sigma’s way: secret agent Yutaka Daimon and his robot motorcycle sidekick Zaborgar. Although based on a popular 70’s television show, director Iguchi updates the material for 21st-century audiences with modest (for him) doses of splatterific content (101 mins, video).



Thursday, August 4 at 7 pm (double feature): Pale Flower (1964), one of the darker entries in the Japanese New Wave, follows a just-out-of-prison yakuza who finds himself entangled with a sexy femme fatale addicted to gambling. The score is by the great Toru Takemitsu. (96 mins, 35mm) 8:45 pm: Caterpillar (2010) depicts the deeply troubled relationship between a wife and her husband, who returns from World War II limbless, deaf, and mute. Best known as a director of “pink films” (softcore sex and exploitation films), Koji Wakamatsu has always been a vocal political and social critic, with Caterpillar serving as a pointed commentary on the devastating effects of nationalistic militarism (85 mins, video).





Tuesday, August 9 at 7 pm: The Naked Island (1960), a landmark of Japanese cinema, depicts a family of poor farmers struggling for existence on a nearly deserted archipelago in southwest Japan. Like the windswept landscape inhabited by the family, director Kaneto Shindo has stripped his film to the bare essentials: no spoken dialogue, little plot, bracing black & white cinematography (94 mins, 35mm).

Thursday, August 11 at 7 pm (double feature): After Life (1998) depicts the souls of the recently deceased, who must stop at a way station before entering Heaven to select the most cherished memory from their lives (118 mins, 35mm). 9:15 pm: Maborsi (1995) follows a young widow who looks for answers after the apparent suicide of her husband, the father to her young son (109 mins, 35mm).





Thursday, August 18 at 7 pm: Antonio Gaudí (1985) was one of the most audacious architects of the last century, and director Hiroshi Teshigahara holds a similar distinction in film. So who better than Teshigahara to capture on film the astonishing buildings and interiors of the Catalan architect? Viewers are taken on an unforgettable tour of Gaudí’s masterpieces (including the unfinished Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona) through Teshigahara’s exquisite cinematography and sensual camera movements. One of the greatest documentaries of an artist’s work ever made (72 mins, 35mm).



** Thursday, August 18 at dusk: Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) follows Sophie, a hard-working teenage girl, as a jealous witch transforms her into a 90-year-old woman. She seeks refuge in the magical castle of the handsome-but-mysterious wizard Howl, who she works with to bring peace to a war-torn kingdom. This transporting film is full of rich details, spectacular creatures, and imaginative design. This English-language version features the voices of Lauren Bacall, Christian Bale, Jena Malone, and Billy Crystal. There’s no better way to restore one’s sense of wonder than seeing the Hayao Miyazaki film, especially under the stars on a summer night (119 mins., 35mm).



Friday & Saturday, August 19 & 20 at 7 pm: Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985), as the title suggests, is director Peter Schrader’s four-part portrait of the famed author, playwright, filmmaker, actor, and fervent Japanese nationalist Yukio Mishima, who committed ritual suicide after a failed coup d’état in 1970. One of the key figures of Japan’s second generation of postwar writers, Mishima’s life was under constant scrutiny not only because of his talent and politics, but also because of questions about his sexual orientation. The film has never had an official theatrical release in Japan. Print courtesy Paul Schrader (120 mins, 35mm).



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