Japanese Film Festival Online 2022: ACN brings insightful reviews of Japanese films

NEW DELHI: Starting February 14, the Japanese film lovers would not only enjoy the movies the Japan Foundation is bringing to them online as part of the Japanese Film Festival Online 2022 (#JFFOnline2022), they would also be enjoying detailed and in-depth reviews of some of these world acclaimed movies.

These films are Under the Open Sky (すばらしき世界), It’s a Summer Film! (サマーフィルムにのって), Sumodo: The Successors of Samurai (相撲道〜サムライを継ぐ者たち), and Aristocrats（あのこは貴族）.

The fifth edition of this annual film event will screen 20 globally popular Japanese movies of varied genres and styles in 25 countries including India during the 2-week extravaganza that ends on February 27. People can view these films with English subtitles at https://jff.jpf.go.jp/jffonline2022/

To begin with, the Asian Community News (ACN) film review experts team comprising of Sunil Kumar, Nikita, and Sangeeta Yadav, would unleash film reviews with the award-winning Japanese film “Under the Open Sky” (すばらしき世界) on February 14.

Directed by world-acclaimed filmmaker NISHIKAWA Miwa, the film is a poignant depiction of Ex-con’s struggle to return to Japanese society. It’s about a murder convict Yakuza (gangster), who is released after 13-year imprisonment, and about his journey to find the mother who abandoned him as a child. He is hindered by his criminal past and struggles to adapt to his new life in the contemporary but rigid society in Japan.

The film is based on a novel ‘Mibuncho’ written by Korea-born Ryûzô Saki (1937). He was a writer and actor, known for some of the excellent works like The Miracle of Umitsubame Joe, and South to the Horizon.

The next review to follow is “It’s A Summer Film” (サマーフィルムにのって), also known as Summer Film Ni Notte. It is the debut movie of the 34 years old filmmaker Soushi Matsumoto, that depicts the adolescent’s grind, passion, and the glory of movie creation.

The review of another popular Japanese film “Sumodo: The Successors of Samurai”（相撲道〜サムライを継ぐ者たち）be available online at www.asiancommunitynews.com.  Moving and insightful, it is director Eiji Sakata’s documentary that offers an eye-opening look into the intimate workings of what it means to be a professional sumo wrestler in modern Japan. Filmed over the course of six months, Sumodo follows the lives of two wrestlers, Gōeidō Gōtarō and Ryūden Gōshi, as they prepare to battle it out on the legendary stage of Ryōgoku Kokugikan.

Another popular Japanese film ARISTOCRATS’ （あのこは貴族) review will elaborate on it in finer and expanded details. It’s a drama that questions the state of contemporary life through the perspectives of two female protagonists of different backgrounds. Aristocrats is a book adaptation by the 39 years old director Yukiko Sode. The serialized novel was written by Mariko Yamauchi under the name “Ano Ko wa Kizoku” which was published from 2015 to 2016.