Note: All the films will be screened in the original language, Japanese, with English subtitles.
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The Chef of South the Pole (Released in 2009, 125 minutes,)
In 1997, an 8 member research team arrived at Dome Fuji Station where is located a Japanese research facility in the frozen no man's land of Antarctica. The place is
1,000km away from the Antarctic coast. Animals and viruses could hardly survive there.... ...Mr. Nishimura is a chef of the 8 member research team. Fine dining is
on the menu at Dome Fuji Station. The chef misses his family in Japan, but he tries to prepare a delicious meal every day to make the members of research team happy.
Despite the harsh climate, Chef Nishimura is determined to dish up as much mouth-watering fare as possible. From lobster to foie gras and matsuzaka beef, nothing is
too good for his crew. It's a good thing, too. As the men try to fill their days of communal isolation with mundane tasks they begin to develop bizarre cravings, an
eccentric fashion sense and a longing for home. Their much-anticipated meal times may be the only thing keeping them from going stir crazy! The Captain of the team
is addicted to ramen, the doctor tries to train to participate in a triathlon when he returns to Japan, and the young support member likes a telephone operator whom he
has never met before... Various unique people have to live together for one and a half year. What will their curious lives be going in the South Pole?
Based on the autobiographical essays by Chef Jun Nishimura, this quirky comedy tells the story of one cook's journey to a part of the South Pole.
Join us for this delectable cinematic blend of daily life and daily bread. Whatever you do, don't come hungry
Always—Sunset on Third Street (Released in 2007, 133 minutes)
As the film opens, a giant lizard is destroying a working-class neighborhood in Tokyo, upending streetcars and crushing local businesses and shops. But it is only another
fantasy from the mind of Chagawa Ryunosuke, the pulp writer who has taken in Junnosuke, the once-abandoned son of a wealthy international businessman. Across the
street, mechanic Suzuki Norifumi’s wife, Tomoe, has news for their son, Ippei: Ippei’s cousin Mika will be coming to stay with them while her father works through some
financial difficulties. Ippei is not looking forward to having a girl in the house, and especially not one raised in money who looks down on the entire family. Chagawa faces
pressure on two fronts: Junnosuke’s father is threatening to take him back, while the love of his life, Hiromi, has disappeared. Meanwhile, Suzuki’s assistant mechanic,
Mutsuko, has blossomed into a young woman, and is attracting attention from fellow displaced northerner Takeo, an apprentice chef. Suzuki nervously awaits his regimental
reunion, wondering whatever happened to his friend Ushijima, while Chagawa is mocked at his college reunion as a hack writer. Suzuki is overjoyed to find that Ushijima is
alive and well, and invites him back to his house for an evening of drinking, during which Ushitori tells him they don’t need to mourn the dead forever. The next day, Suzuki
discovers that he had come home alone, drunk. Chagawa finds out that Junnosuke has been using his lunch money to pay the household bills and finds out that Hiromi is
working as a stripper under the alias Asaoka Betty; he determines that the way out of his troubles is to take one last shot at the Akutagawa Prize, Japan’s most famous
literary honor. Takeo is disturbed to see Mutsuko all dressed up for a “date,” but as it turns out she is simply going out to a “Yujiro” film in Ginza with her friends; she hears
from one of them, however, that Takeo has been fired for delinquency.
Tomoe runs into an old flame on Nihonbashi bridge, where they had promised to meet. She forgets him over home movies of Ippei as a baby, and with the sudden news
that Chagawa has indeed been nominated for the Akutagawa! A man claiming to be from the prize committee visits Chagawa and tells him that a small donation will be
necessary to grease the wheels; the entire neighborhood chips in, and the man tells Chagawa that the prize will surely be his. Hiromi visits while he is away to return the
empty ring box he had given her as a promise before she gets on a train to start a new life in Osaka. Everyone else gathers to wait for the call announcing the prize, including Junnosuke’s father, who is determined to take back his son if Chagawa loses, which he does. As the father grabs Junnosuke, the neighborhood rallies around Chagawa,
admitting one by one that they had read his story, which is all about Hiromi. Hiromi has read it, too, and returns for good. Junnosuke’s father, seeing this, leaves without
saying a word. The Suzuki’s finally go to the top of Tokyo Tower together.
5 Centimeters per Second (Released in 2007, 63 minutes)
Tono Takaki (Mizuhashi Kenji) and Sinohara Akari (Kondo Yoshimi) had been apart since they left elementary school, however, they kept in touch through correspondence
as they had feelings for each other. One day in winter, Takaki left Tokyo and set off for Tochigi where Akari lives. The train is delayed by heavy snow and he is alone in his carriage, as the time ticks away. Long after the agreed meeting time, the two are finally reunited in a waiting room at a small station.
"5 Centimeters per Second", which focuses on the roving souls of Takaki and Akari in their adulthood, forms the last part of three animation series that revolve around
Takaki from the 1990s to the present day. The previous parts are "Oukasho" that shows the day when Takaki and Akari meet again, and "Cosmonaut" which portrays
Takaki at high school on the island of Tanegashima from the viewpoint of a girl who fancies him.
Directed by Shinkai Makoto, who made his debut in 2002 with The Voices of a Distant Star (Hoshi no Koe) which he created single handedly. His The Place Promised
in Our Early Days (Kumo no Muko, Yakusoku no Basho) won various awards both in Japan and abroad, including the Mainichi Film Award in the animation section. |
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