Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on October 2012
The Tokyo International Film Festival is set to run October 20-28 at Roppongi Hills and other venues. The 25th installment of TIFF will feature over 100 films in various programs, including a dozen world premieres. For Tokyo’s expat community, the fest presents a rare opportunity to see Japanese films with English subtitles. The offerings also include new works that might never enjoy a wide release in Japan, and archival films that likely won’t be shown again anytime soon. So catch them while you can.
High-profile films at the fest include Trouble with the Curve, starring Clint Eastwood as an aging baseball scout, and Japan in a Day, the brainchild of executive producer Ridley Scott. In the latter, Japanese people were asked to submit footage of their daily lives on March 11, 2012, which was then edited together to paint a portrait of a nation recovering from a natural disaster. James Cameron, who chose the 1997 TIFF as the stage to unveil Titanic, picked this year’s fest for the world premiere of his executive-produced performance film Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away. The gothic horror flick The Woman in Black will showcase Daniel Radcliffe in his first acting gig after the Harry Potter series.
In the competition section, the festival continues its tradition of bringing together lesser known works from around the world. Accession tells the story of an uneducated South African man who learns he may be HIV-positive, and The Black Square offers existential drama when the title shape appears in the skies over Beijing. Torn families are the theme of the South Korean Juvenile Offender; What Maisie Knew, a 19th-century Henry James novel reset in modern-day New York; and Nick Cassavetes’ Yellow, about a drug-dependent elementary school teacher.
Featured Japanese films, which will all screen with English subtitles, include the modern-day ghost story Aokigahara; Sue, Mai & Sawa starring Ko Shibasaki and Shinobu Terajima; Last Days of Summer, a coming-of-age drama set in a mountain village; and the love story A Terminal Trust by the director of Shall We Dance? Meanwhile, the documentary Flashback Memories 3D features a Japanese didgeridoo player whose family helps him cope with memory loss following a traffic accident.
TIFF also carries on its environmentally-conscious stance, with visiting filmmakers walking a green carpet made from recycled PET bottles at the opening ceremony, and the “Natural TIFF” program of films spotlighting some of the planet’s most pressing problems. The lineup includes Trashed [pictured] in which actor Jeremy Irons surveys the world garbage crisis, and The Island President detailing the struggle of the charismatic leader of the Maldives to save his country from global warming.
The “Golden Slumbers” program presents a new documentary on, and classic examples of the cinema of Cambodia, which had a thriving horror film industry before the brutal Pol Pot regime wiped it out. Other documentaries to look out for include A Liar’s Autobiography, a 3-D animated retelling of the life of late Monty Python member Graham Chapman; and Side by Side, in which Keanu Reeves explores the effect of digitalization on the “film” world.
For schedules and ticket info, visit http://2012.tiff-jp.net/en
