The weird and wonderful comic book Barbara, by Manga Maestro Osamu Tezuka is finally a live action film, directed by the author's son Macoto Tezka who has been looking after the father's legacy for a long time. Now “Tezuka's Barbara” has been selected to participate in the Official Competition of the 32nd Tokyo International Film Festival.
Recently interviewed by AMP, Macoto Tezka disclosed some trivia about “Barbara”: “There were a few more other projects that I really wanted to do out of my father's mangas, but one producer was interested in making “Barbara”, so that's why we decided to make the film. But that was years back and we couldn't find a suitable cast or anything, so we took Barbara aside for a bit while we were making the new version of “Stardust Brothers”. After it, I went back to “Barbara” and then it all just happened really fast. We got all the elements together, in terms of the stuff, crew and everything so I could make “Barbara” .
“Another element is that my father's whole body of work is very well known and commercial, except for “Barbara”. “Barbara” has got a little bit more cultic feeling to it and it's slightly obscure, and I really like the tone of it, that's why I chose it to be made into a live action film.”
Fumi Nikaido plays the titular character, sided by Gorô Inagaki in the role of the novelist Yosuke Mikura, while the cinematography is the capable hands of Christopher Doyle. Third Window Films will look after the distribution and we cannot wait to see it!
Synopsis
Barbara is an adult-orientated fantasy tale filled with love and the occult from Osamu Tezuka's reimagining of “The Tales of Hoffmann”. Its story deals with the erotic and bizarre experiences of a famous novelist called Yosuke Mikura whose life is tossed upside down by a mysterious girl named “Barbara”. IMDB
