Presented by the Consulate-General of Japan in Hong Kong and The Japan Foundation, co-presented by the Hong Kong Arts Centre and supported by Japan Autumn Festival in Hong Kong – Rediscovering Nippon, moving image programme, The Treasure Box of Love and Death: Obayashi Nobuhiko Film Showcase, takes place at the Louis Koo Cinema, Hong Kong Arts Centre from 6 to 21 November 2021.
Japanese director Obayashi Nobuhiko, who died in April last year, left behind a large number of works with diverse themes in different fields, from experimental films to TV commercials and mainstream features. The Treasure Box of Love and Death: Obayashi Nobuhiko Film Showcase commemorates this magical film artist, screening nine selected features by Obayashi, including four rarely seen works from the 1980s, from which audience can observe various motifs found in Obayashi's films: home, playfulness, pacifism and the tragedy of love.
This programme was postponed from last year's dates to this year due to the pandemic. With the programme taking place this year, there will be three more great classics by Obayashi – “Emotion”, “House” and “Labyrinth of Cinema”. Director Obayashi's daughter, Obayashi Chigumi, will also attend a talk virtually to meet the audience and chat about her father's film journey. This talk will be moderated by Variety's Asia Chief Film Critic and curator for the Tokyo and Vancouver international film festivals, Maggie Lee. For more information on Obayashi Chigumi, please refer to the programme information below.
“Emotion” is Obayashi's most remarkable experimental short film addressing a city girl's love to an enigmatic vampire. In “The Ruined City”, a university student visits a remote town famed for its canals in order to work on his undergraduate dissertation. He is immediately attracted to the young girl running the guesthouse in which he stays, and is enchanted by the constant sound of the waters. However, to the locals, this charming and laid-back small town is a dying and ruined city, and the large guesthouse and the family living within it are in a state of tragic decline. “The Strange Couple” portrays the disrupted life of the married couple Murota and Yuko when their childhood friend is released from jail. Obayashi used Agfa film to shoot this film, creating a colourful palette rarely seen in Japanese films by capturing trains running in the middle of a busy city, as well as the dirty and haphazard small houses along the coast, portraying an atmosphere of Onomichi city that is at once absurd and unique.
“House” is a combination of few Japanese horror tales and Jaws the Hollywood blockbuster blending with elements of teen drama and comedy. It is inspired from the dream of Obayashi's teen daughter, Obayashi Chigumi, focusing on a young girl meeting her dead aunt whose remaining spirit eats unmarried girls in her house. “Four Sisters” is a story of four sisters of the Kitosawa family from Kyoto who, as it turns out, are not blood relatives, tracing the romantic and familial relationships of the women along with their trials and tribulations as they experience the various vicissitudes of life. It was seen as an updated version of the classic film, The Makioka Sisters, when it was released. The story of “The Young and Wild” takes place in a town located near the Seto Inland Sea in the days before the outbreak of World War II. A young boy is transferred to a primary school in the area and quickly starts a battle with his classmates to decide who will be the king of the children. Meanwhile, his beautiful older sister Osho-chan becomes the object of desire among all the male students, teachers, and even a young army officer, who compete with each other for her affection. When they find out that she is about to be sold to prostitution, all the men in town unite to save her… “Seven Weeks” is a film event organised by the town of Ashibetsu in Hokkaido, and it was financed independently, with 80% of the budget raised from residents in the area. The story follows the events after the death of Suzuki Mitsuo, a retired doctor who passed away at the age of 95. His children gather from all over Japan to attend his funeral.
“Hanagatami” was adapted from House on Fire author and protagonist Dan Kazuo's debut novel. This is about a seventeen-year-old high school student, moves in with his aunt in Karatsu, and soon develops tumultuous friendships with his classmates and infatuations with his younger cousin as well as other local beauties, just before the outbreak of the Pacific War. “Labyrinth of Cinema”, Obayashi's last film is about a group of cinema-goers being transported into a silver screen world with social conflicts and war. This highlights the director's humorous reflection about his childhood memories, cinema and war.
On this film showcase dedicated to her father in Hong Kong, Obayashi Chigumi remarked, “When Obayashi Nobuhiko was three years old, he had his first experience of film. Discovering a film projector in the storage room at home, he played around with it until he learned the principles of moving images. Ever since he started his filmmaking journey at six years old, he lived a life side by side with film. My father adored Hong Kong – we visited several times as a family. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to showcase nine works from his filmography – starting with “Emotion”, his epoch-making work of Japanese independent cinema, and from his commercial debut, “House”, to his final work “Labyrinth of Cinema” – all rich in the spirit of experimentation, to the audiences of Hong Kong. May you feel illuminated by the light of a hopeful future with the cinema of Obayashi.”
Veteran film critic Cheng Chuen-wai will attend after-screening talk of “The Young and Wild” to share his insights on the works of Obayashi. Conducted in Cantonese. For a more detailed look at the program, follow this link.
