Sakura season has arrived in Tokyo and my mono no aware is kicking into high gear.
Cherry blossoms in bloom have served as the scenic backdrop to endless movies and TV shows. Sometimes it's a central image, as was the 200-year-old shidarezakura (weeping cherry blossom tree) in Yukisada Isao's Year One in the North (Kita no Zeronen) -- a magnificent tree which I've visited in person.
One of the early cinematic impressions of sakura I remember is the famous shot of wheelchair-bound Ôsugi Ren facing a wall of blossoms in Kitano Takeshi's Hana-Bi.
To celebrate their beauty, pictured above is a stunning image from Nakashima Tetsuya's (中島哲也監督) upcoming Confession (Kokuhaku, 『告白』). Which of the 37 13-year-old students in Matsu Takako's junior high school class murdered her pretty 4-year-old daughter? We'll find out on June 5th.
If you don't read Japanese and don't want to navigate the official site you can read some background and see the trailer for the film on Nippon Cinema here. It's easily one of best trailers for a Japanese film I've seen in years, creating that same sense of alluring power that Battle Royale and Love Exposure had.
5 comments:
I agree. I can't wait to see this. Nakashima is one of my favorite Japanese directors working today.
I remember you being excited about Paco and his other films. It'd be good if you could interview Nakashima for M.E. He's definitely earned his auteur status but it'll take a major prize or two overseas for him to get wider recognition.
Wow! Awesome photo! Some of us down in Hiroshima are doing a Japan Spring Photo Contest, and I think you should submit this photo!
http://www.wideislandview.com/?p=2973
While you might not be interested in the prizes, you could always do it just for fun!
As it says in the entry, the photo is from the movie Confession. Wish I had taken it, though.
intense movie, for me his best...
a trip into the origins of evil and violence, with a touch of visual poetry, plenty of slow motion scenes, blood....
A problematic movie...in a sense that it doesn`t give you easy solutions but new problems...
best
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