Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Films Galore!

 The Ramen Girl (C) Digitalsite Corp./Media 8 Entertainment

Shrinking from ten days to two, eighteen feature films to nine, and migrating east from last year's Santa Monica location to the New Beverly Cinema, the 2010 Japan Film Festival offered large crowds a taste of the past year in Japanese cinema.

Check out LA Weekly's fantastic coverage along with trailers for some of the most popular films here.

The most well-attended and talked about L.A. premiere was with no question Ramen Girl, with a noodle cooking Brittany Murphy scrubbing toilets under the stern eye of revered actor Toshiyuki Nishida.

Besides the fact that it would be hard for a middle-aged salary man with twenty years of work under his belt to afford the Tokyo apartment Abby (Brittany Murphy) lives in as a beginning copywriter, Ramen Girl is a must see for anyone who fancies a good bowl of piping hot chashu ramen.

Nishida’s performance as Abby’s whiskey-inhaling teacher, Kimiko Yo as his kind-hearted wife and Tsutomu Yamazaki as the bow-inducing godfather of ramen (both from last year’s award winning film, Departures) gave exceptional performances supporting Abby’s coming of age story as she takes on the art of ramen.

Japan's Society's Globus Film Series Mad, Bad...& Dangerous to Know is about to begin showcasing Mariko Okada films, including:

 

Impasse
A.K.A. Flame and Women and Flame of Feeling

炎と女 (Hono to onna)
Directed by Kiju Yoshida, 1967
Wednesday, April 14, 2010 at 7:30 PM
Buy Tickets
 

The Affair

情炎 (Joen)
Directed by Kiju Yoshida, 1967
Thursday, April 15, 2010 at 7:30 PM
Buy Tickets
 

Woman of the Lake

女のみづうみ (Onna no mizuumi)
Directed by Kiju Yoshida, 1966
Sunday April 18, 2010 at 6:30 PM
Buy Tickets

The grand finale of the series will be Two Wives, which features not only the alluring Okada but also Ayako Wakao. This is the first time this film will be officially screened outside of Japan and with two powerful female leads, it's not one to miss.

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