Nihon Eiga Satellite Broadcasting Corporation
6:30 PM Villon's Wife, 114 minutes
- New York Premiere
9:00 PM Nightmare Detective 2, 102 minutes
- U.S. Premiere
ACF mini-review of Nightmare Detective 2:
Shinya Tsukamoto directs this sequel to his 2006 hit, and Ryuhei Matsuda reprises his role as Kyoichi Kagenuma, the titular character. Kyoichi is able to cure people of their nightmares by entering their dreams, but often at great cost to himself.
This time around, he agrees to help Yukie, a fifteen year old high school student who tormented one of her female classmates. Her situation seems to offer him insight into his own past and the death of his mother.
This is a darker and more psychological film than the original. Furthermore, it lacks a really compelling protagonist. In the first film, that role was played by Tsukamoto himself as 'O'. I found Nightmare Detective 2 a bit too talky and lacking in action. There was also more jittery, hand-held camera work than I care for.
Despite the above, and although the thriller/horror genre is not among my favorites, I still found Nightmare Detective 2 to be a compelling film and think it's well-worth your time and energy.
ACF Rating: 3 out of 4 stars (recommended).
The schedule for tomorrow, Thursday, July 15th,2010 is:
6:15 PM Memories of Matsuko, 130 minutes
- A Best of Unreleased Naughties film
- Memories of Matsuko won the Audience Award, as determined by audience ballots, at the 2007 New York Asian Film Festival, where it was a co-presentation with the first JAPAN CUTS series
- This screening represents another opportunity to view this outstanding film
9:00 PM Zero Focus, 130 minutes
For info about all the films shown in the JAPAN CUTS 2010 festival, click here.
Japan Society is located at 333 East 47th Street, between 1st and 2nd Avenues, New York City.
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