ACF 1417: It's going to be a Sakura film Saturday at Japan Society

Japan Society's film series As Cherry Blossoms Fall, presented in association with the Japan Foundation, will offer three films tomorrow, Saturday, April 7, 2012. (There is a separate admission charge for each film.) All will be shown at Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street, between 1st and 2nd Avenues, NYC. Series information here. As Cherry Blossoms Fall is part of Sakura — Spring Renews, Beauty Blooms.

The 47 Loyal Ronin

Directed by Hiroshi Inagaki

With Yuzo Kayama, Chusha Ichikawa, Tatsuya Mihashi,

Akira Takarada, Yosuke Natsuki, and Toshiro Mifune.

Japan, 1962, 207 minutes, 35 mm, color

In Japanese with English subtitles.

Saturday, April 7 at 1:00 PM

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Chushingura means “loyalty,” and that potent Japanese theme runs throughout this stately samurai epic that is often called the Gone with the Wind of Japanese cinema. While that may be a fitting cultural parallel, it gives an inaccurate impression of the film, based on one of Japan’s most often interpreted historical events. Set during the Tokugawa shogunate in 1701, it centers on 47 loyal samurai who seek vengeance against the arrogant elder statesman who caused their master’s ritual suicide. 

Shinsengumi Chronicles: I Want to Die a Saumura

Directed by Kenji Misumi

With Raizo Ichikawa, Tomisaburo Wakayama

Japan, 1963, 93 minutes, 35 mm, color

In Japanese with English subtitles

Saturday, April 7 at 5:00 PM

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This action-packed epic stars Ichikawa Raizo as an honest man who joins the Shinsengumi out of admiration for its leader, Isami Kondo (Tomisaburo Wakayama), and because he wants to die as a samurai. But as his involvement grows, reality and idealism come into deadly conflict.

Sakuran © 2007 Sakuran Film Committee © Moyoco Anno/Kodansha.

Sakuran

Directed by Mika Ninagawa

With Anna Tsuchiya, Masanobu Ando and Miho Kanno

Japan, 2007, 111 minutes, 35 mm, color

In Japanese with English subtitles

Saturday, April 7 at 7:00 PM 

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Sold into the red light district as a young girl during the edo period, foul-mouthed, spunky Kiyoha climbs the ladder to become the oiran (head courtesan) after failing to escape from the brothel. In her directorial debut, acclaimed young art photographer Mika Ninagawa brings this popular Japanese manga to the screen with lavish and vibrant period costumes and gorgeous candy-colored sets.