Sion Sono's LOVE EXPOSURE at Japan Society on Friday, June 3rd

Japan Society Film Program's

Monthly Classics Series

Presents

 

Love Exposure / Ai no Mukidashi

Directed by Sion Sono

With Takahiro Nishijima, Hikari Mitsushima, Sakura Ando,
Atsuro Watabe, and Makiko Watanabe

Japan, 2008, 237 minutes

Blu-ray, color, in Japanese with English subtitles

When: Friday, June 3rd, 2016 at 7:00 pm

Where: Japan Society

333 East 47th Street, NYC

Map

In anticipation of the upcoming 10th edition of JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film (July 14-24, 2016) Japan Society NY will be screening Sion Sono’s notorious masterpiece about love, family, religion and upskirt photography.

After feeling rejected by his Catholic priest father for not having any sins to confess, high schooler Yu dives headfirst into sinning by becoming a master “peek-a-panty” photographer. Along the way, he gets entangled in an absurd love triangle involving his step-sister and his female alter ego, all the while being stalked by a parakeet-handling cult leader intent on taking everyone he loves away from him.

A fan-favorite at JAPAN CUTS in 2009 and one of the most memorable films released in the last ten years, Love Exposure is destined to be regarded as a classic of Japanese cinema.

I did not see the film at JAPAN CUTS in 2009, but did  get ti watch some time ago. I give it a 3.5 out of 4 star rating; very highly recommended. See it this Friday if you haven't seen it before, see it again if you have.

WHY DON'T YOU PLAY IN HELL? opens today, Friday, November 7th

Drafthouse Films

presents

Why Don't You Play In Hell? / Jigoku de naze warui

Directed by Sion Sono

Japan, 2013, 129 minutes

Sion Sono's Why Don't You Play In Hell? opens today, Friday, November 7th at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin Texas and VOD. It's a hilarious movie in which an aspiring film crew and two gangs of yakuza who are at war with one another manage to all come together. The film will be opening in various other cities throughout November and into January, 2015. For a complete listing of theaters, cities and opening dates, as well as VOD platforms, click here.

Hirata (Hiroki Hasegawa)

Hirata (Hiroki Hasegawa) and is an aspiring filmmaker. He wants to make Sasaki (Tak Sakaguchi) an action film star, Japan's Bruce Lee. Other members of Hirata's crew -- known as The Fuck Bombers -- are Miki, "king of the dolly shots," and Tanigawa, "queen of hand-held shots."

On the yakuza side of things are the Muto faily, headed by Boss Taizo Muto (Jun Kunimura). His wife is Shizue (actress Tomochika). Their pert young daughter is Mitsuko, who does toothpaste commercials. Following an attempt on Boss Muto by the Kitagawa yakuza clan which Shizue thwarted, she is given a ten year prison sentence.

The film then picks up approximately ten years later, when Shizue's  release date is approaching. Mitsuko, now played by Fumi Nikaidô, wants to make her film debut. The conflict between Muto and Kitagawa is about to reach a bloody climax. And who better to document the carnage than Hirata and his Fuck Bombers?!

Why Don't You Play In Hell? is awesome fun, terrifically enjoyable. There are some fun cinematic references (Bruce Lee's yellow jumpsuit and a red balloon, for example).

Mitsuko, played by Fumi Nikaidô

The film was shown at Japan Society this past July as a co-presentation of the society's JAPAN CUTS film festival and the New York Asian Film Festival. Actress Fumi Nikaidô, who also starred in two other films shown at NYAFF, was presented with the festival's first Screen International Rising Star Award.

AsianCineFest Rating: 3.5 out of 4 stars; very highly recommended.

WHY DON'T YOU PLAY IN HELL? coming to U.S. theaters November 7th

Drafthouse Films

presents

Why Don't You Play in Hell? / Jigoku de Naze Warui

Written and directed by Sion Sono

Japan, 2013, 126 minutes

Why Don't You Play in Hell?, a genre-defying film from Japan's legendary Sion Sono, will be coming to U.S. theaters on November 7th. The film was shown at Japan Society this past July as a co-presentation of the Society's JAPAN CUTS festival of contemporary Japanese cinema and the 13th annual New York Asian Film Festival. Programmed as JAPAN CUTS' opening night feature film and  followed by a party, Why Don't You Play in Hell? was a big hit, and soon U.S. audiences will have the opportunity of experiencing for themselves the zany joy that it produces.

Master filmmaker Sono, whose previous films include Suicide Club (2001), Noriko's Dinner Table (2005) Love Exposure (2008), and Cold Fish (2010), describes his frenzied, gleeful new masterpiece as “an action film about the love of 35mm.” Based on a screenplay he wrote nearly fifteen years ago, Why Don't You Play In Hell? is among Sono’s very best works, as his trademark excess and outrageousness is infused with an affection for the previous century of Japanese cinema. This is Sion Sono with his talent and unique vision completely unleashed.

Synopsis: There's a war going on, but that won't stop the inexperienced but eager wannabe film crew The Fuck Bombers from following their dreams of making the ultimate action epic. Ten years ago, yakuza mid-boss Ikegami led an assault against rival don Muto. Now, on the eve of his revenge, all Muto wants to do is complete his masterpiece, a feature film with his daughter in the starring role, before his wife is released from prison. And The Fuck Bombers are standing by with the chance of a lifetime: to film a real, live yakuza battle to the death...on 35mm!

Endlessly irreverent and wildly, hilariously visceral, Why Don't You Play In Hell? is an  ode to the yakuza films of yore and features an over-the-top, blood-soaked finale.

Why Don't You Play In Hell? will be reviewed here at AsianCineFest sometime during the week preceding it's theatrical opening on November 7th.

ACF 1829: THE LAND OF HOPE at Japan Society this Sunday

The Land of Hope / Kibo no Kuni

Written and directed by Sion Sono

With Isao Natsuyagi, Naoko Ootani,

Jun Murakami, and Megumi Kagurazaka

Japan, 2012, 133 minutes

In Japanese with English subtitles

When: Sunday, March 10, 2013 at 6:00 pm

Where: Japan Society
333 East 47th Street NYC
Between 1st and 2nd Avenues

New York Premiere

Director Sion Sono, whom The New York Times calls “the Japanese provocateur,” once again challenges viewers’ emotions, this time millions of miles away from the cult shockers for which he is best known. The Land of Hope is the world’s first fictional film about the 3/11-related nuclear power plant meltdown, and recounts disaster, aftermath and personal tragedy in two ordinary families. “So passionately filmed it commands emotional involvement” (Deborah Young, The Hollywod Reporter), the film offers a psalm to those who, far from falling in the throes of despair, stay resilient and cling to the hope of  better tomorrows. But a hovering sense of an even greater calamity, from which this time there may be no return, tugs at the edges of the movie, giving it the cold splendor of the best broken-backed tales.

The Land of Hope won the NETPAC Award for Best Asian Film at the 37th Toronto International Film Festival.

Tickets: $12/$9 Japan Society members

Buy tickets online or call the Japan Society Box Office at (212) 715-1258, Mon. - Fri. 11 am - 6 pm, Weekends 11 am - 5 pm.

This screening of The Land of Hope is part of Hope, Struggle & Rebirth in the Shadow of 3/11, Japan Society's commemoration of the 2nd Anniversary of Japan’s 2011 Earthquake. The other events are a concert and a lecture encompassing resilience and recovery. Details here.

And don't forget about Yellow Line, the final film of the Girls, Guns & Ghosts film series. It will be shown at 4:00 pm on Sunday. Separate admission fee. Buy tickets online for Yellow Line, or call the Japan Society Box Office at (212) 715-1258, Mon. - Fri. 11 am - 6 pm, Weekends 11 am - 5 pm.

ACF 1229: LOVE EXPOSURE to close out Sion Sono retrospective

Love Exposure / Ai no mukidashi
Directed by Sion Sono
With Takahiro Nishijima, Hikari Mitsushima and Sakura Andô
Japan, 2008, 237 minutes, Digital Projection

When: Friday, November 11, 2011 at 7:00 pm
Where: The Museum of Arts and Design ("MAD")
2 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10019
Admission: $10 general / $7 members and students 

The Museum of Arts and Design's eight film retrospective Sion Sono: The New Poet will conclude tomorrow night with this riveting epic.

Synopsis: A diversion from Sono's widely recognized horror films, Love Exposure offers both an in-depth and hilarious discourse on sin and lust, as well as a complex study of the loss of identity. Centering around an unusual love triangle made up of characters that defy societal norms, "Love Exposure" is critically acclaimed as Sono's masterpiece.

Winner of numerous international film awards including the Asian Film Awards Best Director award for Sono and the Berlin International Film Festival Caligari Film Award, Love Exposure is a tour de force on repression, cults, Catholicism, and of course, love.

To purchase tickets, click here or call 1.800.838.3006.

ACF 1204: Museum of Arts and Design presents EXTE: HAIR EXTENSIONS at 7:00 PM this Friday night

  Exte: Hair Extensions / Ekusute
Directed by Sion Sono
With Chiaki Kuriyama, Miku Sato, Megumi Sato
Japan, 2007, 108 minutes, Digital Projection
When: Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 7:00 pm
Where: The Museum of Arts and Design ("MAD")
2 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10019
Admission: $10 general / $7 members and students 

The Museum of Arts and Design's film program Sion Sono: The New Poet continues this Friday, October 27th with Exte: Hair Extensions.

Synopsis: In this horrific, comedic, and mesmerizing film, director Sion Sono explores the dark undercurrents in the superficial world of beauty. Starring Chiaki Kuriyama (who made her international debut in Tarantino's Kill Bill: Vol. 1 as Lucy Liu's bodyguard/yakuza schoolgirl, Gogo Yubari), Exte: Hair Extensions starts with the mysterious delivery of human hair along with a dead girl with a shaved head to a beauty salon. Her corpse miraculously starts growing hair, which is then sold as hair extensions to young women—who are then found murdered. A truly unique horror tale as only Sono could tell it.

Tickets here or call 1.800.838.3006.

Recently yours truly became a co-host on the VCinema Podcast. I suggested Exte as the film to be reviewed on my first show. It's Episode 035 and you can access it here. Our discussion of the film begins at around the 47:08 minute mark.

I've seen Exte three times to date and have really enjoyed it each time. I give it a minimum ACF Rating of 3.5 out of 4 stars, very highly recommended.

For those of you who can't make it to Friday's screening, despair not. Exte under the title Hair Extensions, is available in a fine double disc DVD set from Media Blasters. It can be purchased at Amazon.com and elsewhere.

And in a final related news item, director Sion Sono (who will be 50 on December 18th) and 30 year old actress Megumi Kagurazaka are reportedly going to marry before the end of this year. Megumi has been in three of Sono's films, the first being 2010's Cold Fish. Read more about the planned nuptials at Tokyograph.com by clicking here.

ACF 1197: Sion Sono's STRANGE CIRCUS at MAD tomorrow night

Strange Circus / Kimyo na Sakasu 
Directed by Sion Sono 

With Masumi Miyazaki, Issei Ishida and Rie Kuwana
Japan, 2005, 108 minutes, Digital Projection
When: Friday, October 21, 2011 at 7:00 pm
Where: The Museum of Arts and Design ("MAD")
2 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10019
Admission: $10 general / $7 members and students 

The Museum of Arts and Design's film program Sion Sono: The New Poet continues tomorrow, Friday, October 21th with Strange Circus.

Synopsis: The film is Sono's exploration of the constraints of reality—through the eyes of a disabled erotic novelist. Novelist Taeko writes stories of incest, murder, and abuse. As her own life and relationships are revealed, Taeko leads her assistant Yuji and the audience through an exploration of the confines of both her fictional stories and her own understanding of what is real. Thought-provoking and visually stunning, Strange Circus won the Berlin International Film Festival’s Reader Jury of the “Berliner Zeitung” in 2006.

Click here to purchase tickets, or call 1.800.838.3006.

ACF 1185: Sion Sono's NORIKO'S DINNER TABLE at MAD on Friday

Noriko's Dinner Table / Noriko No Shokutaku

Directed by Sion Sono

With Kazue Fukiishi, Tsugumi and Yuriko Yoshitaka
Japan, 2005, 159 minutes, Digital Projection

When: Friday, October 14, 2011 - 7:00 pm

Where: The Museum of Arts and Design ("MAD")

2 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10019

Admission: $10 general / $7 members and students 

The Museum of Arts and Design's film program Sion Sono: The New Poet continues this Friday with Noriko's Dinner Table.

Synopsis: Both prequel and sequel to Sono's Suicide Club, this narrative takes up both before and after the events depicted in Suicide Club, by focusing on a family that is profoundly affected by the mass suicides portrayed in the film.  A young girl seeks emotional connection through a website that provides her with a manufactured family that fulfills her immediate desire for love. As the story unfolds, the girls' new life turns morbid and dark as mass-suicides begin infiltrating the Japanese populace. This film should not be seen as merely an addition to Suicide Club but instead as a stand-alone cinematic narrative following contemporary family dynamics and commentary on society.

Click here to purchase tickets, or call 1.800.838.3006.

ACF 1176: Sion Sono eight film retrospective begins tonight at Museum of Arts and Design

Sion Sono: The New Poet

When: October 7th - November 11th, 2011

Where: Museum of Arts and Design (MAD)

2 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 1001

Bicycle Sighs / Jitensha Toiki (1991)

This exciting retrospective of eight films by Sion Sono begins tonight at 7:00 PM with Bicycle Sighs. Featuring Sono and Masahiro Sugiyama. 93 minutes.

Synopsis: Sono's first 16mm feature film tells the story of two young newspaper couriers and their unrealized dreams as filmmakers. A provocative coming-of-age drama as well as a study of nostalgia, hopes, dreams, and reality, Bicycle Sighs brought Sono to the attention of critics and viewers alike.

Order tickets for Bicycle Sighs here. 

Suicide Club / Jisatsu Sakuru (2002)

Tomorrow, Saturday, October 8th, Sono's cult hit Suicide Club will be shown at 3:00 PM. With Ryo Ishibashi, Masatoshi Nagase and Mai Hosho. 99 minutes

Synopsis: Fifty-four Japanese schoolgirls simultaneously jump in front of an oncoming train and subsequently a wave of suicides starts to spread countrywide. The investigation of these deaths leads the police to some unexpected suspects: an all-girl pop group, a website of suicide predictions, and a stitched-together circle made of a most unsettling material. Winner of Fant-Asia Film Festival Jury Prize for Most Groundbreaking Film, “Suicide Club” would launch Sono onto the international spotlight.

Order tickets for Suicide Club here.

Full information about the Sion Sono: The New Poet film series, including descriptions of each film, the complete schedule, and to order tickets, is available here.