Japanese Film Festival
If you love everything from the Shinkansen to the sakura, you're in for a treat. The Japanese Film Festival (JFF) is celebrating its 30th anniversary in Australia with a bumper program of films. Melburnians can catch films ranging from samurai adventures and spine-tingling horror to award-winning dramas and spectacular animation at ACMI and The Kino from October 29 to November 17.
Opening night features Look Back, the latest film from acclaimed director Hirokazu Kore-eda. Adapted from the manga by Chainsaw Man creator Tatsuki Fujimoto, it follows two young manga artists whose childhood rivalry develops into friendship, with unexpected consequences.
Other highlights include Tokyo Taxi, from 94-year-old director YĹŤji Yamada, starring Takuya Kimura as a driver taking an elderly passenger on a journey through memories and loss. There's also Bring Him Down to a Portable Size, a moving story about family and reconciliation, and Purehearted,which follows a young Okinawan entrepreneur determined to launch an authentic sugarcane rum.
For a dose of nostalgia, don't miss a newly remastered edition of Hula Girls. Based on a true story, this much-loved 2006 drama follows women in a struggling Fukushima coal-mining town who learn traditional hula dancing in an attempt to save their community.
Fans of action and suspense can look forward to The Samurai and the Prisoner, the first period drama from horror director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and Samurai Vengeance, a gripping tale of murder, revenge...