Australia's Annual Touring Japanese Film Festival Has Just Dropped Its Must-See 2022 Lineup
On the program: an animated flick about competitive gliding, an action-comedy giving assassins a kawaii spin and a documentary about four top Tokyo chefs.
When the middle of October hits, celebrating Japan by actually heading to the country will be back on the agenda, with the Asian nation's strict border rules finally relaxing. Can't make the trip ASAP? Fancy getting your Japanese thrills in a cinema instead — or until you can hop on a plane? Then Australia's annual touring Japanese Film Festival has timed its return well.
As it does every year, this year's JFF has compiled a selection of must-see recent and retro Japanese movies, and will take its lineup to Canberra, Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. There's two parts, both coming to all locations except Western Australia: a classics series, showing iconic films on 35mm; and a rundown the latest and greatest flicks the country has to offer.
When it does the rounds between Saturday, November 5–Wednesday, December 14, the 2022 fest will open with historical drama Dreaming of the Meridian Arc, which hops between present-day Japan and the Edo period to tell the tale behind the man who completed the first-ever map of Japan.
Also a huge highlight: the retro season's focus on filmmaker Mikio Naruse, with 1954's Sound of the Mountain, 1960's When a Woman Ascends the Stairs and 1964's Yearning on the bill — and showing for free.
Back to the recent titles (and the paid part of the program), standouts include psychological thriller Lesson in Murder, which starts when a college student gets a letter from a serial killer on death row; drama In the Wake, about the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011; and the animated Blue Thermal, with the world of competitive gliding soaring onto the screen.
Anime Supremacy! is unsurprisingly focused on characters who live and breath anime production; Baby Assassins gives battling the yakuza (and being hitmen) a kawaii spin, and culinary documentary The Pursuit of Perfection follows top Tokyo chefs Takemasa Shinohara (Ginza Shinohara), Natsuko Shōji (Été), Yōsuke Suga (Sugalabo) and Takaaki Sugita (Sushi Sugita).
JAPANESE FILM FESTIVAL 2022 DATES:
Canberra:
Special series: November 5–6 at NFSA
Latest releases: November 16–20 at Palace Electric
Perth:
Latest releases: November 21–27 at Palace Raine Square
Brisbane:
Special series: Friday, November 11–Sunday, November 20 at QAGOMA
Latest releases: Wednesday, November 23–Sunday, November 27 at Palace Barracks
Melbourne:
Latest releases: Wednesday, November 30–Sunday, December 4 at The Kino
Special series: Friday, December 2–Sunday, December 4 at ACMI
Sydney:
Latest releases: Wednesday, December 7–Sunday, December 11 at Palace Central, Palace Norton Street and Palace Verona
Special series: Monday, December 12–Wednesday, December 14 at The Chauvel
The 2022 Japanese Film Festival tours Australia between Saturday, November 5–Wednesday, December 14. For more information and to buy tickets, visit the festival website.
Images: Baby Assassins Film Partners / Blue Thermal Film Partners / AOI Pro/TY Limited.
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