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Manga-Based Himizu to Compete at Venice Film Fest
posted on by Andrew Osmond
Shion Sono's live-action film adaptation of Minoru Furuya's psychological drama manga Himizu will compete at the Venice Film Festival, which runs from August 31 to September 10 in Venice, Italy. Sono (Suicide Circle, Strange Circus) already finishing filming the movie in Ibaraki Prefecture, and his crew is now editing the project for its world premiere at the festival. The director revealed that he had to rewrite the film's story before shooting, due to the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake (Higashi Nihon Daishinsai) disaster and the resulting nuclear power accident.
While Furuya is known for his gag manga Ike! Ina-chuu Takkyuubu (which inspired the Ping Pong Club comedy anime), Himizu is a far starker tale. 18-year-old actor Shōta Sometani (live-action Uso-tsuki Mii-kun to Kowareta Maa-chan, Always: Sunset on Third Street '64) plays Yūichi Sumida, a third-year middle school boy who longs for a normal life, but a certain incident sets him on a descent into darkness. 16-year-old actress Fumi Nikaidō (Sono's Gama no Abura) plays Keiko Chazawa, Sumida's classmate.
The original manga ran in Kodansha's Weekly Young Magazine from 2001 to 2003, and Kodansha compiled and published four book volumes.
Sources: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web
