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Toronto Int'l Film Fest to Show Manga-Based Himizu
posted on by Andrew Osmond
Shion Sono's live-action film adaptation of Minoru Furuya's psychological drama manga Himizu will be shown at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), which will run from September 8 to September 18. The Toronto screening will follow the film's world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
Sono (Suicide Circle, Strange Circus) 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. (The TIFF website describes the film as being set "against the backdrop of the devastation caused by this year's earthquake in Japan.")
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.
Source: Comic Natalie
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