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Ghibliotheque Screenings in London Announced for July and August
posted on by Andrew Osmond
The next two "Ghibliotheque" screenings at London's Prince Charles cinemas have been announced: they will be the anthology science-fiction film Memories on July 12 at 8.45 p.m. (tickets), followed by Jin-Roh - The Wolf Brigade (tickets) on August 16 at 8.30 p.m.
Both screenings will be in Japanese with subtitles, and will be introduced by Michael Leader and Jake Cunningham, the presenters of the Ghibliotheque podcast. The Prince Charles Cinema is in Leicester Square.
Memories (pictured right) is described on the website as follows:
"From the creator Akira, Katsuhiro Ōtomo, come three unforgettable animated tales… This 1995 anthology movie brought together some of the anime industry's best and brightest to tell three stylistically diverse stories, all drawing inspiration from the work of Katsuhiro Ōtomo. A collaboration between Studio 4°C and Madhouse, Memories is full of cinematic surprises, from the haunting deep-space ghost story of its opening segment Magnetic Rose, directed by Kōji Morimoto (The Animatrix, Mind Game) with a script, layouts and background designs from rising star Satoshi Kon (Perfect Blue, Paprika), to the knockabout human-bioweapon comedy of Stink Bomb from veteran animator Tensai Okamura (My Neighbour Totoro, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Wolf's Rain), to the formally audacious final segment, the dystopian, steampunk-style satire Cannon Fodder, directed by Otomo himself."
Jin-Roh - The Wolf Brigade (pictured left) is described as follows:
"In an alternate history where Japan is ruled by an oppressive totalitarian regime, an officer in a counter-terrorism squad called the Kerberos Panzer Corps has his worldview shaken by an encounter with a young terrorist, leading him to pick his way through a web of conspiracies that lead right to the heart of the government…
"After establishing himself as an animator and designer on the likes of Akira, Patlabor, Memories and Ghost in the Shell, Hiroyuki Okiura made his directorial debut with this dark, moody sci-fi thriller set in the rich, alternate-history fictional world of writer Mamoru Oshii's Kerberos Saga. Putting as much emphasis on its vividly-animated, explosive action set pieces as it does on its brooding atmosphere and detailed, realistic character design, Jin-Roh is a grounded drama that has the rain-slicked melancholy of a film noir and the textures of a dystopian political thriller, with themes of oppressive regimes, romantic dreams of rebellion, and ultimately futile hopes of escape."
