Barbican Film Japanimation 2007 - 2008
www.barbican.org.uk/film Cinema Hotline: 0845 120 7527
www.barbican.org.uk/25
The ever-popular Japanimation returns this October with a series of monthly screenings that revisit classic stories and themes and look at the relationship of anime with world visual culture. Running until June 2008, each screening will be introduced by anime expert and co-author of the Anime Encyclopedia Helen McCarthy.
Tuesday 30 October, 8.30pm
Romeo X Juliet (15) (Japan 2007 Dir. Fumitoshi Oizaki 75 min)
Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, the tale of young love and the fall-out when it collides with adult rules, has been constantly revisited by filmmakers. For this first Japanimation screening, Barbican Film presents this latest version of the classic tale from “Gonzo”, one of Japan's leading animation studios.
The aerial island city of Neo Verona is the setting for this anime updating of the Bard's tale of star crossed lovers. Rescued by her father's servants Juliet is the sole survivor of the murderous mutiny which saw the ruling Capulets decimated by the tyrannical Montagues. Fourteen years later she meets their son Romeo, and falling in love, the doomed couple face a future shaped by the cruel hand of fate.
Three episodes will be screened, followed by a discussion with Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy, authors of Anime Encyclopedia, and a representative of GDH International.
© 2007 GONZO / CBC·GDH·SPWT
Tuesday 27 November
Speed of 5 Centimeters Per Second (Byosoku 5 Centimeters) (cert TBC) (Japan 2007 Makoto Shinkai 63 min)
A new wave of anime creators are making films on their own terms, without studio control. Be they renegades who've rejected the traditional method of climbing the career ladder at a studio or studio workers creating their own work after hours, these anime indies use off-the-shelf technology to create their own animations then find audiences through competitions or distribution on the internet.
A poster boy for this independent anime is Makoto Shinkai, whose 2002 breakthrough Voices of a Distant Star heralded the then amateur animator as ‘the new Miyazaki’. With his delightful new feature the director shoulders that weight of expectation effortlessly. Speed of 5 Centimeters Per Second follows teenagers Takaki and Akari in love, loss and longing while the everyday is revealed to be remarkable, with youth's brief flowering symbolised by the 5cm per Second speed at which the cherry blossoms.
Tuesday 29 January
Tales of Earthsea (Gedo Senki) (PG) (Japan 2006 Dir. Goro Miyazaki 115 min)
After its success with Howl's Moving Castle, Studio Ghibli turned to another western fantasy author for inspiration - Ursula K. Le Guin and her selection of short stories published in 2001. Ghibli also unveiled a brand new director with a familiar surname, Goro Miyazaki, who has garnered much attention for his rookie first feature.
In the film, the world of Earthsea is in turmoil when Prince Arren of Enlad stabs his royal father and goes on the run. He meets Ged, Archmage of Earthsea, seeking the cause of the chaos. The seemingly random events flow from one warped, powerful mind and their journey brings them closer to the truth about their world, and themselves, as Arren finally stops running and faces his fears with the help of two remarkable women.
Tuesday 26 February
Yugo the Negotiator (15) (Japan 2006 Dir. Kishi & Hanai 75 min)
For all its popularity, anime still struggles with the cliché that it's all big-eyed girls and robots. Yugo the Negotiator challenges this assumption, bringing to the screen a contemporary drama about a master hostage negotiator.
Yugo Beppu is the man to call in a hostage crisis. A man of many talents, he walks the knife-edge between criminals and authority to try and bring the victims out alive. When he is hired by a hostage victim's beautiful daughter to help end the crisis, Beppu must negotiate dangerous political territory between government forces and ruthless guerrillas with gripping results. The first three episodes will be screened.
Tuesday 25 March
Area 88 (15) (2006 Dir. Isamu Imakake 75 min)
Japanese filmmakers don't just appropriate other cultures' stories into their own style of imagery; they are adept at revising their own myths. Area 88, a manga classic animated in 1985, was ahead of its time in its depiction of aerial combat over desert states, and has now been updated for the new millennium.
Area 88 is a desolate desert outpost and home to a mercenary air force base. Shin Kazama is an ace pilot in line for a comfortable job with a commercial airline when he is tricked into joining a gang of mercenaries, his fate tied to Area 88. Determined to free himself by earning the $1.5m to buy his freedom, Shin quickly rises through the ranks. But he soon has to question whether he's fighting for survival, or simply for the thrill of it?
Tuesday 29 April
Patlabor II (PG) (Japan 1993 Dir. Mamoru Oshii 114 min)
The Headgear collective are a circle of anime and manga makers whose coffee-shop sessions talking about science fiction led to some of the most interesting work in modern anime. Masami Yuki, Yutaka Izubuchi, Kazunori Itō, Akemi Takada and Mamoru Oshii all have stellar careers to their names, but their most famous collective effort is Mobile Police Patlabor. Starting life as a perky, funny cop opera with robots instead of cars, the film gradually revealed a darker side in its movie spin-offs, earning Oshii his gig on Ghost in the Shell.
Patlabor II concerns a disaffected former soldier who sets out to challenge Japan's military and political establishment, and he doesn't intend to bother with the ballot box. A team of former comrades reunite to try and challenge him, but have to deal with unresolved issues from their past relationships before they can truly unite. Mixing political cynicism and empathy for the feeling of disenfranchisement and missed opportunities, Patlabor II presents a disturbing slant on 90s Japan.
Tuesday 27 May
Le Portrait de Petite Cossette (15) (Japan 2004 Dir. Akiyuki Shinbo 114 min)
Horror is one of anime's best established genres and when the first wave of anime videos were distributed in Britain during the 1990s the cyber-noir productions of leading Studio Madhouse featured strongly. Now enjoying a revival both in Japan and the West, with new trends for softer, sweeter girl ghosts and vampire romances alongside gritty, gory tales of terror. Occasionally the two combine, as in Le Portrait de Petite Cossette, a stylish, unsettling tale with a tender conclusion.
Cossette d'Auvergne was very young and very beautiful when she died, but she had a will so strong that her spirit refused to leave this world. Two hundred and fifty years later, that ferocious spirit still survives, trapped in a fragile glass goblet in a Tokyo antique store. An art student minding the store can communicate with her, but can he understand what she's seeking so desperately? And can he survive long enough to help her find it?
Tuesday 24th June
Metropolis (PG) (Japan 2001 Dir. Rintarō 108 min)
Osamu Tezuka's 1949 manga was inspired by a single image from Fritz Lang's original movie. Animated by a stellar team after Tezuka's death, this is both a powerful tribute and a wonderful film in its own right, with a jazz score that's pure delight and imagery that will linger in your mind.
In the mighty city of Metropolis, powerful men jockeying for position under dictator Duke Red plot their own advancement, while detective Ban and his nephew come from overseas hunting an international criminal. Meanwhile the Duke is driving technology to its limits in pursuit of two insane dreams - control of a super weapon and recovery of a beloved, lost child - while another child yearns for his love and approval. All the while, the rumblings of dissent are growing, as a despised urban underclass seeks justice in this very contemporary classic.
www.barbican.org.uk/film Cinema Hotline: 0845 120 7527
Tickets: £8.50 (£7 members and concessions)
£4.50 under 15s
Special Offer: Buy 3 or more tickets for £6 each.
www.barbican.org.uk/25
The ever-popular Japanimation returns this October with a series of monthly screenings that revisit classic stories and themes and look at the relationship of anime with world visual culture. Running until June 2008, each screening will be introduced by anime expert and co-author of the Anime Encyclopedia Helen McCarthy.
Tuesday 30 October, 8.30pm
Romeo X Juliet (15) (Japan 2007 Dir. Fumitoshi Oizaki 75 min)
Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, the tale of young love and the fall-out when it collides with adult rules, has been constantly revisited by filmmakers. For this first Japanimation screening, Barbican Film presents this latest version of the classic tale from “Gonzo”, one of Japan's leading animation studios.
The aerial island city of Neo Verona is the setting for this anime updating of the Bard's tale of star crossed lovers. Rescued by her father's servants Juliet is the sole survivor of the murderous mutiny which saw the ruling Capulets decimated by the tyrannical Montagues. Fourteen years later she meets their son Romeo, and falling in love, the doomed couple face a future shaped by the cruel hand of fate.
Three episodes will be screened, followed by a discussion with Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy, authors of Anime Encyclopedia, and a representative of GDH International.
© 2007 GONZO / CBC·GDH·SPWT
Tuesday 27 November
Speed of 5 Centimeters Per Second (Byosoku 5 Centimeters) (cert TBC) (Japan 2007 Makoto Shinkai 63 min)
A new wave of anime creators are making films on their own terms, without studio control. Be they renegades who've rejected the traditional method of climbing the career ladder at a studio or studio workers creating their own work after hours, these anime indies use off-the-shelf technology to create their own animations then find audiences through competitions or distribution on the internet.
A poster boy for this independent anime is Makoto Shinkai, whose 2002 breakthrough Voices of a Distant Star heralded the then amateur animator as ‘the new Miyazaki’. With his delightful new feature the director shoulders that weight of expectation effortlessly. Speed of 5 Centimeters Per Second follows teenagers Takaki and Akari in love, loss and longing while the everyday is revealed to be remarkable, with youth's brief flowering symbolised by the 5cm per Second speed at which the cherry blossoms.
Tuesday 29 January
Tales of Earthsea (Gedo Senki) (PG) (Japan 2006 Dir. Goro Miyazaki 115 min)
After its success with Howl's Moving Castle, Studio Ghibli turned to another western fantasy author for inspiration - Ursula K. Le Guin and her selection of short stories published in 2001. Ghibli also unveiled a brand new director with a familiar surname, Goro Miyazaki, who has garnered much attention for his rookie first feature.
In the film, the world of Earthsea is in turmoil when Prince Arren of Enlad stabs his royal father and goes on the run. He meets Ged, Archmage of Earthsea, seeking the cause of the chaos. The seemingly random events flow from one warped, powerful mind and their journey brings them closer to the truth about their world, and themselves, as Arren finally stops running and faces his fears with the help of two remarkable women.
Tuesday 26 February
Yugo the Negotiator (15) (Japan 2006 Dir. Kishi & Hanai 75 min)
For all its popularity, anime still struggles with the cliché that it's all big-eyed girls and robots. Yugo the Negotiator challenges this assumption, bringing to the screen a contemporary drama about a master hostage negotiator.
Yugo Beppu is the man to call in a hostage crisis. A man of many talents, he walks the knife-edge between criminals and authority to try and bring the victims out alive. When he is hired by a hostage victim's beautiful daughter to help end the crisis, Beppu must negotiate dangerous political territory between government forces and ruthless guerrillas with gripping results. The first three episodes will be screened.
Tuesday 25 March
Area 88 (15) (2006 Dir. Isamu Imakake 75 min)
Japanese filmmakers don't just appropriate other cultures' stories into their own style of imagery; they are adept at revising their own myths. Area 88, a manga classic animated in 1985, was ahead of its time in its depiction of aerial combat over desert states, and has now been updated for the new millennium.
Area 88 is a desolate desert outpost and home to a mercenary air force base. Shin Kazama is an ace pilot in line for a comfortable job with a commercial airline when he is tricked into joining a gang of mercenaries, his fate tied to Area 88. Determined to free himself by earning the $1.5m to buy his freedom, Shin quickly rises through the ranks. But he soon has to question whether he's fighting for survival, or simply for the thrill of it?
Tuesday 29 April
Patlabor II (PG) (Japan 1993 Dir. Mamoru Oshii 114 min)
The Headgear collective are a circle of anime and manga makers whose coffee-shop sessions talking about science fiction led to some of the most interesting work in modern anime. Masami Yuki, Yutaka Izubuchi, Kazunori Itō, Akemi Takada and Mamoru Oshii all have stellar careers to their names, but their most famous collective effort is Mobile Police Patlabor. Starting life as a perky, funny cop opera with robots instead of cars, the film gradually revealed a darker side in its movie spin-offs, earning Oshii his gig on Ghost in the Shell.
Patlabor II concerns a disaffected former soldier who sets out to challenge Japan's military and political establishment, and he doesn't intend to bother with the ballot box. A team of former comrades reunite to try and challenge him, but have to deal with unresolved issues from their past relationships before they can truly unite. Mixing political cynicism and empathy for the feeling of disenfranchisement and missed opportunities, Patlabor II presents a disturbing slant on 90s Japan.
Tuesday 27 May
Le Portrait de Petite Cossette (15) (Japan 2004 Dir. Akiyuki Shinbo 114 min)
Horror is one of anime's best established genres and when the first wave of anime videos were distributed in Britain during the 1990s the cyber-noir productions of leading Studio Madhouse featured strongly. Now enjoying a revival both in Japan and the West, with new trends for softer, sweeter girl ghosts and vampire romances alongside gritty, gory tales of terror. Occasionally the two combine, as in Le Portrait de Petite Cossette, a stylish, unsettling tale with a tender conclusion.
Cossette d'Auvergne was very young and very beautiful when she died, but she had a will so strong that her spirit refused to leave this world. Two hundred and fifty years later, that ferocious spirit still survives, trapped in a fragile glass goblet in a Tokyo antique store. An art student minding the store can communicate with her, but can he understand what she's seeking so desperately? And can he survive long enough to help her find it?
Tuesday 24th June
Metropolis (PG) (Japan 2001 Dir. Rintarō 108 min)
Osamu Tezuka's 1949 manga was inspired by a single image from Fritz Lang's original movie. Animated by a stellar team after Tezuka's death, this is both a powerful tribute and a wonderful film in its own right, with a jazz score that's pure delight and imagery that will linger in your mind.
In the mighty city of Metropolis, powerful men jockeying for position under dictator Duke Red plot their own advancement, while detective Ban and his nephew come from overseas hunting an international criminal. Meanwhile the Duke is driving technology to its limits in pursuit of two insane dreams - control of a super weapon and recovery of a beloved, lost child - while another child yearns for his love and approval. All the while, the rumblings of dissent are growing, as a despised urban underclass seeks justice in this very contemporary classic.
www.barbican.org.uk/film Cinema Hotline: 0845 120 7527
Tickets: £8.50 (£7 members and concessions)
£4.50 under 15s
Special Offer: Buy 3 or more tickets for £6 each.
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