Japan,
1998, 101 min
Shown in 1999
CREDITS
- dir
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Hiroshi Shimizu
- prod
-
Masayuki Mori, Yasushi Tsuge, Takio Yoshida
- scr
-
Dankan
- cam
-
Katsumi Yanagishima
- editor
-
Yoshinori Ota
- cast
-
Dankan, Nanako Okouchi, Toshinori Omi, Ippei Soda, Youichi Nukumizu, Great Gidayu, Hiroyuki Kishi
- source
-
Celluloid Dreams, 24 rue Lamartine, 75009 Paris, France. FAX: 33-1-49-70-85-60. EMAIL: celluloid@i-t.FR
-
COMMENTS
Skyy Prize Contender. Hiroshi Shimizu in person.
OTHER
Takeshi Kitano’s production company presents a tender, at times comic, look at a group of suicidal Japanese citizens planning to die in a tour bus “accident.” United by heavy debts and the promise of insurance money for their families, the motley group of businessmen, gamblers, teenagers and retirees assembles in Naha, Okinawa, in the hopes of properly touring the island, seeing historical sites, taking snapshots, singing karaoke, then driving their bus over an ocean cliff. No one is prepared, however, for the unexpected arrival of Mitsuki, a giddy young woman who has cluelessly acquired an uncle’s leftover bus ticket. More inclined to sing children’s songs and pass out crackers than dwell on the sadness of life, she cheerily chatters away, the oblivious nemesis of stone-faced tour leader Aragaki (played by Dankan, who is also the film’s screenwriter), who won’t let annoying word games, impromptu bouts of singing or any other unexpected events distract him from organizing mass suicide. Weaving between the pathetic, the mournful and the humorous with controlled grace, Ikinai is further sharpened by exquisitely droll ensemble acting, inspired comic set pieces and a breezy Andean score which deftly counters Hiroshi Shimizu’s steadfast, measured sense of structure and pace.
—Jason Sanders
FACTOID #35
The first film retrospective accompanying a tribute at the Festival was a Tribute to Warner Bros., featuring Jack L. Warner in person, October 26, 1966.
