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translation by Lukasz Mankowski

Takahisa Zeze is a Japanese film director and screenwriter first known for his soft-core pornographic pink films of the 1990s. Along with fellow directors, Kazuhiro Sano, Toshiki Sato, and Hisayasu Sato, he is known as one of the “Four Heavenly Kings of Pink”. Eventually, he moves away from the particular industry, directing movies such as “Heaven Story” which took the Fipresci and Netpac award in Berlin, and “The Chrysanthemum and the Guillotine”.

On the occasion of “In the Wake” screening at Toronto Japanese Film Festival, we speak with him about adapting Shichiri Nakayama’s novel, the Fukushima disaster and its connection with social welfare, the main characters and the casting, his past and present in cinema, and his latest project

“In the Wake” screened at Toronto Japanese Film Festival

Why did you decide to adapt Shichiri Nakayama’s novel “Mamorarenakatta Monotachi e”?

It all starts with...

Allow me to begin this review with a personal note. Among the plethora of books about (Asian) cinema I have read, this one is definitely one of the better ones, if not the best. The combination of research and context (just mentioning all the topics Jasper Sharp examines here would fill a small book), the quality of personal comments, the language, and the overall illustration of the Fab Press edition, which is filled with film stills, posters etc, including a rather impressive middle section as much as great front and back covers, are all top-notch, to the point that one would have to dig really deep to find any flaw in the book. Let us take things from the beginning though.

The book begins ideally, as Sharp starts his narration by dealing with the history of nudity on film, the differences between art and pornography, the differences between Western and Japanese pornography,...

As I have mentioned many times before, and despite popular (but quite misinformed) opinion, the pinku film has always been much more that an effort to titillate through soft-porn, since a number of filmmakers saw the freedom the medium granted them as an opportunity for utter creative freedom. One of the directors whose work is a testament to the fact is Takahisa Zeze, who proves the fact once more in this particular film, that is an erotic comedy as much as a family drama. The film won the Silver Prize at the Pink Grand Prix ceremony in 1999.

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The narrative is split in two arcs, which eventually intermingle, each one representing the two aforementioned categories. The first one revolves around three middle-aged friends, who definitely fit...

Hayato returns to the small village where he grew up in order to take care of his father’s farm, who is unable to work because of a leg injury. He returns with his wife Ami, who is dysfunctional and depressed due to the trauma she experienced while in the big city. Hayato believes that bringing Ami to a small town will help her refocus her mind and to move on with her life. However, Ami struggles to fit in among Hayato’s friends and father, and as Hayato plays the role of devoted son and husband Ami’s attention begins to wander.

Feeling rejected within her new surroundings Ami strives to gain an ally in Hayato’s farther. She chooses to seduce the man in order to win her favor in an act that causes the entire family inner turmoil. Adding to the couple’s relationship strain is Hayato’s childhood friend,...

For 10 years, Five Flavours Film Festival has been presenting the best cinema from Asia, its meanings and contexts. Initially, the Festival focused solely on Vietnamese films, but it evolved to become a yearly review of the cinema of East and Southeast Asia, the only such event in the country.

The 10th edition is held in Warsaw, on November 16-23 (Muranów and Kinoteka cinemas), and in Wrocław on November 18-24 (New Horizons Cinema).

This year’s edition of Five Flavours is the biggest in history – it presents over 40 productions. The program combines artistic and commercial cinema, allowing the audience to experience the best Asian films have to offer. On the one hand, there are the intimate stories with a social angle, on the other – fresh, innovative blockbusters, filled with the sheer joy of cinematic creation, attracting millions of viewers in their homelands.

Three

This diversity is already visible in the choice...