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| Keisuke Kinoshita |
While never reaching the
same international recognition as Kurasawa or Ozu, at home Keisuke Kinoshita
is considered among the elite of Japan’s post war filmmakers and this month Kino
Arsenal will be providing an 11 film retrospective of the director’s work. Five
of Kinoshita’s lesser known works play in the Berlinale forum and are given
repeat screenings here alongside the director’s six most celebrated films. The
season kicks off with his devastating 1954 anti-war melodrama Nijushi No Hitomi (Twenty-Four Eyes); in which a school teacher must deal
with the ravaging effects of war on a small island community over the course of
20 years (2/22 FEB, 20:00). Adapted from
a Kurasawa screenplay, Shozo (The
Portrait) is the story of a woman who turns her life around after being
overwhelmed by a portrait she commissioned from a struggling artist (3
FEB/19:30, 26 FEB/20:00). Narayama
Bushi Ko (The Ballad of Narayama) takes elements of Kabuki theatre to tell
the tale of a son who refuses to accept a local tradition of sending the
community’s elderly to the mountains (5/23 FEB, 20:00). A Tokyo stripper
returns to her rural town in comedy satire Karamun
Kokyo Ni Kareu (Carmen Comes Home), the first colour film to be produced
in Japan.
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| Jason Statham in Parker |
Crook-with-a-code
Parker (Jason Statham) must track down the crew who stabbed him in the back and
left him for dead following a successful heist. His journey takes him to Palm
Springs where he enlists the help of a real estate agent (Jennifer Lopez) to thwart
the gang’s plans. The promise of Hackford (an Oscar nominated director) and the
often enjoyable Statham working together dissolves soon after the opening
fairground heist, with Statham’s array of disguises and accents drawing all the
wrong kind of laughs.
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| Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away 3D |
Taking
sections from 7 of Las Vegas’ Cirque Du Soleil shows and tying them together
with a loose wonderland narrative; Worlds
Away transfers the hit show to the big screen with ease, showcasing all
the huge sets, lavish costumes and ludicrously skilled individuals which have
given the show its global brand. It also proves a great advert for 3D. Finding
that sweet spot between playful gimmick and physical depth; Andrew Andamson
makes a decent case for the much maligned format. James Cameron weighs in with
a production credit. No surprise there.
