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Japan Touring Film Programme 2018

(Un)true Colours – Secrets and Lies in Japanese Cinema

Everybody has once told a lie or kept something hidden from others. Whether for good intentions or otherwise, it is a fundamental and intriguing aspect of human nature which has provided inspiration to countless storytellers and filmmakers.

With diverse cinematic voices, The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2018 features some of the best examples of cinema from Japan and will look at how the country’s filmmakers have been drawn to portraying the “(un)true” colours of human nature. The twists and turns of life portrayed in the programme are at times heart-rending, at other times hilarious, but always enthralling.

Specially commissioned programme notes will be available at each screening.

Japanese Girls Never Die

Showing Times

• Tue 13 Mar – 7.30pm

Directed by Daigo Matsui, 2016, 100 min, English subtitles

A multi-stranded drama surrounding the disappearance of Haruko Azumi (Yu Aoi), a 27-year-old unmarried woman stuck in a dead-end job who goes missing without a trace. When Haruko’s missing person’s poster attracts the attention of two wannabe graffiti artists, her image soon becomes the unwitting face behind a pop phenomenon. Meanwhile, a mysterious group of high school girls begin attacking men at random around town. Are these events all connected to Haruko’s disappearance?

Director Daigo Matsui masterfully interweaves a series of stories and subplots through a nonlinear narrative, bringing the viewer back in forth in time, and drawing them closer to discovering the secret behind Haruko’s disappearance. Based on a novel by Mariko Yamauchi, Japanese Girls Never Die is an anarchic, vibrant and completely experimental critique of modern Japanese culture.

Venue: Studio 74, Exeter Phoenix