Essential Cinema
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SMASHING THE RULES: FILMS OF OSHIMA NAGISA
Feb 23 - Apr 6, 2010
Born in 1932, Oshima Nagisa burst onto movie screens in 1960
with CRUEL STORY OF YOUTH and NIGHT AND FOG IN JAPAN. These films signaled the
arrival of a major new talent in Japanese cinema, one who would adapt the
styles of the French New Wave to Japanese aesthetics and new themes. Kurosawa,
Mizoguchi, and Ozu were the “old masters,” while Oshima and other young
directors were the radical upstarts with their own ideas of what makes a good
film. Employing handheld cameras, location shooting, fragmented narratives, and
other unorthodox techniques, Oshima explored the fringes of Japanese society,
especially through themes dealing with sexuality, violence, crime, and war.
Every one of his films is like a roller coaster ride through the subterranean
areas of the human psyche. – Chale Nafus, Director of Programming, Austin Film
Society
IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES (Ai no corrida)
Tues 23 Feb, 7:00pm
Sexual passion takes a couple to the very edge of obsession and then tosses them into the abyss.
Tickets and more info>>
EMPIRE OF PASSION (Ai no borei)
Tues 2 Mar, 7:00pm
A young man has an affair with an older woman, who has an inconvenient husband. Murder seems to be the solution, but there is always the danger of an angry ghost. Tickets and more info>>
JAPANESE SUMMER: DOUBLE SUICIDE (Muri shinju: Nihon no natsu)
Tues 9 Mar, 7:00pm
Post-apocalyptic Japan, love-starved girl, AWOL soldier, a crazy Westerner killer, and plans for a revolution. Tickets and more info>>
THE PLEASURES OF THE FLESH (Etsuraku)
Tues 23 Mar, 7:00pm
A heroic teacher begins a long journey downward into depravity and immorality. Tickets and more info>>
VIOLENCE AT NOON (Hakuchu no torima)
Tues 30 Mar, 7:00pm
The chaotic adventures of an amoral drifter and a corrupted housekeeper. Tickets and more info>>
MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR LAWRENCE
Tues 6 Apr, 7:00pm
British POWs in a Japanese internment camp during WW2 find different ways of coping with psychological and physical torture. Tickets and more info >>