Washington University to present Japanese Film Festival Feb. 15 and 16

Feb. 4, 2008 -- Washington University will host free screenings of two recent Japanese films at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 15 and 16, in Brown Hall, Room 100.

Hanging Garden (2005), which will be screened Feb. 15, explores the quirky soul of a dysfunctional clan struggling to survive amidst the pressures of the modern age.

Courtesy photo

Kyôko Koizumi in Hanging Garden (2005).

Directed by Toshiaki Toyoda — whose previous works include Pornostar (1998), Blue Spring (2001) and 9 Souls (2003) — the film follows Eriko Kyobashi (Kyôko Koizumi), a middle-class mother who instates an unconventional family policy of complete truthfulness and transparency. Yet secrets nevertheless remain: Eriko's teenaged daughter stages trysts at the love hotel where she was conceived, while her husband and son both conduct affairs with the son's tutor. And through it all Eriko struggles to keep her own depression hidden from the others.

Linda Linda Linda (2005), which will be screened Feb. 16, traces the trials and triumphs of an all-girl band on the cusp of adulthood. Set in a high school on the outskirts of Tokyo, the story follows a group of friends who decide to perform at an upcoming school festival. Yet two days before the concert, their guitarist and lead singer quit the band. To avoid canceling, the remaining members enlist a Korean foreign exchange student, Son (Bae Doo-na), who leads the band despite not being fluent in Japanese.

Directed by Nobuhiro Yamashita, Linda Linda Linda features original music by James Iha of The Smashing Pumpkins as well as songs by Japanese punk band The Blue Hearts and a cameo appearance by The Ramones.

Brown Hall is located on the university's Danforth Campus, near the intersection of Forsyth Boulevard and Chaplin Drive. The screenings are sponsored by the programs in Film & Media Studies, International and Area Studies, and East Asian Studies, all in Arts & Sciences, with assistance from the Japan Foundation.

For more information call the Film & Media Studies Program at (314) 935-4056.