I went to the Japan-Denmark Film Festival

Post 00051 | June 2nd 2024

Last weekend I went to the Japan-Denmark Film Festival in at the Nicolai Cinema in Kolding, Denmark. It's a fairly small independent cinema that I love to frequent as it is a part of the Europa Cinemas network, which means they show a lot of films from across EU that you wouldn't otherwise get to see. As the name of the film festival might suggest though, this weekend they lowered the starry flag of Europe to raise the Japan's flag of the sun instead.

I am by no account a movie buff. My main reason for going was that it looked like an interesting way to spend the weekend. The only other recent Japanese film I have seen is Perfect Days, which is an art film about a middle aged man who doesn't mind cleaning public toilets for a living. Apparently, this was the first film festival of its kind, and it came off to a strong start. It lasted from Friday night to Sunday night, showing a total of eleven feature films and a dozen short films. You'll have for forgive me if I use incorrect English film titles on some of the films. I had a hard time finding a lot of the films when I went home to look online. It looks like some of the films haven't seen a Japanese premiere yet, so there's a good chance they haven't settled on a name for an eventual overseas release. Also, due to travelling constraints, I wasn't able to watch the last films of each night.

In any case, I figured I would post my impressions of the films. They won't be be deep dive reviews because A) I'm not a movie buff and B) watching about twenty movies in two days doesn't leave much time for reflection - In fact, it's pretty overwhelming. Think of this more of a "I tried the buffet; The salmon is nice" kind of thing.

The first movie was The Legend of the Stardust Brothers. It was shown Friday evening as the only movie outdoors behind the cinema. I wasn't able to go see it as it was a late showing. I decided to order the bluray though. I will probably update the blog post after I watch it.

The first film on the second day was Love and other Cults, a 2017 film about a girl called Ai. Her mother is so deeply engrossed by religion that she sends Ai off to live with the cult she's into. She seems to like it there until the police comes to arrest the cult leader and break up the cult. Sans family, sans cult, she now has to find her place in the world. She ping-pongs between a stable family who adopts her and the yakuza. Sairi Ito did a great job portraying this poor lass.

Afterwards we watched the fifth season of Mirrorliar Films which is a film production project that helps showcase new creators in a cavalcade of short films. In this case, there were six different short films being shown:

I had genuinely no idea what went on during Mimi, the first film. I think it might be about man talking with a doctor in a café. I assume the man was suffering from schizophrenia or suffering some other kind of delusions. Very confusing.
Then there was a film about some guy who goes to visit his childhood friend for the first time in twenty years as he was reminded of the smell his friend's room used to have. I think it was called Odd Dragon.
Standoff was a film about three siblings working together in a scorching hot café when a madman comes to eat spicy spaghetti and murder them.
Naiku appears to have been a Lithuanian film devoid of any Japanese actors? Anyway, in the film they were throwing pool balls at each other's faces in some sort of strange tournament.
A little more down to earth is Goodbye, Aoi's Red Glasses which is about a boy who confesses his love to a girl, only to be rejected as she knows he only likes her for her red glasses.
Finally, Salty Blue was about two girls in a public bath, with one struggling to confess her feelings for the other.

All in all, they were all impressive and ambitious short films, and there were some real potential in the mix. My favourites were Odd Dragon, Standoff and Salty Blue. If this is the general level of output from MirrorLiar Films participants, I'd be interested in seeing the other seasons.

At the festival there was going to be an audience choice award where were were to pick our favourite of three feature films and five short films. The first of the feature films were Downtown Utopia that released last year. In it, Miyu Yoshimoto plays the young runaway misfit Naomi who after a dash-and-dine at a café goes to live as a roommate with a couple of charismatic old geezers as per the forgiving café owner's suggestion. Naomi later starts working at the café and gradually starts finding joy in life again. It looks amazing, being shot entirely in black and white, which really enhances the expression of the actors. I can't really think of a sub-par actor in this film. I highly recommend it.

The main event of the weekend was next. Eihi Shiina had travelled here to show off her first film as a writer and director. This was actually a world premiere which was quite an honour to be part of. Visualbum was a very beautiful movie with loads of deep symbolism that went straight over my head. To me it was little more than Eihi in an admittedly marvelous red and white dress, posing in nature with big yarn balls in different colours. There was a Q&A afterwards where one of the audience started asking about death poems and nirvana. I thought he was overthinking it, but ms. Shiina was very impressed how he practically nailed underlying message. In my defence there were audible gasps from the audience when she said that so I don't think I was the only one. I wish I could see the film again, knowing what I know now, but sadly it is not out yet. There was also a surprise trailer for new film she is starring in. I believe it was called Neo Forests.

After the Q&A we watched 1999's Audition which was Eihi Shiina's breakthrough film and somewhat of a horror classic. She plays the young girl Asami who is a love interest of Shigeharu, a recent widower. They met at an pretend audition that Shigeharu's friend held as a kind of dating service for Shigeharu after his wife died. Despite his friend feeling uneasy about her, they Shigeharu and Asami start dating and while he discovers more about her dark past, she becomes increasingly unhinged. I'm usually not one for horror movies but I quite liked this one. The unsettling feeling was put on a slow burner, which let us get to know and sympathise with the villain. I can see why this is a classic.

Saturday was concluded by a viewing of Fuku-chan of the Fukufuku Flats, which like Legend of the Stardust Brothers was being shown outside. Regretfully, I had to get home and get some sleep but like with Stardust Brothers, I picked up the DVD, because the poster looked amazing.

Last day of the event started off with the second of the feature films eligible for the audience choice award, New Religion from 2022. It follows Miyabi after she tragically loses her daughter who falls from a balcony. Miyabi gets divorced and starts working as a call girl where she one day gets a client who wants to take pictures of various body parts. As more photos get taken, she starts getting closer to her dead child while reality around her warps. It wasn't really my cup of tea. It felt like it was trying too much and achieving too little.

We then watched the comedy Besotted with Yuri, where we once again had a visitor from Japan. This time it was, Osawa Shinichiro who played one of the lead roles of the film. It was a pretty interesting film as it was shot during covid restrictions, which severely limited the amount of sets and cast were allowed. It mostly took place in an empty bar with three friends and a fourth man, who it turns out was about to be married with Yuri, a childhood romance of the other three. They are all still completely in love with this girl and his having a hard time learning that she is not only engaged but pregnant. As they talk, their old dirty laundry is revealed. At first I assumed an adaptation from the theatre, with the limited sets and lighting, but it turned out I got it the wrong way round. In fact, one of the other actors was currently working on adapting the movie into a play. All in all it was a very charming movie. I'd recommend it if it gets a western release.

The third and final of the three audience choice award film was up next. This time it was Tea for Three which was a romance movie about a young female pianist who travels from Tokyo to Mimasaka to reunite with an old flame who moved there to run the family tea shop. While he wants nothing to do with her, she meets with his younger brother who tries to help get them back together. It was a fairly predictable story that nonetheless was beautifully told, acted, and shot. The producer, Hiroki Ohwada, actually also travelled to Denmark to participate - If I heard correctly, without the knowledge of the organisers. I thought that was a nice gesture.

Much like with Eihi Shiina, we also watched Osawa Shinichiro's first hit film: One Cut of the Dead, a 2017 comedy horror film. I can't remember the last time I ever laughed so much as I did when I watched this film - That's not even hyperbole. I'm not going to explain the plot for fear of spoiling it. Just go and watch it; The less you know, the better.

As I mentioned earlier there was also an award for the best short film and now was the time to watch them. The were five in total to choose from:

The Dignity of Life was a film about a doctor who without his knowledge was administering euthanasia to elderly people. It was quite a heavy subject for a short film, so I didn't feel it got the time to delve into the subject matter. It would probably have been better suited as a full-length film.
My Neighbour, My Flower was quite a lot lighter; A woman who lives alone talks to her neighbour (also played by Osawa Shinichiro) on her balcony.
In Goodbye, My Son, a son goes to visit his widowed father who spends his time drawing fireworks despite struggling with glaucoma.
The father in Rice Ball was a widower as well; In the short film him and his son sits at the kitchen table discussing the rice balls his wife used to make and how the father's rice balls didn't taste the same.
Finally, Selfie Stick starts out as a horror film when a young girl sees a spooky ghost in in photos taken by a selfie stick. In the end they end up hooking up though.

After we watched the short films, it was time to cast our votes. It was then revealed that there would be an awards given by a jury as well as the aforementioned audience choice awards. For the feature film I was initially going to vote for Downtown Utopia, but I was very moved by Tea for Three so it got my vote instead. As for the short film, I didn't think there was a standout participant that were much better than the rest. I voted for Rice Ball as 'father and son opening up about their emotions' is always difficult to write and perform but was well executed.

At the award ceremony, interestingly, the jury and audience chose different films. For the short films, the jury decided on Selfie Stick as it represented relationships in the digital age. Fair point. The audience went for My Neighbour, My Flower. As for the full-length films, the jury went for Downtown Utopia while the rest of the audience agreed with me and picked Tea for Three. It was a very emotional mr. Ohwada who received the award. I later looked him and found this interview from back when he had first started his production company. The last paragraph asks him about his hopes and dreams, to which he dreams his company will be hub for cultural exchanges. It fills me with so much joy that he was able to receive recognition for at a cultural exchange event. :)

The last film of the event was Door, an 80's horror movie that was considered lost art until a couple of years ago when it reemerged. Again, I wasn't able to stay as this was the last film of the night, but once again, I the bluray is on the way in the post.

Looking back the event, I was very happy to be a part of it. I got to see tons of movies that I otherwise wouldn't have, and met a lot of the cast behind these films as well. As a cultural exchange it seems to have gone very well as well. It seems like it was as positive an experience for the Japanese attendants as it was for the Danish. I hope the next film festival will go just as smooth.

Next time will be in Tokyo where it will be Danish films being showcased. I wonder what they will be showing? Mads Mikkelsen appears to be universally liked so that's probably a sure bet. The Promised Land is receiving praise from audiences and critics alike, but I wonder how much appeal 18th century Europeans would have for a Japanese audience. Of course, you can't talk about Danish cinema without mentioning the Dogme movement of the late 90's. No matter what movies they choose to view, I hope the Japanese audience has great an experience as I did.

Eihi Shiina leaving at the end of the festival.