By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Daihachi Yoshida
Starring: Ai Hashimoto | Kôdai Asaka | Kurumi Shimizu | Masahiro Higashide | Mizuki Yamamoto | Noboyuki Suzuki | Ryunosuke Kamiki | Suzuka Ohgo | Takemi Fujil
Original language title: Kirishima, bukatsu yamerutteyo
Country: japan
Year: 2013
Running time: 103
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2142797/combined
Kyle says: “THE KIRISHIMA THING received its New York Premiere at the Asian Film Festival. There is no jury, no prize is given, the film is not a commodity in competition. Nonetheless this film resonated more strongly with me, stayed longer in my thoughts, and had me pondering moments of emotional engagement more intently, than most of the 28 other films I saw in two weeks. By which measure I would suggest that THE KIRISHIMA THING is one of the best of the 12th NYAFF.
“Program booklet notes suggest RASHOMON (1950) by way of THE BREAKFAST CLUB (1985), but I experienced THE KIRISHIMA THING more as Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’AVVENTURA (1960) and BLOW-UP (1966) by way of Stephen Chbosky’s THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER (2012). The title refers to the star of the high school volleyball team who abruptly quits and then disappears both from high school activities and from the lives of all the other students. The ‘Thing’ is that fellow students experience this very differently, and the film is presented in alternate points of view on the same activities within a similar time period.
“All the archetypes we know from other movies, such as jocks, girlfriends, cliques, wannabes of both sexes, techno-geeks, lonely musicians, nerds from the audio-visual club who want to make horror movies when their teachers want them to make boring studies of high school life — all the students manifest the seriousness of high school life where every high and every low is emotionally exaggerated beyond comprehensibility, and all the students experience the sudden absence of Kirishima differently. A scene of the Film Club students making their zombie movie on the roof of the building, and one of the students profoundly verbalizing the ‘Feeling that our favorite films and the films we’re making are somehow connected’ would ordinarily call for reaction of laughter or condescension. Here the scene is extremely touching. The film places us in the position of seeing events from the standpoint of students living them in real time, as well as time-shifting, and delicately ends without forcing a conclusion about what has just happened or what will happen next in these young lives..
“Direction by Daihachi Yoshida is visionary, the editing by Mototaka Kusakabe is state-of-the-art, and performances by all members of the youthful cast are deeply satisfying. Special mention must be made of Ryunosuke Kamiki as the young high school director wannabe whose entire life is rooted in the creation of his zombie movie. Awards of the Japanese Academy were bestowed on his work as Best Actor, on Yoshida as Best Director, and the entirety as Best Film. The Mainichi Film Concours similarly awarded Best Film, Best Director, and Best New Actor to THE KIRISHIMA THING, and the Asian Film Award for Best Editor was presented to Mototaka Kusakabe. 5 cats
“Sunday, July 7, 2013, New York Asian Film Festival at the Walter Reade Theater, Film Society of Lincoln Center, New York.”