From 24 to 28 February and with the collaboration of Fundación Japón, Madrid and mediadistancia, Cineteca Madrid (Pl. de Legazpi, 8) presents a cycle dedicated to the Director’s Company, one of the most unique experiments in Japanese cinema of the 1980s. More information and ticket purchase on the website of Cineteca Madrid.
All films will be shown in original Japanese version with Spanish subtitles. Not recommended for children under 18.
Founded in 1982, the Director’s Company brought together a group of young filmmakers who sought to produce personal and risky films outside of big studios at a time when the industry was experiencing a deep crisis. Directors like Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Shinji Sômai, to whom retrospective cycles have already been devoted in recent months, Toshiharu Ikeda or Sogo Ishii made their first films as part of this radical experience, which renewed the landscape of Japanese cinema and boosted some of its central figures. A set of films that mix satire, violence, melodrama, absurd humor and social criticism. All sessions will be presented by the mediation team.
Films and screening dates:
— Mermaid Legend / Ningyo densetsu (Toshiharu Ikeda, 1984). Tuesday, February 24 at 8 p.m. in Sala Azcona. Not recommended for children under 18.
When a fisherman is killed by greedy real-estate developers for standing in the way of his expansion plans, his wife Migiwa, a pearl diver, takes an unrelenting revenge against the yakuza responsible. Accused of her husband’s murder and forced to take refuge in a brothel, an unstoppable fury is unleashed as the bloody battles unfold.
— Bumpkin Soup / Do-re-mi-fa musume no chi wa sawagu (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1985). Wednesday, February 25 at 8 p.m. in Sala Azcona. Not recommended for children under 18.
Akiko is a young girl from the countryside who visits a university in Tokyo in search of her youth love. In his quest he intersects with diverse and eccentric campus dwellers: apathetic intellectuals, sex-obsessed students, a psychology professor searching for the theory of shame, and of course his beloved Yoshioka, who has become an elusive and practically invisible character within the university. One of the first works by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, renowned director of Cure and Tokyo Sonata, to which a retrospective cycle has recently been dedicated.
— Door (Banmei Takahashi, 1988). Thursday, February 26 at 8 p.m. in Sala Azcona. Not recommended for children under 18.
Yasuko lives in a city skyscraper with her husband and son. Nervous about prank calls and insistent commercial visits, one day she slams the door on a salesman when he tries to force a brochure through the chain. From there, he begins to harass her: first with obscene letters written on the door of her house and then gradually escalating into constant harassment that leads to some last 20 minutes of chaos outside… First Japanese slasher film.
— Door II: Tokyo Diary (Banmei Takahashi, 1991). Friday 27 February at 8 p.m. in the Plató Room. Not recommended for children under 18.
Ai is a call girl, a job that carries many risks. Every time he crosses a door, he doesn’t know what kind of man he will find on the other side: some are kind, others violent and others are just completely unbalanced. One day she meets Mr. Mamiya, a strange and fascinating artist who will gradually introduce her to the pleasures of S&M.
— The Crazy Family / Gyakufunsha Kazoku (Gakuryu Ishii, 1984). Saturday 28 February at 8 p.m. in Sala Azcona. Not recommended for children under 18.
The Kobayashi family finally manages to move from their tiny, cramping Tokyo apartment to their dream home. But things are not as perfect as they seem: the house is infested with termites and the family begins to lose its sanity. The son, Masaki, is so obsessed with studying for exams that he starts to freak out; the daughter, Erika, lives apart except for her upcoming audition for a record label; the grandfather, Yasukuni, suffers from traumatic memories of WWII; and the father, Katsuhiko, is so worried about his family’s “illness” that he thinks he can only be cured by mass suicide. As the Kobayashi house begins to fall, so does the sanity of its inhabitants. Katsuhiko decides to take charge of the matter to prevent them from ending up in a madhouse… no matter what.