Harmful Insect
| Friday, October 21 | ||
| 7:00 pm |
FREE FOR EVERYONE
7th Annual Japan Foundation Film Series: Young Starlets of Japanese Cinemas
Presented by the Center for Asian Pacific Studies, the Institute of Cinema and Culture, UI International Programs and the Japan Foundation
Miyazaki Aoi, whose role as the young girl in Eureka was highly acclaimed, here plays a junior high school girl who is determined to choose her own way of life amidst the cruel tricks of fate, even if this isolates her from her environment. At the 2001 Festival des 3 Continents the film won the Special Jury Award and the Best Actress Award. Affected by the commotion surrounding her mother’s suicide attempt, Sachiko (Miyazaki Aoi) loses touch with her classmates. She no longer goes to school and wanders the streets, spending her time as she pleases.
One day she meets Takao (Sawaki Tetsu) and the vagrant Kyuzo (Ishikawa Hiroshi). They have nothing in particular to do, but that makes the leisured passage of time they experience most precious. Meanwhile, we find out about a love affair between Sachiko and Ogata, a teacher from when she was in elementary school. However, Takao gets involved in some sort of trouble and disappears, putting a sudden stop to Sachiko’s leisured passage of time. She starts to go back to school, but troubles await her there as well.
Directed by Shiota Akihiko
Starring Aoi Miyazaki, Seiichi Tanabe and Tetsu Sawaki
Japanese w/English subtitles
92 min, 35 mm
