Pop Smart - See & Do: Fun with Japanese cinema
(Photo courtesy Magnolia Pictures)
Movie fans know that some of the most haunting 20th-century filmmaking has come from Japan. Films such as Rashomon (1950), Onibaba (1964), and Woman in the Dunes (1964) have the kind of impact that lingers for decades. Georgia Tech suggests that the national cinema continues to both enchant and get under our skin with its mini-film festival GHOSTS, LEGENDS, AND TECHNOLOGY IN JAPANESE CINEMA, beginning Tues., MARCH 25. The series features four notable Japanese films centered on folk tales, ghosts and the country’s unique dreamy surreality. The mini-festival opens with Kenji Mizoguchi’s Ugetsu (1953), one of Japanese film’s masterpieces known for its visual beauty and progressive gender politics. The series also features Kwaidan (1964) and Kairo (2001, pictured), a Cannes Film Festival Un Certain Regard award winner, which unites themes of ghosts and technology for the 21st century. Through March 31. Free. 7 p.m. Student Success Center, Press Rooms A and B, 2R Level, 219 Uncle Heinie Way. 404-365-9239. www.lcc.gatech.edu.
Here’s the trailer for Kwaidan, directed by Masaki Kobayashi...