JFF Theatre
https://en.jff.jpf.go.jp/ What's available changes periodically.
anime - Time of EVE the movie, 106 minutes
stop motion animations - YASHIRO Takeshi - Pukkulapottas and Hours in the Forest; Gon, The Little Fox; Moon of a Sleepless Night; Norman the Snowman, The Northern Lights; Norman the Snowman, On a Night of Shooting Stars
(note to myself: PTW anime series for Time of EVE, ReLIFE) 2025 movie challenge
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1. It's a Summer Film
Japanese Movie - 2021
I'm not sure what to make of this except it was worth the time.
MightShould have watched again :) -
2. Sumodo - The Successors of Samurai
Japanese Movie - 2020
I finally made it through a Japanese documentary (no shade, my options are limited, they tend to be somewhat slow paced, assume big picture knowledge i lack and go into finer detail than my limited knowledge can sustain strong enough interest in), so that rates as a big compliment here :) Ryuden's personality was a big help.
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3. Happy Flight
Japanese Movie - 2008
They really made this work.
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4. Tora-san in Goto
Japanese Movie - 2016
This was really well done. I can't be comfortable with the father or a family business so dependent on child labour, but much respect for the film makers.
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5. ReLIFE
Japanese Movie - 2017
I really loved the friend group and their interactions. It felt like nostalgia for something I never had.
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6. The Great Passage
Japanese Movie - 2013
sadly not available to me
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7. Key of Life
Japanese Movie - 2012
Very dark, measured and often subdued comedy.
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8. Under the Open Sky
Japanese Movie - 2020
intense, quiet, beautiful, difficult, hopeful, sad, contrasts.
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9. Her Love Boils Bathwater
Japanese Movie - 2016
Somewhat disjointed in the beginning before it settles. Slow and gentle pacing but intense in emotion, wonderful found family dynamic
it was hard though, without that Thai way of cradling pain and grief
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10. The God of Ramen
Japanese Movie - 2013
Slow, sometimes stark, bio-documentary about the later years of a man's life, but also his love for his wife and work.
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11. Bread of Happiness
Japanese Movie - 2012
A fairy tale I think, about loss and healing.
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12. Project Dreams: How to Build Mazinger Z's Hangar
Japanese Movie - 2020
Utterly bonkers parody and very well done.
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13. My Broken Mariko
Japanese Movie - 2022
see summer JFF online festival list, didn't get around to watching again
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14. I Am What I Am
Japanese Movie - 2022
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15. School Meals Time Graduation
Japanese Movie - 2022
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16. A Handful of Salt
Japanese Movie - 2011
So much work went into this, as befits the labour-intensive subject.
(Ishikawa: Handful of Salt, Genealogy of Sake, Traditional Puppet Theatre: Bound by Spirits) -
17. Itomichi
Japanese Movie - 2021
Coming of age done a bit differently. Really loved this one.
(Aomori: Ito, Ki & Ki (shamisen), Aomori Museum of Art)Loved it even more the second time. There's a magic to it I don't know how to put into words.
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18. The Genealogy of Sake
Japanese Movie - 2015
i'm just going to consider this a meditative experience more than learning :)
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19. Three Sisters
Japanese Movie - 2014
Gentle, very slice of life. Marriage, relationships and an unconventional family.
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20. Love of the Great Tug of War
Japanese Movie - 2021
It's like a plucky business making a success of itself against the odds drama, with love stories, compressed into a movie.
(Not literally, it's an unassuming son proving himself to his father through the medium of an old local tradition.)
(Kagoshima: Love and the Grand Tug of War, Three Sisters, Kirishima Open Air Museum) -
21. Nabbie's Love
Japanese Movie - 1999
Fascinatingly odd slice of life. Drops into Irish music, Appalachian, Carmen's Habanera, the Star Spangled Banner on sanshin, silent film and old home movies. Sometimes crude, sometimes gentle.
(Okinawa: Nabbie's Love, Ryukyu Buyo: Okinawan, Honensai: Prayers for the Harvest, Sakurazaka Theater, Nago City Hall - Built Environment) -
22. One Cut of the Dead
Japanese Movie - 2017
Japanese work ethic harnessed to mayhem. Very clever.
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23. Shinmai Kisha Torokko: Watashi ga Yaraneba Dare ga Yaru!
Japanese Movie - 2024
The Scoop
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24. Have a Song on Your Lips
Japanese Movie - 2015
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25. Come Back Anytime
Japanese Movie - 2021
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26. Takano Tofuten no Haru
Japanese Movie - 2023
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27. Mottainai Kitchen
Japanese Movie - 2020