Skip to main content
Tag

Japanese film

Monster

MONSTER [Japan], Thursday 3 October, 8pm

By Homepage, Season 26, Autumn 2024

Online booking is appreciated. Click here to buy tickets for MONSTER.

Mysterious and deeply moving, Monster is a breath-taking piece of cinema from master director Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters).

When her young son starts to behave strangely, single mother Saori knows that something is wrong. Discovering that one of his teachers might be responsible, she storms into the school demanding answers. But as the story unfolds through the eyes of mother, teacher and child, shocking truths begin to emerge.

A timely tale of family, false impressions, and ultimately hope, Kore-eda’s typically sensitive
work features powerful performances and a sublime score from the Oscar-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Clarity gradually arrives and the film, like all Kore-eda’s best work, submerges itself in heartfelt humanism and quiet understanding. – The Times [UK]

The performances drawn from child actors are perfect, while their section of the film takes place in colours so bold and vivid it feels as if only children see the world that way. Thanks to Kore-eda, so can we. – The Financial Times

Monster is Hirokazu Kore-eda channelling Christopher Nolan: twisty storytelling in the service of wise empathy. – Empire

Winner, Cannes Film Festival 2023, Best Screenplay

96% Rotten Tomatoes

  • MONSTER
  • Japan, 2023 | Language: Japanese | 2 h 05 min | Cert: 12A
  • Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
  • Cast: Sakura Andō, Eita Nagayama, Sōya Kurokawa, Hinata Hiiragi
  • Foreign language films are subtitled. 
  • Cert: CLUB for over 18s.
  • BOOKING
  • Tickets: €8.50/€7 concession.
  • Click here to book online.
  • Cork Cine Club absorbs the cost of online booking fees.
  • Online booking closes at 6pm on the night of the film.
  • Pay at the door by card or cash. Exact change is appreciated.

Plan 75 [Japan]

PLAN 75 [Japan], Thursday 16 November, 8pm

By archive, Season 24 Autumn 2023

Online booking is appreciated and we cover the cost of your booking fee.  Click here to buy your ticket for Plan 75.

A thought-provoking Japanese drama imagines a world where a country with a low birth rate and dwindling work force takes drastic steps to alleviate the burden of its aging population.

Set in a not-too-distant future, Plan 75 imagines a Japan where citizens over the age of 75 are considered a threat to the country’s economy. A government programme is introduced to encourage and incentivise voluntary end of life. The film follows three characters whose lives are impacted by Plan 75 in very different ways.

A protégé of renowned Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda, director Chie Hayakawa handles this sensitive material with a deft hand. Through Plan 75’s science-fiction-tinged conceit, she crafts a humanist story that explores the dangers of neglecting a society’s senior citizens and unveils the beauty and dignity of human life.

Plan 75 may seem like it’s about ageing, but more accurately it is about the importance of community – Screen International

Baisho gets across the creeping despair that morbidity and the loss of community can create — a sensation that lets “Plan 75” double as a consummate entry in pandemic-era cinema. – New York Times

This is an ultra-delicate whisper of a drama… And yet the anger that fringes such bittersweet moments gradually accumulates into a palpable and lingering rage at how good we’ve become at branding cruelty as compassion. – IndieWire

93% Rotten Tomatoes

  • PLAN 75
  • Japan, 2022 | Language: Japanese | 113 minutes | Cert: CLUB
  • Director: Chie Hayakawa
  • Cast: Stefanie Arianne, Chieko Baisho, Hayato Isomura
  • Foreign language films are subtitled.  Cert: CLUB for over 18s.
  • A short film may be shown before the feature.
  • BOOKING
  • Tickets: €8.50/€7 concession
  • Cork Cine Club is absorbing cost of online booking fees.
  • Book online: https://bit.ly/Plan75-16thNov
  • Pay at the door by card or cash. Exact change is appreciated.

AFTER THE STORM [JAPAN], THU 9 NOVEMBER, 8PM

By archive, Season 17 films

A hard-boiled family drama with a soft heart.

Dwelling on his past glory as a prize-winning author, Ryota wastes the money he makes as a private detective on gambling and can barely pay child support. After the death of his father, his aging mother and beautiful ex-wife seem to be moving on with their lives. Renewing contact with his initially distrusting family, Ryota struggles to take back control of his existence and to find a lasting place in the life of his young son – until a stormy summer night offers them a chance to truly bond again.

Dr. Till Weingärtner, Lecturer in Contemporary East Asian Studies (Japan) at University College Cork, will introduce the film.

There is such intelligence and delicacy in Koreeda’s film-making, such wit and understated humanity. – ★★★★ The Guardian

One of our best filmmaker’s best films. –  ★★★★ Roger Ebert.com

An achingly beautiful ode to the quiet complexities of family life. – ★★★★ The Telegraph

Slow-paced, sad, rueful and sometimes warmly funny, After the Storm is one of the director Hirokazu Koreeda’s sturdiest, and most sensitive, constructions. – New York Times Critic’s Pick

96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

UMI YORI MO MADA FUKAKU |Japan, 2017 | Language: Japanese | 117 minutes | Cert: Club

Director: Hirokazu Koreeda

Cast: Abe Hiroshi, Maki Yoko, Yoshizawa Taiyo, Kiki Kilin, Lily Franky, Hashizume Isao