Whether it’s your New Year’s resolution to expand your cinematic awareness or break up your Oscar-movie viewing — or maybe you’re just sick of January releases — there are plenty of reasons to go early and often to the new film series Spotlight Japan at TIFF Bell Lightbox, which opens this weekend.
As part of a city-wide celebration of Japanese culture over the next few months, TIFF presents three series featuring the depth and breadth of the Japanese cinematic canon. With the first two parts getting underway this month, drama abounds on screen as themes of war, love, betrayal and the paranormal unfold — and that’s just Ugetsu!
Kicking off on Jan. 19 is the celebration of Nikkatsu, Japan’s oldest major movie studio, with Tokyo Drifters: 100 Years of Nikkatsu. The series showcases works from the so-called Golden Age of the studio from the late ’50s to the early ’70s (and not the Pink Film period that saw the studio mass-produce “romantic pornography” — sorry). The movies of the Golden Age reveled in layered storytelling, mysterious love and of course, violent revenge.
Below, our top picks from Spotlight Japan:
Rusty Knife (1958)
A box-office smash in its day, this action-packed crime thriller is violent and chilling, centered on a man released from prison who’s out for revenge… with his rusty knife.
Feb. 9, 10 p.m.
Tokyo Drifter (1966)
Both surreal and absurd, this excessive, violent gangster flick finds a former criminal trying to reform. Director Seijun Suzuki was insubordinate throughout the process, and he was subsequently punished when the film was finished by having to film his next two films in black and white.
March 2, 10 p.m.
A Colt is My Passport (1967)
More than just a great title, this film is a crime thriller and spaghetti western rolled into one, and it’s better than Django Unchained and Gangster Squad combined.
March 16, 10 p.m.
Ugetsu (1953)
Rightly regarded as a triumph of Japanese cinema, this film tells the story of a man lured away from his devoted wife by a mysterious temptress, played by the eerie and compelling Machiko Kyo.
Jan. 24, 6:15 p.m.
Tokyo Story (1953)
Last year, a worldwide poll of film critics voted this as third best movie ever made with a powerful performance by Setsuko Hara, You’ve seen Vertigo and Citizen Kane, now see this.
Feb. 2, 7 p.m.
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960)
A film rich in social commentary and subtlety, Hideko Takamine plays an aging, childless widow, who toes the line between dignity and decay in a bar where she must submit to depravity in order to escape it.
Mar. 24, 7 p.m.
Spotlight Japan, TIFF Bell Lightbox, 350 King St. W, 416-968-3456. Jan. 19 – April 17
