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JAPAN

Doing Time- Sai Yoichi
Based on the real-life prison experience of cult manga author Hanawa Kazuichi, Korean-Japanese director Sai Yoichi has made a film that captures the humor of the experience rather than the violence and drama. Following the chapter structure of the original manga, it explores the daily routines and codes of prison life from the perspective of the cell Hanawa shares with four other "hardened criminal" types: meals, laundry, baths, exercise, cleaning, making tissue-box holders in the prison workshop. "For Hanawa (wonderfully played by Yamazaki Tsutomu, best known for Tampopo), the real epiphany is the period he spends in solitary confinement, his punishment for 'unauthorized communication' with his cell-mates-which means writing down their names and addresses. Sai films it in strong, clear images and doesn't impose his own 'style' on the material. If its elusive bittersweet qualities seem somehow familiar, that's because if Ozu Yasujiro had ever made a prison movie it would have felt like this."-Vancouver Film Festival. (93 mins.) Print courtesy of Xanadeux Co. Ltd.
Selected Filmography: Mosquito on the 10th Floor (83), Via Okinawa (89), All Under the Moon (93), Tokyo Deluxe (94), MARKS (95), Dog Race (98).
Showtimes: 2/15, 4:30pm and 2/18, 7pm GU.

Go- Isao Yukisada
As a North Korean teenager (a "zainichi") living in Japan, Sugihara feels hopelessly out of place, and answers the prejudice of his schoolmates and teachers with his fists, quickly earning a reputation as a champion fighter. But his own father, a former Olympic boxer, remains the one antagonist he cannot beat. Breathlessly shot (complete with a full arsenal of freeze-frames, slo-mo and color washes), and with a banging electronic soundtrack, Go is a visually stunning work. Balancing its kinetic energy, the story is a surprisingly emotive work that paints a realistic rather than over-the-top portrait of the anguish of adolescence and the difficulties of identity, be they national or personal. Last year's Japanese submission for the
Best Foreign Film Oscar, Go was nominated for 13 Japanese Academy Awards, winning 8, including Best Director, Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing and Actor.
(122 mins.) Print courtesy of Toei.
Filmography: Sunflower (00), Luxurious Bone (01).
Showtimes: 2/19, 6:15pm BW and 2/24, 7:00pm WH.
Sponsored by The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles.

PHOTO- GO