Japan Society to Host Retrospective of Films of Sabu
In a nod to Tom Tykwer’s “Run Lola Run,” the Japan Society will feature a retrospective of the films of Sabu, an auteur said to have a cult following, titled “Run, Salaryman, Run! A Retrospective of Sabu’s Film Works.” The showcase offers 6 out of 11 of Sabu’s features, with a twelfth due out this year, from January 26 through February 5; included in the line-up is his first feature, “Non-Stop, a.k.a. Dangan Runner,” which is where the reference to “Run Lola Run” gets its inspiration from (“His debut was definitely a precursor to “Run Lola Run…” according to Samuel Jamier, Senior Program Officer at the Japan Society, “Monday,” “Postman Blues, “Drive,” “The Blessing Bell,” and the international debut on the big screen of “Troubleman.” Sabu will be present for introductions and Q&As for “Monday,” “Postman Blues,” and “Non-Stop.”
For the unfamiliar Samuel Jamier goes on to list comparable points of reference: “Sabu has drawn comparisons with Buster Keaton, Johnnie To and Doug Liman…and his innovative use of music could easily be described as Tarantino-esque. But his satirical jamborees, more than just friendly black comedies, are unlike anything else on the silver screen: they are stamina tests, survival riffs, and victory rolls. His work is the embodiment of the waning days of ‘Cool Japan’, and an important marker of the vibrancy and vitality of contemporary Japanese cinema.”
Other comparisons made by reviewers include, according to Japan Society: Takeshi Kitano, Hiroshi Shimizu, and Kiyoshi Kurosawa; for those who happen to be fans of Takashi Miike it should be noted that Sabu was cast in “Ichi the Killer,” among other acting credits; international festivals which have awarded Sabu’s directorial efforts include Bangkok Film Festival for “Postman Blues,” the Fantasia Film Festival for “Drive,” and the Berlin International Film Festival for “Monday” and “Blessing Bell.”
For more information go to: www.japansociety.org
SCREENING SCHEDULE
Monday
Wednesday, January 26, 7:30 PM
**Introduction and Q&A with director Sabu
**Opening screening followed by an afterparty
2000, 100 min., 35 mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Sabu. With Shinichi Tsutsumi, Yasuko Matsuyuki, Ren Osugi, Susumu Terajima, Tomorowo Taguchi. Print courtesy of The Japan Foundation.
It is the mother of all Mondays for salaryman Takagi (Shinichi Tsutsumi), who wakes up fully clothed in a unfamiliar hotel room, with a massive hangover and no recollection of the past 48 hours and how he got there. As an envelope of purification salt (used in Japan to ward off evil spirits during a funeral) falls out of his pocket, memories blood back. From a funeral wake that literally ended with a bang, to a deplorable date with his girlfriend, and a drunken descent into a nocturnal world of scowling yakuza and hostess clubs, the increasingly consternated salaryman wonders exactly how wrong things went during his lost and found weekend. Winner: FIPRESCI Prize at the 2000 Berlin Film Festival, “for its austere, dark wit and keen eye for human foibles.”
Postman Blues
Friday, January 28, 7:30 PM
**Introduction and Q&A with director Sabu
1997, 110 min., 35 mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Sabu. With Shinichi Tsutsumi, Keisuke Horibe, Ren Osugi, Keiko Toyama. Print courtesy of The Japan Foundation.
In this wacky comedic thrill ride, both a superb parody of the gangster genre and a masterful exercise in style and storytelling, Sawaki (Shinichi Tsutsumi) is an ordinary postman whose unassuming life takes a strange turn when he crosses paths with his old high school buddy Noguchi (Keisuke Horibe), now a low-level yakuza drug mule, just as he finishes cutting off his finger as an apology to his boss. Unbeknownst to both men, Noguchi’s freshly chopped-off pinky rolls off the table and into Sawaki’s mailbag. The chance encounter and missing pinky land the postman in hot water when the police mistakenly identify him as a schizophrenic-paranoid drug dealer, sadistic murderer and terrorist working for the yakuza. Things get more problematic when the unwitting postman befriends two terminal cancer patients: a lone hitman called Joe (Ren Osugi) and a pretty woman named Sayoko (Keiko Toyama).
Non-Stop a.k.a. Dangan Runner (Dangan Ranna)
Saturday, January 29, 7:30 PM
**Introduction and Q&A with director Sabu
1996, 82 min., 35mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Sabu. With Tomorowo Taguchi, Diamond Yukai, Shinichi Tsutsumi, Akaji Maro, Ren Osugi. Print courtesy of The Japan Foundation.
Sabu’s 1996 debut feature, a wild forerunner to the German arthouse smash hit Run Lola Run, by Tom Tykwers, features Tetsuo star Tomorowo Taguchi as a down-on-his-luck would-be bank robber, whose desperate plan to retrieve cash and a semblance of dignity quickly go south. Caught red-handed stealing a gauze face mask to conceal his identity, he is given chase by a strung-out convenience store clerk (played by real life rocker Diamond Yukai), who happens to be a washed-up drug-addled rock singer. In turn, the irate employee is chased by his drug supplier, Takeda, a third-rate yakuza (Shinichi Tsutsumi). As they run for their lives and each other, their stories flash back and forth, continuing a strange chain of events that only gets stranger while the three-man race continues at full speed into the night and through the streets of Tokyo. “Effortlessly clever.”–Scott Tobias, The A.V. Onion Club
Drive
Wednesday, February 2, 7:30 PM
2002, 102 min., 35 mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Sabu. With Shinichi Tsutsumi, Ren Osugi, Kou Shibasaki, Susumu Terajima, Masanobu Ando.
Salaryman Asakura (Shinichi Tsutsumi) is having a rather ordinary day, parking in the same spot from where he watches every day, at the same time, the fantasy figure of Kou Shibasaki as she walks around the corner, when an unwanted trio of bank robbers barges into his car, interrupting his reverie. Doubled-crossed and left stranded by one of their own, they hijack the unfortunate salaryman and order him to drive after the stolen loot. As it turns out, they didn’t quite pick up the ideal joyrider for the lam: the stressed white collar Asakura, first seen being diagnosed for hypertension, refuses to go over the speed limit. The gang quickly grows frustrated and decides to stop at a café to formulate a plan. More bad luck ensues, involving an edifying run-in with a punk rock band, more twists and turns, and angry ghosts.
The Blessing Bell (Kofuku no Kane)
Friday, February 4, 7:30 PM
2002, 87 min., 35 mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Sabu. With Susumu Terajima, Naomi Nishida, Seijun Suzuki, Reila Aphrodite.
A lyrical and meditative tale that is often reminiscent of both Mike Leigh’s Naked (1993) and Takeshi Kitano’s early yakuza films, The Blessing Bell follows the wanderings of its blue-collar protagonist, Igarashi (Susumu Terajima) through the 24 hours that follow the closing of the factory he works for. After a fruitless job hunt, the newly unemployed man walks into other lost souls: a yakuza boss who has literally been stabbed in the back, a man who murdered his wife’s lover (but not his wife), a hopeless single mother, the ghost of an elderly man in a hospital (played by director Seijun Suzuki) and a suicidal salaryman. Coincidentally, he also runs into a burning building, gets hit by a car and wins the lottery. Winner: Netpac Award, 2003 Berlin International Film Festival; and Grand Jury Prize, 2003 Cinemanila International Film Festival.
Troubleman (Toraburuman)
Saturday, February 5, 5 PM
**International Premiere
2010, 180 min., HD Cam, color, in Japanese. Directed by Sabu. With Shigeaki Kato, Terunosuke Takezai, Mayuko Iwasa, Riju Go, Susumu Terajima.
Sabu’s latest work, written for TV and presented for the first time outside Japan, stars Shigeaki Kato as Kazuo Tokuda, an insurance agent whose life is turned topsy-turvy when he gets thrust into a web of mystery and intrigue involving murderers, would-be rapists and a gang of angry yakuza! As things turn out, trouble is nothing new for this man, who might just be the very embodiment of bad luck.
Related Articles
Cannes 2013: 6 Films We Can’t Wait to See →
“Anna Karenina”: Tolstoy at the Theater →
Third Letter from Venice →
