All things Japan - The Sydney Japanese Film Festivall

Recapping a bit here;
This holidays you may have been like me, lucky enough to go to the Japanese film festival held on the second floor of Chifley Plaza; Sydney. Running from the 16th to the 20th of April, they screened interesting, quirky and popular films for a whole week, everyday at 2:00pm and 6:00pm. The adverstisement went:

Japanese Cinema Week

Promotional design from The official website

In 2012 The Japan Foundation Sydney will be showcasing Japanese cinema during the April, June and September school holidays. Broaden your horizons beyond Godzilla and Gamera and be introduced to the best of contemporary Japanese cinema. 

When: Monday 16 to Friday 20 April.
Where: Japan Foundation Multipurpose Room, Shop 23, Level 1, Chifley Plaza, 2 Chifley Square, Sydney.
What's On: Movies for children will screen at 2pm and movies for adults at 6.30 pm throughout the week. All films are in Japanese with English subtitles. 
More Information: You can download a program here. Admission is free but bookings are essential. Email reception@jpf.org.au or phone 02 8239 0055. Website www.jpf.org.au/index.html


I wanted to go for every screening all week, with my Sydney-sider older sister who told me about it; unfortunately due to delayed study, sudden work opportunities and I suppose.. poor time management.. I ended up seeing only one film. But hey - the Thursday screening of "Sumo Do, Sumo Don't" really was excellent So it all turned out ok :)

Available from the DVD Warehouse website

Sumo Do, Sumo Don't
According to movie information powerhouse IMDb; this film was released in 1992 (Hey! My birthday year :) That's nice)

Director: 

Masayuki Suo

Writer: 

Masayuki Suo

Stars:

 Masahiro Motoki, Misa Shimizu and Naoto Takenaka

It's a foreign foreign language film (Japanese dialogue; optional english subtitles).
 Go see it. Really pretty fun. Synopsis: A struggling Sumo Wrestling club has to gain five members or it will close down; the resulting lack-lustre team of largely unwilling team-mates ensures that the road to a successful competition championship will not go smoothly. A comedy with romantic subplot; which detours briefly into examining Japanese culture in regards to a traditional sport, changing gender roles in sport... and where courage, stupidity, desire for friendship and sheer lack of options may get you.  : D

The team :P (film still courtesy Asiabeam)

However, if you happen to be unfamiliar with Japanese manga and anime - ish storylines, you may find yourself a little.. befuzzled..
I watched it going - hey this is totally from a manga, look what they're doing - people who don't know manga would have no idea Why the plot turned out like that... (in saying that, I'm not sure that it was from a mange, or they just really used a lot of some kind of staple story features - the stereotyping of the foreigner's language skills + sneering attiitude towards japanese culture that undergoes an "enlightening" process; the larger, unpopular girl with courage and kindness whose determination leads her to recognition (not always victory) over her love-rivals; the effeminate boy whose male friends always force into cross-dressing and etc etc
Then again, I didn't ask my sister (a lapse, in hindsight) how she found it, so perhaps it was still interesting. Like watching the Harry Potter 4 movie without reading the book - they made a mess of that one.

ok, having done some hunting, here's the link to a blogger who's got a few more opinions to share on the whole affair.

But how is this all relevant now? It's all over now right?
...Well.
Here's the thing, it was a "testing audience reception" event in some ways - depending on how the whole event went down the organisers - The Japan Foundation, Sydney - are thinking of making it an annual or even bi-annual event, so if you missed out this time, you'll now be all wised up for next time. More thinking space :D
What's more, The Japan Foundation Sydney do a variety of events, workshops and programs throughout the entire year, so now that you've heard about it, you can go to their website and check it out yourself. ta-daa! here you go.
really, it seems like a good organisation people, with strong humanitarian motives behind a lot of their stuff - and that's just from me glancing at the front page; they make it very clear. So that's very good, can't have too much love and awareness in the world - and Heck Yes it's all Japanesey on the side, so that's great too.

Japanese peace crane - cheers google images

google images

Happy Drama viewing :D xx