Japanese Film Festival

WEDNESDAY 18 MARCH, 6:30pm

Umizaru 2: Test of Trust,
(Japan, 2006. 117 minutes, Rating TBC)
Presented in association with the Japan Foundation.
Originally based on a manga, the wildly popular 2004 Umizaru, a ruggedly nautical boot-camp training flick (Japan's underwater Top Gun), next spawned a hit TV series before engendering a sequel. Umizaru 2 begins with a last minute effort to save two plane crash survivors in a pounding storm.
Free admission
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THURSDAY 19 MARCH, 6.30pm

Lupin the Ⅲ the Castle of Cagliostro
(Japan, 1979. 110 minutes, M-Contains medium level violence)
Writing credits: Hayao Miyazaki, from the graphic novel by Monkey Punch
Presented in association with the Japan Foundation
“With the stateside success of Princess Mononoke in 1999, the work of Japanese animation legend Hayao Miyazaki is slowly finding its way to mainstream audiences. Though My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service have circulated in the US in the children's video market for years, these are mere dubbed and edited versions of the originals. At long last, Manga has released Miyazaki's first feature film, The Castle of Cagliostro, in its original Japanese language. Based on the popular Lupin the 3rd pulp manga (Japanese comic) series by Monkey Punch, Cagliostro follows Arsene Lupin the third, a gentleman thief who burgles the world's riches with the aid of his sharpshooter sidekick, Jigen.” — Marc Fortier
Free admission
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FRIDAY 20 MARCH, 6.30pm

Death Note (Desu noto)
(Japan, 2006, 126 minutes, M-Contains supernatural themes & violence)

Presented in association with JETAA Wellington
“The ingenious Japanese thriller Death Note is a live-action version of a sensationally popular graphic novel in which a brilliant university student is given a 'death note' by a Shinigami or Death God, that enables him to bring about a villain's immediate death simply by writing down his name. When he embarks on a campaign against the underworld, his father, who happens to be a senior inspector in the Tokyo police, is assigned to capture him. A little overlong perhaps, but clever and gripping.” – Philip French, The Observer , 27 April 2008

Event listed by Film Archive

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