Art works again! We start the new season with the classics of Japanese and world cinema. We will portray works created during the Golden Decade of the Japanese Film (1950-1960), which speak of ordinary people and their difficulties and efforts to live a fulfilled and meaningful life. In these endeavors, they often become embittered, often because of various life and cosmic injuries, but their answer is always the same, do not give up, fight and live.
The entrance to all projections is free.
Monday, January 29:
Yasujirō Ozu
18.00 Tokyo Story (1953) – 2h16min
A film from the height of the career of Japanese director Jasusir Ozu and in the opinion of many critics one of the greatest film achievements of the last century. The main actors Chishū Ryū and Chieko Higashiyama interpret the elderly couple from the province who are coming to Tokyo to visit their children and grandchildren. However, soon after their arrival they are disappointed and realize that their children do not have enough time for them.
20.30 Floating Weeds (1959) – 1h59min
Floating Weeds is a remake of the same name of Ozu’s silent film from 1934. Members of the traveling acting family of kabuki actors led by the elderly Komajar (Ganjiro Nakamura) come to perform in one seaside town. Shortly thereafter, it turns out that the local young postman Kyoshi (Hiroshi Kawaguchi) Komaruj’s extraordinary son, provokes the jealous Komarui mistress Sumiko (Machiko Kyō).
Tuesday, January 30:
Kenji Mizoguchi
18.00 Sansho the Bailiff (1954) – 2h4min
The historical drama directed by Kenji Mizoguchi is located in the 11th century and shows the suffering of a family court official who was driven to another province because of non-execution of orders, while his wife and two children went to live with her brother. After a few years, in an attempt to join him, they are deceived and sold into slaves. The wife is forced to engage in prostitution, while the children are separated from her and become slaves in the camp of the savage administrator Sansoa (Eitaro Shindo).
20.30 Ugetsu (1953) – 1h36min
The scenario for the film is based on the same collection of the Uede Academy. The store is located in the province of Omi and dates back to the 16th century. The protagonists of the film interpreted by Masayuki Mori and Eitaro Ozawa are two modest peasants who, despite the civil war that rages around them, seek to gain fame and fortune, one as a trader and another as a samurai, which will lead to tragic consequences for their wives and incite rage ghosts.
Wednesday, January 31:
Akira Kurosawa
18.00 Ikiru (1952) – 2h23min
The film is partly inspired by the short Tolstoy story “Death of Ivan Iljic”. Kandi Watanabe (Takashi Shimura) is a middle-aged man who has been dealing with the same monotonous work for 30 years and who, after learning that he has cancer of the stomach, decides to devote his time and energy to achieving a worthwhile achievement before the end of his life.
20.30 Yojimbo (1961) 1h50min
One of the most famous performances of Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, and also a film that served as an inspiration to Sergio Leon for his spaghetti western trilogy and famous remake of “For a handful of dollars.” The store is located in Japan in the second half of the 19th century. Sanjoro, a wandering samurai, arrives in a rural town and learns from the slaughterhouse that the city is divided between two powerful men. Both are prone to gambling and are constantly accompanied by bodyguards who protect them and their business. They are constantly clashing and Sanjuro sees his chance. He offered his services to both of them and was waiting for a better offer.