Japan Film Festival
The Imaginasian Center in downtown is on Main next to the Smell. An unassuming building, which was once the Linda Lea theater, it's now a great place to see films. It looks small actually from the outside, but inside you do get a nice theater that's clean except for the floors, which are sticky. The Japan Film Festival LA has put together a great program of shows. They still have a little to learn in terms of making a film festival, since I don't think they intro'd the film, but overall, they put together a ton of films in a tiny amount of time.
At 4:50pm on a friday, attendance is a tough one. I don't think you can pull off day time shows on a weekday. I think there were films earlier in the day as well. But there's plenty to see and it's worth seeing the movies in this festival. I saw Chanko, it was a sumo film, and even though they could have edited out 30 minutes of the film, and it had nutty romantic drama that was first grade, it was still funny.
Labels: random musings
posted by gr @ PERMLINK: 10:49 AM
1 Comments:
I saw two of the films.
The first one was called Maikohaaaan!!!
It was about an awkward, nerdy,
socially abandoned Japanese
guy who blunders his way towards
his affections of a young Geisha
in Kyoto.
This crazy, over-the-top Japanese sense
of humor story is told through the Geisha
world, professional baseball, broadway
numbers, politics, ramen corporations,
etc. etc.
At first the main character was little too
zany for me (He sets back LLD a wayyyyy back).
But then the story line developed and there
were things that he does that are just
plain funny.
The second film was about an awkward,
nerdy, socially abandoned Japanese guy,
(Hey, is there some kind of pattern here?)
who with the help of his network of cyber
friends, gets instant message coaching
on how to get a girl.
This one was a lot more classic and simple
and the main character's cyber friends are
completely hilarious. I think this film
was more my style.
Another reason I wanted to go to this
festival was to see the venue,
The Imaginasian Center. It was designed
by Craig Hodgetts of Hodgetts and
Fung
http://www.hplusf.com/
There wasn't much space for this project,
the circulation takes up a lot of the
downstairs lobby, but it has some nice
sleek detail. Also, with the rooftop
space, it looks like a nice place to hold
some sort of screening party.
One thing I was kind of looking for
was some kind of reference to the
old Linda Lea Theater that they replaced,
but I didn't see anything.
Hopefully, with the redevelopment that
is supposed to happen on Main Street,
that area will become safer. Also,
there is supposed to be an LAPD
building across the street.
It's great that this festival is supposed
to help bridge the gap between
Japan and American culture, but
I think they need to advertise it
more. Especially outside of the
Japanese community. I really
like this festival and always see one
movie that I like. I hope it will
continue.
If you missed it this weekend,
it will also be playing April
18-20 in Irvine.
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