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Hanagatami 花筐 / HANAGATAMI U.S. PREMIERE FEATURE SLATE A passion project that was in gestation even before his legendary debut House (1977), veteran director Nobuhiko Obayashi’s follow-up to Seven Weeks (JAPAN CUTS 2015) is an adaptation of Kazuo Dan’s 1937 novella about a group of teenagers living in the coastal town of Karatsu as the Pacific War creeps ever closer. An ensemble cast of Japanese cinema’s rising stars plays out Obayashi’s fever dream of youth, desire, and romance within an extravagantly stylized cinematic hyperreality full of his signature green screen composites, elaborate lighting, and dizzying editing. With the horror of war in view, the doomed characters burn with desire to live their lives to the fullest, suggesting both a warning and a call for compassion and peace from the 80-year-old director. 2017. 169 min. DCP, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi. With Shunsuke K
