Japan | 2017 |Nobuhiko Obayashi

The late Japanese filmmaker Nobuhiko Obayashi (1938-2020) wanted to make this anti-war epic even before he directed his first feature, the cult classic House (Hausu), in 1977! He finally realized it at age 80, after being diagnosed with stage four lung cancer and given six months to live. Based on a 1937 novella by Kazuo Dan and set in a Japanese coastal village a few months before Pearl Harbor, the film focuses on a teenage boy whose friendships and romances with classmates, and whose thoughts about the future, are soon subsumed by the war. Like Hausu, Hanagatami (the title means The Flower Basket) is an extravagantly stylized phantasmagoria that employs theatrical sets and lighting, rear projections, fake-looking CGI, and dizzying editing. But the experimentation is all in service to a wrenching lament for a lost generation. 100% critics rating (and audience score) on Rotten Tomatoes (as of 6/11). “Deeply felt and quite moving.” –Hollywood Reporter. “An auteurist fever dream.” –Village Voice. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 169 min.