Japanese Cinema EclecticsJapanese Cinema Eclectics

A multi-part series devoted to unexplored tangents of the Japanese film curated by Donald Richie
Film: "Nobody Knows" (dare mo shiranai)
Written, directed and edited by Kore'eda (2004), 141mins.




Language: Introduction by Donald Richie in English
Film in Japanese with English subtitles (film to be followed by a Q&A moderated by Donald Richie)

Nobody Knows (dare mo shiranai)

The prize-winning picture based on the 1988 abandonment of four young children by their mother. Kore'eda (director of Maboroshi and After Life) turns the case into a gripping and appalling experience. The fourteen year-old Yagira Yuya won the "Best Actor" Award at the 2004 Cannes Festival, and director Kore'eda created a new kind of fictional documentary. Nobody Knows (Dare mo shiranai) Written, directed and edited by Kore'eda Hirokazu Photographed by Yamazaki Yutaka With Yagira Yuya, Kitaura Ayu, Kimura Hiei, Shimuzu Momoko, Kan Hanae, "You." (2004), 141mins. Four siblings live happily with their mother in a small apartment in Tokyo. The children all have different fathers. They have never been to school. The very existence of three of them has been hidden from the landlord. One day, the mother leaves behind a little money and a note, asking her 12 year old boy to look after the others. And so begins the childrenfs odyssey, a jurney nobody knows. Through engulfed by the cruel fate of abandonment, the four children do their best to survive in their own little world, devising and following their own set of rules. When they are forced to engage with the world outside their cocooned universe, the fragile balance that has sustained them collapses. Their innocent longing for their mother, their wary fascination toward the outside world, their anxiety over their increasing desperate situation, their inarticulate cries, their kindness to each other, their determination to survive on wits and courage...

Donald Richie

Named by TIME magazine, "the dean of Japan's art critics," and acknowledged as the foremost authority on Japanese cinema, Donald Richie has also written widely - some forty books in all - on other aspects of the country and its people. The Inland Sea has been called a classic and its film version has won prizes at international film festivals as well as the National Geographic Earth Award. His Public People, Private People has been called "unforgettable" by Tom Wolfe and of his two collections of essays, A Lateral View and Partial Views, Susan Sontag has said: "Donald Richie writes about Japan with an unrivaled range, acuity, and wit."

Richie has lived in Japan for most of his life. Arriving on New Year's Day, 1947, he worked as feature-writer and film critic for The Pacific Stars and Stripes. After graduating from Columbia University in 1953, he returned to Japan as film citic for The Japan Times. He has written for Newsweek, The Nation, Variety, The New York Times, The Guardian, Harper's, Atlantic Monthly, and all major films magazines. In addition he presented the first retrospective of the Japanese film director Yasujiro Ozu at the 1962 Berlin Film Festival and has since acted as guest director of the Telluride Film Festival, and served on the juries at the Hawaii, Lacarno, Thessaloniki, and Kerala Festivals.
In addition to writing a column for The Japan Times, lecturing around the world, and continuing to lend his distinctive voice to Japanese studies, Donald Richie teaches film at Temple Universityfs Japan Campus.

Institute of Contemporary Japanese Studies-ICJS
The ICJS is an organization dedicated to fostering study and research on various topics related to contemporary Japan. The Institute hosts lectures, seminars, and symposia that provide a forum for Japanese studies scholars to present their work on issues related to contemporary Japanese social, cultural, and political issues. The ICJS reflects TUJ's commitment to offering research and study programs linking Japan and other countries, fostering greater overseas understanding of Japan, and serving an innovative role in International Education in Japan.

For information, please contact:
Institute of Contemporary Japanese Studies Temple University, Japan Campus
tel. 03-5441-9800, ext. 709
e-mail. icjs@tuj.ac.jp

Sponsored by Institute of Contemporary Japanese Studies (TUJ)

- - - -

Do The MOYPUP!

April 2nd - 30th
Exhibition: Yuko Kanatani
Animation: Yuko Kanatani, Mari Inaba
Come enjoy soft and psychedelic artwork during the evening lounge!