KOTOKO

Hyunri from Romance. Hard Nips © Anna Morgowicz.

Japan. 2011. 91 min. HD Cam SR, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto. With Cocco, Shinya Tsukamoto.

Suitable for 18 years and over.

Venice Film Festival, 2011, Venice Horizons Award (Shinya Tsukamoto).
U.S. premiere!

“Well before the end of the film it feels classic. It can only really be compared with truly classic films. Films such as Polanski’s Repulsion or Realm of the Senses by Oshima.” – Gertjan Zuilhof, 2012 International Film Festival Rotterdam

With his latest film, a visceral piece of undiluted artistic ferocity, Japanese genre master Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo, Tokyo Fist, Nightmare Detective) delves into the dark recesses of a young mother’s mind: Kotoko (Cocco), holds a fragile grip on reality, psychotically protecting her son from what she imagines are constant predatory threats. As confounding, dark fantasies plague and eventually overwhelm her, things tumble out of control and her baby is taken away after she is suspected of being a child abuser. Soon, she becomes intimate with a novelist who is enchanted with her singing. From here on, the movie itself starts to seriously sweat… Kotoko’s increasingly fractured perception comes to personify the unsettling contradictions of the grotesque: at once repellent and fantastic, a shock and a wonder, translating “the fortissimo eloquence of inner lives magnificently tortured”, to borrow poet Ted Hughes’ words.

The screening of KOTOKO will be preceded by the short, Romance, directed by Toshiro Sonoda. (With Hyunri. Japan, 2010 3:14 min., HD Cam, color.) A nerdy high-school boy is face to face with the class "bad girl." He believes his frustration will be resolved if he eliminates her. It turns out that she has the same idea. They’re about to take part in a deadly duel–who will be victorious?

Romance lead actress, Hyunri, co-hosts the opening night of the festival.

Followed by the MAKE LOVE party.
Festive attire in pinks or reds recommended (and mini-gowns and hot pants most welcome).
The party features live performance by Brooklyn-based Japanese girl band Hard Nips.

Part of the Globus Film Series: Love Will Tear Us Apart

TICKETS
$20/$15 Japan Society members, seniors & students

This event is SOLD OUT.