License to Live

『ニンゲン合格』
Ningen Gokaku

Japan Society and Sideshow/Janus Films regrettably announce that Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa is no longer able to travel to New York to participate in the JAPAN CUTS Film Festival due to unforeseen circumstances. All of Kurosawa’s screenings scheduled for this week will go on as planned, and Japan Society will be reaching out to ticket holders about these events with further details. We are all tremendous supporters of Director Kurosawa, and we hope he will be able to visit his fans in New York soon.

SOLD-OUT SCREENING: There is no online or email waitlist for sold-out screenings. Those wishing to attend sold-out screenings can visit the Japan Society Box Office in person at 333 East 47th Street. A physical waitlist will begin one hour before each sold-out event. 10 minutes prior to the screening, any available tickets will be made available and can be purchased by those present in the order they arrived. Please note, there is no guarantee that tickets will be available for sold-out events.

Archival 35mm Presentation—Introduction by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s fascinating reconstruction of a 1970 Jason Robards picture—Sam Peckinpah’s frontier western The Ballad of Cable Hogue to be exact—lifts the framework of Bloody Sam’s uncharacteristically subdued hangout film while substituting the twilight days of the Old West for 1990s Tokyo. Awakening from a 10-year coma, 24-year-old Yutaka (Drive My Car’s Hidetoshi Nishijima in his first lead role) finds that his family has separated in the decade-long interim. Expressing disinterest in the time lost, the lackadaisical Yutaka, with the help of his father’s old college friend Fujimori (Koji Yakusho), resolves to establish a pony ranch on a plot once owned by his family, forming an outpost which welcomes a community of outsiders. Irreverent, wryly comic and heartfelt, License to Live is a marked departure from Kurosawa’s V-Cinema and horror fare, constituting an early show of the filmmaker’s remarkable adaptability and versatile range.

Dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1998, 109 min, 35mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. With Hidetoshi Nishijima, Koji Yakusho, Shun Sugata.

Part of JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film 2025
July 10—20, 2025

JAPAN CUTS is the largest showcase of contemporary Japanese cinema in North America and an annual highlight of New York’s cinema scene.

Image: © KADOKAWA 1999

JAPAN CUTS 2025 is powered by GU.

JAPAN CUTS is sponsored by George P. Hirose and the Globus Family. Reception beverages are generously donated by Sapporo-Stone Brewing, Dassai Blue and ITO EN. Reception speakers are donated by BALMUDA. Transportation assistance is provided by Japan Airlines, the official Japanese airline sponsor of the Japan Society Film Program. Housing assistance is provided by the Prince Kitano New York, the official hotel sponsor of the Japan Society Film Program.

Next Generation Obayashi Prize is presented by VIPO.

Additional support is provided by Atto Sushi, Cafe Hatou, Japan Village, Katagiri NY, Kato Sake Works, Kinokuniya Bookstore, Midtown Comics, Moleskine, Sapporo-Stone Brewing, Sendon and BuyJapon, Sunrise Mart, and Tea and Milk.

Japan Society’s 120th anniversary initiatives and related programs are generously supported by Champion Sponsor, MUFG Bank, Ltd.; Advocate Sponsor, Mizuho Americas; and Friend Sponsor, Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas).

Japan Society programs are supported by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Film programs are generously supported by ORIX Corporation USA, public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Anime NYC and Yen Press. Endowment support is provided by the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Endowment Fund and The John and Miyoko Davey Endowment Fund. Additional season support is provided by The Globus Family, George P. Hirose, David Toberisky, Joseph Rajaratnam and Dharshini Iolanthe Sivakumaran, and other Film Supporters.