Obayashi ’80s: The Onomichi Trilogy & Kadokawa Years
Obayashi ’80s: The Onomichi Trilogy & Kadokawa Years
February 7—14, 2025
The teenage symphonies of Nobuhiko Obayashi (1938-2020) are wound in a melancholy nostalgia for a period indelibly lost to time—that inexpressible gap between adolescence and adulthood. Braiding visually expressive fantasias with striking formal experimentation and pop-art boldness, Obayashi’s idiosyncratic cinematic language produced some of Japan’s most beloved seishun eiga in the 1980s. Captivating generations of filmgoers with his earnest portraits of young love and vanished worldviews, Obayashi’s films were further bolstered by Kadokawa’s innovative tactics of popularizing dreamy pop idols like Hiroko Yakushimaru and Tomoyo Harada.
With a career overshadowed abroad by the oddball eccentricity of his electric 1977 debut House, the 1980s would prove to be the high-water mark of Obayashi’s popularity, epitomized by his endearing Onomichi trilogy—set in the filmmaker’s hometown of Onomichi, the site of Yasujiro Ozu’s Tokyo Story. Framed in 35mm viewfinders, against wildly ingenious chroma-key composites and characterized by his unflagging optimism for the youth of Japan, Obayashi’s youth passages are caught up in the ages of transition, demonstrably attuned to the extraordinary nature of ordinary adolescence.
Curated by Alexander Fee
Admission Information
Tickets
$16 / $12 members
Prices are inclusive of fees, where applicable. All in-person screenings will take place in Japan Society’s auditorium, located at 333 E. 47th Street in New York, NY.
Full Lineup
I Are You, You Am Me (Exchange Students)
Friday, February 7, 7 pm
Thursday, February 13, 9:15 pm
Imported 35mm Print. A playful melange of amateur small-gauge, b&w and color photography, Obayashi’s first entry in his hometown trilogy spins into a gender-swap youth film when two classmates switch bodies after a steep fall.
Dir. Nobuhiko Obayashi. 1982. 112 min.
School in the Crosshairs
Friday, February 7, 9:15 pm
Sunday, February 9, 7:15 pm
A psychotronic fantasy forged into a young girl’s destiny to defend the planet, School in the Crosshairs is a cosmic overload of extraterrestrial fascists, preternatural powers and Obayashi’s uniquely adroit filmmaking abilities.
Dir. Nobuhiko Obayashi. 1981. 90 min.
The Little Girl Who Conquered Time
Saturday, February 8, 5 pm
Friday, February 14, 7 pm
Schoolgirl Kazuko begins to experience time leaps backwards and forwards in time, disorienting her as she yearns to stay in the present. Obayashi’s second Onomichi film is a genuine expression of the transcendence of love—one cast across the stars for a young girl who lives in tomorrow.
Dir. Nobuhiko Obayashi. 1983. 104 min.
Lonely Heart (Miss Lonely)
40th Anniversary—Imported 16mm Print. The final installment in Obayashi’s Onomichi trilogy is a virtuosic ode to first love and the intrinsic emotions that arise with it as a young boy falls in love and encounters a mysterious girl in the viewfinder of his analog camera.
Dir. Nobuhiko Obayashi, 1985. 112 min.
The Island Closest to Heaven
Fulfilling her late father’s dream to take her to “the island closest to heaven,” bookish teen Mari ventures solo to a paradise-laden archipelago in search of the mythic locale.
Dir. Nobuhiko Obayashi, 1984. 103 min.
His Motorbike, Her Island
Thursday, February 13, 7 pm
Friday, February 14, 9:15 pm
A nostalgia-filled reminiscence, Obayashi’s monochromatic dream playfully worships the biker culture of yesteryear, delivering a sentimental and liberating take on young love.
Dir. Nobuhiko Obayashi, 1986. 96 min.
Top Image: © 1983 Kadokawa Corp.
Special Thanks to Nico B (Cult Epics); Akinaru Rokkaku & Shun Inoue (Japan Foundation); Yukiko Wachi (Kawakita Memorial Film Institute); Mayumi Furuyama (Nippon Television Network Corp.); Shion Komatsu & Go Onishi (Toho).
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 Film Circle members.
Transportation assistance is provided by Japan Airlines, the official Japanese airline sponsor of Japan Society Film Program. Housing assistance is provided by the Prince Kitano New York, the official hotel sponsor of Japan Society Film Program.
