All Around Us

Gururi Nokoto

(Japan | 2008 | 140 mins | 35mm)

35mm

Exec. Producers: Tetsujiro Yamagami
Producers: Hiroki Ohwada, Yuji Sadai, Takeo Hisamatsu, Masayuki Miyashita, Yoshiro Yasunaga
Writer/Editor: Ryosuke Hashiguchi
Cinematographer: Shogo Ueno
Sound: Takeshi Ogawa
Music: Akeboshi
Cast: Tae Kimura, Lily Franky, Mitsuko Baisyo, Susumu Terajima

Following a seven-year hiatus, Japanese director Ryosuke Hashiguchi (HUSH; LIKE GRAINS OF SAND) presents a gem of contemporary cinema that is at once an absurdist comedy, romantic drama and acute illustration of a dysfunctional society. Pitting a not-so-in-love couple against the backdrop of a volatile decade, Hashiguchi's All Around Us ushers viewers into the intimate spaces of a troubled marriage while chronicling some of the most shocking landmarks in Japanese criminal history.

Kanao (played by acclaimed artist, singer and novelist Lily Franky) is a hapless shoe repairman who moseys into a marriage with Shoko, his college girlfriend. With the death of their infant daughter, Shoko delves into a deep depression, unable to find a place of solace and straining under surroundings that seem to be closing in on her. Meanwhile, Kanao happens upon a job as a courtroom sketch artist where he becomes witness to a parade of disturbing trials (all based on well-known crimes of the era). In the company of robotlike journalists and a misfit team of sketchers, he quietly observes and draws notorious criminals: a child-eating man, an outspoken mama-san, a remorseful cult bomber, to name a few. Bouncing between madcap and macabre, the film is populated with these eccentric side-characters, but always returns home to Shoko and Kanao. Hashiguchi's unique ability to create environments saturated with terror, hilarity and hope gives viewers a rare opportunity to see a true craftsman at work.

-- Christine Kwon

---

---

Sponsored by

Co-presenters

San Francisco Film Society
Japan Society of Northern California