LONDON, Jan. 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Throughout 2024, Japan House London on Kensington High Street will be hosting two major film seasons. The six months from January until June mark the cultural institute's Mizoguchi Kenji season, paying homage to the prolific Japanese director with screenings of five of his iconic films. From September, Japan House London then celebrates Godzilla's 70th anniversary with a series of screenings of the original Japanese franchise. Screenings are currently free to attend, but booking is essential.
Focus on Mizoguchi Kenji
30 January - 19 June
Curated by academic and Japanese film critic Dr Alexander Jacoby, Japan House London is hosting screenings of five films directed by Mizoguchi. The Japanese filmmaker directed roughly 100 films during his career, starting in the 1920s and spanning three decades. Many of his films won awards, and he has been cited as an inspiration for many notable directors, including Orson Welles, Martin Scorsese and Werner Herzog.
Films and associated events in the season:
- 30 January - A Master of Human Experience: Talk on Mizoguchi Kenji by Alexander Jacoby (in-person and live-streamed)
- 11 and 14 February 2024 - The Life of Oharu
- 10 and 13 March 2024 - The Lady from Musashino
- 14 and 17 April 2024 - Gion Festival Music/A Geisha
- 12 and 22 May - A Story from Chikamatsu
- 9 and 19 June 2024 - Sansho Dayu
Jacoby has chosen the films to highlight two themes present throughout much of Mizoguchi's work - the expected role and exploitation of Japanese women under Japan's feudal system (a form of mitate, in which contemporary critique was hidden through historical events), and Japan's literary heritage. Many of Mizoguchi's films are adaptions of novels or plays - A Story from Chikamatsu, for example, is adapted from a bunraku play by Chikamatsu Monzaemon, one of Japan's greatest dramatists.
Alexander Jacoby, Senior Lecturer in Japanese Studies at Oxford Brookes University, said:
"It was Mizoguchi who made me fall in love with Japanese cinema a quarter of a century ago. His films are some of the most beautiful in all of world cinema; his images are as vivid as woodblock prints and as delicate as ink-wash landscape paintings; his camera tracks and cranes with dynamism and grace. But he always keeps the human element to the fore; he is saddened by human suffering, angry at injustice, and inspiring in his hope. His films move in more than one sense."
Focus on Godzilla
September - December 2024
Post-war Japanese cinema responded to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings in several ways, including through kaiju eiga (monster movies). Godzilla specifically acts as an allegory of the threat of nuclear power - a monster awakened after a hydrogen bomb testing in the Pacific. Godzilla is not just an embodiment of the bombs, but also represents the subsequent physical and emotional fallout for the local population. To mark the 70th anniversary of the original Godzilla film, Japan House London will be screening a selection of the franchise, including:
- Gojira (Godzilla) - the original 1954 Japanese epic and the first film in the Godzilla franchise
- Mothra vs. Godzilla - the fourth film in the Godzilla franchise, released in 1964
- Destroy All Monsters - the ninth film in the Godzilla franchise, released in 1968
- Godzilla vs. Hedorah - the eleventh film in the Godzilla franchise, released in 1971
Exact dates of the screenings will be confirmed nearer the time.
Ainu film screenings
As part of Japan House London's current exhibition Ainu Stories: Contemporary Lives by the Saru River, there are a number of related film screenings planned. These will run up until April 2024. Please visit the What's On page of the website for further information. Screenings often book out very quickly, so follow Japan House London on social media and subscribe to the newsletter to be the first to hear the latest event information.
Current scheduled films include:
- 18 February - Ainu Bear Ceremony - film and intro talk with Simon and Stephen Hughes of the Royal Anthropological Institute
- 17 & 27 March - Laura Liverani, Ainu neno an Ainu - with intro talk and Q&A on Sunday 17 March
- 3 April - Ainu Past and Present: Legacy of Neil Gordon Munro in collaboration with the Royal Anthropological Institute
- 16 April - 3 Ainu short films
Notes to Editors
About Japan House London
Japan House London is a cultural destination offering guests the opportunity to experience the best and latest from Japan. Located on London's Kensington High Street, the experience is an authentic encounter with Japan, engaging and surprising even the most knowledgeable guests. Presenting the very best of Japanese art, design, gastronomy, innovation, and technology, it deepens the visitor's appreciation of all that Japan has to offer. This year, Japan House London marks five years of bringing the best of Japan to the UK and beyond. Part of a global initiative, there are two other Japan Houses, one in Los Angeles and the other in São Paulo.
About Alexander Jacoby
Alexander Jacoby lectures on Japanese cinema at Oxford Brookes University and is the author of A Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors (2008, Stone Bridge Press) and a forthcoming monograph on Hirokazu Koreeda (British Film Institute / Bloomsbury). He has curated retrospectives of Japanese film at BFI South Bank, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna and the Giornate del Cinema Muto in Pordenone, Italy.
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