The Tokyo International Film Festival, Japan’s biggest film fest and a showcase for foreign movies that otherwise might never see the light of day here, will run from Oct. 22 to 31 this year. Opening the festival is Robert Zemekis’ “The Walk,” and the closer is local tearjerker “Kishuten Eki Taminaru” (“Terminal”), which features megastar Koichi Sato.
The Competition section is beefed up this year, with three Japanese movies making the cut: “Foujita” by one of Japan’s last remaining auteurs Kohei Oguri; “The Inerasable” (“Zan-e”) by artisan Yoshihiro Nakamura; and “Sayonara” by the uniquely progressive Koji Fukada. Of these, “The Inerasable,” starring Yuko Takeuchi, apparently takes the J-horror genre to another level — “It goes far beyond the concept of scary,” according to programming director Yoshihiko Yatabe. Other worthwhile films in competition from outside Japan include the Brazilian “Nise — The Heart of Madness,” with its “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” undertones, and the Iranian whodunnit “The Girl’s House.”
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