Émotion / EMOTION 伝説の午後 いつか見たドラキュラ

Cast

Emi Tabata, Sari Akasaka, Kyoko Hanyu, Sakio Hirata. Voice-over narration by Kyoko Hanyu (Japanese) and Donald Richie (English).

Synopsis

Émotion is the high point of Obayashi's early work. The adventures of the girl Emi, her looking-glass friend Sari, and a mysterious Vampire make for one of the most carefree examples of independent Japanese cinema. True to the spirit of 1960s performance art, the film crew itself gets tangled up in the vampire love story unfolding on screen. And it's all here already — everything that would soon make Obayashi famous: an unbridled passion for experimentation, audacious visual effects, the sorcery of editing, and an effortless way of playing with cultural codes, Eastern and Western myths, and pop-culture dreams roaming freely through a recognizably contemporary world.

About the Director

Nobuhiko Obayashi (January 9, 1938, Onomichi, Japan — April 10, 2020, Tokyo) was a classic figure of Japanese cinema and one of the pioneers who blurred the line between experimental and mainstream film. He began making 8mm films as a child and continued the practice throughout his life; in 1964 he co-founded a Tokyo underground/independent film circle. After fifteen years in advertising, he made his feature directorial debut with the surreal horror-comedy "House" ("Hausu," 1977), which became a cult classic. Other key works include the "Onomichi trilogy" and "Sada" (1998, FIPRESCI Prize at the Berlin Film Festival). He died of lung cancer in 2020, having completed his final film, "Labyrinth of Cinema" (2019), after his diagnosis.

Festivals and Awards

• Screening (retrospective "Nobuhiko Obayashi films," curated by Alina Roslykova) — O-FEST