15 Films you shouldn’t miss at the 23rd Nippon Connection Japanese Film Festival

By Asian Film Festival on June 5, 2023 • ( Leave a comment )

These are fifteen films you shouldn’t miss at the Nippon Connection Japanese Film Festival which will take place from June 6 – 11, 2023 in Frankfurt, Germany.

**A Far Shore** by Masaaki Kudo – Japan | 2022 – 128 minutes

17-year-old Aoi barely gets by on her illegal escort job in a nightclub. She lives in Okinawa City, where she shares a small flat with her two-year-old son Kengo and her violent boyfriend. Prostitution seems to offer the only way to a better life. Masaaki KUDO contrasts beautiful pacific shores and the wretched reality of life in Okinawa. (NipponConnection 2023)

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**A Hundred Flowers** by Genki Kawamura – Japan | 2022 – 104 minutes

Izumi lives with his mother Yuriko. The relationship is difficult, but once Yuriko develops Alzheimer’s disease and is taken into a care facility, Izumi starts digging into the past. Long-repressed secrets begin to surface. The formally inventive, highly emotional debut from Genki KAWAMURA won the Best Director prize at the 2022 San Sebastian Film Festival. (NipponConnection 2023)

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**Amiko** by Yusuke Morii – Japan | 2022 – 104 minutes

Amiko never feels like doing her homework. Being a curious girl, she prefers to explore the world around her in her own unique, personal way. But then a loss in her family changes everything. In his directorial debut, Yusuke MORII reflects on life and death, patience and grief from a child’s perspective, with an acute sense of cinematic style. (NipponConnection 2023)

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**December** by Anshul Chauhan – Japan | 2022 – 99 minutes

Seven years after murdering a classmate, Kana fights for a reduction of her prison sentence. The parents of the murdered classmate, whose life was turned upside down by the killing, want to prevent this at all costs. Director Anshul CHAUHAN combines a psychologically nuanced portrait of grief with sociopolitical commentary into a gripping drama. (NipponConnection 2023)

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**I am What I am** by Shinya Tamada – Japan | 2022 – 104 minutes

30-year-old Kasumi is still single, much to her mother’s chagrin. Even though no one believes her, she has never been in love and doesn’t feel attraction to anyone. When she’s tricked into attending a matchmaking session, she unexpectedly meets a kindred spirit. Lead actress Toko MIURA, recipient of the first NIPPON RISING STAR AWARD, impresses in this anti-romance. (NipponConnection 2023)

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**Lesson in Murder** by Kazuya Shiraishi – Japan | 2022 – 129 minutes

Masaya receives a letter from HAIMURA, a convicted serial killer, in which the latter takes responsibility for all the actions he was charged with – except for the last murder. Young law student Masaya begins his investigation, but the path starts leading him down a rabbit hole that might cost him his sanity. The latest thriller by Kazuya SHIRAISHI is a twisty psychological cat-and-mouse game. (NipponConnection 2023)

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**Maelstrom** by Mizuko Yamaoka – Japan | 2022 – 79 minutes

Mizuko YAMAOKA graduates from art school in New York in 2002 and is living her dream far away from home. After a bicycle accident, she has to depend on a wheelchair and must return to her parents in Japan. Yet, even then, she refuses to give up. With striking private footage, MAELSTROM is a personal documentary about believing in art, the struggle to fulfill one’s wishes and the value of life. (NipponConnection 2023)

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**Mountain Woman** by Takeshi Fukunaga – Japan, USA | 2022 – 100 minutes

Tohoku, late 18th century: Born into a family of outcasts, Rin is despised by her village community. One day, her father, who is unable to stand the hunger, steals some rice. Rin takes the blame and leaves the village, heading for the mountains, where she meets a mysterious man. Takeshi FUKUNAGA’s mystic drama evokes the legends about Mount Hayachine. (NipponConnection 2023)

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**Plan 75** by Chie Hayakawa – Japan, France, Philippines, Qatar | 2022 – 112 minutes

In the near future, Japan is faced with a desperately overaged population and a fierce social struggle for jobs and housing. Thus, the government introduces a program encouraging everybody over the age of 75 to choose suicide. In her feature film debut, which premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival and was Japan’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards, Chie HAYAKAWA depicts an alarming dystopia. (NipponConnection 2023)

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**Remembering Every Night** by Yui Kiyohara – Japan | 2022 – 116 minutes

It’s summertime in the Tama New Town district on the outskirts of Tokyo. Three women are going through their everyday lives, at the labor office, at a café or a museum. With an acute sense of humor and precise observations, Yui KIYOHARA accompanies her female protagonists, finding a perfect balance between melancholy and easiness. (NipponConnection 2023)

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**Ryuichi Sakamoto – Coda** by Stephen Nomura Schible – Japan, USA | 2017 – 102 minutes

Ryuichi SAKAMOTO, who composed the scores for numerous international films, passed away on March 28, 2023. Filmmaker Stephen NOMURA SCHIBLE accompanied SAKAMOTO with his camera for several years. Using both his material and archival footage, NOMURA SCHIBLE has created a thorough and touching portrait of an exceptional artist. (NipponConnection 2023)

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**Sayonara, Girls.** by Shun Nakagawa – Japan | 2022 – 120 minutes

Only two days left until graduation at Shimada high school! The four girls Manami, Yuki, Kyoko and Shiori couldn’t have more different personalities, yet they will all have to leave their old lives behind. Using an approach both precise and poetic, director Shun NAKAGAWA tells a story of the fears and hopes of youth. His debut film features an impressive cast of young leading actresses. (NipponConnection 2023)

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**Soup and Ideology** by Yonghi Yang – Japan, Korea | 2021 – 118 minutes

Filmmaker Yonghi YANG grew up in Japan as a second-generation Korean whose parents never lost their sympathy for the communist regime in North Korea. Since 2005, YANG has been examining her family’s history in her documentary films, this time focusing on her mother, who is starting to lose her memories about war times and emigration due to Alzheimer’s. (NipponConnection 2023)

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**Straying** by Rikiya Imaizumi – Japan | 2021 – 109 minutes

The marriage of manga artist Ako and journalist Hiro is on the rocks and a divorce is imminent. Yet Ako and Hiro can’t agree on who should receive custody of Kenta, their cat. Annoyed by their indecision, their new partners put a plan into action. This uproariously funny generational portrait delivers pointed dialogue, deadpan humor, breezy sex scenes, and premium cat content. (NipponConnection 2023)

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**Tokyo Uber Blues** by Taku Aoyagi – Japan | 2022 – 93 minutes

Taku AOYAGI, a young documentary filmmaker, has just graduated when the Covid-19 pandemic breaks out in spring 2020. Debt-ridden, he decides to take a job as an Uber Eats delivery man. Riding through the empty streets of Tokyo on a bicycle, he documents his own precarious working conditions, as well as a deadlocked metropolis filled with loneliness. (NipponConnection 2023)

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