Movie Screening

ASAKO I & II
Japanese with English subtitles (119 mins)

Date:
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
5:00PM (Door opens @4:45PM)
Venue:
The University of Washington, Seattle
(Thomson Hall 101, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195)
FREE ADMISSION, REGISTRATION REQUESTED

Click here to Register

About the Film:

A mysterious and intoxicating pop romance, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Asako I & II, a follow-up to the acclaimed Happy Hour, begins with Asako, a young woman who meets and falls madly in love with a drifter, Baku, who one day drifts right out of her life. Two years later, working in Tokyo, Asako sees Baku again — or, rather, a young, solid businessman named Ryohei who bears a striking resemblance to her old flame. They begin to build a happy life together until traces of Asako’s past start to resurface.

Hamaguchi said this about the film: "I personally don’t know any other love novel than Tomoka Shibasaki's Netemo Sametemo (from which Asako I & II originates) that was so truly compelling in describing how falling in love is a mystic force akin to magic or else a curse. Once I finished reading the novel, I personally suggested to produce a film based it. When it luckily became a reality, I really thought to be as close as possible to the style of the original author. That is making possible the coexistence of the minute description of everyday life and the sudden unfolding of absurd events."

Author Tomoka Shibasaki will briefly introduce Asako I & II and discuss what it is like to collaborate with a filmmaker such as Ryûsuke Hamaguchi to see her work brought to life. This film screening is part of a series of events in Seattle highlighting Shibasaki's contributions to Japanese literature. An author event will be held on November 14 in the Mehdi Reading Room at Seattle Town Hall, for which details can be found on the event page.

This event is offered through a partnership with the University of Washington Japan Studies Program.

About the Film Maker:

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi was born in 1978 in Kanagawa, Japan. He studied at the University of Tokyo and the graduate program at Tokyo University of the Arts, where he was a student of Kiyoshi Kurosawa; his graduation film, Passion, was selected for the competition of the 2008 Tokyo Filmex. Hamaguchi’s breakthrough came with 2015’s Happy Hour, a nearly five-and-a-half-hour drama that earned a four-way Best Actress award and, for its script, special mention at the Locarno Film Festival. Asako I & II is his latest feature.