ALWAYS: SUNSET ON THIRD STREET (Japan, 2005)
133 minutes, 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles
Directed by: Takashi Yamazaki
Starring: Maki Horikita, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Shinichi Tsutsumi, Kazuki Koshimizu
Showtimes: WED July 2, 7.00pm at the IFC Center [Buy Tickets]
Note: "Buy Tickets" links will take you to the IFC Center website (for shows at IFC Center) and to Japan Society website (for shows at Japan Society). Tickets for each venue must be purchased separately
ALWAYS: SUNSET ON THIRD STREET 2 (Japan, 2007)
NEW YORK PREMIERE
147 minutes, 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles
Directed by: Takashi Yamazaki
Starring: Maki Horikita, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Shinichi Tsutsumi, Kazuki Koshimizu, Tomokazu Miura
Showtimes: SAT July 5, 1.00pm at Japan Society [Buy Tickets];
SUN July 6, 8:15pm at Japan Society [Buy Tickets].
Note: "Buy Tickets" links will take you to the IFC Center website (for shows at IFC Center) and to Japan Society website (for shows at Japan Society). Tickets for each venue must be purchased separately
Which brings us to...ALWAYS 2! Both a sequel to the first film and itself a product of this boom, the story takes place four months after the original ended – Tokyo Tower is now complete, though family patriarch Norifumi Suzuki (Shinichi Tsutsumi) is too scared to actually go up in it – and re-introduces audiences to all the major characters (played by the same actors from the original). There's the car repair shop-owning Suzuki and his wife (Hiroko Yakushimaru); their country-bred, lovelorn mechanic and de facto daughter Mutsuko (Maki Horikita); frustrated novelist neighbor Chagawa (Hidetaka Yoshioka) and his adopted son Junnosuke (Kenta Suga); and sad, kept woman Hiromi (Koyuki), who left Third Street at the end of the first film despite Chagawa's love for her, and is now working downtown as a dancer in a burlesque club. The 1964 Tokyo Olympics have been announced, and the entire country has begun an enthusiastic rush towards affluence and modernity, symbolized here by the arrival of Junnosuke's birth father in a fancy foreign car, who demands that Chagawa hand him over. Able to arrange a deal wherein Junnosuke can stay on Third Street if his standard of living remains adequately comfortable, Chagawa sets forth on the task that drives much of the film: trying to complete a new novel and win the coveted Akutagawa Literary Prize, and thus the respect of Junnosuke's father, with the entire neighborhood rooting for him. Meanwhile, the Suzuki household plays host to a new family member, in the form of Mika, a formerly affluent cousin whose father has fallen on hard times. The spoiled girl slowly insinuates herself into the Suzuki home, at first a playmate then as an innocent first love for son Ippei, but continually provides a rude reminder of just how bad the family's financial situation really is. Will the Suzukis and their hardscrabble neighbors be left behind in Tokyo's great rush forward into the second half of the 20th Century? Will their traditional values of friendship, hard work, sacrifice and family commitment be lost when the Japanese economy goes "boom?” And just how does Godzilla figure into all of this?
If you already know the residents of Third Street, you'll be entranced by their continued adventures and the sly nods to popular 50s icons scattered throughout the film, but even if you haven't seen the first one - keep in mind that we'll also be showing it for anybody who wants to follow the saga from the beginning - you'll catch up quickly and soon become embarrassed at just how hard a cynical 21st century American can fall in love with a feel-good blockbuster about poor Japanese people in the 1950s.
Festivals/Awards for ALWAYS
Winner of More Awards than we can count. In fact, it had won 29 awards the last time we checked, including 12 Japanese Academy Awards
Festivals/Awards for ALWAYS 2
Awards of the Japanese Academy 2008: Winner, “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Hidetaka Yoshioka) and “Best Sound Recording.”
Kinema Junpo Awards 2008: Winner, “Best Supporting Actor” (Tomokazu Miura).
