“Gems of Japanese cinema” in the CaixaForum

This month, as an accompaniment to the Japonism exhibition, which can be seen up until the 15th of September, the CaixaForum Barcelona is offering a series of screenings of some of the more representative Japanese films. The series is titled Gems of Japanese cinema and the films will be shown every Friday until the 30th of August.

 

While the highly acclaimed film High and Low (1963), by Akira Kurosawa, has already had its turn, Friday the 16th will be the turn of the war film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983). Starring David Bowie, the film is set during WWII and tells the story of a British soldier who arrives at a Japanese prisoner of war camp.

 

One of the actors in the film, Takeshi Kitano, who uses the moniker Beat Takeshi for his acting roles, is the director of the next film in the series, Dolls (2002), which is programmed for Friday the 23rd. Considered as one of the most important and lucid films by the director, Dolls tells three simultaneous, interwoven stories of love and pain.

 

The series ends on the 30th with the screening of Hara Kiri: Death of a Samurai (2011), by Takeshi Milke, a powerful drama situated in the feudal Japan of the 17th century and a contemporary remake of the film directed by Masaki Kobayashi in 1962. All the films are shown in their original version with Spanish subtitles.