OUT OF THIS WORLD

(KONOYO NO SOTOE: KURABU SHINCHUGUN)

North American Premiere

Japan 2004 | 118mins | 35mm Color | English & Japanese w/E.S.

In person: Director Junji Sakamoto and actor Shea Whigham

Soon after Japan lost the Pacific War in 1945, American Occupation forces streamed into the razed country; such indelible items as democracy and Coca Cola soon followed, and were received by the Japanese with no small amount of ambivalence. With his 13th feature, filmmaker Junji Sakamoto (FACE, MY HOUSE) offers a sweeping look at this period when chaos reigned, cultures clashed, and jazz÷banned as enemy music during the war÷became a beacon of hope for some. Five young musicians÷each harboring painful memories÷are assembled to entertain American soldiers at an Enlisted Menâs Club. Tensions emerge between the tenor saxophonist (Masato Hagiwara), a disillusioned ex-soldier, and a bitter GI (Shea Whigham) whose brother was killed in the war. And when the band plays the prohibited ăDanny Boyä during a birthday bash for a sergeant (Peter Mullan) whose son Danny had died a year ago, everyone must confront a past theyâd rather forget. From the colorful club to the teeming underground tunnels and black markets, the filmâs meticulously recreated Tokyo circa 1947 teems with a lively assortment of red-blooded supporting characters÷amputees, Communists, prostitutes, gangs of scavenging kids÷that build a collective portrait of desperation and resilience. An encompassing picture of the postwar era, OUT OF THIS WORLD reveals a rarely told perspective from the other side of the Pacific, and marks another step towards reconciliation.

—Taro Goto

Sponsored by USF Master of Arts in Asia Pacific Studies Program