Stars: Sayu Kubota, Yuzu Aoki, Mituru Fukikoshi, Akaji Maro, Shunsuke Tanaka, Hitomi Takahashi, Atsuko Maeda | Written by Ken’ichi Ugana, Hirobumi Watanabe | Directed by Ken’ichi Ugana
Love Will Tear Us Apart is the latest film from director Ken’ichi Ugana, who has made a name for himself on the festival circuit with films like Extraneous Matter and Visitors. His latest is a strange tale that takes one part It Follows and one part slasher movie.
The film follows Wakaba, a young girl whose father is an abusive alcoholic and whose mother is too timid to defend herself or Wakaba. But that doesn’t stop Wakaba from defending her fellow classmate Koki who is being bullied by other students at elementary school. However that defence, and subsequent friendship between the two, is ruined by the school bullies turning their attention to Wakaba. But that attention doesn’t last long as the...
Love Will Tear Us Apart is the latest film from director Ken’ichi Ugana, who has made a name for himself on the festival circuit with films like Extraneous Matter and Visitors. His latest is a strange tale that takes one part It Follows and one part slasher movie.
The film follows Wakaba, a young girl whose father is an abusive alcoholic and whose mother is too timid to defend herself or Wakaba. But that doesn’t stop Wakaba from defending her fellow classmate Koki who is being bullied by other students at elementary school. However that defence, and subsequent friendship between the two, is ruined by the school bullies turning their attention to Wakaba. But that attention doesn’t last long as the...
- 2/28/2024
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
From the moment that Kaho (Aobe Kawai) and Tomoya (Ryute Okomoto) announce their engagement to their friends in a restaurant, it’s clear that it isn’t going to work out as planned. Kaho’s shy glow of excitement just isn’t reciprocated by her fiancé. When the women go home after the meal, he joins friends Takeshi (Kiyohiko Shibukawa) and Kenichiro (Nao Okabe) to visit the latter’s girlfriend, Takako (Fusako Orabe), whose cat has just died and who is keen to spend the evening drinking and talking.
The men’s attitude towards Takako is disquieting throughout, if not exactly unusual. Because she lives alone and is happy to have sex without commitment, Takeshi disapproves of her, going so far as to put the security of her living situation at risk. Kenichiro finds her a convenient distraction from his not very secret feelings for Kaho. Tomoya wants to save her,...
The men’s attitude towards Takako is disquieting throughout, if not exactly unusual. Because she lives alone and is happy to have sex without commitment, Takeshi disapproves of her, going so far as to put the security of her living situation at risk. Kenichiro finds her a convenient distraction from his not very secret feelings for Kaho. Tomoya wants to save her,...
- 4/13/2023
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Friends meet at a restaurant for a birthday dinner in the opening scenes of Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Passion. Everyone loves the wrong person. Tomoya (Ryuta Okamoto) is engaged to math teacher Kaho (Aoba Kawai), but like the married Takeshi (Kiyohiko Shibukawa), is drawn to post-grad Takako (Fusako Urabe).
Their stories unfold in a world of diners, small apartments, and taxis familiar to fans of Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy and the Oscar-winning Drive My Car. Shot as his thesis film at the Tokyo University of the Arts, Passion is Hamaguchi’s second feature. Though filmed in 2008, it only now opens for its North American theatrical run on Friday, April 14 at Film at Lincoln Center.
Ahead of its release, we spoke to the writer-director via Zoom about his second feature, the Oscars, and future projects. Thanks to Monika Uchiyama for her translations.
The Film Stage: What is your screenwriting process? Do...
Their stories unfold in a world of diners, small apartments, and taxis familiar to fans of Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy and the Oscar-winning Drive My Car. Shot as his thesis film at the Tokyo University of the Arts, Passion is Hamaguchi’s second feature. Though filmed in 2008, it only now opens for its North American theatrical run on Friday, April 14 at Film at Lincoln Center.
Ahead of its release, we spoke to the writer-director via Zoom about his second feature, the Oscars, and future projects. Thanks to Monika Uchiyama for her translations.
The Film Stage: What is your screenwriting process? Do...
- 4/12/2023
- by Daniel Eagan
- The Film Stage
Moving into adult life is quite a transition, overshadowed by many obstacles, decisions and changes within yourself, which can often feel soul-crushing and confusing. It is also one of those phases in the life of a person, which has inspired many artists to reminisce about the nature of growing up, how the choices one makes are based on free will or other aspects, such as social pressure or gender expectations. In his second feature, produced as his thesis at Tokyo University of Arts, Ryusuke Hamaguchi's “Passion” tells a story of a group of characters caught in the middle of that period of transition in their lives. It is a movie which not only highlights the director's gift of working with actors, but also his sense of place and time, resulting in a story which is both contemplative and captivating.
Film Movement has announced that “Passion” is opening theatrically on...
Film Movement has announced that “Passion” is opening theatrically on...
- 4/4/2023
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Much of the world learned of the talent of Ryusuke Hamaguchi when Drive My Car miraculously and deservedly was nominated for multiple Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film, the latter of which it won. However, many cinephiles have been banging the drum for the director since his 5.5-hour drama Happy Hour, Asako I & II, and his earlier 2022 release, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy. The start of his career goes back even further and now, never before released in the U.S., his second feature Passion will finally get a theatrical release starting at NYC’s Film at Lincoln Center and LA’s Laemmle Royal on April 14. Ahead of the release, the new trailer for his Tokyo University of the Arts thesis graduation film, which he completed in 2008, has arrived courtesy of Film Movement.
The film examines a series of intersecting love triangles,...
The film examines a series of intersecting love triangles,...
- 4/3/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
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