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Mononoke the Movie: Phantom in the Rain
Directed by Kenji Nakamura
Director
Kenji Nakamura
Writer
Kenji Nakamura, Koji Yamamoto
Cast
Hiroshi Kamiya, Tomoyo Kurosawa, Aoi Yuki
contact
TWIN ENGINE Inc.
Official website
Asa and Kame strike up an immediate friendship when they arrive at the same time for their first day of duty at the Ooku, the splendid pleasure palace housing the harem of Lord Tenshi. The two young women are there to join the many hundreds of other maidservants—men are barred from entering, with immediate beheading the price of trespassing. It soon becomes clear that behind the luxurious lifestyle and ritualized routines of the Ooku lie sinister schemes and cynical rivalries. Meanwhile, a mysterious wandering potion-peddler known only as the Medicine Seller subtly insinuates himself into the Ooku, just as an uncanny, otherworldly menace begins to reveal itself.
One of the most singular and delightfully innovative works in the history of anime, the 2007 TV series MONONOKE (a spin-off from the previous year’s anthology series AYAKASHI: SAMURAI HORROR TALES) has over the years since then retained a cult following among true connoisseurs. Those who fell under the spell of the Medicine Seller’s paranormal escapades, and wistfully presumed they were long since concluded, can rejoice. Director Kenji Nakamura (GATCHAMAN CROWDS) has revived his signature work with a full feature film, his most elaborate and opulent adventure yet, which he unveils at Fantasia’s World Premiere. Visually exquisite to an almost overwhelming degree, with every frame a frameable work of art, the film gleefully indulges in the iconography and aesthetics of Edo-era Japan, doing so with Pop Art panache, playful anachronism, and percussive pacing, and immediately asserts itself as an essential anime classic. Those with a thirst for intricate palace intrigue and hallucinatory supernatural thrills, take heed: the Medicine Seller has the perfect potion for you. – Rupert Bottenberg
Showings
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