An indie japanese psycho-drama slowly gaining attention on the festival circuit, getting positive feedback everywhere it’s been screened. More than enough to raise our curiosity!
In Birthright, an orphaned woman finds her biological mother, with new husband and daughter. She decides to make her move…
For his debut feature film, director Naoki Hashimoto – who also produced some known japanese films, like Ichikawa’s Tony Takitani – seems to be trying to depict the love/hate relationship between a daughter and his mother… the most cinematic way possible. A good sign, right?
Shot in 13 days, Hashimoto didn’t have much money (less than €200,000) but tried to make the most out of it. With 2 actresses deeply involved, a slow-paced, high-tension story with almost no dialogues, gorgeous visuals setting the mood… plus some interesting yet unexpected surprises according to some early reviews – some even compared the film to Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s work.
Birthright is (finally) coming out in Japan on June 16, 2012 – the film has spent almost two years in distribution limbo! More details to be found in this french interview.
Source: Official website
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Saw “Birthright” a couple of weeks ago at the Japanese Filmfest in Hamburg. The story sounded really interesting, and the film started off nicely, but couldn’t keep up with expectations. I ended up being pretty disappointed. If you happen to read German, here’s my full review: http://www.japankino.de/2011/birthright/