10/1 – Berlinale Day 6

Today I had two young Japanese directors' impressing new movies, two world premieres in fact, showing each in their very distinct way a foreign yet strangely recognizable present-day Kawasaki. The first a documentary on the public issue of running for a seat in the City Council, the latter a strictly grotesque fictionalization of things private – but neither the one nor the other in any way too strictly the one or the other. Very contemporary!

37^th Forum
“Senkyo/Campaign”, Soda Kazuhiro (Japan)
Candid portray of human give and take, humorous and gripping.

37^th Forum
“Kain no matsuei/Cain's Descendant”, Shutaro Oku (Japan)
Irritating, strong and refreshing, it's human dysfunction on bleak display.

(pic©berlinale.de)