Image courtesy of MFAH
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) is hosting showings of four (4) Japanese films during their summer film series, Spotlight on Japanese Cinema. Experience Japanese cinema on the big screen this summer showcasing a selection of new and classic Japanese films. These films are presented in conjunction with the exhibition Meiji Modern: Fifty Years of New Japan.
PLEASE NOTE: The films will be in Japanese with English subtitles with the exception of the July 7 screening of The Boy and the Heron (Kimitachi wa dô ikiru ka). Not all films may be suitable for children.
Tickets are available for $9.00/Adult or $7.00/Senior. Information about the individual films can be found below:
Films Screening Dates and Times:
The Boy and the Heron (Kimitachi wa dô ikiru ka)
Winner of the 2024 Oscar for Best Animated Film and over a dozen international awards, this latest film from Studio Ghibli follows young Mahito, who moves to his family’s countryside estate after losing his mother. There, mysterious events lead him to a secluded and ancient tower, home to a mischievous gray heron. When Mahito’s new stepmother disappears, he follows the gray heron into the tower, and enters a fantastic world shared by the living and the dead. As he embarks on an epic journey with the heron as his guide, Mahito must uncover the secrets of this world, and the truth about himself.
Location:
Brown Auditorium Theater of the Caroline Wiess Law Building
Screening Dates and Times:
Friday, July 5, 7 PM - 9 PM
Saturday, July 6, 7 PM - 9 PM
Sunday, July 7, 2 PM - 4 PM (English Dub)
Thursday, July 11, 7 PM - 9 PM
Click the button below to purchase tickets:
The Makioka Sisters (Sasame-yuki)
Adapted from the 1948 literary classic by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, The Makioka Sisters follows the lives of four siblings who have taken on their family’s kimono manufacturing business in the years leading up to the Pacific War. The two oldest have been married for some time, but according to tradition, the rebellious youngest sister cannot wed until the third (conservative and terribly shy) finds a husband. Film scholar James Quandt observed that veteran filmmaker Kon Ichikawa created “an exercise in traditionalism, intended to affirm Japanese identity at a time when Japan was reemerging as a major commercial and industrial power.”
Location:
Brown Auditorium Theater of the Caroline Wiess Law Building
Screening Dates and Times:
Sunday, July 28, 5 PM - 7:30 PM
Sunday, August 4, 5 PM - 7:30 PM
Click the button below to purchase tickets:
Evil Does Not Exist (Aku wa sonzai shinai)
Widower Takumi and his daughter live in Mizubiki Village, a place of bucolic serenity near Tokyo that is threatened by urban developers planning a glamping site. Takumi lives with his daughter Hana among the locals whose peaceful lives are at risk. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s follow-up to his Oscar-winning Drive My Car is a foreboding fable on humanity’s mysterious, mystical relationship with nature. As sinister gunshots echo from the forest, both the locals and representatives confront their life choices and the haunting consequences they have.
Location:
Lynn Wyatt Theater of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building
Screening Dates and Times:
Thursday, August 1, 7 PM - 9 PM
Friday, August 2, 7 PM - 9 PM
Saturday, August 3, 7 PM - 9 PM
Click the button below to purchase tickets:
Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai)
One of the most thrilling movie epics of all time, Seven Samurai tells the story of a 16th-century village whose desperate inhabitants hire the eponymous warriors to protect them from invading bandits. This three-and-a-half-hour ride from Akira Kurosawa—featuring legendary actors Toshirô Mifune and Takashi Shimura—seamlessly weaves philosophy and entertainment, delicate human emotions, and relentless action into a rich, evocative, and unforgettable tale of courage and hope.
This screening includes a 15 minute intermission.
70th Anniversary 4K Restoration by Toho Co., Ltd.
Location:
Brown Auditorium Theater of the Caroline Wiess Law Building
Screening Dates and Times:
Saturday, August 10, 5 PM - 8:45 PM
Sunday, August 11, 2 PM - 5:45 PM
Sunday, September 1, 2 PM - 5:45 PM
Click the button below to purchase tickets: