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RETROSPECTIVE OF LEGENDARY JAPANESE STAR “NAKADAI,” a four-week, 24-film retrospective of legendary Japanese actor Tatsuya Nakadai, whose 50-year career includes multiple leading parts for masters as disparate in style and subject matter as Akira Kurosawa (Yojimbo, High and Low, Sanjuro, Kagemusha, Ran), Masaki Kobayashi (Harakiri, Kwaidan, Black River, The Human Condition), the late Kon Ichikawa (Odd Obsession, I Am a Cat, Conflagration), and many others, will run at Film Forum from June 20 through July 17. The festival is being presented in association with Japan Foundation. While his magnetically handsome screen persona already had him destined for stardom, the career of Tatsuya Nakadai (born 1932) skyrocketed: only five years after a blink-of-an-eye walk-through in Seven Samurai, he was carrying Japan's biggest epic ever, Kobayashi's The Human Condition. First known in the West for coming in second in some spectacular swordfights with Toshiro Mifune, Nakadai would become an action super-star himself and eventually Kurosawa’s lead in Kagemusha and Ran. His range could encompass the melancholy avenger of Harakiri; the Steve McQueen-cool detective of High and Low; the gun-wielding proto-yakuza of Yojimbo; and the psycho samurai in the cult classic Sword of Doom—all made within a four-year period. One of the few Japanese movie stars to attain international fame, Nakadai’s electrifying stage presence at home has made him a theater legend as well, memorably starring in, among many others, Hamlet, Strindberg’s Miss Julie, Don Quixote, even Driving Miss Daisy. In October 2007, the Japanese government designated him as Bunka Korosha, "a person of distinguished service" to Japanese culture. At the invitation of Japan Foundation and Film Forum, Mr. Nakadai will visit New York during the first week of the retrospective, appearing at Film Forum for a Q&A following a screening of Kobayashi’s Harakiri, on Friday, June 20, and for a special "Evening with Tatsuya Nakadai" on Tuesday, June 24. See below for additional events scheduled in connection with the retrospective. The retrospective opens Friday, June 20 (through Sunday, June 22) with Masaki Kobayashi’s Harakiri (1962), winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes, starring Nakadai in one of his greatest roles ("played with something like demonic self-possession" -- Vernon Young), as a destitute ronin seeking permission from a great feudal lord to commit seppuku within the gates of his clan's compound. The slow revelation of the ronin's past leads to a climactic battle that's "as exciting as any action-movie addict could wish" (Terrence Rafferty, New York Times). In a recent interview with Japan's NHK television network, Mr. Nakadai described his part as "a role that comes once in a lifetime," while in her book Japanese Film Directors, Joan Mellen wrote, "Kobayashi's rebellious sensibility found its parallel in the actor he discovered, Nakadai. He reveals a range worthy of Marlon Brando." With the support of Japan Foundation, several 35mm prints by Japanese masters (including three by the late Kon Ichikawa, who died this past February at age 92) are being imported especially for the retrospective. None of these films are available in the U.S. on DVD or in any other form. Among them are:
The NAKADAI festival will be followed by a three-week re-release of Kobayashi’s ten-hour epic masterpiece The Human Condition (1959-1961), starring Nakadai in his breakthrough role. The Human Condition, long unseen in this country, will be presented in three separate parts over three weeks, July 18-August 7 (separate press release to follow). Accompanying Mr. Nakadai on his U.S. trip will be his longtime friend Teruyo Nogami, right hand of director Akira Kurosawa, from 1950 until the director’s death in 1998. (This year also marks the 10th anniversary of Kurosawa’s death.) Japan Society will pay tribute to Ms. Nogami on Wednesday, June 25. The NAKADAI festival has been programmed by Bruce Goldstein, Film Forum's Director of Repertory Programming, and organized in association with Japan Foundation. The festival is being presented with additional generous support from Asian Cultural Council, All Nippon Air and other funders, with the participation of Janus Films and Marty Gross Films. Japan Foundation, with nineteen offices in eighteen countries worldwide, is a Japanese government-funded nonprofit organization founded in 1972 with the goal of promoting international cultural exchange and global peace. Japan Foundation supports programs in Arts and Cultural Exchange, Japanese Studies, Intellectual and Grassroots Exchange, and Japanese Language Education. Isao Tsujimoto has been director general of the New York office since the fall of 2006. PRESS SCREENINGS
To RSVP or for press information, contact Robyn Citizen TATSUYA NAKADAI FESTIVAL AT FILM FORUM, NEW YORK JUNE 20/21/22 FRI/SAT/SUN JUNE 23/24 MON/TUE JUNE 24 TUE (evening) JUNE 25 WED/THU JUNE 26 THU (SEPARATE ADMISSION) JUNE 27 FRI JUNE 28 SAT JUNE 29/30 SUN/MON JULY 1 TUE JULY 2 WED JULY 3 THU JULY 5 SAT JUNE 6/7 SUN/MON JULY 7 MON (separate admission) JULY 8 TUE JULY 9 WED JULY 10 THU JULY 11/12 FRI/SAT JULY 13 SUN JULY 14 MON JULY 15/16 TUE/WED JULY 16 WED (separate admission) JULY 17 THU
JULY 18-AUGUST 7 (presented in three parts) All films in the NAKADAI series are in Japanese, with English subtitles. The following events have been scheduled around the visit of Tatsuya Nakadai and Teruyo Nogami to the United States: Friday, June 20: Opening night of the Film Forum retrospective. Audience Q&A with Mr. Nakadai following screening of Kobayashi’s Harakiri. 6:10 pm Afternoon: Luncheon in honor of Mr. Nakadai at The Players (theatrical club) in Gramercy Park; speakers to be announced. Saturday, June 21: Mr. Nakadai and Ms. Nogami will sign copies of their retrospective books at the new Kinokuniya Bookstore near Bryant Park. Screening of Kurosawa’s Yojimbo at Freer Gallery, Washington, D.C., with both Mr. Nakadai and Ms. Nogami (script supervisor on the film) present. Wednesday, June 25: 50 Years with Akira Kurosawa: An Evening with Teruyo Nogami at Japan Society. 6:30 pm Repertory calendar programmed by Bruce Goldstein. If this page does not display correctly, it is available online at http://www.filmforum.org/newsletter/nakadaipr.html |
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