2012 San Francisco Independent Film Festival: Toyoda Toshiaki's new film 'Monsters Club'.
Here's what I wrote for SF Indie Fest 2012. I had a chance to see this film in November at FilmEx in Tokyo. Great film. Catch this one at Indie Fest in SF in February...
10th Anniversary of Toyoda Toshiaki films at the 2012 San Francisco Independent Film Festival.
Monsters Club
2/19 9:30pm
2/22 9:30pm
Dir. Toyoda Toshiaki.
Abandoning civilization to live in a small cabin deep in the woods, Ryoichi sends bombs to corporate CEOs as a stark warning to a gluttonous society addicted to consumerism. The monster within comes to visit as an apparition and challenges his views of the existing paradigm and asks if these violent actions can actually effect change. Can he make a difference with his extreme approach? Flashbacks of Ryoichi with his family show a cracked mirror reflecting fragments of the modern society he’s trying change. Surreal snow filled beauty and haunting musical score illuminate this timely dilemma.
In 2002, at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco I watched ‘Blue Spring’ and was exposed to a perspective of a Japan that was not at all Hello Kitty. Woven deep into the fabric of an orderly, neat and polite Japan there is something unsettling that Toyoda unearths on the screen. This raw perspective and perfect eye for both cinematic beauty and haunting soundtracks have been Toyoda’s hallmarks on all his movies. The next Toyoda film at our festival was ‘9 Souls,’ followed by ‘Hanging Garden’ and most recently ‘The Blood of Rebirth’. Each film is an opportunity to see beyond the veneer, beyond an entrenched culture of consumerism and the aspects of society that are clearly broken. Since screening ‘Blue Spring,’ SF Indie Fest has taken every opportunity to ensure that Toyoda’s San Francisco fan base is able to view his films. We’ve hosted him here twice and he’s returned the favor with dinners in Tokyo and memorable hangovers from the smoke filled back alleys of Shinjuku.
If you have yet to see a Toyoda film you will find that ‘Monsters Club’ stands on it’s own as a beautiful, unsettling and surreal work. If you are a Toyoda fan you’ll find this film has everything you’d expect, starting with the musical score, all the way to the raw power of nature and the magical snow filled countryside of Niigata, Japan. The fissures in the family portrayed in this film are, once again, perfect metaphors for what is tragically flawed in current society.
The San Francisco Independent Film Festival is delighted to present Toyoda-san’s ‘Monsters Club’ on our ten-year anniversary of screening his films. Join us as we continue to celebrate the film career of Toyoda Toshiaki!
- Mike Skurko
http://sfindie.festivalgenius.com/2012/films/monstersclub_toyodatoshiaki_sfindie2012
10th Anniversary of Toyoda Toshiaki films at the 2012 San Francisco Independent Film Festival.
Monsters Club
2/19 9:30pm
2/22 9:30pm
Dir. Toyoda Toshiaki.
Abandoning civilization to live in a small cabin deep in the woods, Ryoichi sends bombs to corporate CEOs as a stark warning to a gluttonous society addicted to consumerism. The monster within comes to visit as an apparition and challenges his views of the existing paradigm and asks if these violent actions can actually effect change. Can he make a difference with his extreme approach? Flashbacks of Ryoichi with his family show a cracked mirror reflecting fragments of the modern society he’s trying change. Surreal snow filled beauty and haunting musical score illuminate this timely dilemma.
In 2002, at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco I watched ‘Blue Spring’ and was exposed to a perspective of a Japan that was not at all Hello Kitty. Woven deep into the fabric of an orderly, neat and polite Japan there is something unsettling that Toyoda unearths on the screen. This raw perspective and perfect eye for both cinematic beauty and haunting soundtracks have been Toyoda’s hallmarks on all his movies. The next Toyoda film at our festival was ‘9 Souls,’ followed by ‘Hanging Garden’ and most recently ‘The Blood of Rebirth’. Each film is an opportunity to see beyond the veneer, beyond an entrenched culture of consumerism and the aspects of society that are clearly broken. Since screening ‘Blue Spring,’ SF Indie Fest has taken every opportunity to ensure that Toyoda’s San Francisco fan base is able to view his films. We’ve hosted him here twice and he’s returned the favor with dinners in Tokyo and memorable hangovers from the smoke filled back alleys of Shinjuku.
If you have yet to see a Toyoda film you will find that ‘Monsters Club’ stands on it’s own as a beautiful, unsettling and surreal work. If you are a Toyoda fan you’ll find this film has everything you’d expect, starting with the musical score, all the way to the raw power of nature and the magical snow filled countryside of Niigata, Japan. The fissures in the family portrayed in this film are, once again, perfect metaphors for what is tragically flawed in current society.
The San Francisco Independent Film Festival is delighted to present Toyoda-san’s ‘Monsters Club’ on our ten-year anniversary of screening his films. Join us as we continue to celebrate the film career of Toyoda Toshiaki!
- Mike Skurko
http://sfindie.festivalgenius.com/2012/films/monstersclub_toyodatoshiaki_sfindie2012
posted by skurko at 11:18 AM
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