Filament

Colour, 35mm
Japan, 2001, 108 min
Section: Official Selection - Competition

Synopsis

The film unfolds in the imaginary town of Kouya where Tokujiro Sawada, the owner of a small photographic studio, lives with his two adult children. His 25-year-old son Kyota, nicknamed Filament, is a member of a street gang and is going nowhere fast. Filament’s sister Asumi, two years his senior, was once married to a member of Yakuza, the Japanese mob. She suffers from sleepwalking, and not even their father is spared an eccentricity. Nights he dresses up as a woman and hits the streets under a new identity. Ten years previously the mother of this odd family ran off with a younger man. But now she has returned, just at the moment when the family is heading for disaster. The son doesn’t want to forgive her, although he himself is going through rough times, and the daughter’s ex begins to threaten her. The father, till now only wanly looking on, must make a decision....

About the director

The director (b. 1959) uses the name Jinsei Tsuji mainly when engaged as a writer, poet and singer, but he also takes the name Hitonari Tsuji when composing, photographing and directing. His novels Pianissimo, Hahanaru nagi to chichinaru shike, Anti-noise, Kaikyou no hikari and Hakubutsu have won numerous Japanese literary awards. His film Sennen-Tabito (1999) won the International Critics’ Prize at the Venice IFF and Hotoke (2000) was presented at the Berlinale and at the Asian Film Festival of Deauville.