Archive of films Café Lumiere / Kohi jikou

Japan / Taiwan
2004, 104 min

Section: Horizons
Year: 2005

While on the trail of a music legend, Yoko, a free-lance author living in Tokyo, makes the acquaintance of the owner of a small second-hand bookshop. They become very close but the girl finds herself in a situation where she has to decide what to do about her life.

Synopsis

Yoko lives in Tokyo and, as a free-lance writer, sets out on the trail of music legend Jiang Ewn-Eye. During this task, she makes the acquaintance of the owner of a second-hand bookshop called Hajime. They spend a lot of time together and, in his company, the girl experiences a rare spiritual tranquility and equilibrium. Hajime feels the same way yet, although his loves Yoko, he keeps silent. The girl leaves for busy Hokkaido to visit her uncle, who awaits an eye operation, and she also meets with her father and his wife. However, the easygoing atmosphere is disturbed when the girl makes a certain disclosure and by the way she sees her future panning out. Yoko has to re-think everything – her life, her relationship with her family and what awaits her in the next few months.

About the director

Hou Hsiao-hsien (b. 1947, Meixian, China) moved with his parents to Taiwan a year after his birth. He began his film career after completing his studies at the film faculty of Taiwan’s National Art Academy. He began to make a name for himself nternationally back during the 1980s when his films won awards at foreign festivals: The Time to Live and The Time to Die (Critics’ Award at the Berlin IFF 1986), City of Sadness (Golden Lion at the Venice IFF 1989) and The Puppetmaster (Jury Prize at Cannes 1993). He creates loose trilogies treating 20th century Taiwanese history in the form of intimate testimonies and autobiographic reminiscences. Other films: A Summer at Grandpa’s (1984), Good Men, Good Women (1995), Flowers of Shanghai (1998), and Millennium Mambo (2001). In the director’s words, the film Café Lumière celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of director Yasujiro Ozu. “I tried to imagine how Ozu would have made a film in today’s Japan.”

Contacts

Wild Bunch
65 rue de Dunkerque, 75009, Paris
France
Tel: +33 143 132 164
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.wildbunch.biz

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About the film

Color, 35 mm

Section:	Horizons

Director:	Hou Hsiao Hsien
Screenplay:	Hou Hsiao-hsien, Chu T´ien-Wen
Dir. of Photography:	Lee Pingping
Editor:	Liao Ching-sung
Producer:	Hideshi Miyajima, Liao Ching-sung, Ichiro Yamamoto, Fumiko Osaka
Production:	Shochiku Co. Ltd.
Cast:	Yo Hitoto, Tadanobu Asano, Masato Hagiwara, Kimiko Yo, Nenji Kobayashi
Contact:	Wild Bunch

www:	www.wildbunch.biz

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