"Always – Sunset on Third Street 2" film screening at The Japan Foundation, 5A Ring Road, Lajpat Nagar IV > 6:30pm on 29th April 2011

Time : 6:30 pm

Entry : Free

Place : The Japan Foundation, 5A Ring Road, Lajpat Nagar IV, New Delhi - 110024

Venue Info : www.jfindia.org.in | Map | Events |  Nearest Metro Station - 'Moolchand'
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Event Details : 'Always – Sunset on Third Street 2' Japanese film screening.

As the film opens, a giant lizard is destroying a working-class neighborhood in Tokyo, upending streetcars and crushing local businesses and shops. But it is only another fantasy from the mind of Chagawa Ryunosuke, the pulp writer who has taken in Junnosuke, the once-abandoned son of a wealthy international businessman. Across the street, mechanic Suzuki Norifumi’s wife, Tomoe, has news for their son, Ippei: Ippei’s cousin Mika will be coming to stay with them while her father works through some financial difficulties. Ippei is not looking forward to having a girl in the house, and especially not one raised in money who looks down on the entire family. Chagawa faces pressure on two fronts: Junnosuke’s father is threatening to take him back, while the love of his life, Hiromi, has disappeared. Meanwhile, Suzuki’s assistant mechanic, Mutsuko, has blossomed into a young woman, and is attracting attention from fellow displaced northerner Takeo, an apprentice chef. Suzuki nervously awaits his regimental reunion, wondering whatever happened to his friend Ushijima, while Chagawa is mocked at his college reunion as a hack writer. Suzuki is overjoyed to find that Ushijima is alive and well, and invites him back to his house for an evening of drinking, during which Ushitori tells him they don’t need to mourn the dead forever. The next day, Suzuki discovers that he had come home alone, drunk. Chagawa finds out that Junnosuke has been using his lunch money to pay the household bills and finds out that Hiromi is working as a stripper under the alias Asaoka Betty; he determines that the way out of his troubles is to take one last shot at the Akutagawa Prize, Japan’s most famous literary honor. Takeo is disturbed to see Mutsuko all dressed up for a “date,” but as it turns out she is simply going out to a “Yujiro” film in Ginza with her friends; she hears from one of them, however, that Takeo has been fired for delinquency.

Tomoe runs into an old flame on Nihonbashi bridge, where they had promised to meet. She forgets him over home movies of Ippei as a baby, and with the sudden news that Chagawa has indeed been nominated for the Akutagawa! A man claiming to be from the prize committee visits Chagawa and tells him that a small donation will be necessary to grease the wheels; the entire neighborhood chips in, and the man tells Chagawa that the prize will surely be his. Hiromi visits while he is away to return the empty ring box he had given her as a promise before she gets on a train to start a new life in Osaka. Everyone else gathers to wait for the call announcing the prize, including Junnosuke’s father, who is determined to take back his son if Chagawa loses, which he does. As the father grabs Junnosuke, the neighborhood rallies around Chagawa, admitting one by one that they had read his story, which is all about Hiromi. Hiromi has read it, too, and returns for good. Junnosuke’s father, seeing this, leaves without saying a word. The Suzuki’s finally go to the top of Tokyo Tower together.

Year : 2007

Duration : 146 min

Director : Yamazaki Takashi

Related Events : Films at Cultural Places | Movies