Katsuhito Ishii Collection

Description

Collection of six films from Japanese director Katsuhito Ishii. ‘Promise of August’ (1995) follows three women searching for a marijuana crop with a stolen map, who cross paths with a man who has travelled to the countryside to commit suicide. ‘Shark Skin Man & Peach Hip Girl’ (1998) is based on the manga by Minetaro Mochizuki. When Toshiko (Sie Kohinata) flees from her depraved uncle, she meets Samehada (Tadanobu Asano), a yakuza on the run. Soon they are being pursued by the yakuza as well as an amateur assassin hired by Toshiko’s uncle. In ‘Party 7’ (2000) seven people with something to hide end up trapped in a hotel together, including Miki (Masatoshi Nagase), who is on the run, and the voyeur and superhero known as Captain Banana (Yoshio Harada). ‘Sorasoi’ (2008) follows an inept college dance troupe as they practice their routine for an upcoming competition, led by their dedicated coach, Tabe (Sota Aoyama). In ‘Hello! Junichi’ (2014), unorthodox student teacher Miss Anna (Hikari Mitsushima) inspires a group of her students to form a band. Finally, the short film ‘Norioka Workshop’ (2022) explores the concepts of truth, reality and pretence within the craft of acting. Ryû Morioka stars as the eponymous character, an actor struggling to recapture his former popularity, who has begun running acting workshops to earn extra money. Two female fans attend his first workshop and Norioka soon begins to realise that he is out of his depth.