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4 - 12 June 2019: Of Flesh and Blood: The Cinema of Hirokazu Kore-eda

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Reflecting on the legacy of Taiwanese luminaries Edward Yang and Hou Hsiao-Hsien – whose films can be seen in our Taipei Stories programme – we're pleased to present four films by Hirokazu Kore-eda.

Maborosi
Hirokazu Kore-eda, 1995, 110 min
Japanese with English subtitles

A young woman is deeply troubled by the notion that she brings death to people, falsely blaming herself for the passing of her beloved grandmother and the unexplained suicide of her first husband. Showing the influence of Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Kore-eda avoids close-ups in favour of slowly paced, exquisitely composed wide-angle shots, which allows a more contemplative reflection on the healing process. read more

After Life
Hirokazu Kore-eda, 1998, 118 min
Japanese with English subtitles

Limbo becomes a place of psychological breakthrough in After Life, the film that introduced Kore-eda to art-house audiences worldwide. As people die and journey to this other world, they are asked to select one memory from life to take with them to the great beyond. Despite his focus on the supernatural, Kore-eda reveals a humanist sentiment on par with his fellow countryman, Yasujiro Ozu. read more

Nobody Knows
Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2003, 141 min
Japanese with English subtitles

Abandoned by their mother, four children try to forge a life within the confines of a small Tokyo apartment. Devising their own set of rules, the children find a way to sustain themselves until they must face the harsh reality of the outside world. Koreeda’s slow pacing and limited setting allow a sensitive reading of the children’s perspective without overtly sentimentalising their plight. read more

Still Walking
Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2008, 114 min
Japanese with English subtitles

Unfolding largely over the course of a daylong gathering of a family still mourning the loss of its eldest son, Kore-eda’s fine-tuned elegy – full of personalising details and the sense memories of childhood – was a direct response to the death of his mother, whom he nursed in the last two years of her life. read more